November 20, 2025 • 23 mins
The mind can turn life into a thriller you never auditioned for. When every glance feels loaded and every piece of trash reads like a message, you are not weak; you are living with an alarm system stuck on high. We dig into how hypervigilance, trauma, and loneliness can make neutral moments feel like coordinated attacks, and why the brain stitches scattered discomforts into a single persecutory plot that feels unshakably true.
I walk through a simple lighthouse frame (Signal, Mirror, Sovereignty, and a Gritty Invitation) to map what it feels like from the inside, what your nervous system might be doing, and where your control actually lives. We talk neuroscience in plain English: a salience network that flags noise as danger, the role of chronic stress and sleep debt, and the sneaky ways diet, alcohol, and doomscrolling crank paranoia higher. Then we get practical. Instead of stockpiling “proof,” build one grounded relationship where you can test beliefs without shame. Tools like CBT for psychosis and worry-focused strategies help turn the volume down, not by forcing positivity, but by loosening the grip of constant threat scanning.
Let’s also name the identity twist: believing you’re the hunted can feel like power. Letting go can feel like loss. You can honor real pain and still question the story about why it hurts. Good therapists won’t tell you you’re wrong; they’ll help you gather evidence and cope either way. If there’s a plot, steadier skills help you face it. If there isn’t, you get your life back. Ready to trade late-night red string for one solid alliance offline? Hit play, subscribe, and share this with someone who might be quietly carrying the “everyone is against me” story; then leave a review with one question you’d bring to a first session.
“Loneliness Trajectories over Three Decades Are Associated with Conspiracist Worldviews in Midlife.” Nature Communications 15, no. 1 (2024): 3629. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47113-x.
“Posttraumatic Stress Disorder with Secondary Psychotic Features (PTSD-SP): Diagnostic and Treatment Challenges.” Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry 88 (2019): 265–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2018.08.001.
“Effects of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Worry on Persecutory Delusions in Patients with Psychosis (WIT): A Parallel, Single-Blind, Randomised Controlled Trial with a Mediation Analysis.” The Lancet Psychiatry 2, no. 4 (2015): 305–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(15)00039-5.
“Pathways from Trauma to Psychotic Experiences: A Theoretically Informed Model of Posttraumatic Stress in Psychosis.” Frontiers in Psychology 8 (2017): 697. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00697.
“Paranoid Beliefs and Conspiracy Mentality Are Associated with Different Forms of Mistrust: A Three-Nation Study.” Frontiers in Psychology 13 (2022): 1023366. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1023366.
“Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Psychosis: The End of the Line or Time for a New Approach?” Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice 97, no. 1 (2024): 4–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12498.
“Psychotic-like Experiences in the Lonely Predict Conspiratorial Beliefs and Are Associated with the Diet during COVID-19.” Frontiers in Nutrition 9 (2022): 1006043. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.1006043.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Interruption to t (00:07):
Interruption.
Daniel Boyd (00:09):
When the whole world feels like it is after
you.
Have you ever had a week so badthat you start wondering if the
universe puts your name on agroup chat?
Your boss is weird.
Your neighbor is weird.
The algorithm shows you adsthat feel a bit too on the nose.
And you are like, alright, whois running this simulation and
(00:33):
why do they hate me?
Now imagine that feeling neverturns off.
Not for a day.
Not even for a month.
For years.
That is what we are talkingabout today.
So why does this episode exist?
(00:54):
Well, first of all, heyeveryone.
Welcome back to the i4Lpodcast.
Uncomfortable wisdom,information, and insight for
your life.
My name is Daniel Boyd.
Today we are talking about thatfeeling that everyone is out to
get you.
Not the my boss is being a jerkthis week level.
(01:16):
I mean, the families, churches,coworkers, random strangers,
the entire world is part of onebig plot, level.
I am doing this episode for twogroups of people.
Number one, people who arealready living inside that
story.
Life feels like one longstalker movie.
(01:40):
Every beer can, every weirdlook, every awkward interaction,
every drawing is proof thatthere is a coordinated attack on
you.
And number two, the secondgroup, people who are not there,
but are closer than they think.
You've had some rough years.
(02:00):
You catch yourself saying,Well, of course that happened.
That's just what they do.
You start noticing how easy itis to blame whole groups.
Them, those people, they,everyone.
So let's get somethingstraight.
I am not here to mock anyone.
(02:21):
I am here because once yourbrain goes all in on the world
is after me mindset, it becomesvery hard to walk that back by
yourself.
And just to be clear, I am notyour therapist, and this podcast
is not your diagnosis.
I am a retired veteran and anex-rehabilitation counselor who
(02:46):
has sat with a lot of peoplewhose brains were doing this
exact dance.
We are going to talk about whatmight be happening under the
hood, what the research actuallysays about it, and what you can
actually do about it.
We are going to use thelighthouse frame.
Signal what this actually feelslike from the inside.
(03:09):
Mirror what your brain andnervous system might be doing.
Sovereignty.
What is in your control.
And finally, gritty invitation,the uncomfortable next step if
you recognize yourself.
Let us start with the signal.
(03:30):
Section one.
What it feels like wheneveryone is, quote, after you.
That is hypervigilance.
(03:59):
Psychologists describehypervigilance as a state of
constant, heightened alertness,where you are always watching,
always waiting for danger, evenwhen the environment is
technically safe.
It shows up like this.
You walk into work andinstantly clock every face,
(04:20):
every tone, every whisper.
You notice things other peopleignore, empty cans, trash in
certain spots, a weird drawingon the wall, a comment that
might be about you.
You replay conversations atnight.
Why did they say it that way?
Why do they look at me likethat?
(04:41):
You start interpreting normalmess as evidence.
They are trying to set me up.
They are all in on it.
If you have survived realtrauma, this is not random.
Trauma can push the brain intoa chronic survival state so that
(05:02):
the threat detection system islike a smoke alarm that goes off
when you make toast.
The science on PTSD orpost-traumatic stress syndrome
shows that some people do notjust get jumpy.
They develop paranoia or evenpsychotic-like experiences,
especially after severe loss oractual violence.
(05:25):
That can look like feelingwatched, feeling followed,
feeling like there are hiddenmessages everywhere, feeling
like they know where you are andwhat you are doing.
When it gets far enough,clinicians use words like
persecutory delusions, whichbasically means a strong belief
(05:48):
that people or groups are tryingto harm you even when there is
no real solid evidence.
An important point here thatbelief is not a character flaw.
It is not you are justdramatic.
It is a symptom pattern.
It is what happens when a brainthat is trying to protect you
(06:10):
starts overconnecting the dots.
Now layer loneliness andisolation on top of that.
Recent studies, which I'll listin the podcast text, have shown
that long-term loneliness islinked to developing a
conspiracy mindset.
People who feel alone and shutout are more likely to adopt
(06:34):
beliefs that say, the problem isnot me, the problem is a hidden
group that is doing this to me.
On paper, that sounds abstract.
In real life, it feels like, Iam not struggling because life
is hard right now, I amstruggling because they are
blocking me.
I am not alone becauserelationships are difficult.
(06:58):
I am alone because peoplecannot handle that I see the
truth.
That story protects your ego inthe short term.
It feels like armor, but armorgets heavy, and eventually it
becomes a coffin you builtyourself.
It keeps you stuck and moreisolated in the long term.
(07:21):
So the signal is I feel unsafeeverywhere.
I see proof of that storyeverywhere.
No one understands what ishappening to me.
If that feels familiar, staywith me.
I am not here to rip thatfeeling away from you.
(07:42):
I am here to hold up a mirror.
Section two.
What your brain might be doing.
So let's talk about brains fora minute.
Your brain has a threatdetection system.
Call it your internal securityguard.
(08:03):
In a healthy state, that guardsays things like, There's a car
coming, step back.
That guy is yelling, maybecross the street.
Ooh, I smell smoke.
Let's check the oven.
When you have repeated orintense trauma, chronic stress,
or a history of being hurt bypeople, that guard gets promoted
(08:26):
to paranoid mole cop.
It starts seeing danger ineverything.
Neuroscience work on PTSD showsthat the brain can get stuck in
a chronic fight or flight statewhere neutral faces and
environments are tagged asdangerous.
Your salience network, or thepart of you that decides what's
(08:48):
important, starts lighting upfor things that would not bother
other people.
There's even emerging data thatpeople deep in psychotic-like
experiences during lonelyperiods eat significantly less
fruit and iron and more fat.
Your brain literally starvesfor the building blocks it needs
to reality check itself whileyou're marinating in paranoia.
(09:11):
Not cause, not cure, butanother lever your body is
begging you to pull.
So, a random beer can near yourworkplace is just trash to most
people.
To a hyper-vigilant brain, itis a planted clue, a message
that they are framing you.
(09:32):
A weird anime drawing tossednear your garden is just
vandalism or edgy teenagers.
To a hyper-vigilant brain, itis proof that someone is trying
to smear you as a pervert.
A coworker asking, Have youbeen drinking?
is annoying.
But to a hyper-vigilant brain,it is the opening move in a plot
(09:56):
to destroy your job.
Once that script gets rolling,the brain does what brains do.
It starts writing content.
This is where conspiracies andpersecution stories come in.
Research has found that peoplewho endorse conspiracy beliefs
(10:17):
tend to have higher levels ofdistress, weaker social
networks, more difficultchildhood experiences, and more
symptoms of anxiety ordepression.
Other studies show thatparanoia and conspiracy
mentality share a common root inmistrust, especially mistrust
of other people.
(10:37):
So if your nervous system is inpermanent do not trust anyone
mode, your brain starts tryingto explain why that is.
It rarely says, Well, because Iam traumatized and my threat
system is overactive.
Your brain instead says,because there is a group, a
(10:58):
cult, an inbred family, areligion, a secret society.
Because they are targeting me.
They know who I am.
That story does somethingimportant for your ego.
If everything is a plot, youare not failing.
You are a victim, or even ahero.
(11:18):
I am not lonely because I pushpeople away.
I am lonely because peoplecannot handle my truth.
I am not struggling at workbecause I show up late and snap
at people.
I am struggling because theyare secretly building a case
against me.
This is not consciousmanipulation.
You're not doing it on purpose.
(11:40):
Most of the time, it is simplya terrified brain trying to make
sense of pain.
So here is the mirror I want tooffer.
If you notice that yourexplanations for life have
shifted from my boss is a jerk,to my boss, my coworkers,
Catholics, my neighbors, wholefamilies, random strangers, and
(12:03):
probably the federal governmentare all in on it together, then
your problem might not beevidence.
Your problem might be an alarmsystem that is stuck on
everything is meaningful andeverything is dangerous.
That again is not your fault,but it is your responsibility,
(12:26):
which brings us to sovereignty.
Section three, sovereignty.
What is actually in yourcontrol?
Once you see this pattern, thequestion becomes okay, so what
can I actually do about it?
Well, let's start with whatdoes not work.
(12:49):
Arguing with strangers onlineabout every detail, spending
hours collecting more proof thateveryone is against you.
Escalating fights with entiregroups or religions that are
mostly just flawed humans tryingto survive just like you.
That stuff feels active.
It scratches the itch to dosomething.
(13:12):
It usually makes things worse.
The thing that actually helpsis boring and to be brutally
honest, not very viral.
It looks like building oneneutral, grounded human
connection where you can realitycheck your experience.
That could be a good therapist,it could be a solid doctor, it
(13:37):
could be a support group thatactually talks about symptoms
instead of feeding each other'snew conspiracies.
On the clinical side, there isa whole field called cognitive
behavioral therapy forpsychosis, CBTP for short.
It is a therapy approach thathelps people who have
hallucinations or persecutorybeliefs function better by
(14:01):
testing thoughts gently andreducing the distress around
them.
There is also strong evidencethat working specifically on
worry can reduce persecutorydelusions.
There's a brutal little studywhere they took people with
full-blown persecutory delusionsand taught them, basically, to
worry less.
(14:22):
Not think positive, just worryless.
And the delusions droppedsignificantly.
The brain is that plastic, evenwhen it's convinced the CIA is
in the walls.
You do not have to remember theacronyms.
The point is that professionalsare not just out here throwing
(14:45):
pills at people.
There are structured tools thatcan help.
Turn the volume down onconstant threat scanning, test
beliefs gently.
For example, is there anotherexplanation?
They can help you build copingskills so you are not white
knuckling through every day.
And hey, if the word psychosisfreaks you out, you don't have
(15:07):
to use it.
You can just say, hey, my brainis connecting dots in ways that
are scaring me.
I need help sorting what isreal from what is my nervous
system.
You have sovereignty in somekey places.
You can choose to talk tosomeone neutral, not your
family, not co-workers, not yourfriends, someone whose only job
(15:30):
is to help untangle yourexperience.
You can choose to track yourpatterns.
If you notice that every timesomething bad happens, your
first explanation is they aredoing this on purpose.
That is data.
You can start asking, what arethree other possible
explanations?
You can choose what you feedyour brain.
(15:54):
If most of your day is spentwatching videos and reading
posts that say everything iscorrupt, everyone is out to get
you, you are marinating yournervous system in fear.
Reducing that input even alittle bit can help a lot.
You can choose to take yourbody seriously.
Sleep, blood sugar, andsubstances like alcohol can turn
(16:18):
the volume up or down on howparanoid you feel.
I have seen people who areconvicted that the government
was watching them mellow outafter they slept and sobered up.
Still stressed, sure, butdefinitely less certain that the
neighbor was an informant.
None of that fixes childhood oradult trauma, or unfair
(16:39):
treatment, or real corruption inthe world.
But it does give you a fightingchance to respond as a person
and not as a raw nerve.
Section 4.
Gritty invitation.
Here is the part that mightsting a little.
(17:00):
If you recognize yourself inthis episode, you have a choice.
You can double down on thestory.
This guy is part of it.
He is minimizing what isactually happening.
He is one of them.
Or, hey, you can try somethingvery, very uncomfortable.
You can consider that your painis real, your fear is real, and
(17:24):
your brain might still begetting some things wrong about
why.
You can ask yourself, when didI start feeling like the whole
world was after me?
What was happening in my lifeat that time?
Who hurt me that I have neveractually grieved or processed?
When was the last time someoneneutral heard my story start to
(17:49):
finish and helped me sort factsfrom meaning?
Because here is the quiettruth.
Believing there is a huge plotagainst you can absolutely feel
powerful.
You are the main character.
You are the one that sees whatno one else sees.
(18:10):
You are the survivor.
Letting go of that story, evena little bit, can feel like
losing identity.
If it is not a cult, then maybeit's just random humans making
mistakes.
If it is not a coordinatedstalker cult running psyops from
Applebee's, maybe it's just amessy life, plus a brain that's
(18:33):
been on fire so long it forgotwhat cool feels like.
If it's not everyone, maybe itis a few hurtful people.
And I do not have to make thewhole world pay for what they
did.
That is a hard downgrade forthe ego.
Which is why I am not sayingjust stop.
(18:59):
I am saying you do not have tocarry this alone.
So here is the grittyinvitation.
If this episode hit you in away you did not expect, talk to
your doctor and be honest abouthow much you feel watched or
targeted.
Ask for a referral to atherapist who has experience
(19:22):
with trauma and psychosis, notjust stress.
If you are a friend or apartner of someone who lives in
this headspace, stop playingalong with conspiracies to keep
the peace.
Set a boundary and say, hey, Icare about you and I think your
brain is hurting.
I will support you in gettinghelp.
(19:43):
You are not weak if you dothis.
You are not broken.
You are simply a human beingwhose alarm system has been
stuck on maximum for too long.
You deserve a life where youcan sit in a garden or walk into
(20:05):
work or open an app and notfeel like the entire planet is
working against you.
The first step is not provingthem wrong.
The first step is being willingto question whether your brain
might be doing its own kind ofworld building.
And if you are thinking, okay,but what if there really is a
(20:30):
plot?
Hey, that is fine.
Good therapists do notautomatically tell you you are
wrong.
They help you gather evidenceand cope either way.
If it is real, hey, you'll bebetter equipped.
If it is not real, you get yourlife back.
And yeah, some conspiraciesturn out true.
(20:51):
MK Ultra, Tuskegee, CatholicChurch cover-ups.
The difference is scale andevidence.
When the story becomes everysingle person who ever slighted
me is in the same Discordserver, you've left reality and
entered pain management.
Either way, you win more bygetting support than by staying
(21:13):
alone with your detective boardof red string at 3 a.m.
So, if the whole world feelslike it is after you, that is
your signal.
Your mirror is that yournervous system and your past
might be editing the movie morethan you think.
(21:33):
Your sovereignty is in who youlet into that editing room.
And the gritty invitation is tostop fighting strangers on the
internet and start building onesolid offline alliance that can
help you feel safe in your ownskin again.
If this resonated with you, donot tag the person in your life
(21:58):
who is the deepest in it.
Just share it out and let itfind who it needs to find.
And tell other people who mightbe quietly sitting with that
everyone is against me story,that it might not be the curse
they think it is.
It might just be a very scaredbrain asking for help.
Thanks for listening.
(22:21):
I'm Dan.
This is the I4ALL podcast, andI will see you next time.
Interruption.
Daniel Boyd (00:09):
When the whole world feels like it is after
you.
Have you ever had a week so badthat you start wondering if the
universe puts your name on agroup chat?
Your boss is weird.
Your neighbor is weird.
The algorithm shows you adsthat feel a bit too on the nose.
And you are like, alright, whois running this simulation and
(00:33):
why do they hate me?
Now imagine that feeling neverturns off.
Not for a day.
Not even for a month.
For years.
That is what we are talkingabout today.
So why does this episode exist?
(00:54):
Well, first of all, heyeveryone.
Welcome back to the i4Lpodcast.
Uncomfortable wisdom,information, and insight for
your life.
My name is Daniel Boyd.
Today we are talking about thatfeeling that everyone is out to
get you.
Not the my boss is being a jerkthis week level.
(01:16):
I mean, the families, churches,coworkers, random strangers,
the entire world is part of onebig plot, level.
I am doing this episode for twogroups of people.
Number one, people who arealready living inside that
story.
Life feels like one longstalker movie.
(01:40):
Every beer can, every weirdlook, every awkward interaction,
every drawing is proof thatthere is a coordinated attack on
you.
And number two, the secondgroup, people who are not there,
but are closer than they think.
You've had some rough years.
(02:00):
You catch yourself saying,Well, of course that happened.
That's just what they do.
You start noticing how easy itis to blame whole groups.
Them, those people, they,everyone.
So let's get somethingstraight.
I am not here to mock anyone.
(02:21):
I am here because once yourbrain goes all in on the world
is after me mindset, it becomesvery hard to walk that back by
yourself.
And just to be clear, I am notyour therapist, and this podcast
is not your diagnosis.
I am a retired veteran and anex-rehabilitation counselor who
(02:46):
has sat with a lot of peoplewhose brains were doing this
exact dance.
We are going to talk about whatmight be happening under the
hood, what the research actuallysays about it, and what you can
actually do about it.
We are going to use thelighthouse frame.
Signal what this actually feelslike from the inside.
(03:09):
Mirror what your brain andnervous system might be doing.
Sovereignty.
What is in your control.
And finally, gritty invitation,the uncomfortable next step if
you recognize yourself.
Let us start with the signal.
(03:30):
Section one.
What it feels like wheneveryone is, quote, after you.
That is hypervigilance.
(03:59):
Psychologists describehypervigilance as a state of
constant, heightened alertness,where you are always watching,
always waiting for danger, evenwhen the environment is
technically safe.
It shows up like this.
You walk into work andinstantly clock every face,
(04:20):
every tone, every whisper.
You notice things other peopleignore, empty cans, trash in
certain spots, a weird drawingon the wall, a comment that
might be about you.
You replay conversations atnight.
Why did they say it that way?
Why do they look at me likethat?
(04:41):
You start interpreting normalmess as evidence.
They are trying to set me up.
They are all in on it.
If you have survived realtrauma, this is not random.
Trauma can push the brain intoa chronic survival state so that
(05:02):
the threat detection system islike a smoke alarm that goes off
when you make toast.
The science on PTSD orpost-traumatic stress syndrome
shows that some people do notjust get jumpy.
They develop paranoia or evenpsychotic-like experiences,
especially after severe loss oractual violence.
(05:25):
That can look like feelingwatched, feeling followed,
feeling like there are hiddenmessages everywhere, feeling
like they know where you are andwhat you are doing.
When it gets far enough,clinicians use words like
persecutory delusions, whichbasically means a strong belief
(05:48):
that people or groups are tryingto harm you even when there is
no real solid evidence.
An important point here thatbelief is not a character flaw.
It is not you are justdramatic.
It is a symptom pattern.
It is what happens when a brainthat is trying to protect you
(06:10):
starts overconnecting the dots.
Now layer loneliness andisolation on top of that.
Recent studies, which I'll listin the podcast text, have shown
that long-term loneliness islinked to developing a
conspiracy mindset.
People who feel alone and shutout are more likely to adopt
(06:34):
beliefs that say, the problem isnot me, the problem is a hidden
group that is doing this to me.
On paper, that sounds abstract.
In real life, it feels like, Iam not struggling because life
is hard right now, I amstruggling because they are
blocking me.
I am not alone becauserelationships are difficult.
(06:58):
I am alone because peoplecannot handle that I see the
truth.
That story protects your ego inthe short term.
It feels like armor, but armorgets heavy, and eventually it
becomes a coffin you builtyourself.
It keeps you stuck and moreisolated in the long term.
(07:21):
So the signal is I feel unsafeeverywhere.
I see proof of that storyeverywhere.
No one understands what ishappening to me.
If that feels familiar, staywith me.
I am not here to rip thatfeeling away from you.
(07:42):
I am here to hold up a mirror.
Section two.
What your brain might be doing.
So let's talk about brains fora minute.
Your brain has a threatdetection system.
Call it your internal securityguard.
(08:03):
In a healthy state, that guardsays things like, There's a car
coming, step back.
That guy is yelling, maybecross the street.
Ooh, I smell smoke.
Let's check the oven.
When you have repeated orintense trauma, chronic stress,
or a history of being hurt bypeople, that guard gets promoted
(08:26):
to paranoid mole cop.
It starts seeing danger ineverything.
Neuroscience work on PTSD showsthat the brain can get stuck in
a chronic fight or flight statewhere neutral faces and
environments are tagged asdangerous.
Your salience network, or thepart of you that decides what's
(08:48):
important, starts lighting upfor things that would not bother
other people.
There's even emerging data thatpeople deep in psychotic-like
experiences during lonelyperiods eat significantly less
fruit and iron and more fat.
Your brain literally starvesfor the building blocks it needs
to reality check itself whileyou're marinating in paranoia.
(09:11):
Not cause, not cure, butanother lever your body is
begging you to pull.
So, a random beer can near yourworkplace is just trash to most
people.
To a hyper-vigilant brain, itis a planted clue, a message
that they are framing you.
(09:32):
A weird anime drawing tossednear your garden is just
vandalism or edgy teenagers.
To a hyper-vigilant brain, itis proof that someone is trying
to smear you as a pervert.
A coworker asking, Have youbeen drinking?
is annoying.
But to a hyper-vigilant brain,it is the opening move in a plot
(09:56):
to destroy your job.
Once that script gets rolling,the brain does what brains do.
It starts writing content.
This is where conspiracies andpersecution stories come in.
Research has found that peoplewho endorse conspiracy beliefs
(10:17):
tend to have higher levels ofdistress, weaker social
networks, more difficultchildhood experiences, and more
symptoms of anxiety ordepression.
Other studies show thatparanoia and conspiracy
mentality share a common root inmistrust, especially mistrust
of other people.
(10:37):
So if your nervous system is inpermanent do not trust anyone
mode, your brain starts tryingto explain why that is.
It rarely says, Well, because Iam traumatized and my threat
system is overactive.
Your brain instead says,because there is a group, a
(10:58):
cult, an inbred family, areligion, a secret society.
Because they are targeting me.
They know who I am.
That story does somethingimportant for your ego.
If everything is a plot, youare not failing.
You are a victim, or even ahero.
(11:18):
I am not lonely because I pushpeople away.
I am lonely because peoplecannot handle my truth.
I am not struggling at workbecause I show up late and snap
at people.
I am struggling because theyare secretly building a case
against me.
This is not consciousmanipulation.
You're not doing it on purpose.
(11:40):
Most of the time, it is simplya terrified brain trying to make
sense of pain.
So here is the mirror I want tooffer.
If you notice that yourexplanations for life have
shifted from my boss is a jerk,to my boss, my coworkers,
Catholics, my neighbors, wholefamilies, random strangers, and
(12:03):
probably the federal governmentare all in on it together, then
your problem might not beevidence.
Your problem might be an alarmsystem that is stuck on
everything is meaningful andeverything is dangerous.
That again is not your fault,but it is your responsibility,
(12:26):
which brings us to sovereignty.
Section three, sovereignty.
What is actually in yourcontrol?
Once you see this pattern, thequestion becomes okay, so what
can I actually do about it?
Well, let's start with whatdoes not work.
(12:49):
Arguing with strangers onlineabout every detail, spending
hours collecting more proof thateveryone is against you.
Escalating fights with entiregroups or religions that are
mostly just flawed humans tryingto survive just like you.
That stuff feels active.
It scratches the itch to dosomething.
(13:12):
It usually makes things worse.
The thing that actually helpsis boring and to be brutally
honest, not very viral.
It looks like building oneneutral, grounded human
connection where you can realitycheck your experience.
That could be a good therapist,it could be a solid doctor, it
(13:37):
could be a support group thatactually talks about symptoms
instead of feeding each other'snew conspiracies.
On the clinical side, there isa whole field called cognitive
behavioral therapy forpsychosis, CBTP for short.
It is a therapy approach thathelps people who have
hallucinations or persecutorybeliefs function better by
(14:01):
testing thoughts gently andreducing the distress around
them.
There is also strong evidencethat working specifically on
worry can reduce persecutorydelusions.
There's a brutal little studywhere they took people with
full-blown persecutory delusionsand taught them, basically, to
worry less.
(14:22):
Not think positive, just worryless.
And the delusions droppedsignificantly.
The brain is that plastic, evenwhen it's convinced the CIA is
in the walls.
You do not have to remember theacronyms.
The point is that professionalsare not just out here throwing
(14:45):
pills at people.
There are structured tools thatcan help.
Turn the volume down onconstant threat scanning, test
beliefs gently.
For example, is there anotherexplanation?
They can help you build copingskills so you are not white
knuckling through every day.
And hey, if the word psychosisfreaks you out, you don't have
(15:07):
to use it.
You can just say, hey, my brainis connecting dots in ways that
are scaring me.
I need help sorting what isreal from what is my nervous
system.
You have sovereignty in somekey places.
You can choose to talk tosomeone neutral, not your
family, not co-workers, not yourfriends, someone whose only job
(15:30):
is to help untangle yourexperience.
You can choose to track yourpatterns.
If you notice that every timesomething bad happens, your
first explanation is they aredoing this on purpose.
That is data.
You can start asking, what arethree other possible
explanations?
You can choose what you feedyour brain.
(15:54):
If most of your day is spentwatching videos and reading
posts that say everything iscorrupt, everyone is out to get
you, you are marinating yournervous system in fear.
Reducing that input even alittle bit can help a lot.
You can choose to take yourbody seriously.
Sleep, blood sugar, andsubstances like alcohol can turn
(16:18):
the volume up or down on howparanoid you feel.
I have seen people who areconvicted that the government
was watching them mellow outafter they slept and sobered up.
Still stressed, sure, butdefinitely less certain that the
neighbor was an informant.
None of that fixes childhood oradult trauma, or unfair
(16:39):
treatment, or real corruption inthe world.
But it does give you a fightingchance to respond as a person
and not as a raw nerve.
Section 4.
Gritty invitation.
Here is the part that mightsting a little.
(17:00):
If you recognize yourself inthis episode, you have a choice.
You can double down on thestory.
This guy is part of it.
He is minimizing what isactually happening.
He is one of them.
Or, hey, you can try somethingvery, very uncomfortable.
You can consider that your painis real, your fear is real, and
(17:24):
your brain might still begetting some things wrong about
why.
You can ask yourself, when didI start feeling like the whole
world was after me?
What was happening in my lifeat that time?
Who hurt me that I have neveractually grieved or processed?
When was the last time someoneneutral heard my story start to
(17:49):
finish and helped me sort factsfrom meaning?
Because here is the quiettruth.
Believing there is a huge plotagainst you can absolutely feel
powerful.
You are the main character.
You are the one that sees whatno one else sees.
(18:10):
You are the survivor.
Letting go of that story, evena little bit, can feel like
losing identity.
If it is not a cult, then maybeit's just random humans making
mistakes.
If it is not a coordinatedstalker cult running psyops from
Applebee's, maybe it's just amessy life, plus a brain that's
(18:33):
been on fire so long it forgotwhat cool feels like.
If it's not everyone, maybe itis a few hurtful people.
And I do not have to make thewhole world pay for what they
did.
That is a hard downgrade forthe ego.
Which is why I am not sayingjust stop.
(18:59):
I am saying you do not have tocarry this alone.
So here is the grittyinvitation.
If this episode hit you in away you did not expect, talk to
your doctor and be honest abouthow much you feel watched or
targeted.
Ask for a referral to atherapist who has experience
(19:22):
with trauma and psychosis, notjust stress.
If you are a friend or apartner of someone who lives in
this headspace, stop playingalong with conspiracies to keep
the peace.
Set a boundary and say, hey, Icare about you and I think your
brain is hurting.
I will support you in gettinghelp.
(19:43):
You are not weak if you dothis.
You are not broken.
You are simply a human beingwhose alarm system has been
stuck on maximum for too long.
You deserve a life where youcan sit in a garden or walk into
(20:05):
work or open an app and notfeel like the entire planet is
working against you.
The first step is not provingthem wrong.
The first step is being willingto question whether your brain
might be doing its own kind ofworld building.
And if you are thinking, okay,but what if there really is a
(20:30):
plot?
Hey, that is fine.
Good therapists do notautomatically tell you you are
wrong.
They help you gather evidenceand cope either way.
If it is real, hey, you'll bebetter equipped.
If it is not real, you get yourlife back.
And yeah, some conspiraciesturn out true.
(20:51):
MK Ultra, Tuskegee, CatholicChurch cover-ups.
The difference is scale andevidence.
When the story becomes everysingle person who ever slighted
me is in the same Discordserver, you've left reality and
entered pain management.
Either way, you win more bygetting support than by staying
(21:13):
alone with your detective boardof red string at 3 a.m.
So, if the whole world feelslike it is after you, that is
your signal.
Your mirror is that yournervous system and your past
might be editing the movie morethan you think.
(21:33):
Your sovereignty is in who youlet into that editing room.
And the gritty invitation is tostop fighting strangers on the
internet and start building onesolid offline alliance that can
help you feel safe in your ownskin again.
If this resonated with you, donot tag the person in your life
(21:58):
who is the deepest in it.
Just share it out and let itfind who it needs to find.
And tell other people who mightbe quietly sitting with that
everyone is against me story,that it might not be the curse
they think it is.
It might just be a very scaredbrain asking for help.
Thanks for listening.
(22:21):
I'm Dan.
This is the I4ALL podcast, andI will see you next time.
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