ABSTRACT
The term ‘paranoid’ comes from two Greek words: para (beside) and nous (mind). To an ancient Greek paranoid meant ‘out of his mind’ or mad. Nowadays the word has persecutory connotations which were introduced by a group of German and Austrian psychiatrists 100 years ago. One of them was Eugen Bleuler who introduced the concept of paranoid schizophrenia. Freud put paranoia down to repressed sex, in this case homosex.
