Things you were taught were your imagination

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I'll start; with 2 of my gems:

"It's not possible that everyone doesn't like you. You're imagining rejection where there isn't." (therapists, mostly)

"There's no such thing as almost all adults in the workplace gaslighting one employee. You have to take medicine against paranoid ideation." (therapists and others)

Oh, another jewel, can't resist:

"There's no such thing as a hidden rule book everyone seems to have been born with except you." (everyone!)

I can remember being told that I was simply "too sensitive" and was interpreting things incorrectly when I felt someone was being mean or cruel to me.

I can't imagine anyone actually liking their job and waiting to go in in the morning. Seems unlikely as all jobs bring their employees pain, misery and suffering - in that order.

"The trolls won't come after you; there's no reason for them to. You're just being paranoid." - My family and friends

No one ever argued this point with me. Once (when I was 9) after a move to a new neighborhood, my mom told me to go out and play with the neighbor kids and I responded "Why? They won't like me." She remembers that as me being fatalistic. I remember that she didn't argue with me. She just told me to go outside anyway.

A lot of the things that were blamed on my imagination were tied up with physical illness or pain. My mom hated doctors and avoided them unless one of us was at death's door. I grew up lactose intolerant in the 70's and in the midwest, so there were a lot of stomach aches and heartburn and... distress... chalked up to "looking for attention" or "your imagination".
Also, a glass of milk was the favored remedy for heartburn. So...

I was also told that college would be the best time of my life - and now that I'm there, I still feel just as anxious, depressed, paranoid, and crappy as I did before.

'You're such a drama queen.'
'You're so negative. You keep putting everyone down.'
'You're too sensitive.'
'You just have to deal with it. You could fit in if you wanted to. You CHOOSE not to.'




All courtesy of my 'support' group.

Someone tried to convince me that Ghosts exist...pfft..that non existance of ghost is imaginary

My mom liked to tell me something along those lines, and then proceed to tell me about how an employee of my dad's acted out on a paranoia that everyone was plotting against her. She then told me that I do not want to be like her. I don't know where she got the idea that I was going to go on such an outburst, since I was just confiding in my mom about how I feel people at work act towards me.

It is not paranoia if they are really out to get you. )

..and 'they' can spot from a mile away that you don't have a copy of this rule book. It's like you glow-in-the-dark don't have it.

This used to be a big frustration for me. In those "gotta fit in" years I tried so hard. Tried to memorise their copy of that book. Tried to write my own version. (omg - Ha!) Even tried to show how cool it might be if they Didn't have that book.

These days... ef em. Book schmook. Like to take the damn book and smack them with it.

You know, it's really easy being me. And for them not being able to understand me is ok. It gives their brain something to do.

I'm their crossword puzzle they keep tucked away.... as a bookmark. ;~)

''Nobody's laughing at you, you're just imagining things, no matter how real it may seem to you''
I just hope this is right, maybe I have got an overactive imagination (with paranoia)

What you put into it you also get out of it.

I think most them are a result of an over active imagination. I tend to have a small problem(eg paying a bill) and then think about it too much making it seem bigger than it is. I find it better not to dwell on things and deal with it straight away.

My therapist has been trying to convince me of this one lately! This led to her almost falling off her chair when I used the term "cognitive distortion" haha.