Tricks to stop being paranoid. If it is not one thing it is another. Now I am paranoid I will go back into my psychosis. Any tips to stop paranoia.
Its not much a trick but just be aware that you are predisposed to paranoia and just tell yourself âoh man here I go againâ.
Thatâs a hard one⌠I have a friend I can talk to that helps me see that no one is out to get me.
Sometimes paranoia is set off by anxiety for me as well⌠so working on getting into a calm space⌠trying to calm the mindâŚ
Trying to write it out will some times help⌠as Iâm writing it⌠it makes me slow down the thinkingâŚ
Good luck and I hope you feel better soon.
I take slow deep breaths, focus on the sounds around me (out of my head) AC, fan,ect⌠I focus on what i physically feel, air on my skin fabric of my bed⌠i remind my self i have been here many times and its best to just go with the flow, wait it out, and know i will get through it eventually.
As others have suggested - work to calm yourself down. Stress is a major trigger for paranoia and relapse into psychosis. A great way to lower your stress is called âslow belly breathingâ or âDiaphramatic Breathingâ - watch this video:
Talk to your doctor or therapist about anxiety / stress and about events or thoughts that might be happening just before you start being paranoid or suspicious.
Perhaps talk to your psychiatrist about medications like Gabapentin that can be used to lower your anxiety and stress levels.
Works every time. Doesnât take long, either.
Another method is to breathe out longer than you breathe in six times in a row. So doing slightly increase blood CO2 and reduce blood O2, which, in turn, kick the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic (âfight or flightâ) nervous system into action to decrease anxiety and reactivity to projected threat.
I find being careful what I read and watch helps. Also cut down on coffee and alcohol. Tell yourself that the paranoia is not real and try to replace your thoughts with calmer, positive thoughts. Engage in a relaxing activity such as a bubble bath or distract yourself with a funny movie, all the while reminding yourself that you are safe and everything will be okay. Self sooth and take relaxing, slow breaths. Gabapentin has helped me.
What I did was go into a busy bar (Iâm male btw) a few times a week and sit alone with a glass of water. This made me feel very anxious and self conscious at first but this fades after about 20 minutes each time. Doing this a few times per week for a couple of years made my self consciousness gradually fade permanently, and I now no longer feel self conscious.
Iâm convinced that a lot of paranoia and anxiety stems from exaggerated self consciousness, and that mitigating the latter will mitigate the former.
Btw DONâT drink alcohol when doing this, youâll need to be able to feel your emotions and anxiety clearly so just have water. A little boring maybe but itâs the only way this particular therapy method will work. And maybe donât try this if youâre female as it might attract unwanted attention.
Iâve actually found the cure to being paranoid.
Itâs called not giving a â â â â anymore.
You should try it itâs really great. Here is an ad for it.
So if you think your drink is poisoned just donât give a â â â â .
This is hard because it really depends on your state of mind, because if your truly paranoid nothing will get you out of it. But I find grounding techniques that help are identifying and telling yourself youâre paranoid. For me acknowledging whatâs happening in my mind and knowing that what Iâm feeling may feel true, but in reality that itâs illogical helps bring down the paranoia. Along with this, deep breathing exercises, drinking water, and other âcalmingâ exercises can help bring down anxiety that come along with paranoia.
While Iâm not sure I could apply this to poisoning, it really does help for thinking strangers hate you or coworkers are gossiping, etc. Do I care about these people? Is their opinion truly important? Then whatever, if thereâs a problem theyâll have to tell me specifically. I canât be fussed about what I think they might be thinking.
There are also âreality testingâ techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy. Do you have a therapist / psychologist? If you donât - I recommend you get one.
Here is more info on this:
Here is a video about doing CBT for delusions (probably applies to paranoid thoughts / delusions also):
This is from our list of CBT for Schizophrenia list of videos here:
http://schizophrenia.com/?p=632
and here is a general introduction to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy:
All I can say is distraction, preferably with something you really like, rather than not.
Itâs all about focusing on âsomething elseâ rather than trying to not focus on that which you donât want to think about-which never works.