Identifying the Signs of Clinical Paranoia

When I was younger, in my twenties, I loved a woman dearly. We were living together for over four months when her personality slowly began to change and deep-rooted psychological problems began to manifest. This was my only first-hand experience with the devastation and emotional turmoil of clinical paranoia. Her family and friends had tried for years to get her some help. In our involvement, I tried myself, however, one of the hallmarks of the disease, is a lack of trust and personal recognition of the facts. A person suffering from paranoia is the most reluctant in seeking or accepting help, because to them, there is nothing wrong with themselves.

My personal involvement ended with her stealing my car while I was at work and driving to be with friends in California. Her delusions peaked 4 months later when she was arrested and convicted of murder. She shot a man in a small cabin in the woods. I felt only lucky that it wasn't me. The saddest part is that during her moments of clarity, she was a sweet and caring girl, generally loving. She had had problems before and received some form of treatments. I knew these only from story with no real idea at what level she had suffered. When we met, she was completely normal.

In the month after we had made the jump to cohabitation, we would lie awake at night talking. Sometimes, about the past. I remember she brought up once the fact that she had escaped some very bad people when she was living in California. As the weeks went on, the stories would get more detailed. These "bad people" who were never named, had extraordinary powers and technological equipment for surveillance. There was nowhere that she would be safe. Each story grew is scope and perspective, each detail explained and scrutinized.

After the stories, the first odd thing that happened was her linking completely unrelated objects, statements, or actions to something from the past. She asked for some fingernail clippers. I went to the bathroom to retrieve them. She had seen and used them before. They had a plastic picture of butterflies on the lever. This time, however, she stared at them, looking at the picture for about 45 seconds, then asked, "Where did you get these?"

Shortly after this, during times of intimacy, it became necessary to cover the TV with a towel. "They" could see with cameras hidden inside of the television screens, it was explained. Soon it also became necessary for her to avoid any public buildings with surveillance cameras and the tapes would later be used for evidence of something she would not explain. The explanations were very detailed in portions, in others vague to the point of incomprehensible.

It all culminated to where I returned home from work to a burning smell in the garage. There were wisps of smoke emanating from the charcoal grill. I lifted the lid to find a slew of smoldering personal documents that "had to be destroyed." The next day she was gone.

The medical world draws a distinction between Paranoid Personality Disorder and Paranoid Schizophrenia, but both of these paranoia disorders have similarities in how they can be spotted. Someone suffering may have one or more of the following conditions applicable according to the DSM-IV-TR (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders:

Suspects, without basis, other are exploiting, harming, or deceiving them; Preoccupation with doubts of loyalty and trustworthiness of friends and associates; Reluctant to confide because of a belief that the information will be used against them; Reads innocent remarks or events as threatening or demeaning; Perceives attacks against their character or reputation that are not apparent to others.

Other indicators are mentioned in the European ICD-10:

Tendency to bear grudges persistently; misconstrues neutral or friendly actions for hostile or contemptuous; combative sense of personal rights; preoccupied with unsubstantiated conspiratorial explanations of events.

Any of these signs should be an early warning of clinical paranoia and a sign that it is time to seek help for your loved one. They will be resistant, but you must press it upon them. It is extremely difficult to get someone suffering from paranoia the help they require. Even in severe cases, it may be difficult to prove that hospitalization or treatment is necessary. If you are not very close to this person, you must also think about yourself and the severity of the problem. Are you willing to risk bodily injury or worse for the sake of this person? These situations are never easy and very painful to all those involved.