r/todayilearned 2d ago

TIL about Delusional parasitosis, sometimes referred to as phantom infestation, is a psychological disorder in which an individual mistakenly believes their body is overrun by living or inanimate entities. Typical examples of these perceived invaders include bugs, worms, or microbes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delusional_parasitosis
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u/ilovecheeseburgers16 2d ago

hmm like those morgellons ppl

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u/jaylw314 2d ago

Not the same thing. Morgellons spreads from person to person, and that is not an expect risk for people with delusions otherwise, so it's hard to argue people with delusions have anything in common with Morgellons other than some resemblance.

Delusional disorder with delusional parasitosis long predated Morgellons and social media

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u/matarky1 2d ago

There's actually a chapter of a great book about this called 'The Unpersuadables: Adventures With the Enemies of Science' that goes into people with Morgellons and how nobody takes them seriously and consider it delusion. One person is a doctor who got Morgellons himself and pulled a form of tropical mite out of his skin. The whole book is to question our preconceived notions, would recommend if this sort of thing is intriguing.

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u/jaylw314 2d ago

That looks good, thanks. I used to be more interested in Morgellons and other such phenomena, but the wave of science denial kind of turned me off to the whole thing