If we talk about personality typology, according to “Psychoanalytic Diagnostics” by Nancy McWilliams, she identifies several leading types. In this article we will look at the paranoid personality type. The article is structured on the principle of gradually illuminating the main features of the type, its characteristics, signs, and peculiarities of how a psychologist works with it. The reader who is interested in issues of self-development, self-knowledge, and the study of psychology will find in this note information about one of the personality types.
Psychological characteristics of the paranoid personality type
The leading characteristics of the paranoid personality type are suspicion, wariness, absence or a dull sense of humor.
A paranoid person treats his qualities as negative, projecting them externally. And then they are perceived as an external threat. We can say that everything that this person worries and worries about is within herself. For example, such a person may not realize that in some of his manifestations he is quite aggressive and, projecting this quality onto other people, notes these traits in them.
Also often in paranoids one can observe a consciousness of their own greatness.
A paranoid person must suffer greatly in order to seek psychological help; they are not inclined to trust strangers. And in this regard, they tend to avoid consultations with psychologists and trust few people.
Paranoid individuals often play political roles where their projective traits may be opposed to existing views. They can “climb onto an armored car” to prove something to someone. True, it is important to note that such people do not always exaggerate the real danger. However, they can also be ironic and suspicious.
Appearance
Since there is no specific paranoid body type, let's start right away with aesthetics, that is, in our case, with the design of appearance.
Paranoids prefer classical styles to all styles (they, in fact, create it). And not only in clothes. The classical style has at least three qualities that are consistent with the paranoid tendency. First: it has stood the test of time. Second: it is recognized by the overwhelming majority of people, it is understandable and close to the masses. And thirdly, most importantly: the classical style in world culture reflects a certain social position - the unconditional priority of public goals and values over individual ones. And this becomes the basis of paranoid ethics.
“One is nonsense! One is zero! The voice of one is thinner than a squeak,” declares the classical style through the mouth of Mayakovsky. The paranoid person speaks about the same thing when choosing a hairstyle, clothes, shoes of a strict, no-frills, classic style. In this style, unlike sports, there is no aggression (more precisely, the aggressiveness of the individual). There is also no brightness and, therefore, no claim to exclusivity. The classical style is charged with social rather than individualistic content. It reflects the confident, consolidated strength of society and the willingness to serve its interests.
If an individual’s character combines a paranoid radical with a hysterical one, then on his clothes (and in his hands) various signs of belonging to ideological or professional groups appear: inscriptions on T-shirts, badges with the image of the party leader or its motto, flags, shop emblems...
Drives, affects and temperament of paranoid personalities
It can be said about paranoid individuals that they are less suicidal than depressed ones. They are often unfriendly. They have a high degree of internal aggression and irritability.
It is difficult for a child to control their reactions; they may have an internal feeling that they are being persecuted.
In social interactions, paranoids may not be adaptive. Hyperexcitability is also noted. They struggle with hostile feelings and have many different fears.
Most often, paranoids experience a combination of fear and shame. This can lead to resourcefulness. Such people vigilantly monitor all interactions of other people among themselves and with them.
Narcissistic individuals may be subject to feelings of shame if the mask is somehow removed from them. Attempts are made to make such an impression on others that the devalued self will not be noticed by them. Paranoid individuals, on the contrary, use denial and projection. Shame remains completely unattainable within one's own self. Therefore, a paranoid person rushes headlong at those who are trying to shame and humiliate them. At the same time, narcissistic individuals are afraid of discovering their own inconsistency with some standards, and paranoid individuals are afraid of being judged by other people.
Paranoids can be noted to focus on the motives of other people, instead of focusing on their own “I”. They love to discuss possible motivations and consequences of other people's actions.
Paronoid individuals are vulnerable to envy. They cope with it through projection, believing that they envy them. In essence, we can say that they can project and deny those qualities of other people that they have in themselves. For example, the fact that they were betrayed.
Paranoid individuals project qualities that they may not notice or deny in themselves. For example, an office employee who is constantly late may make comments about this to other employees.
Paranoid individuals are not always aware of the guilt that is projected in the same way as shame. They believe that the psychologist, having learned about their sins, will reject them. They transform any feeling of guilt into a threat coming from outside. The fear of being exposed pushes them to recognize them earlier than others, thereby preventing evil intentions towards them.
Features of behavior
The paranoid tendency in character is purposefulness, perseverance, self-confidence, high performance, perseverance in overcoming obstacles, leadership, i.e. an objective need for assistants, due to the scale of his plans... Does this mean that a paranoid radical is certainly useful to society?
But what about dialectics, according to which there is no benefit without harm? Or is the paranoid an exception?
You have probably noticed that such an important component of the psyche as intelligence always remains outside the scope of our discussions about character. This is because intelligence (which is understood as the result of the interaction of cognitive mental processes: memory, attention, thinking, etc.) does not determine the style of behavior in the sense that we are talking about. It does not add new colors or features (except for the situation with the schizoid radical, but more on that later). Intelligence determines the level of complexity of acquired behavioral stereotypes and, as a consequence, the level of behavioral results. Intelligence, therefore, is not a formative factor, but a resource of behavior. Just like, for example, material wealth.
How will actions, views, values, etc. differ? a rich and intelligent hysterical from the actions and views of a poor and stupid hysterical? Of course, not in style. The style will be the same: posing, pretentiousness, the desire to cause social resonance with one’s behavior. Simply wealth and intelligence - immediately or gradually - will lead a person to the corresponding elite social group, where he will have to show off to others not with penny jewelry, but with rare diamonds, not with a brightly colored “plush skirt” from a ready-made dress store, but with exclusive outfits from world-famous fashion houses; imitate not a courtyard hero - the king of vulgar feasts and petty brawls, but a member of parliament or a commander.
Now imagine a paranoid person lacking intelligence. What goals will he achieve, regardless of energy and human costs? Introduced? That's it. This is not a person, but a fratricidal projectile, a skating rink - senseless and merciless. Not benefit to society, but irreparable harm will be the result of his activities.
Go ahead. The famous paranoid persistence, confidence in one’s own rightness - doesn’t all this often turn into stubbornness, unwillingness and inability to hear one’s opponent, to perceive a different, perhaps more reasonable point of view? How many useful, promising ideas were derailed by paranoids! Only because it was not their intentions. Without giving a penny to others, paranoids (not always objectively) attach increased importance to their own ideas.
Let's focus on purposefulness. The condition for its emergence, as was said, is the transformation in the human mind of an objectively multifaceted idea into a one-sided one, speaking in Russian. One-sidedness and simplified perception of the world is the flip side of this quality. You cannot capture the consciousness of the masses with an idea (an activity loved by paranoids!) without simplifying it into a slogan understandable to everyone. And simplifying ideas often distorts their true meaning. It won't take long to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Leadership, derived from the scale of plans, is a valuable quality, who can argue. But a paranoid leader devotes his work, his life, not to today’s, but to future generations. He puts a heavy yoke on himself and on his fellow contemporaries, thereby depriving people of ordinary human joys and desires. “Be strong, friends,” says the paranoid man, “most likely we will die, strained from overwork, but our descendants (at these words the unhealthy gleam of his eyes intensifies) will live happily!” A position worthy of applause, if we ignore the thought that our descendants will have their own paranoids. The problems of individuality are unknown to the paranoid; he disdainfully discards them and perceives them as unworthy whining. He counts people in tens, hundreds of thousands, millions and billions... With all the ensuing consequences.
A paranoid person craves and seeks fundamental changes in everything he undertakes. He digs deep. In many cases this is a good thing. Without this, the world would freeze in place and die. But it is the desire for fundamental changes that most quickly leads to the death of civilization. Let us add to what has been said the inflexibility of paranoids, their tendency to follow the same path in all situations [1] - and a dialectical description of the qualities of behavior inherent in this tendency is ready.
Defense and adaptation processes in paranoia
The degree of projection in paranoids can be borderline or neurotic.
In a disturbed personality, the Ego is completely projected and external, no matter how much these projections may appear to other people.
Individuals with a preserved “I” still have the opportunity to test reality.
Borderlines act in ways that make their projections suitable for the target of the projection. For example, a woman who does not admit her hatred and envy may tell her psychologist that he is jealous of her. And she interprets the psychologist’s empathic manifestations as a desire to control.
In neurotic paranoids, their feelings are projected in a way potentially alien to the ego. Such a person projects, but at the same time a part of his own “I” remains, which, when forming a trusting working alliance between the client and the psychologist, can reach the level of awareness.
Paranoid individuals project their feelings externally, including in order not to recognize unbalancing relationships.
Psychologist Karen, exploring paranoid dynamics, summarized the basic psychological defense mechanisms of the individual. For example, how can a person with delusions cope with the desire for intimacy with a person of the same sex. At the same time, the person seeks to refute “I love him!” through a number of ways:
- Megalomania: “I don’t love him, I love myself!”
- Erotomania: “I don’t love him, I love her!”
- Delusional jealousy: “I don’t love him, she loves him!”
- Projection of homosexuality: “I don’t love him, he loves me!”
- Reactive formation: “I don’t like him, I hate him!”
- What allows me to hate him: “He hates me! If I hate him, I don’t love him!”
What should I do?
Paranoid people need to stop from time to time and assess the situation . A person should not become a tool to achieve a goal, nor should he use others to achieve this.
It is important to consider the interests of others. It is not necessary to separate or accept them, but it is simply necessary to take them into account.
In order to establish contact with others and create an objective picture of what is happening, you will have to communicate with people .
It is better to directly ask someone about their true motives and feelings than to come up with your own variations and theories.
Fantasy will only aggravate the situation and “erect a wall of misunderstanding.”
You can slow down your train of thought and get rid of the obsessive desire to achieve a goal at any cost and at any time of the day through meditative practices, working with a psychologist, doing yoga and other relaxing techniques.
It is impossible to correct character accentuation without the help of specialists.
Therefore, the most optimal behavior strategy when interacting with a paranoid person is to try to minimize conflicts and avoid sharp corners . Controversial topics can be identified immediately and then carefully avoided.
Interpersonal relationships with paranoia
A child who grows up paranoid suffers from feelings of his own reality. He was subjected to periodic suppression and humiliation. The family can convey to the child that they are the only ones who can be trusted. This creates suspicion in the child towards other people.
Borderline or neurotic paranoid individuals come from a family system where criticism and ridicule predominate. The child may be a scapegoat.
Uncontrollable anxiety can trigger the development of paranoia in children. When a child came to such a parent with a problem, he either presented this situation as catastrophic, since he could not bear the child’s anxiety, or devalued it, since he could not condense it. Such an adult conveyed to the child that thoughts are equivalent to actions. And the child perceived that his personal feelings had dangerous power.
As children, paranoid individuals did not have the opportunity to express their feelings naturally and safely. In a psychologist’s office with such clients, a specialist teaches paranoid individuals to do this.
We can also say that paranoid individuals are capable of deep attachment and relationships.
Space decoration
Decorating a paranoid space comes down to turning any room into a work office. He is a hard worker who is in love with his work. Therefore, everything that surrounds him bears the imprint of his main activity, his chosen goal. Let us remember that the epileptoid also has a work area where he does his crafts and stores his tools. But this zone is one of many functional zones, nothing more. There are others. A zealot of formal order, the epileptoid will not, for example, eat in the bedroom or cut with a jigsaw while sitting at the dining table.
The paranoid works wherever he is.
Over a cup of morning tea, he finishes drawing the diagram that he did not have time to finish last night, because, despite drinking a pot of coffee alone, he was still overcome by fatigue. Taking a shower and then getting dressed, he mumbles through the points of his speech at the upcoming production meeting, happily going over the most pressing and time-consuming tasks in his mind. When he goes to bed, he puts his phone next to his pillow so that he will never oversleep any important event, so that there will not be a single significant problem - God forbid! - decided without his participation.
Paranoid Self
The paranoid client despises his own humiliated personality. He has a high degree of fear, which leads to the fact that he constantly “monitors those around him,” observes their reactions, “keeps his finger on the pulse.” Paranoids believe that they are the target of everyone around them, that people think and talk only about them.
It is also important to note that paranoids have a high sense of guilt.
Statistically, a connection has been found between thoughts about homosexuality and paranoid personalities, this has been confirmed by some studies.
Paranoids can fight against existing authorities. Revenge and triumph provide a temporary and shallow sense of security and moral clarity.
Self-test questions
- I am always on guard and closely monitor what is happening around me.
- I hide my feelings and thoughts so that no one can turn them to my detriment.
- I suspect others of bad intentions.
- I believe that if they treat me well, it means it is beneficial for them or they are going to use me for their own purposes.
- I'm looking for details that will support my point. The big picture doesn't matter.
- I do not forgive insults and dream of punishing my offenders.
- I note any violation of my rights.
- I see no reason to trust people; I have experience when yesterday's friend turned into an enemy.
- I know that I am constantly underestimated.
If you see matches in more than half of the points, it may be worth talking to a specialist about it.
Transference and countertransference with paranoid individuals
Transference in paranoid clients is rapid and intense. The psychologist is the recipient of the projection of the image of the rescuer. But more often the psychologist is seen as an unsupportive, humiliating type. Such clients believe that the psychologist is trying to save them or, conversely, is focused on causing suffering. They evaluate a psychological assessment, believing that the psychologist wants to feel his own superiority.
Paranoid individuals may look closely at a psychologist. This can create a feeling of vulnerability and total protection. Transference here can be hostile and less often benevolent.
Countertransference may look like an opportunity to directly point out to the client that what the person perceives as a danger is unrealistic.
Paranoid accentuation: recommendations
Accentuation of character is an extreme version of the norm, in which the inherent traits of a character type are most clearly manifested.
This phenomenon cannot be considered as a deviation or a painful state of the psyche, since it reflects only a combination of certain traits, and not the presence of problems as such .
With paranoid acetunation, a person does not understand the motives and feelings of other people, relying on his own, often distorted, perception of reality.
The individual quickly goes through thoughts one after another until he settles on a specific idea. Then the person will simply “get stuck” on this idea and will go ahead, turning a blind eye to everything else.
Therapeutic recommendations when diagnosing paranoia
The first requirement is the establishment of a stable working alliance with the psychologist. This is necessary to build trust, which will make it possible to build effective interaction.
If the paranoid client trusts the psychologist, then the work can be considered completed.
The main task for the specialist will be to increase the paranoid person’s access to the client’s inner world.
Jokes within reason can safely defuse aggression. They may relate to those topics within which the work is being carried out at a given time. For example, to a client who is overly worried about how he will look on a date, you can say something like this: “If you think that you will be examined under a microscope, take blood and urine tests, then rest assured that your your partner is also worried.” This, of course, is only possible after basic trust has been built in a psychological session.
If paranoids feel that their opinions are valued, they will become more open. You can find a way to demonstrate this to them. In addition, it is important to give the opportunity to talk.
Together with a psychologist, explore what led to such reactions. This stimulates separation, which will eliminate carryover.
It is important to teach paranoid clients to identify what triggers their paranoia. Starting from observing your own body and reactions to external factors that can trigger alarming symptoms.
It is also very important with paranoids to consider other reasons besides those used by paranoid individuals. Give me the opportunity to think about it for myself. There are clients who want ready-made, and even better, quick solutions to their problems. But at the same time, they do not always understand that instead of getting a fishing rod and then independently solving pressing problems that will arise in their lives, they want to immediately get a fish.
Emphasize the differences between thoughts and actions. “Just enjoy your fantasies!” Thinking about something does not mean doing it.
A psychologist should be very careful about boundaries. This may affect the paranoid's feelings of security. May cause anxiety. Something can be done with psychological boundaries if it is possible to identify them. And their identification is realistic only after identifying oneself.
Achievable tasks
Any task that involves obtaining a specific result can be entrusted to a paranoid person. He will immediately try to enlarge the idea, increase the scale of the problem being solved, and take it from the category of ordinary, mediocre to priority. .
He will launch activities so vigorous that all other goals facing the organization will recede into the background. Instruct him to create, say, a legal department in a construction company, and soon, through his efforts, this department will grow and will claim a leading role in the organization (and then the entire company will turn into a legal one).
You should not entrust a paranoid person with work that requires attention to a specific person and his individual problems.
A paranoid person is a bad social worker, doctor, teacher. He does not want and does not know how to sympathize, empathize, in general, spend time on the “unit”. A paranoid person cannot correlate his opinion with the opinions of other people or make adjustments to his own position. Therefore, he is not an important negotiator - inflexible, stubborn, trying to suppress his opponent. Such a manner of negotiating will lead to a breakdown in relations and confrontation.
Differential diagnosis
Paranoid versus psychopathic client: If a paranoid person notes that you share their values with them, then they are capable of loyalty and generosity. Projection is a psychological defense mechanism in psychopathic and paranoid individuals. However, the former are not empathic, and paranoid individuals are deeply connected to the object (for example, another person). The experience of betrayal can be a threat. They perceive any violations of morality in their partner as a vice in themselves that should be eradicated.
Paranoid personalities in comparison with absessive ones: the latter are sensitive to little things, they are afraid of control, but do not experience the fear of physical harm, moral humiliation, which is typical of paranoid personalities. Absessive clients try to cooperate with the psychologist, although they may have alternative positions. A violent reaction to clarification at work may indicate that the client has dominant paranoid qualities.
Paranoid versus dissociative personality: Paranoid traits may be present in dissocial personalities.
Next, let's look at the depressive personality type.
Basic Concepts
The emergence of the corresponding personality type leads to paranoid disorder and psychosis. People with a similar mental type transfer negative aspects to the outside world, starting to fight them, presenting them as a threat. Sometimes such behavior of a paranoid person is expressed within normal limits, that is, the person is simply suspicious and prefers to be the first to attack before others do it themselves. But very often this condition turns into serious paranoia, degenerating into a psychiatric diagnosis.
Among politicians there are a lot of people with the described mental type, because this is precisely the area in which one can fight what is evil in the minds of such a person. As practice shows, it is the paranoid personality type that most often finds itself in situations of persecution. We can say that their distrust and suspicion seem to attract such troubles.
Symptoms of a paranoid psychotype
The main sign of a paranoid personality type is groundless suspicion of everything. Such people constantly accuse their lovers of betrayal, doubt the reliability and loyalty of their own friends, and suspect their business partners of betrayal. They perceive any light or sometimes humorous remark as a threat and humiliation. The affective reaction and inadequacy that often accompanies this type of psychosis seems delusional to a normal person.
Sometimes such patients see hallucinations, their associations become loose, their thoughts are blocked, they see a negative and exclusively biased attitude towards themselves in everything. Among the character traits of paranoids, vindictiveness is especially expressed along with dissatisfaction with everything that happens around. Even minor troubles are perceived very painfully by this person. All these symptoms cause the relatives of the paranoid person many problems, expressed in personal relationships, within the framework of general everyday life, and therefore, if these manifestations occur, it is recommended to urgently contact a psychiatrist or psychotherapist for help.
