Paranoia

In popular culture, the term paranoia is usually used to describe excessive concern about one's own well-being, sometimes suggesting a person holds persecutory beliefs concerning a threat to themselves or their property and is often linked to a belief in conspiracy theories.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In psychiatry, the term paranoia was used by Emil Kraepelin to describe a mental illness in which a delusional belief is the sole, or most prominent feature. This usage is now largely obsolete and the term is more typically used in a general sense to signify any self-referential delusion, or more specifically, to signify a delusion involving the fear of persecution. The exact use of the term has changed over time, and because of this, psychiatric usage may vary.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Persecutory: redirectPersecution...

Conspiracy theories: REDIRECT Conspiracy theory...

Psychiatry: Psychiatry is the branch of medicine that diagnoses, treats, and studies mental illness and behavioral conditions. While all physicians will encounter patients with mental illnesses and any of them may treat it, psychiatrists specialize in these areas, being more extensively trained in the different...