Is it reality? No, it's Truman Show delusion

Psychiatrists have identified a new form of psychosis: people who believe their life is a reality TV show or filmTwo psychiatrists in the US have published some case studies that flesh out an idea that surfaced in 2008. In The Truman Show Delusion, brothers Joel and Ian Gold describe the stories of five psychiatric patients who recalled experiences similar to the 1998 film, in which Jim Carrey's character Truman Burbank is the unwitting star of a carefully controlled reality show. Three of the patients referenced the film directly.We shouldn't be surprised, says Dr Peter Byrne, director of public education at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, who has treated people who have talked about Truman Show-like experiences. "Psychosis is a mixture of delusions – beliefs that are false, which arrive without any evidence or logic - but often also hallucinations, usually voices. It is true that some young people, because their experience includes...

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