Paranoia is a medical condition characterized by recurring delusions or a false sense of conceit. Symptoms include distrust of others, oversensitivity, and confrontational behavior. It can be caused by heredity, head injuries, chemical reasons, or extreme stress. Treatment includes behavior therapy and medication for other mental disorders. Non-medical paranoia can be caused by societal factors such as surveillance cameras and distrust of authority.
Paranoia is a medical term for a condition in which the person has either recurring delusions that people are trying to harm him or a false sense of exalted conceit that leads him to suspect others. Typically, people associate it with three medical conditions: paranoid schizophrenia, persecutory-type delusional disorder, and paranoid personality disorder (PPD). It is a complicated disease with a range of causes and symptoms. Many people don’t use the word in a medical sense, but instead use it to describe someone who doesn’t trust other people in general.
Symptoms
The symptoms of paranoia are diverse, but one of the most common is a strong distrust of other people. Paranoid people often suspect that those around them are plotting against them and question the motives of others, leading them to be tense, oversensitive, and confrontational. They are unable to relax around people due to this lack of confidence and often take quick offense at the actions of others which can make them uncomfortable at social functions. Other symptoms may include extreme stubbornness, perfectionism, and difficulty expressing forgiveness, although these may also be signs of other mental disorders.
Clinically, mental health professionals view paranoia as a secondary condition to illnesses such as schizophrenia, paranoid personality disorder, and a variety of other mental disorders. Many times, symptoms that appear to be related to paranoia can be an indication of a different disorder, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or an anxiety disorder. Professionals also associate this condition with dementia and delirium in the elderly.
The symptoms of paranoia often depend on the type of person it has. In 1995, professors Max J. Birchwood, Peter Trower and Paul Chadwick classified the disorder into two classifications: “bad me” and “poor me.” In the “bad me” category, paranoid people think they deserve any harassment, bullying, or persecution as punishment; this is often associated with depression. In the “poor me” category, people believe they don’t deserve to be persecuted and that the attacks are only against them.
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While no one knows the exact causes of paranoia, medical professionals often cite factors such as heredity, head injuries, and chemical reasons such as chronic methamphetamine use. Some mental health professionals believe that paranoid people may suffer from a breakdown in some thought processes; people with schizophrenia, for example, may have trouble thinking logically and don’t always know what’s real and what’s not. Other conditions, such as depression and anxiety, can also make a person feel under attack.
A number of experts believe that extremely stressful situations, especially when combined with a constant habit of assuming that other people tend to act with bad intentions, can lead to paranoid thoughts. A child who has had her trust repeatedly betrayed, for example, may grow up to be a person who assumes that all people are against her. Sudden traumatic events, such as the loss of a job or the death of a loved one, could cause a person to become paranoid.
treatments
Depending on what is causing the paranoia, the other mental disorder may need to be treated first or at the same time. If the patient also suffers from anxiety, for example, anti-anxiety medications can help her feel less nervous and suspicious, which may provide some relief. Paranoia itself is often treated with behavior therapy, which teaches the sufferer how to be less sensitive to criticism and helps increase his social skills. Therapy can take a long time, as this condition is very difficult to overcome due to the protective traits associated with the disorder.
A paranoid person is usually unaware of the condition, so getting it treated can be difficult. In most cases, if others bring paranoia to her attention, it will only increase her distrust levels. Some people may, over time, realize that they are questioning every action other people take, but it is often very difficult for someone with this condition to break the cycle. It is nearly impossible for a person with this psychiatric disorder to control the condition without medical treatment.
Non-medical paranoia
In some cases, parents teach their children to question the motives of others, to suspect wrongdoing by strangers, and to distrust all people in general. Examples of unreliable people can also be seen regularly in the news. Paranoia can be a mental illness, but many people believe that society takes into account people’s tendencies to distrust the motives of others. After traumatic events such as September 11, 2001, some observers have seen an increase in the amount of US fiction focusing on mass paranoia as a rational response to contemporary events.
Some people believe that the fear of living in an Orwellian society causes distrust and mass suspicion among the population. The term refers to George Orwell’s 1984 book, which describes a world where everything, down to the thought processes of the characters, is monitored. In some areas of the world, surveillance cameras are very common and are constantly recording what people around them are doing, often as a way to deter crime or gather evidence after a crime has been committed. Many people believe this has created an increase in non-medical paranoia.
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