Paranoid personality disorder is a relatively rare psychopathic pathology, which manifests itself in painful suspiciousness to friends and strangers, to the role of events and objects in the patient's life. This pathology is characterized by the development of overvalued ideas, the delirium of which the patient refuses to recognize. Meanwhile, the falsity and absurdity of his beliefs are completely obvious to everyone around. If the symptoms of paranoid personality disorder go too far, then a person needs qualified medical treatment. Otherwise, it poses a threat to himself and others.
Symptoms of the disorder: what to look for at an early stage
The disease, as a rule, develops very slowly, over several years, and sometimes even decades. The manifestation is obvious to others, while the chronic course almost always goes unnoticed. The maximum that colleagues and acquaintances about their friend with a paranoid personality disorder in a chronic course can say is that "he is a little strange, he is fond of unusual ideas." In fact, it is at the time of the chronic course that you need to take special medications, then you can save a person from painful, obsessive thoughts and avoid exacerbating the disease.
In the initial stages of development, the following symptoms of paranoid personality disorder are characteristic:
- Unusual ideas that are connected with the desire of someone to influence the life of the patient himself, his relatives or even the whole country (a typical example is the idea of a Masonic conspiracy, reptilians, alien exposure and the like delusional thoughts).
- The feeling that a person is constantly being watched, and an attempt to somehow get rid of this observation. These are the very actions ridiculed by society: sticking paper on a web camera, choosing a phone without a camera at all, fear of contextual advertising and the like. In appearance, this behavior may seem funny, but more often it indicates a mild degree of mental disorder.
- Propensity to conflict situations with close people, colleagues. The patient is ready to defend his views despite all their obvious abnormality. The further the disease goes, the more intense the conflict situations can be.
- Inside the patient, as a rule, he constantly sleeps and from time to time a feeling of anger and envy is activated. From the side it seems that aggression is unmotivated. Only he knows what prompted him to begin to show his own anger on a physical level. To ordinary people, such causes of rage seem completely meaningless.
In the later stages, the symptoms worsen. In some cases, even the patient “falls out” of reality. This is the so-called schizophrenia of paranoid disorder. It is characteristic already in the later stages. With such attacks, the patient becomes completely inadequate, it is impossible to agree on anything with him, nor to convince him of anything. The further the disease goes, the more the patient plunges into his world of illusions, hallucinations. With paranoid disorder, this world is terrible: the constant fear that the persecutors will finally get to a sick person and begin to torture him, torture him. Willingness to kill either imaginary pursuers or yourself. Acute attacks (paranoid psychopathy) can be stopped only with the help of serious drugs. It can be antipsychotics of both the old and the new generation.
Relatives of a sick person with the first symptoms of an acute psychotic state and hallucinosis should immediately call an ambulance. After describing the symptoms, the call will be redirected to the PND, and a medical motorcade will be sent from there.
Alleged Causes of Paranoid Mental Disorder
What causes paranoid personality disorder? In ICD-10, the code for this disease is F20.0. After the diagnosis of this disease, a person is registered, he must be regularly observed by the attending physician and take the prescribed drugs.
Why the disease develops, medicine is not exactly known. The brain and nervous system are the most poorly studied parts of our body. There is an assumption that paranoid disorder develops due to the following reasons:
- A genetic predisposition, but which gene or set of cells is responsible for the psychopathic behavior of a paranoid nature, is not exactly revealed.
- Injuries of a psychological nature received in childhood.
- Congenital character traits, such as suspicion, distrust, hostility to the world, some moderate schizoidity, which eventually, under the influence of life circumstances, progress to paranoid disorder.
- Chronic alcoholism in the stage of withdrawal symptoms almost always leads to acute psychotic conditions. For this reason, people prone to the development of paranoid psychosis are strictly forbidden to use alcohol, drugs and other surfactants (psychoactive substances).
Diagnosis of the disease: where to go?
How is the diagnosis? Some psychiatric pathologies are very similar to each other, paranoid personality disorder is very easy to confuse with ordinary schizophrenia. Many manifestations of the pathology depend on the stage, therefore long-term observation is required for an accurate diagnosis.
If there is a suspicion of exacerbation, then it is necessary to lie down for a while in a hospital. Such conditions are needed in order to protect the patient himself from schizophrenic attacks of paranoid personality disorder. ICD-10 classifies the disease as quite serious. This is an occasion to take out sick leave for a while.
An accurate diagnosis of involuntary sick leave does not fit into the certificate of inoperability. To date, the psychiatrist has no right to disclose the patient’s diagnosis in any way. So if a patient is forced to take a sick leave for a while, he may not be afraid that his colleagues will find out about his illness.
In order to recognize paranoid personality disorder at an early stage, it is necessary to pass special tests. There are quite a lot of them, and they are all based on various techniques. Full testing may take several weeks. The patient may come to the specialist at the appointed hours: his psychological state is important (whether he is full, calm, whether there are any traumatic events in his life at the time of the test). If you recognize the disease at an early stage, work with an experienced psychotherapist, if necessary, take a course of antidepressants, antipsychotics, or other psychotropic drugs (only a psychiatrist can prescribe them), then the patient returns to normal life and forgets about his crazy ideas. When he recalls his confidence in the past about conspiracies, murderers and the threat of life, he himself becomes ridiculous. This is a happy ending to the medical history.
But more often in our country, everything happens differently: the patient enters the IPA on a call from loved ones. In this case, the patient is most often in an insane state, he needs the introduction of large doses of serious drugs to fall asleep and then, perhaps, to recover. If such a relapse has occurred at least once, then it is likely that it will happen again. Therefore, the patient is put on a permanent register in the IPA. The ICD code for paranoid personality disorder is recorded in the patient's card. From now on, until the death of the patient, this information will not be deleted from the archive.
How is the treatment in a hospital
There are a lot of rumors about treatment in PND, many films have been shot. In fact, this is the most ordinary hospital: patients are looked after, the doctor makes a rounds every day and takes an interest in the nuances of well-being. There are usually three to four people in a room. On the windows of the chambers there are bars, this is a safety rule. To prevent patients from injuring themselves, they are not given knives, forks in the dining room. It is also forbidden to bring knives and sharp, potentially life-threatening objects (scissors, needles, etc.) with you.
No one forbids patients to communicate with each other. In order to prevent conflict or possible bodily harm, nurses and orderlies visit the ward from time to time. If there is a need, then you must definitely go to the PND hospital - often for the patient this is the only way to start feeling better, to enter a long remission.
Feasibility of taking antidepressants for paranoia
How to treat paranoid disorder? In the early stages, conversations with a therapist and taking antidepressants will help. In the later stages, a more serious, radical therapy is required.
Antidepressants bring significant relief if paranoid personality disorder is triggered by depressive obsessive thoughts of a depressive nature. The selection of antidepressants is a very important undertaking. Sometimes a psychiatrist is forced to observe a patient for some time in order to prescribe certain pills. Usually, the drug from the SSRI group is primarily prescribed. If for some reason the condition does not improve (and sometimes even worsens), then the doctor prescribes another drug with an antidepressant effect.
Antipsychotics for symptoms of paranoid personality disorder
Antipsychotics are psychotropic drugs. You can briefly describe their effect: with regular admission, a person becomes very calm, he is not worried about anything. Previous thoughts of a paranoid nature that someone is plotting, persecuting him or trying to kill him seem insignificant and even ridiculous. Anxiety and anxiety disappear. It is advisable to take antipsychotics when the disease is already clearly manifested and prevents a person from living and working, communicating with loved ones.
Against the background of taking antidepressants, antipsychotics (like any other psychotropic drugs), alcohol, drugs and other psychoactive substances are strictly prohibited. Psychosis, delirium may develop (depending on the amount drunk).
Where better to go: to budget PND or to private centers
If the patient and his relatives fear (by the way, quite rightly) that registration in the IPA in the future will lead to difficulties with applying for a prestigious public job or with obtaining a driver’s license, then it makes sense to contact a private clinic.
Private clinics offer hospitalization and diagnosis services. If an attack of paranoia occurred after alcohol abuse, then the person will undergo intoxication and help to get out of a drunken state. The cost of treatment includes the necessary drugs with a psychotropic effect, which are impossible to get at a pharmacy without a prescription. The main disadvantage is that the course of treatment in such a clinic will be quite expensive.
The state neuropsychiatric dispensary is registered, and this information is provided to the authorities upon request. So, after the fact of registration, getting a driver’s license or permission to store or carry weapons is very difficult, almost impossible.
Myths among people without a medical education about paranoia
Common myths about paranoid personality disorder:
- A person becomes dangerous and should be avoided.
- He constantly repeats stupid things and it seems to him that they want to kill him, that they hunt him.
- Paranoid disorder is incurable.
- A person can "infect" others with his condition.
Alas, in our society there are still many myths about psychiatric diseases. Paranoid people, as a rule, are dangerous only in rare periods of exacerbations. If you monitor your condition and, if necessary, take pills, then there will be no such exacerbations at all.
Patient Relations with Friends and Relatives
The fact that a person with paranoid personality disorder is very difficult to communicate cannot be denied. People suffering from psychopathy rarely find a common language with others, in every little thing they see an insult to their own personality, a humiliation of their dignity. It is worth noting that arguing with such people is useless, because they are convinced that they are right and no arguments will prove otherwise. On the contrary, any arguments and arguments will be considered another insult provoking a conflict.
When communicating with a doctor, one of the diagnostic criteria is the relationship in the patient's family. Does he love how often he talks with members of his family. If he lives alone, then is there a permanent sexual partner and what is the relationship with him. The more a person is immersed in himself, the less often and harder he communicates with people around him, the further the disease can go.
The danger of psychiatric deviations is that they often adjoin each other, and when diagnosing one, one can miss the second. For example, sociophobia often "walks" next to schizophrenia, depression - next to alcoholism, etc.
Doctors advice: how to prevent a relapse of the disorder
How to prevent exacerbation of paranoid disorder? Simple guidelines for mental health hygiene should be followed:
- completely abandon the use of any amount of alcohol (even very small doses), drugs and other psychoactive substances;
- Avoid an environment that intensifies psychological stress;
- try to find good friends, friends and just people in whose company a person is comfortable and pleasant to be;
- at the first signs of deterioration in well-being, take a coupon for a consultation with a psychiatrist;
- Do not think about your pathology, otherwise these thoughts can become intrusive;
- fully eat, avoid physical overwork and psycho-emotional stress.