Dark Minds: When does incredulity become paranoia

[mythstifieD]

It begins... obsessive paranoia due to conspiratorial thinking is now being talked about as a psychological disorder. Alas, I cannot find an electronic version of the article, only a "rebuttal" by Alex Jones cronie Chuck Baldwin. Of course, they're deeply offended, and Jones is mentioned by name many times apparently.

I was on the verge of considering therapy because I was scared to death that the NWO was about to launch Operation: Killing Spree on the world, but luckily I was cured with a deep dose of skeptic sense (NOT common sense). So, I dunno, is it a psychological problem? If I would have actually gone to therapy they may have prescribed drugs to calm my fears, but that wouldn't have answered my questions. What cured me was GOOD WELL REASONED answers to my questions, "simple" as that. However, there are people who are actually insane who also latch on to conspiracy theories, but I'm not exactly sure if I believe that conspiratorial thinking is a mental disease itself. Afterall, conspiracies definitely happen, and it's normal to believe that, but I guess it's abnormal to worry about it so much that it interferes with your life and family.

All Google searches for the article just bring me to prison planet, I'm tempted to buy the magazine just to see for myself. I don't really trust Psychology Today, though, since it tends to have a psychic ad every other page.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/why-psyc...theorists.html

(I hate to link to PP, but it's the only source I can find so far on it)

[JohnG]

I've thought quite a lot about subject this over the years. I used to believe all kinds of wacky stuff. After acquiring some knowledge and a little wisdom, I found I no longer believed in the same things I used to, but I seriously doubt that it was due to me somehow being cured of a mental illness.

We shouldn't paint with that broad of a brush; not all believers in CTs are mentally ill, just like how not all people who have at one time or another had too much to drink are afflicted with the disease known as alcoholism.

Maybe it's sort of a continuum; it is probably impossible to define where arrogance coupled with fuzzy thinking ends and outright paranoia begins. We all know the human tendency to prefer thinking in black and white terms rather than endless shades of gray.

I also know it's something of a cliche, but I'd be really interested to find out what percentage of the longtime/hardline Truthers indulge in Marijuana on a regular basis.

[mythstifieD]

"Here is my official invitation to do a one hour (at least) interview with me and the date and time you designate. Baltimore is only 70 miles from me. I’d be happy to make the drive. I realize the article was about Alex Jones, but it offends me as well, since I hold many of the same views as Jones. This interview will be respectful and civil and I would like it to be filmed. You should have no problem at all with it being filmed if you believe your views are 100% fact—-and plus, wouldn’t you want to make a “conspiracy nut” like me look foolish on film? The date and time can be any time you like. It doesn’t have to be this week, next week or this month. It can be whenever you have one hour to sit down and talk to me, so don’t write back and tell me that you have next week booked and the week after and the week after that. It can be anytime."

http://www.prisonplanet.com/another-...hit-piece.html

I think it would be AWESOME of this psychologist assessed this guy live on film for all the possible paranoia related illnesses he may have lol

I don't think this guy is addressing the issue properly. It's not about "facts" exactly, its all about how we react to the "facts" that make us normal or insane.

[Orphia Nay]

The first prison planet article contains a link to a pdf of John Gartner's article (which is in the current issue of Psychology Today, not available online):

http://prisonplanet.com/images/septe...9/020909pt.pdf

I haven't read it yet, but I thought I'd quickly post the link so others can enjoy a psychologist's hit piece on Alex Jones.


Here's John Gartner's blog at Psychology Today:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/...g-psychologist
The article might appear there at a later date, but I'm not sure.

[JihadJane]

When they see through the illusion of "democracy"?

[~enigma~]

Originally Posted by mythstifieD

"Here is my official invitation to do a one hour (at least) interview with me and the date and time you designate. Baltimore is only 70 miles from me. I’d be happy to make the drive. I realize the article was about Alex Jones, but it offends me as well, since I hold many of the same views as Jones. This interview will be respectful and civil and I would like it to be filmed. You should have no problem at all with it being filmed if you believe your views are 100% fact—-and plus, wouldn’t you want to make a “conspiracy nut” like me look foolish on film? The date and time can be any time you like. It doesn’t have to be this week, next week or this month. It can be whenever you have one hour to sit down and talk to me, so don’t write back and tell me that you have next week booked and the week after and the week after that. It can be anytime."

http://www.prisonplanet.com/another-...hit-piece.html

I think it would be AWESOME of this psychologist assessed this guy live on film for all the possible paranoia related illnesses he may have lol

I don't think this guy is addressing the issue properly. It's not about "facts" exactly, its all about how we react to the "facts" that make us normal or insane.

It is a mental illness when they cross over from irrationality to trollish insanity.

[T.A.M.]

Here is what the DSM IV says about Paranoid Personality Disorder:

Quote:

Paranoid personality disorder is listed in the DSM-IV-TR as 301.00 Paranoid Personality Disorder.

According to the DSM-IV-TR, this disorder is characterized by a pervasive distrust and suspicion of others such that their motives are interpreted as malevolent, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following:

* Suspects, without sufficient basis, that others are exploiting, harming, or deceiving him or her
* Is preoccupied with unjustified doubts about the loyalty or trustworthiness of friends or associates
* Is reluctant to confide in others because of unwarranted fear that the information will be used maliciously against him or her
* Reads benign remarks or events as threatening or demeaning.
* Persistently bears grudges, i.e., is unforgiving of insults, injuries, or slights
* Perceives attacks on his or her character or reputation that are not apparent to others and is quick to react angrily or to counterattack
* Has recurrent suspicions, without justification, regarding fidelity of spouse or sexual partner.

The traits, behaviors and characteristics

* Do not occur exclusively during the course of a mood disorder accompanied by psychotic features nor other psychotic disorders.
* Are not due to the direct physiological effects of a general medical condition.

Well from what I have seen, many of the truthers would definitely fit AT LEAST four of the listed characteristics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoi...ality_disorder

TAM

[mythstifieD]

Originally Posted by orphia nay

The first prison planet article contains a link to a pdf of John Gartner's article (which is in the current issue of Psychology Today, not available online):

http://prisonplanet.com/images/septe...9/020909pt.pdf

I haven't read it yet, but I thought I'd quickly post the link so others can enjoy a psychologist's hit piece on Alex Jones.


Here's John Gartner's blog at Psychology Today:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/...g-psychologist
The article might appear there at a later date, but I'm not sure.

Thank you! Reading it now...

It says in BIG LETTERS: "We're all conspiracy theorists to some degree." Which I applaud, because I think Jones is ignoring that and thinking he has a healthy degree of conspiratorial thinking. The article is arguing that Jones is borderline institutional. I think it's only politics that's keeping him out of the rubber room, because then his crazy followers will read into it and they'll all need to be locked away too.. and then, omg, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy of 'camps'...

"Information is the conspiracy theorists' weapon of choice because if there's one thing they all agree on, it's that all the rest of us have been brainwashed. The "facts" will plainly reveal the existence of the conspiracy, they believe. And while all of us tend to bend information to fit our preexisting cognitive schema, conspiracy theorists are more extreme. They are "immune to evidence," discounting contradictory information or seeing it as "proof of how clever the enemy is at covering things up:' Goeftzel says."

100% agreement.

"Conspiracy theories exist on a spectrum from mild suspicion to full-on paranoia, and brain chemistry may play a role. Dopamine rewards us for noting patterns and finding meaning in sometimes insignificant events. It's long been known that schizophrenics overproduce dopamine. "The earliest stages of delusion are characterized by an overabundance of meaningful I coincidences/' explain Paul D. Morrison and R.M. Murray of the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London."

Fascinating! So Alex Jones can actually be tested for Schizophrenia?? $10 says he wouldn't dare have his dopamine levels tested.

"Jones says that he has been visited by the FBI and the Secret Service but can't discuss the interviews. It maybe that federal agents, in fact, wanted to evaluate whether he is a threat to the president. There's no reason to believe he is-but the same can't be said of his listeners.In 2OO2, Richard McCaslin, carrying an arsenal of weapons, entered the Bohemian Grove, a campground in California that annually hosts a meeting of the political and business elite. He told authorities he had been planning his commando raid for a year, after Qre says) hearing Jones claim that ritual infant sacrifice was taking place there. The "war"continues. In a video promoting The Obama Deception, Jones urges, "We know who they are. We know what they are. We know what has to be done.""

Scary. Just..plain..scary...


(I scored 11 on their "Connect the Dots" test, w00t)

[Orphia Nay]

Originally Posted by mythstifieD

(I scored 11 on their "Connect the Dots" test, w00t)

(Me too!)

Originally Posted by JihadJane

When they see through the illusion of "democracy"?

Did you do the test?

[Brainache]

Originally Posted by JihadJane

When they see through the illusion of "democracy"?

I find that hard to believe.

Are you saying that anyone who wakes up one morning to the realisation that they will never be elected President Of The World is paranoid?

[MarkyX]

Further proof 9/11 deniers have no creativity.

This is the same type of **** I've heard from Scientology.

[mythstifieD]

Haha yeah, I'm wondering when infowars will have Scientology ads up...