Hypothetical Q's about psychotic beliefs and antipsychotics

[Alexmahone]

From what I've learnt, psychosis is a false perception of reality, which is categorized into 2 kinds: hallucinations and delusions.

1) I believe that antipsychotics are usually prescribed when a person has a paranoid belief. However, I think that psychiatrists rarely bother to check whether the paranoid belief is true or not. They just assume that the paranoid belief is false because they deem it implausible. Consider person A who thinks his wife is spying on him. If he is right about his wife spying on him, then his belief that his wife is spying on him is not psychotic. In fact, if his wife was really spying on him and he believed that she wasn't, then that would be a psychotic belief, for it would be false. So why don't psychiatrists spend more time verifying the falsity of a particular paranoid belief before labeling it a "delusion".

2) Suppose person B believes that his wife isn't spying on him when in fact she is. B is psychotic because he has a false belief about his wife. Would he respond to antipsychotics? This is an example of a psychotic (false) belief that isn't paranoid.

3) For another psychotic belief that isn't paranoid, consider a physics student who believes that the sun actually rises in the west and that it is an optical illusion that it rises in the east. Would he respond to antipsychotics? Or more importantly, should society prescribe him antipsychotics or try to engage him in an intellectual debate? For all we know, he may be the next Einstein!

4) Finally, and relevant to this forum, should religious people be prescribed antipsychotics? Have any religious people become atheists as a result of antipsychotic treatment? I ask because we know that religious belief is one delusion that does not respond well to reason or argument by itself.

[Catholic_Lady]

Oh here we go...

[The Grand Nudger]

Religious people have the delusions that they would be expected to have - hence it is not a disorder. For most people, I doubt that an anti-pyschotic would do anything to their religiosity anyway. They don't really mean the silly shit they say. It's churchspeak.

[JackRussell]

Well I am an atheist and take anti-psychotics for Bi-Polar disorder.

[Edwardo Piet]

Psychosis is less about 'false' beliefs and more about dysfunctional beliefs.

[The Valkyrie]

Despite the claims of some atheists, religion isn't a mental illness. Just as it is untrue when some religious people claim that atheism is a mental illness.

Drugs don't have any affect on religious belief, for the most part, and anti-psychotics certainly won't.

I have limited knowledge on the subject, and the few papers I have skimmed regarding mental health seem to indicate that the above is the primarily held view in the medical field.

I'll be interested if someone can provide a peer-reviewed paper that indicates the opposite.

[Edwardo Piet]

Functional delusions don't count as psychosis. Religious people can function in society so they're not insane... just illogical.

[Alexmahone]

Psychosis is less about 'false' beliefs and more about dysfunctional beliefs.

That doesn't make much sense; if a belief is true, it cannot possibly be dysfunctional.

[JackRussell]

When I am hallucinating it as a true belief; just unfounded in reality.

The line between that and religion is curious. When I am normal I can recognise the delusion. I suspect that's what you're getting at?

[The Grand Nudger]

I'll be interested if someone can provide a peer-reviewed paper that indicates the opposite.

Psychedelic drugs certainly have an effect on religious belief, even though anti-psychotics don't.

It's probably important to note here that, in the case of those disorders that manifest themselves within a religious framework...some poor fucker who thinks god literally speaks to them..anti-psychotics -do- help...because they're actually suffering from what the pious play for theater.

In those cases, it would not be surprising at all to find that an anti pyschotic informed the subjects religious beliefs. Particularly if their religious beliefs had a reciprocal relationship with their disorder. For some people who hear the voices of the angels..when the voices go silent, they no longer believe in angels. Others continue to believe in angels, simply accepting that they were sick when they thought they could hear the trumpets.

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Psychosis is less about 'false' beliefs and more about dysfunctional beliefs.

That doesn't make much sense; if a belief is true, it cannot possibly be dysfunctional.

I'll use a really fun example here.  Take the mythical Cassandra as a hypothetical (and fun) case example of true beliefs causing disorder.  She was cursed to speak true prophecies that no one would believe.  

In The Fall of Troy told by Quintus Smyrnaeus, Cassandra had attempted to warn the Trojan people that she had foreseen the Greek warriors hiding in the Trojan Horse while they were celebrating their victory over the Greeks with feasting. They disbelieved her, calling her names and degrading her with insults.[14] She grabbed an axe in one hand and a burning torch in her other, and ran towards the Trojan Horse, intent on destroying it herself to stop the Greeks from destroying Troy. The Trojan people stopped her before she could do so. The Greeks hiding inside the Trojan Horse were relieved that the Trojans had stopped Cassandra from destroying it, but they were surprised by how well she had known of their plan to defeat Troy.[14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra

This ability caused her great personal suffering.  We see in the narrative above that it also lead to social alientation nd what her peers would have considered erratic behavior.  She attempted arson with an axe in her hand.  Now, why would the example of cassandra be informative?  Well, replace cassandra with your steroetypical  corner hobo-prophet.  His belief in his ability to predict the future is disordered.  Every once in awhile, he might luck out and make some accurate prediction.  His belief, and the prophetic behavior, however, were disorded before the true prediction, and will still be disordered even if he happens to get one right. While this is a super edge case way to explain the distinction..more mundane examples would be when a fear of mortality leads to pronounced negative consequences in this life. It is certainly a true belief that we will one day die - but if that makes us go batshit like cassandra or a hobo prophet..it's a disorder all the same.