Persecutory

Persecutory is an adjective meaning relating to persecution or to a person who pursues others in a harmful way. In everyday use, it can describe situations or beliefs involving unfair treatment or harassment. In psychiatry and psychology, the term is most often linked with persecutory delusions: fixed, false beliefs that one is being harmed, followed, spied on, or conspired against. These delusions are typically resistant to contrary evidence and may be accompanied by mistrust and anxiety.

Persecutory delusions occur across psychotic disorders, most notably schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, schizoaffective disorder, and mood disorders with psychotic features. They may appear in delusional disorder, persecutory type, and can be part of broader paranoid symptomatology. Differential diagnoses include paranoid personality disorder, substance-induced psychosis, and medical conditions affecting cognition.

Etymology: persecutory derives from Latin persecutus ‘pursued’, from persequi ‘to pursue,’ via French and English usage, indicating beliefs or actions related to being persecuted.

Assessment and treatment: Clinicians assess the belief content, conviction, distress, and risk. Management typically combines pharmacologic treatment with antipsychotic medication and psychotherapeutic interventions. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for psychosis (CBTp) aims to reduce distress and improve coping. Social support, psychoeducation, and safety planning may be important. Prognosis varies with underlying diagnosis and treatment adherence; persecutory symptoms can remit or persist and may relapse.

See also: paranoia, delusion, persecutory delusion, schizophrenia, delusional disorder.