Litigation: how it manifests itself and how it is treated

Instead of engaging in socially useful activities... Eh, what can I say?! .

Maybe the “root of evil” lies in the very essence of some... um... “comrades”?

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Do you know people who constantly complain about unfair treatment and try with all their might to defend their rights, running through the courts and other legal authorities? The actions of such people sometimes reach the point of absurdity, and the efforts spent on the fight for justice are not comparable to the size of the real problem. In psychiatry, this kind of behavior falls under the concept of litigious syndrome or litigiousness. There are enough examples of such mental deviations in literature and cinema. How to distinguish a sane person defending his rights from a complainant with psychopathology?

Only own interests

If we consider querulantism as a syndrome of litigiousness, then people suffering from this illness tend to defend exclusively their own rights and freedoms, and not society as a whole. They do not listen to the opinions of others and fight their imaginary enemies alone.

Litigators are very persistent in their aspirations; they have been engaged in litigation for many years. As a rule, the decision made by the court does not bring them satisfaction, and the proceedings continue. Their own imaginary inferiority gives querulyants hidden pleasure; they love to be pitied.

Description of the syndrome

People susceptible to queralism tend to constantly complain about the infringement of their rights, social injustice, deception on all sides, non-compliance with legal norms and laws. The meaning of life for such people becomes visiting courts and human rights centers, many years of proceedings in order to achieve the only possible, in their opinion, justice. The search for “victims” for their attacks gives the querulists visible and undisguised pleasure. The thirst to defend their rights in a hospital, in a store, at work or on the street is irresistible for such people. Healthy people call this all a severe case.

Quite often, querulants can become hot-tempered and even aggressive; they have a very high psycho-emotional background, they are characterized by cruelty and perseverance in achieving their goals. The Querulant can be cunning and treacherous, and disregard the concepts of morality, kindness and humanity. Litigation can be either a separate pathology or just a symptom of a more serious mental disorder of the brain.

Psychopathic individuals are most susceptible to this disease.

Development hypotheses

People aged 40 to 70 years are most susceptible to developing litigious delusions. The main reason can be called psychogenic factors affecting the psyche. This is a small pension, a financial crisis that is acutely experienced in the country, unemployment, and infringement of human rights. All these factors can lead to the development of Querulant syndrome.

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At the moment, there are two hypotheses of its origin:

genetic;
mental disorder.

The genetic hypothesis considers the origin of litigious conditions due to congenital predisposition. The trigger can be any of the listed psychogenic factors (loss of job, inability to live on a small salary, etc.).

The second hypothesis considers querulants as a group of mentally ill people and psychopathic individuals. Psychopathy with a tendency to querulantism is characterized by the presence of the following characteristics:

delusional ideas involve not only what is directly related to judicial or other proceedings, but also various factors even remotely related to this;
there are no hallucinations, but a state of false memories arises, on which the ideas of litigious delusions are based;
the spheres of intellect and emotions do not immediately undergo major changes, aggravation occurs as the disorder develops and depends on the frequency and duration of periods of exacerbation;
behavior is formally correct, but within the framework of the syndrome it is inappropriate and sometimes overly aggressive.

Querulantism as a sign of schizophrenia is already considered when a person with a querulant mental disorder begins to organize mass riots, which leads to a large number of victims. Wanting to attract the attention of society, authoritative people and institutions, people commit socially dangerous acts that lead to disastrous results.

Admitting such a litigious patient with schizophrenic tendencies to a psychiatric hospital may be necessary. This step usually causes an adverse reaction from the patient, causing an affective reaction. Treatment is long-term and does not always guarantee a favorable outcome.

At the moment, psychiatrists do not generalize the concepts of schizophrenia and queralism. Schizophrenia is considered as a secondary psychogenic disease in people with a predisposition to litigious-querulant tendencies.

Reasons for litigiousness

There are two opinions about the reasons for the development of litigious syndrome:

Genetic reason. It provides an initial predisposition to the occurrence of litigious symptoms. In this case, the disease usually begins in people 40-70 years old in the presence of various predisposing factors: a small pension, lack of work, infringement of rights and others. According to research, litigious syndrome occurs more often in stuck individuals.
Querulantism is a symptom of another mental illness. This theory considers querulants as psychopathic individuals capable of committing acts of a mass nature against the background of an underlying disease (schizophrenia or paranoid disorder). For example, litigators can organize mass riots or murders in order to attract the attention of officials.

Litigative syndrome can occur regardless of gender. Men and women are equally susceptible to this disease.

Diagnostic methods

The possibility of diagnosing queruulence depends on the form of manifestation of the disease. There are two such forms:

Litigation as a symptom complex as part of the main psychiatric syndrome. In this case, diagnosis is not particularly difficult, since the patient is already under the supervision of a psychotherapist. When conducting psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, a qualified specialist can easily detect signs of the syndrome.
Suicidal syndrome as an independent isolated disease. In this case, diagnosis is difficult, and people can live with this diagnosis without knowing about it for a large amount of time. For those around them, the troubles simply seem strange, and no one thinks about the psychiatric reason.

It is very important to recognize the signs of querulantism in a person in time, since his behavior without proper treatment can be dangerous for the people around him and for himself.

Litigation (queralism) - can act as a separate disease (chronic litigious delusion, querulatory form of paranoia) or be part of a complex of symptoms of various mental disorders.

Often observed in the clinic of schizophrenia and various psychoses, epilepsy.

People with litigious behavior constantly defend their rights, including through the courts, are absolutely confident in their infallibility and believe that they cannot trust anyone.

Often, some idea that is very important in a person’s life acquires an extremely valuable meaning, this idea is then transformed into nonsense. This is how litigiousness develops as a separate disease.

Litigative syndrome is diagnosed depending on the form of manifestation. If its manifestations are in the symptoms of the underlying disease, then there will be no serious problems with making a diagnosis. If litigiousness acts as a separate syndrome, then the situation becomes more complicated. Moreover, not all patients see a doctor.

During treatment, again, doctors will monitor the general condition of the patient and may prescribe drug therapy to relieve symptoms - reducing anxiety, fears, regulating sleep and wakefulness, etc. They may use psychotherapy. Its effectiveness will depend on the degree to which the patient remains critical of himself and his actions.

Sometimes, over time, querulantism can “subside”, and its manifestations can significantly decrease; cases of long-term remission are not uncommon (if we are talking about an isolated syndrome). And the tendency to litigiousness manifests itself in both men and women, to approximately the same extent. Sometimes, with a successful outcome of the trial, for example, the symptoms are significantly smoothed out.

Litigation arises for various reasons, but a single mechanism of occurrence for different manifestations and forms has not been identified at the moment. Can a litigious personality be formed under the influence of external circumstances or is it a genetic predisposition to the syndrome? This is unknown for now. Among the clinical features of litigiousness one can highlight the absence of hallucinations. The emotional-volitional sphere is disturbed, but without sharp pathological manifestations.

Querulantism often manifests itself in old age or adulthood. The course of the disease, the activity of development, and the likelihood of recovery depend on many factors. The forms of manifestation of litigious syndrome can be different - from the mildest, almost imperceptible, to severe, with high activity and severe delirium, when it becomes necessary to place the patient in a hospital.

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Treatment

Therapy for patients with vexatious delirium syndrome includes two main points:

Drug therapy. Provides for the prescription of tranquilizers and antipsychotics.
Psychotherapy. It involves methods of psychoanalysis, psychodynamic approach, cognitive behavioral psychotherapy.

The psychotherapeutic method of treatment requires that the doctor not only have high professional qualifications, but also maximum patience, because litigious people can actively project their aggression and negativism onto the people around them. This is especially true at the moment when the doctor begins to find out the cause of the syndrome using psychoanalytic theory.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is designed to understand the cause of the syndrome and explain to a patient who is not aware of his illness that he is experiencing an imaginary infringement of his rights. It also helps eliminate obsessive thoughts that cause litigious delusions.

Relationships with a troublemaker
Reasons for litigious activity
Who is this wrangler?
Consequences of mental deviation
Diagnostic methods
Development hypotheses
Key symptoms
Basic treatment

Treatment of litigious syndrome is lengthy and does not always provide for recovery. Querulant can be in a stable state of remission for many years, and then return to the initial signs of the syndrome under the influence of provoking psychogenic factors.

Do you know people who constantly complain about unfair treatment and try with all their might to defend their rights, running through the courts and other legal authorities?
The actions of such people sometimes reach the point of absurdity, and the efforts spent on the fight for justice are not comparable to the size of the real problem. In psychiatry, this kind of behavior falls under the concept of litigious syndrome or litigiousness. There are enough examples of such mental deviations in literature and cinema. How to distinguish a sane person defending his rights from a complainant with psychopathology?

The need for hospitalization

In some cases, it is urgently necessary to place the litigant in a psychiatric clinic. This leads to a negative reaction from the patient, causing in some cases a state of passion. Therapy is usually long-term and does not guarantee a complete cure.

Querulants are often quick-tempered and suspicious, selfish and prefer not to pay attention to the interests of others. Their behavior is demonstrative and aggressive, and quite often it is only veiled under the assertion of their rights. The complaints of such people usually have a threatening overtone (this could be a threat of dismissal, payment of compensation for moral damage, or even physical harm). Most often, threats are exclusively verbal, but there have also been cases of illegal acts.

Consequences of mental deviation

Querulant personality disorder is a very complex psychopathological process, the treatment of which is still a big question. It is known that even with correct and timely treatment for this disease, some only experience a worsening of their condition and their symptoms return each time with renewed vigor.

The consequences of such a behavioral syndrome can be very serious and terrible actions that litigators carry out to attract attention to their imaginary problems. Paranoid litigious people are prone to display aggression and cruelty in the process of defending their rights.

To ensure that the consequences do not turn out to be disastrous for the patient himself and those around him, constant supervision by a psychotherapist is necessary. In most cases, the patient must be admitted to a psychiatric clinic.

Treatment of litigious syndrome

As a medical treatment, people with litigious syndrome are prescribed antipsychotics and tranquilizers.

The following methods can be used for psychotherapy of this syndrome:

psychoanalysis;
cognitive behavioral psychotherapy;
psychodynamic approach.

The psychoanalytic approach to the treatment of this phenomenon requires from the psychotherapist not only high professional qualities, but also patience. Litigative personalities have a high level of negativism, which they skillfully project onto the people around them. Querulants often accuse psychotherapists of incompetence, especially when the session begins the stage of psychoanalytic theory and the search for the underlying causes of the disorder.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy for querulants is based on the elimination of conflicts, which are the basis of their activities. The psychotherapist helps to understand the cause of the syndrome, explains the imaginary infringement of the rights and interests of the individual, and eliminates obsessive thoughts.

The severe syndrome usually lasts for several years, after which remission may occur. The outbreak of new litigiousness directly depends on the action of psychosocial traumatic factors. Treatment of litigious syndrome does not always have a favorable outcome; many patients experience even greater delirium and querulant behavior. Therapy for such people remains a rather difficult problem today.

(from Latin querulus - complaining), or litigators, represent a clinically and constitutionally heterogeneous group of mentally ill and psychopathic individuals, united by the presence of the so-called. litigious syndrome. The latter is characterized, on the one hand, by the idea of legal damage, legal injustice, and on the other, by the desire to fight against the injustice suffered and at all costs to achieve the restoration of one’s rights. The starting point of K.’s litigious behavior is often some real fact (a penalty, a court decision not in favor of the subject, etc.), which is interpreted by him as excessive and obvious injustice, obliging him to protest. A long, persistent, ever-increasing struggle begins through complaints, protests, initiation of new cases, appeals to higher authorities, etc. Failures and refusals not only do not stop him, but even more convince him of the biased attitude of others towards him. This gives rise to new protests, offensive attacks against the court, and accusations of judges of illegal actions. An inability to correctly understand one's own and others' rights, an extreme overestimation of one's own interests with astonishing indifference to the interests and rights of others, an amazing gullibility towards everything that can be interpreted in one way or another in favor of the patient is increasingly revealed. Ideas associated with a court case acquire a dominant meaning, occupy a central place in the psyche, acquiring the character of extremely valuable ideas. In more severe cases, it comes to the development of delusional ideas, a persistent delusional system with the nature of delusions of persecution. A typical picture of the so-called is developing. "litigious delirium." Delusional ideas are usually limited to the range of ideas associated with judicial experiences and tend to involve in the sphere of delusional interpretation everything that is even remotely related to the judicial case. There are no hallucinations, but false memories, which are one of the sources of delusional ideas, are not uncommon. The intellectual and emotional spheres are not sharply upset. The behavior is also formally correct, but within the limits of litigious actions it is inappropriate, often senselessly aggressive, when the victim, wanting to draw the attention of society or authoritative institutions and individuals to his business, often resorts to violent and socially dangerous actions. The described syndrome can, in specific cases, vary significantly in degree, nature and course: from mild cases with mild querulation, low activity and short duration, to severe forms with persistent delirium, high activity and protracted course (litigious delirium in the narrow sense of the word). Pat. litigiousness and litigious delusions appear most often in adulthood and old age, but depending on the soil and circumstances, they can arise earlier. They always develop on the basis of a stalemate. constitution. Pat. K.'s character does not represent anything definite and specific, but they often exhibit self-confidence, conceit, selfishness, stubbornness, hypomania, and hysterical traits. The course of illness largely depends on external conditions: even in severe and protracted cases, favorable judicial conditions (elimination of reasons for conflict, termination of the case, acquittal, etc.) can have a beneficial effect, including recovery. Placement in a mental hospital b-tse, especially long-term, usually acts unfavorably, fixing litigious ideas and feeding an affective reaction, although in some cases it may turn out to be necessary. Equally, the difficult constitutional basis, the complexity and long-term unresolved legal conflict, age-related changes - all this can adversely affect the course and outcome of the disease. The doctrine of litigiousness and litigious delirium is far from being considered complete. Its modern concept represents, to a certain extent, a compromise between two main trends that have been fighting each other over the past 40 years. The first direction, coming from Schüle, saw the center of gravity in the innate predisposition to litigiousness, based on the special properties of the individual. The second, coming from Hitzig, emanating from ch. arr. from the study of severe, hospital cases and for a long time decisively prevailed, considered litigious delirium as a subtype of hron. paranoia (“litigious paranoia”), and cases of querulation that were milder and with a favorable outcome were classified as “pseudo-queruulants.” However, the development of community psychiatry and the related study of borderline cases, psychopathy and reactive states, acquaintance with cases of queralization in prisons and among those seeking pensions, the clear connection of the onset of b-ni with a real wounding experience and the obvious dependence of the course of b-ni on external conditions prompted Crepe- Lin (Kraepelin), and behind him the majority of psychiatrists, distinguish litigiousness and litigious delusions from paranoia and consider them as a form of reaction, as a psychogenic disease that develops in connection with external circumstances on the basis of a painful predisposition. Only a few authors (Bleuler, Bumke) continue to classify litigious delusions as paranoia. - Along with the described litigious syndrome (resp. litigious delusions), which Raecke proposed to call “genuine,” there are states of litigiousness observed in various mental illnesses: schizophrenia, paraphrenia, progressive paralysis, epilepsy, arteriosclerosis, traumatic neurosis, and especially often with manic-depressive psychosis, which gave Specht reason to consider litigious delirium in all cases a manifestation of this psychosis. Oto so-called symptomatic litigiousness, which develops episodically against the background of other disease processes, must be strictly distinguished from independent, or “genuine”. Litigation and litigious delirium in judicial medicine. relation are of great importance, because timely recognition and implementation of appropriate social measures. protection is important in the interests of the patient himself, the court and society. H itzig Cher den Querulantanwahn-sinn, Lpz., 1895; Kahn E., Die psychopathisehen Persfinlichkeiten (Hndb. d. Geisteskrankheiten, hrsg. Yon 0. Bumke, Band V, T. 1, p. 445, Berlin, 1928); K g a ep e 1 in E., Psychiatrie, B. IV, T. 3, p. 1533, Lpz., 1915; Raecke J., Der Querulantenwahn, Wiesbaden, 1926; Schiile A., Klinische Psychiatrie, Leipzig, 1886.I. Vvedensky.

Basic treatment

The following methods are used for the treatment of queralism:

Medications that help reduce anxiety and normalize the patient’s sleep. For this purpose, antipsychotics (Sonapax, Neuleptil) and tranquilizers (Relanium) are used.
Psychotherapeutic methods: psychoanalysis and cognitive behavioral therapy.

Psychoanalytic theory is based on the search for the underlying causes of litigious delusions. This method can lead to a positive treatment result only if the psychotherapist has high professional knowledge and skills. The specialist also needs to show great patience with the patient, who, due to his illness, will accuse him of incompetence and show negativity during the treatment process.

Cognitive behavioral therapy involves the elimination of conflict situations, which are the basis for litigious syndrome. The psychotherapist needs to explain to the patient that all obsessive thoughts about the infringement of his rights are unfounded and untrue.

Key symptoms

Diagnosing psychopathology with litigious delusions is not always easy. Such a disorder can occur for a short time in a mild form with mild symptoms without aggression, or it can drag on for decades and occur in a severe form with clearly expressed overvalued delusional ideas. Remission usually lasts for years, but when new conflict situations arise, the disorder worsens.

The most common symptoms of litigiousness are:

the patient’s deep confidence in his importance, significance and special position in society;
the presence of overvalued ideas, hypomania or persecution mania, paranoid activity, demonstrative (often with aggression) behavior;
an uncritical attitude towards one’s painful condition, deep confidence in one’s own rightness;
exaggeration, inflating the problem, negativism, tendency to suspiciousness, self-centeredness, indifference to the rights of others;
obsessive thoughts regarding infringed interests and rights, delusions, emotional instability, resentment;
eternal dissatisfaction with the social and political situation, the attitude of superiors, work in general, health care and other authorities.

Symptoms

The main symptoms of queralism are:

Touchiness and high emotionality.
Endless criticism of the political situation, healthcare, work.
Persecution mania.
Paranoia.
Litigious nonsense.
Aggression towards others.
Disregard for the rights and interests of others.
Egoism and egocentrism.
Negativism.
Exaggerating the scale of your own problems.
Demonstrative behavior.
Confidence in your importance.
Denial of existing illness.

Many people are interested in what queralism is and how it is treated. We've dealt with the first part of the question, it's time to move on to the second.

How to deal with this?

Diagnosis and treatment of litigious syndrome is a complex and time-consuming task. The main problem is that the patient does not recognize his illness, and perceives attempts to prescribe a psychiatric examination and treatment as an infringement of his rights, which often only aggravates the patient’s condition. In dealing with such patients, it is important to show kindness and tolerance. If the cause of litigious activity is brain damage or mental illness, then it is the primary disease that should be treated.

It is working with a psychotherapist that helps the patient realize his painful condition and inappropriate behavior. A psychotherapist or practicing psychologist is able to identify deep, often unconscious, causes of the disorder. When treating litigious syndrome, it is important to understand that any social traumatic events can lead to new acute episodes.

Reasons for litigious activity

Litigation disorder most often develops after 40 years of age. The trigger can be some event that is unfair from the patient’s point of view: dismissal, a fine issued, an increase in utility tariffs, etc. However, the true reason is always internal. This may be a genetic predisposition to litigiousness, hereditary psychopathic personality traits, or some kind of psychopathology. As an independent syndrome, litigious delirium manifests itself on the basis of heredity under the influence of psychogenic factors. Often, litigiousness acts as a symptom of a mental disorder or organic brain damage. The cause may be cerebral atherosclerosis, paranoid schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, supranuclear palsy and other diseases.

The personality traits of querulyants include toughness, hot temper, and fanaticism. Often, litigious activity develops against the background of paranoid psychopathy with a tendency to litigiousness, as well as in lonely latent homosexuals.

Litigation. How to build a relationship with a querulant?

Do you know people who constantly complain about unfair treatment and try with all their might to defend their rights, running through the courts and other legal authorities? The actions of such people sometimes reach the point of absurdity, and the efforts spent on the fight for justice are not comparable to the size of the real problem.

What to do if a person with such problems appears in your life? If litigious activity has developed in a family member, try to consult with a psychotherapist as soon as possible and begin treatment. It is better not to argue with the patient, not to dissuade him that his rights are being infringed. Additional stress and family conflicts can only make the situation worse.

Try to engage the patient in some new interesting activity. The main thing is to strictly follow the instructions of your doctor.

If your neighbor is a litigator, if he constantly writes complaints about you, swears and threatens, then the best solution for you is to simply move. Such a person is capable of poisoning the life of anyone, and suing a litigant will not help resolve the conflict, but will only provoke him. If moving is out of the question, try talking to your neighbor's psychiatrist, he will tell you which course of action is best to choose.

Who is this wrangler?

In the modern world, an integral part of which is the struggle for the observance of civil rights and freedoms, zealously defending one’s position in court is not always a mental deviation. A true litigator and backbiter with a mental or personality disorder not only fights for his rights, but sees the meaning of his life in this. Moreover, he simply does not care about the interests and rights of other people. Having such a neighbor is not a great joy; such a person often acts as an informer and can endlessly write complaints against neighbors to all authorities on various occasions. A litigious person (or a querulant) is a selfish, stubborn, petty and self-confident person with hysterical and hypomanic traits, who tends to get hung up on unimportant trifles. In severe cases, patients develop delusions of litigiousness against the background of legal proceedings, which in ICD-10 is included in the category of other chronic delusional disorders (F22.8). Failures only spur litigation to new lawsuits and complaints, further convincing them of the bias of judges and social injustice. In extreme situations, protests and other inappropriate litigious actions can be accompanied by aggression and even become socially dangerous.

Definition and signs of litigiousness

Already in the 19th century, they began to study such a phenomenon as the querulant reaction. K. T. Jaspers, a psychiatrist from Germany, placed this condition on the border between psychopathic fanaticism and delusion, calling queralism psychosis of passion. Later, persistent complaints received another name - litigiousness.

Querulantism is a syndrome that arises and develops according to the following scheme. A person is captivated by the idea of injustice committed against him. Sometimes this is due to a real court decision not in favor of the claimant. This becomes the starting point and the emergence of protest against the infringement of his rights.

This is followed by lengthy bureaucratic activity in various instances, endless complaints, lawsuits, appeals, etc. Cases of decisions not in favor of the litigant are perceived by the latter as a biased attitude, and everything starts all over again. Such a person is not able to soberly assess the situation; the interests of others fade into the background. The goal of life becomes to prove that you are right.

Querulantism is a syndrome that affects both sexes; its peak development occurs between 40 and 70 years of age. Querulantism manifests itself especially strongly and often in times of severe social and political crises. Unemployment, low pensions, infringement of rights and freedoms - all this is a trigger for litigious people.

There are two hypotheses for the development of queralism.

What is Querulantism

The term querulantism also has another name in psychiatry - litigiousness or persistent complaints syndrome.
This disease is characterized by constant unconscious complaints about the surrounding social sphere and the behavior of other people.

The behavior of litigious people is very typical and easily recognizable in everyday life. Querulants always defend their point of view quite aggressively and show indifference to the interests of loved ones. They become fixated on their imaginary problem and try in every possible way to solve it. Very often, the complaints of litigious people do not remain only in words; they are capable of showing aggression and cruelty towards the fabricated offenders.

Also in modern psychiatry there is such a thing as the “quelerant complex.” This term describes the behavior characteristic of a pathological brawler. Such an individual complains always and everywhere, regardless of the initial situation. At the same time, his behavior is aggressive towards his interlocutor. Such a person can create a scandal out of nowhere, which will be accompanied by insults and possible assault.

Symptoms of the disease

The main manifestations of queralism include:

increased emotionality and excessive touchiness;
constant thoughts about an imaginary infringement of personal rights;
indifference to one's responsibilities towards other people;
demonstrating your dissatisfaction in public;
paranoid thoughts;
aggressive behavior;
persecution mania;
exalting oneself over other people;
excessive exaggeration of one's problems;
constant dissatisfaction with surrounding life situations.

The querulant never realizes the painfulness of his behavior and does not admit that he has a mental illness. Such people enjoy being pitied and constantly feel inferior.

Delirium of jealousy. Delusion of litigiousness

Delusions of jealousy (delusions of betrayal, Othello syndrome, third wheel syndrome, delusions of adultery) - the patient’s belief that his (her) sexual partner (wife, husband, mistress, lover) intends to violate, has violated, continues to violate an oath or assumed obligation of fidelity or will certainly do so in the future. Due to the fact that jealousy is quite widespread (up to 80% of respondents in some countries of the world consider themselves jealous, many of them assess jealousy as a positive quality of their personality), there are certain difficulties in identifying the actual delusion of jealousy, especially if there are overvalued ideas of jealousy . This is all the more difficult to do since the object of delusions of jealousy, for various reasons, may actually violate his fidelity to his sick partner. Signs characterizing delusions of jealousy are:

the patient’s evidence base is always dubious and often absurd, but he himself is absolutely sure that he is right;
the patient’s logic of reasoning reveals obvious disturbances in thinking, since he takes into account secondary facts without noticing the main thing; for example, the patient attaches importance to the fact that his wife came home from work five minutes later than usual, but at the same time misses the much more real possibility of infidelity at a time when the wife was forced because of his jealousy to live with her parents;
inappropriate behavior of the patient, actually aimed at breaking the relationship of affection and love; this behavior is often simply ridiculous;
special, sometimes sophisticated cruelty of the patient towards the object of jealousy;
focusing exclusively on sexual relationships and ignoring the moral side of the matter.
delusions of jealousy are often complicated by other types of delusions, most often delusional ideas of persecution. Therefore, E. Bleuler considers it an erotic form of delusion of persecution.

Several illustrations. The patient, out of a sense of revenge towards his unfaithful wife, stuck needles into all the tomatoes, and there were several buckets of them. He hoped that his wife would not notice this and would die after swallowing the needle and damaging her internal organs. Another patient constantly monitors his wife and watches her lovers at night, always carrying a knife and an ax with him. He nailed all the window frames tightly, stuck film on the windows, ran bare wires under the windows, and turned on the current. He believes that his wife is cheating on him under someone's influence. Real persecutors, he thinks, are thus making him suffer and provoking him to commit a crime. Aggression in such cases of complicated delusions of jealousy is directed mainly at the alleged persecutors.

With ordinary delusions of jealousy, it is most often oriented towards the object of jealousy. The patient, out of jealousy towards her husband, tried several times to cut off his penis while he was sleeping. The frightened husband, having learned about this, decided that “things had gone too far,” so he was forced to leave his home and live with his parents. Another patient, out of jealousy towards his wife, poured gasoline on her and his two children aged 9 and 1.5 years (“the children are not mine” - he was sure of it), and then set them on fire. The youngest son received burns over 80% of his body, the eldest son’s face was burned, and his wife’s legs and thighs were charred. Previously, the patient had been “torturing” her for a number of years, demanding that his wife confess to infidelity. For example, he inserted a boiler into the vagina and turned on the current - “warmed it up”. In the latter case, the delusion of jealousy is combined with the delirium of other people's children and clearly sadistic inclinations. Delusions of jealousy occur 2–3 times more often in men, especially those who abuse alcohol.

If your spouse's jealousy becomes dangerous, you can call an emergency psychiatric team for hospitalization

Delusion of litigiousness (delusion of claim or revendication, litigious insanity, delusion of querulus (from the Latin querulus - constantly complaining)) - the belief of patients that they have certain fictitious rights and privileges that are deliberately trampled upon by certain people from their environment. Sooner or later, a real struggle “for justice” begins, in which patients initiate numerous and endless litigation (litigation - litigation, addiction to litigation), and also write countless complaints to various authorities.

M.A. Sholokhov, in an ironic manner, describes in “Quiet Don” an elderly Cossack, who from a young age was so busy with litigation that he simply had no time left for other matters. His horse was so used to going to court that as soon as this litigator got into the cart, she would go there herself, and then deliver him back, sometimes drunk to the point of insensibility. Here are some illustrations. The patient is dissatisfied that, in violation of the instructions, she was examined by a psychiatrist and sent for examination to a psychiatric clinic with a diagnosis of “hypochondriacal delirium, endogenous disease is possible.” Before this, she was operated on “incorrectly” and prescribed “the wrong treatment,” which caused “damage to her health and caused moral damage.” Being a disabled person of the 2nd group for somatic pathology, she nevertheless developed an enviable activity for a healthy person in the fight for her violated rights. For 10 years, she continuously litigated against individuals and legal entities, sometimes being a plaintiff simultaneously in four trials conducted in different cities. Her main goal was to receive substantial monetary compensation for the harm caused to her health by “unscrupulous doctors.”

She intended to spend the money on another operation with a famous surgeon in Kazakhstan. For many years, she experienced various senestopathic sensations, mainly in the abdomen (“burning, pulling, shimmering, squelching, stretching, stabbing from the back”, etc.), assumed, and at times was sure, that she had cancer. The actions of the doctors, she believed, violated her rights as a sick person in need of timely and qualified medical care. In this case, litigiousness is like a side symptom of another mental disorder. The next patient literally “inundated” various official structures with complaints for his allegedly illegal dismissal from work. In just one month, he wrote and sent 152 voluminous complaints to supervisory authorities, including the Prosecutor General's Office. He was fired from work for yet another absence.

Litigation is relatively rarely a manifestation of the delusion of pretension itself; more often it indicates psychopathy or litigious-paranoid personality development.
However, difficulties may arise in identifying the legal assessment and the latest forms of pathology, associated with the fact that the opposing side, drawn into the conflict and completely embittered, in the heat of the struggle actually violates the genuine rights of the patient. In some cases, overactive litigiousness is associated with hypomanic episodes, and it may also be that the patient for some time completely disinterestedly defends the imaginary interests of other people. Back to contents

Sign of mental disorder

This is a more severe case. As mentioned above, queralism can only be one of the symptoms of another disease, schizophrenia or paranoia. In this case, litigious people are considered mentally ill people. Litigative delirium can cause aggression. There have been cases in psychiatry when litigious people staged mass riots and even committed murder.

Querulants are characterized by the absence of hallucinations, but false memories cannot be excluded, becoming the basis of litigious delusions. The situation worsens during periods of exacerbation and depends on their duration. Formally, the behavior of querulants is correct, but often too aggressive and inappropriate.