In fact, there is an "environmental component" to the problem, mentioned right there in the article: the self-organized groups on the internet which amplify and reinforce the persecutory delusions these people are experiencing.
People have been developing schizo persecution complexes for as long as I remember. Just the contents of the delusions differ depending on the victim’s experiences.
I wonder if modern society exacerbates or amplifies it, though by “modern” I mean post-Agricultural Revolution. We humans tend to think that we can handle any problem that we create for ourselves, but I think there is some strain, and everybody has a breaking point. We don’t all break the same way. See also: Education practices.
It certainly doesn’t help that the government really is trying to spy on you, the government really is pushing people to do crazy things ([0] and others), and the people in government offices really are lying to you ([1], [2], for why the President is wrong about Snowden having official channels). The article mentions MKUltra[3], which obsesses one of the relatively harmless schizos whom I know. Some things are clearly false, or false but difficult to falsify (mind control satellites, anyone?), but I feel that this nuance is usually lacking in persecution complexes.
