Persecution mania: what does it consist of?

“I “The aliens are chasing me, they want to kidnap me, I can’t leave the house because they will catch me.” This is the statement of a persecutory idea. From the outside they sound very incoherent, but for the people who suffer from it, the situations they describe are real and, therefore, the tension they experience is very great.

Persecution mania affects the person who maintains ideas similar to the one in the example – they may initially sound more realistic, such as that someone is persecuting them or wants to harm them at work.

Those with persecution mania can feel these types of threats, even when they are not really in a dangerous situation or there is no evidence to make their story seem real. Additionally, they name high-profile groups such as: the FBI, the CIA, aliens, God, the devil, among others, as the persecutors.

People who experience persecution mania feel threatened and afraid because they believe they are being persecuted.

Persecutory mania: disease or symptom?

What some call persecutory mania, for others is delusion, as described in the DSM-5 (one of the most important diagnostic books on mental health). The term “mania” is associated with the manic state that some patients diagnosed with bipolarity can present. Understanding this, let’s clarify what persecution mania is.

People with persecution mania, although they do not present intellectual deterioration, They have a tendency to associate ideas in unusual ways. This association usually tends to confirm the idea that they are being monitored or persecuted.

This symptom generally lasts for at least more than a month. The persecution mania It is a symptom characterized by fear of persecution or kidnapping. Being a symptom, as such, it could be related to many types of disorders or disorders at a psychological level. In this way, a patient with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder may present persecutory ideas.

Causes of persecution mania?

Although the causes are unknown, statistics show that it can occur in a way more common in middle-aged or elderly people. Some specialists believe that the appearance may be associated with narcissistic traits along with high degrees of anguish and frustration.

On the other hand, more than causes, there are various risk factors that are a combination of family or biological history. Within the environmental or situational factors, there are the following factors:

Events of high levels of stress.Consumption of drugsFor example, it is known that the effects of certain recreational drugs can precipitate an episode of persecutory mania. Social isolation.Sleep disorders.Biographical circumstances of the patient, for example: someone belonging to an ethnic minority who suffered harassment.

Those who have persecution mania need to constantly check if they are being persecuted.

How to identify the symptoms?

A person with persecution mania might put all of his or her attention, time, and even money into feeling like he or she is being persecuted and saved. In this sense, behavioral characteristics may indicate that someone has persecution mania. We leave you some:

Being worried about the loyalty of those close to you: In a romantic couple, they may suspect that their partner has a lover and is unfaithful, which can cause a lot of discomfort and fights. In normal situations, YoThey interpret threatening meanings: They are often obsessive with this idea of ​​being in danger and being attacked, so they can spend hours ruminating on conversations and think that there was a hidden meaning behind a common phrase that someone has said to them.You feel spied on or persecuted: This is the main feature, since they take it to the extreme.

At this point, all the behaviors could occur in people without pathologies who are going through a difficult situation that exceeds their emotional and cognitive resources, and this does not cause them to have persecution mania. Therefore, if you suspect that someone close to you has these symptoms, it is best to consult your health service.

If you think that someone suffers from persecution mania, the first temptation you may feel is to try to convince the other that their mind is working in a parallel reality. Doing so can be very complicated – they perceive many signs that would support their hypothesis – and also counterproductive, which is why The first recommendation we make is that you consult with a professional. Not only so that he can treat it, but so that he can guide you in making it easier for the affected person to go to therapy.

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