It sounds facile and insulting to reply with the predictable canard "just because you're paranoid..." etc. But I've found, when I descend into paranoia, that it is productive to list all possible threats, and list all countervailing sources of support.
Sometimes I don't get very far with the 'sources of support' bit. Paranoia's like that - distorted perceptions - but there have been times in life when the perception's been an accurate reflection of reality.
Some of the threats and emnities are real; some are potential, if mostly improbable; a few are nonsensical and can be disregarded. All are reduced in scale and in their 'fear factor' when examined coldly on a piece of paper with the heading: "What would I do if..."
Occasionally, the exercise has exposed a weakness: a tendency to fall prey to a pervasive but non-specific sense of dread and mistrustfulness, when a rational examination reveals some real and immediate cause for concern that I've been refusing to acknowledge and confront.
Even paranoids have enemies; friends, too, and even facile comments can occasionally reveal a useful way of dealing with the problem - whether the problem's paranoia, or objectively a problem that demands some concrete action or precaution.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-02-28 02:21 am (UTC)It sounds facile and insulting to reply with the predictable canard "just because you're paranoid..." etc. But I've found, when I descend into paranoia, that it is productive to list all possible threats, and list all countervailing sources of support.
Sometimes I don't get very far with the 'sources of support' bit. Paranoia's like that - distorted perceptions - but there have been times in life when the perception's been an accurate reflection of reality.
Some of the threats and emnities are real; some are potential, if mostly improbable; a few are nonsensical and can be disregarded. All are reduced in scale and in their 'fear factor' when examined coldly on a piece of paper with the heading: "What would I do if..."
Occasionally, the exercise has exposed a weakness: a tendency to fall prey to a pervasive but non-specific sense of dread and mistrustfulness, when a rational examination reveals some real and immediate cause for concern that I've been refusing to acknowledge and confront.
Even paranoids have enemies; friends, too, and even facile comments can occasionally reveal a useful way of dealing with the problem - whether the problem's paranoia, or objectively a problem that demands some concrete action or precaution.