• Question: why do people get paranoid?

    Asked by maevelewisxo to Damien, Rachael, Simon, Suzi, Tim on 16 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Suzi Gage

      Suzi Gage answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Hi @maevelewisxo
      This is a great question!
      There can be loads of reasons. Some people suffer from a condition called social anxiety. This means they misread other people’s behaviour and can perceive it as negative when it isn’t. This can make people paranoid. Social anxiety may be caused by certain areas of the brain being overly active. In particular, an area called the amygdala, which is linked to feeling fear.

      Also, people who suffer from psychosis, the illness I’m researching, can often feel paranoid, this is one of the symptoms. Psychosis is a really complicated disorder, which can be caused by a number of different things. It is thought that it may run in families, so if your parents or another relative had it, you would be more likely to get it. Also there are suggestions that certain conditions while you’re being born may make you more likely to become psychotic as a teenager or young adult.

      Smoking cannabis can also make you feel paranoid. This is one of the reasons people think cannabis use and psychosis may be related!

      I hope this answers your question!

    • Photo: Damien Hall

      Damien Hall answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Isn’t paranoia a reaction to too much worry? So you may start off by worrying about things that really need to be worried about, and only about those things, but then you can start to worry a bit too much, and worry about things that will be fine and don’t need to be worried about; and that’s being paranoid. As to why some people get paranoid and others don’t, that’s a question for a psychologist!

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