October 21st, 2008
Paranoia
Paranoia is hostility and aggression projected outward and attributed to others rather than the self, probably because hostility was one of the negative emotions the paranoiac was not allowed to express as a child and which he/she disowned as part of his/her ‘bad’ self. It can also be a part of the self-loathing of the unloved child.
Or perhaps manipulative or abusive parents or an accumulation of damaging life experiences destroyed the ability to trust.
Often though, it is a maladaptive self-protective mechanism, blaming any failure or adversity on being cheated, exploited or betrayed by another so that he or she never needs to feel guilt, failure, inadequacy or responsibility. It also makes the paranoid the centre of everyone else’s attention, albeit malicious attention, which is still probably better for the ego than being ignored.
Paranoia is empathy gone mad, leading to misreading and misjudging others’ feelings and intentions.
The paranoiac has a chip on their shoulder and believes everyone is out to get them and so to protect themselves, they try to control others.
They may be excessively jealous, critical, secretive (so that no one can use information against them) or emotionally cold.
They are envious of those who have more power than they do and disdain those with less. In the extreme, they are the controlling, violent, spouse abusers.
The paranoid need to challenge their beliefs and judgments and to see that they are frequently illogical, assuming motives and intentions in others for which they have no evidence. They need to accept they they are not mind readers and that not everyone is hostile to them or to be mistrusted.
Copyright Ultimate-self.com 2008. All rights reserved.
See related articles:
