The other day I told my therapist about my spiritual/psychic/supernatural delusions. I told her that I thought I had supernatural psychic empathic abilities. I told her that I used to read people, that I was into the tarot cards.
She surprised me, instead of telling me that this kind of magical thinking was disease oriented, she said she believed in psychics, and that there is a whole field of study on paranormal activity in psychology. She said her grandmother was into the supernatural. Unlike other therapists I was involved with, she showed a genuine interest and belief in the paranormal. I asked her that maybe I really do posses these psychic abilities, she kind of encouraged me, telling me that a lot of people believe in them - she was encouraging, not discouraging. She also said that there is some truth to delusions usually. Im thinking to myself, maybe what I went through was not delusional but real.
When I told her that I communicated to spirits- talked to them, she kind of backed up a little and said that I should not think about it so much and I might have taken it too far ( whatever that meant)
This woman has planted a seed of doubt into my mind - Now Im thinking maybe it is not Delusion what I experienced, but Reality, Should she be behaving this way for a psychologist? Is this ethical and professional? Thats what I want to know. Confusion has a tight grip on me.
well i think its all balloney but whatever.
she sounds totally unprofessional in my opinion, she should not be encouraging you about this.
it about as bad as the oijja board thread, utter nonsense.
My Sis is into the Tarot a bit. She’s more fascinated by the fact that Carl Jung used the Tarot as a way for patients to sort of drop a vail or two and use the cards to get to the root of the problem.
If you Google Jung and Tarot there are a lot of books and discussion on this. Jung did use the tarot understanding that there is a certain psychology behind all it’s years of existence. He was using it a tool in psychotherapy. He also studied astrology to see if there indeed was a link to a common nature of a birth sign.
I don’t believe in T.V. psychics. I very much DO believe in people who are super observant and can pick up on the most subtle of cues of human body language, how someone says something and just what they are wearing and how all that give’s a very in-tune person a picture of the other. There are those people who can listen to others and some how cut right to the heart of another person quickly. That seems very psychic.
Somewhere I read this odd book about what makes a good witch and it explained how it was 30% psychology, 30% good theater, 30% common sense and 10% luck. I really loved that book because it really sort of explained the whole “psychic” and how some people “got it” and some don’t.
It had nothing to do with ghost and angles or any ability’s given from God. It had everything to do with abilities one was born with… keen observation, keen listening and not being afraid to act on the extra information given.
I think it’s a hard line to walk between being open about something and actually agreeing. Personally I believe in psychic abilities however I do not believe that my son is capable of doing these things at the moment. By not discouraging him I guess I am encouraging him but that doesn’t mean that I believe he is capable. I think she is being open about the topic not necessarily saying that she believes you have psychic abilities. Maybe clarify this with her your next session. If she is confusing you than you should tell her so that she stops confusing you.
I think she backed off when you mentioned you talk to the spirits because, to me, that IS illness, because the psychicness is you, not someone else. Otherwise, what she said sounds good to me.
Wow. The last thing a therapist should do is confuse their patient. Does she have much experience dealing with schizophrenics? Encouraging delusional thoughts is so wrong. If I were to tell my therapist some of the delusional thoughts I’ve had in the past and she encouraged them, I’d be terribly disappointed. I’d also be shopping for a new therapist.
I paid a high price to find my own solution when I picked up some facts supportive to the spiritual/psychic/supernatural delusions again last year.
Our brain is capable of playing unbelievable tricks to make us believe there are supernatural. I think it is a worst kind of situation we can come up with when a source with credential agree to our delusions.
I wish you could stop thinking in this direction because when i did so last year, it triggered another full episode in me and leaded to a tragic outcome. Many of the damages are irreversible.
I support you to see a new therapist if she confuses you in that way.
Well I think she may have been euphemizing your symptoms. Or she’s odd. Shrinks can be odd. But tarot cards and such fascinate normal people and people who have schizophrenia, so maybe she was trying to make it sound like “no big deal” and that normal people do that do. Im glad she didnt say communicating with spirits is normal, because it’s psychotic, sorry buddy.
I had a shrink who asked me to go get proof of my conspiracies and bring it back to show him. You could say that some shrinks might accidentally encourage our symptomatic behaviors.
Just know that you know what is normal and what is your illness. It took me a while to sort that out myself, but now I know myself pretty well now and can tell eccentricity and just being weird from psychotic.
I had a shrink challenge me about my thing with kidnappers. I remember showing up to his office with a huge box of milk cartons that had the missing kids on them. Every time he tried to say anything I just set another milk carton on his desk like that was all the proof I needed. One after the other until his desk was over flowing. I thought I was so clever. What could prove me more right then milk cartons?
In retrospect, alot of our behaviors can be humorous. Ive learned to laugh at some of my old, at the time truly disturbing delusions.
I do admit, many funny antics have ensued while trying to train my kid sis to thwart a kidnapper.
We can laugh about it now.
All of the answers here were helpful to me, thank you all. @BarbieBF what you wrote really resonates with me - it does make sense. Maybe she is just being open to the topic, if she continues to confuse me, you are right, I will talk to her about it - thank you
What was your delusion because this sounds pretty good to me. Where did you get all the milk cartons?
mortimermouse, I think you are right about her there. She in the past has tried to keep me at ease, downplaying my hallucinations, telling me a lot of people hallucinate,she said they are like dreaming while awake or something to that effect. She is the type not to stir things up and keep things “soft” Now that I think about it, thanks to you, she probably was trying to treat me like a regular joe - easing things for me,not overblowing things or trying to make me feel different or awkward - she is considerate this way. Thanks mortimermouse 
The quote that comes to my mind is:
“Whenever possible, consider alternative hypotheses.”
That would go for both of you.
*Proof. That sounds like good proof.
I just want to say that you could be onto something. Sz runs in my family and I’m thinking my niece who has it just mite be a medium. Maybe you should go talk with one and find out for yourself. Good luck with everything!