Persecution Mania: Causes, Signs and Treatment

Each of us has at least once met a person who is convinced that something unkind is being plotted against him, he is being spied on. When such facts are not confirmed in practice, they say that this individual has a persecution delusion, which in the language of official medical science is called persecutory delusions or persecution delusions.

Persecution delirium is a significant change in the perception of the world, this condition is a severe disorder of thinking, mental illness, in the presence of which the patient I am absolutely sure that someone alone or even some group of intruders is spying on him, pursuing, spying, or even plotting terrible intrigues - murder, poisoning, strangulation, theft.

At the same time, neighbors, colleagues, and some secret organization, political or military association, government, secret services can act as enemies for a person with persecution mania. Even aliens and evil spirits can haunt.

The very idea that there is surveillance, and there are threats, makes the sick person almost a master of conspiracy. - in order to avoid the imaginary danger that seems so real and obvious, a person is capable of actions that are more suitable for the heroes of a spy movie saga: they change accounts and passwords, routes, they can jump out of transport on the go,to change it to another and so try to "get away from the pursuit." But it is with this that significant difficulties arise - wherever a person is, he notices everywhere that he is being watched. Therefore, severe psychosis, phobias develop, a person can be quite aggressive.

Patients do not realize that their ideas about the world do not correspond to reality. They live in their own reality, full of dangers. They do not consider themselves sick, they often write numerous complaints to various authorities. These authorities are obliged to check the appeals, and pretty quickly the truth becomes obvious. But even after that, patients with persecution mania do not change their beliefs, and the authorities who refused to investigate them are accused of conspiracy with the "intruders."

Often people who behave like this are called paranoid, although, to be precise, paranoia is a separate mental health disorder that can accompany persecutory delusions.

Despite the fact that the disease has been known for several centuries, there is no more understanding of the reasons why it appears. Only predisposing factors are known that can provoke an ailment:

• excessive control over the external environment and self-control as a character trait;
• a victim complex in a person;
• helplessness, lack of independence in many life matters;
• distrustful and aggressive reaction to others.

In the overwhelming majority of cases, such a mental illness is formed in individuals who for a long time were subjected to humiliation, insults, beatings, violence. Gradually, resentment and fear became habitual, and the person began to try to avoid the unpleasant decision-making process and responsibility for his own life. Such individuals usually blame others for their failures and troubles, while they do not consider themselves to be guilty. This is the victim complex.

People who experience distrust and aggression towards others as a predisposing factor are very touchy. They regard any remark as a strong insult and a threat to their safety, and for it they are ready to start a fight. They often claim that they become victims of "human injustice", "corruption of the authorities", "arbitrariness of the security forces."

In their search for the real root cause of persecution delusions, researchers have found some (presumably congenital) features of the central nervous system in individuals with this diagnosis. They are very sensitive people who tend to exaggerate. If a child with the described type of nervous system is overly patronized or ignored, then at a certain moment the formation of a complex of a helpless victim begins. Under the influence of any traumatic unfavorable life circumstances, the nervous system gives a global failure, and symptoms of the disease appear.

Psychiatrists are sure that the matter is not only in the upbringing and personal characteristics of the central nervous system, but also in the dysfunction of the brain. The first such reason was voiced as a supposed one by the famous Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, who was sure that a site of pathological activity appears in the human brain, which causes a change in its habitual activity.

Any of us perceives the world around us through the "glasses" of our perception and our individuality. But on the whole, the picture, which is so different for us in the details, is, in general, quite similar. If the perception of reality is disturbed in an individual with mental illness, the prism of perception becomes different, then both the small details and the general picture of the world change. Often, persecutory delusions in men and women are not the only disease. Very often it goes along with schizophrenia, alcoholic psychosis, Alzheimer's disease in elderly people, but isolated persecution mania is also possible.

The fundamental signs of mental pathology are the presence of the so-called logic curve - false beliefs that lead a person to believe that someone is monitoring him, that he is in mortal danger. It is impossible to convince someone who is sick with persecution mania. His thinking does not accept any arguments, no matter how convincing and reasonable they may be. In other words, human thinking cannot be corrected from the outside.

On the physical level, this is manifested by anxiety, fussiness, constant anxiety. A person who believes that he is being watched, they want to kill him, begins to behave very strangely, but his actions seem strange only to outside observers. For him, his actions are quite logical.

Often, a patient with delusions of persecution refuses his usual actions if the arguments of the "curve of logic" apply to him: if he suspects that enemy spies want to poison him, he can stop eating, and if he is sure that agents of a foreign special service want to hit him with a car, the patient categorically avoids to cross the road. When convinced that the surveillance is through the window, patients may not open the curtains, seal the window panes with paper, or paint over with dark paint. A foil helmet (“to prevent aliens from reading minds”) is an action from the same series.

Persecution delusions are characterized by:

• constant obsessive thoughts about the threat to life, health, safety from the outside;
• manifestations of pathological jealousy (the patient begins to suspect not only neighbors of dastardly plans, but also of those close to him in betrayal in the complete absence of reasons for such statements);
• distrust of everyone and everything that the patient sees and hears;
• aggression, bouts of unreasonable anger, anxiety;
• sleep disorders, appetite disorders, numerous autonomic disorders - heart palpitations, drops in blood pressure, dizziness, weakness, sweating.

The disease itself can be very different: some have a vague idea of ​​what exactly threatens them, what is behind it, how it can end, while others know very well the date of the start of "surveillance", assess the damage and harm that "enemies" have caused them, and this indicates a high level of systematization of delirium.

It should be noted that symptoms in all cases increase gradually. At first there can be only one enemy (for example, a husband or a neighbor), it is his patient who will suspect and blame everything, but then the circle of "suspects" will inevitably begin to expand - friends, neighbors, colleagues, acquaintances and strangers, real and fictional images. Gradually, a person begins to live in a dangerous world for him., his brain and thinking adapt to constant threats, and the patient begins to very clearly state the circumstances of the attempts on him, reproducing some of the details with incredible scrupulousness and accuracy.

In the last place, there is a change in the very personality of a person. A previously sincere and kind person can become constantly tense, aggressive, dangerous, alert. It is rather difficult to predict the actions that he can commit after the collapse of his own personality, but one thing is certain - they were never peculiar to him before.

It is not difficult to find out the signs of such a mental illness, but all attempts to help the patient will not be crowned with success, as well as attempts to persuade him. Therefore, doctors strongly recommend already at the first manifestations of something similar to the delusion of persecution, immediately bring the person to a psychiatrist. Procrastination, waiting until "maybe everything will pass" are dangerous - the disease progresses rapidly and over time it will become much more difficult to cure a person.

Considering that the disease can be isolated or be a concomitant symptom of another mental pathology, it is important to correctly and accurately establish the diagnosis. This can only be done by a qualified psychiatrist. He will talk with the sick person, talk to his relatives, friends, perhaps even neighbors, in order to establish all the nuances of behavioral reactions and the depth of the violation.

Family history is of great importance - cases of mental illness in parents, close relatives, cases of alcoholism in the family, schizophrenia, paranoid disorders. No less important are the patient's own bad habits, the characteristics of his personality before the start of the changes. With the help of special tests and an anxiety scale, the level of fears, anxiety, peculiarities of emotional experiences, the state of memory, attention, logic, and thought processes are assessed.

In the treatment of the delusional state of persecution, serious, potent medicines are used; without them, a person simply cannot get rid of the manifestations of constant tension and fear. But even with adequate treatment, no highly qualified specialist can guarantee that a relapse will not occur. Psychotherapeutic methods that are used to correct many mental conditions do not work in the case of persecution mania - it is impossible to change the attitudes of a sick person, it is impossible to convince him or her, to prove that the world around is safe.

If a doctor tries to do this, he will immediately join the amicable and numerous ranks of "enemies", and trust is required to achieve an effect. Therefore, all hope is in the first stage on typical and atypical antipsychotics (antipsychotic drugs).

With signs of aggression, imbalance, inadequacy of actions, it is recommended to undergo treatment in a psychiatric hospital, since a person at any time can harm both himself and his loved ones. In order to avoid paradoxes of thinking against the background of the beginning of drug treatment, each case of persecution delusion is recommended to be treated in a hospital. Doctors switch to psychotherapy much later, when they manage to stop the symptoms of anxiety, panic, fear, aggression. In the most severe cases, electroshock therapy is used.

Whoever we are talking about - about a husband, wife, about a neighbor or friend, about a relative, a child or an adult, the first and only thing you need to know - never, under any circumstances, try to laugh at the words of a sick person, speak with him sincerely , listen carefully, try not to bother the person with clarifying questions.

Never try to convince him or her to prove that there is no persecution, even if it is obvious. You will immediately become one of the ill-wishers who cannot be trusted. People with this disease very quickly draw the conclusions they need.

From a medical point of view on the mania of prediction, see below.