Paranoid Personality Disorder: causes and symptoms

Individuals who suffer from Paranoid Personality Disorder are often characterized by having a very marked distrust and generalized to other people over a relatively long period of time.

People with this disorder are extremely suspicious of the acts, attitudes, or intentions of others. to the point that they believe that there are conspiracies and "suspicious" movements that seek to hurt or harm them in some way. mode.

Throughout this article we will see what are the symptoms, possible causes and treatments of Paranoid Personality Disorder, and its general characteristics as a psychological disorder.

• Related article: "Delusions: what are they, types and differences with hallucinations"

What is Paranoid Personality Disorder?

We know as Paranoid Personality Disorder a clinical entity in the field of psychiatry and clinical psychology from the DSM-IV manual. In this personality disorder stands out the existence of paranoid delusions: the belief that there are third parties who seek to harm us in some way, and in a covert or secret way.

For this reason, people with this clinical picture tend to attribute malicious intentions to others. persons or entities, regardless of whether they are physically or have been close to them or whether they exist truth.

Paranoid personality characteristics

People with this disorder vividly believe that other individuals are trying to take advantage of them, or they want to harm or harm them, although there is no data or evidence that leads to that conclusion. We must not confuse this pathological belief pattern with what an average human being may think or experience in certain moments in life, for example in the work environment, such as feeling less valued than a coworker, etc.

People with Paranoid Personality Disorder are extreme cases of this trait, and they carry these false beliefs to all or almost all walks of life: from the professional sphere to friendship or family relationships.

Symptoms

The repetition of paranoid experiences is the main feature of Paranoid Personality Disorder. During these episodes, the affected person will experience any of the following symptoms:

• Excess of concern about the feelings of loyalty of those close to you and colleagues.
• Unfounded anticipation that other people want to do you harm, cheating or taking advantage of him.
• Complete distrust of others. They avoid spreading sensitive information because they believe that it can be used against them, being the object of betrayal and ridicule.
• Overestimation of risks and threats.
• Tendency to mental repetition of certain memories, words or gestures of third parties that were offensive, such as teasing or insults (often experienced in an exaggerated way), which also causes a strong feeling of resentment.
• Excessive self-absorption, a certain self-centeredness and presumptuousness: they are usually considered more important than the rest.
• Disproportion in response to attacks from others, even going so far as to present outbursts of anger and excessive rage for no logical reason.
• Emotional secrecyThey are contemplative, cold and demanding with others to prevent them from harming them.
• Hypersusceptibility to the comments of third parties about him, considering a personal attack or a mockery that compromises his reputation.
• Recurring suspicions ofinfidelity of your spouse, which causes discomfort in the relationship, and can often lead to the end of life together.
• IsolationGiven their elusive behavior, they avoid prolonging social relationships beyond what is strictly necessary.
• Family disputes, usually for financial reasons. Their excessive suspicion leads them to think that their relatives are deceiving them or that they reveal their privacy to third parties.
• Inability to maintain the workplace, because of their low commitment to carry out their tasks, mainly when they are face to face with the public, in addition to their feeling of being exploited and receiving a salary not in line with their preparation or talent.
• Recurring problems ofHealth, because of their mistrust towards health personnel and doctors, which prevents them from attending regularly for consultation. In some cases they resort to self-medication.
• Unjustified aggressiveness and nerves on the surface, with a marked attitude of contempt towards other people.
• Expressions of admiration and respect for people who hold social value or greater power. On the contrary, they are usually reluctant to contact people they consider socially inferior or weak, whom they depreciate.

Causes

Although this disorder has been studied in depth, there are still no reliable data on its causes.. There are different theories and hypotheses about the causes of paranoid personality disorder.

In most cases, mental health experts agree that the causes are biopsychosocial, that is, a mixture of biological and genetic factors linked with learned factors and social. In other words, there would be a certain genetic and biological predisposition to have a thinking structure of the type paranoid, but also the learned roles and the environment can lead to this predisposition being clearly manifested, or not.

In addition, there are also psychological causes, which are linked to personality, character, and temperament of the person, which may also be related to the appearance of the disorder paranoid. For example, having learned coping strategies during childhood can be a preventive factor when it comes to develop certain mental disorders, since it allows to alleviate the discomfort caused by stress caused by certain situations everyday.

Either way, it is a multicausal disorder and each case is unique.

Treatment

Treatment for paranoid personality disorder is usually based on psychological therapy with a psychologist with experience and training in professional support in these types of cases. Certain psychotropic drugs can also be administered if the symptoms and the personal and social context of the affected person warrant it.

1. Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is the least invasive and most effective method when treating any type of personality disorder.

Being a disorder that has its origin in maladaptive and irrational beliefs of the patient, the focus will turn on around regaining the confidence of the affected person, since it is not usual for them to talk about their ideas from the beginning paranoid.

2. Pharmacological

Psychiatric drugs, despite being effective from a psychiatric point of view, are not recommended in this type of cases because they can generate suspicions and misgivings on the part of the patient, and this usually leads to the abandonment of the therapeutic process. In that case, if strictly necessary, the administration of medications should be limited to short periods of time.

They are usually administered anxiolytic psychotropic drugs, for example Diazepam, in cases where the patient suffers from anxiety or agitation. Antipsychotic-type medication, for example Haloperidol, it can be indicated if the affected person has psychotic thoughts that can be potentially dangerous for him or for other people.

Bibliographic references:

• Belloch, A.; Sandín, B. and Ramos, F. (2006). Manual of Psychopathology. (2 Vol). Madrid; McGrawHill.
• López-Ibor Aliño, Juan J. & Valdés Miyar, Manuel (dir.). (2002). DSM-IV-TR. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Revised text. Barcelona: Editorial Masson.
• Waldinger, Robert J. (1 August 1997). Psychiatry for Medical Students. American Psychiatric.