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What Is Paranoid Psychophrenia?
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  • Written By: Jeremy Laukkonen
  • Edited By: Allegra J. Lingo
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Paranoid psychophrenia is an alternate term for paranoid schizophrenia, which is a psychosis that can result in a person losing touch with the world or reality. While it can be a very serious condition, those with this form of the disorder are often much more successful at leading normal lives than people with other forms of schizophrenia. Common symptoms experienced by people with the condition can include elaborate delusions regarding strangers or even friends wanting to harm them. It is also common to experience auditory hallucinations that may reinforce these delusions. There may be problems with concentration and memory in addition to somewhat dulled emotions, though these symptoms may be less severe than those associated with other types of the disorder.

The causes of paranoid schizophrenia are not fully understood, though there may be both genetic and environmental components. A family history of schizophrenia may be one of the key indicators, and those with such a history may want to be watchful for the onset of symptoms. Environmental causes can include poor nutrition, the contraction of viruses in utero, or taking excessive amounts of psychoactive drugs when the brain is still forming. Regardless of the cause, paranoid psychophrenia typically manifests some time between the early teenage years and the mid 30s.

Common symptoms of paranoid psychophrenia include delusions and hallucinations. The delusions often result in the person believing the government is out to get them, or a co-worker or friend is trying to hurt or kill them. Delusions of grandeur may also be experienced, where the person has a significantly inflated sense of importance, believes they have special powers, or a relationship with a celebrity. Auditory hallucinations that seem very real may also appear. These voices may simply be unpleasant, or may be a part of whatever delusions the person is suffering from.

A variety of other symptoms may be present apart from delusions and hallucinations. Two things to look for include suicidal thoughts or tendencies and an emotional distance. Those suffering from paranoid schizophrenia may also have problems with violence and anger, behave condescendingly or be particularly argumentative.

It is typically recommended to seek treatment if the symptoms of paranoid psychophrenia are experienced. This is a condition that is not known to go away or get better without treatment, and left untreated it may actually grow worse. Since the paranoid delusions commonly associated with paranoid psychophrenia can result in severely antisocial behavior, those who go untreated can have relationship problems, trouble finding or holding down a job, and may end up homeless or incarcerated. Treatment can help avoid many of these situations, though in some cases anti-psychotic medicines may come with risks of their own.

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ddljohn
Post 2

There was a man on TV and he was saying that he controls natural disasters. He said that when people tried to harm him and control him, he made a tornado or a hurricane happen. The channel reported later that he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. I guess this illness can cause really big delusions.

RichardD
Post 1

I found the bulk of this article informative, but I disagree that paranoia includes inane fears or outrageous/impertinent delusions such as being massively targeted and/or surveillance.

From my exposure to such cases, I have found that psychosicknesses have their origins in the psychic structure of the personality and character as physio sicknesses have theirs in the organic structure of the body. In other words, in the case of paranoia, the person's fears are based on his/her actual psychological and/or physical vulnerabilities or debilities and not on imagined attacks from sources unrelated to what they feel compromises them personally!

If a person's trust in society has been damaged by abuse from authoritarian care-giver figures such as teachers, doctors, police, and especially parents or older relatives, then it is only natural they are going to distrust people in general, especially those organized into power structures like the church and the state.

However, if a person was not abusively raised and then runs into trouble with these elements of society, it is not absurd to consider that they are truly threatened and their claims are valid.

It would not correlate for a person to be abused by parents as a child and then spend the rest of his/her life as an adult claiming they were abused by aliens, unless one of two cases was involved: either they were abused by parents as part of a cultic coven such as witches or Satanists and were afraid to directly admit to that, or they had been abused simply by their parents and then aliens took advantage of that situation to exploit them further, thinking no one would believe their latter claim and psychotherapists would ascribe it to being a delusional deformation of the former situation.

Since it is a fact that highly organized and sophisticated criminal groups like the Mafia and spy agencies such as the CIA and FBI and NSA as well as military surveillance agencies do exist, it is not valid to ascribe someone's claim which has any plausibility or personal credibility of associational experience with them, to being delusional paranoia. This cover/blanket label has been used far too long by the psychology industry to disguise the criminal and surreptitious activities of these groups in people's lives.

What better way than to chalk it up to being crazy? That way the person is deceived and society is pacified that nothing of such an insidiously evil nature is happening! It's time to address the actual general threats, because it is not the few ordinary psychotic maniacs who are going to either blow up or dominate the world!

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