Truman Show Delusion: Is Reality TV Driving You Crazy?

by jill ~ August 29, 2008

From Blackberry thumb to phantom cell phone vibrations, it’s amazing any of us function as normal humans with all of the “technology” that plagues us. 

But this story in the style section of the New York Times delves into some of the serious delusions being felt by psychiatric patients that’s fueled by all of the reality television we’re exposed to.  The Truman Show Delusion is where people think they are the stars of their own reality show; where everyone they encounter is an actor and that nothing is real.

I actually think I know some people who have this delusion!  

The article says that “the delusions are fueling a chicken-and-egg debate in psychiatry: Are these merely modern examples of classic paranoia fed by the current cultural landscape, or is there something about media like reality television and the Internet that can push people over the sanity line?”

Good question.  I think it’s a bit of both.  I do think that a lot of people I know *wish* they were on a reality television show at any given time - whether they wonder if they’re being punked or whether they’ll be discovered for the next American Idol while they’re singing karaoke. 

Anyway, I’m looking forward to what will hopefully be a low-tech Labor Day Weekend and wish you one as well!  Happy Labor Day.