Experiential Beliefs

Experiential beliefs are one of the two sources of beliefs that go on to form our core beliefs.

They are beliefs that are formed as the result of our own, personal experiences.

If as a youngster, for example, you put your hand into an open fire whilst you were exploring your surroundings, you will undoubtedly have been burnt.

Using this experience, you will have formed a belief about fire, probably that fire is hot and should be avoided if possible.

This belief, that fire is hot and dangerous, would be classified an an experiential belief – you had the experience of being burnt by fire.

Any belief that you hold that is the direct result of your own experience can be classified as an experiential belief.

Non-experiental beliefs

You may have a belief that fire is hot and should be avoided without ever having had any direct experience of being burnt.

You may have been given this belief from any number of alternative sources:

• Your parents.
• Your friends.
• Your school.
• From the TV.
• From a book.
• and so on ….

On the surface, the belief that fire is hot and should be avoided looks the same regardless of the source from which it was derived.

However, there is a fundamentally important difference between the two sources of beliefs:

Beliefs that you develop without the direct experience are socially acquired beliefs – they are NOT yours they are somebody else’s.

Most of us believe that the Earth is spherical even though most of us have never been able to see the Earth from space in order to be able to say we saw it with our own eyes – it is NOT an experiential belief but one that has been ‘given’ to us!

Arrange your FREE initial consultation here.

If you’d like to find out more about experiential beliefs or recovering from any of your mental health problems then why not arrange a free initial consultation with us.

During this consultation we will discuss your particular issues and the different types of mental health counselling we offer (including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – CBT) without you having to commit to any counselling going forward.

The consultation lasts around 50 minutes and is a great opportunity to meet with either Paul or Joan and decide if you would like to proceed with any support.