Over recent decades a research programme involving nonclinical samples has provided a justification for the use of normalising practices within cognitive behaviour therapy for psychosis. These studies have found that, contrary to mainstream psychiatric assumptions, beliefs considered delusional are neither rare in the general population nor qualitatively different from “nondelusional” beliefs, whilst theories from a “normal” rather than “abnormal” psychology have shown them to be intelligible rather than un-understandable. Yet the programme’s inherent limitations have meant that the potential of nonclinical research has not been fully realised. An alternative research programme is proposed which could elucidate the diversity of belief in the general population by examining the role of social norms and lived belief narratives in unconventional belief communities. This could address the limitations of the normalising programme, provide a necessary corrective to the “clinician’s illusion” bias, and prompt a more fundamental reconceptualisation of beliefs considered delusional.

在最近的几十年中，一项涉及非临床样本的研究计划为在精神病认知行为疗法中使用规范化实践提供了依据。这些研究发现，与主流精神病学假设相反，被视为妄想的信念在普通人群中既不罕见，也与“非妄想”信念在质量上没有区别，而来自“正常”而非“异常”心理学的理论表明它们是可理解的而不是难以理解的。然而，该计划的固有局限性意味着尚未充分认识到非临床研究的潜力。提出了另一种研究计划，该计划可以通过研究社会规范和鲜活的信仰叙事在非常规信仰社区中的作用来阐明普通人群中信仰的多样性。这可以解决规范化程序的局限性，对“临床医生的幻想”偏见提供必要的纠正，并促使人们对被认为是妄想的信念进行更根本的重新概念化。