Paranoid personality disorder is a disorder in which the person suffering from it feels exaggerated and irrationally threatened by others. People with paranoid disorder think that other people's actions will be destined to harm them, so they act with great distrust towards them even without reasons to distrust. They can come to feel that everyone is against them and even that they have malicious plans where they can be harmed. They find it difficult to establish solid and lasting relationships due to the high degree of mistrust they suffer from which, among other things, it brings with it a series of consequences where different areas of your lifetime.
In this Psychology-Online article about Paranoid Personality Disorder: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment, we are going to know in more detail everything about this curious condition, as well as we will describe what its treatment consists of.
People with paranoid personality disorder have a number of identifying characteristics in common. Between the
- They suspect that others are going to hurt them. They tend to be even unjustifiably suspicious of people. They think they are going to cheat or take advantage of them. For example, if they have a partner, they think that they may be being unfaithful, they may distrust their friends and doubt their loyalty, etc.
- Emotional distancing. They put an emotional barrier towards others. They behave in a cold and highly self-centered way in order to avoid being hurt at all costs.
- They isolate themselves from others. They avoid having more contact with others, whether with friends, co-workers, family, etc. All this due to his elusive and distant behavior based on the fear of being emotionally hurt.
- Attitude of unjustified contempt towards others. They can have attitudes of contempt towards other people even when the situation does not warrant it and the other people have not done something against them either.
- They don't trust others. They think that the people they associate with can easily betray them and share their secrets without their consent.
- They are very spiteful. They tend to hold a grudge and resentment towards others. If a person looks down on them or hurts them in any way, they tend to exaggerate the event and hold a grudge against them for a long time.
- They feel attacked by others. They are all the time on the defensive and perceive in others malicious intentions where they think their reputation will be attacked.
- Health problems. Because they distrust everyone and even the health personnel, they tend to have constant health problems, since they do not like to go to consultation due to their mistrust.
- Difficulties in the labor area. It is difficult for them to stay in the same workplace for a long time, especially when they have to constantly interact with many people due to their distant attitude. They may also feel exploited and undervalued by their superiors.
This type of personality disorder usually begins in the early adulthood and it occurs more frequently in men than in women. The exact causes of this type of condition are unknown. However, until now it has been found that for a person to be more prone to have it, there are certain factors that can influence its occurrence. Some of them are the following:
- Geneticto: nor it has been determined whether this type of disorder is hereditary or not. However, it has been found that people who have a family with other types of psychotic disorders may be more likely to develop it.
- Negative experiences: people who have had negative experiences in childhood. Children who have lived in an unfavorable family environment, since they have been exposed to a lot of stress and hatred from adults, which makes them very insecure and they begin to develop behaviors paranoid. Childhood abuse is one of the experiences that can leave a mark and change the way you think throughout your life.
- Constant stress: paranoid personality disorder has been found to be common in people who have been exposed to stressful situations constant. For example, prisoners of war and refugees are more likely to suffer from this disorder.
It is difficult for the person suffering from this type of disorder to undergo treatment due to its high degree of distrust towards others and, as mentioned above, even towards staff sanitary. It is also difficult for the person with this disease to be aware that they have it, so if they do not voluntarily submit to treatment, it will be very difficult or almost impossible for them to improve. However, when the person is aware of all the consequences of suffering from this disorder and you want to overcome it, the chances that you will start a treatment increase exponentially, finish it or do not.
It is necessary that the person suffering from paranoid personality disorder receive Psychological attention. The objective of psychological therapy will be aimed mainly at reducing the symptoms associated with this disease, making a cognitive restructuring where manage to modify all those negative and irrational thoughts about others, identify what are the obstacles that are presented to you to make a change, modify the perception they have of criticism to a more positive one and train the person in social skills so that they learn to relate to others in a assertive.
Finally, it should be mentioned that depending on the individual situation of each person, some will require the use of drugs and others will not. The professional will be in charge of assessing and determining if this is necessary or not, what type of drugs are to be administered and the correct dose. Generally, they are prescribed antipsychotics to eliminate delusions and irrational ideas and your misperception of reality.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Paranoid Personality Disorder: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.
