I'm struggling to understand the term "irrational behaviour or fear"

[grahamg]

Then it does seem like more a personal tiff that he misconstrued as theft. Or it could be that some members of the family thought of that shed as holding junk that no one wanted. Kids can be kids. Glad the memories have faded.

Best to try to come up with your own example of what you believed to be "irrational behaviour/fear" and then we'll all be happy(?).

 

[Dancing_Queen]

I thought I understood what it meant when someone was described as behaving irrationally or holding or professing an "irrational fear", but the more I try to look into what a court or legal people might decide amounted to irrational fear or irrational behaviour, or even what might be understood by the terms by other professionals, the less I seem to understand it, (is it me?!).

Put as simply as I can I believe "someone behaving irrationally, or showing an irrational fear has no reason or justification for doing so",......., and signs that this behaviour might be irrational include whether the individual sought to find or uncover the truth of whatever it might be.

To give you an example I believe I once witnessed someone behaving irrationally, (someone who normally didn't exhibit such behaviour). The person concerned made unsubstantiated claims they had items stolen from them by a close relative, the relative's wife, and all their five young children, (ignoring the fact these people were all known to be of impeccable character). Furthermore, instead of confronting the person they believed had stolen from them they tried to tell anyone who might listen that they had been robbed, and doing so without giving any particulars as to what they thought they had lost. They repeated these allegations over a very long period, and so much so, a number of the deluded persons friends really believed a crime had been committed.

Another odd aspect or behaviour, or irrational aspect was not taking their allegations to the police, if they truly believed something had been taken, and the person I'm described really did seem to believe they'd been robbed and were genuinely upset or distressed about it.
When I tried to tell this person they were completely deluded and acting irrationally (or "Off their head" to give you my exact words!), they were completely unable to understand where they were going wrong, and had made some dreadful mistake.

For the purposes of this discussion please assume (and/or accept) the example I've just given you is just as I've described it, (and if that's a struggle for you, please cite another example where you believe you witnessed someone behaving irrationally, or having an irrational fear, and substitute your example, and we'll try to take the discussion from there).

If this change seems to be manifesting itself, even in small part, in additional irrational thoughts, I'd suggest getting a medical workup as it could be an effect of a medication or medication interactions or a brain lesion or possibly even a physical disease. If not, I'd suggest a consultation with a mental health specialist.

 

[grahamg]

If this change seems to be manifesting itself, even in small part, in additional irrational thoughts, I'd suggest getting a medical workup as it could be an effect of a medication or medication interactions or a brain lesion or possibly even a physical disease. If not, I'd suggest a consultation with a mental health specialist.

Fortunately, (you could say, though I'm saying it ironically), the person is no longer with us, and as stated I'm trying to understand the concept of an irrational fear, or irrational behaviour in general, and hopefully, slowly I'm learning a little about the topic.

 

[grahamg]

Then it does seem like more a personal tiff that he misconstrued as theft. Or it could be that some members of the family thought of that shed as holding junk that no one wanted. Kids can be kids. Glad the memories have faded.

Best to try to come up with your own example of what you believed to be "irrational behaviour/fear" and then we'll all be happy(?).

 

[grahamg]

More research on fear etc. connected to thread topic:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/...nd-strong-feelings/201112/the-complexity-fear

"There are times when a past fear might re-emerge, even though the present situation does not truly warrant the need to be afraid. Such is the case of post traumatic stress disorder. where the consequence of a prior situation where you actually were in danger is re-lived in the present when those emotional memories are triggered. Although you may intellectually know that you are safe, your brain automatically prepares you for the worst to happen—a situation that it recognizes has happened before—which speaks to the power of emotional memory. A post-traumatic response can be triggered by a situation that is similar to a past trauma, the date in which a trauma occurred, a particular thought, or by a relationship that brings up an issue that is similar to a trauma that you have previously experienced.

In a simple example, people who have been rear-ended in a motor vehicle accident frequently describe that, for many weeks or months, they fear being rear-ended again and, as a result, find themselves vigilantly peering into their rearview mirror in anticipation of an impact occurring. But here we are once again faced with confusion between fear and anxiety. Although a post-traumatic response may have to do with a situation in which fear was the primary emotion involved, PTSD is listed as an anxiety disorder by the American Psychiatric Association (2000). The danger is not an actual one in PTSD, but it is anticipated or expected based on a prior experience. So where the original trauma triggered fear, post-traumatic stress may trigger anxiety that anticipates fear."