Who has delusions?

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I would have, had my parents not been so open minded as to let me join a band at age 15...I was pursuing one of my serious main interests, which was singing...

Also, once I hit pubery, I made it through a bunch of the serious dysfunctions I had as a child..and found myself sorta overcompensating for my stunted childhood..in a furious attempt to catch up to my peers and be a "normal" teenager..

I'm looking into the extreme anxiety and fear emotional responses I got from these two traumas. It seems like what I have is MORE than PTSD -- almost seems schizophrenic, but non-delusional. From a few posts in the past few days, it appears that children and teens with classic AS can have psychotic or schizoid episodes, but that is a temporary thing that apparently passes, so I'm wondering if these traumas induce some kind of adjustment reaction in me that is what a teenager rebelling against the universe might go through, and that I am having some period like that.

Also, I am looking into the following today: Multiple Complex Developmental Disorder (McDD). It's an autism spectrum disorder similar to AS, with elements of thought disorder and other schizophrenic behavior in it. It appears to be exactly what I have right now, but these periods of time in which I am in this state can be described as the 4-5 years following exposure to (targeting by) an abusive sociopathic mind. So while the below seems to fit my temporary condition, I wonder if the following condition can be diagnosed on a "temporary" basis. I.e. if I can switch from being AS to McDD when traumatized and then lapse back gradually into just being AS.

Multiple-complex Developmental Disorder (McDD) represents a distinct group within the autism spectrum based on symptomatology.

... there are some children who display the severe, early-appearing social and communicative deficits characteristic of autism who ALSO display some of the emotional instability and disordered thought processes that resemble schizophrenic symptoms. Cohen, et al. (1986), coined the term Multiplex Developmental Disorder (MDD) to describe these children, although they are often given a diagnosis of PDD-NOS by clinicians who may be unfamiliar with this terminology. Unlike schizophrenia, MDD symptoms emerge in childhood, sometimes in the first years of life, and persist throughout development.

Multiplex developmental disorder is diagnosed in people who are on both the autism and schizophrenia spectrums. Their intelligence and emotional range run the gamut. There is a high rate of co-morbidity with learning disorders, AD/HD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, bipolar disorder, social anxiety disorder, Tourette's syndrome, personality disorders, epilepsy, and phobias.

McDD is a developmental disorder with symptoms that can be divided into three groups.

A. Regulation of emotion. (Affective symptoms) – two or more of the following.
1. Depressive symptoms such as consistent depressed mood, feelings of sadness or emptiness, thoughts of death, little interest or pleasure in activities, chronic fatigue, feelings of worthlessness or guilt.
2. Manic symptoms such as racing thoughts, irritability, distractibility, psychomotor agitation, impulsivity, sleep disturbances, feelings of grandiosity or extreme self worth, risky behavior.
3. Anxious symptoms such as recurrent panic, intense inappropriate anxiety, dissociation, diffuse tension, paranoia, unusual fears and phobias that are peculiar in content or in intensity.
4. Severely impaired regulation of feelings.
5. Significant and wide emotional variability with or without environmental precipitants.

B. Consistent impairments in social behavior and development (Autistic symptoms) - at least two from (A) and one from (B) or (C).
(A) Qualitative impairment in social interaction.
1. Marked impairments in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body posture, and gestures to regulate social interaction
2. Failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
3. A lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people
4. Lack of social or emotional reciprocity
(B) Qualitative impairments in communication.
1. Delay in, or total lack of, the development of spoken language (not accompanied by an attempt to compensate through alternative modes of communication such as gesture or mime)
2. In individuals with adequate speech, marked impairment in the ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others
3. Stereotyped and repetitive use of language or idiosyncratic language
4. Lack of varied, spontaneous make-believe play or social imitative play appropriate to developmental level
(C) Restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities.
1. Encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
2. Apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
3. Stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms
4. Persistent preoccupation with parts of objects

C. Impaired cognitive processing (psychotic symptoms) – two or more of the following.
1. Delusions, including fantasies of personal omnipotence, thought insertion, paranoid preoccupations, overengagement with fantasy figures, grandiose fantasies of special powers, referential ideation, and confusion between fantasy and real life.
2. Hallucinations and/or unusual perceptual experiences.
3. Negative symptoms (anhedonia, affective flattening, alogia, or avolition)
4. Disorganized or catatonic behavior such as thought disorder symptoms, easy confusability, inappropriate emotions/facial expressions, uncontrollable laughter, etc.
5. Disorganized speech.

Other possible symptoms. (Does not count for diagnosis)
-Poor sensory integration/moter skills.
-Compulsive behavior and tics.
-Learning disorders.
-Poor judgement/difficulty making decisions.
-Difficulty expressing self.
-Literal concrete thinking.
-Poor concentration.

Here it is on Healthatoz.com
"Delusions. Those delusions that occur in schizophrenia and its related forms are typically bizarre (i.e., they could not occur in real life). Delusions occurring in delusional disorder are more plausible, but still patently untrue. In some cases, delusions may be accompanied by feelings of paranoia.


Hallucinations. Psychotic patients see, hear, smell, taste, or feel things that aren't there. Schizophrenic hallucinations are typically auditory or, less commonly, visual; but psychotic hallucinations can involve any of the five senses."

Every single time I go out driving, I always think everyone's staring at me whenever I'm at a stoplight or fairly close to the car in front of me and I just freeze up. I've also heard alien-like sounds, like they're coming from right outside my house or in another room. I don't know, I'm just weird. Oh, and another time I was driving home from school, I thought I was hearing a pipe bomb when I was at a red light and I pretty much freaked myself out.

Maybe I would call a couple of them delusions, but certainly not all. Me and my sister did see that unidentified flying object. I have seen two strange objects.

What I keep thinking that is a stupid paranoid delusion though, is that every person is a butt head. I meet one everyday, don't get me wrong there, but to think everybody is? uhm, yeah.. I eventualy noticed, after driving for 19+ hours on the road, that black birds weren't swooping down infront of my car. It was fetigue.

P.S. And please.... PLEASE don't toss me another "Oh maybe it was dust/light reflection/a burning fire well/another police-drug explosion/you're just tired/were you drunk/ect." BS.... Thank you. Getting old, that deal

Last edited by LiendaBalla on 16 Dec 2008, 10:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

I only have delusions of grandeur.

And You're trying to tell me that... ???

If I might ask for some help with an insight...

So where is the line between the exaggerated fears and anxieties of a phobia, and actual delusion? If you lose control (unmodulated emotions and panic attacks) because a barking dog approaches within 5 feet of you and you start, in the grip of the physical stress meltdown-and-panic, screaming, He's going to bite me! He's going to bite me! Does your exaggerated response and projection of fear comprise "delusion"?

Is that kind of unmodulated response, horror and projected fear different from a delusion because it's part of a phobic system?

This is kind of what I have, now. In my hypervigilant, hypersensitive response to NT bullies.

Yes, when I'm stressed over a long time, combined with a mild depression. The worst case I've had was when I actually for several years believed that almost everybody was trying to poison me. I allways made precautions to prevent it, but that's a different story. Recently, I sometimes think people at work is trying to sabotage my work, just to make sure my days are as difficult as they can get.
Think I have control over these things now, by trying to get an early perception that stress is on it's way. Now I'm also aware of my supposed AS, so I know the possible reason to my earlier reactions. Think that helps me to stay calm and not let anything get the best of me. I feel more in control than ever.

As I understood it in Psyc Class (so, this is not what the class taught as much as my memory of how I understood it enough for test purposes), delusions are what people think they are. A person who claims to be Santa Claus or Jesus Christ is delusional. Many NT's have used the phrase, "You are delusional" when people say things like "She doesn't like me because I'm prettier than she is." Hallucinations are things people think are going on around them. Like a guy on an acid trip who swore Papa Smurf was sitting next to him would be a hallucination. I knew a chic once too who swore (while on an acid trip) that Satan was after her and he wanted her cheese, and she saw Satan. Now, this hallucination was created by her friends (I wasn't there, I only got to hear about it...I don't do acid) who thought it would be funny to take advantage of her state of mind and hit the microphone to the kareoke machine making a loud thump sound, and told her that the noise was Satan coming after her, and he wanted cheese.

I guess basically, delusions are about the self and who you think you are while hallucinations are about the external world and what you think is going on around you.

I forget the exact choices in the poll, but to be special enough to think those things are happening to you would be delusion. But, to think those things are happening to you because you saw the alien put the device in you would be a hallucination. But, to think those things because you have feelings of being watched or followed is more paranoia. Why is this so confusing? Because psychology is mainly bull chit. The problems psychology tries to solve are real, but the method we use to solve them is bull. That, and psychologists misuse their own words frequently and often never agree on anything. Why I even have an interest in this field is beyond me.

If you have a delusion, surely you don't know you're having a delusion - that's the whole point, isn't it?

When I was a kid, I thought my mom could read my mind.

According to the evil doctors (Dr. Evil is my psychiatrist or it seems like it because he calls me crazy) they say I have bizarre delusions and in the past I know that's true because some of it is no longer happening. I'll just give you a list of ones that I have now and ones that I have had in the past:
Now:
1. Like you mentioned, aliens implanted a chip in my brain and they say I have a special purpose for them. (you read my mind, huh?)
2. That there are nanobots inside of me and I actually feel them so it can't be a delusion but the evil doctors say it is.
3. That I have inserted thoughts from the government and aliens
4. Thought broadcasting
5. I have this "mode" that I turn into a bird and think I can fly (I have actually tried to fly before) and during this time I lose my language and speak gibberish
6. That I am being controlled by the government from a satellite.
7. That I am a doctor (I realize this one is a delusion but the reason why I think this is because some doctors in the past said I know more than them in psychology!)
8. That I influence the economy and stock market
9. That I am going to turn into a robot (the thought insertion told me that-I would never think that on my own and the same with all these other so called delusions)
10. That there are cloaked FBI agents after me (I heard their footsteps and seen their footsteps but no body so it must be them)
Past:
1. I influenced world disasters with my psychic dreams.
2. That I controlled criminals with my mind to kill people
3. I don't know if this one is current or the past but aliens put a device that broacasts my thoughts to the world.
4. A grandiose delusion- I had this personality that thought she was God (yes, I have DID as well- I had 10 personalities but they don't happen really anymore)

Last edited by FireBird on 16 Dec 2008, 1:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Big Brother is watching us all.

I want to say this is bull because any Aspie could have all three. When it comes to emotions, everybody has all emotions including sadness and irritability. People with AS is going to feel a lot of those depressive, anxious, and manic symptoms when dealing with negative external stimuli like large groups of people, bullies, etc. So, there's three of that required two. You can also just assume the autistic symptoms are there for AS. Now, the psychotic symptoms. Many Aspies seem to think they are better than NTs, so that's a delusion. Since we are so nervous in social settings, often our speech gets disorganized. That's two out of two. Now we got three for three, so we must all be also this.

They really need to start wording these things better. That would totally make sense if people had all those things for no reason. Like the Autistic symptoms are there for no rhyme or reason. But, when you get into the emotional and "psychotic" symptoms, many are symptoms shared by all people as part of human nature. In addition, many are also common responses to certain stimuli. There is really no way to tell if someone is depressed for no reason whatsoever or if there was a normal reason for it (like they got fired) unless they volunteer the information for a normal reason, but since you would never know as a psychologist if there is a reason for it, then you can't be certain if those symptoms are really abnormal to have them or if they are a part of human nature. I just assume that a disorder means it's abnormal; otherwise, everyone has a disorder of some sort. Then again, maybe that's not what I'm getting. Everyone does have a disorder. The opposite of disorder would be order. Every person has some aspect of themselves that interferes with the common order of things. Maybe all those disorders is Psycholgy's way of creating an orderly world. Like in the Cat and the Hat movie with Mike Meyers.

This is what I don't get about psychology. It reminds me too much of the UCMJ (military code of justice...law). The UCMJ has a rule for everything. It is virtually impossible to follow all those rules. What results from this? Control. They can decide for any reason if they like you or not and work all those rules against you if they don't like you. I really think the reason why is because all the people making the laws are bored and just add laws to avoid doing any real work and show that their job is still needed so please don't fire me type thing. This is what psychology does with their diagnostic criteria (which most psychologists don't even follow as much as trendy news articles, which is why half the world is now ADHD). It creates an easier way to control. Like ADHD is a fun control for the pharmaceutical industry so they can make all that money off their amphetamine cocktails. Do you really think Chrystal Meth is illegal because it's bad for you? No, it's illegal because the company making Ritalin or Adderall can't profit from illegal sales of similar products, thereby, the government doesn't profit because illegal drug dealers don't always pay taxes (some actually do, and it was a very interesting story in accounting class because the guy paid taxes on his illegal drug sales and listed drug dealer as his primary occupation on his taxes for like 10 years; when he got busted, he didn't go to jail because some law says that you cannot prohibit someone from performing their primary means of income and him paying taxes on it and listing it as such proved it as his primary source of income, but he was court ordered to change his occupation). Anyway, I am willing to bet that the pharmaceutical companies have lobbyists that helped coerced IDEA into including ADHD on there so that schools are pushing kids into that diagnosis and medicine in order for the schools to collect more grant money which in turns increases sales for the pharmaceuticals. Aspergers, fortunately, doesn't make the pharmaceutical companies any money cause there is no drug for it which may be why it's diagnostic criteria makes a little more sense, but all those emotional and psychotic symptoms, the ones that hardly make any sense, can be treated with medicine. Hmmm?

Anyway, sorry I ranted, but I just wanted to get that off my chest. I would delete it and forget about it, but I just put too much time into it to waste it. Plus it would be cool, though I'm a doubtin it would happen, if somebody added to it. I kinda wonder why I want to go into psychology, but i think it's because this is one main thing I'd like to see change about it. Like the diagnostic criteria really needs to be written so any idiot or psychologist who lives in the gray area of ethics (like Dr. Phil) doesn't confuse it or twist it.

VERY GOOD POINT