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I have always had these distortions throughout my life. I sometimes feel like high-functioning psychotic. I recall the story of that researcher James Fallon tha

I have always had these distortions throughout my life. I sometimes feel like high-functioning psychotic. I recall the story of that researcher James Fallon that found out he was a psychopath when he scanned his own brain. Everything feels intellectualized rather than a concrete physical reality.

GavinMcG 5y ago
Psychosis and psychopathy are distinct, for what it's worth.
- handol 5y ago
  The article seems to treat psychosis, psychotic symptoms, and Schizophrenia as though they all refer to the same thing.
  - GavinMcG 5y ago
    But not psychopathy.
  - nextaccountic 5y ago
    Psychopathy isn't a medical diagnosis but it generally refers to antisocial personality disorder, which doesn't include psychosis in its diagnosis criteria.
    - ma2rten 5y ago
      I think it's a common misconception that Psychopathy refers to antisocial personality disorder. It's a related but distinct concept. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy_Checklist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy_Checklist
  - euthymiclabs 5y ago
    Which is how people think clinically. Schizophrenia spectrum disorders are the most common forms of lasting psychosis. Psychopathy isn't related.
- runawaybottle 5y ago
  They are distinct, but the ego’s attempt to rationalize what they are experiencing is often part of the same framework. Paranoia, delusions of grandeur, narcissism, me-against-the-world (victom-playing). Drug abuse, criminality, and to a lesser extent - sheer failure at something, also lead to this framework. I failed this class because the education system sucks, I’m burnt out at work because my company sucks, etc. It’s so difficult to explain what’s happening, but somehow, across a variety of circumstances and pathologies, a similar framework emerges. It’s curiously a human crutch. I don’t envy shrinks, as they are confronted by the same framework by wildly different psychological explanations. And, it’s there job to find the dangerous ones that show up, needles in the haystack.
  - TheOtherHobbes 5y ago
    You're conflating different things that are unrelated. Symptomatically, personality disorders are basically relational dysfunctions. Some are developed as compensations for barely having an ego at all. They're fairly well documented. The most shocking thing for outsiders is realising how alien they are. People with no knowledge of psychology literally cannot imagine how it's possible for people with these issues to lie consistently without guilt, act without empathy, and have conversations that appear coherent but make no sense at all relationally. Drug abuse is a different issue with a much wider range of causes. Burn out and educational failures are real issues and can be caused by real external problems. Someone who has a poor teacher objectively, or even just a teacher who is a bad fit, does not have the same psychology as someone who persuades themselves all teachers are bad because teaching itself is evil.
    - runawaybottle 5y ago
      So, what are you implying, that shrinks know exactly who is off their rocker within a few sessions?
      - GavinMcG 5y ago
        No, they seem to be implying that your armchair analysis that seems to boil down to "everything is part of the same framework" is simplistic at best.
meowface 5y ago
Just because there's a correlation doesn't mean distortions inherently imply psychosis. It's difficult to know your experience just from your brief comment, but it's possible that you may have something like depersonalization-derealization disorder, without any psychosis. Psychosis generally involves delusions and hallucinations. For example: hearing things that aren't real, believing governments or other powerful entities are specifically targeting and watching you (much more so than just being caught up in the standard dragnet surveillance), thinking you're a divine being or on a divinely-mandated mission, frequently thinking people you see IRL are stalking and following you, thinking some external entity or machine is inserting invasive thoughts into your head via photons. And as the other commenter said, psychopathy and psychosis are unrelated, and as far as I know not even correlated. But I understand you're probably just referencing that story as an example and weren't suggesting a connection. (The context, for anyone unaware: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-neuroscientist-who-discovered-he-was-a-psychopath-180947814/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-neuroscien...)
- fakesheriff 5y ago
  One of these things is not like the other... > believing governments or other powerful entities are specifically targeting and watching you Because that never happens? > frequently thinking people you see IRL are stalking and following you Because that never happens? > hearing things that aren't real Who decides what's real? Is it not real unless you've got audio? > thinking you're a divine being or on a divinely-mandated mission > thinking some external entity or machine is inserting invasive thoughts into your head via photons
  - meowface 5y ago
    Of course the first two things do sometimes happen to people. But people in a psychotic state very frequently think they're happening when they actually aren't happening. A high percentage of them believe it, but out of that sample, the belief is almost never actually based in reality. That's why I listed a myriad of symptoms. If someone solely believes that, say, some people are following them, that's one thing. But if someone thinks people are following them and that some entity is implanting thoughts into their head via futuristic technology, then they're very likely in a state of psychosis. If you haven't committed any crimes or done anything noteworthy, it's especially unlikely any government is going to devote resources to following you. If you know you've committed some serious crimes, then it's certainly a much more rational fear and could be real. Also, if you're really being followed by a government IRL, odds are you're not going to notice it unless they want you to notice it, and that pretty much doesn't happen unless you're an important figure traveling to a foreign country and they want to intimidate you. It's not impossible that you could notice it, but when multiplied by all of the other probabilities, it's very unlikely. Especially if you hold other paranoid beliefs. >Who decides what's real? Is it not real unless you've got audio? If you hear someone talking to you but you don't see anyone nearby, or if you hear something/someone while no one else near you hears anything. But, yes, if you try to record it and don't hear anything on the recording, then that would also be an indication.
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heavyset_go 5y ago
One feature of psychosis and mental illness, in general, is a lack of insight into one's own condition, or the lack of a complete picture into how symptoms impact one's thoughts and behaviors. In psychosis, this very pronounced because many of those who experience psychosis don't know they're experiencing delusions or hallucinations. It's all very real to them. The fact that you have an awareness of your distortions seems to suggest that you're not psychotic.
- pvarangot 5y ago
  Psychosis is not always like that. You can have an episode and then retrospectively, like days or weeks after the delusion, realize it was not "real" (tm). An example is people on the bipolar spectrum but this can also happen if you are on the autism spectrum and had an overstimulation episode or some other kind of break.
  - lstodd 5y ago
    bipolar and autism are orthogonal. it's perfecly possible to be on both
- Causality1 5y ago
  You're leaving out a key aspect, which is "while it's happening". My mentally ill friends are some of the most introspective, self-aware people I know. They understand exactly what happens to them and how it affects them. They just don't have the ability to do a lot about it while it's happening.
- kayodelycaon 5y ago
  I’ve had psychosis and knew I was completely out of reality. The problem was my rational brain wasn’t in the driver’s seat. So I got to watch myself believe and do things I didn’t want.
  - ksaj 5y ago
    I had a friend who had a few psychotic episodes in her teens and early 20s. She fully knew there were no aliens, but that didn't stop the sensation that they were real and hiding in her apartment, or the actually real fright that came along with experiencing it.
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perl4ever 5y ago
>Everything feels intellectualized rather than a concrete physical reality I'm not sure what this means, but you might read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depersonalization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depersonalization It is said to be a common phenomenon that most people experience at one time or another, and can be associated with a great many conditions or events, from head injuries, to schizophrenia, to drug use.
- colordrops 5y ago
  Yeah that might be it. What I mean is that I don't feel like I'm actually here - everything feels flat and dream like, rather than in the moment planted in a physical space. I thought this was normal though, aren't most people constantly in that state due to worry about the future or obsessing over the past? And that's the point of meditation, I think... To bring yourself into the here and now. I do some regular meditation and get glimpses of feeling more awake and present, but nothing persistent so far.
  - perl4ever 5y ago
    >aren't most people constantly in that state due to worry about the future or obsessing over the past I would think that the alternative that is "in the moment" is social interaction or working on a project.
    - sdwr 5y ago
      Or doing nothing!
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - Loeffelmann 5y ago
    I have depersonalisation disorder. I got it from drug use. I know that at leadst for me it's not normal. I still remember what it was like before and how different everything is now. I feel the same stuff you are describing.

GavinMcG 5y ago

Psychosis and psychopathy are distinct, for what it's worth.

handol 5y ago
The article seems to treat psychosis, psychotic symptoms, and Schizophrenia as though they all refer to the same thing.
- GavinMcG 5y ago
  But not psychopathy.
- nextaccountic 5y ago
  Psychopathy isn't a medical diagnosis but it generally refers to antisocial personality disorder, which doesn't include psychosis in its diagnosis criteria.
  - ma2rten 5y ago
    I think it's a common misconception that Psychopathy refers to antisocial personality disorder. It's a related but distinct concept. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy_Checklist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy_Checklist
- euthymiclabs 5y ago
  Which is how people think clinically. Schizophrenia spectrum disorders are the most common forms of lasting psychosis. Psychopathy isn't related.
runawaybottle 5y ago
They are distinct, but the ego’s attempt to rationalize what they are experiencing is often part of the same framework. Paranoia, delusions of grandeur, narcissism, me-against-the-world (victom-playing). Drug abuse, criminality, and to a lesser extent - sheer failure at something, also lead to this framework. I failed this class because the education system sucks, I’m burnt out at work because my company sucks, etc. It’s so difficult to explain what’s happening, but somehow, across a variety of circumstances and pathologies, a similar framework emerges. It’s curiously a human crutch. I don’t envy shrinks, as they are confronted by the same framework by wildly different psychological explanations. And, it’s there job to find the dangerous ones that show up, needles in the haystack.
- TheOtherHobbes 5y ago
  You're conflating different things that are unrelated. Symptomatically, personality disorders are basically relational dysfunctions. Some are developed as compensations for barely having an ego at all. They're fairly well documented. The most shocking thing for outsiders is realising how alien they are. People with no knowledge of psychology literally cannot imagine how it's possible for people with these issues to lie consistently without guilt, act without empathy, and have conversations that appear coherent but make no sense at all relationally. Drug abuse is a different issue with a much wider range of causes. Burn out and educational failures are real issues and can be caused by real external problems. Someone who has a poor teacher objectively, or even just a teacher who is a bad fit, does not have the same psychology as someone who persuades themselves all teachers are bad because teaching itself is evil.
  - runawaybottle 5y ago
    So, what are you implying, that shrinks know exactly who is off their rocker within a few sessions?
    - GavinMcG 5y ago
      No, they seem to be implying that your armchair analysis that seems to boil down to "everything is part of the same framework" is simplistic at best.

meowface 5y ago

Just because there's a correlation doesn't mean distortions inherently imply psychosis. It's difficult to know your experience just from your brief comment, but it's possible that you may have something like depersonalization-derealization disorder, without any psychosis. Psychosis generally involves delusions and hallucinations. For example: hearing things that aren't real, believing governments or other powerful entities are specifically targeting and watching you (much more so than just being caught up in the standard dragnet surveillance), thinking you're a divine being or on a divinely-mandated mission, frequently thinking people you see IRL are stalking and following you, thinking some external entity or machine is inserting invasive thoughts into your head via photons. And as the other commenter said, psychopathy and psychosis are unrelated, and as far as I know not even correlated. But I understand you're probably just referencing that story as an example and weren't suggesting a connection. (The context, for anyone unaware: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-neuroscientist-who-discovered-he-was-a-psychopath-180947814/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-neuroscien...)

fakesheriff 5y ago
One of these things is not like the other... > believing governments or other powerful entities are specifically targeting and watching you Because that never happens? > frequently thinking people you see IRL are stalking and following you Because that never happens? > hearing things that aren't real Who decides what's real? Is it not real unless you've got audio? > thinking you're a divine being or on a divinely-mandated mission > thinking some external entity or machine is inserting invasive thoughts into your head via photons
- meowface 5y ago
  Of course the first two things do sometimes happen to people. But people in a psychotic state very frequently think they're happening when they actually aren't happening. A high percentage of them believe it, but out of that sample, the belief is almost never actually based in reality. That's why I listed a myriad of symptoms. If someone solely believes that, say, some people are following them, that's one thing. But if someone thinks people are following them and that some entity is implanting thoughts into their head via futuristic technology, then they're very likely in a state of psychosis. If you haven't committed any crimes or done anything noteworthy, it's especially unlikely any government is going to devote resources to following you. If you know you've committed some serious crimes, then it's certainly a much more rational fear and could be real. Also, if you're really being followed by a government IRL, odds are you're not going to notice it unless they want you to notice it, and that pretty much doesn't happen unless you're an important figure traveling to a foreign country and they want to intimidate you. It's not impossible that you could notice it, but when multiplied by all of the other probabilities, it's very unlikely. Especially if you hold other paranoid beliefs. >Who decides what's real? Is it not real unless you've got audio? If you hear someone talking to you but you don't see anyone nearby, or if you hear something/someone while no one else near you hears anything. But, yes, if you try to record it and don't hear anything on the recording, then that would also be an indication.

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heavyset_go 5y ago

One feature of psychosis and mental illness, in general, is a lack of insight into one's own condition, or the lack of a complete picture into how symptoms impact one's thoughts and behaviors. In psychosis, this very pronounced because many of those who experience psychosis don't know they're experiencing delusions or hallucinations. It's all very real to them. The fact that you have an awareness of your distortions seems to suggest that you're not psychotic.

pvarangot 5y ago
Psychosis is not always like that. You can have an episode and then retrospectively, like days or weeks after the delusion, realize it was not "real" (tm). An example is people on the bipolar spectrum but this can also happen if you are on the autism spectrum and had an overstimulation episode or some other kind of break.
- lstodd 5y ago
  bipolar and autism are orthogonal. it's perfecly possible to be on both
Causality1 5y ago
You're leaving out a key aspect, which is "while it's happening". My mentally ill friends are some of the most introspective, self-aware people I know. They understand exactly what happens to them and how it affects them. They just don't have the ability to do a lot about it while it's happening.
kayodelycaon 5y ago
I’ve had psychosis and knew I was completely out of reality. The problem was my rational brain wasn’t in the driver’s seat. So I got to watch myself believe and do things I didn’t want.
- ksaj 5y ago
  I had a friend who had a few psychotic episodes in her teens and early 20s. She fully knew there were no aliens, but that didn't stop the sensation that they were real and hiding in her apartment, or the actually real fright that came along with experiencing it.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

perl4ever 5y ago

>Everything feels intellectualized rather than a concrete physical reality I'm not sure what this means, but you might read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depersonalization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depersonalization It is said to be a common phenomenon that most people experience at one time or another, and can be associated with a great many conditions or events, from head injuries, to schizophrenia, to drug use.

colordrops 5y ago
Yeah that might be it. What I mean is that I don't feel like I'm actually here - everything feels flat and dream like, rather than in the moment planted in a physical space. I thought this was normal though, aren't most people constantly in that state due to worry about the future or obsessing over the past? And that's the point of meditation, I think... To bring yourself into the here and now. I do some regular meditation and get glimpses of feeling more awake and present, but nothing persistent so far.
- perl4ever 5y ago
  >aren't most people constantly in that state due to worry about the future or obsessing over the past I would think that the alternative that is "in the moment" is social interaction or working on a project.
  - sdwr 5y ago
    Or doing nothing!
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- Loeffelmann 5y ago
  I have depersonalisation disorder. I got it from drug use. I know that at leadst for me it's not normal. I still remember what it was like before and how different everything is now. I feel the same stuff you are describing.