Anyone here have experience with long term delusional thinking?

My wife believes that our success is due to her “manifesting” and “vision boarding”.

Meanwhile, I’ve work my ass off for what we have.

The last couple years of my mom's life, she had significant delusions, caused by Parkinson's related dementia.

Often with Parkinson's, the patient will deny their oppressive symptoms. For example, at the last Thanksgiving I spent with my mom, she repeatedly complained someone had hidden sand in her clothing (combined with Parkinson's being a movement disorder, she was weak, so moving was difficult. Don't mistake it as a joke, she was serious).

On the Saturday after, I was traveling with my brother when she called to see if we had things arranged for Thanksgiving (my immediate family has long been the host of a larger gathering of extended family, so it was on her mind, even though the day had passed and she was essentially bedridden in a facility).

With dementia, there's confusion mixed in, but when it's a delusion in the medical sense, there's not really much sense in trying to argue with it, because it's a literal concrete belief.

Before we moved her into the facility, there were times when she wouldn't eat because she was fretting about her grandchildren that had been turned into squirrels (why would you eat when that is going on).

My very first experience with her irregular thinking was arriving at her home in the morning and having her express relief that I could hear her, as the people she had been hallucinating visually all night were not saying anything she could hear. That was about 3.5 years before she died in hospice and a few months before a full blown psychotic episode.

Following the psychotic episode she had a stay in a psychiatric hospital and was discharged on Zyprexa, which was sedating and really dulled her personality. After changing over to Nuplazid, she had a good number of months of clear thinking, like the clock had been wound back to before any problems started, but it got to where she decided that the pills were the cause of her problems, culminating in another stay in the psychiatric hospital and my family placing her in memory care.

Eventually in memory care she broke her femur (balance problems, falling a lot), requiring surgery to pin the bone back together. In her delusional state, she decided that the pain she felt following the surgery meant that she couldn't stand up anymore, and she was bedridden for the remainder of her life. Physically, she probably could have stood up a couple days after the surgery, but she didn't want to.

I suppose dementia is a small corner of delusional thinking overall, but there you go.

You might need to clarify what you mean by long-term and delusional.

I was a caregiver for two delusional people. My mom unexpectedly developed post-anesthesia dementia for the 6 mos prior to her death. My ex developed a recurring psychosis during the last 15y of our marriage.

They were very different events. IDK if either is similar what you're considering.

Everyone operates under some level of delusion. There are some very benign instances of it though. For example, some people believe their local sports team will win a championship, despite all evidence to the contrary. I think you'll have to be more specific.

if you have a belief i think you should trust it and hope it turns out to be true.

Do you mean someone is delusional in thinking they are good at something and are not ?

i dont believe in delusions. if you believe in something hard enough its gotta be real.

Not at all. i dont believe in delusions. I prayed everyday for 2 years for this woman I have always known to be the one. We met at the end of college and she went away to med school. At first she rejected me but after two years my wishes came true and she finally called me up and accepted me. It was the best feeling I have ever felt. I always knew she was the one from the moment I met her. Every day I would pray and god would send signs telling me its meant to be with us. We have been dating each other for 1 year and we are planning our wedding for next year. there is no such thing as being delusional if god makes a promise to you. I tell every single person I meet who has any doubts about their hopes and dreams about our story and that they have to believe in their dreams and prayers for them to come true. if something is meant to be its meant to be and you have to hang in there.

We probably all know a Tesla owner or Musk believer. Maybe a flat-earther, someone who believes in "manifesting," someone devoutly religious. I have personal experience with several people who suffer from long-term delusions. I may have that problem myself, but the beauty of delusions comes from them feeling real so I wouldn't know.

Ask the Australian government, they are experts.

We all do. Every culture has myth and religion. That’s thousands of made up gods and religions.

Not yours of course, I’m sure the one you happened to be born into is the one true and right one. The other five thousand or so are the made up ones. Those fools spend their whole lives believing in something priests and hucksters made up long ago.