Persecutory mania: what is it, symptoms, causes and treatment

A delusion is an idea that a person maintains over time that is clearly false. The delusional person has a firm belief in something, despite evidence or logic contradicting his or her thinking. Persecutory delusions are one of the most common types of delusions.

When someone experiences persecutory delusions, they believe that someone or something wants to harm them. Delusional disorders are included in the main diagnostic manuals, such as the DSM-5, and are considered mental illnesses.

People who have delusions of persecution, as in the rest of delusional disorders, base their fear on irrational beliefs and evidence, instead of true and verifiable facts. This is a sign or symptom of mental illness, not personal choice.

Persecutory delusions are a type of paranoid thinking. They often indicate an underlying mental illness, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or post-traumatic stress disorder.

• Related article: "The 8 types of Psychotic Disorders"

What is persecution mania?

In its most severe form, persecution mania is considered a mental illness, which is part of delusional disorders. People who suffer from delusions of persecution, an image that someone or something wants to inflict some kind of serious harm on them, such as kidnapping, imprisoning or even killing them.

The need to protect themselves from the people or group of people who want to harm them it can cause those suffering from persecution mania to commit various recklessness, such as spending huge amounts of money or using violence in order to defend themselves and stay safe.

This disorder, like other mental illnesses, is an exaggeration of a personality trend. In the case of persecution mania, this personality trait is quite common in undiagnosed people.

People consider themselves, on many occasions, victims of all kinds of offenses and complain about the treatment they receive from the rest of the world. This type of thinking is a lesser form of unhappiness, which can be improved if the person understands that the problem starts with them, and not with the lack of kindness of others.

Though the idea of ​​"going for me" it is a fairly frequent false belief, when we talk about persecution mania, we refer to delusions of persecution that are considered a true mental illness and have a serious impact on the lives of the people who care for them. suffer. Delusions are usually a sign of a disorder that needs to be treated by a mental health specialist.

Differences in environment, past experiences, and other factors cause each person to experience persecutory delusions differently. Some examples of these delusions are believing that the government is trying to frame them for something they haven't done, or that someone wants to catch them. These paranoid thoughts differ from normal suspicions or doubts because they do not change even when shows that they are completely false: delusions are not modified by facts or rational arguments that refute

• You may be interested: "Cognitive psychology: definition, theories and main authors"

Causes of persecution mania

Persecutory delusions often occur in people with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder (during manic episodes), or severe depression accompanied by psychosis.

Also may indicate that the person has delusional disorder (an illness consisting of at least one month of delusions and no other psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations). People with dementia can also develop delusions, between 2 and 3 out of 10 people diagnosed with dementia, experience delusions with the development of the disease.

Delusional disorders are much less common than other psychotic mental illnesses. It is estimated that only 0.2% of the population suffers from delusional disorders.

Psychosis can have different origins: childhood trauma, social factors, genetic or biological factors. Part of the biological factors include chemical imbalances and the consumption of alcohol or other substances.

Some studies have indicated that childhood trauma it can cause paranoia, and evidence has been found that movies, books, and other elements of pop culture can heighten or incite persecutory delusions. People who have family members with schizophrenia or other delusional disorders are also more likely to develop delusional disorder.

• Related article: "Deliriums: what they are, types and differences with hallucinations"

Symptoms of persecution mania

There are some commonalities in terms of feelings, thoughts, and behavior among people with persecutory delusions. It is not clear if these factors are at the origin of persecutory delusions, or if persecutory delusions are responsible for these behavioral characteristics.

1. worry and rumination

People who have delusions of persecution are continually worried. Many studies have shown that people who have persecutory delusions worry in a similar way to people diagnosed with anxiety disorders.

Excessive worry and ideas that things are going to go wrong may accompany the belief that one is being persecuted. One study found that worry often comes before persecutory delusions.

Treating underlying anxiety has been shown to help reduce persecutory delusions. People who learn to worry less are better able to manage delusions and their behavioral manifestations.

• You may be interested: "Rumination: The Annoying Vicious Circle of Thinking"

2. Negative thoughts

People with a tendency to negative thoughts, who experience feelings of inferiority and vulnerability and feel different from others. They are exposed to greater chances of developing paranoia.

One study examined more than a hundred psychotic patients over the course of a year. The researchers found that the thoughts the subjects had about themselves, feeling inferior or vulnerable, increased the likelihood that they would suffer from paranoid delusions.

The researchers also noted that people who have paranoid delusions have a tendency to be overly critical and hard on themselves. In contrast, self-compassion has been shown to have positive effects on delusional disorders, decreasing paranoid thoughts.

• Related article: "Cognition: definition, main processes and functioning"

3. interpersonal problems

People who have paranoid delusions are more likely to feel vulnerable in the presence of others, because they fear being criticized or rejected. Also tend to think that neutral actions and words are meant to be negative. People who are highly sensitive to interpersonal relationships also tend to have higher levels of anxiety and depression.

4. Abnormal internal experiences

Sometimes people who have been experiencing internal sensations that make them feel unstable (for example, unexplained anxiety, depersonalization, or perceptual disturbances) will misinterpret events external. Some research has shown that misinterpretations of external events in persecutory delusions only occur if an altered internal state is present.

For example, in the case of anxiety. A person experiencing inner nerve sensations or physical symptoms such as shortness of breath may interpret the inner state as the consequence of being persecuted. In these cases, it is common to blame the environment for the feelings that one experiences.

5. Insomnia

Good sleep hygiene can help reduce paranoia. According to some studies, paranoid ideation increased threefold in people who had insomnia, and it is also related that lack of sleep negatively contributes to existing paranoia, causing it to continue.

Insomnia is a treatable condition, helping people sleep better may be crucial in treating delusional disorders and reducing persecutory delusions.

• You may be interested: "Insomnia: what is it and how it impacts our health"

6. irrational thoughts

One study revealed that people who have persecutory delusions are more likely to hasty conclusions. People who jump to conclusions, make their decisions with little information and are very impulsive. They have a tendency to suffer from delusions to a greater or lesser extent. For example, they may believe that a person holding a phone is taking a photo of them or that a group of unknown people are laughing at them, although this is unlikely.

People who jump to conclusions typically have lower IQs, poorer memory for work, handle uncertainty worse and worry more and more frequently than people who do not suffer from delusions of persecution.

Treatment of delusions of persecution

There is no single treatment that works for all types of mental illness; each requires a different approach. In the case of persecutory delusions, it is sometimes necessary to treat previous trauma or insomnia, or sometimes the goal of therapy is reduce anxiety. A recent study found that when therapists reduced patients' anxiety, they also experienced a decrease in the number and frequency of persecutory delusions.

Conductive-behavioral therapy (CBT) It is the basis of the treatment of most disorders and diseases that affect mental health. Depending on the illness, antipsychotics, antidepressants, or other mood-stabilizing medications may be used along with CBT.

In the case of delusional disorders, support services, such as help with housework and payment, may also be needed of bills, as some people who experience delusions may have trouble coping with life and tasks everyday.

Sometimes people with delusions do not trust doctors, they think that they love them too harm them or are part of the people who conspire against them, which can make treatment difficult. In the most severe cases, a delusional person needs to be hospitalized to better control all symptoms.