Answered from 506: Secret Identity · This American Life · 2026-10-25
Court psychologist Dr. Evan Nelson, who diagnosed Josh Brady, describes delusional disorder as a rare cousin of schizophrenia in which the false beliefs are plausible rather than impossible: being followed or being a secret agent, not being tracked by a satellite orbiting Mars. Clinicians suspect it is underdiagnosed. Nelson says logic cannot talk people out of it and antipsychotics only soften the delusions, so the best outcome is a truce where the person stops acting on the belief.
“That's the amazing thing about delusional disorder. The delusions are plausible.” Jon Ronson · at 20:24 — open in the transcript →
Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on This American Life (2026-10-25). Read the whole episode summary →