A pair of parents visited a psychiatrist, troubled by their daughter's severe delusions. To the outside world, she was a model "good person": after losing her husband, she raised two children all by herself, worked hard at her company, and dedicated herself to volunteer work. However, she was actually suffering from a profound mental illness.
She would insist, "I'm going to marry a Hollywood actor. He's going to come for me someday," and whenever a car honked its horn or brakes screeched outside, she would say, "I'm sick of all these paparazzi." She shared these delusions with her children, but they knew they weren't true. Or rather, they just found it amusing, saying, "Oh mother, there you go again." The Hollywood actor in question would change constantly, sometimes even being a non-Hollywood actor. She would stare intently at movies starring the target actor, and fly into a rage at the TV during romantic scenes. Lamenting that she had driven herself mad by trying too hard, her parents half-tricked her into bringing her to the psychiatrist.
Thanks to the psychiatrist's persistent guidance, the family's cooperation, and her own inherently earnest personality, her delusions disappeared within a few years. However, one day, she attempted suicide. The psychiatrist knew why. But seeing her parents, who only wished for her complete recovery, he couldn't bring himself to say it. Her absurd romantic delusions had been her mechanism for escape.
During her sessions, the harsh realities she would let slip were: - Her husband died in an accident just after their second child was born. - Child custody issues stemming from the fact that both she and her husband were only children. - Relentless rationalization and downsizing at her workplace. - The impending burden of caring for her aging parents. - Disparities in her children's academic performance caused by the difference in financial power between her and her parents' households.
It was a bleak and painful lineup of problems with no way out. While desperately playing the role of mother, daughter, and office worker, she retreated into an impossible delusion to look away from the harsh reality. Even if you told her not to look away from reality, because she was naturally earnest, once she stared straight at her problems she couldn't take her eyes off them and would worry herself sick. That was why she maintained her balance in a world of ridiculous and irresponsible delusions.
However, with the delusions eliminated through treatment, only reality lay before her, and she could no longer bear the onslaught of anxiety. The psychiatrist told the parents, "Any further treatment will endanger your daughter's life. It's better to stop while she still retains a degree of delusion." For many people, hobbies to escape stress are necessary, and in her case, that was her romantic delusion. She was just blowing off steam in a way that was a little stranger than most people.
However, the parents were unsatisfied, demanding, "Are you telling us to leave our daughter as a madwoman?", and transferred her to another hospital. She would now receive treatment under a different doctor. If she gets completely cured, what will happen then?
*Modified slightly to protect privacy. But it is a true story.*
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