Strange Things.

I wanted to share this:

delusion v. idea of reference?

Ideas of reference are passing thoughts that external, neutral events (like a song or whispered conversation) have special, personal meaning, often accompanied by some doubt. Delusions of reference are rigid, fixed, and irrational beliefs in these same events, held with absolute conviction despite evidence to the contrary.

Key Differences

• Conviction: Ideas of reference can be questioned or dismissed when challenged. Delusions are unshakable.
• Intensity: Ideas are often fleeting or less severe; delusions are deeply ingrained and profoundly affect behavior.
• Insight: Individuals with ideas of reference may realize their thoughts are strange; those with delusions lack this insight.


Examples
• Idea of Reference: Passing thought that two people laughing nearby are talking about you.
• Delusion of Reference: Firm belief that the news anchor is sending secret messages specifically to you.

Both can be symptoms of mental health conditions like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, but ideas of reference may also appear in milder, non-psychotic forms.

Google AI Overview.

As I've said, I suspect around the late 80s I might have had some ideas of reference. I tend to make associations where there are none and my thinking patterns are unusual, I have always noticed this, since childhood in fact. Around 1991 I concluded I probably just has a personality disorder. That is what my last psychiatrist said he agreed to himself, independent of me. They were talking about ideas of reference in Oakwood Hospital by 1988. One social worker there named Karen said that is why I thought people were hurting me with the numbers six and two. Like when Patti Baxter said her husband's weight went from "160 down to 220". I must be suffering from an idea of reference since those are just harmless numbers she said. Also when I saw my first psychiatrist in 1984 he told me he wasn't sure what was wrong with me, but probably not full-blown Schizophrenia. Same thing with my 1986 therapist.

Like I said, I've seem a lot of strange things in my life and I still have no explanation for them. Strange songs that seem to speak to me almost poetically, strange coincidences in history, strange events in my life like how coins always came up whatever was upside in my hand when I flipped then until my friend across the street told me it doesn't work that way. I never said I knew the explanation for them, I never said they proved anything. They just seem strange to me. And some of them have been slowly explained to me, that they happened for another reason. And some I still don't know about.