Paranoia can be caused by mental and physical illnesses, prescription and illegal drugs. Treatment includes medication and psychotherapy, but the effectiveness of psychotherapy can be limited. Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, strokes, and brain injuries can also cause paranoia.
Paranoia is an overwhelming feeling of fear and suspicion that manipulates a person’s thoughts and behavior. The causes of paranoia can be mental and physical illnesses as well as prescription and illegal drugs. The most common treatments include antipsychotic or antidepressant medications and psychotherapy.
The most common mental illnesses that can produce paranoia are paranoid schizophrenia, paranoid personality disorder, and Alzheimer’s disease. Paranoid schizophrenia is a form of mental illness characterized by psychosis or difficulty interpreting reality. Psychosis can cause people to misinterpret the actions of people around them, producing paranoid thoughts and behaviors. Paranoid personality disorder is a psychiatric disorder characterized by constant feelings of suspicion and anxiety. Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive form of dementia that affects memory and rational thought processes, and patients sometimes feel and act highly suspicious of caregivers and family members.
Other causes of paranoia are Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, strokes and brain injuries. Parkinson’s disease is a neurological disorder that leads to uncoordinated movements and tremors. The drug used to treat Parkinson’s disease sometimes causes paranoid thoughts or behavior, and changing the drug or manipulating the dose can help control this side effect. Huntington’s disease is a degenerative neurological disease that can produce paranoia as the brain loses the ability to reason. Rare causes include stroke and brain injury, both of which can produce temporary bouts or long-lasting problems with paranoia.
Several prescription drugs, such as the acid reflux drug cimetidine, the muscle relaxant baclofen, some corticosteroids, amphetamines, antidepressants, and drugs used to treat the human immunodeficiency virus, can also cause paranoia. In most cases, when paranoia occurs, the dose of the drug can be changed to control the paranoid side effect or it can be replaced with another drug. One of the best known causes of paranoia is the use of the illegal drugs 3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine or ecstasy, marijuana, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), phencyclidine (PCP), and amphetamines. Withdrawal from these drugs can also cause difficult bouts of paranoia.
Treatment for paranoia often involves the use of antipsychotic or antidepressant medications. Whenever possible, psychotherapy can be tried for receptive patients, but the overwhelming fear and suspicious thoughts of paranoid people can prevent this form of therapy from working. Psychotherapy is sometimes possible after the patient has been on antipsychotic or antidepressant medications for a short time. In severe cases, paranoia can be treated with electroconvulsive therapy or hospitalization.
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