My therapist says I philosophize too much.
Like, way too much.
Is this common for people with psychotic illnesses?
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Something like that is usually therapist-speak for, âIâm trying to get you to focus on something else.â
Thereâs nothing wrong with philosophizing or even doing so a lot. It only becomes detrimental when youâre using it as a crutch to avoid focusing on other things, for example like immediate, literal situation type problems.
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Metaphysical Concerns, Including Ontological, Anthropological, and Semantic Concerns
Persons with schizophrenia are [typically] not satisfied with what appears in immediate experience and are concerned with metaphysical questions (see table 2). These questions are chiefly ontological. Ontology (from on ont- being + logos) is the theory of being, the discourse about things that constitute reality and especially about their âbeing,â ie, their existence (vs nonexistence) and their true meaning (vs ordinary meaning). Ontology, as a branch of philosophy, deals with a series of conceptual dichotomies like appearance/actuality, necessity/contingency, permanence/transience, singularity/universality, substance/accident, identity/diversity, etc. It is essentially concerned with questions like what really exists, in contrast with what only seems to exist? What does exist independently and unconditionally, in contrast to what exists dependently and conditionally? and what does permanently exist, in contrast to what only temporarily exists? Persons with schizophrenia are especially explicitly concerned with the first question (eg, âI must test the reality of realityâ). The following sentence epitomizes the ontological attitude: âMy attitude towards life can be summed up as follows: It is as if we were all at theater. But, whereas, all the others are focused on what happens on the stage I cannot help thinking of whatâs going on backstage, what makes the scene possible.â They observe everyday, pragmatic reality from without (eg, âI am like an emperor in a pyramid. I am not involved in the world, merely observing it from outside to understand its secret workings,â âI am a detached onlookerâ), engaged in understanding its workings either being skeptical about the face value of phenomena (eg, âIt is not enough for me to take things as the others doâ) or feeling unable to unreflectively grasp their meaning (eg, âThe others know the rules; I have to study themâ). Many persons with schizophrenia report that they feel like anthropologists, as if they were coming from another planet (eg, âI am like an anthropologist,â âI am an anthroponaut lost at seaâ). Human actions and interactions are their focus of concern and research (eg, âI like to get walking around. I am fascinated by observing other people in everyday activity and seeing how it functionsâ). Also, persons with schizophrenia may be unsatisfied with ordinary semantics for articulating their own way of experiencing the world (eg, âI donât understand why this has to be called a table, and if the sunâs out we have to say itâs a nice dayâ) and look for alternative means of expression (eg, âI will use my left hand for writing in order to activate a new part of my brainâ).
from:
(I think the whole article is pretty interesting).
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yes I philosophize all the time with my psychosis.
Geez louise, thatâs like someone just wrote down verbatim the nonsense I spew sometimes.
[quote]âGood Morning!â said Bilbo, and he meant it. The sun was shining, and the grass was very green. But Gandalf looked at him from under long bushy eyebrows that stuck out further than the brim of his shady hat.
âWhat do you mean?â he said. âDo you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?â
âAll of them at once,â said Bilbo. "And a very fine morning for a pipe of tobacco out of doors, into the bargain.
âŚ
âGood morning!â he said at last. âWe donât want any adventures here, thank you! You might try over The Hill or across The Water.â By this he meant that the conversation was at an end.
âWhat a lot of things you do use Good morning for!â said Gandalf. âNow you mean that you want to get rid of me, and that it wonât be good till I move off.â[/quote]
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I recently got my masters in philosophy, but my psychiatrist never said it became too much⌠that said, there are many branches, topics and styles of philosophy, and to be fair, I did specialize into what is sometimes called anti-philosophy. I even have the impression that it was of great help when my first psychosis hit me, for I studied a methodology for philosophy that closely resembles CBT, and this helped me to dismantle my delusions by myself. This was a rather fortunate coincidence, me stumbling on this particular type of philosophy during psychosis, any other branch of it would probably have had me plunge all the deeper into delusion.
It has at times been observed that some schizophrenic delusions and experiences are strikingly similar in content to classical philosophical problems/positions. The difference being, clearly, that philosophers can entertain such topics, write some about it, and then leave them at the study to go out and play billiards, whereas we âliveâ these issues - and disturbingly so.
Some examples could be the mind/body problem, the problem of other minds and/or solipsism.
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WowâŚ
I had this, used to write about my theories nonstop, watched a lot of documentaries about chimpanzees and relate em to human behavior
But ive never actually read somewhere nor no one told me this was a âsymptomâ
I actually found this phase very satisfying, like i was seeing the world for the first time
i wonder the same thing because i philosophize a lot
I contemplate the meaning of navel fluff . 
LOL maybe you belittled your nut cracker and made them feel under qualified.
Not to do that myself but considering that the human mind on all levels has yet to be literally defined a nut cracker is a person with a piece of paper on their wall saying that they are more âspecialâ than you in a certain field.
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