Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff. Lauren bog Obam here. Paranoid. It's a
Speaker 1: word that's perhaps made more headlines than any other year.
Speaker 1: From the NBC News headline how to tell if the
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen pandemic made you paranoid or just appropriately cautious
Speaker 1: to yield news is unexpected uncertainty can breed paranoia. Researchers
Speaker 1: find paranoia is having a moment. But what is paranoia?
Speaker 1: And in a world currently consumed by a global pandemic
Speaker 1: and political pandemonium, what's the difference between appropriate skepticism or
Speaker 1: suspicion and irrational delusions. We spoke with clinical psychologist Tamara
Speaker 1: McClintock Greenberg. She said paranoia is an interesting concept, both
Speaker 1: in terms of how it's made its way into the
Speaker 1: lexicon of current language and the meaning clinically, and the
Speaker 1: meaning has changed a lot over time. Paranoia is generally
Speaker 1: defined as a thought process as characterized by irrational suspicion
Speaker 1: or mistrust of others. There's a wide range of ways
Speaker 1: paranoia can show up, but people who experience it and
Speaker 1: may feel like others are out to get them, or
Speaker 1: they may perceive that they're in danger even though there's
Speaker 1: no clear threat. And there are a lot of reasons
Speaker 1: why people can experience paranoia. It's a common symptom of
Speaker 1: mental disorders like dementia and drug misuse, but not every
Speaker 1: case of paranoia is clinical or even cause for alarm.
Speaker 1: Many people experience mild paranoia at some point in their lives,
Speaker 1: Greenberg said. Freud initially thought of paranoia as a defense,
Speaker 1: in which unwanted thoughts were managed by projection. The classic
Speaker 1: example of this is related to aggression. I'm not angry
Speaker 1: or out to get anyone, but others are angry and
Speaker 1: out to get me. When we describe something as a defense,
Speaker 1: we typically mean this is something we can all be
Speaker 1: capable of under certain stressful situations. For example, think that
Speaker 1: the last time you were really sleep deprived or even
Speaker 1: sick with a bad cold or flu, and then something
Speaker 1: stressful happens at work. Any of us under these conditions
Speaker 1: could misconstrue and become overly wary about something innocent, like
Speaker 1: a remark made by a friend or something a boss said.
Speaker 1: While just about everyone experiences paranoid thoughts at some point
Speaker 1: in their lives, paranoia that is problematic typically involves a
Speaker 1: high amount of stress or anxiety related to beliefs about others,
Speaker 1: a general mistrust of others, and feeling misunderstood, victimized, and
Speaker 1: or persecuted. Greenberg said, the primary symptom of paranoia that
Speaker 1: can be part of someone's personality is distrust or excessive
Speaker 1: interpersonal sensitivity to others. But to be clear, they may
Speaker 1: or may not use projection as a primary defense, and
Speaker 1: this is one way our understanding of paranoia has shifted.
Speaker 1: Some people just tend to have a more suspicious personality style,
Speaker 1: and as you can imagine, there are people who function
Speaker 1: like this everywhere, and it may not be an issue
Speaker 1: for them. Greenberg explained that people who tend to be
Speaker 1: more guarded can function just fine with a more cautious attitude,
Speaker 1: particularly if they're able to find careers and relationships that
Speaker 1: allow them to be who they are without judgment. She said,
Speaker 1: for example, if someone has a more guarded personality style,
Speaker 1: they probably won't do well in a career in which
Speaker 1: they have to deal with a lot of people. I
Speaker 1: recall one person I knew who was paranoid, not psychotic,
Speaker 1: but just a suspicious person, and they worked in sales,
Speaker 1: and this was tough as they were always worried their
Speaker 1: clients were complaining about them. When it comes to personal relationships,
Speaker 1: more wary people tend to either isolate or gravitate toward
Speaker 1: people who don't demand too much of them into Personally speaking,
Speaker 1: isolating isn't necessarily an issue if it doesn't negatively impact
Speaker 1: a person's quality of life, and being drawn to certain
Speaker 1: personalities isn't necessarily problematic either, but it can be. Greenberg said,
Speaker 1: for example, a guarded person would not do well with
Speaker 1: a bff that needs to talk every day, but they
Speaker 1: can have gratifying relationships people as long as they don't
Speaker 1: feel to put upon or that they need to always
Speaker 1: be present for others in their lives. Social connection is
Speaker 1: important for everyone to some extent, but that contact can
Speaker 1: look different for every person. Greenberg explains that someone with
Speaker 1: a more suspicious character may choose to have fewer friends
Speaker 1: and or choose not to have a partner, though she
Speaker 1: does point out that there are plenty of other reasons
Speaker 1: people choose to remain single and that this in itself
Speaker 1: should not be pathologized. More cautious people may tend to
Speaker 1: space out their social interactions to stay comfortable. Once a
Speaker 1: month dinner may be way more preferable than daily chickens
Speaker 1: and long drawn out chats. But okay, so when is
Speaker 1: paranoia a problem? Being careful and guarded is one thing,
Speaker 1: but when paranoia becomes pervasive and makes life difficult, it's
Speaker 1: something very different. Greenberg said. People who have a more
Speaker 1: suspicious personality style are likely aware on some level that
Speaker 1: they are more guarded than others. People who are paranoid
Speaker 1: and psychotic have much more trouble being aware of the
Speaker 1: fact that they see things differently than others. The classic
Speaker 1: example is someone who really believes they're being followed by
Speaker 1: the FBI. There's no convincing them that this is not
Speaker 1: the case. To be clear, though it's easy to minimize
Speaker 1: the distress of people in these situations, they are often
Speaker 1: very distressed and anxious and endure a great deal of suffering.
Speaker 1: Paranoia of this kind can occur in schizophrenia and in
Speaker 1: delusional disorders. Paranoid delusions can also occur in some neurological disorders,
Speaker 1: such as in some dementias. Sadly, paranoid delusions can severely
Speaker 1: disrupt life and functioning. Paranoid personality disorder or pp D,
Speaker 1: is one example of intense paranoia that is no longer
Speaker 1: just a personality facet but something serious. Paranoia is the
Speaker 1: essential characteristic that people with PPD all have in common,
Speaker 1: but the beliefs that they hold aren't just run of
Speaker 1: the mill cautionary ways of thinking. People with PPD often
Speaker 1: have unfounded beliefs and tend to blame and distrust others
Speaker 1: in ways that quote interfere with their ability to form
Speaker 1: close or even workable relationships. The disorder usually begins in
Speaker 1: childhood or early adolescence and seems to be more common
Speaker 1: in men than in women. According to the Cleveland Clinic,
Speaker 1: PPD effects between two point three percent and four point
Speaker 1: four percent of the general population. Unfortunately, clinical paranoia is
Speaker 1: tough to diagnose until the symptoms progress from mild to severe,
Speaker 1: and because pp D often co occurs with another mental
Speaker 1: health problem like an anxiety disorder, says of compulsive disorder
Speaker 1: and depression, it can often be mistaken for something else.
Speaker 1: But treatment can be challenging as well. Greenberg said, if
Speaker 1: someone is paranoid and severely mentally ill, it can be
Speaker 1: hard to get help as the person will tend not
Speaker 1: to trust doctors worry that medication may be harmful, and
Speaker 1: they may come across as angry toward others. They may
Speaker 1: not even feel angry, But when someone is really paranoid,
Speaker 1: there are so many things in the environment they have
Speaker 1: to keep track of, and this makes interactions with others difficult.
Speaker 1: For example, it's hard to have a conversation if you're
Speaker 1: wondering what someone might try to do to you, if
Speaker 1: you're being watched or followed, or or even what a
Speaker 1: slight change of expression on someone else's face might mean.
Speaker 1: While PPD is fairly uncommon, occasional paranoid thoughts aren't all
Speaker 1: that rare. One survey found that eighteen point six percent
Speaker 1: of participants reported feeling that people were against them. Another
Speaker 1: survey of more than eight thousand, five hundred adults found
Speaker 1: that people thought that there had been times when others
Speaker 1: were acting against them, and yet another survey found that
Speaker 1: nearly even thought that other people were following or spying
Speaker 1: on them. However, if you are a loved one seems
Speaker 1: to be experiencing paranoid thoughts that discript everyday life, there
Speaker 1: are lots of ways to get help affordably. If you
Speaker 1: have a trusted primary care doctor or other health professional already,
Speaker 1: talk to them about how you can connect with a
Speaker 1: mental health service provider. If not, or if you're looking
Speaker 1: for help immediately, try going to mental health dot gov
Speaker 1: for a list of phone numbers, online chat services, and
Speaker 1: other resources that you can access right away. Today's episode
Speaker 1: was written by Michelle Konstantinovski and produced by Tyler Klang.
Speaker 1: For more than this and lots of other curious topics,
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