Posted by TF on December 12, 2007, at 23:53:57
Alright, so I've had this belief since I was about eighteen or so, that I smell, and that I make everyone around me uncomfortable. I'm sure you all are familiar with the signs. Sniffing, coughing, sighing, people complaining of headaches and not being able to concentrate, and various cues of respiratory distress. I understand that sometimes, these signs have nothing to do with me. But when I hear them from just about every person I meet, I have to wonder if I'm the source of at least some of it.
I've asked everyone who should be telling me the truth. None of them will tell me that I smell. My family, my psychiatrist, my team of caretakers, my primary care physician, dentist, everyone. My psychiatrist says that I have a fixed belief. Not necessarily a false belief or delusion, but a fixed belief. I have a feeling that he's only waiting for me to prove that I smell logically, rather than intuitively. He says that the signs that I tell him about are all purely circumstantial. I've only had people come out and say that I smell a few times, and these times I actually did detect my own odor, so those don't really count in the belief that maybe I smell all the time, times after I've showered, am wearing clean clothes, have brushed my teeth, and so on.
It's hard when you've almost totally lost respect for yourself, and feel like everyone who should care is lying. What do you guys think? Might I be crazy?
poster:TF
thread:800487
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20071204/msgs/800487.html