Mental Health Awareness Month

MAY 2017

Good Afternoon Blog Readers, Followers, and Visitors ~ We are back to discuss the topic of "Paranoia".  This is Mental Health Awareness Month, and all month long we will continue our discussions about mental health issues.

We're a big fan of Journals, Diaries, Notepads, and Index Cards around here, because our main objective this month is to get in touch with what's going on with each of us, and to make and take plenty of notes about what we are discovering about our mental health and the mental health of those we come in contact with.  So now is a good time to grab your Journal as we begin this Blog Session.

We tend to throw the word, "Paranoid" around casually when we talk about people and say things like, "Oh Jim, he's just paranoid.  He's always a little over the edge about everything" or statements like  "nobody is following her around, she's just paranoid."

But let us all clearly understand that there is a mental condition entitled, "paranoia".  This mental condition is characterized by delusions of persecution, unwarranted jealousy, or exaggerated self-importance, typically elaborated into an organized system.  It may be an aspect of chronic personality disorder, of drug abuse, or of a serious condition such as schizophrenia in which the person loses touch with reality.

This mental health issue that is called, "paranoia" centers around suspicion and mistrust of people or their actions without evidence or justification.

NOTES on PARANOIA:  It is a mental illness characterized by systematized delusions of persecution or grandeur usually without hallucinations; a tendency on the part of an individual or group toward excessive or irrational suspiciousness and distrustfulness of others; a serious mental illness that causes you to falsely believe that other people are trying to harm you; an unreasonable feeling that people are trying to harm you, do not like you, etc.

Paranoia

Definition of "Paranoia" from the Cambridge Dictionary:

a strong tendency to feel that you cannot trust other people or that other people have a bad opinion of you, or MEDICAL: a mental illness that causes extreme feelings that others are trying to harm you.

We may know someone who has this mental health condition entitled, "Paranoia.  Let us fully get ready to take serious notes in our Journals as we discuss . . .

Paranoia and Delusional Disorders

What is Paranoia?

Paranoia involves intense anxious or fearful feelings and thoughts often related to persecution, threat, or conspiracy.  Paranoia occurs in many mental disorders, but is most often present in psychotic disorders. Paranoia can become delusions, when irrational thoughts and beliefs become so fixed that nothing (including contrary evidence) can convince a person that what they think or feel is not true.  When a person has paranoia or delusions, but no other symptoms (like hearing or seeing things that aren't there), they might have what is called a delusional disorder.  Because only thoughts are impacted, a person with delusional disorder can usually work and function in everyday life, however, their lives may be limited and isolated.

What are the Signs of Paranoia?

Symptoms of paranoia and delusional disorders include intense and irrational mistrust or suspicion, which can bring on sense of fear, anger, and betrayal.  Some identifiable beliefs and behaviors of individuals with symptoms of paranoia include mistrust, hypervigilence, difficulty with forgiveness, defensive attitude in response to imagined criticism, preoccupation with hidden motives, fear of being deceived or taken advantage of, inability to relax, or are argumentative.

What Causes Paranoia?

The cause of paranoia is a breakdown of various mental and emotional functions involving reasoning and assigned meanings.  The reasons for these breakdowns are varied and uncertain.  Some symptoms of paranoia relate to repressed, denied or projected feelings.  Often, paranoid thoughts and feelings are related to events and relationships in a person's life, thereby increasing isolation and difficulty with getting help.

A person suffering with Paranoia

What is a Delusion?

A delusion is an odd belief that a person firmly insists is true despite evidence that it is not.  Cultural beliefs that may seem odd, but are widely accepted do not fit the criteria for being a delusion.  Two of the most common types of delusions are delusions of grandeur or persecutory delusions.

What is Delusional Disorder?

Delusional disorder is characterized by irrational or intense belief(s) or suspicion(s) which a person believes to be true.  These beliefs may seem outlandish and impossible (bizarre) or fit within the realm of what is possible (non-bizarre).  Symptoms must last for 1 month or longer in order for someone to be diagnosed with delusional disorder.

Paranoia and Delusions

How are Paranoia and Delusions Treated?

Treatment of paranoia is usually via medication and cognitive behavioral therapy.  The most important element in treating paranoia and delusional disorder, is building a trusting and collaborative relationship to reduce the impact of irrational fearful thoughts and improving social skills.  It can be difficult to treat a person with paranoia since symptoms result in increased irritability, emotionally guardedness, and possible hostility.  Often times, progress on paranoid delusions and especially delusional disorder is slow.  Regardless of how slow the process, recovery and reconnection is possible.

NEXT BLOG SESSION:

Schizophrenia

Psychosis

We'll see you back here for our next exciting Blog Session about mental health, and don't forget to bring your Journal along ~

Peace, Love & Light,

 René

©Copyright - René Allen - MAY 2017 - All Rights Reserved