"Have it your way, then. A delusional belief is not the same as a momentary hallucination. People who claim to have seen the Virgin Mary or a UFO, have typically reverted to their normal lives afterwards. The incidents left a very small psychological footprint on the witnesses. Not so with a shared psychotic disorder. Those affected structure their entire existence around their inane convictions."
"Can you give us some examples?"
"Sure I can. There are hundreds if not thousands of cases meticulously documented ever since the 19th century. Some patients became convinced that their homes were being infiltrated by aliens or foreign powers. An unfortunate couple was so afraid of hostile electromagnetic radiation that they converted their apartment into a Faraday Cage: they sealed it hermetically at an enormous expense and took out all the windows and interconnecting doors. They claimed that the radiation was intended to dehydrate them by inducing diarrhea and to starve them through chronic indigestion."
The young agent whistled and the older one emitted one of his soft laughs.
"In another instance, an entire family took on enormous credits, sold their house, and quit their jobs because they delusionally talked themselves into believing that one of the sons was about to sign a multi-million dollar contract with a Hollywood studio. They even hired engineers and architects to lay out plans for a new mansion, replete with a swimming pool."
The young one could no longer hide his mirth.
"Of course, there's the run-of-the mill paranoid, persecutory delusions about how the FBI, or CIA, or NSA, take your pick, are tapping the family phone, or shadowing its members as they go innocently about their business."
"Why would anyone believe such crap?" - Asked the senior one.
"Because the source of the delusional belief, the person who invents it and then imposes it on others, is perceived to be authoritative and superior in intelligence, or in social standing, or to have access to privileged information."
They exchanged glances and then:
"So, it's like a cult? A guru and his followers?"
"Exactly. The primary case - the originally delusional person - does his or her best to keep the others in relative seclusion and social isolation. That way, he monopolizes the flow of information and opinions. He filters all the incoming data and blocks anything which might interfere, upset, or contradict the delusional content. The primary case become sort of a gatekeeper."
Could it be shattered delusions about the evidence, and the particular failure of the gatekeepers to with hold their 'members' from the truth that makes the sisters so angry this xmas leading from a time when they saw Nos at every turn? Is it because they are now seen as mere mortals, even criminals, delusional ones at that and not the informed, enlightened, arbiters of the truth they sought to be? There were many that invented false truths about the Bain case, about David, Joe, then ultimately about anybody they could access whom they thought were non-believers and therefore a 'danger' to them.
this is playing out like a really bad movie. Eww, I hope that their brand of hysteria isn't catching!
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's contagious in anyway, but to a certain few among us it's like a lifestyle choice to avoid poor feelings about themselves and to distance themselves from sad or disrupted lives into something which at first might be exciting but soon becomes all consuming of decency, justice and respect for others.
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