Fourth Edition, September 2011

Paranoia/Paranoid State
In common use, this term means suspicion or mistrust 
of others. Mental health professionals use the term 
paranoia to describe persecutory ideas held by a per-
son which are not quite as intense as delusions. For ex-
ample, a person may believe someone close to them is 
poisoning their food.
Persecutory delusion
A delusion in which the central theme is that one (or 
someone to whom one is close) is being attacked, ha-
rassed, cheated, persecuted, or conspired against.
Perseveration
Tendency to emit the same verbal or motor response 
again and again to varied stimuli. 
Personality Disorder 
A group of disorders characterised by patterns of dis-
ruptive and dysfunctional behaviour well-established 
by early adulthood, and continuing throughout a per-
son’s life. The person with a personality disorder typically 
has marked problems and frequent crises in personal 
and social relationships, including threatened or actual 
selfi njury. People with this disorder often have a history 
of inadequate or abusive parenting. See also: borderline 
personality disorder; severe personality disorder.
Phobia
A persistent and unreasonable fear of specifi c places, 
events or objects which leads to avoidance of that situ-
ation and signifi cantly impacts upon a person’s life; for 
example: fear of crowds, public places, public speak-
ing, insects or blood.
Pressured speech 
Speech that is increased in amount, accelerated, and 
diffi
cult or impossible to interrupt. Usually, it is also 
loud and emphatic. Frequently, the person talks with-
out any social stimulation and may continue to talk 
even though no one is listening. 

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Making a Diff erence: An Educators’ Guide to Child and Youth Mental Health Problems
www.cymhin.ca
3 . 1 0
Glossary of terms and abbreviations
Prevalence
Frequency of a disorder, used particularly in epidemi-
ology to denote the total number of cases existing 
within a unit of population at a given time or over a 
specifi ed period.