Do you worry you're insane?

SuperDruid said:
I've had several total psychotic vacations in the past. They were extremely stressful before they 'broke', but when I was in them they weren't always so bad. i believe spiritual things came out of those experiences too; it's not just about 'brain mechanics', I reckon. Since my early twenties I've had experiences exactly like those described by adc, Indigo Sensor etc. I live with a lot of the symptoms schizophrenics have - flat affect at times, feelings of depersonalisation, and paranoia - but I am not schizophrenic and I have enough insight to interogate and question my own 'delusions' before they become actual clinical delusions. I think sometimes there is something in these things, however. acd - I am currently writing about blackbirds, so that tweaked my brain nipples a bit!

These days I know insanity is lurking at the peripherals, and I can start to get auditory hallucinations when I boil loud kettles or have my laptop humming like an air-conditioner. But I don't pay those things any mind and they don't worry me so much now.

The best advice for managing things was given above by anica - meds if you really need them, sensible diet, regular exercise, and plenty of sleep!
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What I struggle with is whether I really need meds and whether I am missing out on some experiences that would be of value if I weren't on them (the side effects are a side issue but a significant one). The last time I did a trial without medication, under the care of a psychiatric nurse practitioner, I landed in the hospital (for the first time in 30 years) with a mixed mood episode. So...with that in mind, maybe I'd rather put up with the side effects of the medication than the effects of bipolar. I'd forgotten about that little episode until just now.
 
If you openly declare you are insane from the start then you don't have to worry anymore. Works for me anyway. :D
 
NeverAmI said:
If you openly declare you are insane from the start then you don't have to worry anymore. Works for me anyway. :D
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I have thought about this.

I don't think it is possible for one to watch themselves go insane in most cases. Depression, anxiety, ocd, ect. mild disorders don't really count for this, because that isn't a mark of insanaity. However, something like schizophrenia would be that kind of mark. I don't think one can watch themselves become afflicted with that and question if they are going insane or not all the way to their trip to the bottom.

So really, if you think you're insane, the chances of you truly going insane is very very low.
 
IndigoSensor said:
I have thought about this.

I don't think it is possible for one to watch themselves go insane in most cases. Depression, anxiety, ocd, ect. mild disorders don't really count for this, because that isn't a mark of insanaity. However, something like schizophrenia would be that kind of mark. I don't think one can watch themselves become afflicted with that and question if they are going insane or not all the way to their trip to the bottom.

So really, if you think you're insane, the chances of you truly going insane is very very low.
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Yea, that's true, but what is truly insane?

I have seen my perspectives of the world change drastically over the past year. I have given up caring about a lot of the things I used to. But yea, true insanity typically involves some sort of delusion that is mistaken for reality.

*twitch*

I had a paranoid schizophrenic as a friend in high school, he was fun to hang with. Actually it is a miserable story, I am not sure if he was born that way or not. When he was young his dad shoved him into a fire and his body including the lower half of his face was totally scarred from fire.
 
I've had interactions with the truly delusional. With some, it is obvious to see, like the variety of jesuses you meet. With others, you can talk to them for a half an hour and not know. I once took advice from an older woman for a half an hour until she told me about why we had to stab people when their eyes change color.

I agree with Indigo with the caveat that the pressure of severe depression can lead to a temporarily delusional state, just like sleep deprivation. It goes away when treated. If someone is depressed and avoid ant, the avoidance can sometimes be to shelter secondary delusions.
 
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IndigoSensor said:
I have thought about this.

I don't think it is possible for one to watch themselves go insane in most cases. Depression, anxiety, ocd, ect. mild disorders don't really count for this, because that isn't a mark of insanaity. However, something like schizophrenia would be that kind of mark. I don't think one can watch themselves become afflicted with that and question if they are going insane or not all the way to their trip to the bottom.

So really, if you think you're insane, the chances of you truly going insane is very very low.
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This is probably very true. I've often wondered about my son's descent (why do we always assume the direction is downward?) from (relative) sanity to the hallucinations and delusions of paranoid schizophrenia. My observation of him was that his world made sense to him; it just didn't make sense to anyone else. It wasn't a slow change, more like the bottom fell out in a matter of days; but no, I don't think he was aware of the changes in himself. I, on the other hand, am usually aware of incipient paranoia and mildly delusional thinking.
 
NeverAmI said:
If you openly declare you are insane from the start then you don't have to worry anymore. Works for me anyway. :D
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This^^ . . .

Res, repeat after me . . . you are insane *that or just plain weird* :m125:
 
I think that the fact that I do worry is in itself a testament that I'm sane.

I think that if I were insane totally I probably would think that I'm completely normal and everyone else insane. Or at least that there is nothing wrong with me at all.
 
Siamese cat said:
I think that the fact that I do worry is in itself a testament that I'm sane.

I think that if I were insane totally I probably would think that I'm completely normal and everyone else insane. Or at least that there is nothing wrong with me at all.
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so only sane people question their sanity? might be some truth to that.
 
I don't particularly care if I am either perfectly sane or insane or half-way.

If I go insane, I hope it is the kind of insanity where I can have fun (albeit unusual fun) and not the kind where I am debilitated by anxiety, fear, anger etc.

If I go 'round the twist, I hope I don't become a burden on people.
 
Flavus Aquila said:
I don't particularly care if I am either perfectly sane or insane or half-way.

If I go insane, I hope it is the kind of insanity where I can have fun (albeit unusual fun) and not the kind where I am debilitated by anxiety, fear, anger etc.

If I go 'round the twist, I hope I don't become a burden on people.
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quit reading my mind n'stuff :m145:
 
If only...

True insanity is rarely fun - just painful. :(

But I think that's what the insanity plea is all about; it's a true Catch-22 (and insane in itself!). If you're insane, you probably won't plead insanity because you won't have the cognitive ability to distinguish between sanity and insanity. So, according to the courts, only a sane man can pretend he's insane, but an insane man won't plead insanity because he's too insane to do it.

Crazy, isn't it?:m129:
 
arbygil said:
If only...

True insanity is rarely fun - just painful. :(

But I think that's what the insanity plea is all about; it's a true Catch-22 (and insane in itself!). If you're insane, you probably won't plead insanity because you won't have the cognitive ability to distinguish between sanity and insanity. So, according to the courts, only a sane man can pretend he's insane, but an insane man won't plead insanity because he's too insane to do it.

Crazy, isn't it?:m129:
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I he has a decent defense attorney, his lawyer will demand a psychiatric evaluation for his client and a competent psychiatrist can usually determine whether the defendant "is not responsible for criminal conduct if at the time of such conduct as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law."

A lot of ifs there, though.
 
anica said:
I he has a decent defense attorney, his lawyer will demand a psychiatric evaluation for his client and a competent psychiatrist can usually determine whether the defendant "is not responsible for criminal conduct if at the time of such conduct as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law."

A lot of ifs there, though.
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:) I may need to talk to you about this, anica - mind if I PM you?
 
Insanity is a legal term. In the real world (a.k.a. outside a courtroom), everyone is fairly crazy. INFJs just aren't crazy in the way that is popular right now.
 
Worry implies discomfort. I'm quite comfortable being quirky. There are times I feel like I'm surrounded by quiet mad men who are sleepwalking through life out of blindness and numb. that's a pretty ghastly feeling. Not being insane, but wondering if everyone else is.
 
Hello , guys . I dont know you but im getting insane and Im very scared about my insane . This insane is about a thinking ( we all know INFJs are very deeply thinkers ). And that dream i saw a wall named REALE LIFE . Behind that wall was my wish ( my wish can be reached only on dream for they was unreal like a unreal love ) . After then , I noticed Im pretty getting crazy like thinking about self-killing and escaping from home , self-hurting and doing violence reactions . Where I get crazy , i think about doing justice and good things alone with out home , income or family to die and doing to paradise ( my wish can be real only 2 places : my mind ( dont work fully ) and paradic )
. I need your advice to skip this hard days .
 
INFJman41148 said:
Hello , guys . I dont know you but im getting insane and Im very scared about my insane . This insane is about a thinking ( we all know INFJs are very deeply thinkers ). And that dream i saw a wall named REALE LIFE . Behind that wall was my wish ( my wish can be reached only on dream for they was unreal like a unreal love ) . After then , I noticed Im pretty getting crazy like thinking about self-killing and escaping from home , self-hurting and doing violence reactions . Where I get crazy , i think about doing justice and good things alone with out home , income or family to die and doing to paradise ( my wish can be real only 2 places : my mind ( dont work fully ) and paradic )
. I need your advice to skip this hard days .
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All you gotta do is stop doin that
 
Just another thing many have to face in some capacity and trundle through but ultimately come out on the other side having learned some lessons that couldn't have been learned any other way.
 
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