mental health disorders
Paranoid Personality Disorder
Diagnosis of Paranoid Personality Disorder
A doctor's evaluation, based on standard psychiatric diagnostic criteria , 5th ed, Text Revision ( Classification and Diagnosis of Mental Illness ), the standard reference for psychiatric diagnosis from the American Psychiatric Association. For doctors to diagnose paranoid personality disorder, people must be persistently distrustful and suspicious of others, as shown by at least 4 of the following: They suspect, without sufficient reason, that other people are exploiting, injuring, or deceiving them. They are preoccupied with unjustified doubts about the reliability of their friends and coworkers. They are reluctant to confide in others lest the information be used against them. They misinterpret harmless remarks or events as having hidden belittling, hostile, or threatening meaning. They hold grudges if they think they have been insulted, injured, or slighted. They are quick to think that their character or reputation has been attacked and to react angrily or to counterattack They repeatedly suspect that their spouse or partner is unfaithful, although they have no sufficient reason to suspect it. Also, symptoms must have begun by early adulthood. 