On Paranoia

One problem in defining mental illness is that many symptoms are aspects of normal behavior taken to extreme.

Paranoia is a general term describing beliefs that are persistent counter imperial and centered on the individual’s fears.

No evidence can cast doubt on these beliefs, but any fact can become evidence supporting it, for one with paranoid personality disorder everything contributes to a general sense of persecution. Every comment is an attack, every conversation a conspiracy.

The sufferer of paranoid personality disorder needs to dominate others but is easily dominated, and they never accept blame but are constantly critical.

For the delusional paranoiac, a single irrational belief is unshakable. The sufferer may believe they have a relationship with a media personality or that their friends are trying to poison them.

These delusions are remarkable in their complexity and logic, which are absent from the irrational beliefs of ordinary people.

In schizophrenic paranoia, there is the same specificity but no coherence, thinking is vague and confused, emotions are shallow often there are auditory and visual hallucinations.

While some insanity is organic, the majority is just the psychological coping mechanisms used by everyone taken to extremes, where exploitation and betrayal are a way of life, everyone is paranoid.