# Fear of being psychotic



## anxietygirl444 (Apr 11, 2018)

My symptoms have been heightened lately, so much so that I’ve begun to worry that everything and everyone around me may not be real. I understand that I am being irrational, but part of me is convinced. Today, I thought to myself that the world seemed so unreal that the bushes outside my bedroom window might be cardboard. Again, I realize that this is irrational, but I couldn’t shake the thought, or others of a similar nature. I’ve been in constant fear that I will soon believe completely in one of said thoughts or conspiracies, thus becoming psychotic. It seems that a lot of people struggling with this condition mention fears involving the same thing. However, I genuinely worry that I am going to give into my fears and wholeheartedly think that the bushes are actually cardboard, and the people I talk to are simulations, etc. I know there is a difference between being psychotic and being afraid of being psychotic, but lately it has been especially difficult to feel grounded enough to rationalize my thoughts to myself in a convincing way. Are these natural fears? Has anyone else experienced something similar - worrying that they will actually become “crazy” and believe what they know is irrational?


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## Spikeycloud (Apr 7, 2018)

anxietygirl444 said:


> My symptoms have been heightened lately, so much so that I've begun to worry that everything and everyone around me may not be real. I understand that I am being irrational, but part of me is convinced. Today, I thought to myself that the world seemed so unreal that the bushes outside my bedroom window might be cardboard. Again, I realize that this is irrational, but I couldn't shake the thought, or others of a similar nature. I've been in constant fear that I will soon believe completely in one of said thoughts or conspiracies, thus becoming psychotic. It seems that a lot of people struggling with this condition mention fears involving the same thing. However, I genuinely worry that I am going to give into my fears and wholeheartedly think that the bushes are actually cardboard, and the people I talk to are simulations, etc. I know there is a difference between being psychotic and being afraid of being psychotic, but lately it has been especially difficult to feel grounded enough to rationalize my thoughts to myself in a convincing way. Are these natural fears? Has anyone else experienced something similar - worrying that they will actually become "crazy" and believe what they know is irrational?


Can you try just to see these thoughts as thoughts - and that they are not real? If you fight against your thoughts, you will make them stronger.


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## zolotf (Jun 26, 2018)

I feel the same way, my biggest fear is to lose reality if that makes sense


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## eddy1886 (Oct 11, 2012)

zolotf said:


> I feel the same way, my biggest fear is to lose reality if that makes sense


Thats every DP sufferers biggest fear...


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## nicewon (Aug 10, 2017)

holy fuck maybe some of us with the severe dp that havnt recovered are psychotic i was just thinking this the other day. i usually cant relate to alot of these people that recover they seem to have it alot easier with diferent symptoms.


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## Flavius (Jun 11, 2016)

For me, this is OCD, an intrusive thoughts that gets worse and weirder by fearing them.


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## Chip1021 (Mar 24, 2018)

I guess I've never understood this fear, but it seems really common, and not just among DP sufferers.

What I mean is, fear of a word. Psychosis, Schizophrenia, a brain tumor, whatever it is. I've been to many doctors and had them tell me "well, you don't have this, you don't have that, so you don't have to worry anymore."

But I'm not worried about a label. I'm hoping to get a label so that I can maybe get appropriate treatment for my condition. If what I have is schizophrenia, or something else that is scary sounding, i would like to know. After all, medication seems to work well on the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, but it doesn't do shit for DP (if that's even what I really have, I don't know).

The worst part of having to deal with this my entire life is not knowing what the hell is happening to me.

So could someone explain to me why they fear psychosis? This isn't snark, I'm genuinely curious.


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## eddy1886 (Oct 11, 2012)

For many years most average people have feared "going crazy" or developing psychosis or schizophrenia or becoming bi polar....Society as a whole is to blame...Its all got to do with the STIGMA attached to mental ill health...In the old days if you said you were depressed or anxious etc etc you would have been laughed at and told to MAN UP and get on with it....

It is complete ignorance and narrow mindedness from society in general and mental ill health is considered a weakness or even sub human...Basically if you have a serious mental health condition you are classed as crazy and an outcast by the general public...This ignorance carries on today unfortunately...Its not just an older generation thing...We are all being fed these fears from a young age via our peers and even our parents etc...

As a result we ALL fear going crazy or losing our mind and big words such as PSYCHOSIS and SCHIZOPHRENIA and BI POLAR are naturally associated with mass murderers and serial killers and child abusers etc etc etc....

BUT!!!! .......Nothing could be further from the truth....Most people with more severe forms of mental ill health live reasonably normal lives and get on with life.....

The media and Hollywood and general narrow mindedness amongst people have been feeding us all with these fears of "going crazy" for many years...I mean how often have you heard "He is schizo, He has multiple personalities, Hes totally crazy, Stay away from him, Hes a murderer"

WHAT AN ABSOLUTE LOAD OF NARROW MINDED CRAP!!!!!

This is whats known as "Stigma" when it comes to mental ill health....And its this Stigma that creates all the fear and narrow mindedness around it....

The truth is EVERYBODY in the entire world is crazy in their own way.....The difference with people like DP sufferers is that the craziness is very debilitating to us...In fact this actually makes us saner than the average person because we are so aware of upsetting or disturbing thinking and feelings...

Im actually more cautious and weary of people who claim to be perfectly sane nowadays....Simply because there is no such thing as perfect mental health or the perfectly sane person......EVERYBODY in the entire world is crazy in their own way...


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## Chip1021 (Mar 24, 2018)

I remember reading a quote somewhere that went something like: "Insanity is not when you have lost your reason. Insanity is when you have lost everything EXCEPT your reason."

I think I'd have to agree with that statement, which is why I think DP / DR represents true insanity, if the term means anything at all. (Of course, term like crazy, insane, and even mentally ill mean whatever the speaker wants them to mean, so they aren't very useful in rational discussion, IMO).


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