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litigious paranoia

a type of paranoid disorder characterized by constant quarreling, claims of persecution, and insistence that one’s rights have been breached. The individual usually threatens to go to court—and frequently does so—to seek redress for exaggerated or imagined wrongs. Also called paranoia querulans; paranoid litigious state.

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Psychology term of the day

January 3rd 2025

syphilis

syphilis

n. a contagious disease caused by infection with the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum. Syphilis is usually a sexually transmitted disease, but it can be transmitted through a break or cut in the skin or mucous membrane; it can also be transmitted by an infected pregnant woman to an unborn child. Untreated, syphilis progressively destroys body tissues, particularly those of the heart and nervous system. See also cerebral syphilis; general paresis.