#tw delusions

23 pages

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"I often talk about reality checking and going along with it when helping someone deal with delusions, but I felt as if I didn’t really make it clear to what I meant when I said it.

Recently I saw a post similar to “how to sneakily give your delusional friend a reality check when they told you not to” and honestly, that’ll just make us lose trust for you. Because we can tell when you do that."

i was on the buss and i hallucinated bugs crawling all over my hands, so my friend pulled my hoodie sleeves over them with permission and held my hands through the sleeves to "keep them off". they used the logic you would in a real bug situation.

i went nonverbal in a bad one in class, so my friend wrote me a note to give to the nurse since the teacher wouldn't let her go with me.

i often am very paranoid about the delusion that meat is actually rotten, so my dad will sometimes eat a bit of it before me

instead of telling me my delusions arent real, they help me through it using logic like it was real. they dont tell me that nothings going to hurt me in my sleep, they stay with me to keep me safe. then when it passes i can realize its not real

edit: i am not a doctor. i am not saying this will work for everyone, the only reason this works for me is because I have short term delusions typically. Typically, it helps me most when people point out the things not real in a loving manner AND help me as though it is

this is not advice for helping every mentally ill person

When I'm having a delusion about bugs under my skin or something stalking me or literally any other delusion, I don't need someone to tell me "it's not real". I don't care if it's real or not. It's still terrifying to me. Being told "it's not real" doesn't help me, and once the delusion has passed, it makes me feel bad- like I'm just crazy, like my fears and experiences don't matter because they could just be delusions and hallucinations.

This goes for any delusion by the way. You see someone who believes they're God? Cool. Mind your own fucking business. You see someone who believes they have super powers or are an important figure? Cool! Mind your own fucking business.

Now. You may be asking. "Alfie, what if it's my friend and the delusion is stressing them out?"

Comfort them. Treat it like any other problem- if the person prefers advice, give them advice that matches with the delusion. If they just need comfort, do exactly that- tell them you're there for them, etc etc. You're not feeding the delusion- you're comforting your friend when they're stressed and afraid over something.

Tasks my ESSA Brutus performs! (Schizophrenia edition)

Because ESSAs dont only help with autism!

"Protecting" me from delusions that I fear will harm me by expelling an imaginary light that acts as a force field (may sound like another delusion, but it's a conscious coping skill ive used since I was a kid. Think Teddy from Among The Sleep)

Calming me from delusions and paranoia via extremely soft texture and weighted body

I experience disorganized thoughts quite a lot and they're much more upsetting than you'd think, and he helps me by giving me something physical and material I can think about rather than the random monkey brain garbage my train of thought throws at me

Sitting in my lap for car rides because I experience a lot of paranoia about crashing

Allows me to turn my back to mirrors (another paranoia/delusion i suffer with extremely frequently) by looking over my shoulder to 'watch my back' for any monsters

Brutus is also a German Shepherd so I imagine him as being big and scary like a nonstuffed dog. Helps scare off any lingering monsters

Gives me autonomy by allowing me to overcome my own challenges and do things on my own. Without Brutus I wouldnt be able to navigate my own home

While I can't take Brutus everywhere (he's heavy), bringing him with me in the car gives me incentive to GO BACK to the car. I struggle with feelings of "what if I go back to the car and a monster is there or someone Scary is breaking into it" and if he's in the car, it calms those thoughts

I have been struggling with a severe delusion of food i try to eat being rotten, and if I have Brutus "sniff" beforehand, im much more likely to actually eat the food rather than putting it back for fear of it being spoiled. Im also much more likely to not experience the corresponding hallucination of it smelling/tasting spoiled as well

I feel like in this community a lot of people center ESSAs around Autism, as if they're an "Autism thing" or a tool that only people with autism can benefit from. And while it is true that a lot of autistic people benefit from them, and a lot of the people who do benefit are autistic (im also autistic!)... ESSAs can assist people with any symptoms, even ones that aren't caused by autism!

ESSA owners: what non-autistic symptoms does your ESSA help you with?