Explore our pages to learn more about paranoia, including how to get help and take care of yourself. And tips for helping someone else who’s experiencing paranoia.
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Paranoia is when you feel like you’re being deliberately harmed in some way, but there’s no evidence, or very little evidence, that you are.
We all experience suspicious thoughts about how others may harm us. But these thoughts are more likely to be paranoid if:
What are some examples of paranoia?
Everyone will have a different experience of paranoia. But these are some examples of common paranoid thoughts. You might think that:
You might have these thoughts very strongly all the time. Or you might have them sometimes, such as when you’re in a stressful situation.
They might cause you a lot of distress or you might not really mind them too much. If these thoughts are affecting your everyday life, you may be experiencing a mental health problem.
See our information on treatment and support for paranoia if you’d like to get support.
Not all suspicious thoughts are paranoid. We all have good reason to be suspicious sometimes.
Justified suspicions are suspicions that you have evidence for. And they can help to keep you safe. For example, if lots of people have been mugged in your area, it’s not paranoid to think that you might be mugged too. You might then be more aware of your surroundings when going out.
The evidence for your suspicions might be personal to you. But it can also come from a history of discrimination and prejudice. For example, if you’re a young black man and you know that the police target more young black men for stop and search. In this case, it’s not paranoid to worry that you might be stopped and searched yourself.
It can sometimes be difficult to know whether your thoughts are paranoid or if they’re justified suspicions. This is especially if someone else tells you that your thoughts are paranoid when you don’t think they are.
Our information on self-care for paranoia has tips to help you understand and make sense of your thoughts.
No one knows exactly what causes paranoia. It’s likely to be a combination of different things, such as:
Paranoia is not a mental health problem itself. But it can be a symptom of other mental health problems.
Lots of people have paranoid feelings at some point in their lives. But if paranoia starts to affect your everyday life, this may be a sign that you’re experiencing a mental health problem and need support.
Paranoia can be a symptom of psychosis. This can be part of a few mental health problems, including:
If you experience psychosis, you may experience paranoid delusions, which can be very frightening. They often relate to a feeling that someone wants to harm you.
Paranoia can also be a symptom of some personality disorders, particularly in moments of extreme stress.
And there are similarities between paranoia and anxiety. Anxiety can cause paranoia. Or it can lead to an increase in paranoid thoughts. Paranoid thoughts can also make you feel anxious. But there are differences between anxiety and paranoia. For example:
You might do or feel certain things because of your paranoid thoughts. These things might feel helpful at the time. but in the long term they could make your paranoia worse:
These are some things you might do because of your paranoid thoughts:
Safety behaviours are things you might do because of your paranoid thoughts, to make yourself feel safer. For example, you might avoid certain people or places, or stay indoors a lot. These are also called safety-seeking behaviours.
Safety behaviours could make you feel safer at first. This might make you do them even more. But this cycle can mean it’s more difficult to try different ways of coping with scary situations. Or to test your beliefs and see if they are justified or not.
If you think someone is threatening you or wants to harm you in some way, you may not be able to trust them. You might push them away, distance yourself, or decide that you’re better off without them.
But this can make people treat you differently. They might try to avoid you. This could make it feel that your beliefs are justified.
Experiencing paranoia may make you feel:
You might feel as if no one understands your thoughts. It can be hard if other people don’t believe things that feel very real to you.
You may find it difficult to make or keep friendships. This may feel even harder if your thoughts mean you avoid people and stay indoors a lot.
People who experience paranoia might keep worrying or feeling anxious about the same thing. The more this cycle continues, the more vulnerable you are to paranoid thoughts.
For example, you might have persistent thoughts and memories about someone hurting you in the past. And you may use this as evidence for feeling paranoid about someone hurting you in the future.
If you’re experiencing paranoid thoughts, there are things you can do to help yourself cope. You may choose to try them on their own, or alongside treatment.
You may find these tips helpful at some times and not others. If you’ve tried something and it hasn’t helped, try not to blame yourself.
It might help to keep a diary of your thoughts and how you’re feeling. You could record:
You could do this in a notebook or use an app or online tool. It might help to give the thoughts a number from 1 to 10 to show how strongly you believe them and how distressing you find them.
This may help you:
Understanding what triggers your paranoid thoughts could help you find ways to prevent them. Or think of ways to cope if they do happen again.
Challenging your thoughts could help you figure out whether they’re paranoid or justified. These are some questions you could ask yourself:
You may find that you avoid certain places, people or situations because of your paranoia. To help with this, you could look for situations to test out these fears. This might feel scary at first. But you can start small and build up gradually.
For example, if you have paranoid thoughts that your home is going to be burgled. At first, you could try stepping outside of your home for a couple of minutes. Once you’re comfortable with this, you could try going to the end of your road and back again. And do this until you feel ready to leave your home for a longer period. You could make a note of how long you spend outside of your home each time, to track your progress.
This way of gradually testing your paranoid thoughts can help to explore whether your thoughts are justified.
You may find that talking about your thoughts with someone can reduce stress and help you to question and challenge paranoid thoughts. If you’re not ready to talk yet, just spending time with other people may help you to feel less isolated. You could share this information with them, so they can support you.
This may be difficult as paranoid thoughts can often lead to distrust of other people. If you don’t have someone you feel you can trust, Samaritans are there for anyone in distress 24 hours a day.
Peer support brings together people who have had similar experiences. Some people find this helpful to support their mental health.
If you want to find peer support that works for you:
Research shows that not getting enough sleep can make paranoid thoughts worse. But experiencing paranoia can make it difficult to sleep. This is especially if you hear voices or see things that you find frightening or disturbing.
If you’re struggling with your sleep, our tips on how to improve your sleep may help.
Mindfulness works by taking your focus to the present moment and away from other thoughts. Practising mindfulness or relaxation techniques may help reduce paranoid thoughts.
If your paranoid thoughts are causing you distress, you may want to seek support and treatment.
The first step to getting help is usually to visit your GP. This information on seeking help for a mental health problem has tips for speaking to your doctor about your mental health.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a type of talking therapy. It’s the most common form of talking therapy for paranoia.
During CBT, you’ll examine how you think and the evidence for your beliefs. And look for different ways to interpret your thoughts and beliefs. CBT can also help to reduce worry and anxiety. This could help to reduce feelings of paranoia.
Facing your paranoid thoughts in this way might be uncomfortable at first. But your therapist should offer you a lot of support and take things at a pace that you can manage.
Paranoid thoughts might make it difficult to trust your therapist or talk about how you feel. This can sometimes make therapy more difficult.
If you think therapy can help, try to find a therapist who you feel comfortable talking to. This information on finding therapy may help.
Arts and creative therapies use arts-based activities to help you express your feelings, in a therapeutic environment. It could help you explore your paranoid thoughts in a different way. And to look at alternative perspectives.
These types of therapy can also help if you find it difficult to talk about your experiences.
There is no medication that treats paranoia on its own.
If you’re diagnosed with schizophrenia or experience paranoid delusions, doctors may offer you an antipsychotic drug to help with your symptoms. Antipsychotics may reduce paranoid thoughts or make you feel less threatened by them.
Some of us may be diagnosed with a mental health problem or experience that includes having paranoid thoughts. In this case, your treatment and support may include help for these thoughts.
Here is more information on treatment for:
If someone you care about is experiencing paranoid thoughts, it can be difficult to know how to help. You might feel unsure of how to react, particularly if you don’t agree with their beliefs.
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You might not think their beliefs are justified. But their paranoid thoughts may have developed from anxiety about a real situation or past experiences.
Try to explore or think about whether there’s a basis for their thoughts. This can help both of you understand how the thoughts have developed.
Their thoughts and feelings are very real to them. So try to understand how they feel, even if you don’t agree that they’re under threat.
It’s possible to recognise their emotions without agreeing with why they feel that way. For example, you could say something like ‘Things sound really scary for you at the moment’.
People experiencing paranoid thoughts may lack trust in others. Their actions may start to push away people in their lives, even if they don’t mean to. For example, they may avoid social situations where you might see them. This can be really difficult, and it may leave you feeling upset and hurt.
Try to remember that they’re dealing with difficult moods, emotions and experiences. You can let them know you’ll be there for them when they need you.
You can’t force anyone to get help if they don’t want it. But you can reassure them that it’s ok to ask for help, and that help is available. See these pages on supporting someone else to seek help for more information.
Don’t try and take over or make decisions without them. Try to respect their wishes, even if you feel that you know what’s best.
They might struggle to talk about their experiences, or feel like they can’t open up. This means they may become very unwell before you realise they need help.
If you’re worried about them having a mental health crisis, you could suggest that they use their crisis plan, if they have one. Our information on crisis services explains more about how to get help for a crisis.
Seeing someone you care about experiencing paranoia can be distressing or even frightening. You may feel as if you have no time for yourself, but looking after your own wellbeing is important for you and for them.
There are lots of ways to find support, for example through talking therapy or peer support. This may be available at a local Mind or a carers’ group, such as Carers UK.
See these pages on looking after yourself when supporting someone else for more tips.
Our friendly team at the Portsmouth Mental Health Hub are here to help.
Enter your details and someone will call you back between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday.
If you or someone you know needs urgent mental health help, please call 111 – the NHS non-emergency number. It’s available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and is free from any phone. They have specialist mental health nurses who can support adults and young people.
In a life-threatening emergency, always call 999.