Truman syndrome: what is it, symptoms, causes and treatment

One of Jim Carrey's most famous films is “The Truman Show”, a film that tells the life of Truman Burbank that, without him knowing it, is part of a telereality where the people with whom he relates and the environment in which he lives are not real, but actors and set of a television program seen by millions.

This film, which is already a classic and cult work in the film industry, has served to give a name to a peculiar syndrome in which persecutory delusions and grandeur alike are shown: truman's syndrome.

This peculiar disorder is not very well known, although there are already a few documented cases of people who claim to have been victims of their own reality show. Let's take a closer look at what this modern with a movie name consists of.

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What is Truman syndrome?

Truman syndrome, also known as The Truman Show delusion, is a disorder with persecutory delusions and grandeur in which the patient believes that he is part of a reality show and that he is the protagonist of it

. You can also believe that his life is a play or that in some way or another everyone is watching him, knows what he is saying and what he is doing and that there is a certain public interest in his life. He may even believe that he is being recorded 24 hours a day.

This peculiar syndrome It is named after one of the most famous and emblematic films of the Canadian-American actor Jim Carrey, “The Truman Show” (1998). The film exposes the life of Truman Burbank, an individual whose life is recorded 24 hours a day and broadcast on television without him knowing it. The protagonist, who believes that he is nothing more than an insurance salesman living in any town, does not know that his exposure is more Intimates Experiences is a television success, until he discovers it and begins to have a conflict with himself and with the actors of his reality TV.

Like Truman in the movie, people with this syndrome believe that their life is a reality show and that everything that is part of it is false: their beliefs, relationships with others, the world around them... they believe that everything has been created to satisfy the audience of the show, strategies of the show director to keep the audience happy viewers. They believe that their life is nothing more than a work, and that if they want to live a truly independent life they have to run away from it, no matter what.

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History of this syndrome

The main researchers of Truman syndrome are the brothers Joel (psychiatrist) and Ian Gold (neurophilosopher). The first documented case of this syndrome was treated by Joel Gold at Bellevue Hospital in New York in 2003, being a patient who claimed that his relatives were actors in a television program without script. His delirium did not stop there, as he also believed that he had video cameras implanted in his eyes. Because of this, this patient traveled to New York to request asylum at the United Nations. He ended up being admitted to the mental hospital where Gold worked.

After seeing a few cases, the Gold brothers became experts in this syndrome, who decided to baptize it as Truman syndrome not only because of the clear similarities between the cases of the patients with the film, but also because most of them had seen "The Truman Show" and they had felt identified. It could even be said that some cases had made the inflection believing that the film had been some kind of signal to conclude that their life was a show.

Although Joel and Ian Gold had been treating patients with delusions of this type since 2002, The term "Truman syndrome" was coined in 2008 by showing a pattern between the cases of the same. Joel Gold, having seen thousands of patients with delusional disorders, began to see that this type of paranoia with Persecutory and delusional traits were more common among young white men between the ages of 25 and 34 years.

As a result of their clinical experience, the Gold brothers have written a book in which they explain this delusion, in addition to exemplifying it with the story of many patients: "Suspicious Minds: How Culture Shapes Madness" craziness). In this post, the Golds explain that delusions can be greatly influenced by brain interaction with the social world, and that they are not only the result of biology or brain connections dysfunctional. Culture and the media can have a significant influence on how mental disorders manifest, as is the case with Truman syndrome.

Despite their research and many publications by the Gold brothers, Truman syndrome does not is in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), and will probably never reach be. It is quite likely that, as he becomes more known, he will be diagnosed with more frequently but within psychotic disorders and with delusional features, such as schizophrenia.

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Symptoms of Truman syndrome

As we have highlighted before, Truman syndrome is not found in the DSM. However, it is possible to highlight a series of symptoms that characterize people who suffer from this peculiar psychological problem of a delusional nature, with symptoms and traits that coincide with those of psychotic disorders:

• The onset of psychotic disorders usually manifest between the ages of 18 and 30.
• Disorganized language or thoughts.
• Delusions or hallucinations.
• Affective disorders.
• Innapropiate behaviours.
• The individual feels observed and persecuted, and tries to escape from that sensation.

Truman syndrome has several health effects, since who suffers it carries out irrational and inappropriate behaviors. In the most severe cases, the syndrome can be aggravated and lead to mental disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, chronic stress and anxiety, and depression.

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Consequences for health

Truman syndrome It is very dangerous, not only for those who suffer from this delusion, but also for the people around them. How the affected person believes that his social environment is not real, that they are actors and that they keep him trapped on a reality show, you may try to break free by resorting to violence.

Although this syndrome is not well known, it is there have been several cases of people who have injured or even killed their relatives and acquaintances in order to flee from the reality show. Among these cases we find the following.

Two with first and last names are those of Anthony Waterlow and William Johns III. The first was an Australian who murdered his father and sister, believing that he was being recorded. The second was an American psychiatrist, he traveled from Florida to New York convinced that he would thus be able to escape from his own Truman show. Arrived in New York, he attacked two children and his mother.

One of the most curious cases of him was that of a man who traveled to New York after the events of September 11, 2001 to make sure the terrorist attacks were a plot twist from his own Truman show. The subject went there to check if the World Trade Center was still there and show that everything had been a hoax. As might be expected, he was in for a surprise.

Another patient had worked as an intern on a reality show and believed that reality show cameras were secretly recording him, including on Election Day 2004. The patient said that this was happening to him because he believed that the president of that legislature, George Bush, was a Judas and that is why he had grasped the media attention and that is why he had created his own show so that the authorities would be aware of his opinions and, thus, be persecuted by they.

One of the Gold brothers' patients was an upper-middle-class war veteran who he wanted to climb the Statue of Liberty because he believed that by doing so he could free himself from his own show. The patient himself described his condition as follows:

“I realized that I was and am the center of attention of thousands and thousands of people... My family and everyone I know were and are actors who follow a script, a farce whose aim is to make me the center of everyone's attention ”.

Treatment

The treatment of Truman syndrome shares features with those applied for the rest of psychotic and delusional disorders. The main route is pharmacological treatment, using atypical antipsychotics as a first option, combined if necessary with benzodiazepines, antidepressants, hypnotics and empowering. Electroconvulsive therapy is also an option, although not as popular with patients or their families.

The psychotherapeutic option resorts to the classic cognitive behavioral treatment. However, this treatment is difficult because the patient may come to believe that the psychotherapist is playing a role. Also, that it is part of the program and that it is there to make you believe that you are crazy and that you do not know that you are in a program of reality TV. They are complicated cases to treat.