Rabbit Hole Syndrome

[AnOwlCalledSage]

I've put this in the UK section as University of Kent are jumping on the moving bandwagon!

A new research paper by Robbie M.Sutton and Karen M.Douglas, School of Psychology

There is mounting anecdotal evidence that some individuals fall into conspiracy ‘rabbit holes’ causing harms ranging from social isolation to violence. We propose a hypothetical Rabbit Hole Syndrome in which some individuals’ subscription to conspiracy beliefs is initially inadvertent, accelerates recursively, then becomes difficult to escape. This proposal is distinguished by a person-centred and dynamic perspective on conspiracy beliefs. It aims to provide a theoretical foundation for research that (a) illuminates the rabbit hole phenomenon, (b) is pluralistic, spanning diverse subdisciplines (e.g., social and clinical psychology) and methods (e.g., qualitative, longitudinal, and case studies), and (c) informs theory and practice by uncovering discontinuities between committed believers and other populations in the causes, consequences, and ‘remedies’ of conspiracy beliefs.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 0X2200183X

[eric]

Worth the read if only for the links to other scholarly articles. I personally only know one person who has gone down the spiral - initially a little bit odd and then over five years now absolute batsh*t to the point she has been isolated from the normal public social interactions which are important in a rural community which of course reinforces her beliefs. Right now she is preaching imprecatory prayer at me because I am somehow responsible for the demons and spirits that are haunting her house which I think is pretty cool. Maybe it's because I mocked her on social media for trying to convince others that there an evil plot (TM) to force us to eat insects as our diet. Something about collapsing the food supply chain and forcing farmers out of business, and the cashless society will result in us only having crickets to eat. I'm not sure how this will profit the Illuminati, I'm not high enough grade to be privy to all the secrets.