That does describe my aunt pretty well. My confusion is more about her perceiving things that just aren't true. She is absolutely the most perceptive person I have ever met, but sometimes what she says is verifiably not true. Like the thing with the dirt making her sick. She was convinced that instead of her having a cold like the rest of my family, that her nose is clogged and lungs full, because dirt from under the house is coming through the sub floor, then between the wood panels, then into her body. It's worth mentioning that this is probably happening to some extremely tiny degree, and she is able to perceive that, but it doesn't explain an obviously viral illness that matches the illness of her family that doesn't live with her. Does my question make sense?
Of course it does.
I'd agree she may be somewhat correct as well, but I also think not everyone is capable or willing to wield Occam's Razor.
Also, there are times when a "sickness" can just be something non-physical affecting us.
I'm not necessarily agreeing with the other guy but is it possible that your Aunt also has dementia? Like you could perceive more and also not make good sense of the world.
Looking further into this, there is a ton of overlap between schizophrenia and dementia. And, interestingly enough, hoarding often accompanies dementia as well.
It is entirely possible. My grandma had dementia, so I wouldn't be surprised if my aunt was in early stages. Brought on at younger age due to poor health choices. To be clear, my aunt is not diagnosed with schizophrenia. She was only diagnosed with some kind of anxiety disorder along with a disorder associated with hoarding, but when my wife and I lived with her, we saw a lot of very concerning behavior and did some research. She has literally every single symptom of schizophrenia. I sneakily confirmed this with family by asking if they noticed these same symptoms, and got all positive responses. They didn't know I was talking about schizophrenia though.
Totally not my place to offer a diagnosis, so my wife and I never talked about it with anyone else. Putting it into the context of dementia makes a lot of sense too though. I need to do some more research now.
(post is archived)