Okay, fess up - who's been talking?

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

From case studies discussed in "Internet Delusions: A Case Series and Theoretical Integration," from the May/June Psychopathology. Excerpted in the September Harper's.

W.L., a thirty-one-year-old woman, was admitted to hospital after being found in the street in a distressed state. On admission she recounted how she first felt unwell six weeks earlier and became suspicious when her credit card was refused in a shop, leading to a sense of unease and increasingly intrusive thoughts. Subsequently, while examining the packaging of a breath-freshening product, she noticed the ingredient "phenylalanine," which she proceed to use as a search term on an Internet search engine. Her search resulted in finding a web page that outlined experimental studies on the chemical. Using the most personally significant numbers from that page as search terms, she found a website explaining an Aramaic system for divining special meaning from numbers. She came to believe that she had found secret information about the Al Qaeda terrorist network. During the following days she believed that, because of her discovery of terrorist secrets, her computer and telephone had been tapped and that she was being bugged by microphones and concealed cameras. She has extensive experience using the Internet, and when asked how the Internet worked, she replied, "By linking computers all over the world using energy and digital technology."

K.D., a forty-two-year-old man, had consulted his GP for low mood and suspiciousness. K.D. claimed that the websites of several international companies had a "darker side" and hidden sections that were being used by a secret organization. K.D. believed the organization had blackmailed his wife and possibly his daughter into involvement with pornography and that indecent images of them were being distributed across the Internet, partly as a "personal vendetta" against him waged by the two leaders of the organization. He first suspected that this might be the case when he saw his wife turn their computer off in a hurry but believed that his wife had left a trail of clues for him to find so that he could protect her from danger. The clues were concealed in the names of the websites that he believed were involved in the conspiracy.

[KT2000]

1. I didn't say a thing!

Harper's really finds some amazing info.

:hide:

[wli]

2. here comes the psychiatric imprisonment of ppl informed via internet

Doubtless these are gross misrepresentations of whatever their stories actually are.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

4. Link? Source?

[wli]

5. it's an interpretation, not a known alternative story

No sources, just my reading of the article.

[lvx35]

3. A Rastafarian told me...

That the Internet was a "living thing". I think ultimately, he is right. Its such a huge and vast medium that the personal experiences of it can be extremely intense. I would hesitate to call this woman a moran, because ANYBODY can be confused about information presented to them on the net.

Hell, look at the Freepers! :)

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

6. I don't think she's a moran

I think her thoughts have run away with her and taken her to a place from which she cannot escape. It can happen to anyone if they don't balance out what they read with their experiences in the real world.

I agree that the Internet is a living thing, just as books are. People have long used the written word to feed their neuroses and psychoses. Now the web lets us see the result in overwhelming multitude...in all its confounding, aggravating, entertaining glory. :)

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

7. Delusional kick

[smurfygirl]

8. holy shit...is that my neighbor?

she says the same shit all the time...She has even started covering her house with aluminum foil to keep the radio waves out....

:crazy: :tinfoilhat: :crazy:

[Jankyn]

9. People with delusional psychiatric disorders...

tend to "frame" their delusions in the terms of whatever cultural norms are present at the time. That's why so many use religious terms in their delusions (and that's a frame that's lasted for a very long time). Others used technological frames--"rays" from "space," or "waves" from "government agencies."

It's not surprising that some would use the internet as a frame for their delusions. It's an attempt to explain their delusions to their own satisfaction.

Jankyn

[txaslftist]

10. Paranoid schizophrenics

once cast all delusions in theological terms, as in, a devil from hell is possessing me. With the advent of technology, the delusions changed also, so that "a devil speaks in my head" became "the CIA has planted wires in my head to control my thoughts". Seeing the delusions spread into internet paranoia is not at all surprising.

Regardless, it is always a call for help and evidences an obvious need for treatment.