I thought I’d share some tips I’ve learned that help me recognize delusional beliefs. Things to look out for
-Simplest one. Would other people find these beliefs strange? If yes, it’s probably a delusion.
-Do the beliefs have “every time I do this, x happens?” Anything with a “every time” statement you should be skeptical of because it is very unlikely that something happens EVERY time. ex. Every time I’m mad, there is a storm–>I must control the weather with my emotions. I can guarantee in this case a storm does not happen every single time you are upset. You can challenge these beliefs by specifically looking for times when what you thought would happen does not happen and then logging them ex. I am upset today but the weather is nice–> my moods don’t actually affect the weather
-Conditional beliefs. This means there are a lot of conditions attached. “I have this power or ability but i can’t prove it and use it right now because x”, an example of this is “I am a werewolf but I can’t turn into one because it’s against monster laws to reveal myself so there is magic that prevents me from doing so”. Conditions are a way for your brain to try to protect your beliefs even when you don’t have any evidence for them. They are fake explanations and can become incredibly convoluted and in my opinion are the main culprit for keeping people trapped in delusion.
Those are a few of my findings. Feel free to share your own!