Abstract
Delusions have long been considered a hallmark of mental illness. When individuals begin to believe that they are Jesus here to save the world or the devil here to destroy it, they are quickly labelled “psychotic” and thought to be in need of some form of psychiatric treatment. Throughout history, such individuals have been stigmatized and ostracized from the community because their souls have been taken over by evil demons, their mental structures have deteriorated, their brains have malfunctioned, or whatever other paradigm is employed to account for the “pathology” that delusions are assumed to represent.
I made some studies, and reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it.
Jane Wagner (1986, p. 18) in Lilly Tomlin’s one-woman play, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe.
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Hundert, E.M. (1992). The Brain’s Capacity to Form Delusions as an Evolutionary Strategy for Survival. In: Spitzer, M., Uehlein, F., Schwartz, M.A., Mundt, C. (eds) Phenomenology, Language & Schizophrenia. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9329-0_22
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9329-0_22
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