delusions vs thoughts

when is something a delusion?

and

when is it just a fleetng thought?

like if u think a car going by is watching you.

or you think somethin in your food.

when is something a delusion and a just thought.

I think a delusion is more like a series of paranoid thoughts that go together to make one big story.

And example is my story of the building and the people there who were after me. It was all one big story. There were multiple facets. The six wheeled cars, the "man on the pay phone" (who was a lie told me to generate more paranoia for the fun of others,) the building itself, the energy draining of the park, me being the "heir" as "protector" of my neighborhood. Etc. etc. It all went together into one big plot.

So, like a car drives by and you think "they are watching me," it would depend who is attached to the "they." If it's the people in the car only, then it's a thought. If it's "they" as in a group of people beyond that car, then it may be part of a bigger delusion.

I hope that makes sense!

I think it also depends on recurrence, if you are having the same thought repeatedly like I think there's poison in my food now but I was OK yesterday but the day before that my water was poison, etc. Even though its not part of a big story if it happens enough it can be a delusion.

But the smart alec in me says it only becomes a delusion when you tell the pdoc. You know its like when a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it does it really make a sound.

thanks.

i especially like the forest part.

i think @Sometimes explanation seems logical. on recurrence.

from living the life of a psychotic... the biggest thing i feel... from my experience through life is discrimination and prejudice... so my first intuitive answer is if normal people don't agree with you then its delusions... and if people can agree with you it is a thought...

I agree completely with Sometimes: the more time we sit in a chair in front of a shrink, the more tendency there is to be pathologized for every single thing. That is what they do. They study, dx., and treat MI.

If we think of ourselves as just having a human experience, and stop analyzing every single thought, action and reaction, then maybe we can heal.

That being said, I believe that when we are experiencing things that make our reality a living hell, like when we feel watched by people driving by,(which is one of my chief complaints) then it is a problem that needs to be dealt with somehow.. I feel watched all the time, for me it is the worst feeling I know because it is always with me. I have felt watched since I was a child.

I am sure if I emphasized this in sessions with a psychiatrist, then it would be a great big fat label that I am DELUSIONAL.

You said this beautifully, Mimi.

Well when my pdoc was trying to see if my worry about cameras was an over valued idea or a delusion, he kept asking about my behaviour. So I told him that I'm constantly thinking 'what would _ think watching me _ now?' And change my behaviour so she won't be cross with me. So I only get dressed under the covers and I refuse to shower because I know she's watching. So he said it's a delusion. IDK. Hope that helps!

I also liked what Sometimes said, and agree with what Mimi said.

*Willow*

This right here is why I'm curious about when I was a kid thinking my class-mates had installed cameras in my bathroom at home, because I was afraid to go to the bathroom and would even cover up with towels.
We only had one bathroom, so it was horrible.

There's things I've never told my psychiatrist, and things I don't really PLAN on telling them.

I hate driving on busy roads (read: two lane roads) for this very reason. I'll pick back ways to go that only have one lane so that people won't be able to drive up next to me and look in my windows. I think, "ok, sure, perhaps you think I AM delusional. But so what?" What can they possibly do? A therapist will tell me (and they HAVE told me) that I shouldn't think this way. That those thoughts simply aren't true. And they'll give me stupid affirmations to do to try to convince myself that I'm wrong.

But no matter how much I lie to myself and do those silly affirmations, deep down I just can't believe it. I still see them looking at me. So why say anything at all? I'll just deal with it and keep using back roads. I still don't see it as a delusion. I think most people ARE nosy little pervs that like to look through people's windows.

I also often feel like the people in the other cars are watching me. I don't think they watch me for any other reason to judge me and maybe make rude comments about me (either to a passanger or to someone else later.) But, it doesn't hinder me from going on the main roads at this time. I do angry when I drive, though.... road rage.... and it often stems from the idea that people are trying to purposefully block me or slow me down or get in my way.... blah. Road rage is part of my anger problem.

Isn't a delusion an irrational thought?

My son gets these thoughts that are unrealistic. He has a fear of people touching his food, doing bad things to it. A thought would be, "I wonder if Mom threw this bread on the floor and put it back." Then he eats the bread anyways.
A delusion would be, "mom's trying to poison me, she injected bleach in the bread. I can't eat the bread." Even though other family members are eating the bread and he can see that it's OK. The delusion won't allow him to have rational thoughts and he can't eat the bread.

I have heard that delusions are basically beliefs that are not logical and far-fetched, but make sense to you.

For example, you believe someone at your job is trying to poison you by slipping drugs into your coffee. Even though they would have no reason to poison you, and even though you've been drinking the coffee for a while before.

A thought, is something you know is not true. While a delusion is something you believe in whole-heartedly.

You can't have insight to delusions, but you can with thoughts.

I hope that makes sense!