I have gotten laughs at the expense of persons convinced of chemtrails, repressed cancer cures, and smart meters tracking their movements. And I had an especially good chortle when an online poster deduced the diabolical nature of NASA. He noted mission controllers often employ the term “T-minus,” and when one adds that ‘T’ to NASA, then rearranges the consonants, it becomes SATAN. It would also work as SANTA, and top-secret warp speed devices would help deliver a world’s supply of toys in one night.

Not funny, however, is the plight of those who are not paranoid about the government in a generic sense, but according to the clinical definition of the word. A subset of these persons refer to themselves as Targeted Individuals. The usually suspect the targeting to be coming from the government, although others think it’s Free Masons, Illuminati, Jews, or aliens. Whatever the source, the key point is that they believe their minds and bodies are being controlled by external nefarious forces. Though going by the moniker Targeted Individuals, these persons come together online and in conferences, which allows communal reinforcement to strengthen their delusions.

Conservative estimates have at least 10,000 persons suffering from this, and the Daily Beast documented one such victim, Cheryl Welsh. She was a college freshman when she began suspecting that electrical appliances were being remotely controlled to torment her. She observed that telephones, cars, streetlights typewriters, and televisions would stop working at times they would most cause the most disruption. What most persons would see as a power outage or mechanical malfunction becomes a coordinated attack from a powerful malevolent entity to those suffering from paranoid schizophrenia or similar conditions. Similarly, what most people known is a horn honking is, to the Targeted Individuals, a message to a member of Stalking Gangs, their term for agents out to get them. And while the Stalking Gang is usually faceless, it can manifest itself in more concrete forms. That new Human Resources director might really be a CIA agent dispatched to keep closer tabs on you.

The Daily Beast also profiled Kevin Bond, who believes an implanted microchip controls his thoughts and actions. A third person was convinced his brain is manipulated by electronic frequencies coming from a nearby government installation.

When friends or family members attempt to help these sufferers, it is often interpreted as the would-be benefactors being in on the plot. And good luck getting them to take any medication they feel comes from Big Brother’s pharmaceutical wing. These attempts to help fuels further paranoia, which is made even worse when online advice to suffers includes, “Do not visit a psychiatrist.”

While there are efforts made to counter this online, this also is usually futile. Some persons seek online reassurance that their anorexia is beneficial or investigate ways to commit suicide. But those same searches will also yield counterpoints. The same is true for those suffering this stalking syndrome, but those persons are likely to deduce that the counterpoints were planted by gang members.

A century ago, persons suffered similar delusions centering on crankshafts and gears instead of microchips and rays. Five hundred years before that, the thoughts were presumed to be coming from the devil. While that idea is not extinct, these days it’s more like to be Democrats instead of demons, Senators instead of Satan. This is consistent with an era technological advancements, eavesdropping, the Patriot Act, and NSA abuse.

Certainly, attempting to harness mind control is not beyond the federal government. The CIA’s infamous MK Ultra program had agents give LSD-spiked drinks to unsuspecting human guinea pigs as part of just such an experiment. Also, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research tested whether pulsed microwaves could be used to transmit words to a subject’s brain.

So research may be ongoing and perhaps even a product has been developed. But that’s a long ways from there being evidence that evil overlords are targeting 10,000 everyday citizens.

For those convinced this is happening, there are electronic shields available. One merchant touts his products’ ability to “end electronic harassment and protect against implants, radiation, and voice/data/image induction that is intended to make an individual think they have a mental illness. Any directed energy attack is deflected off this energy field, giving the targeted individual the ability to get ongoing relief.”  

One of his competitors, Total Security Inc., reassures prospective customers, “You’re not crazy! We listen and care.” This compassion manifests in the form of “non-invasive body scans to identify implanted microchips and other forms of electronic tracking chips.” Never addressed is how many chips they’ve found.

Meanwhile, the QuWave Defender is said to generate a Scalar Wave Field intended to “interfere with harmful rays, reduce the effect and functioning of implants, and act as a barrier to psycho-electronic harmful signals aimed at the individual.”

The paranoia these companies are targeting is occasionally an issue. Many customers refuse to allow the company to use the United States Postal Service, which surely is part any plot. Others demand tamper resistant seals. All of this raises the question: If forces are controlling the person’s mind, why would those forces allow the mind to order products intended to stop the control?

The president of StopBeamWeapons.com, which offers a magnet shield to “minimize partial brain disablement from covert anti-brain beam weapons,” admits his customers “oftentimes can’t really articulate what they’re trying to shield from.”

That’s because it’s all in their minds and these persons deserve sympathy and access to therapy, not unscrupulous offers to fix it with a Buck Rogers Ray-Gun Deflector.