Question of how delusional beliefs are caused

[Oz67]

Is delusional beliefs caused by creating false memories or making up lies and believe at those false memories or lies pervasively and believing those beliefs so strongly and sometimes with lack of true insight?

 

[tree]

Delusion - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

What Are Delusions?

Delusions are false beliefs that persist despite empirical evidence. Learn about the types and examples of each, what causes them, and how they’re treated.

www.verywellhealth.com

 

[Loren]

Out of curiosity, do you, or have you ever spoken to anyone who specializes in matters of the human brain, neuroscience, psychiatry, or the like, or read literature on the subject? I would find doing so, of interest if I were having the same experiences that you've been inquiring about. Although, I am not trying to discourage you from asking here.

 

[Oz67]

Out of curiosity, do you, or have you ever spoken to anyone who specializes in matters of the human brain, neuroscience, psychiatry, or the like, or read literature on the subject? I would find doing so, of interest if I were having the same experiences that you've been inquiring about. Although, I am not trying to discourage you from asking here.

Not yet, but I can ask that question with my counselor and psychiatrist.

 

[Judge]

Is delusional beliefs caused by creating false memories or making up lies and believe at those false memories or lies pervasively and believing those beliefs so strongly and sometimes with lack of true insight?

Might first help in better defining what you are referring to. Particularly given their possible origins. Otherwise such a discussion could go into multiple directions.

Does this best define what you are referring to purely in a pathological sense?

Delusional Disorder

Delusional (paranoid) disorder is a serious mental illness where a person cannot tell what is real from what is imaginary. Know causes, symptoms, and treatment.

www.webmd.com

 

[Oz67]

Might first help in better defining what you are referring to. Particularly given their possible origins. Otherwise such a discussion could go into multiple directions.

Does this best define what you are referring to purely in a pathological sense?

Delusional Disorder

Delusional (paranoid) disorder is a serious mental illness where a person cannot tell what is real from what is imaginary. Know causes, symptoms, and treatment.

www.webmd.com

It includes all of the above, I was asking a very broad question, I am sorry

 

[thejuice]

Genetics, stress, drug abuse, chemical imbalances, differences in brain regions involved with perception, isolation seem to factor from a quick skim of webMD

 

[AspieChris]

It includes all of the above, I was asking a very broad question, I am sorry

I actually loved your question. I do that crap to myself all of the time! I don’t believe I was abducted by aliens or anything like that, but I absolutely have memories of stuff that never happened to me.

I have always had this problem: Someone tells me a story about something they experienced, or maybe I watch a movie, or maybe I just had a dream about something. Something simple and unprovable, like being there when an old lady farted in church.

I can see the pastor looking up from his bible with a crooked frown. Everyone slowly looks to the front row, near the door and the statue of Jesus. The women in their pews all start fanning themselves a lot faster. The room gets dead quiet and we all hear a little girl say “Mommy, she farted” as she points to the oldest lady there, sitting with her gigantic purse hanging from her walker.

I remember it like it was yesterday, but I was never there. Either I dreamed it or saw it in a movie….. or worse. It’s a funny story so I tell it several times. Eventually I tell it to the person who WAS in church that day and told me the story.

I wouldn’t say I’m delusional. It’s more due to the way I absorb a story, how my memories are stored and later retrieved, and how much I want to blend in with NT’s (to the point that I don’t bother to fact-check my own memories).

I think my brain works like an old filing cabinet. Sometimes there are photographs that get put into the wrong folder or labeled with the wrong information. But if I was to take the time to verify what I can clearly see in the image, I could avoid the embarrassment of other people thinking my filing system was broken or insane.

 

[Oz67]

I actually loved your question. I do that crap to myself all of the time! I don’t believe I was abducted by aliens or anything like that, but I absolutely have memories of stuff that never happened to me.

I have always had this problem: Someone tells me a story about something they experienced, or maybe I watch a movie, or maybe I just had a dream about something. Something simple and unprovable, like being there when an old lady farted in church.

I can see the pastor looking up from his bible with a crooked frown. Everyone slowly looks to the front row, near the door and the statue of Jesus. The women in their pews all start fanning themselves a lot faster. The room gets dead quiet and we all hear a little girl say “Mommy, she farted” as she points to the oldest lady there, sitting with her gigantic purse hanging from her walker.

I remember it like it was yesterday, but I was never there. Either I dreamed it or saw it in a movie….. or worse. It’s a funny story so I tell it several times. Eventually I tell it to the person who WAS in church that day and told me the story.

I wouldn’t say I’m delusional. It’s more due to the way I absorb a story, how my memories are stored and later retrieved, and how much I want to blend in with NT’s (to the point that I don’t bother to fact-check my own memories).

I think my brain works like an old filing cabinet. Sometimes there are photographs that get put into the wrong folder or labeled with the wrong information. But if I was to take the time to verify what I can clearly see in the image, I could avoid the embarrassment of other people thinking my filing system was broken or insane.

I have delusional beliefs, but I still understand the consequences of my actions and have some savant abilities due to restricted interests.

 

[Shevek]

Is delusional beliefs caused by creating false memories or making up lies and believe at those false memories or lies pervasively and believing those beliefs so strongly and sometimes with lack of true insight?

There are many ways. I know a flat-earther whose belief is based on the Bible mentioning two lights in the sky, meaning the sun and moon, which means that the moon cannot be just a reflector itself. For years, I thought that a local historic building was about ten miles away from it's real location, on the opposite side of town, because I'd seen it there in a dream, but not remembered that detail. There are also tailored delusions, such as the real value of a diamond or a NFT, or what really happened in history that would have sent someone important to jail.
The human brain is built to see patterns - seeing faces in the lines that make up cartoons is often quite a leap. If someone sees a few things that seem to tell a story, the story will seem real even if they mistook a shadow for a black shirt, or a bottle of water for a bottle of gin. I had a friend who was very worried because he was seeing things like horses in his kitchen. He was going blind, and sometimes, the few pixels getting into his brain matched a horse better than anything else, so that's what he saw.

 

[Jonn]

Is delusional beliefs caused by creating false memories or making up lies and believe at those false memories or lies pervasively and believing those beliefs so strongly and sometimes with lack of true insight?

Based on life experience, emotional needs are a major factor in embracing "Delusional Beliefs".

 

[MNAus]

There's an idea that our brains constantly balance prediction and sensory input. When we find that the prediction doesn't match the actual outcome we need to do something. Typically that would mean updating our predictions to match the new information. However, there are a number of situations where we will double down on our predictions. There are a few conditions which appear to do this, as well as a bunch of experiences which cause us to rely more heavily on predictions than we otherwise might do. In those situations we might even attempt to modify our senses to fit our predictions, which reinforces these faulty predictions further.

 

[Jonn]

Typically that would mean updating our predictions to match the new information. However, there are a number of situations where we will double down on our predictions.

...with the abdication of scientific methodology.
I have come across quite a few ppl like that elsewhere.

Many cannot forge through the toxicity of cognitive dissonance towards the Truth.
But some can...
Some greatly value personal individuality and integrity...
And some do not...

Once again, it is a battle between rationality and emotionalism.
Unfortunately, all too often, emotional needs are victorious.
C’est la guerre.

BTW, "Winter is coming..."

 

[MNAus]

...with the abdication of scientific methodology.
I have come across quite a few ppl like that elsewhere.

Many cannot forge through the toxicity of cognitive dissonance towards the Truth.
But some can...
Some greatly value personal individuality and integrity...
And some do not...

Once again, it is a battle between rationality and emotionalism.
Unfortunately, all too often, emotional needs are victorious.
C’est la guerre.

BTW, "Winter is coming..."

It's not just at that logic/cognitive level. It can also be at the level of people doing what you expected, objects moving as expected, etc.

 

[Shevek]

I used to think that disagreements were due to either faulty/missing data or errors in processing. Now, I think that the range of a person's political opinions is about as flexible as gender preference is. Ma Nature never wants her eggs all in one basket. If there's a famine, she needs a few fat, greedy people to survive, but still carry all the genes for a normal re-population. If someone comes along with something good to trade, or learn to do, there need to be tribes interested in the news. If someone comes along with a new disease, because they have been banished elsewhere, there need to be tribes that are automatically suspicious of strangers. Liberals and Conservatives are born, not made. Broad experience only moves a group of people about 10% away from their initial positions.
There will always be big differences of opinion, because there will always be new challenges coming from outside, and in the confusion, a few people have to guess right.

 

[Oz67]

All of these make sense.