Innocuous

Formication — What is it and why do I have it

Formication is a psychosis where the person experiences tactile hallucinations. These tactile hallucinations take place on the body in the form of bugs. This psychosis is unique and can lead to delusions, where the person believes that they have been infected with insects.

I have these experiences; they’re very distressing to me. It’s not just that you feel an insect crawling across you. It’s also the belief these insects can hurt you. Maybe they’ll be crawling in your ears; perhaps they’re crawling in your heart. If you google formication, you will find heaps of people asking why they are experiencing these hallucinations, and the answer is usually anxiety. They should check these feelings out by with the GP and any scratches that the problem has caused you.

Psychosis
If you want to know what psychosis is click here. However, if you would like to know more about psychosis and how to deal with experiences of psychotic episodes click here.

Psychosis: psyche, soul and mind
Psychosis, commonly referred to as a loss of reality. And doctors around the world can’t decide what qualifies you for…medium.com

What to do when you are experiencing formication
The best thing to do is to focus on something else, just like hearing voices, these are hallucinations. However, if sleeping is the problem, doing five senses will probably prolong the experience which you can find here. Try to focus on something you love in your head, imagine cuddling it and feel its warmth and touch against your body. Smile as you do this, and you will feel a little better too. Think of all the times you are together and experience those feelings, wants and needs.

Formication usually is brief and happens at the early stage of night when you’re trying to sleep. This type, although distressing rarely leads to anything more than a few scratches. The problem that most people find is that there is nothing that can be done about this. It’s true, there isn’t anything that can be done, and this is because the person experiencing these feelings believe it at the time of formication. So what we can do? Well, nothing, I can’t help you in that department. Usually, these experiences will go on their own, sometimes it’s a sign of something different, and then medication will need to be given for X, Y and Z. I will, however, give you a few tips.

Don’t scratch or slap away the bugs. This is because scratching damages your skin, over time, scratching can cause harm and hurt you. Formication can last for months even years, so the best thing to do is think twice before scratching yourself. Don’t put objects in places. Before I mentioned that I get mine crawling in my ears, well I put a pair of tweezers in my ear and perforated my eardrum. I can highly recommend not doing this. Putting objects in your body can cause harm to yourself, and won’t stop the problem, remember, it’s all in your head. Don’t cut holes in yourself to let the bugs have a way to get out. Self-mutilation is often a sign of a severe case of formication and usually that it’s gone further than anxiety. However, I understand the logic behind this, but it will not help, and the opening will get infected.

For more on mental health check out our medium page:

Innocuous
Innocuous is the place for poetry, short stories, mental health and self (used to be The Oracle Media)medium.com

Understanding your OCD
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is one of the most common disorders 1 in 40 adults in the U.S. is said to have it or have…medium.com

Always wanted to write about your experiences? Start here.

Writing and Submissions
Hello, and welcome to The Oracle Media.
If you don’t know already, we have Medium page. Submissions through Medium are…medium.com

Lust or Love

My feelings for you grow stronger
I can hide them no longer
A string between us
A line in the sand
What I want from you I can’t have
If this was hunger, I would forever wonder
When the fire falls from the clouds, a lighter is does not shine brighter
If I was one with you, you’d forever be hurting
If you lust for me. Trust in me
The truth will set you free, For me, it brings heartbreak or you on your knees
A brisk walk and I’m yours, the love between us shows no rights
Your height is wrong, I want your dong
Picking you up, I see our eyes touch
You say you miss my cleft chin, but you never remember your own lies
I see what you like and think I’m not right
If you want this hand, you better be a better man.
Reality makes a pair, your heart is in the right place, just I despair
You make sense In my life just, not in the way we both think
A hand in the right place is, is what I feel.
But our hands don’t connect.
Lust is luck with a few steps in the direction of love.

Smelly Dog

You are a man’s best friend,
You also stink to no end,
I waste my money,
Giving you toys’ that taste like honey
Where will this ridiculousness end?

You roll in poo,
So you smell like “wee yoo”
It’s not funny,
I’m running out of money,
To spend on your smelly end.

Incredibly clever, but eats shoes whenever,
Spitting them up, what a mucky mutt,
Raise you from a puppy,
It’s the reason you're so lucky,
You bossy thing,
Stop whining.

Food on a plate is a challenge to some,
But for you, it is just a bowl full of fun
I never meant to love you this much,
You're lucky you're more than a mutt.

Bent on destruction,
The only thing stopping you is something with suction,
Complaining all the time,
You know I love to whine
But you take a whole other direction.

Costume of life

We all wear faces,
We all wear masks,
Some of us viewed as a verse,
Whether they see us as weak or see us as strong,
Our outfits do no wrong.

Protection is a direction that we all take,
For many, this outfit comes with a cape,
A cape is strong, a cape is weak, but it protects what’s underneath.

October is the time we may all seek,
To show what persona we want to be at our peak,
This is not wrong, this is not right,
The world we see is more than a fright.

The 31st is one of these dates,
No one else will ever create,
We dream of witches; We dream of wizards,
We get a glimpse into what life isn't.

We'll hide behind masks,
It doesn't matter your name,
What you do, or even your fame
We look at those that we cherish,
And wonder what hides under that blemish.

Is it pain or anger that we all share,
That hides our very despair,
Under these costumes, we do not fright,
For their not living, they’re our lives.

I hope this poem has brought you some relief,
That we are all the same underneath.

The Cake Shop - Story time with Charlie

A steel door closes behind the young man as he whimpers to himself.
‘I was never meant to be here,’
As he looks around the cold freezer, he realises that his capturers own a cake shop. He looks for more cues, that will, hopefully, tell him more about the reason he has they have taken him. The cakes are all freshly made, apart from one. On a shimmering metal stand, with mesh to support the cakes adored it, he found a cue. The cake was in a box, a box that had a name on it. “The velvet dome”. He knew where he was; He was in Piccadilly Circus. He had been into this cake shop before. A kind Japanese lady worked behind the counter, and he always remembered the smell of freshly made icing. He didn’t know how long he would be there, fear that it could take days for him to see sunlight again.
His thoughts turned to who his capturers could be. Was the lovely Japanese lady actually not so lovely. Was she the one that had put him here, and if so, why? His thoughts quickly turned to something else, however. The call of nature. He walked to the back wall and sat down. He didn’t know how long he would be there. The urge would have to come at some point. He answered the call against the stone wall opposite to the door. Standing there with his right hand pinned against the icy wall he said to himself, “Casper, you need to pull yourself together if you want to get out of here.” He finished up and ripped off a small part of the box he had found earlier. He crumpled the card and wiped his hands with it. A sudden urge of hunger took over him. Cakes surrounded him, why wouldn’t he be able to eat them. Surely the people or persons that put him in here, realised that he would, at some point have to eat. He looked around, the cakes all looked so delicious. “which one do I pick, where do I start?”. He was expecting to be there for a while, so why didn’t he try all of them he thought. With that, he ran his hand across the now unboxed pink cake. “hmm strawberry” he gleamed. Next a brown one. “chocolate”. He then began to rip the sides out of all the cakes, ramming the frosting and cake into his open mouth.
Suddenly the steel door opens.
The lovely Japanese lady, standing with a face of pure anger.
“What are you doing in my walk-in fridge Casper,”.
Casper stuttered and then said, “You put me in here?!”
“To clean!”
“…”
“What the hell have you done with my cakes!” she peered around Casper “did you pee in my fridge?!” she looked down “oh my god, do up your fly!”
Casper, now mouth gaping “I can explain, I was trapped in here.”
The Japanese lady lost all emotion in her face. Casper thought, this is it, she’ll believe me.
“Did you even try the door handle!”

How the internet affects your identity

The internet. We mostly live in it. We wake up, check our Facebook profile or Instagram page, and as we turn over, we see our loved one doing the same. We go to work where most of us will be glued to a screen for most of the day while checking our device. Even things you didn’t know was a social media experience are now.
So what do you mean the internet affect my identity? I hear you say.
Well, dear reader let me explain. See your social media is fragmenting the way you imagine yourself. For example, all the cool young kids are on Instagram, so there you’ll want to be received as young and on-trend. Whereas on Facebook you have all your work colleagues and there you can’t be posting drunk selfies of yourself holding that kebab on the toilet at 5 am. It’s a hilarious picture, but you don’t feel that your boss and aunt Jean would feel the same. That is where you are splitting yourself, and this is where your consumer identity comes into play.

See Facebook knows you, knows you very well, and they know you love True Blood and are secretly in love with Joe Jonas. Yes, my search history may not give these things away to the untrained eye, but Facebook is watching.

Solomon, a leading expert in consumer psychology, says there are two identities that we have, our ideal self and our actual self. This concept means that we have only two personalities, one that we are and the one we want to be. Based on our real self we choose products that covert this identity, but we also buy other products to fit our ideal self. The difference between the products brought is that products we buy for our ideal self are necessary for this identity, they might base these on the people depicted in the advertising or as models of achievement or appearance. Sethna and Blythe expanded on this concept, and they say that five senses create someone’s identity. Sight (what we wear and how we look for example, makeup, etc.), hearing (what accent we have, what words we use), smell (if we wear perfume or deodorant), touch (the texture of our skin, whether we wear clothes that are silky or rough) and taste (mouth wash or lipstick). We can achieve most of these senses through a product or service.
May all sound fine, but when we split our identity, it makes it harder to feel things. We ground our selves by finding what is real in life. Social media isn’t that. Two hundred eighty characters do not constrict you in real life, you are not put in a 1080p box, and you’re not subject to community guidelines. But exposure to your personality is online. You sell yourself, your identity to these platforms. Even Medium is a social media. I’m putting a part of my personality into this very post.
Don’t define yourself, by the pictures you post and the statuses you write. It’s very well and good to write something that one person sees. Your identity is what is being sold back to you, and the restrictions that are brought into the creation of your identity online will never reflect you as a person. Online social media can reflect no one’s true identity, and that is why we split ourselves.
Next time you post that picture, just think to yourself, what side of myself do I show? And do I want to be more open with whom I am on social media or do I want to be closed? These are questions you should ask yourself.

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The Oracle Media covers everything from self to gaming

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Today is a sad day, but also a happy one. We're moving to a new domain with a new name will be The Oracle Media. This means we don't sound like a bloody boy band anymore. It also means that we can bring you more personal content than before.

Our new logo is below:

We'll still bring you the content you know, just under a different name with a different logo, at a different address.

Hearing voices and how to deal with them

Voices, the word that people shy away from telling you because they fear your reaction. Voices are hard to deal with, whether they be internal or external, or whispering or across the room. Some people love them, but most find them scary. Whether you think they’re the devil or believe, they can see the future, they’re not an experience most people get.

My friend hears them all the time, but I luckily only hear them when I’m ill. Mine are both cross the room and whispering. They usually lead to delusions. So what advice can I give you? Well, that depends. Are the voices brief, or are they prolonged? If they are fleeting, just take a deep breath, kindly ask the person you're with to stop speaking. I know it can cause distress but say to yourself, these voices are not real, I know they’re not real. If they still continue, go to the bathroom and drink a glass of water. Focus on the water, ask yourself questions about the water. For example, feel the cold (or warm) water run down your throat and ask yourself questions like, whether the water that you are drinking was drunk by one of your favourite celebrities or your favourite historical figure. Remember, there is only so much water in the world.

If the voices are more consistent, have a bath or a shower if the voices are still there, and you can hear them muffled from under the water then they are real and someone talking about you or to you. If you can again listen to them clearly as day and there is no change, they’re in your head and not real. These are hard to deal with because they know everything about you and can feed off that. The best way to deal with these is to tap on the chair, focus on your taps. Hear the echo they make, feel the echo. Close your eyes and focus on them. Count them if you have to.

The best advice I can give you is don't get too caught up in the voices. Just let them come and go. Eventually, you will find your own coupling techniques. I found, and most have my friends have found that the best one is the five senses. Counting five things you feel, taste, hear and see five times. That's the one I've tried to teach in this blog post.

Charlie Alexander Beaumont

Horrible Histories: Rotten Romans - Podcast

At first, I didn't like this podcast. It seemed too childish for any adult to listen to (and don’t forget adults will hear when their child are listening). Until chapter 5, this is the case. They set it at the beginning in the classroom, making fun of the teacher. It was very dull and bland. It was trying to be something it wasn’t, hilarious. After chapter 5, it all gets interesting, and you get taken through in time with voice actors. They tell you what sayings we have that the Romans also used and rank the Emperors in order of most foul behaviour. One such gent cut off the nose and ears of gladiators he met in the ring. It's not very long, about two hours it took me to listen to.

October 2019 - List of all games coming out this month and what is for the blog

The following games are coming out in October 2019:

Destiny 2: New Light [PC, PS4, XBO] – October 1
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep DLC [PC, PS4, XBO] – October 1
What The Golf? [PC] – October 1

Warsaw [PC] – October 2

Neo Cab [PC, Switch] – October 3
Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory [PC] – October 3

Ghost Recon Breakpoint [PC, PS4, XBO] – October 4
Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered [PC, PS4, XBO, Switch] – October 4

BurgerTime Party! [Switch] – October 8
Call of Cthulhu [Switch] – October 8
John Wick Hex [PC] – October 8
Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince [PC, PS4, XBO, Switch] – October 8
Trine: Ultimate Collection [PC, PS4, XBO, Switch] – October 8
World of Warcraft 15th Anniversary Collector’s Edition [PC] – October 8
Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair [PC, PS4, XBO, Switch] – October 8

Concrete Genie [PS4, PSVR] – October 9

Deliver Us The Moon [PC] – October 10
Tangle Tower [PC, Switch] – October 10

AeternoBlade 2 [PS4, XBO, Switch] – October 11
Frostpunk: Console Edition [PS4, XBO] – October 11
Grid [PC, PS4, XBO] – October 11
Killer Queen Black [Switch] – October 11

Children of Morta [PS4, XBO, Switch] – October 15
DayZ [PS4, XBO] (Retail) – October 15
Disco Elysium [PC] – October 15
Overwatch Legendary Edition [Switch] – October 15
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition [Switch] – October 15
Zombieland: Double Tap - Road Trip [PC, PS4, XBO, Switch] – October 15

The Fisherman: Fishing Planet [PC, PS4, XBO] – October 17
Kine [PC, PS4, XBO, Switch] – October 17
Monkey King: Hero is Back [PC, PS4] – October 17
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Complete Edition [PC, PS4] – October 17

Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville [Xbox One, PS4] – October 18
Apex Legends Bloodhound Edition [PC, PS4, XBO] – October 18
Apex Legends Lifeline Edition [PC, PS4, XBO] – October 18
Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure [PC, PS4, XBO, Switch] – October 18
Pig Eat Ball [PS4, XBO, Switch] – October 18
Raging Loop [PS4, Switch] – October 18
Ring-Con accessory [Switch] – October 18
Ring Fit Adventure [Switch] – October 18

Beholder 2 [PS4] – October 22
Forager [PS4, Switch] (Retail) – October 22
WWE 2K20 [PC, PS4, XBO] – October 22

Dusk Diver [PC] – October 24

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [PC, PS4, XBO] – October 25
Dusk Diver [PS4, Switch] – October 25
Killer Queen Black [Switch] (Retail) – October 25
MediEvil [PS4] – October 25
The Outer Worlds [PC, PS4, XBO] – October 25

Close to the Sun [PS4, XBO, Switch] – October 29
Disgaea 4 Complete+ [PS4, Switch] – October 29
Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and the Lion King [PC, PS4, XBO, Switch] – October 29
Resident Evil 5 [Switch] – October 29
Resident Evil 6 [Switch] – October 29
Resident Evil Triple Pack [Switch] – October 29
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD [PS4, XBO, Switch] – October 29
Yakuza 4 (The Yakuza Remastered Collection) [PS4] – October 29

Luigi's Mansion 3 [Switch] – October 31

The Podcasts this month will be:
Horrible Histories: Rotten Romans
Body Of Proof
More Bedtime Stories for Cynics

The Book review:
Homunculus: The Adventures of Langdon St Ives

Collateral beauty

Our life is so precious.
Yet every second of every day seems to be taken for granted?
The world is at a standstill when it comes to knowing what’s coming next.
Does no one know what is going on?
The PEOPLE of this planet are protesting against something our world leaders are refusing to take more action on.
Climate change
Trading of weapons
Poverty and the minimum wage
Homelessness
Do you get the picture?

The time we spend on earth is tiny compared to the size of our universe and still, we spend it wasting away because of some suits and ties acting as if they know what’s best for this planet?
Everything is economic growth.
Money, trading, wars and poverty for some.
Some get lucky enough to have a home and have the cash to afford a lavish lifestyle.
whereas some sleep in slums lost without mums or dads.
This isn’t some charity ad.
Though I wish I could help more.
This is a message.
Your life means so much.
The world you inherit means so much.

Just imagine the things we could achieve given a good leadership-driven toward peace and prosperity.
Instead of tyrants who lie to the monarch for the simple fact, he couldn’t handle his job.

Politics has always baffled me as I’m sure it confuses a lot of the younger generations. Our future is in “the mans” hands and, we’ve no say?
Look at human history.
We’ve powered in unity.
But unsurprisingly no one does anything?

Every other day I’m hearing about a stabbing in and around my area.
Are kids not able to go home to a warm bed, instead they lay dead?
And everyone continues on with life as if it means nothing?
A son isn’t coming home tonight.
His mother will probably lose sleep for weeks.
Someone’s in the hospital fighting for this very thing we should fight for, our lives.
We’ve always been told the future is what you make it.
What’ve we made it?
Besides for personal gain, people don’t seem to care a lot about anything else as long as they are happy right?

I guess the point I’d like to make is that everything you do is important even if it’s a mistake in life, it’s still important because it’s yours.
The person next to you is important too, they’ve felt the unbelievable pain just like you.
So say hello and just appreciate everything a little more
&
Fight climate change.

Love
Richard.JE.Stead

Psychosis: psyche, soul and mind

Psychosis, commonly referred to as a loss of reality. There are different types of psychosis diagnoses. For example, I talk about Formication and explain what it is. Here I will explain what psychosis is.

Psychosis affects 6% of the population. Some people that have it may never know that they have had it, and some will be moved into other care.

Psychosis is an umbrella term. It just means you experience things that are not real. There are many diagnoses that are under the terms psychosis. For example, we would consider someone with tactile hallucinations a psychotic. However, someone with schizophrenia may have more severe episodes than someone who only has one symptom.

My diagnosis is schizophrenia, I was first diagnosed at 19. It was all strange to me; I knew of schizophrenia, I just didn’t believe I had it. I wasn’t like the other I insisted. My friends were all terrified for me, and they too didn’t know what was happening. A lot of them now have left my life, mainly because they did not understand what I was going through. I wouldn’t talk, I’d just sit there. Staring at nothing, all the time in my head. My head was going through everything, collecting all this information and putting it together… I was working it all out! I was going insane.
The thing is with psychosis, you won’t just get it once. A full recovery from schizophrenia when I was 19, and I’ll get it again when I reach my 40s. That goes for most, not all the people.

I think what made me write this post is that 6% is so many people. Consider this, 8.136 million live in London. 6% of Londoners that will be psychotic in their lives is 488,160, and that’s in London alone. All these 488,160 will experience something that brings them together but in such different ways. Not one of those 488,160 people will have the same delusions, see the same thing or hear the same voice. Like all human’s what we take in and experience makes us an individual and psychosis is individual.

Charlie Alexander Beaumont

If you want help, and you live in the UK Samaritans number is 116 123

Innocuous

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