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vonmoxie
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Default Oct 08, 2014 at 03:27 PM
 
I'm curious how you feel you fall into the subtype array (though I'm not at all suggesting that you need to share that), because much of it seems to me could be quite difficult to filter for, for instance in the case of the last two, with persons who do encounter genuinely malevolent behavior and who do have medical conditions that are difficult to verify or which are simply not apparent to others:

Quote:
Originally Posted by MotownJohnny View Post
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) defines six subtypes of the disorder characterized as erotomanic (believes that someone is in love with him or her), grandiose (believes that s/he is the greatest, strongest, fastest, richest, and/or most intelligent person ever), jealous (believes that the love partner is cheating on him/her), persecutory (delusions that the person or someone to whom the person is close is being malevolently treated in some way), somatic (believes that he/she has a disease or medical condition), and mixed, i.e., having features of more than one subtype.
Unfortunately, psych practitioners I've worked with in the past have been so vigilant about filtering for possible paranoia, that they ended up filtering out plenty of important reality. Something like how antibiotics kill off as many good cells as bad, but worse because eventually I have tired of encountering the same patent disbelief I had to contend with as a child, and which I find unreasonable as an adult who presents with a clear and strong presence of mind.

I think all we can do, ourselves, is keep asking the questions: is this really happening? what is my assessment of the evidence that I am basing this on? and, in the face of a lack of clarity, does it serve my best possible outcome to believe this is happening? and, a personal favorite of mine, where is that thought coming from?

(And Parley, I would have trouble with that too.. I live two doors down from a popular bar and am forever doing unreasonable garbage cleanup in my own yard, for the negligence of imbibed passersby.. but still have never had the occasion to come across what you did in your yard! I should think that would be unsettling regardless of who may have done it.. )

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“We use our minds not to discover facts but to hide them. One of things the screen hides most effectively is the body, our own body, by which I mean, the ins and outs of it, its interiors. Like a veil thrown over the skin to secure its modesty, the screen partially removes from the mind the inner states of the body, those that constitute the flow of life as it wanders in the journey of each day.
Antonio R. Damasio, “The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness” (p.28)
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