what exactly is paranoia??

my parents were concerned that i was paranoid, but we talked to my therapist and she said it was paranoia but extreme anxiety.

here is an example of what i'm talking about:

i am always concerned what others think of me, always thinking they're talking about me, everything is about me!!
i hate ot when ppl stare at me etc.

one time my mom hung up the phone when i walked into the kitchen and i thought she was talking about me because she hung up that very second i walked in. but according to my therapist that's not paranoia. to her paranoia is when you think someone is poisoning you, so you don't drink it. or that someone is out to kill you.

but sometimes i get that way to i just haven't told her because she might diagnose me with something awful. like for instance i don't jog around my block anymore because of i'm afraid i'm gonna get shot by a drive by. i was constantly looking over my shoulder.

so what are your opinions on the definition of paranoia?

The way I understand it, it's a lot to do with your thought processes and how logical you believe you're being. I think someone who is paranoid genuinely believes people are out to get them, and it's not unusual for their thought processes to be distorted. People with anxiety are terrified that the things they fear MIGHT happen, but are aware that those things are unlikely to happen. They are aware they are being irrational, as much as they feel it really might happen.

I'm not sure, but I don't think people who are paranoid usually realise they are. But that might just be me getting it mixed up with delusions. If it makes you feel any better, I've had all the problems you described and I'm not paranoid, mine were caused by social anxiety/Avoidant PD and a form of OCD called Pure O.

Maybe you should look up paranoia, Pure O OCD and social anxiety and see if they ring any bells? Just don't get obsessed by it (You could look up Avoidant PD but I'd warn you not to get it mixed up with social anxiety, the two are very similar).

I think it must be a matter of degree. My husband sometimes has the same worries you talked about, that people at work are talking about him in a negative way, etc. I think that can be considered "paranioa light", and the more extreme version would be your therapist's definition. My husband was diagnosed bipolar 11 years ago when he had a nervous breakdown, during which he was definitely paranoid...he thought he was a spy and "they" were trying to kill him.

If you start having more and more instances of the extreme type, I would definitely tell the therapist. Better to know if something is wrong and get help than to let things get out of control and wish you had later.

I think that you suffer ideas of reference, i have too. When you think that people are talking about you or if anybody laughing think is for me, this is ideas of reference is not the same thing that paranoia.
This alteration is for the funtion cognitive (damaged) in the brain among other causes.
Regards.

A schizophrenic paranoid never stops on few scary delusions. He assumes that everybody is out to get him and becomes so distressed that the world becomes very dangerous place which he might try to escape trough suicide, even though he is not depressed. Anyway you need to take care about your stress levels because you are so sensitive you might go over the age.My advise is never stay alone and isolated.

I always think people are talking about me. I have paranoid personality disorder. Id do some research on diffrent types of things. I do think many people are working to decive me, or talking bad about me, or talking about me. Mostly though it has to do with my husband and other girls. Even if it makes no logical sense whatsoever and if I KNOW it isn't thats know what it feels like or what I think or how it seems to be.

Go read some of the paranoid personality disorder board and see if any of it reminds you of you.

I can't tell you what paranoia is, precisely, but I can give you an illustration from when I was diagnosed as paranoid (I have schizophrenia): I had had dental work done by a substitute dentist and later began to believe that somehow he was from the CIA in cahoots with the FBI and had implanted a microchip in my tooth. I also "knew" that there were agents observing me in my apartment through the TV set and communicating with me via the commercials. If I went out, they would signal to one another to follow me by means of cigarettes being lighted and passed on. Then I stopped eating or drinking for fear I would dislodge the microchip and be poisoned by it before I could get my regular dentist to remove it, and when I asked him to, well, you can guess what he said! Eventually, I was hospitalized and the doc there said that part of this, the tooth part, was actually a very common paranoid delusion, though I have never met anyone else who thought this way...Not yet at least. I think if you only worry that people MIGHT be talking about you, or that you might be shot in a drive-by (a reasonable fear in some places) it doesn't quite reach the paranoia definition, but if you hear them talking, or somehow know beyond doubt that they are (ie you don't ask if you are paranoid because you "know" you aren't...), then it could be paranoia...I dunno, maybe I'm wrong about this, but that's how it seems to me. Hope this helps. Pam

1 : a psychosis characterized by systematized delusions of persecution or grandeur usually without hallucinations
2 : a tendency on the part of an individual or group toward excessive or irrational suspiciousness and distrustfulness of others

I was adopted and wasn't told until I was 20, so in fact, everyone *was* lying to me, yet I never suspected it...and I've had extensive dental work done, and no, it never crosses my mind that anyone would've implanted anything other than a large dent in my bank balance I may have finally found a mental illness that I don't have. What a refreshing change!

I know alot of people who suspect others are thinking or talking badly about them, and my heart goes out to you; it must be so uncomfortable for you. Whereas I am blissfully unaware and unconcerned as to what anyone thinks or says of me, to the point where I'm a little socially moronic. C'est la vie.

Would it be helpful for you to consider trying to substitute a self-affirmation in place of your fear that others are talking about you? If it's not too big a problem for you, maybe you can substitute a positive thought for a negative, and over time, train yourself out of the "paranioa lite" as another poster called it. But this is so common, I hear this from so many people, I don't think you should be too discouraged.

so what you are saying is maybe try to substitute with "people are saying good things about me, people LIKE me"?
Instead of the negative?