You’ve probably heard more than once that someone is paranoid or “paranoid. “It is not uncommon to use the term “paranoid?” To refer to a person who thinks they are being persecuted, who thinks someone wants to hurt them, that they are making fun of him, or who is against him. , the paranoid or paranoid term is more than that. In this article, we’ll talk about a subtype of psychosis, paranoid schizophrenia.
Historically, the term “psychotic” has been defined in different ways, although none has been universally accepted. Do we understand the term psychotic? As a person with a specific set of symptoms that can be grouped into two groups: positive and negative symptoms. Let’s take a closer look at each of them.
- The DSM-IV-TR (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) defines schizophrenia as a deterioration that persists for at least 6 months and includes at least 1 month of active-stage symptoms.
- These symptoms include delusions.
- Hallucinations.
- Disorganized language.
- Serious disorders or catatonic behavior.
- And negative symptoms.
Positive symptoms appear to reflect an excess or distortion of normal functions, while negative symptoms reflect a decrease or loss of normal function. Positive symptoms include distortions of inferential thinking (so-called delusional ideas, which include the “paranoid” ideas we talked about earlier also include hallucinations, disorganized language, and severely disorganized behavior.
In turn, negative symptoms include restrictions on the scope and intensity of emotional expression (emotional flattening), the flow and productivity of thought and language (alogy), and the appearance of goal-oriented behavior (aboulie).
“Science has not yet shown us whether madness is the most sublime intelligence or not. “Edgar Allan Poe.
Delusional ideas are misconceptions that usually involve a misinterpretation of experiences or perceptions, their content can include several topics (p. E. g. , Persecution, Self-Reference, Somatic, Religious, or Grand”).
The person who suffers from delusions of persecution (paranoid or paranoid ideas) believes that she is harassed, followed, deceived, spied on or ridiculed. Self-referential delusions are also common: the person thinks that certain gestures, comments, book passages, newspapers, music or other elements of the surrounding environment are specially directed.
“The madman cannot reintegrate into reality, he constantly lives his fantasy. Carlos Castilla del Pino?
Although strange delusions are considered typical of schizophrenia, ”rarity” can be difficult to judge, especially in different cultures. Delusions are classified as strangers if they are clearly unlikely and incomprehensible and if they are not the result of experiences of everyday life (for example, thinking that someone has implanted a chip under your skin to “spy” on all your movements).
Another example of a strange delusional idea is the belief that a strange being has stolen his internal organs and replaced them with those of another person without leaving wounds or scars. Delusional ideas that express a loss of control over the mind or body are generally considered strange.
Delusional beliefs can cause social, marital, or professional problems. People with delusions can understand other people’s arguments for classifying their ideas as irrational, yet they cannot do it themselves. Many of these people may develop a type of irritated condition. At the same time, this irritability can be understood as a reaction to your delusional beliefs.
Diagnosis of a particular subtype of schizophrenia is based on the patient’s clinical condition, so there are different types or subtypes of schizophrenia according to DSM-IV-TR:
As we said earlier, in this article we will focus on paranoid schizophrenia.
The main characteristic of paranoid schizophrenia is the presence of clearly delusional ideas or auditory hallucinations, however, the person has no thought or affectivity defects, basically delusions are persecution, greatness or both, but delusions can also occur with other subjects (e. g. jealousy, religiosity or somatization).
Delusions in paranoid schizophrenia can be varied, but they are usually organized around a coherent topic; it is also common for hallucinations to be related to the content of the delusional theme.
“The main feature of paranoid schizophrenia is the presence of clearly delusional ideas or auditory hallucinations.
Symptoms include anxiety, anger, withdrawal and tendency to argue, the person may show an air of superiority and condescension, can also show arrogance, meticulousness, lack of naturalness or extreme vehemence in personal relationships.
Persecution issues can predispose a person to suicidal behavior. In addition, the combination of delusions of persecution and grandeur with anger reactions may predispose the person to violence (although this may not necessarily be the case, as the case may be).
In this sense, spontaneous or unexpected aggressions are rare; aggression is most common among young men and people with a history of violence, lack of therapeutic observation, substance abuse and impulsivity; In any case, we should be aware that most people with schizophrenia are also more likely to be assaulted or mistreated than non-schizophrenic people. More than potential aggressors, they are potential victims.
“All men are crazy and, despite their care, they only differ in that some are more crazy than others. –Nicolás Boileau–
The onset of paranoid psychosis is usually later than in other types of schizophrenia, in addition, the characteristics that differentiate it may be more stable over time, some data suggest that the prognosis for the paranoid type may be considerably better than for other types of schizophrenia In general, these people are still able to lead a life with a high degree of autonomy.
The causes are not yet entirely clear and there are controversies in this regard, in any case some risk factors and forecasts have been established, which are:
Chronic paranoid psychosis is treated with a combination of medications, mainly neuroleptics, antipsychotics, anxiolytics and support through psychotherapy, however, treatment is rarely done properly because the patient is not aware of the disease: he feels unwell, but believes it is because of what is happening outside of it, not in his head. Pharmacological treatments last a lifetime. In severe cases, hospitalization should be considered.
As we have already seen, paranoid schizophrenia has characteristics that differentiate it from other subtypes, it is common for delusions of persecution, greatness or both to occur, however, reasoning capacity remains more or less intact, giving it great autonomy. these people.
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