Paranoid ideation: how to deal with mistrust

A psychological phenomenon associated with distrust and the idea that we have everyone against us.

Almost all of us have encountered people who tend to distrust others, who attribute bad intentions to comments or actions of others and in general, suspect that behind the setbacks they suffer there are "black hands" conjured up to make them fail.

Being protagonists and victims of persecutions, injustices or misfortunes plotted by others.... This type of beliefs form what is known as paranoid ideation, quite widespread among human beings.This type of belief forms what is known as paranoid ideation, quite widespread among human beings. It is not for less, because it is a defense mechanism that can even be adaptive in certain situations. However, it becomes a problem when this style of thinking moves to more severe manifestations, with a distortion of reality sufficient to cause great psychological distress or disorder (moving from paranoid ideation to delusional thinking).

What is paranoid ideation?

It is important not to confuse the paranoid ideation with the paranoid disorder of the personality; not only by the different intensity of the symptoms, because in addition it is not the only pathological picture where these mental ruminations appear: it can be found in schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder (BPD) or schizotypal disorder.. It is also common that substance use favors the appearance of paranoid ideation.

Some of the main factors that influence the development of paranoid attitudes would be high social anxiety and insecure attachment style (Martin, 2001), distant and avoidant attachment parent figures, or with excessive external criticism (Carvalho, 2018), a social mentality based on threat (Macbeth, 2008), among others, and its incidence is more pronounced in older population (Chaudhary and Rabheru, 2009). All these cases are relatively common, so it is easy to deal in our daily lives with relatives, friends, acquaintances or coworkers (one of the most common places to develop it, by the way) with varying degrees of paranoid ideation.

What to do.

Whether we are dealing with a profile prone to suspicion or people with conspiracy beliefs (there is a relationship between paranoia and belief in conspiracy theories (Darwin, 2011)), it is not easy to approach someone with paranoid ideation, as they will obviously tend to distrust us (Darwin, 2011). will tend to distrust us.

The temptation to argue or disprove the belief, or to enter into an exchange of defensive behaviors and end up both angry is very high, so it is especially important to know how to act in a relationship with someone with paranoid traits.

1. Do not invalidate the perception of the person

However absurd their beliefs may seem to us, they are always built on some perceived real fact that is central to them. When we openly reject someone's inner experience, we generate hostility ("but man, Paco, how can you be afraid of that tiny spider?", or any other disqualification of emotions or feelings that you can think of), and therefore the other person will become defensive.

We must be very aware that it is not simply a matter of "going along with them", but to better understand what cognitive process and what real situation has led them to these disproportionate conclusions in order to be able to have a productive conversation on an emotional and social level.

2. Search together for other explanations

If we have followed the first point, we will be in a position to come up with alternative explanations or arguments that are more realistic and plausible for someone with paranoid ideation.

Here we will have to overcome the tendency to jump to conclusions (Jumping to conclusions or JTC) before gathering sufficient information or evidence.

Freeman found that people with paranoid ideation are more than twice as likely to jump to conclusions than others (Freeman, 2008). This does not mean that they are not able to redecide or modify their conclusions in the face of more evidence, but that it is more complicated for them to do so.

In any case, subclinical paranoid ideation is not an intellectual handicap.They can reason as well as anyone else; they just prefer conspiratorial explanations.

3. Do not enter into competitions to be right.

This point, which is valid for the communicative exchange with anyone, is more important in these specific cases. It is tempting to argue with someone who claims that he is being followed by the police, but we are not going to achieve much by confronting it with our counter-arguments.In the end, it is a competition of wills and we will find that we have no evidence other than our own belief that what we believe is true.

From this position, it is very difficult to convince someone who is also capable of fabricating very "solid" explanations. It is essential to abandon the struggle for reasonwhich can only generate more distrust.

4. Avoid being condescending

A paranoid delusion does not imply any kind of cognitive disabilityThe person may be as intelligent or more intelligent than we are, even if he/she believes that aliens built the pyramids and live incognito among humans. In fact, one can be convinced of this and lead a normal, adapted and happy life. Scorn or condescension as if he or she has a brain injury will only deepen the alienation and mutual misunderstanding.

5. Validate the emotions that underlie the beliefs.

Paranoid ideation is based on a central limiting belief: that others are a potential threat, and you cannot trust them.and you cannot trust even those closest to you. Hence the favorite emotion of people with this problem is fear, from which they actively defend themselves, so outside observers see agitation, anger and confrontation, and it is easy to overlook the emotional background of the issue or mistake it for rage.

On the other side of the coin, individuals with paranoid ideas often do not realize that this defense generates rejection in others... who by distancing themselves from them confirm their suspicions. Understand that it is fear that triggers their responses, and not that they dislike us, in order to act with assertiveness, understanding and compassion. Like everyone else, they need the contact and warmth of other human beings, despite the fear that this contact produces in them.