Why am i paranoid all the time

Paranoia: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatments

Written by Paul Frysh

What Is Paranoia?

Paranoia is the feeling that you’re being threatened in some way, such as people watching you or acting against you, even though there’s no proof that it’s true. It happens to a lot of people at some point. Even when you know that your concerns aren’t based in reality, they can be troubling if they happen too often.

Clinical paranoia is more severe. It’s a rare mental health condition in which you believe that others are unfair, lying, or actively trying to harm you when there’s no proof. You don’t think you’re paranoid at all because you feel sure it’s true. As the old saying goes, “It isn’t paranoia if they’re really out to get you.”

Anxiety vs. Paranoid Thoughts

A paranoid thought is a type of anxious thought. Anxiety can cause paranoia, affecting what you’re paranoid about and how long the feeling lasts. But paranoid thoughts can also make you anxious.

It’s normal to be anxious sometimes, especially if you’re going through something hard like losing a job or the end of a relationship. When in large groups of people, you may worry that others will judge the things you say or the way you dress or behave. You might walk into a party by yourself and think, “Everyone is wondering why I’m alone.”

Some call this paranoid, but we all have thoughts like this from time to time. Just because you’re worried that people might be talking about you doesn’t mean you have a mental illness. Clinical paranoia happens when you’re 100% convinced of it, even when facts prove that it isn’t true.

If you worry that your thoughts are paranoid, you probably have some anxiety rather than paranoia. If your anxiety isn’t linked to anything obvious and it never seems to get better or go away, you may need to talk to a doctor about it. Feelings of anxiety and panic that last a long time or get in the way of your daily life might be signs of an anxiety disorder. Symptoms of paranoia may be more severe.

Symptoms of Paranoia

The symptoms of paranoia can include:

Being defensive, hostile, and aggressive
Being easily offended
Believing you are always right and having trouble relaxing or letting your guard down
Not being able to compromise, forgive, or accept criticism
Not being able to trust or confide in other people
Reading hidden meanings into people’s normal behaviors

Causes of Paranoia

Too Little Sleep

A single restless night probably won’t cause paranoid thoughts. But if you often go without sleep, it can start to take a toll. You might not think as clearly, and you’re more likely to clash with others or have misunderstandings with them. It may start to look like people are working against you when they’re just acting like they always do. If you go without sleep for long enough, you could even start to see and hear things that aren’t there (your doctor will call them hallucinations).

Adults should shoot for 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night to stay alert and mentally healthy.

Stress

When the tension ratchets up in your life, you could start to feel more suspicious of other people. And the stress doesn’t have to be something negative like illness or job loss. Even a happy occasion, like a wedding, can create a kind of stress that brings out paranoid thoughts along with the joy.

To help ease the tension, you can:

Take time to relax and try to forget about what’s stressing you out
Spend time with friends
Find something to smile and laugh about
Get plenty of exercise
Meditate to clear your mind

Psychiatric Disorders

One condition, paranoid personality disorder, can make it hard to trust others. It can cause negative thoughts about people that just aren’t true, like “They don’t like me,” “They’re making fun of me,” or even “They’re plotting against me. ” In some cases, no amount of evidence will convince you otherwise. This can lead to true clinical paranoia. Though you might not believe every unrealistic thought that enters your head, you believe some of them.

Schizophrenia, another serious disorder, can make it hard to tell what’s real and what’s imagined. Most of the time, you simply don’t know when your thoughts have become paranoid. Friends, loved ones, or medical professionals often have to point it out and try to help you get treatment.

Borderline personality disorder, in which you have fast emotional swings where you can worship someone one moment and hate them the next, can also cause paranoid thoughts and even clinical paranoia in some people.

Just because you feel paranoid or worry about what others think about you from time to time doesn’t mean you have a psychiatric disorder. The fact that you know your thoughts don’t make sense could be a sign of good mental health. But if these paranoid feelings happen all the time or start to get in the way of your home or work life, you might want to talk to your doctor or a mental health care provider.

Drug Use

Drugs like marijuana, hallucinogens (LSD, psychotropic mushrooms), and stimulants (cocaine, methamphetamine) have chemicals that make some people paranoid for short periods. Once the chemicals leave your system, the paranoia goes away, too. Days or weeks of intense alcohol abuse also can cause short-term paranoia, and over the long term, it can lead to ongoing paranoia and even hallucinations.

If paranoid thoughts are making you anxious or if you have minor symptoms of depression, drugs can make them much worse. In some people, they can trigger a psychiatric disorder with true clinical paranoia as a symptom.

Alcohol can also worsen paranoia. Plus, it makes us less inhibited, which makes it harder to control these feelings.

Memory Loss

Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, which are more likely as you age, can change your brain in ways that make you more suspicious of others. You might notice that a loved one with dementia starts to hide things like jewelry or money, or becomes convinced that people have bad intentions toward them. This is part of the disease. Their doctor might be able to help you manage these symptoms.

Paranoia Treatments

If you feel that you’re losing touch with reality, a doctor or mental health professional is the best place to start. Because you can still tell that your thoughts aren’t reasonable, there are things you can do to help.

To start with, it’s important to eat a healthy balanced diet, exercise, and get plenty of sleep. All these things are part of a mental balance that can help keep paranoid thoughts at bay.

After that, it can actually help to talk to yourself about paranoid thoughts. This works only while you can still tell that your thoughts are not reasonable. Keep it realistic. Instead of thinking to yourself “I’m crazy” or “I’m paranoid,” try something like: “I’m worried about something that’s highly unlikely to be true.”

Even if you don’t have a mental illness, if your paranoid or irrational thoughts get in the way of doing things you want to do, talk to a social worker, psychologist, or psychiatrist. Talk therapy or some kind of medication could help you feel better.

Often, people who feel paranoid don’t get treatment because they don’t realize their thoughts are unrealistic. If you’re worried about a friend or family member, talk to a health professional or use a resource such as the National Alliance on Mental Illness (www.nami.org, 800-950-NAMI) or the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (www.samhsa.gov/find-treatment, 800-662-HELP).

Paranoid Personality Disorder (PPD): Symptoms & Treatment

Overview

What is paranoid personality disorder (PPD)?

Paranoid personality disorder (PPD) is a mental health condition marked by a long-term pattern of distrust and suspicion of others without adequate reason to be suspicious (paranoia). People with PPD often believe that others are trying to demean, harm or threaten them.

People with paranoid personality disorder often don’t think their behavior and way of thinking are problematic.

PPD is one of a group of conditions called Cluster A, or eccentric personality disorders. People with these disorders have unusual and eccentric thinking or behavior.

It’s important to note that people with paranoid personality disorder don’t experience delusions or hallucinations with paranoia, as commonly seen in schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and severe manic episodes in bipolar disorder.

What age does paranoid personality disorder begin?

People with paranoid personality disorder typically start experiencing symptoms and showing signs of the condition by their late teens or early adult years.

Who does paranoid personality disorder affect?

Overall, research reveals higher rates of paranoid personality disorder (PPD) in people assigned female at birth (AFAB), while samples from hospital records reveal higher rates of PPD in people assigned male at birth (AMAB).

People with PPD are more likely to:

Live in low-income households.
Be Black, Native American or Hispanic.
Be widowed, divorced or separated or never married.

More research is needed to learn more about why these risk factors are associated with PPD and how stress and trauma play a role in its development.

How common is paranoid personality disorder?

Paranoid personality disorder is relatively rare. Researchers estimate that it affects 0.5% to 4.5% of the general U.S. population.

Symptoms and Causes

What are the signs and symptoms of paranoid personality disorder?

People with paranoid personality disorder (PPD) are always on guard, believing that others are constantly trying to demean, harm or threaten them. These generally unfounded beliefs, as well as their habits of blame and distrust, interfere with their ability to form close or even workable relationships. People with PPD severely limit their social lives.

People with PPD may:

Doubt the commitment, loyalty or trustworthiness of others, believing others are exploiting or deceiving them.
Be reluctant to confide in others or reveal personal information because they’re afraid the information will be used against them.
Be unforgiving and hold grudges.
Be hypersensitive and take criticism poorly.
Read hidden meanings in the innocent remarks or casual looks of others.
Perceive attacks on their character that aren’t apparent to others.
Have persistent suspicions, without justified reason, that their spouses or romantic partners are being unfaithful.
Be cold and distant in their relationships with others and might become controlling and jealous to avoid being betrayed.
Not see their role in problems or conflicts, believing they’re always right.

Have difficulty relaxing.
Be hostile, stubborn and argumentative.

What causes paranoid personality disorder?

Scientists don’t know the exact cause of paranoid personality disorder (PPD), but it likely involves a combination of environmental and biological factors.

Researchers have found that childhood emotional neglect, physical neglect and supervision neglect play a significant role in the development of PPD in adolescence and early adulthood.

Researchers used to think there was likely a genetic link among schizophrenia, schizotypal personality disorder and PPD, but more studies have revealed that this connection isn’t as strong as they once thought.

Diagnosis and Tests

How is paranoid personality disorder diagnosed?

Personality continues to evolve throughout child and adolescent development. Because of this, healthcare providers don’t typically diagnose someone with paranoid personality disorder (PPD) until after the age of 18.

Personality disorders, including PPD, can be difficult to diagnose, as most people with a personality disorder don’t think there’s a problem with their behavior or way of thinking.

When they do seek help, it’s often related to conditions such as anxiety or depression due to the problems created by their personality disorder, such as divorce or lost relationships, not the disorder itself.

When a mental health professional, such as a psychologist or psychiatrist, suspects someone might have paranoid personality disorder, they often ask broad, general questions that won’t create a defensive response or hostile environment. They ask questions that will shed light on:

Past history.
Relationships.
Previous work history.
Reality testing.
Impulse control.

Mental health providers base a diagnosis of paranoid personality disorder on the criteria for the condition in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Are other medical conditions associated with paranoid personality disorder?

Yes, approximately 75% of people with paranoid personality disorder (PPD) have another personality disorder. The most common personality disorders to co-occur with PPD include:

Avoidant personality disorder.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD).
Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD).

People with PPD are also more likely to have substance use disorder and panic disorder than the general U.S. population.

Management and Treatment

How is paranoid personality disorder treated?

People with paranoid personality disorder (PPD) rarely seek treatment on their own. Family members, coworkers or employers usually refer them.

When someone with PPD does seek treatment, psychotherapy (talk therapy), such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), is the treatment of choice. Therapy focuses on increasing general coping skills, especially trust and empathy, as well as on improving social interaction, communication and self-esteem.

As people with PPD often distrust others, it poses a challenge for healthcare professionals because trust and rapport-building are important factors of psychotherapy. As a result, many people with PPD may not follow their treatment plan and may even question the motives of the therapist.

Healthcare providers generally don’t prescribe medication to treat PPD. However, medications — such as anti-anxiety, antidepressant or antipsychotic drugs — might be prescribed if the person’s symptoms are extreme or if they have an associated psychological condition, such as anxiety or depression.

Prevention

Can paranoid personality disorder be prevented?

While paranoid personality disorder generally can’t be prevented, treatment can allow someone with PPD to learn more productive ways of dealing with triggering thoughts and situations.

Outlook / Prognosis

What is the prognosis (outlook) for paranoid personality disorder?

The prognosis (outlook) for paranoid personality disorder (PPD) typically depends on whether someone with PPD is willing to accept and commit to treatment. Talk therapy can sometimes reduce paranoia and limit its impact on daily functioning.

Left untreated, PPD can interfere with a person’s ability to form and maintain relationships, as well as their ability to function socially and in work situations. People with PPD are more likely to stop working earlier in their lives than people without personality disorders.

In addition, PPD is one of the strongest predictors of aggressive behavior in a hospital setting. PPD is also associated with stalking and excessive litigation (lawsuits).

A note from Cleveland Clinic

It’s important to remember that paranoid personality disorder (PPD) is a mental health condition. As with all mental health conditions, seeking help as soon as symptoms appear can help decrease disruptions to a person’s life. Mental health professionals can offer treatment plans that can help manage thoughts and behaviors of people with PPD.

Family members of people with paranoid personality disorder often experience stress, depression, grief and isolation. It’s important to take care of your mental health and seek support if you’re experiencing these symptoms.

What is paranoia: symptoms and signs

Paranoia - what kind of disease it is, how it affects the life of a person and the people around him. What is the relevance of the problem? What are the main causes and signs of paranoia, what is its differential diagnosis based on? Whether its effective treatment of this disease is possible or probable? The answers to these questions are offered by the Chief Physician of the Health Harmony Medical Center, a practicing psychiatrist, psychiatrist-narcologist and psychotherapist Vladislav Sipovich.

What is paranoia and how relevant is its problem?

Paranoia in Greek literally means “next to the mind”, which can be regarded as a deviation from normal thinking in the direction of exaggeration of one's own personality and the ideas produced by it, while maintaining the logic of judgments. A person actually retains the ability to reason, but all his thoughts are aimed solely at proving his significance and the recognition by society of his overvalued ideas. At the same time, self-criticism is practically absent, but a critical attitude towards people who do not share ideas about the exclusivity of the patient himself literally rolls over.

Paranoia is a rare type of chronic mental disorder that develops mainly in people who have reached adulthood. According to statistics, among patients undergoing treatment in psychiatric hospitals, the proportion of patients with paranoia is only 0.5-1%, and among all mental disorders 2-4%. Perhaps such low statistics is due to low detection, which in turn is associated both with the difficulty of differential diagnosis and with the patient's non-recognition of his disease state and the ability to integrate and function in society.

A paranoid person is a person who is convinced of the value of his ideas and the prejudice of others. Attempts to prove the irrationality and unreality of the thoughts put forward by the paranoid cause only anger, distrust, hostility and even aggressiveness not only towards outsiders, but also to close people themselves, as well as to specialists trying to help. Establishing contact with such a patient is extremely difficult and requires, at the initial stage, a partial recognition of the supervalue and uniqueness of even the most delusional ideas. Paranoia is a disease that has such features as:
• Gradual development without aggravation of the pathological dynamics of symptoms and without an increase in personality changes. In practice, this means the absence of apathy, a decrease in vitality, abulia (loss of will and motivation). The nervous and energy potential of the patient remains consistently high, aimed at achieving the goal, and internal dissatisfaction finds a way out in conflict with the outside world and the fight against imaginary injustice.
• Logical validity and consistency of false ideas, which is almost impossible to refute. All objections have seemingly logical antitheses.
• The topic of ideas is usually monodirectional, i.e. concerns a certain sphere of knowledge and activity of society. A classic example is graphomania, when a person, having once achieved the publication of his poems or story, begins to consider himself an outstanding and unsurpassed poet or writer. The constant refusals of publishers to publish his "masterpieces" are perceived as the intrigues of envious people, unprofessionalism and bias of editors, publishers, and so on. It is almost impossible to prove the inconsistency of the claims of the paranoid, tk. he takes criticism as a personal insult and reacts with extreme hostility. Switching to another topic is uncharacteristic, the patient stubbornly achieves his goal and attacks various publishing houses ad infinitum. All these torments last for years and decades, causing extreme anger and hostility to the whole world.
• Absence of hallucinations, i.e. distortions in the perception of reality. By the way, experts do not have a unanimous opinion on this matter, many sources recognize the existence of various types of illusions in paranoid people, but usually these symptoms are observed in combined mental disorders, for example, delusions similar to paranoia in schizophrenics. These phenomena have nothing to do with classical "pure" paranoia.
• Consistent and generally predictable behavior based on the formal connection of many real elements with the paranoid's false ideas.

A person with paranoia is characterized by extreme suspicion, blaming imaginary enemies for his failures, and a tendency to construct conspiracy theories against him in his imagination.
The urgency of the problem is that one paranoid person can complicate the lives of many people, including not only those closest to him, but also those to whom he addresses with his "projects". The circle of interests of the paranoid includes officials, specialized specialists, writers, directors, producers, public figures, judicial authorities, etc. The received refusals to satisfy requests and logical explanations do not stop the paranoid, but only increase his perseverance. Sometimes he turns into a manic persecutor and can even stoop to physical violence against those who refused him protection.

What is the differential diagnosis of paranoia based on?

If earlier in classical psychiatry paranoia was considered as an independent disease for a long time, then according to the modern international classification of diseases of the 10th revision (ICD-10), it is not distinguished into a separate heading, but is referred to as a subheading of delusional disorder.
Paranoia should be differentiated from similar paranoid (paranoid) personality changes. The latter often accompanies many mental disorders, in particular, schizophrenia, paraphrenia, social phobias, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress and borderline conditions, and alcoholic psychoses.

The difference between paranoia and paranoid personality disorders (hereinafter BPD):
• Paranoia is characterized by following one idea, for example, if a paranoid person is convinced that a neighbor is harming him, then he will not communicate with him, maintaining communication with another environment. A hostile and aggressive attitude towards certain people develops when they do not recognize the overvalued ideas of the patient and when they make critical statements about him. With paranoid disorder, distrust of everyone and everything comes to the fore, colleagues, the CIA, the FSB and the whole world can be objects of distorted ideas. At the same time, the presence of an initial overvalued idea is absolutely not necessary.
• Paranoia is always distinguished by a consistently built and logically connected system of ideas, which is based on the acceptance of some idea as an axiom that does not require proof. Otherwise, thinking retains its rationality and allows paranoids to exist and function normally in society. They usually do not make friends, but they may have family relationships. In BPD, delusions are unsystematized and inconsistent.
• In paranoia, there are no hallucinations or illusions. Paranoid disorder is characterized by a distorted perception of reality.
• Paranoid disorders are much more common than paranoia. For example, in the United States, about 2-4% of the population suffer from more or less pronounced mental disorders of the paranoid type. This is due to the fact that the very concept of BPD is broader and includes paranoia itself, endogenous (paranoid schizophrenia) and exogenous (provoked by stress, an unusual situation, etc.) paranoid psychoses.
• In BPD, there is a progressive change in personality, which can lead to a complete disorganization of thinking, which is not typical for classical paranoia with the preservation of structured, consistent and logical thought processes.
• Cause of paranoia unknown. There are only hypotheses about a genetic predisposition, but the gene responsible for its development has not been found. An external trigger that starts the psychopathological process can be any event that is extremely difficult to identify. A number of factors predispose to the development of a paranoid disorder. These include schizophrenia and delusional disorders in close relatives, problems of upbringing in a family with violence, totalitarianism and increased parental care, as well as restriction of communication due to physical defects or illness. In fact, paranoid disorder is formed as a hypertrophied self-preservation instinct, which leads to isolation, pathological suspicion and distrust of close and distant environment, constant readiness to defend oneself from hostile, harmful persons and events. In addition, hallucinogens, amphetamines, alcohol, and other chemicals can cause a temporary paranoia-like disorder.

Only an experienced specialist can differentiate paranoia from paranoid disorder. Moreover, there is no complete clarity on this issue in psychiatry. The importance of the problem is that the choice of an effective method of its treatment depends on the nature of a mental disorder.

What are the types of paranoia?

The classification of certain types of paranoia is based mainly on the prevailing fixed idea. Depending on this, the most common forms of paranoia are distinguished:
• Involutional paranoia that develops at a mature age of 45-60 years, in women often coinciding with menopause. It is characterized by systematized delusions of persecution, jealousy, less often grandeur. The onset is usually acute, the course is long, the treatment is stationary.
• Paranoia of greatness, or megalomaniac with ideas of reforming society, science and art, as well as inventions and "great" discoveries.
• The paranoia of jealousy is based on the dogma of adultery or adultery. Moreover, treason does not need fixation and proof, but is accepted as an axiom. No arguments of the second half are able to shake the confidence of the pathological jealous that he is right. Initially, the patient accuses the partner of coquetry, the desire to attract the attention of the opposite sex, cheeky behavior, shameless snuggling during the dance, and even a bashful reaction to compliments. This goes on for several years, after which suspicions develop into a firm belief in treason.
• A religious form that develops against a background of religious beliefs.
• Erotic paranoia, in which the main content of the delusions is erotic fantasies. It develops mainly in women between 40 and 50 years of age.
• Persecutory form - paranoia with systematized delusions of persecution.
• Senile paranoia of old age, often coinciding with senile dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other degenerative diseases of the brain.
• Alcoholic paranoia, which is a chronic psychosis caused by alcoholic encephalopathy. Most often occurs in men and is manifested by delusions of jealousy and / or persecution.
There are other types of paranoia, such as those with complainer delusions or hypnotic charms, but these are much less common.

What are the main signs of paranoia and its clinical picture?

The main symptoms of paranoia include such mental manifestations as:
• The presence of overvalued ideas that become fixed ideas and haunt the patient throughout his life. At the same time, paranoids are as persistent as possible, they spend all their strength and finances on proving the importance of their invention, discovery or method of reforming society. The literature describes a case when a man from Vladivostok "discovered" a new way of fishing, taking into account the location of the stars. He arrived in Moscow, knocked on the thresholds of various authorities, which gradually began to ignore him, went down and even spent the night at railway stations. At the same time, the fate of the family abandoned in Vladivostok - parents, wife and children, did not bother him at all.
• Overestimation of the role of one's own personality, leading to delusions of grandeur or persecution. In the first case, the patient considers himself capable of doing good to all mankind, and in the second, that all the forces of the world are directed against him. For example, the neighbor's dog barks because the neighbors tease her to spite him, the March cats yell specifically to prevent him from sleeping, the children in the yard make noise in order to annoy him, etc.
• Pathological suspiciousness, in which a person sees in everything the machinations of enemies and ill-wishers. He connects even the most insignificant events into a conspiracy theory built by him against himself. All this is accompanied by suspiciousness, vindictiveness, vindictiveness, inadequate assessment of criticism and a complete lack of a critical attitude towards one's own actions. The patient does not perceive someone else's opinion, it is useless to prove the fallacy and inconsistency of his ideas. The paranoid is convinced that everyone around wants to harm him, take away his property, downplay his merits, exploit him and try to manipulate him in their own interests. As a result, a hostile attitude towards everyone around is formed, which, with an attack of acute paranoia, can turn into aggressive actions and make the patient dangerous even for the closest people.
• Extreme susceptibility to stressful situations. The state of affect lasts for a long time and at any memory of it “comes to life with renewed vigor. Even if the paranoid does not show his emotions, then only with an eye on future revenge, because. he does not forgive insults.
One's own failures, mistakes made are experienced very acutely because of wounded pride. Paranoids are extremely ambitious, distinguished by arrogance and a tendency to overestimate their abilities and achievements.

What are the main ways to treat paranoia and how should others behave during an attack of paranoia?

Paranoia is a psychiatric illness that is very difficult to treat. This is explained by the fact that because of his supernatural suspicion, the patient does not trust anyone or anything, extending his suspicions to the doctor and the drugs prescribed by him. He perceives psychotherapy as another attempt to manipulate his mind. In addition, the paranoid categorically denies the morbidity of his condition, and relatives who prove the need for treatment are transferred by the paranoid into the category of "enemies".

The need for treatment becomes especially acute if a person ceases to be socialized, which is manifested by a willingness to isolate himself from the “persecuting” society or even attack an object that is harmful, in his opinion. Such a transition from the passive course of the disease to the active phase is an indication for inpatient treatment.

In the event of an attack of paranoia, it is necessary to call an ambulance, and unnoticed by the patient. Before the arrival of a specialized team, in no case argue with the patient, accept his position and even play along a little. Do not try to prove something or appeal to common sense. This is useless and even dangerous, since the delusions of the paranoid cannot be corrected. If the arrived specialists cannot stop the attack and relieve the psycho-emotional stress on the spot, the patient is hospitalized.
In the chronic course of paranoia, outpatient complex treatment is indicated, the main element of which is drug therapy with the use of anti-delusional antipsychotics. Their action is aimed at normalizing the exchange of neurotransmitters and blocking the excitation of the nerve centers responsible for the symptoms of paranoia. The appointment of other pharmacological drugs is symptomatic and is aimed at eliminating the symptoms of paranoia that prevail in a particular patient. For example, antidepressants are used to relieve depressive moods, tranquilizers - to eliminate fear and anxiety, sleeping pills - to normalize sleep.

An additional and important direction in the complex treatment of paranoia is psychotherapy. It is aimed primarily at restoring socialization and eliminating elements of irrational behavior in patients with paranoia.

At the first stage of treatment, the main thing is to establish contact and trusting relationships with the patient. This is extremely difficult to achieve, but possible. If the patient himself decided to be treated and correctly assesses his condition, this is already half the success in getting rid of paranoia. Unfortunately, this development is rare. Most of these patients remain outside the attention of psychiatrists and psychotherapists (what is the difference between a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist) for a long time, sometimes for decades. If, during an exacerbation, situations occur that are dangerous to the life of the patient himself (auto-aggression) and / or his environment, then only then treatment begins, usually in stationary conditions.

The choice of drugs, as well as psychotherapeutic methods of correction, depends on many factors - on the general physical condition of the body, mental characteristics, gender, age and the main symptoms.

In drug treatment, it should be borne in mind that abrupt discontinuation of drugs can lead to the so-called withdrawal syndrome, when, after stopping treatment, the symptoms of the disease return again and sometimes with more force than before treatment.

Only drug therapy, not supported by psychotherapy, is not able to fully return the patient to a normal life in society. It is possible to achieve stable and long-term remission only with the use of both methods of therapy - medication and psychotherapy. The most effective in the treatment of paranoia are Gestalt therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and psychodynamic psychotherapy. Unfortunately, paranoia is a disease that is treated for a long and difficult time, sometimes for 10 years. If the treatment is carried out on an outpatient basis, then it is important to take drugs according to the scheme developed by the doctor, the regularity of psychotherapy sessions, following the recommendations of the psychotherapist, using the acquired communication skills, and after achieving remission, periodic consultations with the specialist observing the patient.

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Paranoid - Psychologist

January 01, 2006, 13:37

Film "Chairman"

Paranoid (paranoid) - one of the psychotypes, a characteristic personality pattern, sometimes character accentuation.

Paranoid is a high penetration projectile. Energetic, never doubting his rightness and the wrongness of all those who hesitate, he rushes like a tank, and resistance only strengthens his pressure. In ordinary life, this is just a purposeful and self-confident person who knows what he needs. If he has an "overvalued idea", everything obeys this, and he goes ahead of it, sweeping away everything in his path and not paying attention to trifles and details - for example, to people.

He does not like to talk and philosophize for a long time, he is a man of action, although if he needs to convince you of something, he will not spare either his or your time for this. If you are in the same business with him, you can rely on him: he is reliable, firmly holds the program and fulfills the agreements. However, if you have left the sphere of his interests, do not rely on past friendship and feelings of affection: you have remained in his past, and he is not inclined to remember the past.

The paranoid is not sentimental, and appealing to his feelings is like playing the flute in front of a rushing herd of buffalo: possible, but useless. As a person "on his own mind", he is rather distrustful and often sees the bad in people. Oddly enough, in this he is most often right.0093 .

He seems to enjoy pushing a little, and his usual lifestyle is wrestling. Of course, he always fights for the best and for justice, and almost always this turns out to be the protection of his interests: apparently, because he personifies all the best for himself. He calls it "I respect myself", others call it "delusions of grandeur".

It is difficult to work with him in the family - he is always at work, next to his relatives (and children) he is demanding, it is not easy to discuss anything with him - he knows the solution right away and is categorical in his judgments. He is easily provoked to objections, replies to taunts with rudeness and, most importantly, is very difficult in jealousy.

All the best and all the worst in life is due to the paranoid .

What to do?

If you are paranoid, then do not listen to those who call you names, and value yourself: among all character accentuations, you are the most decent type. However, to enhance your strengths, pay attention to the exercises for the "Hawk" ("Smile", "Peace be with you", "Transfer of initiative", "Evaluation of oneself", "Pleasant conversation", "Cloud in pants", "Approval ", "Thunderstorm canceled", "Sage").

You will become calmer and gentler if you switch to vegetarianism and interest yourself in Eastern philosophical teachings - such as the philosophy of yoga, Zen and others.

It will be useful if you write beautifully on a sheet and hang self-hypnotic slogans on the wall in front of your eyes:

"A business is for a person, not a person for a business"
"You can't make those far away happy by making your neighbors unhappy"
"In the eternal pursuit of future success, life passes by us, not lived by us. .."

This is not always true, but it is useful to reflect on these things. In the same direction - try to read the Dhammapada daily as a prayer. Yes, and relax the muscles of the jaws, they are constantly compressed.

Recommendations for Anti-paranoid

If, according to the results of the test, you are more likely to be Anti-paranoid, then the exercises for "Dove" are useful for you: "Not-smile", "No", "Seizure of the initiative", "Lip", "I will give you a mark ", "Freedom of negative emotions", "Freedom of accusations", "Put things in order". See the Mood Man exercises here.

What else? Give up laziness, contemplation, worries and dreams, get down to business. Whatever you do (read, talk, wonder, go crazy), sum up: what is the bottom line? Product, result? What exactly did it bring into your life? Can this be felt somehow?

And the most terrible recommendation: even if not for long, make yourself at least one enemy in order to develop fighting qualities in yourself. If for a while, it will be rather useful!

For more on paranoid traits, see

Purposefulness of the paranoid. Paranoid and order. Paranoid and Religion. Politics and science are paranoid. Paranoia and empathy. Paranoid and friendship. Paranoid thinking. Paranoid speech. Paranoid and family. Paranoid and image. Paranoid and humour. Paranoia and health. Psychotechnics of communication paranoid. Paranoid aliases. Paranoid and money. Erudition and memory of the paranoid. Paranoid and career. Paranoid selfishness. Paranoid and the law. Paranoid and sacrificial. Paranoid and work. Value orientations of the paranoid.

Real life examples: Chairman Kirill Orlovsky

July 6, 1944 Hero of the Soviet Union, State Security Lieutenant Colonel Kirill Orlovsky wrote a letter to JV Stalin asking for money in exchange for commitments. Look what ... And most importantly - he did it! See →

Paranoid
Author N.I. Kozlov
Accentuation
Type of accentuation

Comments (7):

Denis, February 22, 2016, 7:26 pm

Very interesting article!

Guest, June 01, 2018, 07:20 PM

I know people, I know many people who are rushing ahead, but we have an exceptional person at work, a woman Doctor. So - I read on the site that they write about paranoid people, and I think that she probably also read this site, she wanted to become paranoid and therefore behaves exactly as described here! Everything, ABSOLUTELY! Every word, every sentence, every statement in ALL the paranoid articles is ABSOLUTELY a description of this woman! When I read articles, I see her in front of me, and for each sign of character I can give more than one example from the life / behavior, even the appearance (for example, jaws are always clenched) of our doctor! Either she read everything and behaves exactly as it is written here (which is unlikely, because she is German, she does not speak Russian, I live in Germany), or they wrote an article describing our doctor! This is exactly the impression. The coincidence of all articles is absolutely! Not a single deviation. Not a single exception! I thought she just had delusions of grandeur, or she was just an egoist, but it looks like it .... Thank you! On the site, in all the articles, the paranoid character was excellently described! So excellent that they even described a specific person I knew, without a single mistake. All in the apple! I'm just delighted.

Guest, April 19, 2019 7:33 PM

And there is another kind of paranoia. For some reason, only one is mentioned here. About the aggressive paranoid. And there is a sensitive paranoid. Vulnerable, suspicious, capable of empathy, constantly thinking that he is being bullied, that he is underestimated, touchy, long and painfully experiencing failures and therefore becoming a misanthrope. This is my type. That's what the therapist said.

Guest, Sep 04, 2020 2:33 pm

This is precisely a clinical case, for some reason Professor Kozlov calls the paranoid type "paranoid" (although paranoia and this psychotype have little in common).

Guest, August 19, 2019, 03:07 PM

If a person is purposeful and moving towards his goal, this does not mean that something is wrong with him! But those who are not capable of this, they just have nothing more to say, so they came up with all sorts of terms to hide such people in a psychiatric hospital)0003

There is a difference between a healthy person and a person with pathological features. Psychiatry and life - or rather, psychiatry in life, unfortunately, is evident ... So many people with disabilities.

Guest, August 14, 2020, 03:33 PM

The title of the article is incorrect. This is a "paranoid personality pattern" and not psychiatric paranoia. Only now, if the traits of purposefulness and determination are too pronounced to the detriment of other qualities, this is already a severe deviation.

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