Is the belief in conspiracy theories really just a sign of mental illness.

Are us conspiracy theorists really just mad?

So I stumbled on this and it got me thinking, well almost questioning my own sanity. I have never been to see a psychiatrist, should I be worried just because I have an interest in these theories?
Then I also began to wonder, how many people that post actively here might also have these concerns, perhaps have already been diagnosed or even on medication.

Is this the road down which we are travelling?

Yes, 280,805 of us are suffering from the exact same mental illness. You've cracked the mother/root cause of all conspiracies!

reply to post by December21st2012


According to the DSM practically everything is a sign of mental illness.

The term "conspiracy theory" was apparently coined by the CIA in the 1950's when too many people were reporting UFO sightings and public belief in ET's was growing, and they were looking for ways to counteract this, coming up with the term "conspiracy theory" as a perjorative was one of many solutions.

Hence the term is just another Orwellian mind control technique.

Read in my sig below about the power of repeating lies and of course the power one has if they control the media.

Use your own discernment in all things, use your god given ability to reason; to listen instead to the opinion of others over your own reason is treason to one's self.

Some of the replies made me laugh.The last reply amused me -
Ralphy
My so-called boyfriend is exactly the same way. He has no friends, delivers pizza for a living and refuses to do anything of merit until the world ends, when he claims he will be a hero. He only talks about liberal idiots and commies and how Obama should be shot, and how he should go buy a gun. Point is: how can someone who is so obviously a failure in life profess to have all the answers to the world's problems? Is this mental illness? It's driving me crazy...he has comepletely changed into a paranoid hermit.

reply to post by December21st2012

I dont think so. Conspiracy theories arent even beliefs. They are theories. They only exist because people with the knowledge we seek refuse to answer our questions. With that, us logical, well rounded folks start to put pieces of the puzzle together on our own. Then we come up with answers like , how could 3 buildings fall with only 2 planes crashing? How could there be only one shooter if JFKs brain left out the back when the first bullet came from the back? Why havent we been back to the moon?

Questioning authority, official stories, government policies, etc.. does not make you mentally ill.

It means that you are awake, and that you are using that thing inside your skull.

Yes, considering the fact that "we" are much more aware of what is going on in the world than we are supposed to.

This hurts the aggressors. They don't like critical thinkers, that can see the details AND the big picture.

They can ask if I'm a terrorist (which they did personally, a week ago). They can label me mentally ill but I'm still making my moves on the chess table. Come at me.

We are all nutjobs however those that order wars and slaughter are completly sane.

Society would want us to believe that conspiracy theorists are all insane After all, we are messing with their reality, their way of life. I don't classify most concerns as conspiracies, they are just evidence of deceitful practices that are abundant throughout our societies. Many are real but upon investigating them an alternative reasoning is found that is not what was originally thought of. Even though there is reasons for the deceit doesn't make the deceit truth. Societies have been deceiving the people for thousands of years, does anyone think this practice is ever going to end?

reply to post by December21st2012

Is the belief in conspiracy theories really just a sign of mental illness.

No, but the unquestioning acceptance of official stories is ..... well, mental retardation.

reply to post by this_is_who_we_are


You are correct, Sir. The AMA et al would absolutely LOVE to label conspiracy theorists as dangerously mentally ill so they can forceably medicate and/or commit them to institutions.

"Believe everything the tv tells you, or you're insane and need to be removed from society."

Every single solitary thing I do or say, can be seen by "another" as a mental illness.

I happen to think killing people you don't know via video game controllers situated in a bunker 5k miles away from the people you kill can only come about from a person(s) with a mental illness, the psych profession thinks this is not only normal, but those who don't accept it as normal are ill.

I know Lawyer think is a mental illness, but....

reply to post by December21st2012
Yes and no. Some are and some are not. Just because a person climbs out of the box in which they were raised, does not mean that they are not just climbing into someone elses box of madness. Tread with caution and don't believe anything just because it is out side of the box of most peoples comfort zone.

reply to post by December21st2012


I would counter with.
Does believing in a being that lives in the sky who will punish you in the afterlife if you are a bad person count as a sign of mental illness?
Because there are several billion people with that belief walking around on the planet.

reply to post by December21st2012

I never heard it more aptly expressed than by Sir John Lennon...

Originally posted by grey580
reply to post by December21st2012

 

I would counter with.
Does believing in a being that lives in the sky who will punish you in the afterlife if you are a bad person count as a sign of mental illness?
Because there are several billion people with that belief walking around on the planet.

We aren't allowed to challenge belief though, it is socially acceptable almost everywhere. To challenge that would be considered a sign of insanity.

Mental illness is just a conspiracy theory...

reply to post by December21st2012


I am so happy to see this post. If I could star and flag it a million times i would.

Now, why do i say this?

Because I think it strikes very near to the truth.

First , though, I'd like to say that I don't think that believing in conspiracy theories means you have a mental illness.

HOWEVER...
I DO think MANY people that believe in conspiracy theories have SOME form of mental illness.

One need not have a doctorate in psychology to see it.
Even a casual perusal of ATS (or the internet as a whole) shows this to be true.

About now I'm sure that there are many individuals furiously typing away replies to this post. Most are likely to be angry, scoffing, or in some way trying to counter the OP's statement and, more than likely "calling him out" for saying what he did.
What you'll find, also, are replies that will only serve to bolster the idea.

I like to think of myself as a reasonable, thoughtful, and rational person - I believe in truth and fact and try to be as open as possible to new ideas and thoughts.
What i am NOT is a person who blindly believes all that I hear, see, or read.
I take issue with those who make definitive statements about things that are not at all definitive.
(This is why the History show "Ancient Aliens" makes me simultaneously sick and laugh.)
Whether it be about Aliens, Demons, Angels, secret societies, et al. Too often you see people saying things as if they are concrete facts.

i LOVE a good conspiracy theory and I love reading about the strange and weird. It's something I've enjoyed since childhood. Though, unlike in childhood, as an adult i am able to comprehend and analyze what I read.
I'm willing to listen to any story, as long as it isn't the obvious writings of a mental patient.(though that can be fun at times.).
What scares me is that, generally, it seems people are profoundly stupid.
When I say "Stupid" I mean gullible and superstitious. I'm not sure if that is a holdover from over from our cave dwelling days, or just a basic flaw in our make up, but I look around at this world and it's people and I am shocked, saddened, and frightened by the levels of "stupidity" around me.
One of the "Scariest" places, in this vein, is ATS itself.

I enjoy ATS because I get a different perspective on issues and it allows me an avenue to explore these perspectives and to learn new things (though most of that learning comes from reading a post and then doing my OWN legwork regarding the facts and sources. I NEVER take what is written on ATS as truth. It's simply a launching point from which I can discover new ideas or learn about things I hadn't before.
My greatest wish for this site would be that the people using it were more discriminating in their posting and replies.
It literally scares me to see people believing, whole-heartedly, in things that are absolutely untrue, misunderstood, or just flat-out made up.
That's hearkening back to the "definitive statement" issue.

I do think there are a lot of very intelligent, rational, mentally fit people on ATS - Its just that they are outnumbered 100 to 1.
I am ALMOST embarrassed to come on ATS at times, or to talk about some of these "Conspiracy theories" with people not fully enmeshed in the world of "Conspiracy theories" (I am using "Conspiracy theories" as a blanket definition for ALL that ATS and shows like Coast to Coast AM cover, not that they are ALL conspiracies, but for the sake of brevity.)
Like any community of like-minded people, there ends up being a disproportionate amount of "communal reinforcement" on ATS (and other sites) which creates an atmosphere of a "False foundation" of "Truth" i.e. Aliens do exist and they look like "grays", 9/11 WAS a false-flag, Angels and Demons DO exist, the Illuminati exist as does the NWO, and so on. (not that these are the accepted truths or a comprehensive listing, but rather a suggestion of the sorts of "truths" that are taken as "given" in this world.)

We, as a species, are susceptible to wide-spread belief in superstitious nonsense and have inherent flaws which allow us to "search for meaning" in the meaningless (Religion being the biggest, though not limited to it).
We want order. The random nature of our world and universe is hard to comprehend. It's much easier to think events are under control of human intelligence. We can understand THAT. The random then becomes controllable.
It's the reason we created divinity to begin with - Why does it rain? Why was this years harvest bad when last years was good? What is that big, bright ball in the sky? Where did we come from?
We seek answers to unanswerable questions. But, instead of understanding fact or incomprehensible ideas, we'd rather say "It's GOD!". Does "God did it" really explain the Earth and Man? It's an EASY answer, but not correct.
It's the one we can wrap our heads around. (to be continued)

So they are basically saying that if you question anything, you are a wack job? Give me a break. Throwing the word "conspiracy" in front of any word, implies that it's wrong. That is where the problem lies. Always question the "official" story. That's why I love RT's tagline : Question more. Never ask fewer questions. They wan't you to be ignorant. Trust me, it's not bliss.