How do I find out if I truly suffer from paranoia, & how do I fix it if I am?

Question

I wonder if you can all help me with this. I'm hearing more people tell me I'm paraniod. I'm starting to think I am. But I don't know how I can find out. If I am, I don't know how I can decifer from what is happening in reality, or what is just a paranoid dillusion caused by a mental disorder that I'm not aware of.

It happens specifically when something unjust happens to me. Like for example, a boss coming to my desk & blaming me for something I clearly didn't do. & even after I prove to them with evidence that I am not guilty, after they see they were wrong, they pretend like nothing happened & then blame me for making a big deal about it, when it was they who brought up the issue.

When I ask people for advice on how to handle those kinds of problems by in addition, letting them know what worries me because of the nature of the problem, they call me paranoid.

If I suffer from this, how do I even live my life & make logical judgements if it can always be polluted by paranoia?

Indiana - You mentioned, "The individual thinks that harm is occurring, or is going to occur, to him or her." My problem is, what about an individual who doesn't necessarily believe harm is occuring or is going to occur, but thinks it is a possibility based on what he/she experienced?

It seems difficult, or maybe it's just me, to see the difference between being logical, and being delusional when searching for where that line is and not to cross it.

Lisa A - You said, "I think not. Getting help should bring no shame and the rewards are that you are more productive and happier."

Yeah I agree. My problem is, knowing who will actually help you. I want help from someone who I can trust will actually help. Councilors and Phychologists get paid money to tell you what they want you to hear. Many don't actually try to sincerely help you, but a handful do. I'm not sure if I'm wealthy enough to spend thousands to weed through the bad doctors to find a good one. Maybe I just need a good person to talk to.

Dust in - Problem is, Therapists are people who get paid to tell you what they want you to hear most of the time, and very rarely do you meet people who actually want to help you. Like I mentioned to the 3rd post here, I'm not sure if I can afford to spend money and weeding through the bad folks to reach the good ones.

I've heard of all sorts of stories from people who were guided down the wrong direction, even told to take pills they didn't really need, because the doctor didn't really care.

Answer 1

If you only feel that way at work, maybe it's the work environment and not you. Maybe the bosses are a bunch of jerks.

Answer 2

We live in such a complex world that I'm afraid it's hard to fix a lot of problems we have by ourselves. I urge you to see a counselor and they often have wonderful ideas to assist. If you don't like a counselor, try another until you find one that does. My nephew was not only paranoid, but extremely anxious in that he didn't leave the house. He started seeing a new counselor a few weeks ago and has solved quite a few problems he had (getting license renewed and insurance on his car) and even went with his dad to talk to a man about a job! He is 22. So that's how bad things can get if you let it go. Is that where you want to go? I think not. Getting help should bring no shame and the rewards are that you are more productive and happier.

Answer 3

See a therapist and go over your symptoms. Most people who are clinically paranoid are not aware of what is going on as you seem to be. Perhaps you only need some help with problem solving issues. But see a professional...they can give you the best answers.

The Skeptical Christian, JPO
Grace and Peace
Peg

Answer 4

Paranoia is an excessive anxiety or fear concerning one's own well-being which is considered irrational and excessive, perhaps to the point of being a psychosis. This typically includes persecutory beliefs concerning a likely threat, or a belief in a conspiracy theory. In the original Greek, παράνοια (paranoia) means simply madness (para = outside; nous = mind) and it is this use which was traditionally used in psychiatry to describe any delusional state. However, the exact use of the term has changed over time in medicine, and because of this, modern psychiatric usage may vary. Paranoia is distinct from phobias where there is an irrational and persistent fear (generally without blame) of certain situations, objects, animals, activities, or social settings. By contrast, the paranoid person blames and/or fears intelligent beings for their supposedly intentional actions.

In psychiatry, the term paranoia was used by Emil Kraepelin to describe a mental illness in which a delusional belief is the sole, or most prominent feature. In his original attempt at classifying different forms of mental illness, Emil Kraepelin used the term pure paranoia to describe a condition where a delusion was present, but without any apparent deterioration in intellectual abilities and without any of the other features of dementia praecox, the condition later renamed schizophrenia. Notably, in his definition, the belief does not have to be persecutory to be classified as paranoid, so any number of delusional beliefs can be classified as paranoia. For example, a person who has the sole delusional belief that he is an important religious figure would be classified by Kraepelin as having 'pure paranoia'.

Although the diagnosis of pure paranoia is no longer used (having been superseded by the diagnosis of delusional disorder) the use of the term to signify the presence of delusions in general, rather than persecutory delusions specifically, lives on in the classification of paranoid schizophrenia, which denotes a form of schizophrenia where delusions are prominent.

More recently, the clinical use of the term has been used to describe delusions where the affected person believes they are being persecuted. Specifically, they have been defined as containing two central elements:

The individual thinks that harm is occurring, or is going to occur, to him or her.
The individual thinks that the persecutor has the intention to cause harm.
Paranoia is often associated with psychotic illnesses, particularly schizophrenia, although attenuated features may be present in other primarily non-psychotic diagnoses, such as paranoid personality disorder. Paranoia can also be a side effect of medication or recreational drugs.

In the unrestricted use of the term, common paranoid delusions can include the belief that the person is being followed, poisoned or loved at a distance (often by a media figure or important person, a delusion known as erotomania or de Clerambault syndrome).

Other common paranoid delusions include the belief that the person has an imaginary disease or parasitic infection (delusional parasitosis); that the person is on a special quest or has been chosen by God; that the person has had thoughts inserted or removed from conscious thought; or that the person's actions are being controlled by an external force.

Therefore, in common usage, the term paranoid addresses a range of mental conditions, assumed by the use of the term to be of psychiatric origin, in which the subject is seen to generalise or projects fears and anxieties onto the external world, particularly in the form of organised behaviour focused on them. The syndrome is applied equally to powerful people like executives obsessed with takeover bids or political leaders convinced of plots against them, and to insignificant people who believe for instance that shadowy agencies are operating against them.