Persecutory Mania: What It Is, Symptoms, Causes And Treatment
A delusion is an idea that a person maintains over time and that is clearly false. The delusional person has a firm belief in something, even though evidence or logic contradicts his thinking. Persecutory delusions are one of the most common types of delusions.
When someone experiences delusions of persecution, they believe that someone or something wants to harm them. Delusional disorders are included in major diagnostic manuals, such as the DSM-5, and are considered mental illnesses.
People who have delusions of persecution, as in other delusional disorders, base their fear on irrational beliefs and evidence, rather than on true and verifiable facts. This is a sign or symptom of mental illness, not a personal choice.
Persecutory delusions are a type of paranoid thinking. They usually indicate an underlying mental illness, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or post-traumatic stress disorder.
In its most serious form, persecution mania is considered a mental illness, which is part of delusional disorders. People who suffer from delusions of persecution, the image that someone or something wants to inflict some type of serious harm on them, such as kidnapping them, imprisoning them, 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 who suffer from persecution mania to commit various reckless things, such as spending enormous amounts of money or using violence in order to defend themselves and be safe.
This disorder, like other mental illnesses, is an exaggeration of a personality tendency. In the case of persecution mania, this personality trait is quite common in undiagnosed people.
People often consider themselves 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 minor form of unhappiness, which can improve if the person understands that the problem begins with them, and not with the unkindness of others.
Although the idea of “they are coming for me” It is a fairly common false belief. When we talk about persecutory mania, we are referring to delusions of persecution that are considered a true mental illness and have a serious impact on the lives of people who suffer from them. 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 is out to get them. These paranoid thoughts differ from normal suspicions or doubts because they do not change even when they are proven to be completely false: delusions are not modified by facts or rational arguments that refute them.
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 suffers from a delusional disorder (an illness that consists of at least one month of delusions and where other psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations, do not occur). People with dementia can also develop delusions; between 2 and 3 in 10 people diagnosed with dementia experience delusions as the disease develops.
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 can cause paranoia, and evidence has been found that movies, books, and other elements of pop culture can increase or incite persecutory delusions. People who have family members with schizophrenia or other delusional disorders also have a higher chance of developing a delusional disorder.
Symptoms of persecution mania
There are some commonalities in terms of feelings, thoughts and behavior among people who suffer from persecutory delusions. It is not clear whether these factors are at the origin of persecutory delusions, or whether persecutory delusions are responsible for these behavioral characteristics.
1. Worry and rumination
People who have delusions of persecution are constantly 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 can accompany the belief that one is being persecuted. One study found that worry often comes before persecutory delusions.
It has been shown that treating underlying anxiety can help reduce persecutory delusions. People who learn to worry less can better manage delusions and their behavioral manifestations.
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.
Researchers also pointed out that people who have paranoid delusions have a tendency to be overly critical and harsh with themselves. On the contrary, self-compassion has been shown to have positive effects on delusional disorders, decreasing paranoid thoughts.
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 They tend to think that neutral actions and words are meant to be negative. People who are very 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 external events. 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 who experiences internal sensations of nerves or physical symptoms such as shortness of breath may interpret the internal state as the consequence of being persecuted. In these cases, it is common to blame the environment for the feelings one experiences.
5. Insomnia
Good sleep hygiene can help reduce paranoia. According to some studies, paranoid ideation increased three times 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 to treating delusional disorders and reducing persecutory delusions.
You may be interested: “Insomnia: how it impacts our health”
6. Irrational thoughts
One study found that people who have persecutory delusions are more likely to bring out hasty conclusions. People who jump to conclusions, make 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 their photo or that a group of strangers are laughing at them, even though this is unlikely.
People who jump to conclusions typically have a lower IQ, worse working memory, 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, sometimes it is 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 paying bills, may also be needed, as some people who experience delusions may have trouble coping with life and everyday tasks.
Sometimes people with delusions do not trust doctors, they think that they also want to harm them or they are part of the people who conspire against them, which can make treatment difficult. In the most severe cases, a delirious person needs to be hospitalized to better control all the symptoms.
