 Rokeach got the idea from an article in "Harper's Magazine" describing two women who both believed they were the Virgin Mary.After being assigned as psychiatric hospital roommates, one of the women recovered from her delusion as a result of conversations with the roommate and was discharged.Rokeach was also influenced by Cesare Beccaria's essay "On Crimes and Punishments", concerning the subject of Simon Morin, who was claimed to have been potentially cured in a similar way.