You are assessing a patient's strongly held belief and want to establish whether it is an overvalued idea. Before revealing the answer, decide what you would explore.

Explore the history of how the belief developed, since an overvalued idea tends to have a more gradual onset than a delusion. Assess the plausibility of the content and whether it has some genuine basis in reality, rather than being wholly implausible. Gently test the person's openness to discussing alternative perspectives on the belief, since somewhat greater openness to outside opinion is characteristic, though this openness can still be limited — a person can hold an overvalued idea with strong conviction while remaining marginally more willing to engage with other views than someone holding a true delusion. Explore, too, what emotional significance the idea holds for the person, since the associated feeling, rather than pure logic, is often what keeps the idea so persistently dominant.