The term paranoia was first coined by Emil Kraepelin to describe a persons delusional beliefs. Paranoia comes from Greek and originally means madness. Kraeplin originally had two types of paranoia, pure paranoia and dementia praecox. Dementia praecox was later renamed schizophrenia and pure paranoia became delusional disorder.
Paranoia is a term used by mental health specialists to describe suspiciousness (or mistrust) that is either highly exaggerated or not warranted at all. The word is often used in everyday conversation, often in anger, often incorrectly. Simple suspiciousness is not paranoia--not if it is based on past experience or expectations learned from the experience of others. Paranoia has a psychotic part and a non psychotic part. It is split between in paranoid schizophrenia and paranoid personality disorder. Paranoia is not limited to those disorders with paranoia in the name. Rawlings and Freeman note there are at least five mental disorders that contain paranoia......
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