Paranoid Personality Disorder: A Day In the Life

Discover a day in the life of someone with paranoid personality disorder (PPD).

In this educational video, Dr. Ramani Durvasula and MedCircle host Kyle Kittleson discuss...

- A walk-through of a day in the life of someone with paranoid personality disorder
- What behaviors of paranoia look like
- Whether someone with paranoid personality disorder is likely to have an intimate relationship
- What the home / environment of someone with PPD looks like & why
- When a "normal" level of paranoia becomes a personality disorder
- Whether someone with paranoid personality disorder recognizes their behavior is above and beyond a normal level of paranoia.

The personality disorders & mental health conditions covered include:
narcissistic personality disorder (NPD)
borderline personality disorder (BPD)
avoidant personality disorder (APD)
histrionic personality disorder (HPD)
schizoid personality disorder (SPD)
schizotypal personality disorder (STPD)
antisocial personality disorder (ASPD)
dependent personality disorder (DPD)
obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPD)

and more.

[crusaderduncan]

The worst part is when you finally trust someone and then they do betray you, and it makes it all the worse especially after multiple cases

[naungthaw]

I have PPD and I am 25 years old.
I don’t harm anybody and mostly my PPD gives me a lot of anxieties everyday. I have it way too often. Like every 15 to 20 mins.
It’s very tiring. Nobody know this but I stalk everyone from my office because sometime I can’t stop believing that these people are not the people they said they are.
It’s not like I think everything is about me and being self centred.
It’s more like believing I am hated and everyone is out to get me. Life is extremely tiring with PPD.

[philocalista]

Some of my parnoia from mild to horrid
-therye taking about me
-they hate me
-they just want be out
-the teacher is trying to fail me
-someoje is watching
-theres a killer out to get me
-theres a camera somewhere watching me
Don't let these control you

[PhoenixtheII]

When you've been outcasted, bullied, abandoned, never fit in, never good enough, being told you need to change, since you were 4 years old. And it's still ongoing. You become very weary and distrustful. Your fault? No, imho society is pretty fucked up :/ if you'd ask me.

[mariewilliams]

I have a few paranoid traits because I have been hurt by people in the past. I think if you are empathetic person and been hurt by people. Its easy to be distrustful of people. I use to walk around thinking everyone one was bad or rude. It's not true alot of people are inconsiderate because they are too full of their own lifes. Or have less time for people. That's why don't expect much from people. Keep it polite and do the right thing. When I was paranoid I had self absorbed tendencies . And would blame other people for how I was feeling. Which attracted drama and people enjoyed putting me in my place . I learned dont take people seriously if they are being rude. They are showing their true self. If people show disrespect they lack respect. It's their problem. I just have a rule to keep communication and my behaviour respectful and dont expect much from people. Because you will never be disappointed.

[Masa-vxxt]

My mom has it. We are still trying to help her but it’s going worse. She often get away from the house saying that people doesn’t want her there, and once my brother and I went to check where she would be out alone, seeing her shouting and sobbing in public, I couldn’t help it I cried because I was tired especially my dad who is trying his best. She doesn’t want to get medication putting the blame on us for making her crazy, She doubts everyone, and in this period she doubts us saying we are her enemies… till she got no friends, nearly no family but us. No one wants to visit nor talk to us. The house is a complete negative energy. We don’t know what to do anymore. I can’t tell anyone about her, so they don’t feel sorry for us. I miss my old beautiful mom, we all do.

[BasedHoss]

im actually diagnosed a lot of this depends on the day and most people have no idea how paranoid and how bad the ideation is at any given time. it can be anywhere from mild feelings to full on the worlds against me.

[deep_diving_the_distance]

I have a paranoid personality but I generally care about people. Having a paranoid personality doesn't change how you feel about people. Yes I have mistrust but I always want to get better. I have always been medicine compliant. Yes I have mistrust but I generally care about people and I did have delusions before.

[antiglobaljoel]

My mother was diagnosed with this when I, as next of kin, had her held for 72 hour observation in the Fall of 2002. She has a second diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. My sister and I have found it absolutely impossible to have a relationship with her, and we've both tried. I talked to her for a few minutes a couple of days ago, and she started sobbing about when my father left her with no food in the house and no working car...FIFTY YEARS AGO! 😑

[johnoprendek]

My psychiatrist was telling me that I had some symptoms of this disorder. I'm fairly reflective.. so I can see why I don't fit into the diagnosis completely. Months later I can look back at what I was fearing and say.. "I see where I was missing the intuitive "essence" of what was happening. What I have found is that it helps to "check in" with people and talk. To tell my self centered fears, if I feel I can confide in the person, and then to meditate on what they have told me. If I don't do this "check in" if I keep getting triggered by the person I tend to attach delusional motives to the person. I find that talking about this with someone I can confide in stops the snowflake to snowball, to avalanche.. internal catastrophe from happening. I usually direct it inwards, when I have been psychotic I would direct this outwardly, and that wasn't at all safe. Now.. my method is, 1) pinpoint the trigger "why am I feeling this way" 2) what happened in the present that is resonating my feelings so 3) does it have any resonance with the past and things that have happened with me? 4) before going farther talk to someone I trust about it.. someone whose reasoning I trust, and or talk to the person, not in an accusatory manner, but in a neutral information gathering manner. Oddly enough I was better at this when I was younger. There was a dean in my school who constantly had a negative look on his face. I thought it might have to do with me, but before I made that assumption I decided how invested I would be in the response. I decided that in my process his "negative look" kept coming up for me as a quandary. I asked him about it, and he told me that his son had cancer in his bone marrow. That took a weight off my shoulders in thinking I was the reason for his "negative look" I also felt sad for his grief and was glad that he shared it with me. This helped me to tell him some of my own grief when it arose, and we developed a trust in one another. Now a days I find my intuition can sometimes be far from the truth if I am triggered by someone, and my negative self talk is more like a Jerry Springer show than an actual real life scenario. I was really shocked to find this about myself where once my intuition was more on point. So checking in with someone I trust about it, or the person themselves is what I do, before I keep adding the energy of my psyche to it and it feels like an avalanche of emotion is going to take place that isn't grounded in reality. Sometimes just noticing my trigger and letting go of it through meditation, and noticing that the anvil didn't come down over that issue.. the simple passage of time.. is enough. I also have Tom the cameraman to thank for is insight on this issue. I think that this poor intuitive judgment happened because I would listen to my mother for hours of her saying negative things, and me zoning out.. to then be prompted or scolded to be a better listener.. this suffering affected my internal process and destroyed what had once been a quite good one. Realizing this connection with my mother reminds me of her "Jerry Springer" behavior that would sometimes get physical, and also her lack of depth of insight that I endured. I do not have contact with this person who gave birth to me that has toxic behavior. This really helps. I no longer have to try to be seen as other than the warped perception she has of me, or of how dialogue should be.

[Seatonni]

This video helps so much I’ve been dealing with this for years and it makes me isolate myself more. I have so many broken relationships because of it. I’ve been in therapy about it, tried to ignore the paranoia but back in therapy and more meds. I never got this paranoid this bad until my mid twenties

[johnoprendek]

I really enjoy it when people from the MedCircle team join in with their insight and questions. Every time this happens it sticks out to me as food for thought, like the Bridget (sp?) about "Pattern", and Hektor's (not sure on spelling) question here. Those behind the scenes moments are incredible. Thank you for sharing your insight MedCircle team! Hoorah!

[FergusScotchman]

My mom had this, and it evidently was always there, but it started to really take off when I was a young kid. I remember sleeping in the hall listening to her yelling like a madwoman at my dad telling him she would take us away. They separated when I was a teen, and she would make me feel guilty about not going to live with her. When I knew I needed to go do my duty to see her, I was taught to respect parents and adults, so I just had to sit there for hours and watch her sob about some conspiracy or hear about sitting in the yard so the sniper could go ahead and make his move. It was truly horrible, and I still don't know why there would be a god that would allow that innocent suffering. I've battled depression my whole life, and now we are just thinking maybe I am more like a PTSD person or bi-polar. She got worse and worse to where a relationship it was impossible because you would get sucked into being a character in a paranoid narrative. I find PPD people need someone to project onto and listen to them talk and talk (not with outsiders) So after college, she moved within a couple hours drive, I got her 3X weekly help to clean and stuff (boy, that took a saint of a young woman to do that) and got her a car and would check on her every few months. Last time I got a call from there, she would be alive for two additional weeks. She was in the hospital riddled with lung cancer. I stayed there as long as I could and had to move her closer to me, so transported her to a care facility near where I lived. Around 9pm, had her in a bed... they had doped her up pretty good for the ride, so she wasn't conscious. Kissed her forehead and got a call at 3am that she died. PPD is a tragic condition that affects everyone around the person. When I was younger, she purposely taught kindergarten in the poorest school and was so giving. But the other side kept taking over more and more until she ended up alone with this disorder for 10-20 of the last years of her life.

[craig]

I don't trust many people cause of being forked over by my narc father & neighbors. I know I am not paranoid but I know my narc abusers are very paranoid.

[luiscaban]

Someone I love very much suffers from this paranoia. This is very helpful.

[heathersmith]

I’ve been in a relationship for 10 years with somebody who has PPD. He reads threats into totally innocent statements, is extremely mistrusting. Always thinks people are out to get him even me. It’s very tiring.

[jaclynh]

So appreciate all of Dr Ramani's videos... I would really appreciate seeing a video that talks about CONVERSATIONAL NARCISSISM and how to deal with people who monopolize conversations and rarely show interest in you, or give you an opportunity to talk. PLEASE

[CriminalScrutinyTV]

I think I deff have this disorder but the thing is me as a person I’ve been through really horrible betrayals in my life, I think you develop this disorder because of extremely negative life experiences over and over to the point you’re just over it. Sort of like if you burned your hand touching the stove 25 times what would make you think your hand won’t get burned touching it a 26th time, which is why people with this disorder don’t buy into things. If you spent your whole life living on a farm with a loving family and pets odds are you won’t have any disorders, but put that same person in NYC in the hood where people are backstabbing 24/7 and you’re around sociopaths and psychopaths all day long you develop into a very different person. It just is what it is unfortunately, the best you can do is hit the pause button when your mind starts over shooting shit and look at it again and make sure you’re not having a delusional episode and get solid facts before jumping the gun.

[slinkbrother]

My paranoid common though's:

A. The world is out to get me
B. My friends haven't replied to my texts that means they're out to get me
C. My friend is homophobic, racist.. blah blah blah
D. My family members or close relatives may molest me.
E. The people outside my window are staring at me(know I'm there)
F. I may have mental illness 1 2 3 or 4
G. I may have to defend myself from a hate crime today in public(like just a normal esq fear)
H. That person on the street wants to rape, kill, assault etc me

I am not diagnosed with anything other than depression, how the did I develop this?

[Calimax]

Life as a parent of a teen with PPD is as exhausting as having it. Probably more cuz they lean on you and distrust you at the same time