Mental health experts describe paranoia as a condition in which an individual becomes excessively suspicious based on unfounded or unwarranted fears. Paranoid individuals fear that something bad is happening to them and believe that there are people trying to harm them. Suspicions arising out of past experience or from things learned about others' experiences are normal and do not constitute paranoia. Paranoia can range from mild to severe. Severe conditions can render the individual totally incapable of carrying on his everyday life.
Heredity
The role of heredity in paranoid disorder or the risk of it is not fully known, as there has been little research in this area. Scientists have found no increased risk of schizophrenia or depression in individuals with a family history of paranoid disorder. Evidence to support a genetic predisposition to paranoid symptoms in schizophrenia, however, does exist. There are studies showing that if one identical twin with schizophrenia exhibits paranoid symptoms, the other one usually does as well. According to another study, individuals with schizophrenic relatives are more prone to paranoid disorders than the general population.
Drug Abuse
Drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, amphetamines, PCP and LSD may induce symptoms of paranoid thinking or behavior. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine website, marijuana can induce acute paranoia and PCP can cause paranoia when consumed in large doses. These drugs may worsen symptoms of severe mental health conditions such as the paranoia of schizophrenia.
Stress
A high incidence of paranoia has been found in war prisoners, immigrants and individuals exposed to extreme stress. Some people, when pushed into situations that they find highly stressful to deal with, may develop an intense form of paranoia called acute paranoia. Such individuals suffer from delusions that can persist for months. Apart from being causative in itself, stress can sometimes serve as a trigger of paranoia in people with underlying brain dysfunction or information-processing disorders.
Negative Emotions
Negative emotions such as irritation, frustration, anxiety and depression can trigger paranoid thoughts, according to the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College of London. It is perfectly human to want to understand what is going within and around you. But when an individual is feeling low, he perceives only negative explanations for his problems. Sometimes thinking the worst about others is not uncommon, so the individual may be inclined to think that whatever bad things are happening in his life is due to the deliberate actions of people around him. He jumps to conclusions without carefully reasoning through all of alternatives. As a result, he exaggerates the chances of threats toward him and worries beyond what is reasonable.
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