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I am 16 years old. I live in a small suburban town in Arizona. Since a couple years ago, I have been becoming more and more distant from my friends and family and everyone around me. I don't know when I started to think this, but everyone seems to be hiding something. A few days ago, I realized that my friends were suddenly avoiding me. I have been friends with them ever since I moved to Arizona back in elementary school. No, I've actually started to notice it since a few years ago. I never fully trusted any of them. There really is no one I can trust. I feel that people are constantly plotting against me or something. I think I started to realize that everyone was holding something against me when they began to exclude me. I still remember, a couple years ago, my friends forgot my birthday. As if that was not enough, they went to hang out without me. I still distrust those friends. They probably did that on purpose. It was likely that it was a meeting on better ways to hide the menacing intentions they have.

114 Response:

The symptoms indicate that he/she has a paranoid personality disorder. He/she is becoming more distant from his/her friends and family; furthermore, he/she thinks that people are giving him/her weird looks and are excluding him/her on purpose. Individuals with a Paranoid Personality Disorder believe that people have sinister motives therefore are always suspicious. "I still distrust those friends. They probably did that on purpose." ... "hide the menacing intentions"... <-- these lines clearly illustrate the symptoms of PPD. This person also possesses a big grudge against others and isolates himself to avoid getting hurt. This specific individual is facing a lot of social issues with the people around her/him. He/she never fully trusted any of them to begin with, which indicates that people in his own mind are bad and are purely motivated to do bad things to others. He/she, therefore, is unable to form close relationships with anyone. Furthermore, he/she is very sensitive and gets hurt easily. For this reason, he/she tends to be argumentative and believes that he/she is always right.

In order to treat Paranoid Personality Disorder, one can take psychotherapy, antidepressants, antipsychotics, and anti-anxiety medications. Although there are no laboratory tests to specifically diagnose personality disorders, the doctor might use various diagnostic tests to rule out physical illness as the cause of the symptoms. I strongly recommend Psychotherapy because even though it may seem unsuccessful at first due to the suspicion which the patient has on the therapist, this tension will start to diminish over time and it has been proven that this form of treatment is successful in terminating and alleviating the patient's conditions. The therapist also has to be careful throughout each session, for patients with PPD tend to be sensitive and will feel intimidated and doubtful again if the therapist is unable to maintain balance. An honest, candid and slow approach is the best way to deal with the patient. A type of psychotherapy that is strongly suggested is Humanistic-Existential Psychotherapy. This specific method of psychotherapy aims at encouraging clients to find constructive and healthy ways of facing and dealing with challenges in everyday living. It is solely focused on the client’s individual experience of anxiety, which allows the therapist to discover the patient's personal beliefs and value system. These are then put in relation to the specific physical, psychological and socio-cultural context. It also allows the therapist to put emphasis on the patient's past, present and future influences.

Furthermore, I've noticed that this person is very anxious and possesses lots of doubt. Even though it is not mentioned in her/his paragraph, this anxiety may affect his/her normal, daily functioning; I recommend her/him to take an anti-anxiety agent such as diazepam. Diazepam is used for the short term relief of anxiety. He/She should know that drink alcohol while taking diazepam can increase the effects of alcohol.

Bibliography (APA Format):
Grohol, John. M. (2006). Psych Central: Paranoid Personality Disorder Treatment. Retrieved from http://psychcentral.com/disorders/sx37t.htm Long, Phillip. W. (1998). Paranoid Personality Disorder. Retrieved from http://www.mentalhealth.com/dis/p20-pe01.html Port, Tami. (2007). Paranoid Personality Disorder PPD. Retrieved from http://personalitydisorders.suite101.com/article.cfm/paranoid_personality_disorder Strisik, Peter., Strisik, Susan. W. (2002). Types of Psychotherapy (Approaches). Retrieved from http://www.strisik.com/therapy/approaches.htm


 * Response**

The patient that I chose to do did in fact have Paranoid Personality Disorder. The person who was treating my patient, found all the elements that I meant for this patient to have, especially the fear that everyone is out to harm this patient. Also, the person stated various different methods of treatment. Thus, it gives a wide variety of choice the patient could potentially choose from, depending on the patient's preference.