Persecutive delusions

Do you have some exp. how to deal with that?

meds (i.e antipsychotics) diminish persecutive delusions.

Hello Xantin:
How an individual chooses to deal with persecutory delusions might depend on which model they subscribe to. If, for example, you subscribe to the idea that your experiences are a direct result of neurological faults or imbalances you might feel the most appropriate response is medication. Within this model, whatever thoughts or experiences you have might be considered as nonsensical. You might be advised to ignore them or push them away until the medication can "take affect".

If you subscribe to the idea that your experiences have a psychological basis, you might feel the most appropriate response is a form of talk therapy. Within that kind of model, persecutory delusions might be related to your state of ego stability. If the ego is unstable, this will produce anxiety and fear which you may then try to explain by looking for a cause in the external world, i.e., I don't feel safe in my own home/body -- the government is watching me wherever I go. Persecutory delusions might also indicate concerns about your relationships with others, i.e., Why is my brother looking at me that way -- does he think I'm different now?

Recently I spent some time with an individual who was in a state of active psychosis. One of their concerns at that time was that the house was on fire. When they expressed those concerns we accepted that they felt real and valid to them. We'd encourage them to walk around the house and use their senses -- smelling the air to see if they could detect the scent of burning materials or touching the walls to see if they could feel heat. We also sat down with them and drew up a plan for how we would respond if the house really was on fire, how we'd get out and keep ourselves safe. They found this to be reassuring.

In addition, we also talked with them about inner psychological states and how people may revert to symbolic/metaphoric expressions when in a crisis state. We pointed out that a house is a symbolic expression of the self and also shared that this experience they were having was one that other people had experienced. During this time, that individual became quite drawn to a picture of a phoenix rising out of the flames and would frequently return to the image to study it.

This process was repeated numerous times over the course of several days as other themes arose. The goal was both to acknowledge their fear and anxieties as being very real to them and respond to that while also inviting them to consider other perspectives that might apply. At no time did we suggest they were delusional, rather, we accepted that they were "living" in a different state of consciousness than we were and part of their conflict and confusion was a result of trying to make sense between these two states.

Because that individual's previous experience with neuroleptics was extremely detrimental (neuroleptic malignant syndrome) no anti-psychotic medications were used although they did continue to take an anti-depressant medication they had been on. The crisis state has since resolved itself. They are continuing to use a psychological model to make sense of and understand their experience.

I've had "persecutory delusions" for many years as many people on here know. Mainly Gov. and the aliens being after me and yes I still believe it and I don't believe its a delusion but I know because of my great knowledge that the docs would classify it as such. How do I deal with it? I fight it everyday. When the Gov talks to me through thought insertion and tells me things, I talk back to them. But I don't comply with what they want, which I won't mention here. I have believed very bizarre things over the past few years, yes its bizarre, but it doesn't mean its not true. The Gov is 200 years ahead of us, and the aliens are at least 1,000 years ahead. But I also deal with it by saying, "if its my time, its my time." It is because I am very depressed that I say that. I'm sorry, i don't know what to do. Pills sometimes help.

Nice to think that somebody is in control, eh?

Here's a quirky story: Recently, I was talking with someone in the midst of a fragmentation crisis and one of the things they said that gave me cause for pause was that the CIA owned facebook.

My initial response was to reject the statement but when I thought about it, what I thought was, "Yes, but wouldn't that be damned clever of the CIA?"

I'm reminded too of a different story I read several years ago. I can't recall all the exact details but the basic gist was that a woman had agreed to appear on one of those tell-all talk shows. The subject of that particular talk show was family members who are mentally ill. The woman's complaint was that her mother was schizophrenic and in preparation for the show, her mother's home had been fitted with a number of hidden cameras and microphones. What that equipment captured was the frequent complaint of the mother that she could not trust her daughter and felt that she was being continually watched and monitored by her.

Sometimes, schizophrenic folk can be remarkably intuitive even if it what they have to say "sounds" way out there. I try to remember that.

As for the government... if they are listening, let's hope they're listening in a manner that would allow them to actually hear what "We, the People..." are saying.

~ Namaste

See also: The Relevance of Visionary Experience to Culture

You are making sense. I am a little surprised. Why? some of the things that people say on these posts I have trouble following no matter how hard I try.

Oh... I am trying to reflect on my life and see what kind of delusions of persecution I have had.

I guess I used to think that people could in fact persecute me. As a whole I don't believe society is out to "get me".

I believe in persecution. I believe that a persons opponants can and do unjustly persecute.

Christ Almighty help them.

Persecute. Maybe I will look it up in the dictionary. I don't believe that my parents would ever persecute me. They gave me birth.

religious persecution. It may be that I have a worldview that may differ from my fellows.

Christians are persecuted and would rather be left alone.

The Jews have been persecuted since time immemorial.

I wanna learn from the people that have been persecuted and then ended up on top!

(If I don't beat you with a stick, you will kill me.)

iaw1: You are making sense. I am a little surprised. Why? some of the things that people say on these posts I have trouble following no matter how hard I try.

Hello iaw,
Sometimes people do have difficulty expressing the enormity of their personal experience in their posts. In the aftermath of my own experience, I did as well -- particularly if I was in the vicinity of people I didn't think would be able to relate to or understand that kind of experience. I was also struggling to understand my own experience and needed to be able to explain it to myself before I could hope to successfully explain it to others.

As for applying a psychological interpretation to the experience of schizophrenia and/or psychosis... It makes a great deal of sense to me as well although for many years among some groups, the prevailing opinion has been that the experience is entirely a neurochemical affair. As based on my own experience and that of many other individuals I've spoken with, factors such as environment, stress, trauma, etc. can play a significant role. For that reason, some form of psychotherapy can contribute positively to the recovery process.

~ Namaste

s_e, I think you are conceding too easily in giving the "neurological faults" people any credence. Of course, the neurons are involved, but they are involved in everything. The psychological explanation of why people go for "neurological faults" and "chemical imbalances" as a way to explain anything -- that they are trying to avoid dealing with their own reactions to distress (or they are just following the leader) -- is much too filled with useful insights to let them get away with it so easily. IMNSHO.

I deal with my delusions two ways: 1. medication 2. ignoring them and redirecting my thoughts to something more real and concrete.

Being on the right meds does most of the work for me. The little bit of delusional thinking that's left is then much easier for me to ignore and tell myself that "it's crazy thinking." The more I"m able to ignore the thoughts, the less they bother me. Also when my anxiety level is high then my delusional thinking is much worse. So I try to keep my anxiety as in-check as possible.