Paranoia

Paranoia is a disturbed thought process characterized by excessive anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs concerning a perceived threat. In the original Greek, (paranoia) simply means madness (para = outside; nous = mind) and, historically, this characterization was used to describe any delusional state. Sometimes in common usage, the term paranoia is misused to describe a phobia. For example, a person may not want to fly out of fear the plane may crash. This does not in itself indicate paranoia, but rather a phobia. The lack of blame in this case usually points to the latter. An example of paranoia, however, would be fear that the pilot is an alcoholic with no evidence to suggest such, and would crash the plane as a result of this.

Use in psychiatry
More recently[1], the clinical use of the term has been used to describe delusions where the affected person believes he is being persecuted. Specifically, they have been defined as containing two central elements: 1. The individual thinks that harm is occurring, or is going to occur, to him or her.

2. The individual thinks that the persecutor has the intention to cause harm. Paranoia is often associated with psychotic illnesses, sometimes schizophrenia, although attenuated features may be present in other primarily non-psychotic diagnoses, such as paranoid personality disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. Paranoia can also be a side effect of medication or recreational drugs such as marijuana and particularly stimulants such as methamphetamine and crack cocaine. In the unrestricted use of the term, common paranoid delusions can include the belief that the person is being followed, poisoned or loved at a distance (often by a media figure or important person, a delusion known as erotomania or de Clerambault syndrome). Other common paranoid delusions include the belief that the person has an imaginary disease or parasitic infection (delusional parasitosis); that the person is on a special quest or has been chosen by God; that the person has had thoughts inserted or removed from conscious thought; or that the person's actions are being controlled by an external force. Therefore, in common usage, the term paranoid addresses a range of mental conditions, assumed by the use of the term to be of psychiatric origin, in which the subject is seen to generalise or project fears and anxieties onto the external world, particularly in the form of organised behaviour focused on them. The syndrome is applied equally to powerful people like executives obsessed with takeover bids or political leaders convinced of plots against them, and to common people who believe for instance that shadowy agencies are operating against them.

History
The term paranoia was used to describe a mental illness in which a delusional belief is the sole or most prominent feature. In his original attempt at classifying different forms of mental illness, Kraepelin used the term pure paranoia to describe a condition where a delusion was present, but without any apparent deterioration in intellectual abilities and without any of the other features of dementia praecox, the condition later renamed schizophrenia. Notably, in his definition, the belief does not have to be persecutory to be classified as paranoid, so any number of delusional beliefs can be classified as paranoia. For example, a person who has the sole delusional belief that he is an important religious figure would be classified by Kraepelin as having 'pure paranoia'.

Delusional disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis denoting a psychotic mental illness that involves holding one or more non-bizarre delusions in the absence of any other significant psychopathology (signs or symptoms of mental illness). In particular, a person with delusional disorder has never met any other criteria for schizophrenia and does not have any marked hallucinations, although tactile (touch) or olfactory (smell) hallucinations may be present if they are related to the theme of the delusion. A person with delusional disorder can be quite functional and does not tend to show any odd or bizarre behavior aside from these delusions. "Despite the encapsulation of

the delusional system and the relative sparing of the personality, the patient's way of life is likely to become more and more overwhelmed by the dominating effect of the abnormal beliefs". (Munro, 1999) The term paranoia was previously used in psychiatry to denote what is now called 'delusional disorder'. The modern psychiatric use of the word paranoia is subtly different but now rarely refers to this specific diagnosis

Indicators of a Paranoia 1. The patient expresses an idea or belief with unusual persistence or force. 2. That idea appears to exert an undue influence on his or her life, and the way of life is often altered to an inexplicable extent. 3. Despite his/her profound conviction, there is often a quality of secretiveness or suspicion when the patient is questioned about it. 4. The individual tends to be humorless and oversensitive, especially about the belief. 5. There is a quality of centrality: no matter how unlikely it is that these strange things are happening to him, the patient accepts them relatively unquestioningly. 6. An attempt to contradict the belief is likely to arouse an inappropriately strong emotional reaction, often with irritability and hostility.

7. The belief is, at the least, unlikely. 8. The patient is emotionally over-invested in the idea and it overwhelms other elements of his psyche. 9. The delusion, if acted out, often leads to behaviors which are abnormal and/or out of character, although perhaps understandable in the light of the delusional beliefs. 10. Individuals who know the patient will observe that his belief and behavior are uncharacteristic and alien.

Features 1. It is a primary disorder. 2. It is a stable disorder characterized by the presence of delusions to which the patient clings with extraordinary tenacity. 3. The illness is chronic and frequently lifelong. 4. The delusions are logically constructed and internally consistent. 5. The delusions do not interfere with general logical reasoning (although within the delusional system the logic is perverted) and there is usually no general disturbance of behavior. If disturbed behavior does occur, it is directly related to the delusional beliefs. 6. The individual experiences a heightened sense of selfreference. Events which, to others, are nonsignificant are of enormous significance to him or her, and the

atmosphere surrounding the delusions is highly charged.

Reasons
The mind-body problem The mind-body problem concerns the explanation of the relationship that exists between minds, or mental processes, and bodily states or processes.[2] The main aim of philosophers working in this area is to determine the nature of the mind and mental states/processes, and how--or even if--minds are affected by and can affect the body. Our perceptual experiences depend on stimuli which arrive at our various sensory organs from the external world and these stimuli cause changes in our mental states, ultimately causing us to feel a sensation, which may be pleasant or unpleasant. Someone's desire for a slice of pizza, for example, will tend to cause that person to move their body in a specific manner and in a specific direction to obtain what they want. The question, then, is how it can be possible for conscious experiences to arise out of a lump of gray matter endowed with nothing but electrochemical properties.[11] A related problem is to explain how someone's propositional attitudes (e.g. beliefs and desires) can cause that individual's neurons to fire and his muscles to contract in exactly the correct manner. These comprise some of the puzzles that have confronted epistemologists

and philosophers of mind from at least the time of Ren Descartes.[8]

Modern Version
Schizophrenia Schizophrenia (pronounced /sktsfrini/), from the Greek roots schizein (, "to split") and phrn, phren(, -, "mind") is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality. It most commonly manifests as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions or disorganized speech and thinking in the context of significant social or occupational dysfunction. Onset of symptoms typically occurs in young adulthood,[1] with approximately 0.40.6%[2][3] of the population affected. Diagnosis is based on the patient's self-reported experiences and observed behavior. No laboratory test for schizophrenia currently exists.[4] Studies suggest that genetics, early environment, neurobiology and psychological and social processes are important contributory factors. Current psychiatric research is focused on the role of neurobiology, but no single organic cause has been found. Due to the many possible combinations of symptoms, there is debate about whether the diagnosis represents a single disorder or a number of discrete syndromes. For this reason, Eugen Bleuler termed the disease the schizophrenias (plural) when he coined the name. Despite its etymology, schizophrenia is not

synonymous with dissociative identity disorder, previously known as multiple personality disorder or split personality; in popular culture the two are often confused. Increased dopaminergic activity in the mesolimbic pathway of the brain is consistently found in schizophrenic individuals. The mainstay of treatment is pharmacotherapy with antipsychotic medications; these primarily work by suppressing dopamine activity. Dosages of antipsychotics are generally lower than in the early decades of their use. Psychotherapy, vocational and social rehabilitation are also important. In more serious caseswhere there is risk to self and othersinvoluntary hospitalization may be necessary, though hospital stays are less frequent and for shorter periods than they were in previous years.[5] The disorder is primarily thought to affect cognition, but it also usually contributes to chronic problems with behavior and emotion. People diagnosed with schizophrenia are likely to be diagnosed with comorbid conditions, including clinical depression and anxiety disorders;[6] the lifetime prevalence of substance abuse is typically around 40%. Social problems, such as long-term unemployment, poverty and homelessness, are common and life expectancy is decreased; the average life expectancy of people with the disorder is 10 to 12 years less than those without, owing to increased physical health problems and a high suicide rate.
[7]

Cures

Crack cocaine Crack cocaine is a solid, smokable form of cocaine. It is a freebase form of cocaine that can be made using baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) or sodium hydroxide,[1] in a process to convert cocaine hydrochloride (powder cocaine) into methylbenzoylecgonine (freebase cocaine). Methamphetamine methylamphetamine or desoxyephedrine) is a psychostimulant and sympathomimetic drug. The dextrorotatory (S-isomer) dextromethamphetamine can be prescribed to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, though unmethylated amphetamine is more commonly prescribed. Narcolepsy and obesity can also be treated by the aforementioned isomer under the brand name Desoxyn. It is considered a second line of treatment, used when amphetamine and methylphenidate cause the patient too many side effects. It is only recommended for short term use (~6 weeks) in obesity patients because it is thought that the anorectic effects of the drug are short lived and produce tolerance quickly, whereas the effects on CNS stimulation are much less susceptible to tolerance. It is also used illegally for weight loss and to maintain alertness, focus, motivation, and mental clarity for extended periods of time, and for recreational purposes. Methamphetamine enters the brain and triggers a cascading release of norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin. To a lesser extent methamphetamine acts as a dopaminergic and

adrenergic reuptake inhibitor and in high concentrations as a monamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI). Since it stimulates the mesolimbic reward pathway, causing euphoria and excitement, it is prone to abuse and addiction. Users may become obsessed or perform repetitive tasks such as cleaning, hand-washing, or assembling and disassembling objects. Withdrawal is characterized by excessive sleeping, eating, and depression-like symptoms, often accompanied by anxiety and drug-craving.[2] Users of methamphetamine sometimes take sedatives such as benzodiazepines as a means of easing their "come down". Common nicknames for methamphetamine include "meth", "jib", "ice", "crystal", "tina", "p", and "glass". Methamphetamine is sometimes referred to as "speed", but this term is usually used for regular amphetamine or dextroamphetamine. Emotional support Apart from drugal support, the person has to be supported emotionally. The family and friends of the concerned person must act patiently as it is a long term approach.