[IndieVisible]

I don't know where to put this so if it fits better some place else feel free to move it there.

The subject is delusions and hallucinations. I have read a lot of material on the subject and watched a lot of videos on this as well. I am not convinced there is any thing wrong with this and it could simply be a more evolved sense of self. What I mean is, fear is a main factor through out all MI. And we get varies degrees and diagnosis from it, all centered around fear! Could these all be simply coping experiences? For example, couldn't voices have a inner meaning a reason? Some feel we should explore that more, including pdocs! Same with hallucinations. We are so quick to dismiss all this as a broken brain but I ask, is it really broken or is it actually in it's own creative way trying to help us?

Certainly some delusions and hallucinations are bad or scary. But what's behind them? Shouldn't we be trying to discover that as well? Some times I swear I have a 6th sense! Sure some times I am unrealistic, or perhaps I'm not, either way, doesn't the underlying reason I am that way and experiencing what ever I am experiencing provide a hint or clue to what is really going on here?

Am I alone on this?

[Nicks_Nose]

I agree, Indie. Psychiatry does focus more on controlling the mind to maintain a behaviour that is considered closer to social norms than they do to actually exploring the workings of it, however, considering that in order to study the workings of the human mind, one would have to study the active brain and therefore, active human brains, I doubt there are many volunteers lining up to offer their brains to science while they are still using them. That produces problems in the science field.

[IndieVisible]

True enough but what I was thinking is more on the line of psycho therapy rather then here take these anti-psychotics so you get better. There is growing mounting evidence that the cause of many of the MI's were caused from childhood or some other very dramatic experience such as abuse, death, etc. Some pdocs are actually trying to focus on what is behind the delusions and hallucinations to actually find out the cause and come to terms with it rather then putting a band aide on it.

However this practice is not without problems too. Unfortunately in situations like this the pdoc may have good intentions and the right idea however may be suggesting too much to the patient there by presenting a even deeper problem by leading the patient to believe some thing that really did not happen. This has been accused to therapists who specialize in DID. Putting ideas in a vulnerable mind. Of course every new approach or idea will have pros and cons and critics too.

I just can't help feeling all we are doing is mostly putting a band aide on the problem in most cases.

[CastlesInTheAir]

I felt after my psychotic episode that it was more of an awakening and an addition of insight. A slap in the face if you will. Like my inner being trying to tell me something. Symbolism. I get the 6th sense as well, hyper awareness.....after I left the hospital I wondered why mental health is moreso treated with pills and less about insight , mind training. Meditation, therapy, etc.... I feel as though reading books that gave me insight did more for me than any pill given to me...I think instead of labeling anything a mental illness it should be seen as an awakening and a resistance to that awakening being caught in a sort of limbo...anyway babble babble is what I'm doing

[healingme4me]

Raises a valid point. For instance, would Mediums, Psychics and even Horse Whisperers be labelled as have delusions/hallucinations?

[Nicks_Nose]

That being said, we all have the freedom of choice to practice meditation and other types of "brain training" that are available. It is a struggle when being treated for depression to also be creatively inspired since SSRI meds tend to deaden the mind. It is scary though, when disorders result in behaviours that endanger the lives of other people. When paranoia is highly active or voices encourage aggression on innocent people, that is not something to take lightly. I would prefer medication.

[AbsurdBlackBear]

In my Existential-Phenomenology Psychology class, my professor told us about a therapist who had a client who told him that she was being distracted by little men that fly around her and stress her out. The therapist told her to try catching some of these little men and put them into an envelope for the next session. They kept doing that each week and the client wasn't being harassed as much by the little men anymore. Really the thinking about how that school of psychology works is to address the problem as the problem according to the client rather than as the problem according to norms.

[CastlesInTheAir]

Originally Posted by Nicks_Nose

That being said, we all have the freedom of choice to practice meditation and other types of "brain training" that are available. It is a struggle when being treated for depression to also be creatively inspired since SSRI meds tend to deaden the mind. It is scary though, when disorders result in behaviours that endanger the lives of other people. When paranoia is highly active or voices encourage aggression on innocent people, that is not something to take lightly. I would prefer medication.

I agree I just wish docs would dive in in tandem and also prescribe non-medication routes.

[thunderbear]

Altho I dont have hallucinations, I believe there is something more behind them than a broken brain. For instance, my uncle is schizophrenic. He suffers from horrible and scary visual and audiotory hallucinations. One night, when he was 16, he hadcstayed the night with my husband and I and he woke me up, crying because he "heard" my mom (his big sister) come thru the TV saying "Its in my ovaries. Its in my ovaries" I didnt think anything of it I thought "Poor guy" gave him his valium and sent him to bed. Almost a year later, my mom was DXd with ovarion cancer.

So who knows. In some cases Im sure its MI. But in others, it could be a 6th sense. Its differentiating between the two thats hard.

[IndieVisible]

Joan of Ark heard angels talking to her to kill. Yet that was heroic. Honestly does any one really know what it is?