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Have you ever been delusional?

Tell us about it.

Did you know you were delusional? Did other people know? What were the nature of the delusions? Did they subside spontaneously, or did you have to get on meds? Were they induced by drugs/alcohol, or by mental illness?

by Anonymousreply 69June 6, 2022 2:35 PM

I live in a country filled with and to a great extent governed by delusional people, does that count?

by Anonymousreply 1November 21, 2021 4:00 PM

r1 = Friedrich Nietzsche

by Anonymousreply 2November 21, 2021 4:02 PM

Yes., if auditory counts. I don't know whether to call them delusions or hallucinations but I hear music when the furnace kicks in!

by Anonymousreply 3November 21, 2021 4:04 PM

I still am. I believe I can do anything I dry my mind to.

by Anonymousreply 4November 21, 2021 4:09 PM

I’ve been very paranoid before. Went through a rough time when I thought everyone was out to get me because of a complaint I filed. Turns out only half of those people were out to get me.

by Anonymousreply 5November 21, 2021 4:16 PM

I was so delusional once I thought Oprah was going to get an Oscar nom for The Butler

by Anonymousreply 6November 21, 2021 4:18 PM

I had sleep paralysis a lot until I hit my thirties, I’m not sure why. It was always especially bad when I went to sleep after a hangover day or a day when I was very exhausted (like the day after an all-nighter), so I imagine there’s a brain chemistry reason.

As a kid, it manifested as hearing imaginary conversations around me just as I was starting to wake up, banal things like I was overbearing my mother chatting about the weather that day, but then I’d wake up to find out my mother wasn’t at home.

In my late teens and twenties it was more often right as I was falling asleep - it kicked in and all the sudden I felt like I was spinning through space in a terrifying dizzying way and wouldn’t be able to shake myself awake, it felt like I was drowning in space or something. Those nights were really scary. Someone woke me up suddenly in the middle of those episodes by flipping a light on (it was an emergency) and said I just screamed and screamed until I came to.

That hasn’t happened to me in five years or so.

by Anonymousreply 7November 21, 2021 4:20 PM

I was raised in a deeply religious home. It took years to undo the delusions.

by Anonymousreply 8November 21, 2021 4:36 PM

This one time, I was convinced that I was going to get an OP’s stuff.

by Anonymousreply 9November 21, 2021 4:48 PM

Sure. When I look in the mirror and think I look like 40 while I am 65.

by Anonymousreply 10November 21, 2021 5:52 PM

You and everyone else on DL, r10

by Anonymousreply 11November 21, 2021 8:31 PM

I almost died from flu in February 2019. I was in the ICU for 5 weeks with flu and double pneumonia. I was feverish and hopped up on whatever drugs they were giving me. I was tripping balls the whole time. It was like a strange alternate reality. I kind of enjoyed it, outside of the constant excessive thirst. I was intubated so couldn't drink anything and hospital air is notoriously dry.

by Anonymousreply 12November 21, 2021 8:58 PM

"I can do anything I dry my mind to"

A wet mind is a terrible thing to waste, R4.

by Anonymousreply 13November 21, 2021 9:25 PM

I woke up naked on the floor and I have no recollection how I got naked on my living room floor. Must have been drugged and raped.

by Anonymousreply 14November 21, 2021 9:29 PM

G is.

by Anonymousreply 15November 21, 2021 10:39 PM

I’ll let you all in on a little secret…

I think I’m having a delusion right now!!

by Anonymousreply 16November 22, 2021 10:40 AM

About what, r16?

by Anonymousreply 17November 22, 2021 10:45 AM

About life

by Anonymousreply 18November 22, 2021 10:48 AM

I was on an antibiotic for MRSA several years ago and it changed my personality, and some weird things happened to me and I was told it was just the medication making me delusional. At that point I started taking photos and I to this day still have pictures of a group of men blocking my driveway for no discernible reason, and an enormous black rat snake in my rose bushes.

by Anonymousreply 19November 22, 2021 11:01 AM

I’ve had shock treatments

by Anonymousreply 20November 22, 2021 11:50 AM

I hear singing and there's no one there. I smell blossoms and the trees are bare. All day long I seem to walk on air.

I wonder why. I wonder why

by Anonymousreply 21November 22, 2021 11:56 AM

Well ...

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 22November 22, 2021 4:16 PM

I had a very high fever when I was 4 and remember creatures walking / floating around my room. It wasn’t scary - I described them to my mom. That was 50 years ago, I’ll have to ask her if she remembers this.

by Anonymousreply 23November 22, 2021 4:26 PM

I sing to ghosts.

by Anonymousreply 24November 22, 2021 4:38 PM

I remember applying for my very first job in the early 90s. It was at a local Dairy Queen. I remember sitting at a table in the restaurant dining room completing the application. One of the questions was “how did you hear about this job”? I wrote in all caps “I HEARD VOICES”. Later that night I rolled around on my bed laughing about my comical response. I obviously didn’t want the job.

by Anonymousreply 25November 22, 2021 4:45 PM

R21, there is nothing you can take to relieve that pleasant ache. You're not sick, you're just in love.

by Anonymousreply 26November 22, 2021 4:50 PM

When I saw Trump officially take office, I thought I was having delusions. When I saw the military fire tear gas on peaceful protesters so Trump could get a photo-OP with an upside down Bible, I hoped I was having delusions. On January 6, I would rather have been having delusions than to have seen Insurrectionists beat policemen and riot and loot our Capital and hunt to kill our elected representatives. But I was lucid so knew exactly what I was watching and I wept for America, instead.

by Anonymousreply 27November 24, 2021 4:36 AM

JFC, R27.

by Anonymousreply 28November 24, 2021 4:59 AM

R3, you’re not delusional. The phenomenon is called apophenia or audio pareidolia, I’ve experienced it as well. The music stops the second the AC/furnace/Fan shut off.

I was mildly delusional when I was on prednisone for a horrible poison oak reaction. I was 13 & it messed up my sleep schedule so much, I would wake up at 8pm & go to sleep at noon the entire time I was on it. In the middle of the night one night I went to the bathroom & thought my hair was green. It was a combo of the lighting, being sleep deprived, & just waking up, my vision cleared up shortly.

My sister experienced a delusional episode while she was very sick with asthma. She swears, to this day, that she woke up in the living room (where she & my dad were sleeping on the couches) & saw a bunch of miniature elves, about 20 or so, running rampant like little impish gremlins. I remember she said one was firing a miniature cannon. They were very small, like 2 inches tall. We told her she was just seeing things due to her meds or lack of sleep, but she swears they were real.

by Anonymousreply 29November 24, 2021 5:02 AM

Also, my mother had some complications post-surgery (hyponatremia, low sodium) & was delusional from this for a couple of days, about 4 days after the surgery. She swears that people were having sex right outside of her ICU room, then saw red carpet on the ceiling, black tree branches growing out of the TV. She also thought the nurses’ station had transformed into a beauty parlor, & called me in a panic to tell me that they had moved her from her ICU room into a broom closet, stacked floor to ceiling with boxes. She was very lucid & convincing; I believed the first thing she said (the sex thing) only to realize quite soon that she wasn’t all there. Luckily she went back to normal after a couple days, but months later remembers “seeing” those things & believing they were real.

by Anonymousreply 30November 24, 2021 5:12 AM

R29 something similar happened to me as a kid. I got food poisoning. Was prescribed some type of suppository that would make me wake up in the middle of the night screaming seeing little monsters running around my room. Another time during the same illness I woke up and was in what I can only describe as a world that looked like the movie TRON but in black and white hearing loud bangs that I could feel deep in my stomach. I was terrified. I can remember it so clearly.

by Anonymousreply 31November 24, 2021 5:14 AM

I sincerely believed I was the 5th Pip but Gladys and the boys always conveniently forgot to give me a heads up for new tours and recordings.

by Anonymousreply 32November 24, 2021 5:17 AM

I’m uncertain if it would be defined as a delusion, but I was telling people I was going to kill them without any awareness that this is what I was doing. When I did this to a cop I was promptly thrown into a psych ward full of psychotic people. I had no awareness of what I had done and nobody had told me explicitly the reason for my confinement. Finally, my case manager accompanied me to an appointment that I thought had proceeded beautifully. He said, “Well, you did tell her you were going to kill her..” Suddenly, everything that had been happening for the past weeks made sense, though I was horrified that I had undergone my own psychotic break. I was taken to live with my brother who was told to remove all potential weapons, including cutlery from my grasp, and police stopped by twice a day for a wellness check to make sure I hadn’t killed him. Consider this my Latuda commercial.

by Anonymousreply 33November 24, 2021 5:31 AM

I believed this guy at the gym who was calling me buddy and was joking with me and talking to me and acting friendly was a friend.

He wasn't.

People told me he was an asshole and I knew it, deep down. But I didn't care what people were saying or interested in doing what I knew was right or listening to that inner voice.

No. he was my buddy. There's no WAY we could be getting along so well if he weren't a good guy.

He was not my buddy. There was a way where we got along (I thought) and he was also a complete and utter shit.

by Anonymousreply 34November 24, 2021 5:36 AM

NO but where I live I'm totally surrounded by delusional bots who truly believe this part of town is Mayberry. Even the city officials and police play the role of Mayberry! I HATE where I live and want to kill everyone! Plus, all these bots are PARENTS!!!!! Kids are a fetish to them!

IT'S FOUL HERE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by Anonymousreply 35November 24, 2021 5:44 AM

My husband had a major seizure a few years ago. While he was recovering he was delusional a lot of the time; he was seeing dead bodies in the bedding of his skilled-nursing place; he saw people falling off the roof and crashing onto the ground.

In a lighter delusion, he was convinced he's had an all-night conversation with 'David' (as in, Michelangelo's David), told me what a lovely young man David was. There didn't seem to be a language barrier.

by Anonymousreply 36November 24, 2021 7:14 PM

I’ve never had a delusional day in my LIFE

by Anonymousreply 37November 24, 2021 7:18 PM

BABE, DELUSION IS MY LIFE AND MIDDLE NAME.

by Anonymousreply 38November 24, 2021 7:18 PM

I had to take prednisone a few years ago and it made me both delusional and uncharacteristically angry at all times. I kept imagining lots of strange things, being very paranoid, and filled with rage. I will never take that again.

by Anonymousreply 39November 24, 2021 7:20 PM

I’m on prednisone now and so is my dachshund.

by Anonymousreply 40November 24, 2021 10:55 PM

Just because you’re paranoid, it doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.

by Anonymousreply 41November 24, 2021 11:44 PM

I suddenly came down with paranoid schizophrenia in my late 40s. It just switched on one day - suddenly I kept hearing a woman saying my name over and over again all day long. Then I thought my neighbors were talking to me at night and planning to kill me. It got REALLY bad and I got the police involved - and finally, after five years of complete paranoia about my neighbors, I got the right medicine which put a stop to it all.

I understand now why schizophrenics do crazy things - those voices were real!

by Anonymousreply 42November 25, 2021 12:39 AM

Here's a serious question.

Is it still a delusion if you believe X, but also know believing X is completely irrational?

I don't mean in a religious context ... I mean a personal belief about oneself. For example, if you believe you're the reincarnation of Charles VI of France, and believe certain insignificant details in your life support that conclusion ... but you don't tell anyone, because you don't want people to think you're crazy. (Weird example, but a good illustration of what I mean.)

by Anonymousreply 43November 25, 2021 10:14 AM

I'm glad you're doing better r42

by Anonymousreply 44November 25, 2021 10:18 AM

R44 - thank you!

by Anonymousreply 45November 25, 2021 4:09 PM

Bumping my own thread

by Anonymousreply 46November 25, 2021 8:28 PM

Have you ever been mellow?

by Anonymousreply 47November 25, 2021 8:30 PM

Have you never been fisted?

by Anonymousreply 48November 25, 2021 10:54 PM

THERE IS A JOB OPENING AT DAIRY QUEEN!

by Anonymousreply 49November 25, 2021 11:19 PM

Can anyone shed light on r43?

by Anonymousreply 50November 26, 2021 10:32 PM

I was delusional on two back-to-back nights – in a detox ward. I definitely had the DTs.

For a number of reasons, I went into a downward spiral a decade or so ago (long story, but I definitely had major depressive disorder) & began drinking a lot, which is probably an understatement considering it was a "light" night for me if I only downed a fifth of vodka instead of a handle. After an intervention from family & friends, I went into detox, especially since it's quite seriously possible to die from the DTs if done outside of a clinical setting. I spent ten days there total – in an inpatient facility on near-total lockdown – and it was for the most part sheer hell.

On my first night there, I imagined the miniblinds in my room turning into small woodland creatures dancing across the ceiling, which I thought was so "cool" that I ran to tell the night nurse about it. I still remember the stink-eye look I got in response, but I had ZERO idea at that time that it was all in my head. The "magical creatures" returned the following night, but to a lesser extent, plus by then I'd clued in at least partially that i was hallucinating. I wasn't at all scared, but in hindsight it's disturbing that I was THAT far gone. (Even in a clinic, your odds of dying solely from the DTs are 5%, regardless of age, and higher if you're older or have serious health conditions, which I didn't aside from a probably pickled lived.)

As for R43: yes, he's delusional if he truly thinks he's the reincarnation of a historical figure, even if he rationally knows that's impossible. Btw this is a common delusion – entirely unrelated to my own – and those who suffer from it can be snapped out of it by pointing out a basic logical fallacy: nearly all such delusions involve either royalty or famous historical figures. If reincarnation truly exists, then why the fuck does EVERYONE who believes in it think they were once Marie Antoinette or a British lord? The usual answer: their "regular" lives are dull, and they convince themselves they were at one time "important" to compensate for low self-esteem in the reality-based world.

by Anonymousreply 51November 26, 2021 11:11 PM

When I used to drink heavily. I was always the best looking guy in the room.

by Anonymousreply 52November 26, 2021 11:18 PM

R3 Seriously? You too? I hear classical music in my head sometimes.

by Anonymousreply 53November 27, 2021 12:15 AM

I took a sharp hit to the head in a car crash when I was 10 and was convinced cartoon characters like Pink Panther were walking down the hospital corridor.

I also couldn’t articulate what happened very well. I remembered the ambulance ride but only to a point.

Eventually they gave me some meds to knock me out. When I woke up the next day things were back to normal, save for the sore head and a broken foot. X-rays showed no internal bleeding, etc.

I guess I was shocky and disoriented. There are worse things than seeing Garfield and Pink Panther walking around.

by Anonymousreply 54November 27, 2021 12:25 AM

Thanks r51

by Anonymousreply 55November 27, 2021 9:58 AM

I think I have been schizoaffective since my teens, although my official diagnosis is bipolar disorder

by Anonymousreply 56April 16, 2022 5:38 PM

I wear leggings. I look good.

by Anonymousreply 57April 16, 2022 5:43 PM

Every single "I am 73 but look 24" poster

by Anonymousreply 58April 16, 2022 5:45 PM

I thought I was loved and valued.

by Anonymousreply 59April 16, 2022 5:50 PM

This is an interesting article about so-called attenuated psychosis syndrome

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 60April 16, 2022 7:22 PM

I had an isolated delusional episode for about a month a little over a decade ago. The delusions were very specific, and I was able to work and go about a normal life unless something that triggered the specific delusions was discussed. A brilliant older friend noticed what was happening and broke my delusions by helping me test my own perceptions of reality. I'm very lucky that was the end of things and not the start of developing something like schizophrenia.

by Anonymousreply 61April 16, 2022 7:24 PM

Not to pry, r61, but can you talk about the nature of the delusions in broad terms?

by Anonymousreply 62April 16, 2022 7:30 PM

I've been reading a little bit about schizophrenia.

I forget the term for it, but there is a theory that schizophrenic traits fall on a spectrum -- the low end being "normal" and the more extreme end being "schizophrenic." This idea was championed by a few twentieth-century psychiatrists.

I think it's a fascinating way to think about schizophrenia (and delusions, for that matter).

As an aside, I really like some aspects of twentieth-century psychiatry. It seemed more philosophically grounded (for better or worse) and more interested in theories of mind.

by Anonymousreply 63June 6, 2022 12:42 PM

Kind of. Sometimes I'll assume someone doesn't like me because of some tiny perceived slight and then later I'll find out it was all in my head. I'm working on it

by Anonymousreply 64June 6, 2022 1:03 PM

When was about 15 years old about five of us decided to do some LSD tabs. (Snoopy). There was only one guy with us - looked just like Tom Petty- and he was older than we were so he rented a hotel room and we stayed for the night. The answers to the universe suddenly became so simple. Life, aliens, God, ( doesn't exist), why my mother was so overprotective. At the time I had long, thick hair down to my waist. It suddenly occurred to me that I hid behind my hair and it needed to go. Much to my friends horror, I cut it to shoulder length. ( Never missed it either). I sat there watching my friends. They were engrossed in Saturday morning cartoons. I thought about how they were still really children in so many ways. ( They were all about a year older than I was but that fact went right over my head) Pictures moved, bushes smiled and waved. Everything looked like Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. We had to go home before our parents figured out we lied to them about where we were, but we couldn't come down from the acid. What to do? Eat? Paranoid as schizophrenics, we went to God forsaken Waffle house. As soon as we entered every employee there greeted us. " Good morning! Welcome!" " How ya doing? " Well we freaked right the fuck on out. It was like a John Waters movie. These people are freaks!!! They know we are tripping! They are just fucking with us!! Abort, retreat! I often wonder what those people thought as these skinny kids ran frigthted to the car, pupils as big as orbs, lol. Tom Petty Jr drove us home and we had to hide from our parents until we could maintain. That is my boring story.

by Anonymousreply 65June 6, 2022 1:42 PM

When I had the croup I was sure the walls were closing in on me and that I couldn't breathe even though I was breathing.

by Anonymousreply 66June 6, 2022 2:30 PM

I've also had that thing where you think you are infested with bugs but you aren't

by Anonymousreply 67June 6, 2022 2:34 PM

And all the air around you is swarming iwth no seeums.

by Anonymousreply 68June 6, 2022 2:35 PM

Unoftunately, I've also been places where that was not a delusion.

by Anonymousreply 69June 6, 2022 2:35 PM
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