Querulance: what it is, symptoms, and treatment

“Querulante” is a term that comes from the Latin “querulus” which means “complaining”. With this terminology we can refer to an individual without mental health problems who shows a tendency to seek a lawsuit, either through a confrontation in the field of justice or not.

On the other hand, we could also refer to another person who has a hostile reaction and pathological because she considers herself wronged, and feels that she attaches too much importance to the damage caused.

So that, Let's see what querulance is from the perspective of psychology and psychiatry and why it can become a psychopathology that deserves to be treated by a mental health professional.

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What is querulance?

Non-pathological querulance (it could also be called "normal") has to do with the attitude of a persistent, stubborn and stubborn individual becausealways want to be right or always wanting to get away with it.

In these cases, the action and posture of the querulant subject always reaches an intensity that is limited, without becoming overwhelming or disruptive and there is an instance where it puts a damper on the situation and stops the escalation of the problem. confrontation.

This control or limit does not happen in the same way in a person with pathological affliction. And it is that in extreme cases, the complaining person may become so because of a mental disorder.

The DSM-5 is a diagnostic and statistical manual that is updated over the years, which classifies existing mental disorders and details their typical symptoms. Within the manual it is understood that the querulant delirium remains within a persecutory delirium Without mentioning it conceptually, previously in the manuals of previous versions the term querulant paranoia appears punctually with its conceptual framework; however, in DSM-5 this is no longer the case.

Psychotic Disorder, Querulant Disorder, Querulant Paranoid Disorder, or Querulant Delusion? All the names refer to the same pathology. According to the DSM-IV classification, the central idea of ​​the subject who suffers from it has to do with the belief you have been deceived, spied on, followed, slandered, persecuted, or sabotaged in relation to your long-term goals term.

Usually, the core of the delusional idea is some injustice that must be corrected through legal action and the person suffering from it may have repeated attempts to obtain satisfaction by appealing to the institutional bodies that dispense justice. People who have developed this alteration are irritable and can react violently towards those people who they believe are causing or harming them.

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What is querulancia from the psychiatric approach?

The querulancia from the approach of psychiatry is a mental characteristic of individuals suffering from querulous delusion.

The complainant or pathological complainant is a type of person who needs psychiatric care, since he is a subject who Presents reports, complaints, accusations and legal disputes on a constant basis, being a problematic person for the entities in charge of administering justice and for those around her.

In other words, quarrelsomeness is one more characteristic of the subject's behavior and can be a pathological trait that can occur in a personality disorder, or various disorders mental. That is, it is not a mental disorder, but one of its effects.

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The complaining paranoia

The ICD 10 is a manual for the classification of physical and mental illnesses prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO), and classifies complainant paranoia with code (F22.8).

It is worth specifying that the ICD and DSM diagnostic and classification manuals consider this mental disorder within their diagnostic and classification manuals. Of course, there is a bit of variation in any case when naming it, as we have already seen when reviewing the different names used to call the same phenomenon.

querulant paranoid disorder

On the other hand, querulant paranoid disorder is a psychiatric and psychological difficulty that is within the paranoid personality disorders. It may be that in various other personality disorders querulance can be given; however, it is not so accentuated in these psychopathologies, with the specific disorder prevailing.

This form of presentation of the complaint has been cataloged by various authors from the perspective of law, within legal psychopathologies, which consists of a set of dysfunctional behaviors of the individual motivated by a mental disorder, and that cause a considerable incidence in the administration of Justice.

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Characteristics of a person with querulant disorder

This people show a pattern of suspicion and mistrust, so that they consider that they are always "the good guys", and everything that happens or belongs to the outside is classified as bad, unfair. These people have problems in their work, social, personal and family relationships, fight for the supposed just cause can lead them to real and extreme situations such as losing their job, abandonment of family obligations, among others.

Who suffers from the querulant's delusion? Most of them are people who are seen as arrogant, and who resort very frequently and insistently to the courts that impart justice, overflowing common sense. In addition to this, these "quarrelsome" people spend their desire, time and money trying to make their point of view prevail, which is not profitable.

This picture, due to the nature of its complexity, does not tend to occur in children or adolescents. The population group that mostly presents it are adults..

Complaint and judicial psychology

In cases of legal material, we can identify limited disability sentences, these being justified by the presence of a querulous delusion, which deprive the patient of the ability to act in jurisdictional trials and in lawsuits or administrative claims.

In cases like this, a specialist is appointed to be able to treat this psychopathology, and in turn it is sought that the patient receives the indicated treatment.

Many patients who tend to have these difficulties present self-harm in the form of threats, hunger strikes, denunciations of all type to government agencies and are even aggressive with all those workers who belong to an entity that imparts Justice.

Treatment

These people with querulant paranoid disorder deserve a mental evaluation by a mental health professional, either a psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist. However, it is important to point out that these people they are not very open and it is difficult to encourage them to go through a psychotherapeutic treatment. Added to this, the vast majority of patients who suffer from this picture have a great complex that makes it difficult to reform, change or transform their mental schemes.

It is important that the person suffering from this alteration goes through treatment and follow-up by of professionals who are trained and specialized in being able to promote the improvement of your health mental. Mainly, the psychologist will play a very important role in the treatment of this difficulty. The psychiatrist will also provide support through pharmacological treatment. Together, these two professionals must carry out interdisciplinary work that goes beyond mitigating symptoms.