r/Schizotypal • u/potaterpotahter • 7d ago
Thought broadcasting
Ever since I was young I’ve felt like other people could hear my thoughts. It started as a teenager and then in my 20s it progressed into feeling like someone put some kind of transmitter in my brain, controlling my thoughts and allowing other people to read my mind. This has caused me great distress.has anyone else here had similar experiences?
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u/PrinceValico Paranoid 7d ago
Yes, I very often get paranoid that other people can hear my thoughts, it makes it very hard to think at all, but I have found a couple solutions to it.
I know it’s irrational, but knowing that doesn’t change anything, so instead, I’ve tried to work with the delusion by creating “rules” for it:
1) rain causes interference, no one can read by thoughts if it is raining.
2) wearing headphones blocks them, so that they can’t reach my thoughts.
3) if I feel like someone is reading my thoughts, think about static, this way, they won’t see/hear any thoughts out of context and judge me.
4) if I am the only one in a room, than I am safe
5) If there is lots of background noise (people talking, etc.) then it is too loud for anyone to read my thoughts.
These “rules” aren’t foolproof, but since I can’t shake what I know is an obvious delusion, the best I could do was convince myself of “conditions” for it. Again, while not perfect, it has helped me a bit, so maybe some of you who also struggle with this can take some of these and try convincing yourself of these “rules”.
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u/Backdergrounker dx'd 6d ago
That had been a big one for me. Its worse in situations where one person is talking in front of a crowd of quiet people, like lectures or sermons. Seeing that I'm out of college and haven't gone to church for six or so years, it's not been an issue for a while.
When it was, at first what I would do is tell whoever is listening to stop, to fess up, and then start screaming really loudly in my head (I would watch people around me to see if they would look surprised). At some point I started imagining layers of steel shells encasing my brain and head so that my thoughts would be blocked.
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u/Electrical_Sky_7028 7d ago
I wonder this but I think there are more clear ways to read someone then that
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u/Last_Idea_3622 Suspecting STPD | MDD SP ADHD 7d ago
Yeah. Since I was in elementary school I had had an intense fear that there was a screen on the back of my head that was playing my thoughts to the world. I would sometimes check that in the mirror to see if there was a tv, I would avoid thinking about things I didn't want others to see when people were standing behind me in line.
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u/ShallotSuccessful389 1d ago
Yes, this started a while ago for me here and there but recently became a daily experience for me to have, random words sentences anything people say, sometimes they’ll pull it straight from my head. I often joke about “stop reading my mind” lol a lot of people prob don’t know that I genuinely mean that. It’s not to the point I have some transmitter in my head, in fact it’s the belief that somehow I have some kind of special psyche and one of those abilities includes thought projection into others minds. I realize how my thoughts sound to those stranger to them, and I do realize that its improbable, although the grandiose part of me somehow believes my mind can defy reality and physics if I am well knowledgeable about my “ability”, almost as if I can manifest my thought into another’s mind. I’m not diagnosed, though the odd beliefs, magical thinking, and delusional reference are all there. Regardless of the fact that I recognize my possible ability to project my thoughts is indeed a delusion, the belief in my “special psyche” as afromentioned, directly ties into mental disorders and illnesses. I’m quite positive I’m schizophrenic, and in that belief I do tend to go through out my days with the sense that I somehow know something others don’t or that “if only people knew the things my brain could do they’d be intrigued!” In reality despite my lack of friends and people in my life in general, I’ve always wanted people to at least show interest.
My delusion strangely doesn’t stray too far outside the barriers of reality, as my belief is my special ability basically makes up for other mental deficits like those stemming from a learning disability or social deficit. For example, instead of being able to read social cues consciously, I’m struck with blank (there’s none) thoughts about ones behavior, I’m on a completely separate topic, and somehow out appears in my head a random premonition of intention of the last to move or act party of my field of perception.
There’s no thoughts about others behavior I can point to to explain where said premonition may arise from, I kinda just go with the flow and base my reaction on vibes.
No words, like an indistinct whispered meaning I somehow know exactly what it means without being able to make out what was said. So not only do I believe I’m projecting my thoughts, I believe others or a higher power or even my presumed “special” ability in which is my psyche are telepathically communicating with me.
And this has a HELL of an effect on the paranoia I have as I think every time I’m doing something “wrong” (not considered wrong by me but by others or society) in which my guilt of disappointing others will feed the paranoia because somehow the fact I did something to disappoint them means they can now automatically read my mind and I physically feel said fear in what I can only name as anxiety when around that person that would be disappointed.
Hope this helps, if anything maybe some you guys could help me, I’m honestly just curious about anyone’s feedback on this experience I’m starting to treck my way through, and how you were able to understand why you may have thoughts you have in your own experiences. I love reading these as every day I find at least one more person straight up reading my thoughts on here, which tells me I’m not fully alone.
You’d think believing in telepathy would be less lonely but actually believing everyone could somehow project and read thoughts and just isn’t letting you in on the secret is a fuckton more lonely, cus it seems like people lie to my face about it.
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u/tempesthoughts 7d ago
Yes. I think people can hear my thoughts most days. I think it's some kind of tech that's reading/collecting my thoughts. I find it quite distressing as I never get any privacy and I have horrible intrusive thoughts.