The essential feature of paranoid personality disorder is a pattern of widespread suspicion and mistrust of others; the motivations of others are interpreted as malicious; This pattern is generally identified in adulthood, although there may be previous evidence and is present in a variety of contexts People with this disorder assume that others exploit, injure or deceive them, even if there is nothing solid to support these assumptions.
Those with paranoid personality disorder suspect, without evidence to support their idea, that other people are conspiring against them. They may also think that other people can attack them suddenly, at any time and for no reason, so they are always on the defensive.
- They often feel that they have suffered profound and irreparable harm on the part of another person or others.
- Even when there is no evidence of such harm or the harm was intentional; they are concerned about unwarranted doubts about the loyalty or loyalty of their friends or acquaintances.
- For them.
- The world is an insecure and very threatening place.
People with paranoid personality disorder search the actions of their loved ones to uncover hostile intentions; any transgression of honor or loyalty they perceive serves to support their hidden assumptions, while most of us have a confirmation bias when it comes to highlighting some aspects of reality. others, have this much more pronounced bias.
These people are surprised when a friend shows them loyalty and cannot trust or believe it is true; when they are in trouble, they expect their friends and family to attack or ignore them; if they get help, they’ll still think there’s a problem. hidden and selfish interest on the part of the person who provides that help.
“The essential feature of paranoid personality disorder is a pattern of widespread suspicion and mistrust of others.
People with paranoid personality disorder are reluctant to trust or have a close relationship with others because they fear that the information they share will be used against them. They can refuse to answer personal questions, saying that information is nobody’s business. They see hidden meanings that are degrading and threatening in comments or facts without malice.
For example, a person with this disorder may misrepresent a store employee’s mistake as a deliberate attempt to deceive him. You can also receive a funny informal comment from a colleague as a targeted and premeditated attack. In addition, praise is often misunderstood, they may feel an offer of help as a critique of how they act, or they may feel that the other person is helping them because they think they are incapable.
People with paranoid personality disorder are resentful and unwilling to forgive the insults or contempt they believe they have received, even the small contempt arouses great hostility in them, and feelings of hostility endure for a long time.
Because they are always attentive to the evil intentions of others, they often feel that their personality or reputation is being attacked, or that they are being underestimated in some way; react quickly and react an anger to the insults they receive. pathologically jealous and tend to suspect that their partner is not faithful without any real evidence of that suspicion.
As you can imagine, people with paranoid personality disorder are often difficult to manage and tend to have problems in their closest relationships, but isn’t that all?At this point, one may ask: what are the main symptoms of this disorder?Are:
Excessive suspicion and hostility of people with paranoid personality disorder can be expressed by discussing everything openly, through recurring complaints, or with a distant and seemingly hostile attitude.
Because they are hyper-vigilant in search of possible threats, they can act cautiously, secretly or malicefully, so they seem to be cold and without feelings of tenderness, their combative and always suspicious personality can provoke a hostile reaction on the part of people, which in turn will serve to confirm their initial expectations (self-fulfilling prophecy).
People with paranoid personality disorder often have thoughts like “Will you steal from me?” Will you cheat on me? “Do you want to make fun of me?”
Because people with paranoid personality disorder do not trust others, they have an excessive need to be able to cope with everything for themselves, which gives them a strong sense of autonomy.
They must also have a high degree of control over their environment, are generally rigid, cannot collaborate, and are hyperchrtic with others. It’s paradoxical, because they themselves find it very difficult to accept criticism.
People with paranoid personality disorder often blame others for their own flaws and, because of their rapid counterattack in response to threats around them, may be embroiled in legal disputes.
They seek to confirm that others are to blame by attributing malicious motives to them. This mis assignment is a projection of your own fears.
People with paranoid personality disorder often have great and unrealistic hidden fantasies. They are often in tune with aspects of power and classification. They tend to develop negative stereotypes on the part of others, especially from population groups other than their own.
Attracted by the world’s simplistic formulations, they are often more cautious about ambiguous situations and are hardly at risk. They can be considered fanatics and can be firmly attached to cults or groups of other people who share their system of paranoid beliefs.
In short, people with paranoid personality disorder experience great distrust and intense distrust of others. Their motives are interpreted as malicious and they are guilty of all their evils. These people exercise great and sustained attention because they often feel the need to monitor their environment for possible attacks or threats.
In this sense, they do not feel well and need help. Think for a moment about how you’d feel if you had reason to suspect that the people around you want to hurt you.
Bibliography
Grossman, Seth and Millon, Carrie and Meagher, Sarah and Ramnath, Rowena (2001). Personality disorders in modern life. First edition, second edition 2006 Barcelona: Ed. Masson
American Psychiatric Association (2014). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5), 5th edition, Madrid: Pan American medical editorial.