Fri Mar 20, 2015, 11:09 AM

"They (Mental Health Professionals) viewed some of his beliefs as a kind of psychosis..."

Found this in an article that deals with a much larger issue. This particular topic has been brought up here before, so I thought I would share it.

"They viewed some of his beliefs as a kind of psychosis - and yet they were also part of a worldview shared by millions of mentally healthy people."

--snip--

Then there were the grey areas.

A patient named Brian had beaten his mother to death with a baseball bat, believing her to be possessed by the Devil. Brian was a Pentecostal Christian. He'd been doing well in treatment, but one of his obstacles was that he still believed his mother had been possessed - only now, he conceded that the killing was a pointless act, given that the Devil can't be killed.

Brian presented a dilemma for the hospital. They viewed some of his beliefs as a kind of psychosis - and yet they were also part of a worldview shared by millions of mentally healthy people.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31962182

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5 replies	Author	Time	Post
"They (Mental Health Professionals) viewed some of his beliefs as a kind of psychosis..." (Original post)	cleanhippie	Mar 2015	OP
"worldview shared by millions of mentally healthy people."	annabanana	Mar 2015	#1
a vexing dilemma for mental health professionals, to be sure nt	steve2470	Mar 2015	#2
Clearly religion had nothing to do with this.	AtheistCrusader	Mar 2015	#3
Casting Out Demons: Pope Francis Declares Support for Exorcisms	trotsky	Mar 2015	#4
Look it is only a psychotic delusion if you kill your mother with a baseball bat.	Warren Stupidity	Mar 2015	#5

Response to cleanhippie (Original post)

Fri Mar 20, 2015, 11:10 AM

annabanana (52,791 posts)

1. "worldview shared by millions of mentally healthy people."

Some might take exception to that characterization..

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Response to cleanhippie (Original post)

Fri Mar 20, 2015, 11:15 AM

steve2470 (37,397 posts)

2. a vexing dilemma for mental health professionals, to be sure nt

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Response to cleanhippie (Original post)

Fri Mar 20, 2015, 11:17 AM

AtheistCrusader (33,982 posts)

3. Clearly religion had nothing to do with this.

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Response to cleanhippie (Original post)

Fri Mar 20, 2015, 11:19 AM

trotsky (49,533 posts)

4. Casting Out Demons: Pope Francis Declares Support for Exorcisms

http://www.livescience.com/48563-pope-francis-supports-exorcisms.html

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Response to cleanhippie (Original post)

Fri Mar 20, 2015, 11:56 AM

Warren Stupidity (48,181 posts)

5. Look it is only a psychotic delusion if you kill your mother with a baseball bat.

before you do that you are not delusional, even though your ideas are identical and only your actions are different, and anyone who says different is a bigot.

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