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liveandletdie
Phoenix
Joined: May 20, 2010
Posts: 872
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 Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 3:25 pm Post subject: Explain magical thinking from someone with it? |
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Ok so the psychs always ask me if i have magical thinking. Do i think the tv is watching me etc.....
So i believe the wording on that is completely stupid, and most schizo scale people do not think the tv is watching them though some do probably.
Anyways...from someone who might have "magical thinking" can you give some examples of such from your own perspective?
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Moog
Pussycat
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Age: 34
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| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 3:55 pm Post subject: |
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"Magical thinking is causal reasoning that looks for correlation between acts or utterances and certain events."
An example is (and this happens) is when someone says "Ooh, I really dislike (so and so) and I hope something bad would happen to her," and then something bad does happen, and then link the wish with the event, as though they caused it.
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Aimless
innocent bystander
Joined: Apr 02, 2009
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| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 3:58 pm Post subject: |
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I had some magical thinking rituals when I was in elementary school. I'd repeat certain words in a certain pattern in my head to relieve anxiety. I had the idea if I did this I would do well on a test.
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MountainLaurel
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Age: 60
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| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 9:54 pm Post subject: |
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It seems to me that you are unlikely to get an example from someone who has a particular area of magical thinking because by definition they think it's real and logical. But here is an instance I've observed.
I have a friend who is a high school history teacher who does not like his job, finds it very stressful, but because of the many years he's done it considers himself a seasoned teaching professional.
He is a very poor communicator. He expounds, but does not respond. So when he is talking about history or politics and I ask a who, what, where, why question; inevitably he responds in the affirimative. Example; When was that custom in practice? Response: Yeah that's how they did it. I asked WHEN were they doing it like that? Response: Yeah, un huh.
I always thought; Wow, I'd hate to be one of his STUDENTS with a question.
For the past five years or more he has complained that the administration of his school has been trying to find reasons to fire him and that they're being unfair and targeting him because he's an older white guy. He feels it's an outrage because they're trying to squash a seasoned teacher [a valuable asset to education].
When I asked him if he listens and responds to the students' questions, he said; Yeah, un huh.
He's been the same for the 15 years I've known him; he simply does not listen to questions. Lately, he admits that he does not listen to others because of the aspergers (while he's taliking he cannot entertain questions). I believe that he has the magical thinking that when he is in front of a classroom he magically becomes an adequit communicator because he's a seasoned teacher. |
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happydorkgirl
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: Oct 06, 2011
Age: 31
Posts: 72
Location: Northern Wisconsin
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| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 11:13 pm Post subject: |
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I know now that the following is not real - but the feeling sometimes persists.
Those gentle gusts of wind that carried falling leaves were created by me for me. Invisible glitter and sparkles emanated from my fingertips and swirled around behind me like a veil. I caused those spring and summer clouds to momentarily cover the sun - and the violent thunder and lightning was sometimes me, too.
Since the bipolar II diagnosis I've assumed that these deep feelings of power over nature were symptoms of mania - but perhaps they are a bit AS, too. I just got the AS diagnosis a couple of weeks ago and am still learning about it... and discovering more and more things under that umbrella that I've done for the entirety of my life. |
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LittleBlackCat
Toucan
Joined: Sep 11, 2011
Posts: 262
Location: England
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| Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 5:44 pm Post subject: |
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| One interesting point in diagnosing schizophrenia-type symptoms is that the psychiatrist must take into account the cultural norms of the person whom they are diagnosing. For example, if the person comes from a Christian background, then believing that praying to Jesus would affect performance at a job interview would not be classed as magical thinking. If the person were to come from a tribal culture with different beliefs, but the person's "magical thinking" symptoms were, in fact, the culturally accepted norm where they came from, then those beliefs should not be classed as pathological. |
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Angel_ryan
Phoenix
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Age: 24
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Location: Ontario Canada
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| Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 3:54 pm Post subject: |
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| I like having magical thinking it makes coincidences in life seem more meaningful. |
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Zexion
Snowy Owl
Joined: Feb 06, 2011
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| Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 4:50 pm Post subject: |
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| I had quite strong magical thinking as a child and still have it mildly these days. |
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godoftruemercy
Toucan
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Age: 22
Posts: 296
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| Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 3:03 pm Post subject: |
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I can get a little "magical" when my depression is suicidey (mixed states, hate them), and it pretty much does what it says on the tin.
Things that happen have new, illogical significance and strange relationships to each other-just like the principles of magic. I find the best thing to do (besides meds, which one needs for this sort of thing) is to only trust your senses. Do not listen to the connections your brain makes. Unless they are directly causal, e.g, "I put food in the microwave, so it gets hot," they probably aren't real. And get some medication. There's no way around it with affective stuff. |
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mntn13
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| Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 12:14 pm Post subject: |
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| I've had this a bit, on and off. Most recently I admitted to someone that I did not like a certain family member at all. A couple weeks later, said family member had a heart attack. I know it's not logical, but it seems to me that my negative energy did this. I remind myself that most likely it is because the person smoked for thirty five years. But it seems like I precipitated the event. |
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Beauty_pact
Observer
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Age: 132
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| Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 2:59 pm Post subject: |
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| LittleBlackCat wrote: | | One interesting point in diagnosing schizophrenia-type symptoms is that the psychiatrist must take into account the cultural norms of the person whom they are diagnosing. For example, if the person comes from a Christian background, then believing that praying to Jesus would affect performance at a job interview would not be classed as magical thinking. If the person were to come from a tribal culture with different beliefs, but the person's "magical thinking" symptoms were, in fact, the culturally accepted norm where they came from, then those beliefs should not be classed as pathological. |
In other words, if you create your OWN "culture", like me, instead of blindly following the faiths of others, then you must have magical thinking.
A good reason to hate the psychiatry business. |
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FireBird
Can't think cows will eat me!
Joined: Feb 13, 2007
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Location: Cow Town
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| Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 3:08 pm Post subject: |
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| I kind of have magical thinking I guess. Had it for years. I believe that I have the power of influence meaning that when I get a vision of something that is about to take place and when it does that I caused it. I also believe there are no such thing as coincidences but rather that everything has direct meaning to me. Everything is predetermined. I am a psychic and I don't like when the events actually take place. I haven't had a psychic vision in awhile though. They come and go. I don't ever predict things out of the blue. Those would never be right. It comes to me in visions or dreams. I hate it when the dream becomes reality because a lot of the time its about huge disasters with thousands of deaths. |
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IdahoRose
Imaginary Friend
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| Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 7:36 pm Post subject: |
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My brother and I both have this thing where we believe that if we start thinking about a movie, it will air on TV the next day. Keep in mind that this is without previews or any sort of notification. This has happened to us so many times, I have lost count. It also used to happen when we were children - we'd think of a specific episode of our favorite cartoons, and the episode would air that very night when we went to watch TV.
We can't control it - we'll just be thinking about everyday things, when all of a sudden one of us will get the thought, "hey, I remember that movie" or "I remember the episode of ______ where _____ happened." Then we turn on the TV, and it will be there. |
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Angel_ryan
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Age: 24
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Location: Ontario Canada
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2011 4:57 am Post subject: |
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| I have very psychic like experiences on a regular bases. I obviously hate it when I know something bad will happen, and love when something good will happen. Like I'll be randomly thinking about a song I like and all of a sudden I'll turn the radio on and that song is playing. My brain is very good at predicting songs that play on the radio before I turn it on. It could just be a savant skill. I could just be subconsciously keeping track of the times through out the day that the songs are playing. I noticed that I remember what song I last listened to on my mp3 player hours or days after I used it last and I think to myself what an incredibly useless thing to remember. I even remember what part in the song I was at before I turned it off. Although I know a lot of my magical thinking turns out not so magical and can be rationalized to an extent I still enjoy the possibility of being psychic or having in an influence on the world around me. I think that because human beings have wills in the first place there is a possibility that we psychicly have an influence on the world around us. I'm still going to believe that whether I have the capacity to rationalize it or not. |
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danmac
the bringer of unwanted things
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Age: 38
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| Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 10:20 am Post subject: |
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| FireBird wrote: | | I kind of have magical thinking I guess. Had it for years. I believe that I have the power of influence meaning that when I get a vision of something that is about to take place and when it does that I caused it. I also believe there are no such thing as coincidences but rather that everything has direct meaning to me. Everything is predetermined. I am a psychic and I don't like when the events actually take place. I haven't had a psychic vision in awhile though. They come and go. I don't ever predict things out of the blue. Those would never be right. It comes to me in visions or dreams. I hate it when the dream becomes reality because a lot of the time its about huge disasters with thousands of deaths. |
i think in a way it is an extreme case of something everyone does(it's normal to draw conclutions, but how far do you take them)
can outside influances make it worse? i love watching the bears(football) and sometimes(like you said it comes and go's),i will be watching a game and right before a play starts i see the play happen before it does(i don't think too much into it) and will yell out sack um, interception, ect. and it happens with great percentage. to the point where my friends will tell me to do it, call the play. ofcourse i can't "make it happen" because i don't look for it, it just comes.when they first started to tell me to do it, i'd try, but i knew it wasn't something i could control....... it just happens
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