It is thought that the physical symptoms that cause the anxiety are actually the cause of this additional health anxiety and delusion.

The person with anxiety, however, notices these symptoms and immediately think of the worst case scenario often jumping to serious medical conditions such as heart disease or lyme disease. It seems to have the highest prevalence in people who have panic attacks but is found across all forms of anxiety disorders.Ī person with anxiety is likely to be hyper-aware of every sensation in their body-ones that most people would usually dismiss if they even noticed them. This is a very common delusion that occurs in people with anxiety. A few examples of common delusions in people diagnosed with anxiety disorders are: 'There is Something Wrong With My Health' Those are paranoid delusions that often occur in mental health disorders that cause psychosis, and in these cases, the person will have lost touch with reality.ĭelusions related to anxiety are usually less intense and overall more benign. When discussion delusions most people think of a paranoid delusion such as believing that the CIA is monitoring your home or that aliens have abducted your parents. Delusions are most common in severe forms of anxiety but can be present in milder cases as well. People with anxiety who experience delusions also have a large variety of delusions. Different Anxiety = Different DelusionsĮach person with anxiety experiences it in a unique way with a different makeup of symptoms and worries. In fact, anxiety commonly causes delusional thinking, simply because of what it's like to deal with anxiety. When experiencing a delusion you are likely to “know” a fact to be true even if others have more proof that the fact is actually false.ĭelusions are linked directly to psychosis, but not all delusions are that extreme. Often these are beliefs that you hold despite considerable evidence to the contrary.

Paranoid delusions examples