Does anyone else have problems with paranoia? I feel like everybody has something to hide, that they are lying, not who they say they are, etc...

What can I do about this?

I have huge paranoia! I plan to make a blog of all my paranoid thoughts, and try to make them hysterical.
My advice is not easy, but the people who are there for you will understand.
Paranoia is like rot, the longer you let it fester, the bigger and worse it gets, especially with other people.
To the people you know, if it's a paranoia you feel is oulandish, bring it up kind of in a joking manner. If it's someone close, just be honest and have a "hey, where are we at, or how are we doing" conversation, in which you can bring up your fears or paranoia, and have it dispelled, or confirmed, which ever may be the case. You have to be ready for either, but I've found when I've faced it, whichever way it goes, I get peace of mind, which is sooo important.
I just asked my husband last night if he was poisoning me. LOL!!! I've asked him before this very question, and this time he wasn't so accomadating. It was a long 30 seconds. Then we laughed a lot and I asked him how he made dinner taste like almonds hee hee

I hope this helps!
Hugs,
Tiana

I guess it can be catagorized as paranoia, however I consider it major "trust" issues. I find it hard to trust anyone completely except my kids and pets. I know this hurts friends sometimes as it does show at times. However, I am paranoid of someone breaking in or being in the house. I am also paranoid of leaving my son with anyone, therefore I don't except close family. This has hurt many close friends, but, they have to understand, or they don't understand, either way I stand fast. As far as the "someone breaking in", I safeguard myself to make it more comfortable for me, and go with it. I have been doing this for a long time.

Hello Angel,

My brother-in-law says that just because you are paraniod doesn't mean there isn't somebody after you! That was his joking responce to my husband saying he's paranoid to let anybody know he's got guns. Any way, I agree with Portabella. Trust is a difficult thing for folks with PTSD. It is not uncommon to feel a lack of trust for others and in many ways its a safety issue IMHO. To feel safe with others many times it requires others to earn that trust before it is just given. That's not a bad thing as long as it doesn't get in the way of you being able to have friendships with other people. I know for a long time I kept all my friendships very superficial assuming that if I revealed my true self people would run. Well, instead of running from the real me they ran away from the fake me I pretended to be to protect myself from being hurt by others. I always had to make it look like everything was OK with me and that I was fine even if I was dying inside. People turned away from me, especially others with PTSD because all I presented was a fake self. Well, I'm a little better now. I'm still a little paranoid about going too far into my issues with others but I have come to learn over time that every other person on this forum is a sufferer of PTSD and has similar issues. There is no bad judgement but only pure understanding. I have learned that people just want me to be myself. If you have some paranoia going don't be too hard on yourself, we all experience it at one time or another and will continue to struggle with overcoming that part of ourselves. Hope you have some good days ahead. Take gentle care.
Marilyn S.

You call it paranoia.

I call it experience.

Perhaps I was too flippant in my reply. I didn't trust or was too trusting with the lot of friends I had, and due to my extreme paranoia, I would have psychotic fits. I used to be able to contol them to just home. People outside don't think that's cute, I don't care how close a friend it is. The friendships stop when you take trust away from the people who did nothing to deserve it being taken. I don't leave my home or answer my door during the day if someone should knock on it. If I don't sit in the same place with my back in the corner, able to see who passes my windows, surrounded by things that make me feel safe, everyday in my house, then OCD takes over the paranoia, and it's more pills to calm me.
Perhaps our paranoias differ. For me, the only way to get a leg up on it, is to try to make jokes about it, or confront it when I can.

I defniately have paranoia issues although I didn't realize it until recently. I try to make a joke out of it every now and then, mainly around my husband and a few people at work. I always feel like people are looking at me or watching me. Shit, I can't concentrate, I am having a bad day, my anxiety is pissing me off, I can't write right now.

So does it get easier to recognize when you are being triggered at the moment that it is happening? And can you do anything to stop it?

It's complicated because the things that trigger me would be legitimate concerns...it's just like my brain/body totally overreact.

It usually takes someone to 'talk me down' so to speak...help me think through things logically.

ok, so right after I wrote that I had a nice size panic attack, it had nothing to do with the posting and more to do with a flashback that I had that day. I haven't had a flashback in sometime and it kinda took me by surprise and the panic followed. I was on here trying to write about something to take my mind off of it hoping it would go away. Eventually I had to give into it, let it happen, do my breathing and calm down, then it was gone, about 20 mins. in all. The good thing is I got through it pretty much on my own and it was only 1 attack, no others followed. While i hated that it happened I have to give myself credit for being able to take care of it, a year ago I couldn't have done that.

When I have a flashback, sometimes people will ask me what I see. I'm not capable of telling them. I remember it and see remanants in my head, but I can't find words to describe them. They think they just may be words, but all too often if I can remember enough of them real-time that I can actually describe them, the terror and horror it inflicts is magnified. I can, in a flashback that is only 20-30 seconds long re-experience a terror I lived through that was maybe 30 minutes long. People don't think of it like that. To them it's just words. To us, it's hell in it's own way.