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Pronoia or reverse paranoid delusion: A brief exploration into a conspiracy in your favour

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

S. Jesus*
Affiliation:
Psiquiatria E Saúde Mental, Centro Hospitalar do Baixo Vouga, Aveiro, Portugal
A. Costa
Affiliation:
Psiquiatria E Saúde Mental, Centro Hospitalar do Baixo Vouga, Aveiro, Portugal
P. Garrido
Affiliation:
Psiquiatria E Saúde Mental, Centro Hospitalar do Baixo Vouga, Aveiro, Portugal
J. Alcafache
Affiliation:
Psiquiatria E Saúde Mental, Centro Hospitalar do Baixo Vouga, Aveiro, Portugal
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Pronoia is a neologism originally coined in 1982 to describe a state of mind that is, in essence, the positive counterpart of paranoia. It is characterized by feeling that the world is conspiring on behalf of the person experiencing pronoia.

Objectives

Brief literature review.

Methods

The authors review the available literature on pronoia and present a broad overview of its description and defining characteristics. An initial search utilizing key health journal databases revealed a scarcity in available documents, therefore a generalized search utilizing the search engine Google Scholar was performed with the term “pronoia”. Relevant articles obtained from the respective bibliographic references were also consulted.

Results

The primary outcome of this work is a summary of the available literature in order to build a more comprehensive understanding on pronoia. All relevant information was collated to form a cohesive description of the condition and its characteristics. We address a gap in the literature by offering a description of the lesser prevalent concept of pronoia.

Conclusions

Our results demonstrate a scarcity in the available literature describing the pronoia phenomenon when compared to its well-documented counterpart, paranoia. Further exploration into this topic is merited so as to close the gap on paranoia’s lesser-known positive counterpart. By signalling the existence of this concept, we strive to contribute to an increased identification of a concept that is many times underdiagnosed due to a lack of attention to its existence.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Type
Abstract
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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