Why has there not been a reality TV version of this?
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
In the late 1950s, three men who identified as the Son of God were forced to live together in a mental hospital. What happened?
In the late 1950s, psychologist Milton Rokeach was gripped by an eccentric plan. He gathered three psychiatric patients, each with the delusion that they were Jesus Christ, to live together for two years in Ypsilanti State Hospital to see if their beliefs would change. The early meetings were stormy. "You oughta worship me, I'll tell you that!" one of the Christs yelled. "I will not worship you! You're a creature! You better live your own life and wake up to the facts!" another snapped back. "No two men are Jesus Christs. … I am the Good Lord!" the third interjected, barely concealing his anger.
...
In hindsight, the Three Christs study looks less like a promising experiment than the absurd plan of a psychologist who suffered the triumph of passion over good sense. The men's delusions barely shifted over the two years, and from an academic perspective, Rokeach did not make any grand discoveries concerning the psychology of identity and belief.
Reminds me of the song "Industrial Disease" by Dire Straits:
Two men say they're Jesus / One of them must be wrong
My father's trying to get her to stay in the family home, not at her apartment.
I hope your father gets his way.
A hospital? Jesus. People suck.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
It's been my experience with schizophrenia that although the "narrative" of the delusion may change to accommodate changing circumstances, reality has no effect whatsoever to destroy the delusion. You can't talk a schizophrenia out of his delusion, and you can't prove to him he's wrong. As my mother discovered when she tried to "talk some sense" into my Psycho Ex.
It's been my experience with schizophrenia that although the "narrative" of the delusion may change to accommodate changing circumstances, reality has no effect whatsoever to destroy the delusion.
Yeah. The article mentions people with the delusion they're dead. You might think that every second of life they experience would be sufficient to refute that belief, but no....
Why has there not been a reality TV version of this?
Or a sitcom. (It reminds me of Exidor from Mork and Mindy.)
Or a sitcom. (It reminds me of Exidor from Mork and Mindy.)
I was going to say 80's sitcom too!
One of the people in a schizophrenia study I worked on had an SAE (I put that in just for java and P-C) of exacerbation of schizophrenia, wherein this was shown because...he was convinced he was the SUN. And I'm reading along going "How the HELL do you manifest that?? "Don't touch me, I'll burn you"?!?"
My sister just landed in LA, so if any LAistas think they see me on the street this weekend, you should freak her out by shouting "HI MEGAN!"
