What the record says

Worldwide register by region (Batch 2) · Batch 8

Jurisdiction / date

Psychiatric nosology, 1879–present

Mechanism

Diagnostic category: querulous (litigious) paranoia — Krafft-Ebing 1879, Kraepelin 1904; ICD-10 F22.8 paranoia querulans

What is documented

The category fell out of use because, in the words of the standard account, it had been misused to stigmatize people pursuing valid grievances; Lester, Wilson, Griffin and Mullen revived attention in 2004 ("Unusually persistent complainants," BJPsych 184:352) and 2006 (Behavioral Sciences & the Law 24), proposing management by complaints bodies and courts; a published reply, "In defence of complainants" (BJPsych 2004), warned that the diagnosis "runs the risk of misuse by those who wish to use psychiatry as a manner of silencing criticism" and that complaint merit is judged by each psychiatrist's prejudices

Finding or status

Peer-reviewed (Cambridge Core, Lester et al. 2004; reply, "In defence of complainants"; Mullen & Lester 2006 abstract; Monash University Law Review on vexatious-litigant sanctions)

Limits

Lester et al. studied complaints officers' perceptions, not independently verified complaint merit (the reply's central objection); the category is in ICD-10 but not DSM-5

Label

VERIFIED — the one diagnostic category whose own definition is the act of complaining