[TaintedPainter]

I'm diagnosed with depression with psychosis and have spent the greater half of my summer in the hospital for suicidal ideation as a result. My meds are working great at combating the hallucinations but I think I'm still struggling with delusional thinking and I'm not sure how to tell my therapist or psychiatrist. I have this unshakable thought that when I'm with my son I'm being recorded and evaluated as a parent. Though I understand logically that this probably isn't true the feeling feels real and I often find myself trying to perform like a good parent just in case. Is it a delusion though if I know it's irrational? How do I bring that up in therapy when my therapist doesn't know to ask about that kind of thinking? Is it really worth mentioning since it does force me to try harder to positively interact with my son though it sometimes stresses me out? Does anyone else ever feel like this?

[Sometimes psychotic]

I think you need to mention it.....

[shadow2000]

Hi,

I'm not a professional, but my understanding of delusions is that they're fixed false beliefs, and assuming that my understanding of delusions is correct, I wouldn't consider having thoughts about things that you think are unlikely to be true to be delusions (even though certain ideas that go through your mind when you're with your son might not be rational). Having said that, I agree with the above poster that it would be a good idea to discuss this with your therapist, considering that you said that the patterns of thought that you described here sometimes stress you out. If your therapist doesn't seem to give you an opportunity to bring this topic up on your own, you might want to respond to a different question that your therapist asks by saying, "I'll answer this, but when I'm done, I'd like to talk about something else that's concerning me" (with that "something else" being the patterns of thought that you described here). It wouldn't, of course, be necessary to use the exact words that I used, but I think that using a response that's similar to what I wrote might be a good idea.

[TaintedPainter]

Originally Posted by shadow2000

Hi,

I'm not a professional, but my understanding of delusions is that they're fixed false beliefs, and assuming that my understanding of delusions is correct, I wouldn't consider having thoughts about things that you think are unlikely to be true to be delusions (even though certain ideas that go through your mind when you're with your son might not be rational). Having said that, I agree with the above poster that it would be a good idea to discuss this with your therapist, considering that you said that the patterns of thought that you described here sometimes stress you out. If your therapist doesn't seem to give you an opportunity to bring this topic up on your own, you might want to respond to a different question that your therapist asks by saying, "I'll answer this, but when I'm done, I'd like to talk about something else that's concerning me" (with that "something else" being the patterns of thought that you described here). It wouldn't, of course, be necessary to use the exact words that I used, but I think that using a response that's similar to what I wrote might be a good idea.

Thanks for the advice that makes a lot of sense and I'll be stealing your words as I always seem to fail at coming up with how to talk to my therapist lol

[shadow2000]

Originally Posted by TaintedPainter

Thanks for the advice that makes a lot of sense and I'll be stealing your words as I always seem to fail at coming up with how to talk to my therapist lol

Thank you for your reply. I wish you luck with bringing this issue up when you go to see your therapist.