army1987 comments on Belief in Belief - Less Wrong

66 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 29 July 2007 05:49PM

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Comment author: tunesmith 17 June 2012 01:08:51AM 2 points [-]

Just as a completely non-religious example, my girlfriend is a medical social worker and has been working recently with a patient that is absolutely convinced he has cancer.

There has apparently been some cases of tests that came back clean, and his excuses after the fact, but it's also turned in to him anticipating future tests not finding the cancer, yet with him still certain he has cancer. I had originally suggested that she ask him ahead of time something like, "well if we do this test and it comes back clean, will you let it go?" but he wasn't even open to the question.

Comment author: [deleted] 17 June 2012 01:20:18AM 0 points [-]

his excuses after the fact

Like what? Just curious.

Comment author: tunesmith 21 June 2012 04:50:27AM 0 points [-]

I asked... he apparently doesn't say much. She's theorizing Münchausen syndrome, which means he's not necessarily conscious that he's feigning illness.