Persecutory delusion

Persecutory delusions are a set of delusional conditions in which the affected person believes they are being persecuted. Specifically, they have been defined as containing two central elements:

According to the DSM-IV-TR, persecutory delusions are the most common form of delusions in paranoid schizophrenia, where the person believes "he or she is being tormented, followed, tricked, spied on, or ridiculed." They are also often seen in schizoaffective disorder and, as recognized by DSM-IV-TR, constitute the cardinal feature of the persecutory subtype of delusional disorder, by far the most common. Delusions of persecution may also appear in manic and mixed episodes of bipolar disorder and in severe depressive episodes with psychotic features, particularly when associated with bipolar disorder.