Musing on mental shapeshifting

I’m a mental shapeshifter; always have been. My sense of my physical body is extremely fluid, perpetually melting from one form to the next: animals, textures, chimera-like conglomerates of different things, etc. I feel every single physical shape and change in serious detail, nearly as if they were my own in reality. My sight-perspective as well is constantly, reflexively switching and jumping around to see from different angles besides the one I can currently see behind my own eyes. It can be disorienting at times.

I don’t tell this to people in my life. Ever. I don’t believe in any nonsense about magic and I’m not spiritual. My mind just happens to operate in this bizarrely fluid manner and I’ve never known another way of being. These experiences used to make me feel isolated as a kid once I realized they weren’t shared by others, but I’ve long since grown comfortable with it. I HAVE always wondered though, what a therapist would make of me if I were to start describing in vivid detail the ways in which my brain automatically responds to the world around me. I’ve never been to one. Perhaps one day I’ll understand more about the mechanisms behind it all. Brains are vastly complex.

asked May 12, 2015

link

Malachite

2 Answers

Brain is an extremely complex structure. If this is not personal I wonder if you ever did any kind of intelligence test, because I believe you would score high. My honest opinion is that most of the therapist would not believe you in a way you would want them to. They'd probably try giving you meds.

link

Amethysta

From a clinical perspective, I don't think it's especially radical for someone to have...dissonance between actual body and internal perception of physical body. So, there's a certain amount of precedent, for sure. I don't think it's a terrible stretch, from there, for someone in psychology to get on board with the idea that perception of physical body could be very fluid and constantly changing in some cases. But then, I don't know for sure because I've never asked and don't have a background in psychology :P
Not really a fan of intelligence tests. I scored high on an IQ test once, yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything close to what it's generally assumed to mean. Quantifying intelligence is still a developing field, in my opinion. Thanks though!
It's strange to think in terms of someone "believing" or "not believing" me. I never have. There is no scientific method of proof for the way in which person operates internally, or perceives reality. We all experience reality a little differently through our own specific filter, don't we? You can't believe or disbelieve another person's subjective experience, can you? Doesn't change anything about my experiences either way. Still, interested in a trained-psychologist take on possible mechanisms nonetheless. Maybe I'll have a long talk with one someday, to satisfy my own curiosity.

link

Malachite