Persecution Mania - Causes and Signs of Persecution Mania

The disease has three stages of development:

• Stage 1 – the patient shows the first signs of the disease, anxiety, isolation;
• Stage 2 – clearly expressed mental symptoms of the disease, the patient becomes an antisocial personality, he is unable to go to work, communicate with friends and relatives;
• Stage 3 – the patient's condition is serious, depression, fear, aggression occur, suicide attempts or harm to others are possible.

Persecution mania in most cases occurs against the background of some other mental disorder.

Causes

Other causes of megalomania include:

• genetic predisposition;
• traumatic brain injury;
• alcoholism drug addiction;
• history of other mental disorders (especially schizophrenia and paranoia);
• brain diseases (especially age-related changes and cerebral vascular diseases);
• unfavorable psychological environment in the family, at work, in personal affairs.

Symptoms

The symptoms of persecution mania are very extensive. The patient feels that he is constantly being watched and that someone wants to harm him or his property. Close people, relatives, work colleagues, neighbors, ordinary passers-by, the government, religious and cult communities can act as "pests" and "persecutors". The patient can also be "persecuted" by unreal creatures (vampires, zombies, werewolves), animals or inanimate objects. The patient can accurately indicate the date of the beginning of the persecution, who is persecuting him and for what purpose. Any unpleasant accidents or unfortunate events in life are perceived as attempts to cause harm from "spies" and "persecutors".

Other important symptoms of persecution mania include:

• lack of social adaptation of the patient. The patient is unable to be in society, as he sees a threat, enemies and persecutors everywhere;
• the emergence of an anxiety symptom or panic attacks;
• the more the disease progresses, the more the patient's circle of "enemies" and "pests" expands;
• the patient constantly concentrates on details, pays attention to every passerby and tries to find something sinister in any statements addressed to him;
• strong changes in character occur, the patient becomes unbearable and does not give peace to relatives and friends;
• patients can constantly write complaints to various authorities or law enforcement agencies;
• the patient tries to isolate himself from society, becomes withdrawn, distrustful of the environment;
• insomnia may develop due to the fear of being killed or maimed during sleep.

Diagnostics

A psychiatrist diagnoses the disease.

To make an accurate diagnosis, the doctor must:

• carefully study all the symptoms of the patient's disease;
• conduct a conversation with the patient's relatives to more accurately describe the symptoms;
• determine the presence of bad habits (especially alcoholism and drug addiction);
• study the patient's medical history, identify the presence of cerebrovascular diseases;
• rule out or confirm the presence of other mental disorders in the patient;
• conduct an MRI of the brain to confirm vascular pathology.

If any of the above symptoms appear, the patient must consult a doctor. psychiatrist.

Treatment

Today, there is no single method for treating persecution mania, but it is quite possible to use drug therapy:

• tranquilizers and sedatives are prescribed in a state of excitement;
• antipsychotics and lithium preparations are prescribed in a state of depression and panic fear.

The following treatment methods are also practiced:

• cognitive psychotherapy;
• family psychotherapy;
• treatment of the underlying disease that led to the emergence of persecution mania;
• electroconvulsive therapy (provided that medications are ineffective).

In almost all diagnosed cases of mania, persecution, the patient categorically refuses to admit his illness, so here it is necessary to help relatives to make an appointment with a psychiatrist and then hospitalize and treat the patient. Refusal of treatment can threaten serious complications: the patient can become socially dangerous and harm himself or other people.

Prevention

There is no single method of preventing the disease, but there are some points, adhering to which you can prevent the development of the disease:

• timely diagnosis and treatment of all diseases (both general and mental);
• refusal to drink alcohol and drugs;
• avoiding stressful situations.

When communicating with a patient who suffers from persecution mania, you should not prove him wrong. In such cases, the patient can classify the dissuading person as an enemy.