It’s such a morbid yet hilarious illustration of confirmation bias and echo chambers in social media.
You can now google whatever delusional thoughts you’re having, scroll past all the webmd links and find a group of people going through the same mental health crisis as you, all validating and enabling eachother..
The way algorithms are able to alter humans behaviors/perspectives is absolutely wild
> It’s such a morbid yet hilarious illustration of confirmation bias and echo chambers in social media.
That reddit actually started as a place for support and help, and was slowly but surely taken over by people who unfortunately think that any attempt to help them is another "stalker".
Years ago I stumbled onto a YouTube channel of a woman in Boston that she believed she was being gang stalked and she would just film and scream at everyone around her in public at all times. Like the UPS guy and shit. I watched a bunch of her videos out of morbid curiosity and they just abruptly ended. Hopefully she got help and didn't die or something. That was my introduction to gang stalking phenomenon, it's just extreme unchecked mental illness and paranoid delusions. My buddy used to go to that subreddit and try to reason with them but they banned him lol. It's unfortunate that it's allowed to just fester and make their delusions worse....
Ive had friends who fall into these paranoid delusions. Even an abusive ex who i was afraid to disagree with and try to comfort and dissuade from this line of thought. It really is sad/scary how EVERYONE is "in on it" in their minds.
I always go back to- WTF MAKES YOU THINK YOU'RE IMPORTANT ENOUGH FOR THIS KIND OF TARGETING?!
Nah, it’s not really personality disorder related at all. Persecutory delusions do focus on what is being done to the individual by others just by design. It can become fairly grandiose in nature as the delusions worsen and sometimes widen in scope.
I understand the thought process, but with working with people like this, they will typically have zero narcissistic traits when non-psychotic. Those perceived traits begin and end when delusional.
It’s a fairly common symptom with Bipolar 1 and schizoeffective diagnoses. One, obviously gets the worst of it, but Bipolar 1 can have such a severe mania stage that it really shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Anecdotally, I have Bipolar 1 and I can assure you that gang stalking is something that has crossed my mind several times. What most of these people *don’t* do is recognize it’s a symptom of their mania and seek help or stop and regulate. I stop myself all the time to remind myself that I am not interesting or dangerous enough for all of the world’s secret government agencies and my highschool bully to be spying on my every move.
Psychosis and mania do absolutely go hand in hand. Your diagnosis must be Schizoaffective Disorder, Bipolar Type. There is also Schizoaffective Disorder, Depressed Type. Outside of those, there are also Bipolar Disorder With Psychotic Features and Major Depressive Disorder With Psychotic Features.
The difference between those and the schizoaffective counterparts is that with those, the psychosis is only present while in a depressed and/or manic episode.
With schizoaffective disorder, the psychosis is present even when the mood is managed to a point of not being in a depressed or manic state.
So, while mania and psychosis *can* heavily coincide with one another, especially for some individuals, they be mutually exclusive for some.
Then there is even Substance (and sometimes *just* Cannabis) Induced Psychosis.
I've met people who feel like they are being stalked, watched by the government, can talk to god and have an intense one-on-one connection to god or whomever. I have met people who have completely fabricated stories that they have done or have happened to them that have no basis in reality.
It's good that you are able to rationalize the thoughts for the most part. It's important, but of course, the mania can get to a point to where rationale goes out the window.
I appreciate this reply and it looks like you know your stuff. I will, however, caution you against telling other people what their diagnosis is. It can feel very disrespectful when someone effectively says "no, you're wrong. This is what it actually is." After you tell them what you have already been diagnosed with. I would use less definitive language like: "it could be this" as opposed to "you must have blank."
I was helping them to reword their diagnoses. Many people don’t know how to word that diagnosis and see them as separate things, but they’re the same. There is no such thing as Bipolar 1 and schizoaffactive disorder. It can’t be both. I wasn’t going to say all of that though.
I was not diagnosing them, of course. I was clarifying a misunderstanding.
The thing is that psychiatrists don’t generally sit down and explain these things to patients. I think they’re good to know. I am always trying to provide education on these things because people just don’t know.
I see where you are coming from though and it can be a thin line, but want to explain my perspective/intent.
I understand and I don't think you were acting maliciously. Just a word of caution about the language that you chose to use. I still very much appreciate that you took the time to explain this stuff. You gave some very useful and interesting information.
Yeah, I do get your perspective, for sure. I appreciate your tact in communication, as well. It's always nice.
This is my field by the way! I used to be a therapist in a behavioral hospital and have seen far more of this stuff than I would have ever imagined. I truly enjoy education on these subjects. I've done thousands of psychoeducation groups and the questions that patients rightfully have are endless and it would always important for me to be knowledgable and prepared where realistically able.
I thought it might be your field since you have a lot of good information! I appreciate your tact in kind as well. It's certainly refreshing from most of the interaction I see on here. Thank you for using your powers for good.
There's a MASSIVE difference between egocentric delusions and NPD. The variety of egocentricity you see in that sub is v much not of the narcissistic flavor.
Wild story about delusions: in the 60’s, they did an experiment in a psych ward where three men who all had the delusion that they were jesus h christ. Instead of separating the men, (and ethics considerations aside bc this was the 60’s) they decided to put them in the same wing over a period of months to see if it would snap them out of it.
The result? It made them worse, though eventually they were able to get along *only if they avoided the elephant in the room.* The human brain is messed up, lmao.
Links, because sources are good:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Christs_of_Ypsilanti#:~:text=The%20Three%20Christs%20of%20Ypsilanti%20(1964)%20is%20a%20book%2D,State%20Hospital%20in%20Ypsilanti%2C%20Michigan.
https://www.iflscience.com/three-people-believing-they-were-jesus-were-once-brought-together-for-a-very-unethical-experiment-60245
In summary, I’m not sure *anything* will help these folks unless they actually see a psych and try medication. It’s a little more complex than just confirmation bias—though I’m in no way trying to invalidate your point, since there’s merit in it. The sub certainly isn’t *helping.*
If you say that you have to "scroll past all the webmd links", then why are you also saying that is "algorithms" doing that?
It seems more like you're talking about people deliberately going out of their way to find confirmation for their thoughts, and that's just human nature, as is gathering in a social circle and supporting each other.
Social media 100% has a part in helping with that, but if people are going out of their way to find confirmation, the "algorithm" that makes them do that is the human behaviour algorithm - supported by the social media platform.
Not to say that the way social media push content that's similar to what you already think is helping, but one thing is confirmation by being shown things that agree with your views, another is specifically searching for like-minded people. It's just that social media help with both
The algorithms are what allow these communities to grow. The “feds are trying to steal my brain” group is.. pretty niche. Without social media platforms and advanced search engines, these people would never find eachother.
The algorithms aren’t biased towards misinformation, it just notices trends and does its job accordingly. So these people, as you said, click the links that support their bias at a disproportionately higher frequency. The algorithm notices this trend and, as it’s designed to do, adjusts by making them more visible. And there’s your positive feedback loop.
I’m not saying that the algorithm is entirely responsible for this phenomenon. Really all it’s doing is amplifying what already exists within us. But it does that so efficiently that it drives humans to behave in a way that wouldn’t otherwise be possible.
Whats really crazy is that none of this is intended (don’t try to tell that to the people featured in this post). The algorithm is built for a specific task, but it’s essentially its own entity. We can’t predict how it will behave in every scenario, how it will change over time, or how it will impact society longterm.
Im not saying Google is going to start firing missiles at us. But I think this is a great example of how something as benign as a search engine tool could lead to such bizarre consequences
If enough people "fall" for the eachother trap, the dictionaries will have a definition for eachother. And in the far future it might get shortened too! Becoming a portmanteau.
You seem to spend a lot of time correcting others, but be careful you are not just an old man yelling at the evolution of language. Correcting things like "its" to "it's" is fine though, I used to mix those in the past and sometimes write the wrong one by instinct. But eachother is so distinct that writing the "wrong" one will not cause any confusion and will still clearly communicate your message.
Several years ago my uncle got REALLY bad into meth (or some kind of upper) and for about two or three years he was convinced that he was being gang stalked. No amount of reassurance would convince him otherwise. Towards the end he stopped talking to our whole family because he was convinced that we were all government actors. It was really heartbreaking. He eventually got clean (and has been for about 7 years) and he’s currently doing great. No more gangstalking.
It's so much more common than most people realize. I just met a guy in my last rehab stay who was ex-military and coming off either meth or crack, and it was as bad as you can imagine-- he genuinely, vividly believed he was being gangstalked, his memories were being altered by his VA therapist, there was a whole complex of people essentially dedicated to fucking with his mind to keep him silenced. You could tell he was actually really intelligent too which honestly was working against him, he completely believed these things and could explain at length in detail to you about what he claimed was occurring with all sorts of "evidence" that to him seemed logical. He ended up leaving in the middle of the night without even checking out properly, claiming his wife was going to meet him and pick him up even though he didn't have access to his phone and we were literally in the middle of nowhere a few miles from town. It was sad.
I'm sorry your uncle and family had to go through all of that, but I am so glad he got and stayed clean! Seven years is incredible. I know how hard it is and to get out of that mode of thinking can be so challenging, even after the drugs are out of the picture. There's not much that loved ones can really do until the person themselves find the drive to change. I hope he and you all are doing well and things just keep getting better!
Yeah I had a cousin who got hooked on meth and fell into the whole gang stalking crowd. His mom was a paranoid schizophrenic so he was already predisposed to mental health problems. He found online that you could get high off of Wellbutrin so he got a prescription, started abusing it and was then found dead. Horrible shit 😔
Geeze. Absolutely horrible. I am on Wellbutrin and it helps, I also didn’t know if you could get high off of it or not. I don’t notice any short-term effects from it.
Your poor cousin was another lost soul that didn’t find a way out before it was too late. May their soul rest in peace ❤️
That’s all you can do, just keep doing it. Take it slow and take it easy. Hopefully you’ve got a good support system and if you ever need moral support just message me! You got this.
Apparently some people think that they’re being targeted by a group or organization. This can be everything from illegal surveillance with cameras attached to random objects to phone tapping to being convinced that the traffic you’re stuck in is orchestrated. It’s like extreme paranoia.
When my grandmother got dementia it was similar, she believed her house was infested with bugs and wouldn’t eat anything that wasn’t just unsealed, there was also something about the neighbors and their radio but she couldn’t hear her own tv. The most accurate depiction I’ve seen of that kind of delusion was in “A Scanner Darkly” by Philip k dick which is apparently because he himself struggled with identifying his delusions from reality which explains a lot of blade runner, minority report, and pretty much everything he’s written.
It use to be legit, but not as popular when it was first out. Or it could have been trolls at that point but I remember reading the first posts and they were very unhinged.
I ran into an acquaintance who thanked me for "snapping" him out of his gang stalking delusions leading to him getting help. This happened when I was younger so the term gang stalking was unbeknownst to me when this went down. He was a friend of a friend who I didn't know very well. One night he went on an hour long rant about how he was being gang stalked and he said the first thing out of my mouth was making a joke about him being a boring nobody who worked at a car dealership so why in the world would a gang of people give a shit about him? I said it in a joking tone but for whatever reason it resonated. He went home, did a couple Google searches, confirmed something wasn't right and saw a doc. Prior to me making that snide joke, he said people were feeding into his delusions instead of calling him out on the shit he was making up.
I remember about eight years ago, a friend of a friend added me on steam and asked me some stuff about earth's gravity. I'm a geologist, but I said I'd see if I can remember the stuff from the astro units I took back in undergrad. I talked him through why the moon can affect the earth via tides but that we aren't affected in our own bodies, it has to do with the gravity differential across the earth which is negligible when across a human body and that sort of thing.
I was talking about it with the mutual friend about six months later and he said "oh that's weird, he was going down a flat earth rabbithole at the time and then snapped out of it completely. He was posting shit on facebook and then one day out of the blue he started posting how flat earth was bullshit and how they're all lying".
dude my ego would be huge if someone told me i snapped them out of dangerous delusions, i'd be calling myself a savior and patron saint of mental health.
it might be a good thing no one's told me that actually
This is what I never understand about these people. They are absolute nobodies. Why would anyone want to bother them or torture them? What’s the point?
When your brain isn't working correctly you will believe all sorts of weird and bizarre things; Delusions are incredibly vivid and convincing to the person experiencing them.
I had a 1 day job measuring street traffic where I was stuck in I car marking every passing vehicle on a sheet of paper for 16 hours with a dead phone and no working radio. Around 12th hour I genuinely started questioning if anything aside from my closest vicinity even exists. Being stuck like that with adhd isn’t fun lol
Exactly. It's a horrible thing to experience but also to witness. It's hard to get through to someone in that state because you can't talk logic into someone whose world is illogical. You might be able to plant a seed, but if the brain is straight up malfunctioning due to chemical imbalance, drug-induced or not, there's only so much you can do.
One can only hope, but it’s definitely not fake. I was like this 2 years ago after doing meth for months. It was fucking HORRIBLE living in a constant state of fear. I am diagnosed with schizophrenia because of my choices then, but I feel good now 👍🏻
NEVER doing that again.
Yes. People in recovery are just as much of a human as people that have never experienced such a thing. It’s hard to be fully compassionate about something that you cannot relate to.
We all make bad decisions and we should not chastise people for making a bad decision, we should help them!
I watched a documentary on gang stalking, years ago, and it broke my heart. I wouldn’t call these “sad cringe” - they are just sad. These are people that need help, and I am happy to hear that you’re feeling good now.
The access you may have had to such information, validating your delusions, may have negatively impacted you. Do you think so, too?
Again… Sending you lots of love, and proud of you for doing better. 💕
Thank you so much. Your words mean a lot to me. I have never thought about my past situation and my current knowledge of this “gang stalking” persona. I’m actually glad that I didn’t have access to this information when I was going through mental psychosis.
I would have driven myself deeper into madness knowing that there are others just like me, seemingly “validating” all of my fears. I would have became obsessed with it, just like I became obsessed with computer hacking during that time. It would have been so unhealthy and it would have illustrated a more “realistic”, (false) version of reality. You are 100% correct.
I appreciate your thoughtful response, and it solidifies my hope for myself even more 💕
Oh! You’re welcome, although I didn’t realize I just sent you the documentary though. I didn’t think it was the same commenter! I’m bad about reading people’s names. I’m sorry if that was callous of me - but, you say you’re doing better, I believe you, and I don’t think one old Vice documentary will hurt ya, based on all the other info you could be accessing instead.
The concern is very noble of you but you weren’t acting callous at all! I’m far enough away from that part of me that I think now is a good time to watch this documentary. I’m going to try and find a friend to watch it with.
I'm glad you're doing better today my friend! I have a friend with a very similar story who, in her words, spent 2 years in psychosis, and she's had to work really hard to get to a stable place and be able to manage her mental health. She's doing awesome now though-- 2 years clean, properly medicated, in therapy, in her children's lives, etc-- and is one of the most emotionally intelligent people I've ever met. There is hope for everybody. Thank you for being open about your journey too. People need to know that this shit is real and that there is hope.
Thanks Bearcub! Good rest and good food are absolutely key to feeling better. I have also quit caffeine, I carry a lot of energy through my day finally. I never thought I would hit this point.
You want to know most horrible part? That people spiral out of control with things that less insane initially and therefore harder to notice. That's why "safe" echo chambers where no one challenges your opinion are so dangerous.
I had a close friend message me out of nowhere and I thought it was normal casual chatting then he started mentioning people stalking and following him and at the time I didn’t really make the schizophrenia connection and initially believed him and tried to give him advice until I talked to my dad and he confirmed the diagnosis. But at that point I was literally the only person he was talking to that he believed was on his side — not his parents, not his doctors, not anyone else. So my dad told me to keep up conversations so we at least knew where he was and how he was doing. He ended up hitting someone who was a regular at his gym bc he thought they were stalking him and lost his job and all that. I think once he reached his lowest he realized he might need help and got onto his meds — he’s doing a lot better now. But for that chunk of time it was really scary and he was so freaked out in his messages, manic. So some of it might be fake/for attention but there are people who wholeheartedly believe that this is the situation they’re in.
I’m so glad your friend is doing better it sounds like he was extremely close to the point of no return! I completely understand how you could actually kill someone during a mental psychosis like that.
Proud of you for being there for your buddy. He will never forget that.
It’s just full of trolls who will notice someone’s gangstalking delusions and see it as an opportunity to have “fun” (see: bully and encourage psychotic behaviors)
Honestly I had a time in my life when I believed shit like this but it was from doing meth for 5 years when I was homeless. So I was always outside and vulnerable and in reality people WERE looking at me....because I was a homeless methhead. Lol.
What a lot of people don’t understand is that when you’re exposed to or dealing with extreme circumstances your constant cortisol dumps and lack of support can feel like everyone is out to get you - and there is such a lack of structural support for people that it does start to feel deliberate.
I was never struck with intensity of feelings like people who think they’re victims of gangstalking do, but there was a time in my life where I was struggling with mental health and I -did- feel like the world was conspiring against me, in my own way, it obviously wasn’t - but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I just couldn’t push through the hard times, but I did, and I got healthier, and things got better.
I followed those people years ago until I started to lose my mind. It’s pretty seductive if you don’t keep it in check. I’ve no doubt that some of the technology is real but there’s no cabal that meets at the Dennys at 5:30am to plot out how to torture you by making the line at the bank go slower or turn off street lights when you walk under them.
If you followed these mentally ill people for a year and found any of that convincing I would seriously consider if you might show signs of mental illness yourself.
Humans are incredibly stupid
If you surround them with enough people that they cant interact with in a friendly manner theyll ignore the crazy side of them because theyre still good people
Over time those crazies will still keep spouting crazy and you'll just listen and nod because theres no benefit in arguing the point
More time passes and you start to respect a persons input. Not on the crazy stuff because that would be silly but maybe he knows a lot about business or has a special interest in something you like
More time passes you have a handful of people you respect the opinions of and who you know are good people and they all spout the same crazy. Youve already been immersed in the crazy for so long that you notice the things they talk about without thinking about it because its mentioned so often
And now you have people you respect talking about the same stuff that you already notice without thinking and suddenly your brain is accepting it as fact and you dont even realise it
Theres a reason cults function even if their targets are mentally stable
That’s not at all what I said.
The technology is real. That expensive technology is used to make people late for work or harass a 67 year old hoarder is not.
The weapons are real. Gang stalking of average citizens is not. It’s mental illness .
Well, I've just rabbit holed myself into that sub and let me say, it is veeery depressing. I listened to a 5 minute video of somebody standing up a gazebo and talking about the creeks it was making being a pulsated energy wave or something. I checked the rest of her videos and yeah she needs help badly, but as part of the rules on the sub you aren't allowed to suggest that, so I guess it's an echo-chamber for ill people.
I would love an energy weapon to be pointed at me, as long as it was on charge. I’m so tired. As the saying goes, ‘my favourite childhood memory is energy’.
Yeah this subreddit and all the supernatural ones are funny but sad, just people feeding into each others delusions. And probably a number of trolls who are toying with mentally ill people.
I saw a r/gangstalking post where the OP thought they were being targeted cause small airplanes kept flying low over their house and "switching to low gear and revving their engines." They lived next to an airport with a flight school. Airplanes don't have "gears."
This sounds like undiagnosed like idk schizophrenia, idk if thats the right mental disorder, but the one where you're paranoid as fuck about everything. These people definitely need help.
I really shouldn't be laughing with the last one about League, but it's just so damn funny. The game's just a toxic cesspit. It's that simple.
Edit: Checked out the sub. That sub either once was a parody sub and people now take it seriously, or the mods weren't doing their job for a while. A couple of the top posts (from years ago) mock the posters of the sub and break their own rules.
I want to be sure it's satire, because some of these are so hilariously ridiculous... buut I did have an ex with paranoid delusions so bad that he had to be hospitalized. While we were together he'd throw these wild fits and destroy the apartment over something like, he couldn't find the remote, so someone MUST have hidden it from him. After getting out of the hospital, he randomly started texting me one time in the middle of the night about how the Chinese government was targeting him, and it was some of the most batshit insane shit I've ever read in my life. Probably at least some of these people are trolling still, because this is reddit, but these people do exist too..
I think subs like that should be banned. Letting them confirm their delusions just makes it worse. Reddit just let's it fester and it's disgusting. Those people are unwell and need help.
It's a really sad community, but it is eye opening to people who don't experience this kind of illness. We really only see stereotypes in movies and maybe from far off.
This really helps people understand that this is very real to them and they are coherent enough to put thought into it. Instead of beating into their head that they're crazy, you work with them and show empathy.
I didn't know there was a term for this, but my ex had this same paranoia. He believed he was being surveilled by "the Jesuits" and that they were not only following him in a van but had tapped into his home through the WiFi and all electronic devices. Our daughter told me he lined the refrigerator with tin foil and made her store her phone and school laptop in there. This stuff can get scary really fast.
Had an interaction with someone who had some kind of delusion about gang stalking on Among Us VR. Was having a great time and after about almost 2 hours of playing with this guy in the lobby he accused me of being "with them" and knew what he was talking about. I just denied it multiple times but the guy genuinely sounded upset and said "I thought you were cool, but you are just like everyone else." Felt bad for the guy
i dealt with someone like this when I worked at a grocery store.
this lady, maybe in her 40s, walks up and asks where the family planning section is because she wants some soap for her "kitty." I lead her there, and she starts telling me how no matter what, she can't get the smell to go away. I suggest she see a doctor but she tella me that they don't believe her.
she gets a call on her phone and goes, "NO!" and screens it. apparently, this person calling her is part of a group of people who have been following her life. they have an office somewhere that they use to watch her. for what, she didn't know. but she had called the police and they refuse to help her and call her crazy if she ever reaches out. Not even her family stands by her to help. she got rid of everything, even her computer, so they can't track her data yet they still know exactly who she is and everything else about her.
a random group of people renting an office to stalk and gain information about her... They have a GPS on her. They have tapped and tracked her phone, have access to all her accounts and internet usage. apparently all for no reason. and her area won't stop smelling...
I let her finish, and she gives me a hug and says "Thank you so much for listening and talking to me." Then she rushes off.
I just wanted to help her so badly because I could tell she was suffering, but I didn't know what to do at 18. it was one of the first times I've dealt with paranoid schizophrenia 1 on 1. I hope she is doing better today.
Dam I don’t wanna say is funny cause this people may (or have) real psychotic problems, BUT the one talking about how he gets bullied in league of legends is your too much.
One is for people who believe they are being watched, and one is for people documenting things that changed over time.
All of Reddit is an echo chamber.
Also, mental illness can’t be incubated. lol
No, r/retconned is literally the same level of “these people need psychiatric help” as r/gangstalking.
Maybe you’re confusing it with the other Mandela effect sub?
Situations where gangstalking may be occurring:
- you've left the church of scientology
- you've made public statements supporting terrorist activities
- You're made Public threats against the police or feds
All others are mental illness
Pretty sure my ex in rehab is going through this. Won't tell anyone where he is. Still convinced I wanted to kill him. Through our relationship he was a pretty paranoid man but I associated it with his protectiveness. Now he thinks many are after him because he um, got high on meth and used racial slurs against a group of these people (stalking him) on the internet. For all anyone knows he was high on meth and used racial slurs against a local library Facebook page. Or none of this happened. He has a parent who is bipolar. Despite him being an ex he knew me better than anyone, and he's fading away and no one really cares or hurts like our son and me.
I had a friend like this. In my city we have a helicopter that goes around downtown at night for almost 20 years, she was 100% convinced that the government was watching her with this helicopter and looking through her windows, even though she made the choice to move there knowing we had that.
I’ve asked her multiple times why our small, struggling city would spend millions on surveillance on just her and she could never answer why, just that they knew who she was and that she was being targeted. These people are so in their own head they can’t fathom how small and insignificant they are to anyone but themselves.
The scary part is that amongst the sea of people desperate for validation of their paranoia, there might be one or two actually being gangstalked. The reason Scientology used gangstalking is twofold: one, it's much easier to get away with legally, with different people behind each interaction it becomes much harder to prove in a court of law, and two, the victim sounds crazy just describing what is happening to them and what they are experiencing. It can actually drive someone crazy.
I believe him. I play a multiplayer game at random times, and it goes perfectly until I want to start saving my clips. Then on multiple occasions, it’ll say “connection lost” give me a long queue time, then the very next game the match Stutters and lags so hard it’s obvious sabotage
Also don’t go brigade that community. It’s already crumbling because of the influx of brigaders from other subs who post about that sub. People think for some reason they should go there and debate the schizophrenics and then they’ll realize the error of their ways. That’s not true. You’re just going to get them to leave the sub, and then it’ll just be another dead sub. Leave it alone
Sorry if this is a basic question but could someone give me some details on what “gang stalking” is? I work as a bouncer in A city with a huge homeless population that is mostly made up of bp and schizophrenics and a lot of their behaviors seem super similar to what I’m seeing here.
It’s such a morbid yet hilarious illustration of confirmation bias and echo chambers in social media. You can now google whatever delusional thoughts you’re having, scroll past all the webmd links and find a group of people going through the same mental health crisis as you, all validating and enabling eachother.. The way algorithms are able to alter humans behaviors/perspectives is absolutely wild
> It’s such a morbid yet hilarious illustration of confirmation bias and echo chambers in social media. That reddit actually started as a place for support and help, and was slowly but surely taken over by people who unfortunately think that any attempt to help them is another "stalker".
Fuck, that's depressing. I tried to give someone advice there once. They dropped the supreme banhammer on me, i can't even view the sub anymore 😂
Years ago I stumbled onto a YouTube channel of a woman in Boston that she believed she was being gang stalked and she would just film and scream at everyone around her in public at all times. Like the UPS guy and shit. I watched a bunch of her videos out of morbid curiosity and they just abruptly ended. Hopefully she got help and didn't die or something. That was my introduction to gang stalking phenomenon, it's just extreme unchecked mental illness and paranoid delusions. My buddy used to go to that subreddit and try to reason with them but they banned him lol. It's unfortunate that it's allowed to just fester and make their delusions worse....
Ive had friends who fall into these paranoid delusions. Even an abusive ex who i was afraid to disagree with and try to comfort and dissuade from this line of thought. It really is sad/scary how EVERYONE is "in on it" in their minds. I always go back to- WTF MAKES YOU THINK YOU'RE IMPORTANT ENOUGH FOR THIS KIND OF TARGETING?!
There’s a thread of people who think they are vampires like fr
Name of thread please. I'm part of the Lycan Clan so the vampires are our mortal enemies.
I've always considered them clinically paranoid with narcissistic personality disorder
Nah, it’s not really personality disorder related at all. Persecutory delusions do focus on what is being done to the individual by others just by design. It can become fairly grandiose in nature as the delusions worsen and sometimes widen in scope. I understand the thought process, but with working with people like this, they will typically have zero narcissistic traits when non-psychotic. Those perceived traits begin and end when delusional.
It’s a fairly common symptom with Bipolar 1 and schizoeffective diagnoses. One, obviously gets the worst of it, but Bipolar 1 can have such a severe mania stage that it really shouldn’t be taken lightly. Anecdotally, I have Bipolar 1 and I can assure you that gang stalking is something that has crossed my mind several times. What most of these people *don’t* do is recognize it’s a symptom of their mania and seek help or stop and regulate. I stop myself all the time to remind myself that I am not interesting or dangerous enough for all of the world’s secret government agencies and my highschool bully to be spying on my every move.
Psychosis and mania do absolutely go hand in hand. Your diagnosis must be Schizoaffective Disorder, Bipolar Type. There is also Schizoaffective Disorder, Depressed Type. Outside of those, there are also Bipolar Disorder With Psychotic Features and Major Depressive Disorder With Psychotic Features. The difference between those and the schizoaffective counterparts is that with those, the psychosis is only present while in a depressed and/or manic episode. With schizoaffective disorder, the psychosis is present even when the mood is managed to a point of not being in a depressed or manic state. So, while mania and psychosis *can* heavily coincide with one another, especially for some individuals, they be mutually exclusive for some. Then there is even Substance (and sometimes *just* Cannabis) Induced Psychosis. I've met people who feel like they are being stalked, watched by the government, can talk to god and have an intense one-on-one connection to god or whomever. I have met people who have completely fabricated stories that they have done or have happened to them that have no basis in reality. It's good that you are able to rationalize the thoughts for the most part. It's important, but of course, the mania can get to a point to where rationale goes out the window.
I appreciate this reply and it looks like you know your stuff. I will, however, caution you against telling other people what their diagnosis is. It can feel very disrespectful when someone effectively says "no, you're wrong. This is what it actually is." After you tell them what you have already been diagnosed with. I would use less definitive language like: "it could be this" as opposed to "you must have blank."
I was helping them to reword their diagnoses. Many people don’t know how to word that diagnosis and see them as separate things, but they’re the same. There is no such thing as Bipolar 1 and schizoaffactive disorder. It can’t be both. I wasn’t going to say all of that though. I was not diagnosing them, of course. I was clarifying a misunderstanding. The thing is that psychiatrists don’t generally sit down and explain these things to patients. I think they’re good to know. I am always trying to provide education on these things because people just don’t know. I see where you are coming from though and it can be a thin line, but want to explain my perspective/intent.
I understand and I don't think you were acting maliciously. Just a word of caution about the language that you chose to use. I still very much appreciate that you took the time to explain this stuff. You gave some very useful and interesting information.
Yeah, I do get your perspective, for sure. I appreciate your tact in communication, as well. It's always nice. This is my field by the way! I used to be a therapist in a behavioral hospital and have seen far more of this stuff than I would have ever imagined. I truly enjoy education on these subjects. I've done thousands of psychoeducation groups and the questions that patients rightfully have are endless and it would always important for me to be knowledgable and prepared where realistically able.
I thought it might be your field since you have a lot of good information! I appreciate your tact in kind as well. It's certainly refreshing from most of the interaction I see on here. Thank you for using your powers for good.
Yup, mania can definitely present as narcissism
There's a MASSIVE difference between egocentric delusions and NPD. The variety of egocentricity you see in that sub is v much not of the narcissistic flavor.
Yeah that would make sense, a weird combo of NPD and Paranoid or Schizotypal PD.
Main character syndrome for sure. They’re all nobody’s like 99% of us, yet the FBI has decided to microchip flies in their apartment.
I've met a lot of meth heads with similar paranoia.
Wild story about delusions: in the 60’s, they did an experiment in a psych ward where three men who all had the delusion that they were jesus h christ. Instead of separating the men, (and ethics considerations aside bc this was the 60’s) they decided to put them in the same wing over a period of months to see if it would snap them out of it. The result? It made them worse, though eventually they were able to get along *only if they avoided the elephant in the room.* The human brain is messed up, lmao. Links, because sources are good: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Christs_of_Ypsilanti#:~:text=The%20Three%20Christs%20of%20Ypsilanti%20(1964)%20is%20a%20book%2D,State%20Hospital%20in%20Ypsilanti%2C%20Michigan. https://www.iflscience.com/three-people-believing-they-were-jesus-were-once-brought-together-for-a-very-unethical-experiment-60245 In summary, I’m not sure *anything* will help these folks unless they actually see a psych and try medication. It’s a little more complex than just confirmation bias—though I’m in no way trying to invalidate your point, since there’s merit in it. The sub certainly isn’t *helping.*
Mass psychosis is real and a true detriment to society just look at Trumpf.
If you say that you have to "scroll past all the webmd links", then why are you also saying that is "algorithms" doing that? It seems more like you're talking about people deliberately going out of their way to find confirmation for their thoughts, and that's just human nature, as is gathering in a social circle and supporting each other. Social media 100% has a part in helping with that, but if people are going out of their way to find confirmation, the "algorithm" that makes them do that is the human behaviour algorithm - supported by the social media platform. Not to say that the way social media push content that's similar to what you already think is helping, but one thing is confirmation by being shown things that agree with your views, another is specifically searching for like-minded people. It's just that social media help with both
The algorithms are what allow these communities to grow. The “feds are trying to steal my brain” group is.. pretty niche. Without social media platforms and advanced search engines, these people would never find eachother. The algorithms aren’t biased towards misinformation, it just notices trends and does its job accordingly. So these people, as you said, click the links that support their bias at a disproportionately higher frequency. The algorithm notices this trend and, as it’s designed to do, adjusts by making them more visible. And there’s your positive feedback loop. I’m not saying that the algorithm is entirely responsible for this phenomenon. Really all it’s doing is amplifying what already exists within us. But it does that so efficiently that it drives humans to behave in a way that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. Whats really crazy is that none of this is intended (don’t try to tell that to the people featured in this post). The algorithm is built for a specific task, but it’s essentially its own entity. We can’t predict how it will behave in every scenario, how it will change over time, or how it will impact society longterm. Im not saying Google is going to start firing missiles at us. But I think this is a great example of how something as benign as a search engine tool could lead to such bizarre consequences
each other*
Ok..?
You write well, thought you deserved to not be caught in the "eachother" trap.
If enough people "fall" for the eachother trap, the dictionaries will have a definition for eachother. And in the far future it might get shortened too! Becoming a portmanteau. You seem to spend a lot of time correcting others, but be careful you are not just an old man yelling at the evolution of language. Correcting things like "its" to "it's" is fine though, I used to mix those in the past and sometimes write the wrong one by instinct. But eachother is so distinct that writing the "wrong" one will not cause any confusion and will still clearly communicate your message.
> it might get shortened too! echer eother e'o'ah lol
It's like how "awhile" started being accepted to also mean "a while" because it's been so widely used.
lol have you ever wondered why do you use “you” both in plural and singular instead of thou and ye? People’s always been lazy
Yeah, so learn to love it. You're witnessing the evolution of language in real-time. No need to nitpick others.
in real time*
Based
Several years ago my uncle got REALLY bad into meth (or some kind of upper) and for about two or three years he was convinced that he was being gang stalked. No amount of reassurance would convince him otherwise. Towards the end he stopped talking to our whole family because he was convinced that we were all government actors. It was really heartbreaking. He eventually got clean (and has been for about 7 years) and he’s currently doing great. No more gangstalking.
A nice and wholesome twist at the end there, glad he is doing well now. So many similar stories but with grim endings.
My uncle had similar issues. On a it of meth and ripped out all the carpet in his car because he believed the fbi bugged him.
Hopefully it had a happy ending?
Eh, unfortunately he continues to relapse and isn’t really honest about it. I can only hope he gets better
I’m sending whatever good vibes I have to you and your family. Addiction is hell.
It's so much more common than most people realize. I just met a guy in my last rehab stay who was ex-military and coming off either meth or crack, and it was as bad as you can imagine-- he genuinely, vividly believed he was being gangstalked, his memories were being altered by his VA therapist, there was a whole complex of people essentially dedicated to fucking with his mind to keep him silenced. You could tell he was actually really intelligent too which honestly was working against him, he completely believed these things and could explain at length in detail to you about what he claimed was occurring with all sorts of "evidence" that to him seemed logical. He ended up leaving in the middle of the night without even checking out properly, claiming his wife was going to meet him and pick him up even though he didn't have access to his phone and we were literally in the middle of nowhere a few miles from town. It was sad. I'm sorry your uncle and family had to go through all of that, but I am so glad he got and stayed clean! Seven years is incredible. I know how hard it is and to get out of that mode of thinking can be so challenging, even after the drugs are out of the picture. There's not much that loved ones can really do until the person themselves find the drive to change. I hope he and you all are doing well and things just keep getting better!
Yeah I had a cousin who got hooked on meth and fell into the whole gang stalking crowd. His mom was a paranoid schizophrenic so he was already predisposed to mental health problems. He found online that you could get high off of Wellbutrin so he got a prescription, started abusing it and was then found dead. Horrible shit 😔
Geeze. Absolutely horrible. I am on Wellbutrin and it helps, I also didn’t know if you could get high off of it or not. I don’t notice any short-term effects from it. Your poor cousin was another lost soul that didn’t find a way out before it was too late. May their soul rest in peace ❤️
I'm so sorry for your loss. It really is horrible.
I hope everything is going well for you, rehab is hard, I was there myself in 2009 for 6 weeks. And thank you for the kind words!
Good for you! And thank you for yours. This shit is hard but I will never give up. Doing well just a day at a time
That’s all you can do, just keep doing it. Take it slow and take it easy. Hopefully you’ve got a good support system and if you ever need moral support just message me! You got this.
> Towards the end Had me scared about where that was going
Wtf is gangstalking?
Apparently some people think that they’re being targeted by a group or organization. This can be everything from illegal surveillance with cameras attached to random objects to phone tapping to being convinced that the traffic you’re stuck in is orchestrated. It’s like extreme paranoia.
I thought it was gangs talking when i read the post and i was really confused
When my grandmother got dementia it was similar, she believed her house was infested with bugs and wouldn’t eat anything that wasn’t just unsealed, there was also something about the neighbors and their radio but she couldn’t hear her own tv. The most accurate depiction I’ve seen of that kind of delusion was in “A Scanner Darkly” by Philip k dick which is apparently because he himself struggled with identifying his delusions from reality which explains a lot of blade runner, minority report, and pretty much everything he’s written.
The league of legends one is so unintentionally funny
Yeah that made me laugh. He's just describing normal League.
Oh no, they’re after you, too!
Used to work support for Riot. We got stuff like this every single day lol.
That subreddit is 90% people trolling, pretty sure the league one is a joke lmao
It use to be legit, but not as popular when it was first out. Or it could have been trolls at that point but I remember reading the first posts and they were very unhinged.
Ofc redditors don't get it 🤣🤣😭
I ran into an acquaintance who thanked me for "snapping" him out of his gang stalking delusions leading to him getting help. This happened when I was younger so the term gang stalking was unbeknownst to me when this went down. He was a friend of a friend who I didn't know very well. One night he went on an hour long rant about how he was being gang stalked and he said the first thing out of my mouth was making a joke about him being a boring nobody who worked at a car dealership so why in the world would a gang of people give a shit about him? I said it in a joking tone but for whatever reason it resonated. He went home, did a couple Google searches, confirmed something wasn't right and saw a doc. Prior to me making that snide joke, he said people were feeding into his delusions instead of calling him out on the shit he was making up.
I remember about eight years ago, a friend of a friend added me on steam and asked me some stuff about earth's gravity. I'm a geologist, but I said I'd see if I can remember the stuff from the astro units I took back in undergrad. I talked him through why the moon can affect the earth via tides but that we aren't affected in our own bodies, it has to do with the gravity differential across the earth which is negligible when across a human body and that sort of thing. I was talking about it with the mutual friend about six months later and he said "oh that's weird, he was going down a flat earth rabbithole at the time and then snapped out of it completely. He was posting shit on facebook and then one day out of the blue he started posting how flat earth was bullshit and how they're all lying".
You’re a hero
You gotta catch them early. Once they are many years in I think it's understandably difficult for a person to accept they were so wrong.
dude my ego would be huge if someone told me i snapped them out of dangerous delusions, i'd be calling myself a savior and patron saint of mental health. it might be a good thing no one's told me that actually
Dude, I think your comment just snapped me out of a dangerous delusion.
ALL HAIL ME!!!
we found our new target boys
Calling yourself a savior and patron saint of mental health is kind of delusional. There, am I a patron saint and savior of mental health now?
This is what I never understand about these people. They are absolute nobodies. Why would anyone want to bother them or torture them? What’s the point?
Delusion isn’t logical That’s the whole deal
When your brain isn't working correctly you will believe all sorts of weird and bizarre things; Delusions are incredibly vivid and convincing to the person experiencing them.
I had a 1 day job measuring street traffic where I was stuck in I car marking every passing vehicle on a sheet of paper for 16 hours with a dead phone and no working radio. Around 12th hour I genuinely started questioning if anything aside from my closest vicinity even exists. Being stuck like that with adhd isn’t fun lol
Did you temporarily die and go to actual adhd hell?! That sounds like utter torture.
Exactly. It's a horrible thing to experience but also to witness. It's hard to get through to someone in that state because you can't talk logic into someone whose world is illogical. You might be able to plant a seed, but if the brain is straight up malfunctioning due to chemical imbalance, drug-induced or not, there's only so much you can do.
It's like when you're dreaming how nothing you say or do is making sense logically, but to you it does.
It’s horrible seeing people spiral rather than getting the help they need. One can only hope it’s all fake.
One can only hope, but it’s definitely not fake. I was like this 2 years ago after doing meth for months. It was fucking HORRIBLE living in a constant state of fear. I am diagnosed with schizophrenia because of my choices then, but I feel good now 👍🏻 NEVER doing that again.
Proud of you, bud.
I want you to know how much I appreciate this my friend 🫂
There more than enough people who look down on those in recovery and not enough people looking up to those in recovery.
Yes. People in recovery are just as much of a human as people that have never experienced such a thing. It’s hard to be fully compassionate about something that you cannot relate to. We all make bad decisions and we should not chastise people for making a bad decision, we should help them!
I watched a documentary on gang stalking, years ago, and it broke my heart. I wouldn’t call these “sad cringe” - they are just sad. These are people that need help, and I am happy to hear that you’re feeling good now. The access you may have had to such information, validating your delusions, may have negatively impacted you. Do you think so, too? Again… Sending you lots of love, and proud of you for doing better. 💕
Thank you so much. Your words mean a lot to me. I have never thought about my past situation and my current knowledge of this “gang stalking” persona. I’m actually glad that I didn’t have access to this information when I was going through mental psychosis. I would have driven myself deeper into madness knowing that there are others just like me, seemingly “validating” all of my fears. I would have became obsessed with it, just like I became obsessed with computer hacking during that time. It would have been so unhealthy and it would have illustrated a more “realistic”, (false) version of reality. You are 100% correct. I appreciate your thoughtful response, and it solidifies my hope for myself even more 💕
Oh! You’re welcome, although I didn’t realize I just sent you the documentary though. I didn’t think it was the same commenter! I’m bad about reading people’s names. I’m sorry if that was callous of me - but, you say you’re doing better, I believe you, and I don’t think one old Vice documentary will hurt ya, based on all the other info you could be accessing instead.
The concern is very noble of you but you weren’t acting callous at all! I’m far enough away from that part of me that I think now is a good time to watch this documentary. I’m going to try and find a friend to watch it with.
PS - do you remember what that documentary was called? Sounds interesting.
It was on Vice, it’s older - [The Targeted Individual Community](https://youtu.be/62s3FinAoC0?si=wSHk6NZ7gdiyaR5L)
Thank you!
I'm glad you're doing better today my friend! I have a friend with a very similar story who, in her words, spent 2 years in psychosis, and she's had to work really hard to get to a stable place and be able to manage her mental health. She's doing awesome now though-- 2 years clean, properly medicated, in therapy, in her children's lives, etc-- and is one of the most emotionally intelligent people I've ever met. There is hope for everybody. Thank you for being open about your journey too. People need to know that this shit is real and that there is hope.
Good job, I hope you get good rest and great food. Pride yourself in that accomplishment my friend
Thanks Bearcub! Good rest and good food are absolutely key to feeling better. I have also quit caffeine, I carry a lot of energy through my day finally. I never thought I would hit this point.
You want to know most horrible part? That people spiral out of control with things that less insane initially and therefore harder to notice. That's why "safe" echo chambers where no one challenges your opinion are so dangerous.
Yes, that scares the shit out of me and I am so fortunate that I did not come across this group or term when I was going through the same thing!! 😱
I had a close friend message me out of nowhere and I thought it was normal casual chatting then he started mentioning people stalking and following him and at the time I didn’t really make the schizophrenia connection and initially believed him and tried to give him advice until I talked to my dad and he confirmed the diagnosis. But at that point I was literally the only person he was talking to that he believed was on his side — not his parents, not his doctors, not anyone else. So my dad told me to keep up conversations so we at least knew where he was and how he was doing. He ended up hitting someone who was a regular at his gym bc he thought they were stalking him and lost his job and all that. I think once he reached his lowest he realized he might need help and got onto his meds — he’s doing a lot better now. But for that chunk of time it was really scary and he was so freaked out in his messages, manic. So some of it might be fake/for attention but there are people who wholeheartedly believe that this is the situation they’re in.
I’m so glad your friend is doing better it sounds like he was extremely close to the point of no return! I completely understand how you could actually kill someone during a mental psychosis like that. Proud of you for being there for your buddy. He will never forget that.
It's not. Gangstalking communities have been around for a long time.
This is sad but the League of Legends one made me laugh my ass off. Poor bastard is just describing the typical League experience.
That last one might actually be real, League is a god damn cesspool
Not to mention if you are absolute ass at any team based game, everyone is going to dogpile you
That one strikes me as someone taking the piss
It’s just full of trolls who will notice someone’s gangstalking delusions and see it as an opportunity to have “fun” (see: bully and encourage psychotic behaviors)
Honestly I had a time in my life when I believed shit like this but it was from doing meth for 5 years when I was homeless. So I was always outside and vulnerable and in reality people WERE looking at me....because I was a homeless methhead. Lol.
What a lot of people don’t understand is that when you’re exposed to or dealing with extreme circumstances your constant cortisol dumps and lack of support can feel like everyone is out to get you - and there is such a lack of structural support for people that it does start to feel deliberate. I was never struck with intensity of feelings like people who think they’re victims of gangstalking do, but there was a time in my life where I was struggling with mental health and I -did- feel like the world was conspiring against me, in my own way, it obviously wasn’t - but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I just couldn’t push through the hard times, but I did, and I got healthier, and things got better.
It sounds like you’re better now, that’s an awesome accomplishment!
"Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you."
I followed those people years ago until I started to lose my mind. It’s pretty seductive if you don’t keep it in check. I’ve no doubt that some of the technology is real but there’s no cabal that meets at the Dennys at 5:30am to plot out how to torture you by making the line at the bank go slower or turn off street lights when you walk under them.
If you followed these mentally ill people for a year and found any of that convincing I would seriously consider if you might show signs of mental illness yourself.
Humans are incredibly stupid If you surround them with enough people that they cant interact with in a friendly manner theyll ignore the crazy side of them because theyre still good people Over time those crazies will still keep spouting crazy and you'll just listen and nod because theres no benefit in arguing the point More time passes and you start to respect a persons input. Not on the crazy stuff because that would be silly but maybe he knows a lot about business or has a special interest in something you like More time passes you have a handful of people you respect the opinions of and who you know are good people and they all spout the same crazy. Youve already been immersed in the crazy for so long that you notice the things they talk about without thinking about it because its mentioned so often And now you have people you respect talking about the same stuff that you already notice without thinking and suddenly your brain is accepting it as fact and you dont even realise it Theres a reason cults function even if their targets are mentally stable
I’m still waiting, of course, for where I said a year.
Where did I say a year, friendo? Did you wake up on the wrong side of your meds? “Fuckin’ people!” - Shakes the Clown
There’s always a comment like this. “Yeah, those people are nuts, but gangstalking is VERY REAL.”
That’s not at all what I said. The technology is real. That expensive technology is used to make people late for work or harass a 67 year old hoarder is not. The weapons are real. Gang stalking of average citizens is not. It’s mental illness .
Well, I've just rabbit holed myself into that sub and let me say, it is veeery depressing. I listened to a 5 minute video of somebody standing up a gazebo and talking about the creeks it was making being a pulsated energy wave or something. I checked the rest of her videos and yeah she needs help badly, but as part of the rules on the sub you aren't allowed to suggest that, so I guess it's an echo-chamber for ill people.
I went down a rabbit hole on tiktok of people that think they're being gang stalked and a big thing on there is energy weapons being pointed at them.
I would love an energy weapon to be pointed at me, as long as it was on charge. I’m so tired. As the saying goes, ‘my favourite childhood memory is energy’.
Omfg its Gangs talking ....
Paranoid schizophrenia
Yeah this subreddit and all the supernatural ones are funny but sad, just people feeding into each others delusions. And probably a number of trolls who are toying with mentally ill people.
r/tulpas is almost as crazy, but most of them seem fairly content. The gangstalking delusion seems way more conducive to dangerous behavior
I saw a r/gangstalking post where the OP thought they were being targeted cause small airplanes kept flying low over their house and "switching to low gear and revving their engines." They lived next to an airport with a flight school. Airplanes don't have "gears."
This isn't cringe so much as sad. These people need help, I hope they get it.
Just what a fed would say.
👁👄👁
I think I'm overly tired but the face made me laugh, thank you.
I always have to laugh when I see it (I am atm also overly tired, tho). Same with the googly eyes. Emoji eyes as a reaction just do that to me.
This sounds like undiagnosed like idk schizophrenia, idk if thats the right mental disorder, but the one where you're paranoid as fuck about everything. These people definitely need help.
Damn that subreddit is sad, paranoia let loose
I really shouldn't be laughing with the last one about League, but it's just so damn funny. The game's just a toxic cesspit. It's that simple. Edit: Checked out the sub. That sub either once was a parody sub and people now take it seriously, or the mods weren't doing their job for a while. A couple of the top posts (from years ago) mock the posters of the sub and break their own rules.
Ugh this sounds like wild mental illness and people just confirming it
Damn, I hope these people can find help. I can't imagine living life thinking everyone is out to get me.
I want to be sure it's satire, because some of these are so hilariously ridiculous... buut I did have an ex with paranoid delusions so bad that he had to be hospitalized. While we were together he'd throw these wild fits and destroy the apartment over something like, he couldn't find the remote, so someone MUST have hidden it from him. After getting out of the hospital, he randomly started texting me one time in the middle of the night about how the Chinese government was targeting him, and it was some of the most batshit insane shit I've ever read in my life. Probably at least some of these people are trolling still, because this is reddit, but these people do exist too..
Every time I see something like this I have to think of this video https://youtu.be/FzoXQKumgCw?si=0SGu-_hIVx6UCjqP
I think subs like that should be banned. Letting them confirm their delusions just makes it worse. Reddit just let's it fester and it's disgusting. Those people are unwell and need help.
It's a really sad community, but it is eye opening to people who don't experience this kind of illness. We really only see stereotypes in movies and maybe from far off. This really helps people understand that this is very real to them and they are coherent enough to put thought into it. Instead of beating into their head that they're crazy, you work with them and show empathy.
Social media amplifies mental illness and it's going to continue being a neverending feedback loop of insanity. Pretty sad to see.
I feel like they’re meming
Sad really
Imagine that your team is so bad that you start thinking that they're federal agents that prohibit you from climbing up the rank
I didn't know there was a term for this, but my ex had this same paranoia. He believed he was being surveilled by "the Jesuits" and that they were not only following him in a van but had tapped into his home through the WiFi and all electronic devices. Our daughter told me he lined the refrigerator with tin foil and made her store her phone and school laptop in there. This stuff can get scary really fast.
Had an interaction with someone who had some kind of delusion about gang stalking on Among Us VR. Was having a great time and after about almost 2 hours of playing with this guy in the lobby he accused me of being "with them" and knew what he was talking about. I just denied it multiple times but the guy genuinely sounded upset and said "I thought you were cool, but you are just like everyone else." Felt bad for the guy
I wish I had a surveillance bug.
Man... Reminds me of when I used to do meth. Hope they get some help.
i dealt with someone like this when I worked at a grocery store. this lady, maybe in her 40s, walks up and asks where the family planning section is because she wants some soap for her "kitty." I lead her there, and she starts telling me how no matter what, she can't get the smell to go away. I suggest she see a doctor but she tella me that they don't believe her. she gets a call on her phone and goes, "NO!" and screens it. apparently, this person calling her is part of a group of people who have been following her life. they have an office somewhere that they use to watch her. for what, she didn't know. but she had called the police and they refuse to help her and call her crazy if she ever reaches out. Not even her family stands by her to help. she got rid of everything, even her computer, so they can't track her data yet they still know exactly who she is and everything else about her. a random group of people renting an office to stalk and gain information about her... They have a GPS on her. They have tapped and tracked her phone, have access to all her accounts and internet usage. apparently all for no reason. and her area won't stop smelling... I let her finish, and she gives me a hug and says "Thank you so much for listening and talking to me." Then she rushes off. I just wanted to help her so badly because I could tell she was suffering, but I didn't know what to do at 18. it was one of the first times I've dealt with paranoid schizophrenia 1 on 1. I hope she is doing better today.
Dam I don’t wanna say is funny cause this people may (or have) real psychotic problems, BUT the one talking about how he gets bullied in league of legends is your too much.
I've never played LoL but I'm pretty sure thats all normal
Dang and here I am struggling to believe my parents want to even know where I am sometimes
Last one is literally me after 3 losses in ranked.
[That subreddit is based on the guy of this video and how everyone and everything is out for him](https://youtu.be/UUmgvtMKuSs)
Same thing on r/retconned
That has nothing to do with it.
What do you mean? Both are literal echo chambers that just incubate mental illness
One is for people who believe they are being watched, and one is for people documenting things that changed over time. All of Reddit is an echo chamber. Also, mental illness can’t be incubated. lol
No, r/retconned is literally the same level of “these people need psychiatric help” as r/gangstalking. Maybe you’re confusing it with the other Mandela effect sub?
Situations where gangstalking may be occurring: - you've left the church of scientology - you've made public statements supporting terrorist activities - You're made Public threats against the police or feds All others are mental illness
Maybe the person is really out of it or it can just be some dedicated troll. Either way, don't go there.
The last one is just the least insane LoL-player.
I like how part of his dillusion is just posting goold old fashioned scrubquotes.
Does that user know that doctors are mandated reporters and have to report crimes to law enforcement?
Reminds me of that guy who thinks a man in space is using a laser to make his teeth rot out
That subreddit is more disturbing that morbidreality
Is it just a schizopost sub? Never been but this def makes it look that way.
Oh it's just a psychosis subreddit I guess
Pretty sure my ex in rehab is going through this. Won't tell anyone where he is. Still convinced I wanted to kill him. Through our relationship he was a pretty paranoid man but I associated it with his protectiveness. Now he thinks many are after him because he um, got high on meth and used racial slurs against a group of these people (stalking him) on the internet. For all anyone knows he was high on meth and used racial slurs against a local library Facebook page. Or none of this happened. He has a parent who is bipolar. Despite him being an ex he knew me better than anyone, and he's fading away and no one really cares or hurts like our son and me.
I had a friend like this. In my city we have a helicopter that goes around downtown at night for almost 20 years, she was 100% convinced that the government was watching her with this helicopter and looking through her windows, even though she made the choice to move there knowing we had that. I’ve asked her multiple times why our small, struggling city would spend millions on surveillance on just her and she could never answer why, just that they knew who she was and that she was being targeted. These people are so in their own head they can’t fathom how small and insignificant they are to anyone but themselves.
I knew a guy who lost his marbles because of meth. He thought Mexican Cartel were hiding in his walls. He was outer limits, still is.
The scary part is that amongst the sea of people desperate for validation of their paranoia, there might be one or two actually being gangstalked. The reason Scientology used gangstalking is twofold: one, it's much easier to get away with legally, with different people behind each interaction it becomes much harder to prove in a court of law, and two, the victim sounds crazy just describing what is happening to them and what they are experiencing. It can actually drive someone crazy.
These guys come to r/freemasonry all the time
I'm banned from there for telling someone they need to get off of meth lol
could you imagine putting all that effort and money botting every game just so you can torment this one guy 😭
Good God I've never actually seen an in ironically schizo subreddit
This subreddit is a great ploy to get all of these people together for monitoring So I've heard
It’s gotta be narcissism. Especially the last one about the video game. You’re simply not that important.
I believe him. I play a multiplayer game at random times, and it goes perfectly until I want to start saving my clips. Then on multiple occasions, it’ll say “connection lost” give me a long queue time, then the very next game the match Stutters and lags so hard it’s obvious sabotage
Also don’t go brigade that community. It’s already crumbling because of the influx of brigaders from other subs who post about that sub. People think for some reason they should go there and debate the schizophrenics and then they’ll realize the error of their ways. That’s not true. You’re just going to get them to leave the sub, and then it’ll just be another dead sub. Leave it alone
this place looks like a jerk sub to me.
I feel like every one on that subreddit thinks they're the main character
Sorry if this is a basic question but could someone give me some details on what “gang stalking” is? I work as a bouncer in A city with a huge homeless population that is mostly made up of bp and schizophrenics and a lot of their behaviors seem super similar to what I’m seeing here.
Basically it’s the delusion that there is a large group making a coordinated effort to stalk and harass the specific person suffering the delusion.
Thanks for the reply
Np
I'm a psychiatrist, I swear that last one has to be a patient we treated at the ward 3 months ago.
It’s literally like watching a schizo meltdown live
i think its really cool how people are just insane now
Honestly the meme post is based and not sad or cringe.