Hi Ava, thanks for making this informative video! I have a question if you have the time to answer it: During quarantine I have noticed an increase in paranoid thoughts in general, it's not stopping me from doing anything, but it is really draining. Is there any evidence that would suggest being less isolated would decrease paranoia? Thanks! PS love your aesthetic!
There is evidence that isolation increases paranoia, as you don’t have a chance to test out your assumptions eg people are after you- stay in doors-reinforce idea that you need to stay indoors and think you have avoided danger vs people are after you- go outside and test- wasn’t as bad as you thought and you weren’t hurt- less paranoid (simplified version). I can provide some research if u want but it’s based on cognitive models of paranoia, and thanks!
I lied on by some of my customers. They tell my boss. I know this is defamation of character but it leaves me paranoid and anxious. I keep wondering how I could approach the situation differently but I can't.
Thank you! Small tip, maybe use different sounds for your effects? Having the same gets a bit tiring. Btw, is there a link for this Helpo thingy please?
Hi Ava, this was super helpful but I was wondering if you have any advice for me... Just last year I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, however it never sat well with me, my therapist, and people around me who know what it is like to have GAD or social anxiety. The problem is that when my friends who suffer from anxiety walk in a room they are scared that everyone will think less of them, and so they do everything in their power to make others like them. For me, when I walk in a room I do not care what anyone thinks of me, however I instantly create baseless conspiracies in my head. For example, when a professor is looking around the room to make eye contact with everyone during a lecture, this is where my mind will go: "He must be looking at me longer than the other students. He is doing this because he did not like my mid-term project, he blinked after looking at me, this means he is now going to call me out in front of my peers," however this is ridiculous because seconds later the professors will say "everyone passed this project with flying colors, you are all free to go." As you can see I create these false chain of events in my head, and in instances where the object of my paranoia does not give me reassurance like in this example, I will drive myself insane believing a conspiracy and I will no longer trust any reassurance from them because I implement it into the delusion by thinking "oh this is just a tactic to make me believe him." The problem I, and others around me, have with my diagnose is that I could not care less about what others think of me, I just drive myself crazy trying to psycho-analyze everyone's expression and words, assuming that they are out to get me, and it has been like this all my life with everyone I know. Do you think this behavior indicative of anxiety disorder, or am I just a little paranoid?
Hi !! i'm studying Psychology and also have been diagnosed with both generalised anxiety disorder & panic disorder, and borderline personality disorder which involves paranoia and psychotic symptoms, so i have both. I think it's also important when we look at anxiety to understand anxious attachment, because feeling inferior and being focused on how you're being perceived also involves psycho analysing those around you as a defence strategy, and when you place importance on people (like those in a position of authority or in interpersonal relationships like romantic and platonic relationships) confirmation bias can be quite common i.e looking out for signs that they will fulfill your anxious prophecy, which can have a lot to do with your past traumas and triggers of your anxiety, like academic anxiety or just generally feeling rejected by those around you. Psycho analysing is a defence strategy learned early on when you're in an unstable environment and you can't trust those you love or respect to meet your needs and be consistent, and i think this causes confusion for a lot of people when determining whether they have paranoia or anxiety. It's also not uncommon to not be so focused on how people are perceiving you because you have felt so isolated or alienated emotionally that you start to disassociate yourself or isolate yourself, but you try to over analyse people and gain control by trying to understand every little intention in a situation. This is different for everyone, and with bpd my experience isn't consistent because i will have periods of dissociation and paranoia, with more consistent anxiety, but i notice when i am paranoid that i start to see things that aren't there, not always hallucinations but more so a disconnect in interactions (reading text messages differently and skipping words, so thinking that i'm being told something completely different) whereas with anxiety it's more so confirmation bias and trying to read the underlying message; with paranoia the secret message of ill intent is being communicated to me up front (i.e someone says i don't like this music and me being convinced they've told me they don't like me, thinking that their eyes are sending me messages and i am less able to challenge these thoughts as i believe them as fact) whereas with anxiety it's a constant back and forth in my brain of "did they mean this, no they meant this but why don't i ask them this to see how they respond" and collecting data, but i am still aware of reality and the messages are more subtle. Another key difference is that even though i will jump to conclusions (this is also just part of my bpd) with my anxious tendencies and fear of abandonment, like their tone is off so they must hate me, there is a clear chain of reasoning that is based in reality even though my interpretation is way off, whereas with my paranoia i am still convinced i am based in reality but I will jump two steps ahead by filling in the blanks of my reasoning with something entirely made up in my head (thinking that they looked at me when they didn't; creating messages with their eyes; seeing patterns and the situation is expanded to things outside of their situation, like seeing signs in my day to day life that are out of their control but i interpret as confirmation (like a certain song comes on)). The best way to tell the difference is ultimately in hindsight, because when i am more able to function and the symptoms have subsided i can then analyse how effective my chain of reasoning was. if i was challenging myself more and over psycho analysing them on signs more based in reality, like analysing everything they said and building a mental mind map of a situation (albeit a harmless situation) it's more likely social anxiety, whereas if i was seeing signs and connecting dots that were outside of the situation but i connected it, if my paranoia was extended to my day to day and i was able to draw connections with completely different people and different situations (like it starts with me thinking someone hates me, then they said something that confirmed that they didn't like me, then i see messages from my mother's eyes and determine that she is also involved in the plot, then i get signs from the universe, then other people are conspiring, and then i am no longer challenging these thoughts and i determine them as fact, i go past the point of psycho analysing it and jump to what i plan to do about it and how i should respond to this situation as objective) then it is more likely paranoia. I am able to recognise paranoia more when it's happening not from just analysing the situation or "outthinking the thoughts", but by seeing other symptoms in myself such as more black and white thinking, feeling scrambled or a deep sense of dread rather than just anxiety jitters, and noticing how my communication skills and language starts to deteriorate. i am lucky that this only lasts a few hours with my bpd, as i believe it would be more debilitating if it was long term paranoia, but when i see these symptoms in myself I decide that although i do believe the situation for what it is, i deserve to take my anti psychotics and to take a break so that i can be more functional and make a clear judgement when i have slept and relaxed. when i am on my meds i still believe the situation for what it is (when i am paranoid) but I start to care less and it feels less urgent, and by the next day or within a few hours i am functional and able to think more rationally. it's important to note that this is different for everyone, and i know in my case that paranoia can often start with anxiety and build into something more, and if anything i think i am only able to tell the difference between the two because i have experienced both: it is something that cannot really be fully described, and i feel like a very different person when i am paranoid vs when i am anxious even though they can be equally debilitating in the moment. My advice would be to talk to your psychiatrist or psychologist about it and instead of focusing on labels, understand how these schemas develop for you personally, and start to form safety nets or ways of managing in the moment. medication is also a very effective short term safety net in moments of crisis, but real long term progress and management can be formed effectively with therapy even if you believe this is "just the way you are". Whatever the label is, your pain is completely valid and real, and although it can sometimes feel like an anxiety label doesn't properly represent the severity of your symptoms because "everyone gets anxiety", understand that diagnoses and labels really just are guidelines and correlations made for treatment :)
