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Delusions can deeply distort faith, making it feel like a source of danger instead of comfort.

Many experience hyperreligious delusions but often feel isolated and alone in them.

While faith may be a liability during these breaks, it may also be key to spiritually surviving psychosis.

Many of my delusions and associated hallucinations revolved around classic narratives of schizophrenia: I thought my hospital room was bugged with surveillance, I thought someone was controlling my mind, and I thought there was a conspiracy to kill me. Common and less talked about, however, are hyperreligious delusions.[1] The American Psychological Association defines them as “any delusion associated with religious beliefs and grandiose ideas with religious content. Delusional ideation frequently includes beliefs that the individual is the embodiment of a notable religious figure, such as a messiah or prophet, and that they possess special powers, such as the ability to cure all illness.”[2] Examples of my hyperreligious delusions include: being put to life-threatening tests by God to prove my faith; thinking I’m the Antichrist; and drawing a demon on paper, losing its grip on me and falling into the abyss in an art class on the ward.

I spoke on a panel at an annual conference for the National Alliance on Mental Illness North Carolina a few years ago on the topic of spirituality and mental illness.[3] I mentioned that I had hyperreligious breaks, and a woman came up to me and said that it meant everything to her that I brought that up because she agreed that no one talks about them.

My Faith Used Against Me

I grew up in the church, and for most of my life, I have been a devout Christian. It’s impossible not to wonder: Is it because I was already religious that I was capable of having such........

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