Chapter 7
612words
I posted a help request on the "Mental Health Support" forum, describing all the strange experiences, as well as that odd elderly couple.
I can't count on the police to save me, now these internet friends are my only hope.
I described in detail all the strange things I've experienced these days: the suddenly appearing "parents," the floating phenomenon in the surveillance footage, the confusion about my identity, the memory gaps. I tried to record every detail as objectively as possible, without any subjective judgment, hoping some professionals could give me guidance.
An hour after the post was published, people started to reply. "The symptoms described by the original poster indeed sound very similar to acute episodes of schizophrenia, I recommend seeking medical help as soon as possible."
"I'm a psychiatrist, and from your description, you may be experiencing severe detachment from reality. Those 'surveillance footage' are likely hallucinations created by your brain."
"My sister had similar symptoms, she always insisted that her family members were imposters. It took two years of treatment before she got better."
Most replies pointed to the same conclusion: I likely suffered from schizophrenia, and what I thought was "reality" was actually a hallucinatory world constructed by my brain.
But just as I was about to close the page, one reply left me completely stunned.
A user named "Clinical Psychology Graduate Student" wrote: "The 'body part levitation during sleep' phenomenon mentioned by the original poster is clinically known as the 'pillow test.' This is a classic method used to diagnose Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personality) and schizophrenia."
Pillow test? I immediately clicked on his profile and found that this user was indeed a doctoral student in psychology at a certain university. His posting history showed that he frequently discussed professional topics in academic forums, giving him high credibility.
He continued to explain: "When the patient is in a deep sleep state, the doctor carefully removes the pillow. A normal person's head would sink due to gravity, or they would naturally wake up due to discomfort. However, patients with severe dissociation symptoms, due to abnormal brain perception of body boundaries, will have their head 'float' in place, maintaining the original posture. This phenomenon is medically known as 'body schema dissociation'."
"More importantly, this test is usually conducted without the patient's knowledge, because once the patient becomes aware that this is a test, the brain will re-establish normal body perception. Therefore, family members often need to quietly cooperate with doctors to observe and record during the patient's sleep."
My heart almost stopped beating.
My heart nearly stopped beating.
The man's name on the property deed, the "forged" identification documents, the woman's understanding of details of my life, my vague childhood memories, those takeout containers and medications, and so on.
Every suspicious point had been reasonably explained. It wasn't the world deceiving me, but rather my brain protecting itself, creating a complete second identity to escape from some trauma.
I continued reading the graduate student's explanation: "In such cases, the second personality often believes that the real family members are 'imposters,' because they are indeed strangers to the second personality. The second personality will have strong feelings of being watched and persecutory delusions, seeking various 'evidence' to prove their judgment. But this 'evidence' is often just rationalized explanations manufactured by the brain to maintain the integrity of the second identity."
So this was real.
I wasn't some imprisoned victim; I was a patient suffering from severe mental illness who needed careful care from my family.
Tears began to blur my vision.
I'm not an imprisoned victim, I'm a patient with severe mental illness who needs family care.
