Paranoia Levels Are On The Rise Worldwide

Paranoia is a mental disorder that makes people suffering from it believe that everyone else is out to get them. Patients suffer from hallucinations and they believe that those around them are always following or spying on them. Therefore, they create an alternate reality of sorts, in that they distance themselves from others. But paranoia can also take "lighter" forms, that normal people experience as well, such as irrational fears, of blue cars, the mailman and the likes.

 

Until recently, paranoia was only associated with schizophrenia, but now scientists are starting to believe that the condition could be far more widespread than anyone could have ever anticipated. "We are now starting to discover that madness is human and that we need to look at normal people to understand it," said Maastricht University psychiatry professor, Dr. Jim van Os, who is conducting his research from the Netherlands.

 

University of North Carolina (UNC) psychology professor David Penn adds "People walk around with odd thoughts all the time. The question is if that translates into real behavior. We are bombarded with information about our alert status and we're told to report suspicious-looking characters. That primes people to be more paranoid."

 

Scientific studies, aimed at figuring exactly what percentage of the population is experiencing paranoia came up with varied results throughout the world, ranging from 5 to 50 percent. The weird thing is that these results also came up when two studies were done on the same subjects. This means measuring the degree of paranoia in test subjects could cause them to become paranoid and modify their answers.

 

Psychologists also say that being paranoid is not a bad thing in most cases, seeing how people can experience imaginary friends or pleasant illusions, which can actually increase their overall quality of life. The catch is for them to figure out when what they are living is real and when not.

 

"In a world full of threat, it may be kind of beneficial for people to be on guard. It's good to be looking around and see who's following you and what's happening. Not everybody is trying to get you, but some people may be," concluded University of Texas at Tyler psychology assistant professor, Dennis Combs, who believes that a small degree of paranoia could actually help individuals live a better and safer life.