“Psychosis and delusional states and their relationship with normal anomalous experiences”

Psychotic Disorders are a group of mental illnesses that drastically affect the mind. Psychotic Disorders are the cause of abnormal thinking and perceptions. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), people with severe psychotic disorders lose touch with reality. Although Psychotic Disorders sound harsh and irreversible, they can be treated with therapy and medication. In my research, I focused on a particular Psychotic Disorder called Dissociative Identity Disorder. While researching Dissociative Identity Disorder, I mainly focused on the historical analysis, how it is represented in the media and literature, and first-hand reports of individuals living with Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Paranoid Schizophrenia is a disease that affects the brain in such a way that is distorts reality of those with the disease. Paranoid Schizophrenia is the most common type of Schizophrenia. The symptoms as listed by the Mayo Clinic are as follows:

Delusions: These are false beliefs that are fixed and do not change in the presence of evidence. They may be persecutory, grandiose, somatic or religious (APA, 2014).

The false belief is not accounted for by the persons cultural or religious background or his/her intelligence. The client experiencing this will hold on firmly to the belief regardless of the evidence to the contrary, the client is absolutely convinced that the delusion is real. Delusion are symptoms of either medical, neurological or mental disorder.

Ericsson claims that she could write the book on delusion, a cousin of dismissal and is the tendency to see excuses as facts (128). Ericsson states that delusion is a powerful liying tool, because it leaves out all the informations that contradicts what we want to believe (128). Ericsson also believes that delusion is helping people to survive and function on a day to day level. “If we were to fully contemplate the consequences of our stockpiles of nuclear weapons or global warming, we could hardly function on a day-to-day level” (Ericsson 128). The author concludes her arguments by restating that it is nearly impossible to eliminate lies from our lives no matter how hard we try, however there is a “difference between telling functional lies and living a

The theme of delusion in the book The Outsiders relates to the song The Monster and how after Johnny was dead, Ponyboy wouldn’t let himself believe that Johnny was dead. “That’s still body back in the hospital wasn’t Johnny. Johnny was somewhere else-maybe asleep in the lot… I’d go home and walk by the lot, and Johnny would be sitting on the curb smoking cigarette… He isn’t dead, I said to myself. He isn’t dead. And this time my dreaming worked. I convinced myself he wasn’t dead” (Hinton 150).

The huge fall back of this is they start to lose their grip on reality. This is why delusions are usually seen among criminals with mental disorders. For example, David Berkowitz, who murdered six people and claimed that a dog told him to do it, was a paranoid schizophrenic (“Dangerous Minds: Mental Illnesses of Infamous

Dickey states, “It validates your paranoia, which paradoxically confirms you’re not paranoid. And most dangerous of all, it affirms your sense that things are hopeless, while absolving you from having to do anything about it.” (Dickey, 2017, p.26) This unfortunate series of events lends itself to a type of mental captivity in which people subscribe to a particular conspiracy while neglecting and becoming apathetic in facing their own personal demons. It gives a bit of respite for these conspirators who believe in these conspiracies while at the same time refusing to accept any form of contradictory information. Conspiracy theorists not only have deeply immersed themselves in their own conclusions of the world but have made connections where there was truly none to begin with. This confirmation bias is attributed to what Kline refers to as Jungian complex of ego and self. “Such delusions derive from a state of ego–Self- identity which assumes that oneself is the center of the universe and hence attaches private significance to outer events which are in fact totally indifferent to one’s existence.” (Kline, 2017, p.190) The subject tends to derive delusions based on what is perceived and what is actually happening. The strong willingness to believe in the outer forces that have contributed to some sort of suffering or trauma is reenergized in the face of opposing viewpoints not

A delusion of reference is when you believe that you are trying to be contacted when really you’re not. A great example of a delusion of reference is believing the TV is talking to you, or that singers are trying to get you a message through their songs. Sometimes, when a patient has schizophrenia, they tell themselves they are sick, thus making themselves sick. The most dangerous delusions are that of grandeur. These lead you to think you have superpowers or a very special person.

These include: depression and social withdrawal, hostility, suspiciousness, extreme reaction to criticism, lack of personal hygiene, inability to cry or express joy, inappropriate laughter or crying, oversleeping or insomnia, and odd or irrational statements. Actual diagnostic criteria for Schizophrenia are as follows: hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech and behavior. There are different types of delusions that one with Schizophrenia may suffer from. Persecution is a delusion where a person believes “they” are out to get them- no one specific, just “they.” Reference is a delusion where an object is believed to have a special meaning. Grandeur is a type of delusion that causes one to believe they are a famous figure, like Jesus, or that they possess super powers. Control is another type of delusion where one believes that their thoughts and actions are being controlled by outside forces, like aliens. Schizophrenia’s comorbidity is forty-seven percent substance abuse, fifteen percent panic disorder, twenty-nine percent Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, twenty-three percent Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and fifty percent

Delusions are one of the most common symptoms to schizophrenia. Delusions are false beliefs that the patient believes is true. An example is when the patient believes someone is following them or “out to get them”. Just like schizophrenia, delusions also have subtypes. The first subtype is erotomanic which is when they believe that someone is in love with them and they will go through many obstacles just to try to contact them. The next subtype is grandiose. Grandiose is when the person believes that they are famous or have a lot of power over others. The persecution subtype is when they feel that someone is against them or spreading rumors about them. The forth subtype is jealousy, and is when the patient believes that their spouse isn’t being committed to the relationship. The final subtype to delusions is somatic. The patient believes that there is

In discussions of our susceptibility of delusions and false beliefs, Plato argues that humans can choose whether they want to follow the false beliefs in the darkness, or go into the light by facing all aspects of reality with honesty. Bacon’s argument is similar to Plato’s, and Bacon combines the four mistakes of human nature into four different idols. Idol of the tribe, cave, marketplace, and theater. Bacon’s idols help explain how we are vulnerable to delusions Although Plato and Bacon claim that we are susceptible to delusions and false beliefs, I claim that the human understanding is vulnerable to distortion because people bring their own background into their thoughts which distort the truths.

In the aptly named cotard delusion, one believes that a person either was never born or has perished. In the delusion of infidelity, a person believes incorrectly that their concubine or wife/husband has not maintained loyalty to them. In the delusion of guilt or sin or delusion of self-accusation, one can exhibit an unfounded feeling of horrible regret or guilt. Some other delusional themes are more straightforward in their naming convention: the delusion of mind being read and the delusion of poverty, for example.

Psychosis is a state of severe mental impairment, which causes the person not to view the real or unreal correctly. (Lecture) People with psychosis often have problems with delusions and hallucinations.

Schizophrenia has many criteria that is associated with it and it involves many different types of symptoms such as: First, Delusion which involves a disturbance in the content of thought, it occurs in more than 90% of patients at some time during their illness (Cutting,1995). They are numerous types of delusion which associates with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.