Folie à Deux in the 21st Century: QAnon and the American Dream Delusion

Introduction: The American Dream Delusion

-Unknown, attributed to Joseph Goebbels

The purpose of this chapter is to use the concept of folie à deux (or Shared Delusion Disorder) to examine the phenomena of “Q” and the “QAnon” movement during and after the Trump presidency. The insurrection which occurred on January 6, 2021 during the attack on the United States’ capitol drew the authors’ attention to trying to understand the reason for this mass violence and to determine what individuals, motivations, and beliefs brought this violence to life. The Allegory of Plato’s Cave is used by the authors to offer the reader a possible context to place the current increasingly bizarre claims and conspiracies that those following the QAnon espouse. Moreover, a discussion is presented of why these beliefs are so attractive to some and how difficult it is to get one to leave the movement.

Qanon And Folie À Deux: The New American Way?

Folie à deux (Arnone, Patel, Tan, 2006), translated as “madness for two” and also known as shared psychosis or Shared Delusional Disorder (SDD), is a psychiatric syndrome in which symptoms of a delusional belief, and sometimes hallucinations, are transmitted from one individual to another. The disorder was first conceptualized in 19th-century French psychiatry by Charles Lasègue and Jean-Pierre Falret.