Correlation between Conspiracy Theories and Schizophenia

correlation between conspiracy theories and schizophrenia - Google Scholar

I have had several friends and acquaintances during my life that were afflicted with varying degrees of Schizophrenia.
A common thread w/ all of them is that they are almost always delusional and believe in in a vast number of irrational Conspiracy Theories.
Since this a forum dedicated to these topics, I am interested in hearing other people's thoughts or experiences on this subject.
The link at the top of my post has some interesting articles on this matter.

 

As someone with schizophrenia, I can confirm that I read about conspiracy theories. And I can confirm that when I had a few psychotic breaks years ago, the whole experience was shaped by my worldview and what I recently experienced.

I have also had my own encounters with aliens and an unknown branch of the military, and I would say that strange things seem to be attracted to certain people rather than the schizophrenia makes one vulnerable to believing in conspiracy theories.

If anything, if someone doesn't follow any "conspiracy theories," then, IMHO, they have gotten to a place of mental laziness and think that they understand the world completely and they think that it holds no more surprises.

 

Thank you, I appreciate that you have responded to my post.
Schizophrenia is a terrible disease that is more destructive to the people that are close to the affected, then the afflicted.

 

That takes courage. Thanks for sharing.

It sounds like you have developed enough self-awareness and discipline so that you can enjoy the quirkiness of it without being sucked in.

 

Unfortunately, that's the nature of the beast with many diseases and illnesses, especially mental health illnesses.

 

You're welcome. My secret to staying sane is taking my medication regularly, and systematically trying different kinds, and finding one that works for me with a minimum amount of side effects. Of course, there are always trade-offs with schizophrenia medication. There isn't a perfect one.

Can you believe that many people stop taking their medication after a time, and their brains slip deeper into decline?

 

Yes!

 

Throughout most of my 20s I used to frequently eat psychedelic mushrooms sometimes in very high doses.

I had some experiences that some would certainly describe as schizophrenic.

I think the fact that we feel that we are individual entities in our own mind is somewhat
of an illusion

 

Perhaps self-awareness is a key element of mental well-being?

 

Fundamentally, what is the difference in having a diagnosed mental illness in which symptoms present exactly the same as faith in a deity?

 

I think it goes beyond simply being aware of yourself... That is only a beginning point. To see yourself as though you're outside of yourself perceiving your place that is in this whole thing called creation or existence. How significant the self is while simultaneously seeing how utterly insignificant the self is.

 

When analyzing conspiracy theories the scientific method* must be used. There may be a lot of people with mental problems who believe them but there are a lot of very sane people who believe them too because the evidence shows them to be true. Some of them can be shown to be false very easily such as the "Flat Earth" theory.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rocket+cam

Here's some stuff about conspiracy theorists.
http://www.politicalforum.com/index...ing-the-mars-missions.585399/#post-1072465715

The second link doesn't work any more so here are some other links to the same info.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-respond-anti-conspiracy-theorist-nehal-khawar-nehal-atrc-net-pk/
https://www.realhistorychan.com/uploads/1/3/3/8/133840286/how_to_pdft-2.pdf
https://www.bing.com/search?q="How To Respond To An Anti-Conspiracy Theorist"&form=QBLH&sp=-1&pq="how to respond to an anti-conspiracy theorist"&sc=1-47&qs=n&sk=&cvid=ACF6B32F45AC48DBA3D6BBF4466E6A78&ghsh=0&ghacc=0&ghpl=


*
https://www.google.com/search?q=sci...12j0i512l5.7528j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

Here's something I came across.
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To Conspiracy Deniers: Corruption or Conspiracy? Either Way You Lose! Your Inescapable Dilemma.





"I am not a conspiracy theorist. I am a conspiracy factualist."
- Jim Marrs, author of Crossfire, the book that Oliver Stone's JFK movie was based on


To Conspiracy Deniers who claim that all "conspiracy claims" are just "conspiracy theories" that are crazy and untrue:

None Dare Call It Conspiracy by Gary Allen.)

Simple question for you. If conspiracies don't exist, then why is the world so messed up? Would you claim that everyone in power and politics is clean and honest? Of course not. You will say something like "the world is messed up because of corporate greed and corrupt politicians". Ok well no one denies that. But here's the dilemma for you. If you admit that rampant corruption exists to cause all the world's problems, then you are in an inescapable position, because corruption naturally LEADS to conspiracy, collusion and wrongdoing of course. Corruption is BREEDING ground for conspiracies, like fertilizers are breeding ground for plants. And of course, conspiracies, crimes and wrongdoing have to be kept secret and confidential. If you were doing something wrong or dirty, you'd keep is confidential and private too right? Of course you would. And a secret by definition means you wouldn't know about it right? So where do you get off pretending to be God and claiming that no secrets exist or else you'd know about them, as if you knew all secrets of all people? Lol. Isn't that totally pompous, presumptuous and arrogant?

Do you see what I'm getting at? This is a big conundrum, logical contradiction and dilemma that you CANNOT escape from or reconcile, because if corruption exists as you admit, then conspiracy by definition logically follows and becomes VERY plausible and highly probable. On the other hand, if corruption doesn't exist, and neither do conspiracies, then this world is a paradise free of suffering, where everyone is clean and honest without secrets, especially those in power, including the deep state and shadow government, right? But we all know that's not true, including you. So which is it? You can't have it both ways. Either this world is clean and honest without evil, injustice or corruption, or both conspiracies and corruption exist, since they go hand in hand.

You deniers can't get out of this and you know it. Checkmate. You LOSE! So stop lying to yourself and to everyone else. Don't you folks have shame or guilt or conscience? Geez. It's obvious that conspiracies exist, because corruption naturally leads to conspiracies. It's inescapable and inseparable. One follows the other. Simple logic and common sense.

Furthermore, look at your inconsistency here. You will readily admit that conspiracies existed in Ancient Rome for example, because it's not taboo to admit that. Yet when it comes to modern America, you are conditioned to laugh and ridicule at the notion of conspiracy, as if it MUST be ridiculed and cannot exist in modern America. See how programmed and brainwashed you are? But of course by definition, those who are brainwashed don't know that they are, including you. (For more on such inconsistencies, see the groundbreaking book None Dare Call It Conspiracy by Gary Allen.)

If you think about it, this is inconsistent and doesn't make sense. Ask yourself this: Why can't conspiracies exist in modern America? Why are you conditioned to laugh and ridicule the notion? Why? Because of any logical rational reason? NOPE! So why then? Because you are brainwashed? NOOO!!! You are super smart and you know it all - since most western men like to think they know everything and are arrogant - so no way can you be brainwashed right? LOL (sarcastic chuckle) Impossible right? LOL. So why then is it impossible for conspiracies to exist in modern America? Because everything in America is transparent and there are no secrets? Because if Bill Clinton couldn't keep Monica Lewisky a secret, then no secrets exist? Lol. Are you that dense? Is your arrogance and know-it-all attitude founded? Think about it. Think man! Learn to question YOUR own beliefs, not just the beliefs of others. That's what a TRUE skeptic and critical thinker does.

If you still can't see the folly in your reasoning, then you're lost and hopeless and I'm done here. Those who cannot think or reason with basic logic or common sense are deluded and a lost cause. If a man is willingly blind, then you can't help him or wake him up, no matter how much evidence you have. As Mark Twain said: "It's far easier to fool people than to convince them that they've been fooled."

Conclusion and Bottom Line:

Look, all I'm asking is that you deniers be HONEST and REASONABLE here. If you can't acknowledge that conspiracies partially exist, then at least admit that you simply DON'T KNOW. You should be honest and agnostic and admit that you just don't know, plain and simple, rather than pretending to be omniscent and knowing for sure that all conspiracies are rubbish and don't exist. Now if you wanna say that "Some conspiracies have been proven, others are pure bollocks" ok then let me ask you this then: How do you know which conspiracies are true and which are bollocks? Who is the ultimate arbitrater of truth? By what standard do you determine which is which? What is the infallible source of truth that determines which conspiracies are real and which aren't? Seriously. Pray tell. Is it the government? Mainstream media? Wikipedia? Academia? YOU? Who? This is a serious key question you deniers keep dodging.

FYI, I've known people who told me that their Wikipedia page was full of lies and errors. So no, Wikipedia is not infallible. No one is. So who do you look up to tell you which conspiracies are true? The news? lol. According to Wikipedia's page on conspiracies, the only conspiracies that are considered "proven" are those which the government confesses to, such as Watergate and Iran Contra. Is that your standard? That unless government confesses then it's just a "theory" and unproven? So no thief is a thief unless they confess, and no liar is a liar unless they confess? lol. You see how shaky your position is? If you look at it closely, your position is nothing but a house of cards, based on pure prejudice and narrow minded dismissal. Conspiracies are only true if YOU want them to be true, and false if YOU want them to be false. That's it isn't it? I'm just exposing you for what you are and telling it like it is. A spade is a spade. At least be honest about it.

Frankly, I know you deniers are nothing but a house of cards, because when analyzed logically like I'm doing here, your position falls apart easily cause you have no basis to deny all conspiracies or some conspiracies, other than simply that you WANT to, and that's that. It's purely subjective, nothing to do with logic, truth or realilty. What if different people tell you different things? Who you gonna believe? Whichever one is higher in authority? So authority=truth? lol. What if the evidence is concealed or destroyed? Does that mean it never existed, because YOU never saw it? Since you know everything? LOL

Let me leave you with a hypothetical situation to think about which if you meditate on, will reveal the folly and fallacy of your reasoning and programming:

Suppose I had you killed and put an open bottle of drugs next to your body, like in the opening scene of the movie "Enemy of the State" starring Will Smith. Then the police find your body and label you a suicide or drug overdose, just as I made it look like. Then one of your friends asks me if I killed you and I say "Of course not! How dare you accuse me!" But your friend doesn't believe me, so he/she goes to the public and spreads claims that I killed you and covered it up by making it look like a drug overdoes. In response I ridicule your friend and say that he or she is "spreading crazy conspiracy theories" about me, using the dreaded term "conspiracy theory" to marginalize his claims.

Ok so at what point is my murder of you become a fact or a theory? Which is it in this case? What if I destroy all the evidence that I murder you so that no one can find it, thus committing the perfect crime? Does that mean you really did die of suicide even though in reality I killed you? Simply because the evidence was cleverly dispensed of by me, and the authorities did not charge me? In this case, is my murdering of you a "conspiracy theory" or a "conspiracy fact"?

Or suppose I do leave some evidence behind that I murdered you, and some of your friends find it and expose it, but the authorities deny it and say you are wrong. And fact checker says you're wrong because in their view, official sources are always right and never lie <snicker> so anyone who says otherwise is wrong by default, because authority = truth. In other words, your friends have evidence that I killed you, but authorities deny it and so does fact checker, blah blah. In this case, is the claim that I killed you just a "conspiracy theory" simply because authority denies the evidence, even if the evidence is incriminating and valid? Or could it be true even if authority or law enforcement denies it?

Do you see my point? Just because it's denied, doesn't mean it's not true or "just a conspiracy theory" especially if there's valid or persuasive evidence. But that's the barometer you go by. So that's your core fallacy and mistake which blinds you. Anyone can deny. I can deny now that 2+2=4, but that doesn't change the fact of it. You deniers seem to want some authoritative institutions to tell you what's true and what's not, or what is a theory and what is a confirmed fact, as if authority determines truth, and you cannot think for yourself, all you can do is follow what authority says. In a sense, that makes you an authoritarian, whether you realize it or not. Not a freethinker, truth seeker or impartial investigator. Thus you are highly programmed for sure.

Think about this and you will see how fallacious you have been. Hope that helps open your eyes and make you think. But as we know, people only change their minds if they are open and willing to, but not if they don't. For those who want to believe something, any evidence will do. For those who refuse to believe, no amount of evidence will convince them. Both are extremes. Take the middle ground if you want to be balanced and real. Think about it.

 

In almost every single case, the conspiracy theorist, who routinely speculates on ridiculous numbers of concurrent and unfeasible events, fails on a number of things with alarming regularity:

• The main thing is the conspiracy blinkers. These are worn by all of them, every last one of them. Without fail they will avoid every piece of rebuttal to any one of their preposterous statements.
• They will seek out, without fail, ONLY items that reinforce their claims. The source credibility is irrelevant. This is called confirmation bias.
• Evidence will always be dismissed if it comes from any mainstream source, regardless of its validity, complexity and obvious truth.
• They all seem to lack the ability to recognize that sheer numbers involved make their claim almost insanely impossible.
• Even though everyone knows people cannot keep secrets, these conspiracy theorists suggest that casts of hundreds and much more, can do so indefinitely.
• I have not come across one single conspiracy theorist who has altered their position on a single fragment of their claim.
• I have not come across a conspiracy theorist who has any logic or critical thinking skills - their absence is almost a pre-requisite for being one!
• Routinely, they will divert and obfuscate as a means to bury anything that disproves their useless claims.
• In general these people will automatically believe almost every single stupid conspiracy out there.

 

Yes, and IMO psychedelic drugs like mushrooms and LSD put the notion of self-awareness into perspective. We are all one, is what I learned from my several psilocybin experiences.

Some are skeptical of the handbook of "mental disease". I'm one of them. I think the widespread prescribing of psychoactive drugs has gone too far.

Some drugs work for some individuals, and that's fine by me, but I think Pharma has taken it too far. Meditation in a natural setting does much more than any chemical compound.

 

This is from a awhile ago, still has resonance.

Study: Everyone, Everything Linked To Paranoia

https://www.theonion.com/study-everyone-everything-linked-to-paranoia-1819574225

 

I would share my experience but there's a few people around here that insist on throwing things in my face anytime I do that. I'm not saying that you are one of them but I'm just saying that I shall refrain.

 

Bingo!

It's one of the best dumbifiers/pacifiers the overlords have come up with yet .. to demonise independent thought.

 

It sounds like you missed the point. Deliberately.

 

True! Like believing that anything not mandated by your ideology's leaders, is a 'conspiracy theory'.

 

Award

Most ironical statement of the year!

 

Is that code for 'conspiracy theory'?

 

Good bump for this relevant thread.

As the FBI noted last week, anybody who doesn't believe their lies is a conspiracy theorist.

That's how desperate the poor bastards are. Amazing that so many still believe the Agency's pronouncements, but I guess there are many credulous fans who watch the MSM "drama" named after the Agency.

Humans who have been conditioned to ask Siri or Alexa whether or not they should take an experimental drug into their bodies seem to make up a large portion of US society.

 

Another correlation, for example, is that roosters cause the sun to come up in the morning since roosters crow when the sun comes up.

 

I missed one vital point:

• With very little exception none of them has any relevant education and for some baffling reason, think their hopeless, uninformed and blundering opinion supersedes the expertise they routinely dismiss.