Paranoia?

[elizabeep]

i get these thoughts that just wont calm down. like if i get a scam call, my brain says "what if its real" despite logically knowing its not.

or if im in the shower, home alone, and i hear noises. my brain compels me to get out and check. double checking my purse even though i know i have everything.

i believe its paranoia i struggle with, but for some reason its hard to find good information about it. maybe its just irrational fears of everyday things?

when it gets bad, my brain tells me my online friends arent who they appear to be, or all are the same person. and im constantly trying to be one step ahead of the information i share in case its used against me.

but it confuses me because the things dont relate to my traumatic experiences. does anyone else have experiences like this?

 

[arfie]

gentle empathy, eliza. yes, i experience this and it is a toughie. in my own case, i treat paranoia like part of my hypervigilance. proof available that hypervigilance comes with all-natural, automated hormone shots which are both potent and highly addictive. when i am in hypervigilance mode, i have the intelligence of a raging meth head. there is no value in appealing to my logical senses because i have no functional access to my logic centers.

the symptom still plagues me, i have found ways to manage it by treating the hypervigilance, itself, like an addiction. my first step is to get those hormones out of my system. i do this through a detox diet and intense physical exercise. "intense" means something different here at 69 years than it meant at 40 when i first adopted this approach. the operative principle is that exercise helps purge those hormones. i work to mindfully disregard the "urgent" messages of paranoia and work to focus on the physical symptoms. in my own case, the physical symptoms are ragged breathing, sleep, appetite, etc.

once i have regained my physical balance, i then set to work on the mental health aspect of the phenom.

but that is me and every case is unique.

more empathy and steadying support while you sort your own case.

 

[elizabeep]

i have found ways to manage it by treating the hypervigilance, itself, like an addiction.

thats an interesting way to think about it, it totally has some correlations. ive always thought about it as just a part of the way i am, but its helpful to think of it as the brain misfiring hormones.

 

[Friday]

i believe its paranoia i struggle with, but for some reason its hard to find good information about it. maybe its just irrational fears of everyday things?

I have to draw some hard lines between a few different things; as they all have different “best” methods of sourcing/sorting.

Precautions & Paranoia
Rumination &/or overthinking &/or future tripping & Paranoia
Annoyance & Paranoia

- If I’m putting on my seatbelt? It’s not paranoia. It’s a precaution. EVEN IF I’m paranoid about being hit/run off the road/etc.

- If I’m chasing down all the “what if?!?” that’s rumination &/or overthinking &/or future tripping

- If I’m pissed off about what’s ACTUALLY happening, instead of afraid of what MIGHT happen? I’m annoyed, not paranoid.

Paranoia? Is. A. Mother. f*cker. As it’s sooooo not based in reality. But hits as hard as if it is.

 

[Midnightmoon]

Yes, very much yes. Like Arfie I think for me it stems from hypervigilance, which leaks out into paranoia, which then manifests itself as a compulsion to 'just check'. This makes it better in the short term but doesn't exactly change anything in the long run, just reinforces it.

I don't think it helps that when PTSD is on board the paranoia is usually, somehow, linked into our experience of trying to survive, which screws my brain even more. Like the other day I found myself double checking doors at 3am because paranoia said I'd not locked them. Scratch the surface and you realise that my history of needing to be alert to danger at all times, being physically locked in to bad situations as a child and my need to have an escape strategy planned all lead into that initial intrusive thought process. Brain hasn't caught up that it's ok. So it'll keep being so alert to any threat 'just in case'. Any sniff of an issue paranoia will jump in on the party and before you know it you're mind is working overtime on bizzare theories.

confuses me because the things dont relate to my traumatic experiences. does anyone else have experiences like this?

I wonder if they do, in some way, because they sound like they're all grounded into safety and security... maybe just not obvious links?

 

[Freddyt]

Rumination &/or overthinking &/or future tripping & Paranoia

This is usually most of my problems. Realizing you are doing it is the start to controlling it, or rejecting thoughts because they come from it.
I find much of my rumination is also paranoia. The "what ifs".

Learning to think about "what is" is part of fixing it. Is ti true or is it something imagined?

Your mind can not tell the difference between whats real and whats imagined. So you need to work it our for yourself and tell yourself, I just got out of the shower to check on stuff I imagined. It seems silly but you have to tell yourself "I imagined that" or "that is not real". Out loud is best. It's real and you can hear yourself say the words.

Lastly, controlling your anxiety/stress and learning to manage it, is to me at the base of working on PTSD stuff. Reducing that stuff helps everything. Start with this and talk to your T about strategies that work for you..

The ptsd cup explanation

Nearly a decade ago (2006) I wrote The PTSD Cup Explanation, a simple view of how PTSD causes symptoms in day-to-day life. This article is an update to that original piece. Regardless of the type of trauma endured, the PTSD Cup does not change, deviate or apply differently to your circumstance...

www.myptsd.com