Why do some people believe in conspiracy theories?

I have stepped away from my professional field for a little while, so I am reaching out to my colleagues for some guidance.

I have been noticing a specific symptom appearing quite frequently in people lately, and I am somewhat unsure whether I should classify it under paranoid schizophrenia or if it perhaps falls into a different category altogether.

Specifically, I am referring to a tendency toward believing in various conspiracies.

It seems to involve individuals who are prone to accepting almost any vague claim they encounter in a book or online, provided that the information suggests we are victims of some sort of global conspiracy.

The pathology often becomes apparent because the individual doesn't just subscribe to a single theory, but rather accepts them all en masse.

Examples within this category might include: secret societies controlling the world, extraterrestrials managing certain governments, human-reptilian hybrids living deep underground, the so-called chemtrails supposedly poisoning us, clandestine military experiments like DARPA, conspiracies by dishonest historians seeking to hide alternative truths about human evolution, or various apocalyptic scenarios foretold by ancient civilizations, and so on.

How would we go about diagnosing this, colleagues?

Sacreus? Cocaine?

Can a non-colleague weigh in here?

If I were to explain this without getting bogged down in medical jargon—since I lack the degree—I’d call it a refusal to take ownership of one's own life. It’s just easier to believe someone else is pulling the strings, making them the scapegoat for everything you do (or don't) do. It reminds me of how some parents act—taking credit for every little win their kid has, while blaming the child for any mistake by saying, "I didn't teach them that." Blindly believing in fate is basically the same thing.

So, not exactly a clinical disorder... more like just refusing to grow up. Is our non-colleague off base here? Or am I about to learn something new?

Personally, I find that mindset 😱 impossible. I could never live thinking I have no control over my own choices, or that my luck depends on anyone else.

feralhound55 said:Can a non-colleague weigh in here?

If I were to explain this without getting bogged down in medical jargon—since I lack the degree—I’d call it a refusal to take ownership of one's own life. It’s just easier to believe someone else is pulling the strings, making them the scapegoat for everything you do (or don't) do. It reminds me of how some parents act—taking credit for every little win their kid has, while blaming the child for any mistake by saying, "I didn't teach them that." Blindly believing in fate is basically the same thing.

So, not exactly a clinical disorder... more like just refusing to grow up. Is our non-colleague off base here? Or am I about to learn something new?

Personally, I find that mindset 😱 impossible. I could never live thinking I have no control over my own choices, or that my luck depends on anyone else.

Well, that might actually be possible. 🤷 If I actually knew the answer, I suppose I wouldn't be asking the question in the first place.

feralhound55 said:Can a non-colleague weigh in here?

If I were to explain this without getting bogged down in medical jargon—since I lack the degree—I’d call it a refusal to take ownership of one's own life. It’s just easier to believe someone else is pulling the strings, making them the scapegoat for everything you do (or don't) do. It reminds me of how some parents act—taking credit for every little win their kid has, while blaming the child for any mistake by saying, "I didn't teach them that." Blindly believing in fate is basically the same thing.

So, not exactly a clinical disorder... more like just refusing to grow up. Is our non-colleague off base here? Or am I about to learn something new?

Personally, I find that mindset 😱 impossible. I could never live thinking I have no control over my own choices, or that my luck depends on anyone else.

It depends, somewhat... 🙂

Ryan Wood98 said:I have stepped away from my professional field for a little while, so I am reaching out to my colleagues for some guidance.

I have been noticing a specific symptom appearing quite frequently in people lately, and I am somewhat unsure whether I should classify it under paranoid schizophrenia or if it perhaps falls into a different category altogether.

Specifically, I am referring to a tendency toward believing in various conspiracies.

It seems to involve individuals who are prone to accepting almost any vague claim they encounter in a book or online, provided that the information suggests we are victims of some sort of global conspiracy.

The pathology often becomes apparent because the individual doesn't just subscribe to a single theory, but rather accepts them all en masse.

Examples within this category might include: secret societies controlling the world, extraterrestrials managing certain governments, human-reptilian hybrids living deep underground, the so-called chemtrails supposedly poisoning us, clandestine military experiments like DARPA, conspiracies by dishonest historians seeking to hide alternative truths about human evolution, or various apocalyptic scenarios foretold by ancient civilizations, and so on.

How would we go about diagnosing this, colleagues?

Sacreus? Cocaine?

Look, if you believe in Christianity, you're a Christian; if it's Buddhism, you're a Buddhist; if it's Hinduism, you're a Hindu. It's pretty straightforward logic.

But when someone starts believing in conspiracy theories... well, they become a conspiracy theorist.
And honestly, you really shouldn't conflate being a believer with being a "conspiracist," because one thing is just having a belief, while the other implies you're actually out there actively participating in the whole scheme.

Does that mean the famous David Icke is actually a urologist?

I might be misinterpreting the situation, but I would venture to say this is simply a manifestation of paranoia

hiddenhound3 said:I might be misinterpreting the situation, but I would venture to say this is simply a manifestation of paranoia

Jel'da, it does lean toward paranoia, I suppose. 🤷

And I think there might be a certain loss of touch with reality happening here as well.

Any megalomaniacal attempt to grasp and explain every single occurrence—both visible and unseen—within one perfectly logical, self-contained system is doomed to fail unless you introduce some unprovable element to act as the glue holding it all together.

Essentially, we’re talking about a specific brand of faith. Except, instead of God, this version swaps out divinity for a handful of people pulling the strings. These are the ones who supposedly make every decision, possess all the answers, and treat the rest of us like puppets on a stage. We end up attributing divine attributes to mere mortals.
And, predictably, people tend to hate those types. 🤷

The pattern is always the same: first, you manufacture these "gods," and then inevitably, the rebellion follows. It’s the only way it works. 😁

After all, nothing can truly be an accident if there are "them"—those omniscient, all-seeing overseers—controlling every variable, right?
If a pigeon decides to ruin your brand-new suit or if you drop your toast butter-side down, it isn't hard to find someone to blame. We already know who it is. "Them!" 😠
😂

So, we’re back to the whole reptilian and shapeshifter conspiracy controlling global politics...

There’s this guy, well over thirty, who’s convinced he’s some kind of Freemason, Luciferian, Illuminati elite.
He also insists on exclusively dating teenagers—specifically girls between fifteen and eighteen—on the condition that they believe everything he says and happen to be at a certain point in their monthly cycle.
See, he’s under the impression that women were biologically engineered by aliens using a twenty-eight-day lunar cycle, supposedly containing some toxic element designed to shorten men's lifespans and wreck their immune systems. His theory? The extraterrestrials did it just to thin out the male population, making the planet easier to control.
The man is obsessed with dead presidents, those massive pyramids out in Siberia (?), and various supposed "paths to immortality"... He spends his time reading some fringe magazine called The Third Eye and swallows every single word they print.
He pays homage to the Great Architect and genuinely believes that the peak of mental and spiritual evolution is reached by some star warrior guarding the edge of the galaxy (?)
And honestly... he just exhausts everyone he comes into contact with.
As for the fact that he's on heavy medication and has to check in with his psychiatrist regularly? Oh, of course, in his mind, that’s just another massive cover-up—further proof that he’s actually special.

😍

Ryan Wood98 said:Jel'da, it does lean toward paranoia, I suppose. 🤷

And I think there might be a certain loss of touch with reality happening here as well.

Indeed, paranoia is never actually grounded in reality.🙂

Henry Newman67 said:It depends, somewhat... 🙂

About whom? Or what? Some conspiracy theory? 😛 😉

feralhound55 said:Can a non-colleague weigh in here?

If I were to explain this without getting bogged down in medical jargon—since I lack the degree—I’d call it a refusal to take ownership of one's own life. It’s just easier to believe someone else is pulling the strings, making them the scapegoat for everything you do (or don't) do. It reminds me of how some parents act—taking credit for every little win their kid has, while blaming the child for any mistake by saying, "I didn't teach them that." Blindly believing in fate is basically the same thing.

So, not exactly a clinical disorder... more like just refusing to grow up. Is our non-colleague off base here? Or am I about to learn something new?

Personally, I find that mindset 😱 impossible. I could never live thinking I have no control over my own choices, or that my luck depends on anyone else.

That is a stellar explanation; there really isn't much to add. Beyond just dodging responsibility, I think people use these ideas as an escape from the sheer boredom of reality. It is fascinating how certain conspiracy enthusiasts actually pine for apocalyptic scenarios—take that whole 2012 end-of-the-world craze, for instance—to the point where they feel genuinely let down when the "prophets" turn out to be wrong. I have also noticed that these folks can be incredibly stubborn and aggressive toward any idea that doesn't fit their narrative, regardless of how sound or logical the counterarguments might be.
Then there is the question of where all this information even comes from. It seems Icke acts as some sort of messiah for the conspiracy crowd, yet the vast majority of these theories are pulled from completely unverified corners of the internet, which people seem all too willing to accept as gospel truth.
I am not saying there isn't some truth to be found, but I suspect many people get a bit too swept up in it, seeing shadows and conspiracies lurking behind every single corner.
Personally, I do believe in certain types of conspiracy theories, but at the end of the day, it still boils down to faith, just like any other belief system. Who knows? Given how quickly the following is growing, what we call conspiracy theories today might just evolve into a legitimate new religion in a few years.

feralhound55 said:About whom? Or what? Some conspiracy theory? 😛 😉

The neighborhood. 🙂

hiddenhound3 said:Indeed, paranoia is never actually grounded in reality.🙂

I suppose so... but then again, you could have a paranoia where you worry your own relatives might try to poison you over an inheritance... which might be totally unjustified, yet still feels like a grounded fear.

Then there's the paranoia that people—like lizard people—are spying on you using electromagnetic waves. 😲

Or even the idea that some secret society is INTENTIONALLY poisoning us through jet contrails. 😲

Ryan Wood98 said:I suppose so... but then again, you could have a paranoia where you worry your own relatives might try to poison you over an inheritance... which might be totally unjustified, yet still feels like a grounded fear.

Then there's the paranoia that people—like lizard people—are spying on you using electromagnetic waves. 😲

Or even the idea that some secret society is INTENTIONALLY poisoning us through jet contrails. 😲

So, as you can see, that appears to be a much more intense manifestation of paranoia.😬

It is even collective in nature!

Ryan Wood98 said:Does that mean the famous David Icke is actually a urologist?

Honestly, I have zero clue who that is. So yeah, 🤷

There’s actually another way to look at this... Hannah Arendt used to argue that "prophesying disaster serves as a way to prevent it from ever happening."
In that light, the whole label of "conspiracy theories" is really just a tactic used by the media-driven, globalized establishment to smear or completely dismiss certain warnings and predictions about upcoming catastrophes. (St. Patrick)

People who actually have the capacity to analytically observe world events are capable of predicting what’s coming next, no matter how much it might seem exaggerated, impossible, or logically out of reach right now. Because the reality is, most of us can analyze and make sense of things after they’ve already gone down—after all, everyone’s a genius once the war is over—but there are very few people who possess that broader perspective, that access to more information, and the actual ability to connect the dots into a coherent global picture.
So, personally, I wouldn't view conspiracy theories solely as tools for spreading paranoia... I'm certain there's smoke somewhere, and where there's smoke, there's fire, but I wouldn't take them at face value either. At the end of the day, we all have a little bit of brainpower left, so let's just use our own gray matter to figure out for ourselves how much these ideas actually fit into our own understanding of the world.

Ryan Wood98 said:I suppose so... but then again, you could have a paranoia where you worry your own relatives might try to poison you over an inheritance... which might be totally unjustified, yet still feels like a grounded fear.

Then there's the paranoia that people—like lizard people—are spying on you using electromagnetic waves. 😲

Or even the idea that some secret society is INTENTIONALLY poisoning us through jet contrails. 😲

give me a break....

Explain to me why only the first example counts as a "realistic fear" 🤷

lizard people —that's real, and spying—that's real too (even if it gets twisted when people claim their spies saw things they didn't, and everyone plays along just to stay in the loop or fight the wars, though there's never any proof of what wasn't seen, but that's a whole other conversation)

poisoning via exhaust, secrecy, organization, cover-ups, intent .........

What I'm trying to say is that every single fear has its own roots in reality.

It’s perfectly rational—even necessary—to harbor a certain level of anxiety regarding surveillance if you actually have something worth watching. We aren't talking about the average citizen here; I mean diplomats, high-ranking politicians, industry titans, or anyone sitting on proprietary data or significant influence. 😁

However, when the local barista or the guy working the counter at a neighborhood deli starts convinced they're being tracked by some shadowy, nebulous "deep state" entity—rather than just an angry ex-spouse—we’ve crossed a line. Unless you're living in a Cold War-era East Berlin bunker, 😁, that isn't vigilance; it's pure paranoia. 😢

Yet, there seems to be a strange irony at play. Those who possess legitimate, tangible reasons to fear oversight don't tend to spiral into these wild conspiracy theories. It’s usually the people with zero leverage and absolutely nothing of interest to offer who spend their time convincing themselves they are the epicenter of some massive intelligence operation.