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okay, im going to make a thread about delusional attachment and why i personally do not like the term. i am a psychotic person who experiences delusions of being a fictional character, for context!
1. the naming is very poor. 'attachment' already has a specific meaning in psychology- it's about how our relationship with our parents impacts on how we can form relationships later in life. it's something thats very important when talking about childhood trauma & abuse
and you can read more about it here ( https://www.verywellmind.com/attachment-styles-2795344) or really just google it because its a very well-known thing! the attachment styles are: secure attachment, anxious attachment, avoidant attachment and disorganised (or anxious-avoidant) attachment. as you can probably
see, they sound a lot like 'delusional attachment'. from my perspective, it seems like someone named it 'delusional attachment' to try and make it sound like a more official term by jumping on the back of attachment styles, without actually giving it much thought
to me it's misleading. when i first heard of delusional attachments i thought it was a new attachment style
2. it's a community coined term and is not recognised by any mental health professionals. this isnt inherently a bad thing- it's very common for communities to coin their own terms like that, e.g. rejection sensitive dysphoria in adhd communities, and can be really helpful
to let people understand their experiences when professionals arent researching certain areas of a condition. however, ive seen a lot of people treat it as if it's an official term, so i don't think people are being properly educated about what it really is
3. imo, its unnecessary. we already have delusions of grandeur to describe delusions like that. i understand why some people may not like using that as a label- personally i dont either, as i dont feel that my delusions of being a fictional character are 'grandeur' - if anything
they make me feel 'less than' others. but you dont need microlabels for every experience. just using 'delusions' is okay!
4. it encourages people to reinforce delusions. for clarity, im not saying people should be reality checked without consent. personally, i find reality checking very triggering so i absolutely understand why you wouldnt want someone to do that!
however, having your delusions reinforced makes them worse, especially if people are adding onto them. it makes recovery far more difficult and makes you feel as if you have real proof for your delusional beliefs
5. a lot of people really dont understand what 'kin' is, so here's a history lesson. kin originated as a spiritual belief, most commonly where people believed they were reincarnations of who they kinned. generally, spiritual kin communities believe that you dont choose who
you kin, because you cant choose your past lives. over time, people began to kin more for coping or just for fun, which is totally fine imo. but as a spiritual kinnie myself i find it weird how little people seem to know abt the words they use
6. it's part of this whole issue ive been seeing more and more frequently on twitter lately where people will make these cute little carrds explaining some mental health issue, but the carrd will be full of misinformation and have next to no sources to back up its claims
people on this website seem to take everything they read as fact if its presented in the right way, which is a huge problem! it isnt helped when people act like people without a disorder shouldnt be allowed to even ask questions if they dont understand something!
this is not a good way to educate people! we need to be able to back up our claims, and we need people to be able to feel comfortable enough to ask us questions. if you dont feel able to educate people yourself then thats completely fine and understandable, but in that case you
need to take a step back and not spread misinfo
thats all that i can think of off the top of my head - obviously, if someone chooses to use the term delusional attachment for themselves, thats entirely their business and ill respect that. i can see why some people may want to use that terminology, even if i disagree w it
if anyone notices anything ive said wrong or doesnt understand something ive said, please feel free to lmk
actually id also like to add another point to this thread after thinking about it - i think theres an issue around mental health communities online where our symptoms are only discussed when they relate to fandom. i never saw anyone talk about delusions, or psychosis in
general, until people started spreading things about delusional attachment a few weeks/months ago. now i see it every other day, but theyre still only talking about this one specific type of delusion and one specific way to respond to it
my psychosis doesnt go away when i stop engaging with fictional media. i experience other symptoms of my psychosis. i would love to see more understanding of other symptoms of my disorder - and of other disorders, too
another addition: its been brought to my attention that the original creator of the term 'delusional attachment' was just trying to explain their own experiences and didnt intend for it to spread as it has. honestly, given that, i feel bad for them. it must suck to be in that
situation. im sure that most of the people using the term dont realise that, but its something to keep in mind. apparently this carrd was from the person who originated the term & used to explain what delusional attachment is https://delusionalattachment.carrd.co/
anyway, everything ive said is to do with the term as its used now / as ive seen it used over social media, not to do with or directed at the originator of the term bc who cares what an individual calls their own experiences, thats their business
also thats funny as a joke, but if you genuinely want to read the dsm you can find a pdf of it here, its actually pretty interesting to read imo: https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3A907fa51f-b6cb-494c-95b1-5cacf626fc55#pageNum=1
