posted
In another thread I started, someone said something about how it's probably only serious if I had hallucinations.
Now I want to know exactly what a hallucination is.
When I experienced what I think *might* be a hallucination, it was a little more than just imagining something. As soon as I saw it or thought I was about to see it I was overcome by emotion (fear, I guess).
It first happened after I think realized that I might have a phobia for subliminal messages (weird, huh?)
I first dicovered what they were when I saw an online flash movie that explained how subliminal messages were put in ads and movies. There was an example of one such ad. A picture of a woman on a swing flew by the screen at about the speed that you would flip through it in a magazine. It showed a still of the ad.
The woman had her two feet kicked out in front of her and one was curled behind the swing...three feet!?!? Your subconscious mind percieves this and so you remember the ad so that you might remember and buy the product. It also showed the word 'sex' appear for a second in a disney movie and a topless woman in the background of another.
For some reason this scared me. in the flash movie, there was also a an old song with a scream in it because a woman was supposedly being murdered during the recording and there was also a scene from a movie where you supposedly see the ghost of a boy in the background because there was a murder in the house where it was filmed. Maybe these latter two instilled the fear into me.
Well I thought it was neat at the time, also. It was friday. I printed a few ads with subliminal messages that I found online and put them in the drawer beside my bed to save to show my friends in school on monday.
Every night that weekend I would be in my room and feel terrified.
Even when I was little I was never afraid of anything under my bed, but I couldn't shake the feeling that a black and rotting hand would shoot out and grab my ankle (in a Stephen King book I was reading it said somthing like "some things there is just no explaining, such as a hand that reaches out during the middle of the night that strokes your ankle..." ; I had never had hallucinations(maybe?) until after the flash movie though.)
Also during that weekend, it seemed like there was something black growing in the drawer and sometimes I would have to open it in the middle of the night to assure myself there was nothing there (that's how minor characters in stories get themselves killed).
After the weekend things slowly got better. Then I listened to this thing on the internet that was supposedly heard in a deep underground shaft. It was on a radio recording and it was supposedly the sounds of hundreds of men and women screaming in pain and agony in hell.
I'm not sure if I believe it's hell but I'm agnostic on whether it was really recorded in a cave. If you IM I'll tell you where to find it online. Too scary to post here.
On top of this I also saw a scary painting online. There are pictures from different angles and lighting so it's even scarier. There's also a story along with it.
(I'll IM you that too. Real scary.)
Anywho, yesterday I was reading a scary book ('IT'). There's a bullied, fat little boy who has no friends, but he didn't know he was lonely. The narration went "A person born blind doesn't know he is blind until he is told." I realized that I'd never had any real friends until recently. I thought of how I was always picked on when I was younger.
For some reason this lead me to think about about the subliminal ads, and the screams in that shaft, and that painting.
I went to bed to think about all this. For a second, for a few moments, I thought I was actually seeing my closet door swing open and seeing some kind of black shadow inside. I know it sounds stupid and unimpressive but at the time I was horrified. I was looking at the ceiling, wide-eyed. I kept thinking I'd turn my head and see that inhuman little girl in the painting or something dead and rotting.
That's when I though I was hallucinating. It was really close to me actually thinking I was seeing it. Not quite though.
In retrospect, this all seems pretty stupid. But it took a long time to write so I'm posting it anyway. Please comment back.
Posts: 13 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Wow. You know, I'm not an expert, but I don't think those are "hallucinations" in the medical sense. It seems to me that all these different elements (the scary books, the subliminal messages, the painting, the screams) have really stimulated your imagination.
I think all these elements together have just really started to freak out. I don't think you were hallucinating, but rather you are just way freaked out about all this stuff you have read/seen.
Maybe you should avoid the scary stuff for awhile.
Well, I don't know if this helped at all, since I don't really know much about the subject.
Posts: 290 | Registered: Sep 2002
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"Maybe you should avoid the scary stuff for awhile."
The day that happened (yesterday) I started watching a flash called "Buddy Lee Staring Contest." It had a close-up of Buddy Lee's eyes for a while with nothing happening. (Buddy Lee's this weird doll)
After about 60 seconds, a gorey or evil looking thing will appear all of a sudden with a growling or scream. I know these types of flashes and it was inevitable it would happen.
I clicked 'back' after like 30 seconds. Got too nervous.
So I wonder if it's better to avoid these things than, like, confront them?
Posts: 13 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
You know the term "speak of the devil" well the whole thing i believe is something like "speak of the devil and he appears" know i dont know if i believe in that but its kept me from ever watching the exorcist. Too freaky for me and i dont think i would go to the links to those things you talked about even if you had put them.
Posts: 832 | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
In your other thread OSC gave you some great advise... find a creative outlet. He suggested writing. I suggest that you do something that involves other people too... join a community theatre play, or a book club or something. You are obviously going through some tough times right now and the best way to counter ballance this is to be active in healthy ways.
Posts: 104 | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
Subliminal messages doesn't work, many researches had proven that already, nothing which is under the threshold of perception reaches the mind. what can work are messages which are plain in sight (and not for a flick of a second) but the orient of attention isn't focused on them. About your problems it can be a first sign of schizofrenia (that's how it started with my sister, when irrational thoughts are believed to be completly rational, opening a door for more such thoughts) but also for a neuratic childish personality, you should see a proffesional either way and anti-anxiety medication can really help you along with therapy. The fear isn't the problem, many people have irrational fears even when they know their impossible (that's what scary movies count on) but the problem starts when you can't really be sure what is real and what is not, that is when you need to seek help to stop any disease that you may have before it becomes even worse and effect everyone around you.
Posts: 34 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
The first person who started that idea sometime in the 1950's was actually a PR guy who claimed to have putten subliminal messages for coca-cola in some movie, which ofcourse made everyone come to see that movie in the drive-in to prove they won't be effected, that guy admitted he made it up many years later and there never were any messages. non the less it started a vast amount of research on the subject. One of my proffesors (he's a cognitive psychologist) was paid a large amount of money to see if it can be done somehow by a private company, and eventhough he knew the literature (is that how you write it? english isn't my first language) he did a lot of research in the subject. He found only one article (out of thousands on the subject) who claimed to have some success but when he asked that researcher if he could have the experiment's data, the reseacher told him the data was flaued and he asked him not to mention him by name in any article he might write (and a researcher never gives up the oppritunaty to be cited). I could elaborate further if you like about the different theories which explaines why it won't work but that's probably not necassary (plus who has the strengh to look it up right now). So you have nothing to worry about, nothing anyone might plant in your music or walls or whatever can't make you do anything, let alone influence your sanity so at least that's one stone off your chest.
Edit: ARGH! that's the third time I edit this post and then see another spelling mistake! next time I use the spelling checker and\or read what I write before posting, I'm just really afraid my computer will crush any moment (a very rational fear for my computer) so I just post as fast as I can.
Posts: 34 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
While no expert, I did receive a Bachelor's degree in Psychology, and as a nurse, have dealt with the psychiatric population. I remember asking one of my psych professors about subliminal messages. He laughed, and said something to the effect that he stands in front of a room full of students and says things STRAIGHT OUT, loud and clear, writes it on the board, assigns reading, has the class take notes, and they still don't get it. How in the world could anyone think that a glimpse of something that doesn't even register on a consious level would make an impression.
Advice to you: avoid the "scary stuff" You seem to be seeking it out, and it is freaking you out. Not everyone can handle it. I know I can't. I never watch scary movies, because they make me too uneasy. I also don't read horror stories. I just can't sleep if I do. I am wary of any movie rated "R" -- the PG-13's are more my speed. So I'm a wimp. So what?
Most hallucinations associated with psychoses (like schizophrenia) are auditory hallucinations -- that is, hearing stuff that isn't there. Visual hallucinations are less common, but not unheard of. They figure more heavily on TV and the movies because it is easier to portray in a visual medium.
The movie "A Beautiful Mind" depicted John Nash's hallucinations to be largely visual, but, from what I understand, they were actually auditory hallucinations.
You seem to be describing an anxiety disorder, which can seem menacingly debilitating, but which is pretty treatable. I really recommend that you see a doctor about it. With treatment, you may find that you are happier.
posted
It was Penn Jillete who once said, "If backwards masking really worked, Ozzy Ozbourne would be Prime Minister of England."
Posts: 1894 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
Stay off the scary stuff seems like good advice. And just because you're not having hallucinations doesn't mean it's not serious. There are plenty of psychological disorders that do not involve hallucinations.
Posts: 34 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Having re-read that other thread (which is full of misinformation of what I would call "both types"-- long story), and read your post here, I have a suggestion: go see a doctor.
Explain your concerns. Tell him how worried you are about it. Preferably, go to someone who has known you a while and is somewhat familiar with psychological disorders and treatment. Get a referral to a psychologist if your doctor thinks you should.
Have an evaluation if your doctor thinks there might be anything to it. Put your mind at ease. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with you, but if there is, you will be able to treat it, and if there's not, you will be reassured.
posted
I know the movie you're talking about, with the woman with three legs. It kinda creeped me out, too. I think ketchupqueen gave you good advice.
That said, I'm reading 'IT' right now, also. And I'm pretty sure the book you mentioned ("a hand that reaches out during the middle of the night that strokes your ankle") is 'Pet Semetary.'
Posts: 161 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
You know that movie is about urban legends, and subliminal messages is only one section of it. It is pretty creepy and well made. The_Prisoner's first post creeped me out just reading it (especially the part about the screams in the mine).
Posts: 18 | Registered: Jul 2005
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At one part it slows down one part in this disnet movie about mice (adventurers down under i think) where they show in the background a topless woman.
What I thought was scary was that she looked maimed. You couldn't see her head hands or below the waist. Plus she was all red.
Posts: 13 | Registered: Jul 2005
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