Normally, conspiracy theorists tend to be just as sane as the general public, but a researcher thinks that QAnon followers may be an exception, citing frequent posts revealing mental health diagnoses, and that 68% of arrested Capitol rioters received one. theconversation.com/many-qanon-fol…
Of course, this doesn’t mean almost 7 in 10 QAnon followers have a mental illness or that 44% had one prior to discovering it because the rioters are a pretty extreme convenience sample. But combined with frequent self-admissions of DSM V diagnoses, this data is concerning.
Nearly 1 in 4 Americans has some sort if mental health diagnosis, often anxiety or depression. As the stress from the pandemic and festering systemic problems mounts, that number is bound to keep climbing, which might mean more QAnons and more violent self-radicalization.
It seems like getting a better understanding of QAnon adherents and their mental states should be a priority. If it really is an exception among conspiracy theories and tends to attract a lot of mentally ill people, we’ll need to rethink how to snap its followers back to reality.
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