A pilot study of stress coping and anxiety among internally displaced people in Russian-Ukrainian war who experienced stress-related disorders

While recent studies have prompted re-evaluation of the term “schizophrenia,” few have examined the use of terms to describe persecutory ideation (PI) or paranoia. This study examines the preferences and terms used by a cross-diagnostic population of individuals (N = 184) with lived experience using an online survey. Participants most commonly described their PI in terms of the perceived source of threat, followed by clinical language, most commonly variants of “paranoia” and “anxiety.” Of five selected terms assessed quantitatively – “anxiety,” “paranoia,” “persecutory thoughts,” “suspiciousness,” and “threat thoughts” – participants were more likely to report that “anxiety” aligned with their experience of PI, followed by “suspiciousness.” Endorsement of terms more specific to PI was associated with self-report PI severity, while a preference for “anxiety” over other terms was both associated with less severe PI and lower scores on a measure of stigma. These results suggest that the heterogeneity of terms used by individuals with lived experience support a person-centered approach to language describing such experiences.