ATS - A forum with a Mental Condition?

reply to post by Duality


I hear you out and yes I did post on that thread you are referencing...but...


and Im not trying to be succinct or short but....

who doesnt have a mental condition?

the CRX forum I mean those people are consumed with small old hondas, like I said I am not trying to be little you but, honestly were all nuts.

I think the level of intelligence on ATS is way higher compared to the majority that watch FOX and CNN or TV in general.

Lunatics are everywhere. Including on ATS but these are often called Dis/misinformers, debunkers and morons

' Debunkers' are frustrated skeptics on a CIA/NSA payroll.

A true skeptic is objective and respectful.

Actually I don't get that 'I'm special' feeling, although I do think some here are quite. I participate and am grateful to have found this 'place' because I often feel like I'm not getting the whole story from those upstanding people living around me.

Maybe some of the topics here are 'out there', but for the most part, that's how I feel about Britany Spears threads, and American Idol garbage. I have kids, and when they ask me questions about the world we live in I will be damned before I spout some media-based pablum for them to hang their hats on.

The most important thing I want them to learn is that if it comes out of the entertainment industry it can't be trusted. I get the dry heaves every time I hear people's high praise for actors and actresses who 'play smart people' in the movies, but in real life ..., well they have no 'real' life, at least not that we can see.

And so here I am, getting ridiculed for asking questions, being amused by the nature of the veil that we struggle so hard to remove from our collective view, and finding out that, it's not that terribly unusual to find questionable things in places where the media tells us - there's nothing to see here - move along.

In any large gathering of people you are going to find some people who could be classified with a mental disorder. I don't believe most people on ATS have mental disorders. I will admit there are some posters that come off delusional or schizophrenic but even people with mental problems can add something positive to a discussion. I don't believe I am special, the only time I thought I was being watched was that 1 night I was followed. I started a thread about it to ask others if they experienced the same thing.

I will say that I think a lot of ATS members seem highly intelligent, but intelligence is based on experiences and knowledge. If I needed some information or help in conspiracies, NWO, UFO, paranormal or anything else covered on ATS I wouldn't go to one of my old college professors. I know they are very intelligent people but their intelligence wouldn't be the best thing for my situation.

When it comes to the topics that are discussed on ATS I would have to say yes I think we know more than the average person. If the average person believed the topics and idea's we discuss here we wouldn't have a place like ATS. We would just be spread out in other forums and chat rooms or discussing things at the bar with strangers and friends.

Just because I think we know more than the average person in relation to topics on ATS, doesn't mean I think we are better than the average person as a whole. Everyone in this world is better than someone else in 1 way and
bested by someone else in another.

I do see a lot of the OP's posts as valid. I can see some of that in myself. I tend to spend way too much time here. When I analyze my behavior I see a pattern of when I feel anxious I will come on here. I have always noticed a pattern of people posting saying they have a feeling of something bad about to happen. I see that as anxiety. Though I sometimes have those feelings of something bad about to happen, I can see at as just my own anxiety. So I tell myself it is not real and so there is no need to create a post about it. It is just an internal feeling.

As far as people feeling "special", maybe a lot of that is a pride issue or the opposite - an inferiorty issue. I sometimes catch myself feeling like I know more about something or have more insight into something than others. The later as I look at this I just realize it is my pride getting to me and I see a need to look at myself more humbly. It is one of those paradoxes of life where we are all special, but none of us are special.

[edit on 26-3-2008 by justsomeboreddude]

Im sorry, im quite an open minded person but i cant accept this 'mental illness' suggestion, not in the slightest....... my mother works with mentally ill patients, i know about mental illnesses, and there probably isnt a person walking this earth that couldnt be put into a mental illness bracket..... i actually feel much more together and level headed than ALL of my peers, some family members and close friends...... for a 25 year old i have my head very screwed on, im studying at the highest level, im raising a wonderful intelligent 7 year old, very well i might add..... i have a good job, and if anything, its everyone around me that has deep rooted problems, not me...... i suppose a normal person would be classed as someone who goes to work, comes home, sorts out the kids etc, well i have those people in my life, and if they are more mentally stable than me, i know they would have told me i have a problem, and probably would not associate with me...... in fact, its everyone around me that comes to me for advice on life etc, its always been that way!....... i dont drink, smoke or take any drugs.... i think im quite a wise 25 year personally not a mental one!....... im trying not to be too defensive, but i can assure you there is no mental illness here with regards to me...

Because I feel that the other thread being referenced in this one has been a source of great comfort to myself and others, I must again reassert my support for and sense of empathy with those who have posted in solidarity with people who have had these experiences.

At the same time though, my beliefs and philosophy demand that I remain open to the possibility that mental illness does play a role in these phenomena, if not in all cases, then at least in some.

I am living proof that it can't be the culprit in every case, however, since more than one medical and psychological professional has given me a clean bill of mental health with the exception of some social anxiety, post traumatic stress issues (the causes of which aren't even clearly identifiable, which if anything, suggests I have experienced trauma that I may not be fully aware of,) and typical childhood stuff that almost every sane adult person has to work through or choose to ignore. None of those factors could explain my experiences, or those of my mother and others around me.

That said, I think it is extremely important for both “camps” in this debate to avoid allowing an effective mechanism for sharing experiences, hypotheses, and insights – both mundane and amazing in nature – to deteriorate into a “you’re saying we’re all nuts” versus “you’re saying that because we’re not like you we’re incapable of believing” debate. I don’t think either “side” (and there shouldn’t be two sides, as we both want the same thing; the truth) is saying either of those things. I think both groups just want to be heard, respected, empathized with, and allowed to continue their journeys to wherever they may lead.

In that spirit, I think the best policy for me is to be supportive and respectful of my fellow "experiencers," while maintaining an open mind and healthy level of skepticism which, again, does not mean a lack of belief, but rather an agnostic openness to all possibilities and a personal standard of evidentiary support for my experiences, without making assertions with respect to those of others. I respectfully ask that my fellows bear this in mind, as trying to change the minds of people with such different views will lead to nothing constructive in my personal opinion. We should be able to share without trying to convince in other words.

I'm just highly averse to conflicts. I'm funny that way lol.

I don't think I'm mentally ill, at least not yet lol.
I don't think I'm smarter than the majority of people I meet on this board, but I'm a little more logical than most people overall. Logic is what I grade a lot by, not what someone tells me to think or believe, I can think and believe for myself. So I don't think it's that we think we're special, it's that we choose a different path, we choose to think for ourselves not what we are told to think, or at least we try to think for ourselves despite the huge amount of pressure from the rest of the majority opinions.
A lot of my friends think I'm smarter than them, but I'm not, I'm just a free mind, plus I'm not caught up in all the usual guy stuff (i.e. sports, cars, hunting, ect.).
Now some people on here do think they're something special, most of the people have either been neglected and felt left out as a child, or are single and feel neglected. I can definantly say though, people who are all attracted to something similar usually think they are better than others, it's sort of a mob mentality.
Just my $0.02

-Jimmy

I know for a fact I'm slightly mentlar. But it's all self induced,and I'm under control these days. ( I wasn't,10 years ago) Giving up trying to lick my own elbows was the first big step

reply to post by Acidtastic


Lol, that made me laugh. Obsessive compulsive? I'm that way when I'm trying to work or doing something that takes precision. I guess sense my life is full of failure I try to avoid it in most aspects of my life, but I fail at that too, lol.

Personally I do take the title to your thread and what you have written as an insult.

If you wrote of something I didn't have belief in or understand in some way I would try to learn about it or leave the thread. I most certainly would not start a thread using the words mental illness and refer to a certain thread, shame on you.

One day the people in this thread might well be the ones you seek out in the future to help you.

It is time we are shown respect.

OK I will hold my hands up, what eventually led me to ATS was my searching for answers regarding the fact that I see the numbers 1111 virtually everyday or second day now, been like that for a few years now.

Now even though I still see those numbers, my main reason for visiting ATS now is because it is the fastest global news network going and the kicker to that is there are so many more intelligent members here than me that somedays I feel that I'm back at school with all the new stuff I learn.

ATS should offer college places for a nice price with what you can read and learn from this fantastic forum.

Kudos to all of us for been here

Wolfie

[edit on 26/3/08 by Wolfie_UK]

reply to post by Wolfie_UK


Wolfie, I have an answer for you. The mind has it's own clock, it atoumatically recognizes and seeks out patterns, (12:34, 11:11, 02:20, ect.) so you may feel a need to look at a clock at the exact time of 11:11, or you may notice that number sequence more often cause the mind is attacted to it. It's nothing special, happens to just about everyone really. If I have my alarm set to a specific time I'll wake up exactly one hour before it goes off cause my mind has it's own clock.

Also I'd like everyone to know that I take peoples abduction experiences seriously, I'm a multiple abductee, but I don't think it's anything special, cause I'm not anything special, no powers, nothing, but I understand that when people look for an answer as to why an alien would take them, they may think that they have powers or soemthing because they were taken or they were taken because they had them. Niether is usually true, they just want you to believe that they are "godlike", they're trying to lead you to worshiping them. I'm telling you, they are not what they seem, they are not the creators of mankind in any way or form.

reply to post by Duality


It sounds like you don't get out very much. You may also be experiencing a mild form of paranoia. Thinking of yourself as being special used to be referred to as 'delusions of grandeur', but what the heck, none of us are perfect.

Your first response was right. It's never easy to talk about things like this. It's often left to a psychotherapist or a really good friend to unravel these strange feelings. However, it's good that you are able to talk about it here, with like minded individuals who will no doubt understand much of what you say. It's nothing out of the ordinary and it doesn't make you 'weird'.

(Double post - Sorry)


[edit on 26/3/08 by Myrdyn]

reply to post by Duality


You bring up a good point. I have thought a little about this myself. If we are all drawn here like crazy skeeters to a bug zapper. I don't know what it is, but even the folks I am 100 percent against I seem to at the very least understand on some level. I know that after awhile ATS becomes important in some small way to members, and if you start talking about a thread to a non-member....They think you are nuts.


Maybe we are...............but it beats not having a outlet

reply to post by jimmyjackblack


I understand what you say but in truth it does have no real bearing on myself regarding 1111.

I know that if I set my alarm for a certain time in the morning then I will usually awake an hour before the alarm, thats my own body clock and conscience that takes care of that.

As for the numbers, well whether I'm at work, on holiday or just driving the car, whatever scenario I still get 1111. I generally find myself looking at the clock/time, regardless of what I may be doing at the time, such as driving, on the phone at work doing my job or just relaxing at home.

I don't feel special at all, I just find it happening on a regular basis a little strange.

Wolfie

I think we're all bozos on this bus. My mom says I'm the smartest kid on the short bus. That makes me special doesn't it?

Seriously, though...an interesting point was presented via an external source in one of the previous posts about delusional behavior being weighed against cultural influence. Basically, if the majority of people in your locale believe a certain thing and you do not (or vice versa) then that constitutes a delusion. I see a trap in this thinking. Is sanity defined by majority opinion? Or, as Lilly Tomlin quips, "is reality is just a collective hunch?"

If others in my neighborhood or country do not believe in certain ideas or have similar experiences as mine, am I enlightened or are they uninformed? Who's crazy here? Ask Noah if the majority is always right. (If you believe there was a boatbuilder named Noah, that is.)

Do the radicals or the genuises of any age have to justify their differences or ideaologies? Do they (or we) need a validator of our reality to define and approve of what the majority considers "bizarre"? Historically, it has been the "odd" people who have dragged the rest of us kicking and screaming into a more enlightened age.

If others don't agree with your interpretation of reality can they then declare you "crazy", remove your children from your home for their protection, institutionalize you, forcibly medicate you with psychotropic medications to chemically alter your thinking to be more like theirs?

If we, as conspiracy theorists (I prefer the term revisionist historian) are, by legislative decree or popular opinion tomorrow declared "insane" would any of the "normal" (ie: compliant) people take up for us? Do you know that none of the DSM manuals have a definition for "normal"? How could you prove you're NOT crazy? It's exceedingly difficult to prove a negative. I believe the mental health care industry will be a tool to round up and dispose of all dissenters.

That said, I have read some posts on this site that I thought were sad, clear cut cases of mental illness. (Oh wait, those were mine. ) I don't usually respond to those posts but I'm glad they have an outlet of informed listeners who may help to redirect their circumspection to one of logical reasoning.

I don't much care if people think I'm looney tunes. And what a boring world it would be without the imaginative and creative rantings of the "beautiful minds". It'd be like the planet Vulcan with all that logic. I was just there last week to see Elvis. He says, "hi". (j/k)

reply to post by whitewave


I hope everyone reads the above post to which I am now replying, because it is precisely why I believe keeping an open mind and tolerating debate - even debate which may cause unintentional offense or hurt - is important when coping with these issues. I know something happened to me that I can't explain, and those who feel the same way should be confident enough in themselves that they don't require validation and should be able to weather criticism without worrying about feeling insulted in my opinion.

By the same token, because the definition of "normalcy" and "sanity" ultimately are defined by social norms on the part of an enduring majority, those who level such criticisms or questions should also keep their minds open to possibilities beyond the confines of those definitions.

The take home point here is, in my opinion, that we all need to humble ourselves before the quest for truth, and make ourselves capable of saying three of the hardest words to say: "I don't know."

The beautiful thing about not knowing is that it does not invalidate or repudiate belief. It simply allows for a multitude of possibilities, and this is crucial because possibilities, when examined with a view toward mutual understanding and tolerance, comprise the road toward truth and resolution in my opinion.

Let me set about trying to strengthen that spirit then by making this statement: I respect and tolerate the assertion that it is possible that mental illness plays a role in the phenomena we are discussing, and I empathize with the reasoning behind such suspicions. My mind and heart are open to these potential explanations and alternative hypotheses. At the same time, I have experienced something which I cannot explain with those criteria, and have no compelling reason to doubt those who can say the same.

I ask those on both sides of the debate: How's that sound?

If we are all mentally impaired, or in the initial stages of psychosis...

.. that would make the people who own and run this website, and profit from it, people who are actively taking advantage of and exploiting the illnesses of mentally impaired people, obviously for their own financial gain.

Now does the above statement seem like the end all, be all truth to this website? I honestly don't think so, and I don't think we're all crazy or going psychotic. You wanna talk about being different is common and we're all fooling ourselves? I'm no one to toot my own horn, but let me give you a short list of things that make me different from the average american male my age.

0) I did not cry when I was born, came out silent, they thought I was stillborn.
1) I am bloodtype A negative, and had to have a blood transfusion at birth from blood loss.
2) I am left handed, extremely, and can't do much at all with my right hand, unless I train it exceedingly. I have been using it for the mouse for 11 years now, and it has only become comfortable in the past 2 years.
3) animals, particularly cats, are naturally attracted to me for some reason?
4) I am double jointed in both thumbs?
5) I have very pronounced bone structure, some would call me boney, pointy, or whatever. I have extremely long, thin fingers and toes. To the point that it doesn't even look normal in my own opinion.
6) I have always had vivid day dreams, which others may call a vision, I sense others' feelings, temperament, and thoughts extremely well just by looking at them usually. Even those I do not know.
7) I have always been a number of years ahead of just about all the other kids in school from elementary right up into college in reading comprehension, writing, vocabulary and grammar. Although shy, I have a vast vocabulary that would blow away the average individual.
8) I have a nearly photographic memory and remember things as far back as 3 years of age, distinctly, to where I can recall exactly how it went, with witnesses to confirm.
9) I've always been naturally talented in the arts, all forms including visual arts like drawing and painting as well as things such as dancing, martial arts, etc.
10) I have always felt that there is a distinct reason that I am living in this era of time, here and now. I feel as if there is a specific purpose that I am here for, but have never been able to pin it down.
11) I have always been into incredibly complex electronic music that many people would just .. fail to comprehend the point of whatsoever.
12) I have always been naturally gifted with all electronics and computers since a pre-pubescent age.

Now you can quote what you want and pick it apart and make me look like someone trying to claim that they are better or more special than another person, but I am just being honest and truthful here. I have no reason to lie about anything. But if you tell me I am either, a) like most other people, or b) mentally ill or in the initial stage of psychosis, then my natural response to that person would be that they are the one who is mentally ill, and they are the one without as much insight.

[edit on 3/26/2008 by runetang]