Personality and Personal Growth:
​ Paranoid Personality Disorder

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When you are learning about the different personality types and how they play into personal development, you have to look at all angles, including personality disorders. Paranoid personality disorder is one that typically starts when people are in their early adulthood years. When looking at the different genders, men tend to experience this disorder more often than females.

When someone has this personality disorder, they might seem unusual or odd to others in terms of their personality. This eccentric personality disorder is severely suspicious of other people. It can occur along with just about any personality type. When it comes to personal development, having a solid plan might help to alleviate some of the symptoms of this disorder.

Exploring the Symptoms of this Personality Disorder

In many cases, people with this disorder do not even realize that they have it. They often feel that it is completely rational to be as suspicious of other people as they are. However, those who know this person often feel that their distrust of other people is unwarranted and something that they should not be thinking. Those who have this disorder can experience a number of symptoms, which can include:

• Believing that other people are out to cause harm or have hidden motives
• Are hypersensitive to criticism
• Become angry and hostile very quickly
• Tend to be highly defensive and argumentative
• Usually have difficulty relaxing
• Tend to doubt how loyal other people are
• Have difficulty when it comes to working with other people
• They often become socially isolated or detached
• They tend to have difficulty seeing their own problems

Knowing the Causes of this Disorder

There is no known cause of this personality disorder. As of today, experts believe that a combination of environmental and biological factors are at play when it occurs. They also believe that there could be a genetic component. In many cases, those with this disorder have a close family member who has a type of delusional or schizophrenic disorder. Another contributing factor that experts believe to play a role is a history of trauma during your childhood years.

How this Personality Disorder is Diagnosed

The first thing your doctor will do is learn more about your medical history so that he or she can try to determine if another condition might be causing your symptoms. This often includes performing a physical examination which entails things like urine screening and blood work.
Once a physical condition has been ruled out, your primary doctor will usually refer you to a mental health professional. A psychiatrist will start by learning more about your symptoms and your overall lifestyle. A psychological assessment is commonly performed to get a true assessment of your mental health. He or she will want to learn more about your childhood, as well as things like your school, relationships and work. They will also ask about things like how you react to various situations.

The Treatments Used for this Disorder

In most cases, paranoid personality disorder is highly treatable and with the right mixture of treatments, those with this disorder can live a fairly normal life. The most challenging part of treatment is usually getting the patient to accept it. Once this occurs, there are several things that a mental health professional can do. Psychotherapy is very commonly used and how often you need to go will depend on the severity of your condition. This type of therapy is prescribed for the following reasons:

• Helping to decrease your feelings of paranoia
• Helping you learn how to deal with this disorder
• Helping you to be comfortable in social situations, as well as helping you learn to communicate better

Medications might also be prescribed, but this is usually only for people with a more severe form of the disorder. When they are prescribed, they go along with psychotherapy and might include:

• Antidepressants
• Antipsychotics
• Benzodiazepines

Paranoid personality disorder is treatable, but it is not curable. It can alter the traits of your personality type and make it difficult to do things like hold down a job or create meaningful relationships. Creating a personal development plan that goes along with this disorder allows you to tailor your plan so that it addresses your struggles. Your plan can also help to enhance your treatment plan. You and your doctor can work on it together to determine the efficacy of your treatment and to help you to live a more productive life in all of the major areas.

References:

http://www.healthline.com/health/paranoid-personality-disorder#Overview1

https://sites.google.com/site/limbicsystembytaylorgallman/antisocial-personality-disorders/paranoid-personality-disorder