Hypothetical Q's about psychotic beliefs and antipsychotics

[brewer]

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.

You need to go back and learn more. You're not even close to getting it.

[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.

You need to go back and learn more. You're not even close to getting it.

Could you please point out any mistakes I made in that post?

[Jackalope]

No.

False beliefs are not necessarily evidence of psychosis. I'll go out on a limb and assert that most false beliefs are not so. The *reasons* for holding beliefs are indicative of psychosis and not the beliefs themselves.

If, for example, I believe that my partner is cheating on me, and she is not, in most cases, I am merely wrong. If I believe that she's cheating on me because a time-traveling slug from the Andromeda galaxy told me so, that would be psychosis.

Likewise, if I believe that my partner is cheating on me, and she is, but I came by that information based on my belief that a time-traveling slug from Andromeda told me so and no other reason, then that belief is rooted in psychosis.

[Jackalope]

You need to go back and learn more. You're not even close to getting it.

Could you please point out any mistakes I made in that post?

Every single statement of "fact" in your OP is wrong.

[JackRussell]

Having worked as a paramedic and now a nurse, and also taking anti-psychotics as for bi-polare disorder and PTSD, I have never seen meds change a persons core beliefs.

I accept this is purely anecdotal.

Other than reason, I don't know how one could make this change!!

I have seen brain injury and dementia do this in both ways however, again anecdotally.

[The Industrial Atheist]

Well they are also prescribed for hallucinations. Little success for me in that department.

Religious delusions (such as thinking you're Jesus, or divine or somesuch) are pretty common when it comes to that stuff, but I don't think that's what you are talking about.

I'm generally happy to let religious people continue as they are. I suppose I would talk to them about that stuff if I had reason to believe they wanted to.

Unless psychosis caused their belief I don't think pills would help.

There were people at the Pentecostal church I went to that said they could hear god. Only they know if they had some sort of very mild hallucination or if they made it up.

I will oppose them politically when they seek to make their morals that are based on a 2,000 year old book written on another continent into law.

[Edwardo Piet]

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.

Wow you have a really crappy imagination if you think that.

[Alexmahone]

Could you please point out any mistakes I made in that post?

Every single statement of "fact" in your OP is wrong.

In my OP, I said:

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

Please tell me why the above statement is wrong and be sure to include your "corrected" version.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Say what you will, but Psychosis is GREAT.  Anthony Perkins was a terrific actor.

Boru

[brewer]

You need to go back and learn more. You're not even close to getting it.

Could you please point out any mistakes I made in that post?

None of the situations you describe meet the criteria for psychosis. People can have all types of delusions and not be considered mentally ill in our society. Just because someone says they believe something either is or is not real does not fulfill the criteria.