Is It Good to Ever Support a Mental Patient's Delusions?

Question

My sister is a psychiatric nurse and one of the patients of her facility claims he's the real President.  I asked her if they can greet him like "Good Morning Mr. President" and she didn't find it funny and said absolutely not.

Answer 1

It's very likely that the patient will recover from his psychotic episode, so it's not helpful.

Answer 2

you should never feed in to a patients delusions as this reinforces the behaviour,



I dealt with a patient who claimed he was the advocated king of England he had, had a terrible childhood and made this fantasy world that he then began to believe. On one hand he was a fun filled guy who wanted everyone to like him on the other hand when he was challenged about hid delusions he became very defensive and had a lot of "Paper work" to back him up these were land deeds that he had purchased on ebay and felt that they gave him power over certain countries. 



he stated that he had abdicated his position as king of the united kingdom to the queen we had now however he was immortal and so he would continuously live on, his delusions got the better of him simply because his friends encouraged them and he made threats towards a politician to which he was then moved to a secure unit that it is unlikely he will ever leave. This person was never really a threat to others but individuals who encouraged the delusions he had basically have meant a lot of his life will be spent in a hospital. He is a cracking guy and I feel if the delusions had been managed when he was younger he would not have been where he is now. 

Answer 3

Yes it is if it doesn't cause them or others harm

Answer 4

No.  That's why I don't use idiots "preferred pronouns".   They don't have the right to force me to participate in their delusions.

Answer 5

I'm no psychologist but I think it could make their delusions stronger if you reinforced the idea that he was the president. I bet your sister sees and hears it all in her job! 

Answer 6

Generally, you should neither support nor confront someone's delusions.  They are symptoms and not the disease.

Answer 7

Is There A Rule That They Can't Or What ?????