The Delusion About Delusional Parasitosis

AKA the Martha Mitchell Effect

Among the growing concerns for those challenged by the daily reality of one of the strangest syndrome/diseases most commonly known as Morgellons, is the possibility that no one will believe what they have to say. In fact, the most common medical diagnosis for Morgellons is leaning toward delusional parasitosis.

This is such a great dis-service for those who are truly experiencing the daily trials of living with an unexplained skin condition, which often will not allow them to sleep more than a few hours at a time. Researchers from the George Institute for Global Health, and lead by Professor Nick Glozier, found that young people getting less than 5 hours of sleep a night are tripling their chances of developing a mental illness. (1)

From Wikipedia's entry on mental health and sleep deprivation:

The link between sleep deprivation and psychosis was further documented in 2007 through a study at Harvard Medical School and the University of California at Berkeley. The study revealed, using MRI scans, that lack of sleep causes the brain to become incapable of putting an emotional event into the proper perspective and incapable of making a controlled, suitable response to the event.

Imagine living each day with a maddening itch or crawling sensation that often has no visible source and an incapacitating brain fog. With the research linking toxins as the cause of Morgellons, and now the added stress connection from prolonged sleep deprivation, it is no wonder brain fog is one of the Morgellons symptoms.

Who is Martha Mitchell...
and what does she have to do with Morgellons?

Martha Mitchell was the wife to John Mitchell, United States Attorney General under President Richard Nixon. She became famous for her phone calls to the press ratting out the corruption surrounding Pres. Nixon's administration.

At first she was completely discredited, largely due to a report where she claimed she was kidnapped and sedated that were in fact, false allegations. However, the Nixon administration added to her character assassination by leaking stories that she had a drinking problem and she was abandoned by most of her family. Once the full story was disclosed of what we now call the "Watergate Scandal", she was vindicated.

Today in the psychiatric profession the "Martha Mitchell Effect" has been coined where by a psychiatrist mistakenly identifies a patient's extraordinary claims as delusions, despite the facts. (2)

Quoting psychotherapist Joseph Berke, he notes that "even paranoids have enemies." Any patient can be misdiagnosed by clinicians, but this is especially true for ones with a history of paranoid delusions.

This is an absolutely fascinating connection and one that the Morgellons community should become well read on because it may very well be the language needed to flip the light switch on our medical community.

This demonstrates the nasty business of how dis-information and character assassination can effectively take charge of both the Morgellons and all other 'unexplained' health issues and get dismissed/misdiagnosed.

The latest numbers are now being projected at over 1,000,000 cases, globally. There is no doubt this is a rather mysterious and crippling pandemic.

Validation and acknowledgment must be given despite the fact this is still widely unexplained and mysterious, or our medical system is simply not doing it's job in any regard.

Beware of the people so quick to shoot off those character assassination guns...if they are truly on 'our' side, then how about they turn that energy toward actually working together, find private funding, and conduct the data analysis that will support the cure rather than supporting the governments and corporations that are on the big money making side of our health and well-being?

Let's do something productive and take the mystery out of Morgellons!

REFERENCES:

1. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/01/2999014.htm

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Mitchell_effect