Paranoid Personality Explained – When EVERYTHING is Suspect

The general definition of paranoid is being excessively suspicious or mistrustful. So you can have a moment of paranoia where are you preoccupied with suspicions about someone or something. But the difference here is that your suspicions are isolated to a certain situation and it’s not how you feel about everything.

Paranoid personality is more that being paranoid. It’s defined as a constant distrust and suspiciousness of others such that their motives are interpreted as malevolent. This begins in early adulthood and is present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following:
There’s a pneumonic for this to make it easier to remember. The pneumonic is SUSPECT
S stands for Suspicious of others
U - unforgiving
S - Suspects partner is unfaithful
P - perceives attacks
E - enemy or friend?
C - no Confiding in others
T - Threats always perceived

Under stress people with paranoid personality disorder can have brief psychotic episodes that last minutes to hours. It's like a pop of irrational thinking where their basic mistrust and suspiciousness goes to a different level that’s not realistic. But that level of delusional thinking doesn’t last. It goes away and that’s what distinguishes this from an illness that leads to persistent psychotic symptoms like delusional disorder, schizophrenia or even psychotic depression.

Paranoid personality can come along with other disorders, so it doesn’t have to stand alone. And as with all of the other personality disorders, people can have features of multiple personalities together such that they have a mixed personality disorder.

VIDEO REFERENCED

Disclaimer: All of the information on this channel is for educational purposes and not intended to be specific/personal medical advice from me to you. Watching the videos or getting answers to comments/question, does not establish a doctor-patient relationship. If you have your own doctor, perhaps these videos can help prepare you for your discussion with your doctor.

[shadrach]

I always thought my sister was weird bc she was so paranoid. Then she told me how much she was picked in as a child by her teachers and other students. It’s sad and I understand the problem now. Never bully or taunt others. The damage lasts. I will never understand why a teacher would pick on such a cute, loving little girl.

[luciferiamoon]

This really explains how I feel about people everyday. I have felt like a target since I was young

[CosmicPsychonauts]

This explains my entire high school experience. Every time somebody would try to come up and make friends with me, I would always question their motives. This got to the point where I would just dismiss people's attempts to reach out, resulting in people finding me unapproachable.

[spicyleg]

im sittimg here and i cant stop crying because i finally understood why i am like this.. its been so hard for me and ive been very close to some bad mistakes but this brought a lot of clarity to me. thank you for this video

[cosmicbeauty]

So this is what I've been dealing with majority of my life. I was bullied as a child by family, neighborhood kids and so called friends. A childhood friend own cousin was literally bouncing a ball off my head while I leaned against the wall repeatedly. I couldn't understand why she was doing it. But things progressed into my adult years with authority figures and personal relationships. I could go on, but everything started in childhood and my teen years of ppl making fun and taunting me about everything to where I would intentionally not go to school now I avoid work and social gatherings of any kind. I want to be with ppl, but I feel disconnected and believe they're mocking me when I'm around. Thank you for this video

[queenbeemo]

My mother was sooo much like this growing up. Always suspicious, people were always disrespecting her and thinking bad things. She was constantly, lashing out at family members for thinking bad things! As she got older, and she became a widow, she got involved more with her church and I swear to God it cured her! A lot of her suspicions and anxiety and feelings of inadequacy involved him unfortunately. Which was weird because he tried he be supportive of her in everything. Such a bad situation.

[marisac]

This is exactly how my mom was. I always put her in the narcissist personality disorder category but this describes her personality even more because she was a loving person when she wasn’t in her paranoid state. Thank you Dr. Marks♥️ Your vids are so valuable🥰

[gracesutton]

My mom is like this. The accusations & the bizarre conspiracy theories were incredibly distressing

[doomergirl]

Living with this sucks. I’ve been extremely paranoid since childhood. Im so blessed to have a forgiving and understanding parter and family.

[sladaras.]

Yes, my father had the paranoid personality! At the end of his life he made the hole family miserable, unfortunately; but the most interesting part nobody recognized his ilness. It was always just...'Nah, he's just a complex and difficult man'🙄

[flosotall]

I have been experiencing this disorder for 10 years now. But couldn’t understand what it was. Being suspicious and mistrusting of people thinking that people are always out to get me. This could happen at anytime and any situation. I think it may have a connection with the child hood trauma that I will experienced as a child. Thank you for explaining the concept. What a relief. Thank you Dr Tracy Marks for sharing such powerful, mind freeing information.

[justinvenegas]

I grew up in the lower east side of Manhattan, I dealt with what I realize now a lot of trauma. Drugs, violence, abusive bf to my mother and lastly someone trying to take my life. I escaped at 24, to live with my grandmother. Now at 34 years old, a husband and a father, I see now how this trauma has affected me and has followed me long after these instances. It pains me to acknowledge that I’ve become this suspicious character in my neighborhood and all the people that tried to hurt me are still hurting me. I am strong, I am faithful, and this will not consume me. I’m a loving father, a loving husband, and a hard worker. I will overcome this. Always give someone the benefit of the doubt because that person can always be hurting.

[dwilkins]

Man this explanation was simply beautiful. you definitely have a teacher's spirit.

[sherrie]

I became exhausted with my sister’s highly sensitive personality. We were best friends … until we weren’t. Her decision, though. I grew weary of the marathon phone calls after family events where she would dissect every comment and gesture she interpreted as a slight against her. She struggled keeping friendships and husbands. She had so many secrets. The day I finally confronted her, she lashed out at me like never before. Brought up every past wrong I had done against her. I saw her behave this way with others which is probably why it took me 45 years to finally have the courage to say something. I was afraid of her. It’s been 10 years since we last spoke. The family is split. She hates some of us so much that she refused to attend our mother’s funeral. My life has a lot less drama now. I only wish she could see this in herself and get treatment. She exhibits every characteristic outlined here.

[scratchypoos]

thanks i felt crazy but being able to say “im just being paranoid” helps me feel more grounded

[marimolen]

As someone with this disorder, I will also mention there's often self-loathing that follows expressed paranoia outbursts (at least, in my experience).
In addition, I agree that there can definitely be a correlation between the paranoid & crime, but I'd like to think there is hope in learning to control outbursts and being trained to follow healthy thought patterns. It's not always a bomb waiting to 'splode.
Idk, while I am grateful for this video, the ending was a bit doom and gloom for me. Thankfully, my parents have been very supportive and have helped me manifest fewer overt symptoms, but the symptoms are always there. Normalizing public discourse about paranoia (instead of seeing it as something to fear/a ticking time bomb for crime/ "low self-esteem") would have definitely helped me when I started manifesting 9 years ago.

[MOLLYM]

I’m just paranoid and convinced there’s cameras everywhere😀

[narcabusevictimgermany]

I have this deeply hidden in me, but I healed parts of it yet don’t let anyone too close to me.

[zia]

I've always been really paranoid but I didn't know that this was a real thing. I thought I was some psycho. My parents yell at me for being like that. Thanks for this video.

[imenemana]

I've been with relationship with paranoid person for 7 years it's so difficult to handle and you have always to prove that you ars innocent in every situation until you feel exhausted