Skimming r/QAnonCasualties, which makes for grim reading, but also remarkably similar to r/RaisedByNarcissists and r/RaisedByBorderlines - endless stories of implacably cruel and selfish parents intent on maintaining untenable self-narratives at any cost

A predominant feeling is that of being a playing-piece on someone else's game board, obliged to hold an assigned position, and subject to rapidly escalating rage (backed by the fiat currency of self-pity) if you move out of the position in any way

You get the impression that there is a whole population of (especially but not exclusively American) adults whose primary ontological security is sustained through childish notions of authority and dependence, an attitude especially inculcated by evangelical Christianity

Q was shaped to a particular type of psychic vulnerability - the desire for a strong father who restores order, provides safety and purpose, embodies a promise in light of which one can abide uncertainty. It vibes with dominionism - it's not as foreign an element as it may seem.

I mean it fucking serves them right, in a way, that they ended up being seduced into projecting that desire onto as ludicrous and superficial a character as DJT - but the humiliation is going to be hard to process

For many I imagine the eventual outcome will be a shift into denial - "oh I never really believed in all that / still I think there must have been something to it". Maddening, but likely the best that can be hoped for.

"Primary ontological security" is a useful phrase - it's from R. D. Laing, who knew the score

I lived for many years with somebody whose primary ontological security was shaky at best, and significantly weakened by bereavement, and the tenacity with which they "became absorbed in contriving ways of trying to be real" was something to behold

Also, alas, soul-killing to be in constant proximity to, as it entailed being constantly conscripted into unreal schemes for maintaining the appearance of reality, with the permanent threat of rapid rage-filled escalation if one failed or refused to play along

You basically either know what it's like to be on the wrong end of this over a lengthy period of time or you don't, and if you don't I cannot recommend it. These are people to whom a secure sense of self in others is a threat to be managed by constant psychic assault.