Why Britney Spears Is The Poster Child For Delusional Thinking
Today’s word is “Delusion”
I’m often asked to explain the meaning of words used in psychiatric nursing, so today I’m talking about delusions. Here is the classic example of a delusion:
Britney Spears demonstrated delusional thinking when she danced in her underwear while performing at the MTV's Video Music Awards. She either sees herself as svelte, or she thinks that belly fat and thunder thighs are cute. Either way, she continues to prove that she has lost touch with reality. I don’t mean to be cruel, but the whole spectacle was painful to watch. A psychiatrist once told me that a delusion is a defense mechanism that people create to protect themselves from reality, and that we must not challenge their delusion unless we can replace it with something else.
Britney, I’m speechless.
I’m often asked to explain the meaning of words used in psychiatric nursing, so today I’m talking about delusions. Here is the classic example of a delusion:
Britney Spears demonstrated delusional thinking when she danced in her underwear while performing at the MTV's Video Music Awards. She either sees herself as svelte, or she thinks that belly fat and thunder thighs are cute. Either way, she continues to prove that she has lost touch with reality. I don’t mean to be cruel, but the whole spectacle was painful to watch. A psychiatrist once told me that a delusion is a defense mechanism that people create to protect themselves from reality, and that we must not challenge their delusion unless we can replace it with something else. Britney, I’m speechless.
posted by Mother Jones RN at 10:27 AM
24 Comments:
The look on her face the entire performance: "OMG, I can't find my car keys!"
I completely agree with you about Britney's delusional thinking. :( The sad part is that she's a lot more in shape than what she was years ago but the skimpy outfits do NOT help. Blah.
That chick is a mess...
i just watched that and it was truly painful to see. what is going on with that girl?!
Um, I'd have to question anyone who thinks that is "fat" as delusional. She looks pretty healthy to me, and certainly in better shape than me!
I think one of Britney's delusions would be that shaving her head is a good way to get people to stop talking about her...
I'm with Kathryn - if those are "thunder thighs" than I have a hailstorm in a hurricaine on my backside - the difference is I don't parade around in my undies on national TV. But she is so NOT fat.
As far as delusional - I completely agree with you MJ. Clearly she is delusional or getting bad advice from someone. There was one report that the look on her face was because she broke her stiletto heel in the first seconds of the performance ... who knows. I do know she makes me sad for her ...
i'd have to agree-she looks healthy for a mom of two! as for the rest, it's pretty sad. maybe she'll get out of show business now and get a life.
Although Britney was clearly a mess, I don't see her as fat at all. Our society is delusional to think that she has belly fat, etc.
she is so sknaky I cannot even start with that one! NASTY!Pronounced Nas-ty!
I agree with everyone--she is NOT fat...but with the $800,000 that she pulls in a month currently, you'd think that she'd find some more flattering clothes (come on, we're all different sizes and shapes and we know what outfits look best on us)...and better hair extensions...and hire a better choreographer...and, better yet, actually stay home with the two children that she always talked about wanting.
I think "delusional" is the best term to use.
I just want to clarify that I didn't mean to sound like she was fat. In fact, she has the body I'm dreaming/working towards! :)
I would have to agree with everyone else re: thunder thighs and belly fat. I know that the camera adds 10lbs. so therefore she must look 130 instead of 120 lbs. I think it's really sad that our "standard" of fat has gone to such an extreme that one would say she is fat with thunder thighs. She is not and I personally find it really sad you would say that about her body image, especially if you are a psych nurse. I find that she is only delusional in her belief that her performance was fabulous enough to open the usually great VMA's.
I'm sorry for not being politically correct, but anyone that is 120-130 pounds who squeezes into a tight outfit like that looks ridiculous. And please spare me the lecture on body image, Random Girl, I've been working with eating disorder patients since before you were born. If you want to ridicule anyone, go after the person who let Britney go out on stage in that outfit.
Presumably the outfit was designed to take the viewers' attention away from her inability to lip-sync.
However, according to the reviews of her 'performance' that I've read, even that was -- alas -- a failure.
"Presumably the outfit was designed to take the viewers' attention away from her inability to lip-sync."
I agree with that.
But even so, I didn't think she looked bad in the outfit. I didn't think she looked fat, I didn't think she looked all that "squeezed into" it, either.
I think she looked just fine in it. It was her performance that left me with my mouth hanging open. Could she have been MORE disinterested in what she was doing?
I also personally don't think that a mother of two SHOULD have been wearing that outfit parading herself around and gyrating in front of millions, but I realize that those are my own perceptions and I don't need to hear the "but mothers can be sexy, too" argument.
There's sexy, and then there's sleazy. The dancing and all that, in my opinion, was sleazy.
codeblog nailed it - sleazy is the best way to describe her look, and more than once I thought she was high during that performance.
Not a great role model for her kids, just my opinion. Ask yourself how you would have felt growing up if that's what your mommy looked like and dressed like (whether it was for her job or not).
Don't even get me started on her (lack thereof) talent.
i am more concerned about the look on her face. she looked lost, physically, mentally, and psychologically. i will keep my mouth shut about how she looked in her attire because i honestly do not feel like i know what to say,m except she definitely looked better than me.
Mother Jones - I'm 5'5" I used to be 100lbs (recent post on my blog about it) and I wouldn't have been caught dead in an outfit like that even at that weight! At my healthy weight today, I don't dress like a nun...but I know where my best assets lie. :)
I think the bigger issue besides Britney's body (we could talk about it all day) is the "world she lives in." The topic of this post is delusion and, lets face it, Britney's apparently not in on the fact that she's a trainwreck that everyone wants to watch. (Also, the rumor is that she was supposed to wear a corset outfit that covered more but decided not to at the last minute.) Her actions suggest that she thinks everything is fine and dandy...
Sorry, I'm a celebrity junkie. :) I could go on for hours. :-P
Oh Mother ... are you banging your head against the wall in amazement that your post about delusional thinking has been turned into a discusssion of whether or not a nutcase super star is fat?
I agree with Lea. She no longer looks like a dangerous seductress of public morals. She looked like she was trying to remember the next step or movement to her very short dance.
Did you catch the looks on the faces of the audience? Sheer boredom. Women dancing on poles? yawn The flesh market needs to go away. Let's focus on real talent, not people whose only entertainment value is lip-syncing and shaking their butt down into a squatting position.
And for Britney the mother? Grow up and quit clubbing. You have children who need you.
I'm not lecturing you at all. And, I don't know how old you are but I'm almost 40 so.....what's your point? Unless you are like 60 (which I don't know, I haven't been reading your blog that long to know) would make it possible that you have been nursing since before I was born. WTF? I was just saying that she is NOT fat. She IS delusional, I'll give you that but FAT she is not. I'd love to be so fat. I'm not ridiculing anyone just commenting on your post.
My youngest daughter was asking what the word "classy" meant and I was having a difficult time explaining it in a way she could understand.
At one point, the photo of Britney in her skivvies showed up on the computer and my eldest daughter pointed, "That, right there, is the OPPOSITE of classy."
Thanks for helping, Britney!
I didn't see Britney, but her size is more 'normal' compatred to the superthin women we see on tv. She had a wig on, remember, though.
ummm there is no way that she is 120-130 pounds. i weigh more than that and i'm way hotter. ;) she's gotta be 140 at least.
On another note, while i agree that SOMEONE involved in this performance was delusional, i think her show actually wasn't that bad for a crazy person/drug addict who shaved her head in hysteria a few months ago, wears shirts as dresses, drives with her babies on her lap, stays out all night drinking and drugging etc. etc. etc. It was pretty good if you take all of THAT into consideration! :-p
Belly fat and thunder thighs? Looks fine to me. Much better than the "sylph-like" i.e. malnourished body types being paraded in women's mags as "ideal."
I agree with mother jones, Britney had love handles in her outfit (watch the video). Regardless of of what she weighs, Britney looks awful and overweight in her outfit. I just wish she would get some help and the folks around her would stop enabling her behavior. Where is her family?
Post a Comment
<< Home