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As the name implies, the main component of Paranoid Personality Disorder, is feelings
of being discriminated against or oppressed on the part of the individual with the disorder.
It's often thought about in the same arena as other disorders that involve paranoid thinking
but the main difference is, is that in other illnesses, such as schizophrenia, or other
illnesses where people can have delusions or were to call paranoid delusions, individuals
with Paranoid Personality Disorder do not have a departure from reality. They're not
inventing schemes and plots against them, but rather, they tend to view all of genuine
interactions with other people through a lens of being concerned that they're being taken
advantage of and they're always assuming the worst and assuming bad intentions among people
that they interact with to the point where they'll often look for evidence that people
are trying to demean them or undermine them. They can respond to reality testing, but they'll
often feel oppressed even if people make an effort to reassure them. In terms of treatment,
the best treatment for any personality disorder is psychotherapy. A good relationship with
a therapist that can build some trust to help an individual look at situations in a different
way to try to reduce the amount that they believe that other are out trying to get them.
While medications do help paranoid symptoms and other illnesses, it's not believed that
medications can be helpful for individuals who have Paranoid Personality Disorder. So,
it's very important to differentiate between psychotic illnesses with delusions and Paranoid
Personality Disorder because you don't want to expose someone with Paranoid Personality
Disorder to the potential side effects and risks associated with anti psychotic medication.
But, basically, it's for individuals who have a pervasive sense of worry and concern that
other people are out to get them but their reality testing is in tact.