Religious delusions: Definition, diagnosis and clinical implications →

-QUARTERY JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION “Religious delusions may be presented in various ways and their contents differ. The following categories can be distinguished regarding the content of religious delusions: (1) Delusions of persecution (by the devil, demonic entities etc.) (2) Grandiose identity delusions (Messiah Syndrome, undertaking special mission) (3) Delusions of guilt or devaluation (unforgivable sins) (4) Delusions of control or passivity phenomena (5) Delusional misidentification syndrome or antichrist delusion (the delusional misidentification of oneself or others as the Antichrist, which, although relatively rare, is of particular clinical significance, because it is often accompanied by violent, mostly hetero-destructive, behaviors”
”Perhaps the most noticeable difference between a healthy religious person and a person with religious delusions is that the healthy person may consider that he/ she has a personal relationship with God, but this is in line with the teachings of his/her religion and in the way it is accepted to exist. In religiosity there is a religious connection with the “sacred” element, but it is generalizable. The believers do not consider that they have any special relationship with God, but that everyone is connected in some way with the divine. On the other hand, patients with delusions believe that they have a unique or privileged relationship with God, or even that they are the religious entities themselves. The self is the center of their religious delusions.”