Whenever something embarrassing happens I always look around for hidden cameras, does that mean I suffer from it? When I was a kid I was walking home from school and saw a shiny coin on the ground and thought "mmm, that could buy me a packet of crisps (potato chips to you)" so I went and picked it up, but it wouldn't budge, and then I heard laughter, I looked over to the source and there were 4 or 5 huge skin heads in an old VW Beetle laughing away like maniacs at their sticky coin prank, it was a comical enough sight in itself, but it was enough to unnerve me and ever since I've never picked up anything off the floor, and when something embarrassing happens I look around for people or cameras.

Do I get a pass because my delusions aren't born out of reality TV?

NuttierThanEver: On that? Sure.
Now we still have to discuss those cases of bald men who go missing every time you move to a new neighborhood.

Some questions are better left unasked. Good day to you sir.

we all are. all the time.

Hope the audience likes fapping.

Lots and lots of fapping.

My life would make an awesome reality show. It would be educational, dramatic, and hilarious.

It would be a bit like a combination of The Big Bang Theory, QI, and Tosh.0

I've already got Kleenex, Jergens and Fleshlight as sponsors.

Definitely one of Carrey's best films. On another note, Reality T.V. is a mental illness in of itself.

I've had this for decades.

When I was a kid, I didn't have an imaginary friend, I had an imaginary "live studio audience".

I was expecting like a "candid camera" delusion. Not delusional enough...

Sometimes, when things aren't going so well, I shout out "Computer! End program!" and look around hopefully.

PirateKing: I've had this for decades.

When I was a kid, I didn't have an imaginary friend, I had an imaginary "live studio audience".

That either made masturbation very difficult, or very fun, depending on your sexual preference.

About the only thing that could be sadder and more pathetic than my life would be the life of someone that found my life entertaining enough to watch.

Unwitting - adjective: not aware or knowing
The word you wanted was "unwilling," subby.

It's not funny at all when it's really happening to you.

Jozabad: Unwitting - adjective: not aware or knowing
The word you wanted was "unwilling," subby.

Based solely on the definition you provided, I would say subby chose the right word. Yours would also be true, but the description fits unwitting as well.

Can't we just classify this as another form of delusional paranoia and call it a day? Does the extra specificity really alter the recommended treatment?

Phil Dick did it better in time out of joint...

bugmn99: Hope the audience likes fapping.

Lots and lots of fapping.

You beat me to it. In a couple of ways.

Slaxl: Whenever something embarrassing happens I always look around for hidden cameras, does that mean I suffer from it? When I was a kid I was walking home from school and saw a shiny coin on the ground and thought "mmm, that could buy me a packet of crisps (potato chips to you)" so I went and picked it up, but it wouldn't budge, and then I heard laughter, I looked over to the source and there were 4 or 5 huge skin heads in an old VW Beetle laughing away like maniacs at their sticky coin prank, it was a comical enough sight in itself, but it was enough to unnerve me and ever since I've never picked up anything off the floor, and when something embarrassing happens I look around for people or cameras.

Do I get a pass because my delusions aren't born out of reality TV?

No, that's just regular paranoia.

This Looks Fun: Jozabad: Unwitting - adjective: not aware or knowing
The word you wanted was "unwilling," subby.

Based solely on the definition you provided, I would say subby chose the right word. Yours would also be true, but the description fits unwitting as well.

You believe that you're not aware of the imagined scenario causing your anxiety? How does that make sense?

That's nothing- I have a delusional belief in reality TV shows.

Hopefully I'll be cured soon.

So... the author has never heard of schizophrenia? The subject matter of their paranoia may be "new", but these symptoms aren't.

This has been around forever, it's called Referential Delusions and new technology gets incorporated into it.

Cythraul: PirateKing: I've had this for decades.

When I was a kid, I didn't have an imaginary friend, I had an imaginary "live studio audience".

It must have been awesome to hear a laugh track whenever you made a funny, or a 'awwwww' during an endearing moment.

I think I've just had an idea for a very cool AI-equipped smartphone app, utilising voice-recognition for context-specific behavioural cues in an audio form.

/ Why yes, I am just righting that into a patent-application form.
// Awaits Apple Legal calling regarding how many millions it'll be to licence my patented idea.
/// Really, just want to submit a Fark comment to the Patents Office as prior art...
//// And Slashies.

OK, so first Truman Show came out in 1998, it shouldn't be used as the 21st century disease. they should be using something a tad more modern. Stranger than Fiction, maybe?

And if you're going to ignore my first idea, can you at least call it something other than Truman Show Delusion? What about Truman Syndrome, Truman Disorder, Truman Paranoia? (Best of all Trumania)

Bah, this has been around a lot longer than the Truman Show. For....

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players

Um, paranoid schizophrenics have been having this fear for a long time now. It's not new.

I think this mental illness has been around for thousands of years.

Oldiron_79: About the only thing that could be sadder and more pathetic than my life would be the life of someone that found my life entertaining enough to watch.

Get out of my head!

gopher321: What about that Japanese fellow a few years ago who was secretly filmed while holed up in a room alone?

THAT would be pretty embarassing...

You should have been here last week, there was a guy with a duck!

I remember watching a tv show as a kid (mid 80s) where a guy in a small town is trying to convince family, friends and local officials of an imminent alien invasion (he saw the ship land and was trying to get others to believe him). At the end of the episode, it is revealed that they are all aliens and it was all just an experiment to test how humans would initially respond or react to news of an alien invasion. It was either a new Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, or something along those lines.

Anyone else remember seeing that?

Wizard Drongo: Cythraul: PirateKing: I've had this for decades.

When I was a kid, I didn't have an imaginary friend, I had an imaginary "live studio audience".

It must have been awesome to hear a laugh track whenever you made a funny, or a 'awwwww' during an endearing moment.

I think I've just had an idea for a very cool AI-equipped smartphone app, utilising voice-recognition for context-specific behavioural cues in an audio form.

/ Why yes, I am just righting that into a patent-application form.
// Awaits Apple Legal calling regarding how many millions it'll be to licence my patented idea.
/// Really, just want to submit a Fark comment to the Patents Office as prior art...
//// And Slashies.

Urgh. *WRITING*.
FTFM.

Porous Horace: Sometimes, when things aren't going so well, I shout out "Computer! End program!" and look around hopefully.

I type ctrl-alt-delete on an invisible air keyboard in those situations.

News Flash: Reality television is the mental illness of the 21st century.

Apparently solipsism is now a psychosis. I thought it was just a philosophical principle.

First 21st century mental illness I heard.