It's in the title really, how do I stop thinking about things that are considered delusions? I just can't get it out of my head and I've tried to question the research that I believe is being done on me but I get scared and feel like the people who have access to my thoughts will laugh at my stupidity. I keep getting racing thoughts about it the situation I'm in at night which prevents me from getting off to sleep and it makes my heart pound during the day. I just don't know how to get rid of this. People think I'm delusional but I can't help thinking about these things, any advice?
sticks and stones may break your bones but words can tear your heart out.
Well, with mine what helps is my therapist supporting me in understanding the projections and the symbolic language beneath them. It doesn't necessarily get rid of them, but helps me to catch them when they come, and contain and understand them better - observing them, rather than being all swallowed up by them.
What does your therapist say? If thats okay to ask. When I got paranoid about my friends being involved in the research, i was told it was me trying to get away from having to spend time with them and that it was a defense mechanism. I don't understand about the research though, because I've been given so many clues and its with me everyday, I thought once that maybe I was using it to defend myself like when I know got paranoid about seeing friends, but having this go on is causing me so much pain and stopping me from living. So it can't be a defense mechanism. I just want it all to stop, but feel deep down inside that it never will until evnetually the World is taken over and I am proven right.
sticks and stones may break your bones but words can tear your heart out.
You see, I could make my own interpretations about what you're facing, but I don't want to interfere with what your therapist's doing.
Understanding defence interpretations relies on having a space in your mind to contain that insight and allow it to filter through. That may not be something you're ready for yet.
Flames, there are a couple of things i can think of that you can do.
Firstly - I understand it's scary when you notice these signs...especially when people don't believe you that they mean something and are telling you things. It is hard to challenge anything, even to question it, when you feel such a huge responsibility to others/yourself/the world. It is very very scary. One good thing to think of is how many other people there are in the world. I think you are a very important person, and i don't doubt this at all. However, I think things like this too...and then i ask myself 'why am i so important, that i was chosen to know this/determine this?' and 'who am i to be the "chosen one"'. When you think about the billions of other people in the world it can help you to think that maybe experimenters are not so interested in you.
Also, if you think of how many other people have fears and thoughts that they are being watched and are responsible for keeping others safe...there are a lot of people. There are lots of people who have believed things like this, and have been told it was psychosis...or a delusion...and then when they have challenged it, nothing bad has happened :) There are LOTS of people before you who have done this. And if it DID make things get horribly worse to challenge their thoughts, or if something did happen outside of them, it would be all over the media! Another thing to question is why the world would be taken over now, when we are only alive for up to 100 years and the world is so so so so old. Why now? What are the chances?
I know this is a lot to take in...but it's one way that you can try challenging these 'delusions'.
Take care :)
Melancholia is my mummy Black Rose is my cupboard hiding in buddie All I'm Living For owns me...i'm her pet frog Aimee in Wonderland is my best-ever-man-girl-lover Lozza is my lovely care bear
From my experiences of 'psychosis', episodes can be increased when stressed or tired, or if the body is run down. Taking time to ensure you get plenty of rest and good quality sleep can help. As can dealing with the things that are stressing you, or with the stress itself (I jog or walk). Exercise can also help to burn of the nervous energy that can lead to racing thoughts, where the psychosis can often be thought to come from.
The other things to do are to talk to other people, discuss the things you see or hear with someone you trust. I often question what I see and ask my boyfriend if he also sees it, so that I can continually reaffirm what is and is not real. It is hard, but it can help to pull you back. He is also good at calming me and distracting me. If there is not someone close by, this can also be done through focused therapy. I had therapist that discussed distraction and grounding techniques that can be used. Or meditation to calm any anxiety.
Not sure if that is of any help..... sorry for rambling at you.
Roiben x
If the Human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we wouldn't.
I know what you mean. It's really hard to know what's real when delusions and such are coming into your head and they seem to have a lot of proof. i can kinda see where your therapist is coming from. humans have very complicated minds. so when your mind does have a defense mechanism, like paranoia, it doesn't always mean it's a good defense mechanism. it just means subconsciously your mind decided to do that cause it thought it was protecting you. like when i was paranoid, i think it was because my mind was trying to distract me, and also cause i think i wanted reasons for the way i felt. doesn't mean it actually helped with those needs, but that my mind was fulfilling those needs in an unhealthy way. kinda like when someone cuts for example to be in control, but in the end they end up more out of control. so continue talking to your therapist, and maybe try and ask others of various proof that they are delusions, and then write all that proof down so you can look at it when you start feeling paranoid. i know how hard it is though, but hang in there, things can get better.
