Posts by Thomas Nelson25

Brandon Lopez6 said:And it's a lifelong thing. You need treatment forever.
Just like diabetes.

So, honestly, why even ask someone who has to be on meds for the rest of their life why they shouldn't just stop taking them? 🍿

I don't know all the specifics, but I'm curious—so things would just get worse, right?

Look, people who believe in Boise or aliens don't deal with stuff like this—there's your answer.

Brandon Lopez6 said:Look, if they're psychotic, yeah, there's a real chance they become a danger to themselves and everyone else.
Since you brought up that whole "love-is-everything" guy, I figured I'd point out where that logic actually leads.

You realize schizophrenia is an actual disease, right? Not just some "disorder."
Like, would you walk around asking diabetics if they really need that insulin, or why they don't just try living without it for, I don't know, a week? 🐔

I think it's classified as a disorder in the manuals, though.
I get that there's stuff happening with brain chemistry and connections.

There's also schizotypal.

Joseph Bailey41 said:True enough. And then you have Abraham, who was prepared to sacrifice his son just because he heard those voices—voices that, thankfully, changed their minds at the very last second. And that, apparently, is how we ended up with three major world religions.☕

Temptation... how do you even explain that being treated as "normal"?

If you take a closer look, a lot of those massive turning points or shifts in history... they have this specific vibe. It’s like things stick in our memory way more if there's a miracle involved.

Brandon Lopez6 said:From what I gather, the whole point of treatment is just getting someone back to reality and grounded in the real world.
Obviously, you can't force someone into treatment unless they're a danger to themselves or others. But psychosis doesn't just vanish on its own. Someone who seems perfectly harmless today—preaching nothing but "love, God, and peace"—could decide tomorrow that the best way to spread that message is by storming a local mosque with an axe to show them the one true God.

Every psychosis gets worse if left untreated, which can lead to someone becoming dangerous, even if they aren't right out of the gate.

True, but you’ve got two different sides here (and this goes for strong Christian believers too)—one might be a Sufi, while the other is the guy with the axe fighting holy wars.
The first type will never lash out at people; they'll just withdraw from society and leave everything in God's hands.

Of course, those folks who "hear" voices act like they're tougher. 😁

I mean, did Moses hear and see things too? Not really.

Harold Anderson3 said:I suppose that’s just how it goes. It is incredibly difficult to fine-tune medication dosages without constantly swinging between feeling completely depressed and hitting those manic highs associated with schizophrenia and similar disorders, so you really have to figure it out as you go. It’s a bit of a balancing act where if you take too much, you end up feeling like a total zombie, but if you don't take enough, it feels like the whole world belongs to you—and honestly, neither of those extremes is a healthy place to be. You're basically spending your time searching for that narrow, steady middle ground between those two extremes.

Everyone has their own frequency—it's just that for you, the depression hits so hard it's unbearable, so you have to rely on medication... but what would actually happen if you just quit cold turkey?

I mean, most people out there (even those with questionable mental health) are on something—tobacco, booze, or some kind of recreational drug, more or less...

Joseph Bailey41 said:I’ve been wondering the exact same thing. I was just watching an interview with Pavun on YouTube, and honestly, the guy seems clearly psychotic, yet nobody thinks he needs help. So why would it be mandatory for Harold Anderson3 or anyone else?

(Just thinking out loud here—I don't want anyone to think I'm actually trying to push this kind of thing on anyone. 😳)

Since he’s Catholic and claims he found Jesus, maybe that wild behavior—even if you debate how "out of control" it really is—is being chalked up to the Holy Spirit. (Though, hey, maybe I've got that wrong.) 🙄

Personally, I find what they say in different languages way more fascinating... like those churches where they sing Gospel and everyone just gets swept up and falls into a trance.
Feels like a sort of self-hypnosis to me.

Hallelujah, sister. 😁

Harold Anderson3 said:It isn't really a problem as long as you can still function normally in your day-to-day life, whether you're a devout believer or not. Honestly, I find myself a little envious of people who naturally have slightly higher dopamine levels; they seem able to feel something more than just the basic reality, which makes them appear much more content than I usually am.

So you're dealing with depression then? Like, your mood is just constantly bottomed out?

According to transpersonal psychology, those folks have basically expanded their ego—or what's called the "self"—into a sense of wholeness, in a nutshell.

Brandon Lopez6 said:That’s exactly what I was aiming for. But honestly? It’s a pretty bittersweet feeling to actually be right about this.

So you're asking why anyone would even bother treating psychosis? Honestly, it’s a fair question if you haven't been through the wringer. It’s not just about "fixing" someone because they're acting weird; it's about the fact that when your brain starts playing tricks on you, reality becomes a total minefield. I remember this one buddy of mine back in Chicago—guy was brilliant, but once the episodes hit, he couldn't tell if his neighbor was a government spy or just a guy taking out the trash. It's terrifying. You treat it because nobody should have to live in a world where they can't trust their own eyes. It's about getting some ground under your feet again so you aren't constantly spinning out.
Rly? 😁

What are the symptoms when it involves religious delusions—and why is getting help actually necessary? 😛

Harold Anderson3 said:I wouldn't exactly call myself a believer, but whenever I’ve experienced that "something" more—that mystical sensation that defies any kind of verbal description—it has invariably led me straight into a psychotic episode and a stay at the psychiatric ward. I remember reading somewhere that "healthy believers" tend to have slightly higher dopamine levels compared to atheists, and in my case, the hallmark of my illness is an extremely high surge of that specific neurotransmitter. Brandon Lopez6, you know better than anyone what I'm up against. It makes me wonder if my medication, which works by bringing those dopamine levels down, might also be dampening that "healthy" spark of faith in God, or perhaps some other subtle connection we can't quite perceive directly. Since we're discussing this from a psychological perspective, I've come to think that depending on one's brain chemistry, you essentially have atheists, healthy believers, and then the fanatics who actually require psychiatric intervention. I'm also aware of instances where various charismatic leaders have pushed people into trances that ultimately resulted in hospitalizations due to acute psychosis.

Why is fanaticism even an issue if you're actually happy in that state?
People would just call it a "blessing"—I mean, isn't that how it used to be? Besides, those types of people were the ones writing holy books... you know, all the additions to the Bible and stuff.

Brandon Lopez6 said:Do you believe in sarcasm and messing around? 😁

Hmm... what if we're talking about a personality disorder? 😁

Brandon Lopez6 said:Good point.
Is it just pure delusion to pray to Bog to stop a flood when it’s basically just the butterfly effect from a single raindrop hitting some creek halfway across the country? 🤔

Bonus point—my karma is so trashed I probably lived as Attila first and then Hitler, so praying is pretty much a lost cause.😳

So you actually believe in karma and reincarnation? I'm guessing you don't think BBog has anything to do with it?

The whole thing comes down to water volume and how the drainage works down toward the coast... but that doesn't mean prayer is useless. You gotta realize that compared to the forces of nature, humans are basically nothing—that's why religion isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Brandon Lopez6 said:I mean, aliens were the first thing anyone thought of—I don't know a single soul who actually worships the old gods.
I've even heard people waiting around for an alien landing😛

They might not worship them directly, but they're basically woven into the fabric of Western culture.

Amy Watson35 said:The fundamental issue here is defining what happiness actually is. Only once we establish a definition that most people can agree on can we truly discuss how money influences it. To me, the more pressing question is whether people would be inherently "happier" if money simply didn't exist at all...

Back when we were hunter-gatherers, things were probably different—there was enough for everyone and people just traded what they had.
Nowadays, life is basically just a loop of working and spending, since that's what keeps the world spinning and lets a tiny group of people hoard way more than they could ever use. Honestly, the core issue is that people don't have much of a choice anymore—work has lost its soul.

It’s really all about freedom—how much cash you actually need depends on where you live and the culture you're in. Obviously, being loaded doesn't guarantee happiness (since that's subjective, right?), but it can definitely buy you satisfaction.

I think that’s just surface-level philosophy. Realistically, there aren't many true believers out there—and honestly, not many atheists either.
Most people just drift through life, following whatever's trendy—they don't really bother digging into the heavy stuff.

I basically have to decode all this stuff and translate it into my own headspace before I can actually connect the dots and make sense of it with what I already know. Since I'm an INTJ, that makes the whole thing way more interesting—everything's up for grabs.

What really trips me out are those random thoughts or memories that just pop up out of nowhere—without any obvious link to what’s happening around me (or maybe it just feels that way) or how I'm feeling at the moment.

Joseph Bailey41 said:On this pretty cheesy Facebook group, someone started a discussion about the whole purpose of human existence—you know, our main mission on Earth and all that. People were throwing out all sorts of answers, though most of them were predictably cringey. The second I read it, my mind jumped straight to "collecting data." I got a few likes and a comment along the lines of, "Yeah, like a probe, then you submit your report to the main headquarters." 🤣

I’m not entirely sure I buy into this idea of a "cosmic HQ," whatever that might be, but I am incredibly conscientious about carrying out my mission. If such a thing actually exists, they surely have some high-end database where they don't just dump every random scrap of info. Everything needs to be organized perfectly, double-spaced, properly cited, including original research, a new thesis, an abstract, and all that jazz. My only issue is that I have no idea when my deadline is, so I’m just trying to stay constantly prepared while keeping up with my actual day job. 😬

Basically, I feel like I need to know everything. And I mean knowing it well enough to explain it to a six-year-old. Otherwise, what was the point of my mission? To be clear, I'm not talking about trivial trivia. I assume they already know when World War I started; they need me to answer the "why." So lately, I've been obsessing over the planned Berlin-Baghdad railway, the morganatic marriage of Ferdinand and Sofia, and even my online friend who made a movie about the assassination (he got banned because his sense of humor is way too surreal, and honestly, I miss him sometimes even if he is a total jerk. 🤣

Anyway, non-linear thinking is just a way of organizing data so that it lasts longer and stays ready for delivery. Linear thinking is for other things. Like putting together a lamp from Ikea or some crap. Or constructing coherent sentences. Math, physics—though maybe not quantum physics. Some physicists at Berkeley used to take acid just to get a little more non-linear. Other people, on the other hand, completely lost their minds from it, like that asshole from the CIA who performed self-defense on himself during some bad party back in the day... I can't remember the name. Google knows it, so I won't bother looking it up. Screw a HQ that doesn't even have access to Google. ☕

The thing is, it's tough for rationalists to break into that headspace, no matter how much bourbon they drink. 🙄

Just an idea.

Honestly, that inferior function matters just as much—at least that's what Jung says.

Swearing carries this weird energy—you either let it rip in a moment of rage and it just vanishes into thin air (which is honestly better), or you aim it at someone else (which is a bad move, we all know why, and there are plenty of ways that can go wrong... though sometimes, hey, maybe you just need to tell someone to f*** off and walk away)
Heavy, vulgar cursing is an extreme—it's usually just people who ran out of actual things to say. Plus, by using those "taboo" words, they try to act tough or important, especially when they're performing for a crowd of people who are either just like them or, you know, actually trying to stay classy. It’s basically all about the audience.