Personality Disorders Plymouth

Paranoid Personality Disorder

 

What is paranoid personality disorder?

 

A person with a paranoid personality disorder tends to be extremely suspicious of others and finds it hard to trust anyone. They are often argumentative and believe they are always right.

 

Symptoms

 

Symptoms of paranoid personality disorder include:

•           thinking other people are trying to manipulate them or hurt them

•           thinking partners are lying to them/being unfaithful

•           feeling they cannot trust their friends, family or others so stay distant

•           worrying information about them will be used against them

•           holding grudges and feeling threatened by others

•           feeling that harmless situations/comments are actually malicious

 

These characteristics make forming relationships very difficult for some people with paranoid personality disorder.

 

Causes

 

• The cause of PPD is not known, but like with other personality disorders it is likely to be due to genetic and environmental factors.

• It has been shown that PPD is more common in people who have a family history of schizophrenia. This supports the idea that there are biological factors influencing its development.

• Trauma or abuse in early childhood is also a common factor in people with paranoid personality disorder.

 

 

 

Outlook

 

Those willing to accept therapy can function well in life, but may need long-term support. The symptoms of the condition may might it hard for someone with paranoid personality disorder to form meaningful close relationships, but a gradual introduction to more people will help this. A support group could be a good place to start.

 

Treatments

 

As people with paranoid personality disorder don’t ask for treatment as much as other personality disorders because of the nature of the condition, there is less research on treatments that are useful for reducing symptoms. However, psychotherapy with a client-centred approach is likely to be the most effective. The therapist and patient need to build a trusting relationship, to be able to progress in therapy.

 

Access the Treatments page for more information