Anxiety or paranoia?

DX'd - Other
1

If I believe my mother in law will eventually poison me is it anxiety or paranoia?

What about if I feel others would in general?

And what about if I have a fear of being kidnapped when I’m walking somewhere?

Or being shot through the window at night when I hear someone outside?

What’s the difference between anxiety and paranoia?

Once I had a bad episode when I was at mosque last year when I believed the men that came and sat behind curtain in women’s section were gunmen in league with the imam. I knew that was paranoia but if I feel a general fear of being harmed is it?

2

in anxiety you know its irrational but not able to control your symptoms like afraid, racing heartbeat, shortness of breath etc. in paranoia you not able to distinguish between if its real or not and mostly believes as if true. you may have a small feeling that its not true but not able to discard it. it can be a heightened state of anxiety.

i saw your other thread regarding prescribing antidepressant. it can worsen paranoia so better not take it. other things which can worsen this include norepinephrine and dopamine boosters like strattera, wellbutrin, l dopa etc.

3 Likes
3

I had this once also, and it was definitely not true looking back, so I’d just play if off cool

4

Mother in law poisoning me - a very real threat. I’m not being irrational, it’s a real threat.

Mosque incident - it was extremely real when I experienced it. Definitely not merely irrationality

Kidnapping/shooting - a small threat. Maybe irrational maybe not. It comes and goes. Sometimes it’s real sometimes not.

5

A quick way to distinguish if its real or not is by checking if it appear quickly or not. I mean id motherinlaw behaviour suddenly changed? If yes then its mostly paranoia.

6

Anxiety won’t get you psych I think.

7

I don’t understand. When someone’s behaviour changes suddenly surely it means it’s possibly real? And if one has not changed and the person is still scared then it’s paranoia?

My mother in law behaviour hasn’t changed since I first got the paranoia back in 2012. Back then when it started, I was just married and lived with her, and she suddenly began to argue a lot with me and it set me off.

Still can’t shake my belief off of me. Like maybe she won’t poison me when my husband is around but if we were alone without him she would.

8

Watch this video you know the difference between paranoia and anxiety.

9

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.