it is generally agreed that the modern environment can cause people to have depressive symptoms, and that in most cases these will never progress to full clinic

it is generally agreed that the modern environment can cause people to have depressive symptoms, and that in most cases these will never progress to full clinical depression. seems at least worth considering that the same is possible with psychotic symptoms. i think some conspiracy theorists might just have a kind of low grade mania or psychosis. not enough to stop them from functioning, but enough to make them see patterns that aren't there and have a hard time thinking logically about certain topics. this would also explain why many conspiracy theories nowadays no longer even pretend to be rational. With JFK or the moon landing, they would at least try to present evidence and make arguments, however distorted. But if you talk to a QAnon believer or many flat earth people, their arguments do not even have internal coherence -- it's just free association. All this being said, I think there should be a strong norm against trying to diagnose specific individuals with mental illness over the internet. But it's hard for me not to contemplate this as a possible explanation.