paranoia

Just curious, have you been reading dialogue between the lines for most of your life, or did you start noticing these things after you smoked weed several times?

I realize you don't do it now, but in my experience, weed can change your way of thinking. Probably depends on the person.

I honestly don't think you're flat-out crazy, although you may be a tad paranoid. Maybe you are just able to pick up on dialogue in a different way.

I'm not really a reliable source though.

Zyprexa is shit. don't use that one other than as a last resort. if there is any advice i can give, that would be it.

it causes massive weight gain. i've seen it in myself and someone else i know.

i suspect other antipsychotics can do that as well but i haven't noticed it as much.

Example dialogue would be good. I reckon myself a pretty paranoid person and have been battling a similar thing to you for years, but I think my thinking was a bit different from yours still. Personally I have not found a way to talk to others without constantly thinking about a 'meta' level of how I sound or the general tone of how the conversation is going. This leads to my thoughts being more about the general tone of the convo rather than the content of the convo. Very annoying to say the least. I felt for a long time that I didn't feel anything about what was being talked about but rather felt I had to respond because I was there or because I wanted to appear social, or similar feelings. It lead to me just saying empty shit that I didn't mean or care about. It also lead to something I think sounds similar to you which is this mental state of constant analysis of the persons face and speech patterns and just general tone which was very distracting.

it's hard to know what your mechanisms are and what the underlying feelings or triggers can be (I do believe there are some) and so a psychologist who really LISTENS and responds would be good. No shrinks, no meds, at least not yet. It could be social anxiety disorder, but it's hard to say on a forum. I don't have a whole lot of advice because I sort of grew out of it naturally (at least to a good degree compared to earlier years) but I definitely think exploring your thoughts with someone else to get some GOOD feedback would help. Right now it sounds like you're all alone in this without much thoughtful feedback and when that happens it can be a downward spiral because you get to reinforce your ideas and feelings every time you experience them. I can tell you with 100% guarantee that you are exaggerating it in your mind and that it's probably 100 times less intense or complex for most of the other people talking to you. I do mean that as a comfort because I think there is a simpler and more relaxing way to think about social situations, you just need some help with it. I also think time can make it better as you grow older.

so ye

I have a similar problem from time to time, thankfully very occasionally. My mind will make this "switch" where everything I read or hear automatically gets interpreted as a metaphor for something else. The scary part about it is how instant the interpretation occurs, because it seldom involves any conscious analyzing. It's one of the reasons I never smoke pot and stay away from hallucinogens. These days if it occurs I just tell myself that it's a weird psychological condition that will pass, as opposed to thinking I'm catching a glimpse of some objective reality that the people around me are unaware of. I'll just remove myself from whatever external stimuli is feeding into it until I feel my mind is back to normal. Luckily these episodes pass very quickly for me (hour tops) as long as I make a concentrated effort not to engage them. Listening to instrumental music or focusing on other activities that don't require interpreting language might help when you find yourself overanalyzing dialogue like that. If it's a constant thing though, hm... Well I'm not sure how useful what I've said is for you, but hopefully it helps to know some people on here can kind of relate. What you described made a lot of sense to me. Keep talking to people, and if you find yourself talking to a medical professional who really doesn't seem to get it, don't hesitate to find someone new. A lot of people in the psychology profession are remarkably poor at reading people, but there are good ones out there.

  On 10/7/2011 at 3:11 AM, viscosity said:

... but I can't knock the feeling that it goes way beyond that and is actually a insideous way of transmitting ideas where the person either a) knows what they are doing and is trying to be manipulative or b) is just making simple statements, not knowing that he/she is making judgements indirectly.

Well you can't deny that 99% of stuff that's going on is picked up unconsciously and also instantly, so a lot of times - if not all the time - the world is a giant synchronized (sentient) machinery, constantly replying to itself. But we are human, man, so don't worry ... any judgement that comes out as an unconscious reply to surrondings has absolutely no judgmental qualities because it came from deep within the human self and is thus innocent. Yup, a lot is noticed and a lot is said, you can't be invisible and your quirks can't be invisible, but if you're being paranoid because you think that the world is subliminaly judging you, don't be - the world just has eyes and is very objective and doesn't give a fuck.

Conscious human beings on the other hand don't have very good eyes so don't worry about that.

Same issue, though I wouldn't say that I'm paranoid—I don't suspect that any of my peers are being [intentionally] manipulative. It's a heightened and sometimes irritating sense of awareness that I can hinder with alcohol. I'm currently experimenting with meditation as a way to dampen or possibly eliminate it altogether . . . do I really want to do this, though?

Interesting to hear it described by someone else, but I'm afraid to hear your diagnosis. What if I have fuckin' AS or something? I'd rather not know.

I had shit like this when I was a pothead. To the point I didn't trust anyone's intentions. It lingered on for a long time after I quit, but it slowly got better.

To be honest, I still avoid a lot of people, old friends, family... Thankfully, I don't need a lot of people in my life.

You can read pretty much everything and specially people, what they say, how they move etc. But if this fact is making you feel in a way that you know it is not normal it's time to ask your family about it. Lots of meds have terrible secondary effects and psychiatrists are charlatans so use them as absolute last resort. If you reach that stage you won't know it, your wife / parents will take you to one so there is no need to worry about that stuff.

Start with a psychologist and read about body language. Oh and you need to tell a good (sane) friend outside the psych about how the therapy is going. If you are out of luck you might go to the wrong one and they will fuck you even worse.

isn't the catch all term for this "projecting"

try some skullcap extract from gaia herbs

ionic magnesium from pure essence labs

and a homeopathic remedy from bach flower remedies called "rescue"

or use one of the biorn single blue tubes from their respective homeopathic pharmacopia

stop caffeine and weed for a few months

exercise do yoga /tai chi and meditate

I feel like I'm being hounded everyday, but that could just be me, part of my condition.

To precede my statement: I don't mean to make light of your situation, I empathize with your problem (viscosity). However, I have to say this—

I feel like a hound is licking my penis everyday, but that could just be me, part of my condition.

i love being crazy, if it´s in you you have to embrace it

here are two links:

blue pill

red pill

Exactly.

good responses here / other topics (CERN, the world is ending type threads).

is it because watmm = nerds and/or artists is it because the Internet is it something else?

Besides the general bickering, neuroses, and bizarre grudges people hold here, we are generally a resourceful bunch.

  On 10/7/2011 at 7:17 AM, Murveman said:

Just curious, have you been reading dialogue between the lines for most of your life, or did you start noticing these things after you smoked weed several times?

I realize you don't do it now, but in my experience, weed can change your way of thinking. Probably depends on the person.

I honestly don't think you're flat-out crazy, although you may be a tad paranoid. Maybe you are just able to pick up on dialogue in a different way.

 

I'm not really a reliable source though.

I suppose it started around high school where I was delving in marijuana for a bit, still I doubt weed would have a long term effect like this without it being documented. I've heard of this type of thing with acid and triggering schizophrenia but not with weed. i've always been somewhat reserved and shy so maybe I'm just trying to grow out of that and my body and through process is lagging behind so to say

  On 10/7/2011 at 7:25 AM, xxx said:

Ignore the dumbasses in this thread. Franklin doesn't seem to be knocking around as much but he is our resident therapist. Your post sounds very much like most clinical vignettes related to paranoia. You are at a crossroads because you are still able to see outside of yourself and know that there might be a problem. It is a slippery slope that you are not in control of between staying lucid and getting 100% tied up in delusions. There is no need to suffer like that. Neurontin is just "OK", it was never intended for psychiatric use anyway. It's an anti-epileptic that gathered a bunch of off-label usages that may or may not have been a good idea. At huge doses (>900mg.) it has been shown to be a mild anxiolytic but I think that you should start to consider the antipsychotics. Great strides have been made and there are lots to try. I'm thinking of Geodon, Seroquel and Abilify. Zyprexa is another one but that has a tendency to snow the fuck out of people and it's one of the worst metabolic offenders (diabetes, weight gain, high triglycerides, etc.)

Good luck and PM me if you want more

 

SOURCE: shitloads of experience in mental health + B.A. in Biology and Psychology

well i recently got off seroquel because it made me so lethargic and I was getting these weird uncontrollable twitches and jitters.. I just saw my psychiatrist today and she prescribed me abilify, which is supposed to be less sedating. but still, these medications in general tend to make me feel dead inside, atleast now i have energy and motivation

coax, Zephyr_Nova, Dpek, and Lascaille.. thanks for relating, this makes me feel allot better. it kind of bothers me there seems to be so much support for certain groups, like alcoholics or people with bipolar personality disorder, but not much for people having serious paranoid thoughts or anxiety. I suppose most of the people afflicted either learn to cope with it somehow or are just to convinced of their own irrational thinking to admit they are delusional

If you feel like prescriptions aren't helping enough, I'd recommend talking to your Psychologist about CBT sessions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_behavioral_therapy

There's significant evidence of the effectiveness with CBT on a multitude of disorders. You can be on prescriptions as well as doing CBT then eventually ween off them both. My Abnormal Psych professor had done research with CBT and highly appraises its therapeutic strengths.

Do some research and keep an open mind, you'll get through this

You're being paranoid. Stop it. Get back to being a zombie. Live. Work. Love. Work. Marry. Work. Work. Work. Buy. Buy. Buy.

They are watching you through us.

The world burns-

smoke more weed

cognitive behavioral therapy sounds like it would be benefit you greatly if you could find a good therapist who specializes in it

  On 10/7/2011 at 7:34 AM, vamos scorcho said:

Zyprexa is shit. don't use that one other than as a last resort. if there is any advice i can give, that would be it.

when i had a stint in a mental hospital they put me on 30 days of Zyprexa, and it was one of the heaviest sedatives i had ever taken. It basically was like being on xanax or valium but with no euphoria and you cant go to sleep that easily, you just feel like you want to.

I highly recommend NOT moving to some kind of SSRI even or worse an anti psychotic until you try CBT therapy without drugs for a while. Once you go down the road of being reliant on any drug for your mental well being without trying other options first, you are not really solving the problem imo.

In my own experience i have found that psycholgoists who practice primarily psychoanalysis (delving into your past and what causes you to act as you do now) and psychiatrists who also believe in this practice (most of them do) are not as helpful in the long term as a Cognitive Behavior Therapy practicing psychologist. In my very strong opinion psychoanalysis is junk-science, but i could see with someone who thinks Freud was 100% right disagreeing with me on this. It's based on an archaic and false understanding of how the human mind works.

  Quote

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a psychotherapeutic approach: a talking therapy. CBT aims to solve problems concerning dysfunctional emotions, behaviors and cognitions through a goal-oriented, systematic procedure in the present.

the key here is 'present' you aren't going to waste 5 sessions talking about your Dad's shortcomings or something like that, because the goal of CBT is to help you in the now, not dredge up bad past experiences.

i don't think what the poster originally talked about is a classic delusion, but its a more subtle problem of reading too much subtext into what somebody is actually saying without just taking what they say at face value.

  On 10/7/2011 at 8:27 PM, chaosmachine said:

red pill

there are a lot of respectable psychologists who say very strongly this form of therapy is junk science too. It seems like a great deal of modern psychology still is junk/psuedo-science.

  On 10/11/2011 at 6:00 PM, Awepittance said:

In my very strong opinion psychoanalysis is junk-science

it could be, but Psychiatry is even worse

Wait so Tom Cruise was right?

I will not to go into detail because this is too painful but I spent five years getting 'treated' by those charlatans and to make it short, I'm extremely lucky to be alive right now. That class is a cancer of society.

http://www.nybooks.c...al-illness-why/

What they say in that article is 100% true.