This is Nurse Apy with some quick practical tips on communicating with someone who has a serious mental illness! (SMI)

(Obviously the video is not a real patient, but I can’t show you a real patient and I stg this is actually pretty spot on.)

Delusions have a tendency to strengthen themselves when confronted. Instead of new observations or information weakening the belief, they’re usually incorporated into the delusional belief system. This means that when the person encounters that information or situation in the future, that information/situation will actually continually strengthen the belief. Don’t confront delusions; instead, redirect!

Try to redirect the conversation towards things that reconnect the person with the wider human community. Ppl with serious and ongoing delusions have a tendency to become progressively isolated from those around them. They want to talk about delusional topics, and most people only know how to confront them about something they can clearly see is untrue. This pushes the person further into their delusions to avoid conflict with those around them. This isolation also often leads to suicidal ideation, behavior, and completion, ppl w psychosis are some of the highest risks of suicide.

Ways you can try to connect with the person are as varied as humans themselves. As the person who actually knows and interacts with a given person, you are likely the most knowledgeable about what the best topic to do that is in a given situation. Common examples include sports, popular media, and hobbies like sewing, woodworking, or gardening. Bonus points if it’s related to a communal activity of some kind.

As an aside, this is a big reason q-anon rose to popularity during the pandemic and has remained entrenched ever since. It provided community where people were missing it, and we have a very confrontational and argumentative culture that often serves to strengthen ingrained belief systems like this.

TLDR: if you want to get your aunt off her q-anon roll, try to get her to go back to gardening club instead (preferably one that is not also q-anon-ers, a lot of people pushing it also understand these concepts).