Psychology of Paranoia

[Icewalker]

I am looking for some information about the psychology of fear, and of paranoia in particular. Good research and information, preferably, but discussion is probably one of the best things for this too. Things in particular like what is so terrifying about the slender man and things of that sort.

[Ricky S]

You should start by going to your local library and borrowing as many books on psychology as you can. If you are a uni student then the uni libraries are even better and will provide you with even more information. There will also be a wealth of journal articles written about the stuff.

Generally though people are scared by what they cant fight and what they cant see. That is why the best horror movies are always the ones where you dont know what is happening. The moment the monster or whatever is revealed the tension of wanting to know what it is, is removed. People fear things like slenderman because they cannot fight it because it is supernatural. They can't run away from it either. Also things like this attack you when you are at your most vulnerable. Ie when you are alone in a dark place. I can guarantee you that you wouldnt feel as scared if you had someone to rationally talk things over with.

For example my friend is really scared whenever we are in dark places ie aleyways, parks at night, because he is afraid of supernatural things. I tell him that is stupid because we are more likely to get robbed than attacked by a ghost and then he calms down.

Paranoia generally forms when the person is anxious all the time or has done something which they feel they shouldnt have. Also remember that just because someone is paranoid doesnt mean there isnt someone out to get them. People also build things up in their head. So people get paranoid about silly things.

[onthetown]

For example my friend is really scared whenever we are in dark places ie aleyways, parks at night, because he is afraid of supernatural things. I tell him that is stupid because we are more likely to get robbed than attacked by a ghost and then he calms down.


Wow. Compassionate.

I live with paranoid schizophrenia every day, with my father actually being diagnosed and me having a lot of symptoms and well on my way to being diagnosed, so paranoia is just part of my life... And it's usually triggered by learning something. I'm terrified that I'm going to die in my sleep because one of my teachers, years ago, told us that carbon monoxide will kill you without warning; I've slept with my window open ever since then, in all weather, because I associate fresh air with not dying of CO poisoning. I took a medical course and learned about all sorts of ways I can die, so now I'm edgy about every little pain and ache; my friends usually calm me down by asking me to take a minor painkiller, like Tylenol, and if it still hurts in an hour then they'll take me seriously. People talking and happen to glance my way? They must be talking about me. I'll obsess over it for hours. Laughing? That's worse. Hey, that guy looked at me from across the street -- I wonder what he's planning. My friend didn't reply to my message right away -- I must have done something to bother her.

I can't control it (though medications help) -- and, conversely, it's about things that I can't control. I can't change what people are talking about from across the room, I can't force my friend to reply right away, and the only way I'll be able to stop myself from dying of CO poisoning is if I sit by the detector all night and watch the numbers.

However, if you give me back control? I calm down. Taking Tylenol and then seeing if I still have the pain means that I'm not just sitting around and obsessing over it; I'm actively seeing if it's something bad enough that can't be solved by painkillers. The CO detector gave me a lot of comfort when I bought it (though I still leave my window at least cracked open), and I like checking it right before bed to put my mind at ease. I can call my friend and talk to her on the phone so that I don't have to wait and worry about that one message.

Medications help, but they don't do everything. My anti-anxiety medication makes me pretty mellow, but it doesn't stop the obsessing paranoia completely -- I have to work at it myself. So I just find ways that I can take control of the situation, even just a little bit.

This is obviously a bit more extreme than just a minor fear of something, but I figured it might be helpful.

[Kastanok]

Oh, I love the Slender Man! Both as a concept and an example of excellent cloud-sourced storytelling. People wanted so hard to (pretend to?) believe it was real or at least not impossible.

I don't recall if I learned about paranoia during the Psych course I took (probably not, we didn't much time on aberrant psychology) but I would imagine that many if not most cases of paranoia are learned from experience. 'Better to be safe than sorry' kind of thinking.

And when paranoia is mentioned I just can't resist the Henry Kissinger quote: "Even a paranoid man can have enemies."

[Savannah]

Another thing with Slender Man, at least, is the fact that we tend to see faces where there are none. So if you see something that looks sorta like a face off in the trees and you know the Slender Man stories, it's easy to jump to the conclusion that he's watching you, at least for a second.

[Nefarion Xid]

To paraphrase what you'll get from the psych reading... think of things on a continuum from relaxation to anxiety to fear to panic. Fear is millions of years of evolution telling your body to shut up and pay attention because your survival is on the line. So, fear is rational. Panic is irrational; we'd normally define it as any abnormal (overblown) response to a fear provoking stimuli. Not reacting strongly enough would be called under-arousal. So, when it comes to being chased by a bear wielding a chainsaw, there's really no way to overreact. But, when it comes to things like spiders, snakes, darkness and what not, anxiety and fear are perfectly normal responses. Your sympathetic nervous system is getting fired up because you know that things could get dangerous and you need to take care of that.

Phobias are when you have a continued, predictable, abnormal fear response to anything one thing or situation.

Relaxation, is evolution telling you that "everything is groovy, chill out and digest some food!" Parasympathetic nervous system kicks in, peristalsis resumes, GABA gets passed around, everybody has a good time.

And Paranoia is what happens when your beliefs and reality aren't synching up. You take a normal stimuli that would normally be cause for a liiiittle bit of concern and crank the dial up to 11. It's actually normal to feel anxious when someone glances your way and then turns and laughs to their friends. Being mocked means social status is in jeopardy and so are your odds of survival... in the evolutionary sense. But the normal thing to do is to tell yourself they probably weren't laughing at you, because that's going to be the case the majority of the time. Paranoia would be when you manage to convince yourself that they were when that isn't the case.