Does being paranoid often mean you have a mental disorder?

Paranoia or often called paranoia is thoughts and feelings as if you are threatened and in danger, even though there is no evidence that you are in danger. Paranoid thoughts can also be described as delusional.

There are all kinds of threats you might be worried about if you are paranoid. For the person with paranoia, your fear will eventually get bigger, and everyone you meet will be drawn into that delusion and you become the center of a universe full of threats.

What kinds of things make you paranoid?

Everyone experiences a different kind of paranoia. Some examples of the most common types of paranoia thoughts are when you might think that:

You are being discussed behind your back or being discussed by a group of people or organizations
Others try not to involve you or defame you
Your behavior or thoughts are being disturbed by other people
You are being controlled, or that the government is targeting you
You are in danger of being physically injured or you can be killed
Other people deliberately try to upset you or make you angry

You can experience the above thoughts either vigorously all the time or only occasionally when you are in a stressful situation. Sometimes this can make you miserable.

Is paranoia a mental disorder?

Paranoia is a symptom of several mental health problems but is not a diagnosis in itself. Paranoid thoughts can range from very mild to very severe and these experiences can be very different. This depends on how far:

You believe in paranoid thoughts
You think about paranoid thoughts
The thought of paranoia irritates you
Paranoid thoughts affect your daily life

Many people, perhaps up to about a third of us, experience mild paranoia at some time in their life. This is commonly known as non-clinical paranoia. However, these types of paranoid thoughts usually change from time to time, and you may find that they won't be justified or that you simply stop having them.

However, paranoia can also be very severe, also known as clinical paranoia or fellowship delusions. You can consider medication and therapy if your paranoia gets worse.

Paranoia can be one of the symptoms of the following mental health problems:

paranoia schizophrenia
delusional disorder (communion type)
paranoia personality disorder

Can paranoia be cured?

The treatment of paranoia usually involves drugs and cognitive behavioral therapy. The most important factor in treating paranoia and delusional disorder is building trustworthy collaborative relationships to reduce the consequences of unreasonable fear thoughts and improve social skills.

It may be difficult to treat someone who is suffering from paranoia because paranoia thoughts lead to increased irritability, likelihood of violence, and emotional self-defense. Usually, the progress of this treatment is very slow. Regardless of how slow the process is, there is potential to recover and reconnect.

If you are right, or think that you may be, experiencing thoughts of paranoia, there are a number of things you can do to overcome them. You can choose what to try along with the treatment.