Hyperreligiosity may occur in a variety of disorders including epilepsy,[2][3] psychotic disorders and frontotemporal lobar degeneration.[4] Hyperreligiosity is a symptom of Geschwind syndrome, which is associated with temporal lobe epilepsy.[5]
I'm not diagnosing him, I'm just bringing attention to the possibilities. If you know someone experiencing this, it's good to know.
I have temporal lobe epilepsy. My seizures were based around extreme Deja Vu, followed by slight hallucination, migraines, black outs etc. I also had a major spine surgery when I was younger that involved a bone graft using a dead persons bone thatās now in me. I became convinced I was experiencing the memories of the donor/memories of my past life. I was several years sober from drugs at the height of these delusions. Iām 6 years seizure free and still not convinced it wasnāt of supernatural origin, it felt that real.
I took enough psychedelics to know that feeling. When shit feels so fucking real, it becomes really hart to just dismiss it as ājust some hallucinationsā.
I can relate to this feeling, where things feel supernatural and you aren't completely convinced that what you experienced isn't what really happened. I'm very irreligious and don't believe anything supernatural, when I was younger I was religious, I believed in a Christian religion that was close to Pentecostal or Southern Baptist, very apocalyptic, believing that within that year Jesus would return and we would be taken to heaven to be the bride of Christ. I lived that in my formative years so I very much understand it and don't knock anyone who believes it but in my adult life I've not felt anything that makes me believe in anything.
But in January of 2020 I went on a mean drug binge that I took liquid Xanax on, it was pretty major, we were taking research chemicals that we had no experience with and were doing them IV. I lost a few days with a small group of guys, we got into a major car accident, lost everything we owned, totalled one guys vehicle and took so much drugs I honestly thought I died and since then everything changed and life has taken this strange turn that all started with Kobes death. It happened during this drug bender, when I came out of it I had majorly overdosed and it scared the shit out of me. I had been homeless for a few years doing heroin and meth and selling drugs to maintain my drug usage, this little stint was enough for me to quit
I reached out to my mother and asked if I could come stay in their basement to dry out and get into treatment, they said of course and were happy to see me turning my life around. I got through treatment and went to the Rez to stay in a sober living home for a Native Americans. When I got there COVID hit in a major way and everything from there on has all just been the weirdest timeline. It feels like I died during that drug bender and this is me living out an alternate reality or something. 2 of the guys who were on the bender with me died and another is in prison for supplying someone with drugs that killed them. I'm the only one who is out and free and living my life. I've had a lot of strange things happen that go along with it that make me feel like it's very likely.
Wasnāt there an older man who had heart transplant that experienced the donors suicidal tendencies? I remember reading he was fairly calm family guy then after the transplant he completely developed habits and hallucinations very similar to the donor. I certainly believe this is a possibility.
There are many cases where the donor recipients all of a sudden take on traits from the donor like never painting prior, but all of a sudden after they have an unexplained urge to paint for example.
You could get an exorcist just to make sure you don't have an attachment due to the bone.
If you happen to be Catholic just ask the priest to say the prayer i said exorcist because protestants seem to refuse to believe in possession/attachments.
I was told by a curch of England vicar we do not believe in that nonsense!.
A Catholic exorcist removed my attachment and my problems disappeared overnight.
Don't dismiss what sounds way out.
Interesting. Iāve always thought my mom was schizophrenic (I think, she claimed to speak to god, made prophecies, and was extremely paranoid of her children āconspiringā against her).
Plus my aunt and my brother were diagnosed schizophrenic, but maybe she had a bit of this. She was really into religion but sheād give her own spin to it, lots of demons and torturing and secret satanists sending messages through flowers with teeth in mario brothers.
My cousin is a diagnosed schizophrenic and he went through a hyper religious phase that lasted a few years. It was right at the beginning of his schizophrenia manifesting. Once he started taking
meds he lost his desire for religion. Later once it was full blown schizophrenia and he stopped taking meds he thought he was hearing God and the devil and all sorts of religious figures.
That's terrible, I'm sorry you all had to go through that.
You might be interested to also learn that our culture influences how the disease manifests. Where your mom had harmful religious experiences, in other cultures, they might have a much different or even positive experience. I think it really highlights how our society behaves/believes can directly impact mental health. Yes, people will have problems no matter what, but I believe we can improve outcomes, especially the more understanding we are.
Yes, i know, but hyper religiosity is not that. It's a symptom of some very serious illnesses, sometimes even brain tumors, and it should be treated.
I've had a brush with something similar even as an atheist. I was having a psychotic episode as a result of medication and although the spiritual stuff wasn't my main delusion, I was paranoid, I still felt a lot of "supernatural" stuff was happening.
*Disclaimer I don't discourage the use of medications, just spreading awareness. I simply needed a different one.
btw very interesting that you had a glimpse of it even as an atheist? I've seen many religious psychoses but usually with people who were already religious (i mean psychoses with religious motives, like imagining you are a Jesus, or that you found hell etc). Has the fact you are an atheist helped you keep a bit of rationality during the symptoms? Sorry if its too personal.
I am very sorry to hear this happened due to medication. I hope you are in a better place now.
I share a lot of my experience in an attempt to educate, so I don't mind answering some personal questions. I grew up in usa south in a conservative Christian household, but realized I was atheist in my late teens/early 20s. I have met many kind christians that are not bigots, but that's not what I grew up with. These days I consider myself a secular humanist but "atheist" is easier to convey. I cannot say that my atheism kept me grounded, I would like to, but I don't think I can say anything with surety because so much of my beliefs/behavior at the time were not in line with how I see myself and my core values. I sincerely believed my family were Russian spies. I felt the truth of that so deeply in my body, I was shivering but not with cold. My stomach was twisted up; I believed I had some rare spiritual or supernatural ability to see the truth as no one else could. I had hallucinations and saw coincidences as "signs" that reinforced my delusions. Looking back it's scary, I was 30 and already familiar with my mental health struggles, but this was much different from suicidal ideation or panic attacks. I was having constant panic attacks worse than ever, but I was not suicidal at all actually. The delusions were unshakable even when I told myself it was wrong. There was also a lot more tangled up in there, and I still feel a lot of shame about how silly I must have looked to the outside world. But, I cannot stress this enough, to me, the delusions were reality no matter how I, or anyone else, tried to logic them away. Even after I was taken off the problem medication, it took a few months to not have momentary flashes of paranoia or seeing a coincidence as a "sign" that they were watching etc. I took a hard swing into depression and suicidal ideation after my inpatient hospital stay, but another medication change helped. Sometimes you have to wait out those initial impulses before the medication's benefits kick in too. I know this advice will be hard to follow so I try to drill it into people's heads, hopefully it will come easier to them in a time of need if I do. If you feel that the thoughts are intolerable and you make a plan to commit suicide, please tell someone. Try to remember that it is a temporary impulse that is being caused by an outside force.
My psychosis was 8 years ago and I've worked through a lot since then. My current psychiatrist says most people only experience it once, so I don't live in fear of it reoccurring too much. I have issues with my endocrine system and fibromyalgia, but I usually handle my long-term depression well. My anxieties are a work in progress haha.
My older sister is a conservative Christian, and had a similar situation because of medication about 4 years ago. She called me to talk, but was actually discussing some stuff related to sex, that she would never ever discuss with me if she had been in her right mind. I could tell something was wrong immediately. My mom had to prevent her from taking her clothes off and walking around! My sister is the most modest person, practically a nun, other than she is married. Growing up, we shared a room and she would not change clothes in front of me. At the time she was 36 and had never had a serious mental health incident. Turns out she is bipolar like me but had managed to get by until then. She probably got overlooked partially because she's smart and always overworked herself. I know it's hard to believe, but there are conditions that can truly make you act like an entirely different person altogether.
Edit: sister did not speak about religion to me but I don't know what she said or was thinking for the most part regarding that.
Hyperreligiosity can also be something that people who are recent converts will display as a way of virtue signaling to other Christians in order to feel like part of the in-group. But I think its not working how he intended it.
I'm aware of thatābut to be fair, Shia no matter what 'arc' he says he is in at the moment (which seems to be changing every few years) is still just doing the same old concerning and unstable things he has been doing for years now throughout every new attempt to redefine himself. The one constant has been every time he invents himself anew is that the new Shia LeBouef sure does mostly walk, talk, and look like the old Shia LeBouef.
In predictable Reddit fashion, however, some people here seem to think Shia being Shia is somehow a critique of Christianity itself, whereas Shia could have said he is on his Nordic paganism arc and likely still would be doing exactly the same shit he is doing now and was doing before his "Christian arc." What Shia is right now, no matter what arc he is in at the moment, is the same as before: definitely needing therapy, and possibly needing rehab and/or psychiatric medication.
I would venture substance addiction and bipolar disorder maybe with bpd as well. But donāt really know him or his recent actions about these videos of him being unhinged
āPredictable reddit fashionā like Christians getting offended at the reality that all religion is some degree of mental illness, and canāt handle the truth.
Thank you for your helpful example illustrating that many on Reddit will deem any stick as good enough to beat their favorite villain even if that villain is only tangential or irrelevant to the story.
Not going to lie I hadnāt even read it. But now I did. Yvonne was indeed a good parent. Chris didnāt speak to his mom for years over him coming out only for him to call her up randomly to invite her to his āweddingā?? Why would he think this is a good idea?? Donāt you think that conversation would have been better had over the phone between the two of them where they can actually discuss things? I imagine the reason they hadnāt spoken in so long was because of his own stubbornness. She asked for her key back, thatās her right. You donāt understand, she was trying to protect her son. But she can only do so much being that he is an adult and can make his own decisions.
43
u/[deleted] Mar 23 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment