PARANOIA By Dr. Nnaemeka C. Abamara

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Paranoia is not a clear-cut disease or psychological disorder. It is a type of response seen in person who may have schizophrenia ( extreme form of insanity) or who may have affective psychosis.

It is usually characterised by delusions, and specifically by delusions of persecution in which the individual attempt to bolster his or her self-esteem by assuming or believing that some people are plotting against him or her. Murderers, cultists who are either executioners or hit men, usually experience this type of psychological disorder. Clients or patients suffering from this disorder craves for recognition; but, having failed to obtain the acclaim he or she desires, such individuals may develop false explanation which indicate that he or she has failed in life as a result of the plottings and jealousies of others around his or her environment. Paranoia may have it’s roots in childhood because of experiences that deprived the individual of the degree of social acceptance which most children receive. In these early stages disappointment in life could have been overcome had the individual become successful in his or her chosen career or enterprise. Success in these would have brought about the recognition he or she desired. In persons who have found life to be disappointing, however, it is easy for the early childhood experience of sullenness and hatred to become exaggerated to the extent that a psychosis develops.

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The delusions of paranoia often lead the patient or client to imagine himself as being some great person, a president, a senator or a governor. This state of paranoia are called the delusion of grandiosity. The paranoid may become dangerous because of the possibility that he or she may do bodily harm to those he or she feels have plotted against him or her. Many patients or clients will respond favourably, however, to the kindness and sympathy of some person whom they feel they can trust and confide in. It is such a person who may be able to bring about improvement in a case of paranoia as the chosen person tactfully persuades the patient or the client to accept reasonable interpretation of his or her deplorable circumstances. Successful treatment of paranoia consists more sympathetic relationship than of any specific psychotherapy.

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The Treatment:
The patients or clients with paranoid disorder are usually treated in accordance to the diagnostic criteria, as stipulated in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (V) DSM 5. The clinical pictures must be ascertain through the process of clerking and clinical diagnosis of this disorder. The prognosis or chances of recovery are usually very imminent, if the patient or client adheres strictly to relevant psychotherapeutic measures and other psychological prophylaxis geared towards the treatment of individuals with such disorder.
Individuals with this disorder should consult a Clinical Psychologist. Please, let us not pine away in the misery of paranoia.
Thanks for your patience.

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Dr.N.C. Abamara
Consultant Clinical
Psychologist with special emphasis on cardiac Psychology.
+2348033948998.

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