History Main / YourMindMakesItReal

* Art is basically made by arranging lines, colors and shapes in such a way that the brain falsely perceves it as looking like the intended object(s) instead of the assorted lines and marks that it actually is. All art in general works like a complex optical illusion.

* In ''Film/{{Goosebumps}}'', the explanation for why all the monsters in R.L. Stine's books actually exist is that, when he was younger, Stine was so lonely that he would dream up monsters to terrorize those that bullied him, until eventually his belief in them became so strong that they literally leapt off the page.

* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' has Chuck [=McGill=], who claims to suffer from "electromagnetic hypersensitivity" – essentially, any kind of significant electromagnetic radiation, whether it be a lightbulb or a battery or whatever, causes him to suffer an apparent sensory overload or even a seizure. While he's right that he suffers from the condition, he's wrong about how it works. He insists it's a real physical condition with no cure, but it's actually a psychosomatic condition that happens to be able to manifest physically because he believes in it so strongly. In a number of episodes, it's shown that if Chuck isn't aware of a source of electricity, he doesn't suffer his symptoms because he doesn't realize he's supposed to be doing so. Much of the reason he sticks so fervently to this is that he doesn't want to be seen as "crazy"; he would rather be though of as laid low by an incurable illness than a mental disorder, so he lies to himself and refuses to see treatment or diagnosis for his condition, even though it's clearly not what he claims it to be.

* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'': Towards the end of the second StoryArc, Local Boy Genius Izzy figures out the Digital World is a world made out of the data of the world's network infrastructure and hence all the human protagonists are more than likely made of data in that world. Although he tells everyone to be careful in spite of this new development it doesn't sink in with Tai, the goggle boy leader of the group, and he starts acting like a jackass under the flawed logic that he'll somehow survive regardless of what happens. It takes Izzy telling him that he would more than likely die in both worlds if he messed up to put a stop to his nonsense. Unfortunately, this happens just after a member of the team is kidnapped and they're about to cross an electrified gate to go after her. He loses his bravado right there and the kidnapper gets away more or less scot-free, leading to a short term HeroicBSOD for Tai.
* ''Anime/DigimonTamers'': While in the Digital World, Henry and Takato manage to cross a massive expanse of water without drowning by convincing themselves that they would only drown if they ''thought'' they would.
* ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'': Played with when SixthRanger Kouichi's consciousness was pulled into the Digital World by the would-be BigBad Cherubimon. Because of this, he's technically not there, he only ''believes'' he's there. It begins to dawn on him that this might be the case when survives several [[CurbStompBattle curb stomp battles]] virtually unscathed while his friends get more and more roughed up. Although at the end, this turns out to be an even ''more'' convoluted usage when all of the hinting about the aforementioned results in Kouichi realizing that [[spoiler:he is actually ''dead'' in real life; he thus makes a HeroicSacrifice to combine his power with Kouji's to defeat Lucemon, under the justification that out of all of them, he's not really alive in the first place. ThePowerOfFriendship saves him, in the end; this ''is'' ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'', after all]].

* ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' is the {{Trope Namer|s}}. Judging from Morpheus's words (which incidentally make up the trope name ''and'' quote), this is presumably {{hand wave}}d by the fact that the Matrix simulation overwrites reality for your brain, hence your brain ''shuts off'' because it's being force-fed the sensation of death. Whether or not it was purposely designed to do so is never stated, though either way, the [[AIIsACrapshoot Machines]] sure wouldn't want to change it.

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'', this is the power of the Stand "Death 13": it pulls its victims into a dream of an amusement park and then kills them while they're trying to figure it out. In a later example in ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusadersStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'' the trope is used to make people believe [[spoiler:that they are snails due to subliminal messaging]]. Yeah, didn't make all that much sense in context, either.

* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', this is the power of the Stand "Death 13": it pulls its victims into a dream of an amusement park and then kills them while they're trying to figure it out. In a later example in the same series, the trope is used to make people believe [[spoiler:that they are snails due to subliminal messaging]]. Yeah, didn't make all that much sense in context, either.

'''Morpheus:''' Your mind makes it real.\\

Compare PuffOfLogic and MagicFeather. Contrast with VisibleToBelievers. See also SelfInflictedHell.

* In Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/{{It}}'' the "it" is an EldritchAbomination [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm whose true form cannot be comprehended]] and uses the worst fears of its victims to kill them. "It" preys on children because [[InvisibleToAdults adults]] are too closed minded to believe what they see.

* [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos The Slender Man]] is theorized to have been created by this, coupled with lots of stories so the universe can fit him into history. Some people have recently begun to theorize, mostly because of the Slender Man stabbing incidents coupled with unusual occurrences in their general area (i.e. Children playing outside in the middle of the night) that [[OhCrap this]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero theory]] [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve was]] ''[[RealAfterAll correct.]]''

** Played with in ''Literature/{{Mort}}'', when Mort questions whether humans can be shaped by belief in the same way as gods and AnthropomorphicPersonifications, Cutangle points out that if a guard believed Mort was a burglar, that belief would kill Mort as surely as if he actually was one.

* In a ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}''-based webcomic called ''Webcomic/MetroidThirdDerivative'', Samus is "uploaded" to the Space Pirates' main computer, and put into a training simulation by a mostly-friendly pirate. Samus asks the Pirate, "And I suppose if I die here I die in the real world too?" The Pirate answers, "What? No. That's stupid and completely defeats the point of virtual training." To which she replies, "Chalk up a rare victory for common sense then."

* Played with in ''VideoGame/Psychonauts2''. During one boss battle (which, like much of the game, takes place in the psychic landscape inside someone's mind), one of your fellow interns, who has been taken hostage, shouts that you need to save them because if you die in someone's mind... you ''[[PottyFailure pee your pants]]''.

* In ''Film/StayAlive'', a group of beta testers realize that they are slowly dying off one by one in the exact same fashion that their avatars in [[TheMostDangerousVideoGame the game]] they are testing die. It is later revealed that playing this game summons the ghost of a sociopathic killer who delights in killing you in the most horrendous ways possible.

** On the flipside, this "positive-attitude cures you" claim is often used as an [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming excuse]] to [[TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong shame a patient for voicing their discomfort and displeasure]] and admonishing them to stop wallowing in "self-pity". Barbara Ehrenreich has written a book about the misuse of positive thinking, especially where it concerns cancer: it's called ''Bright-Sided''.

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* ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'': In "The Fear", ComicBook/TheScarecrow makes Franchise/WonderWoman hallucinate that TheWallsAreClosingIn. She tries to hold back the imaginary walls but can't. Scarecrow comments that her body will feel like it is actually being crushed and suffocated. Wonder Woman gasps for air and passes out.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', Robin is [[spoiler:exposed to a hallucinogen that causes him to see and fight Slade]], and received real injuries as a result. Whether or not those injuries were an example of this, or merely him beating himself up while hallucinating, is not entirely explained.
-->'''Raven:''' "I don't know if he's real or not. But he's real to Robin, and that's all that matters."

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', this is what happens in the episode "Failsafe" when it was supposed to be [[spoiler: [[UnwinnableTrainingSimulation a mental simulation]]]] that had GoneHorriblyWrong. It went FromBadToWorse when M'Gann [[spoiler: was so overcome by Artemis' "death"]] that she unintentionally rewrote everyone's memories so that the team [[spoiler: forgot it was a training exercise and slipped into a real coma when they "died"]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': Played straight when the Riddler hooked Commissioner Gordon up to a virtual reality computer program that could do such a realistic ''simulation'' of high-G loads, that Gordon's physical body would think it really ''was'' happening and suffer cardiac arrest. In the same episode, Riddler himself gets his brain fried when the computer crashes while he's still hooked to it.

* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'':
** {{Discussed|Trope}} in ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' after [[spoiler: it's revealed that everyone has been inside a virtual reality the entire time. The people who died aren't ''actually'' dead, but having their avatars deleted caused their real brains to shut down, rendering them comatose]].
--->'''Sonia:''' “In a distant country, there was a certain experiment carried out on one of their prisoners. The prisoner was blindfolded, strapped to a bed, and had small wounds applied to his toes to drain his blood. That prisoner was left alone in the experiment room, as the sound of dripping blood echoed throughout the room. But in fact, his blood was not being drained. He was just forced to listen to the sound of dripping water, but he believed he was bleeding to death. However, in spite of that, the prisoner still died.”
** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'': Comes into play again during Chapter 4 when [[spoiler:the group enters a VR simulation, and Miu's avatar is strangled to death. When the others wake up, she's clutching at her throat, and been rendered brain dead]].