It could be a generalisation at my end, but from what I have seen and heard a lot of people with schizophrenia have a similar paranoia and my question is, is why is it specifically about someone (mostly government) tracking their movements? Why isn’t it about something else?
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I always imagine the Ed Snowden revelations had to exacerbate symptoms for lots of folks with schizy tendencies
The why is really not relevant as it is the one that most people are exposed to either from cinema or some random guy on TV talking about government. There are patients who have the same idea about their spouses, children, basically the environment. Government is very broad entity, it’s everywhere and nowhere. It’s “they” but not someone specific. Similarly with the corporations.
But it can also be the neighbour, the barista, the teller. The problem with paranoia is the neurological which involves among other parts of the brain, but it mostly focuses on the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex.
Amygdala deals with external threats and then feeds these stimuli to the PFC, which is your rational part, there you make your statistical analysis and say if the threat is real or not, but in schizophrenia this connection is not normal, so to say, so they tend to misinterpreted everything as a threat.
You can experience the same type of paranoia if you are exposed to constant stress.
Probably because it’s loosely based on reality. We are being tracked and watched but we bring our own devices, like phones, computers, and connected smart devices.
Because it actually happens, probably to most (maybe not the *exact* delusion, but…)
Most people’s natural reaction is “it is what it is” and just casually hide what they want private
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Corporations and governments are easier to rationalise having the power and capability to explain some delusional experiences people have. E.g. cameras in house, being set up by actors, having a brain chip inserted, many technology based paranoia.
That being said it is culture specific. E.g. in rural parts of india ‘black magic’ might replace ‘goverment’ as the rationale. And therfore being under a ‘magic spell’ might replace ‘brain chip’ as the subjective delusion.
It is completely normal to try and rationalise an intense subjective feeling/experience. And when you add in some really disturbing experiences like voice hearing, thought disorder, intense fluctuations in fear response, tactile hallucinations, cognitive bias (this list goes on and is unique from person to person) It makes sense that you would form an equally grand explanation for that experience.
I’ve had a bit to do with people with the disorder over the years, most recently through my volunteer work in the community. The auditory hallucinations and delusions I’ve seen from these people involve politicians, members of the judiciary (I.e. respected people) and distasteful or shameful acts (from toilet use through to pedophilia via corruption). There often seems to be a need to bring the powerful down a peg or two.
Could also be in some parts evolutionary, we are able to sense if someone is watching or following aka predators…?
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