Is there way to de-program the religiously insane?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

My boyfriend and his family are freaking out over his sister who has gone off the deep-end since the election. I thought it was kind of funny at first but not any more.

She thinks Obama is the anti-christ - and she's fucking serious.

She's your typical Fox News viewer - thinks Democrats are socialists and communists bla bla bla.....but she never has gone too far with the religious thing. She has been spending more and more time in the church in the last few years but we never thought too much about it.....

Until recently. Last week she asked her mother if she would please start attending church with her. When her mon said no, she said "will you attend after Obama gets assassinated and rises from the dead"?

It sent a chill up my spine for two reasons:

1. How can someone so seemingly normal turn so fast?

2. If it really DID happen, I would have to make a fucking bee-line to the nearest church. I always told my mom to pray for me - just in case.

The only thing we can think of is some sort of intervention with her family and some of her church friends. Of course, who knows how far gone her church friends are? My boyfriend has attended the church with her as sort of a drag-a-long and doesn't think the church is THAT wacko so we are not sure where this shit is coming from.

[niyad]

1. I would ask her, "if he is going to rise from the dead anyway, why bother with the dead thing?"

seems a little pointless, doesn't it?

oh wait, that thought involves a certain amount of rationality, doesn't it?

[T Wolf]

2. Like all brainwashing, you must break them down first. I think nailing them to a crescent

would work wonders. After they go insane, you can reprogram what's left of their brain to approximate human behavior.

May be a bit harsh, but what's the worst that could happen? No pain, no gain.

[GreenEyedLefty]

3. Sadly, I don't think so.

I don't think it's the religion so much as bona fide mental illness. Religion seems to enable that kind of paranoia. I'm sad for your BF's sister.

[surrealAmerican]

14. I'd have to agree with you there. This sounds a lot more ...

... like mental illness than religious "programming". She needs help.

[spoony]

4. I use "why?" a lot

Because, of course, there's no GOOD reason for what they think, so if they bother answering it has to be based on something erroneous that can be the next topic. (It's usually not a church as far as their official stances, often large-mouthed members are a source, the kind that send out those crazy emails). A friend calls it a dolphin approach, sort of a gentle nudging, because if they get defensive they just dig in and won't think at all.

[LeftinOH]

5. Her choice of church sounds like a key component. The focus and "mood" of a congregation

can change quickly, depending on the current minister and the influence of a few *key* parishioners.

[Wildewolfe]

6. Most intense irrational belief systems

eventually break down on their own as the systems become internally inconsistant. The problem is where will she go from there. There is a tendancy to go from one wacko framework to another one ad nauseum.

The best advise I can think of is most likely "this too shall pass".

[tulsakatz]

7. if there were, wouldn't someone have tried it by now?

Seriously though.......I would guess it's probably a direct result of watching Faux News. True, there may be some influence from the church but even the church may not be trying to sell the socialist BS

Good luck with that! An intervention is probably the best choice. Maybe if she hears some logical views from people she respects, that might carry more weight especially if she hears it from several people at the same time.

[PinkoDonkey]

8. Could be a real problem?

Quick changes in people's behavior like that usually isn't a good sign for their overall mental health. If you know any social workers, therapists, and the like they might be able to help determine if your bf's sister is having any actual mental health problems or not. I'm not trying to say anything glib about conservatives or the religious being crazy (just look at our wonderful President-Elect for an example of someone with both faith and sanity). I'm no expert in mental health, but fortunately others are and might be able to provide some guidance. Best of luck.

[Burma Jones]

9. Martyrdom

[glowing]

10. I don't know... I was speaking with someone this morning...

He said, "normally, when Dems Presidents are elected the stock market increases, yesterday, it plummeted". I told him, "Henry Paulson was speaking yesterday, and the stocks started plummeting as he was speaking, and then just nose-dived.. today, they will come back up... But you have to realize, that we are in serious economic decline. People are losing jobs, homes, and are going bankrupt. This in turn effects the stock market because people are defaulting all over the place and there are no "bubbles" to break off this turn. The only way to do this is start making "new" jobs; like green jobs, building infrastructure, etc." He then said, "who is Paulson? AND then said, the real reason why the market was going down was because Obama is a socialist." I told him, "no, he's not, I wish he was more of a socialist, but he's not". Then he told me socialism would tell me where to live and how to live... I had to explain that communism is NOT socialism.

Essentially, this idiot is walking around, listening to some kind of info that is wrong, and refuses to educate himself at all. I believe he was a bit taken back by the fact that I am well informed on politics and socio-economic models. I think he thought he could throw around words and use his side of the counter to tell off some "girl" who was "beneath" him. Essentially, it embarrassed him in front of other people who were nodding in agreement.. didn't hurt that some of the other's in the room were from Europe and weren't so stupid or silly and were on vacation for 5 weeks because they were lucky enough NOT to live in the USA.

[Fumesucker]

11. It's not possible to reason someone out of something..

They never reasoned themselves into in the first place.

[Crankie Avalon]

12. I don't know, but reasoning with someone who is being that irrational...

...seems to just harden them in their position. They cling with a siege/bunker metality when you show the logical flaws in what they are believing. They come back to reality in their own good time rather than under direct pressure from one person's argument.

[Warpy]

13. It sounds like a mental health issue to me

and as much as the freakshow religious right has tried to normalize it, it's a hallmark of insanity to sink into a fantasy world and restrict the intrusion of the outside world to things that the person thinks legitimize the fantasy.

You can try an intervention to get her to agree to a psychiatric evaluation, but it's probably not going to work. Another hallmark of mental illness is that they think they're sane and the rest of us are crazy. If her church isn't really that crazy, you might be able to involve her pastor in that intervention.

The only other thing I can suggest is just taking one step back, allowing her to be as crazy as she wants to be, and being there to help her pick up the pieces when her fantasy world finally shatters--and it will.

Good luck to all of you. God crazy is the worst kind of crazy there is.

[hfojvt]

15. be aware of one of the bases

According to the book of Revelation, the anti-christ will be badly injured, presumed dead, and will make a miraculous recovery. I am not gonna look up the verse, but that is the source of her "Obama assassinated and rises from the dead" nonsense.

I think she is probably getting it from "Left Behind" books and movies. If a person with other problems, dissatisfactions, lonliness, etc. gets into a group that takes that sort of thing literally, it is easy to get swept up in it. It becomes a framework for making sense of a confusing/scary world and also ties you to a group support network. You are in the group because you believe what the group does. You belong, and you make/have friends in the group.

As far as breaking free, I think she needs to be directed to a less bizarre support group. If she got a boyfriend who perhaps went to a more traditional church. If she got a dog or cat that she could obsess over and which would provide emotional support. If she became involved in work or volunteer activities, she would find other support groups.

If things get better under Obama, it may be harder to maintain the Obama-AC framework, but they never really eased up on Clinton did they?