I have a few persistent distressing ones that haven’t been resolved. It would be nice if I had a Jungian therapist or someone who could help me get through those…because if someone presents contradicting evidence or just explains things in a rational way I will not believe these delusions. I know the mind is powerful, and I am capable of convincing myself pretty much anything it seems. Recently someone or a voice came into my head and told me that it was a loose-association, and then I heard people arguing that what I believed was true but also a loose association. And then I heard someone yell “Shut it down!” and I thought it had to do with the spying programs but I have no idea…I am also really convincing to others if I describe it, so much they will think its true. That’s because I have tried to rationalize my experiences, but I tend to miss parts/pieces of the whole or big picture…
So for me, a delusion is something I have analyzed where all the pieces seem to show one picture, but the missing piece can show a completely different picture. So I have to detach and not think that my paranoia or ideas are the whole concrete picture. Not think in absolutes or black and white.
I did have a therapist in the past who told me not to think in absolutes/black or white thinking but I struggle with it all the time, or when I’m distressed, I dwell on my paranoid experiences.
So coping mechanisms for me are: detachment, education, therapy, meditation, music
@Wave , my ex husband had really bad OCD. He was really aware of and suspicious of people somehow either contaminating, drugging or even poisoning his food. He was a real spoilsport to be around because of it.
He had diagnoses of sz, OCD, and inadequate personality disorder.
Last time i was full blown psychotic i heard voices 24/7 commenting on my thoughts and talking about satan,the antichrist and the end of the world i was very disturbed and smoked weed to calm myself with out knowing it made it worse.
As i take my meds sometimes i hear voices again but its for a short period of time and its rare when i can understand what they say i also have sensations that something is behind me and lately i have been seeing things on the corner of my eye im not worried about this since it doesnt affect me much and about weed i feel better without it i have been sober from weed and other illicit substances since november.
I’ve an unusual belief around books. Anytime I read or focus on it, I get a delusion that I become an author. It’s centered around this. Sometimes this goes on for weeks.
There is an important component of delusions. A person becomes convinced that their beliefs are true before they start to evaluate them. In other words, the decision to believe is made subconsciously. Rational thought occurrs after the decision is made.
I am not prepared to quote exact sources at present. I am yet to process this completely. However this notion made leaps towards health for me .
Therefore it is very difficult to impossible to rationalize oneself out of a delusion. Every madman here says that they struggle to get rid of delusions. Often despite medication.
Madmen did not make a mistake in their thinking. There was an error before any thinking took place, on the tier of subconscious.
+++ Usually voices are simply one’s own thoughts given properties of a character. Not sure if it can be called anthropomorphism.
Try to discard the notion of telepathy completely.
This is actually very common. It can vary between believing oneself to be a particular celebrity, to thinking that TV shows and books are about you or are related to you, to simply debating with oneself about a topic one read somewhere for hours, without a practical reason.
I experienced mildly similar symptomes.
I speculate that the cause is that imagination of potential possibilities leaves more critical of an impression than permissible.
Another speculation is that the cause is a kind of envy or desire to share on the activity that grows out of proportion. I am not sure how relevant it is. As a child after I watched superhero cartoons I often imagined and plotted my own superhero adventures, under the impression. I believe the madman delusion of TV shows , books etc. being about them, or delusion of being involved and having an impact on unrelated events, is the extension of a mechanism I tried to show with the previous example.