Are delusions bad if they keep you happy?

Answer 1

I think everyone has certain illusions or delusions, and I sure hope they keep everyone happy! I don't know about "bad" but some delusions can have some unfortunate side-effects.

For example, what if the belief conflicts with what the individual observes in the real world on a regular basis. She would have to work hard on a regular basis to maintain the delusion! And...if she is successful, the brain is likely to suffer from "cognitive dissonance," which is a fancy word for having two unresolved conflicting concepts in your brain. Cognitive dissonance can produce a kind of unaccountable feeling of anxiety. Unaccountable, because the issue has been shoved into some corner of the mind, and the person refuses to think about it. Too much of this kind of delusion can put you on the road to being "out of touch with reality," which is another way of saying "crazy."

But moderation in all things, right? A little delusion, such as "my cat loves me," if it brings you a lot of happiness, couldn't be such a bad thing!

Answer 2

Some people believe life is made up of people living out their own individual delusions, there understandings of the way the world is. Reality is merely a confluence of these delusions, they say.
I guess the point is, as long as your delusion does not interfere with living and does not cause you problems or advocate strange behavior that could be harmful to yourself or others, nobody will really bother you and you will not be bothered. If you start thinking that you should follow someone, even if you know them, because that was the person picked by Isis as your soulmate and you will be the parent of the next god and ruler of all of earth, then you better get help. Or, if you find yourself making poor decisions, like not applying for a job because they ran out of applications on the application shelf, look for help.

Answer 3

yeah if you don't want to face reality, but to some degree it does help a person who has been so devistated, from a experinance normaly would kill them selves or others before they face the pain of reality, actually delusion is not un- common, it is called denial, people use it to not act out on the pain, addicts have been doing for years, and many many many people who are not addicts do it, unconsciously think of people who have fallen victim to rape abandonment plane crashes adultery molested by parents, Now just look at 911 new york was hit several times and the pentagon and 1000,s of people lost their lives now according to some people we should not be at war, well to me that's a delusion!


why i say this because when i was growing up and if someone strucked me my parents taught me to hit back, and a fight is never fair so don't try and be fair let them know you mean business !

Answer 4

I'm wondering if we're getting confused between the meanings of fantasy and delusion. My dictionary defines delusion as an inability to distinguish between what is real and what only seems to be real, often as the result of a disordered state of mind. That sounds to me like a form of mental illness. A fantasy life, in my own opinion, would be something we recognize as being only in our imagination and not something that is real. So, I think being delusional would not be a good thing.

Answer 5

I suppose not if they bring you some sort of happiness. In my opinion, it becomes a problem when you can't distinguish delusions from reality. Someone who relies too heavily on delusions could miss out on real life.

Answer 6

Not in the long haul of life, but in some childhood settings it can protect the child from the reality of bad situations until they get old enough emotionally to handle what happened.

I did this, but unfortunately my walls built (fantasy) as a child for self protection were so tall i wasn't even aware of them until I turned 59 years old and only because of a rare occurance that provided the code to my past, then the truth drove me mental for 5 years, getting much better now and facing the truth as an adult, trying to not look back.

Answer 7

In a general sense yes because your happiness is not reality based and will be fragile because of it.
This might lead to the position of going to bizarre lengths to protect your delusional system when direct evidence contradicts it.

Note that happiness is not a place you can get to, and it is not something you can put into a shopping bag. It is better to think of it as an indicator of direction and speed of improvement in your life.

Answer 8

If you can avoid reality for let's say...the rest of your life...then delusions aren't bad. But unless you manufacture your own LSD I believe you will have some difficulty keeping reality at bay. If coping with reality is not easy for you, psycho therapy has great potential in helping you, trust me.

Answer 9

Yes, most definitely, they are the worst.

Happiness should not depend on ignorance.

At best, you are happy at the expense of others.

At worst, you can endanger the lives of yourself and your loved ones.

If you are referring to someones Else's 'delusions', however, then you are in the unfortunate position of deciding what is "real" for them and no one can proclaim themselves as the one and only person to "know" whats "really" going on, our perceptions and experiences differ, sometimes drastically.

Answer 10

yes because then you are only happy in an imaginary state of mind and when you return to reality i am assuming you are still unhappy.
in which case you should stop being so delusional and try to make peace with reality to find some actual happiness.