Jim Carrey might have played the fool in more movies than we care to count, but his performance in The Truman Show is one for the ages.

You’re surely familiar with the plot on that one, so need to delve into too much explanation.

What you might not be familiar with are “Truman Show delusions” (TSD), something Dr. Joel Gold has come across a number of times in his line of work. He has actually penned a book with brother Ian documenting these and other delusions, Suspicious Minds: How Culture Shapes Madness.

Of course in this day and age, with CCTV footage monitoring our every move and Facebook the home of the overshare, such delusions are becoming increasingly common.

Here’s VICE:

…the reference to the Truman Show works for the Gold brothers: It allows patients to easily explain their delusions to their psychiatrist. “People who have it resonate with it,” says Ian. “They often say it’s a relief to know that this is a real phenomenon, and they’re not alone”…

Kevin Hall [pictured below], a patient of the Gold brothers, was the only person happy to have his real name put in their book. Kevin is bipolar, and his TSD is brought on by stressful periods in his life. His delusion involved thinking the world was watching what he called the “TrumanKev Show” during his manic episodes. His first outburst came at college as he studied mercilessly for his mid-terms while simultaneously trying to shake a bout of shingles. He had given up on sleeping and instead was replacing rest with energy drinks. He started to think that all songs on the radio were related to his life…

His next episode occurred after graduation, in Japan during a sailing regatta where he and his teammates were stuck in a vicious cycle of partying and competing. His delusions deal with the idea that there was a “director” controlling aspects of his life, which led him to think he could drive around Tokyo in a stolen truck because he found the keys hidden in the vehicle’s sun visor…

The Truman Show delusion might seem novel to outsiders—no doubt because of the link with the Hollywood film—but really, it’s a common paranoid psychosis, attached to a modern point of reference. It’s hard to say for sure if the proliferation of technology is impacting the amount of diagnoses, but if the opinion of Ian Gold—an expert on the topic—is anything to go by, it would seem that it might be.

Their piece is a long and wordy one, but does make for interesting reading. If you’re intrigued by what you’ve read above, head HERE and read it in full.

Tread carefully though, they’re watching.

[source:vice]