David J. LaPorte - Paranoid: Exploring Suspicion from the Dubious to the Delusional

I am deeply indebted to a number of individuals who I have encountered throughout my professional life. First are those who served as mentors and left their professional mark on me. Their names are well known within their respective fields, and in listing them I run the risk of name-dropping. However, my contact with each was of sufficient length and substantive nature to merit my genuine gratitude and a public thank you. In order of encounter: Drs. Thomas McLellan, Arthur Alterman, Albert Stunkard, Kelly Brownell, Manfred Meier, James Mitchell, and William Carpenter Jr.

I have been fortunate to be associated with one of the premier research institutions in the world, the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. Colleagues I've had the pleasure of working with and learning from include Drs. Gunvant Thaker, Brian Kirkpatrick, Robert Buchanan, and Carol Tamminga.

In my home department here at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Drs. Don Robertson and Krys Kaniasty deserves many thanks.

A special group of friends and colleagues are particularly deserving of note: Drs. Adrienne Lahti, Rosy Roberts, and the late Dr. Bob Lahti.

Finally and perhaps most importantly, thanks to my family, who suffered through years of this book.

Keep in mind that depending on the person, these features will combine in a variety of ways such that no two paranoid individuals look the same. Thus, some features may be more prominent or nonexistent in one person compared to another.

mistrust or suspicion of others motives

aloof; doesn't get deeply emotionally involved

anxious, fearful, worrisome

bears grudges and seeks revenge

belief in malevolent others, known or unknown, who abuse, torment, harass, threaten, wrong, vilify, accuse, disparage, mistreat, persecute, and taunt them

belief that one is being talked about, followed, stared at, or watched

belief that others will harm, injure, or kill them

belief in a conspiracy involving one or more persons or organizations (e.g., Mafia, CIA)

belief that they are being intentionally bumped or jostled when in crowds

black-and-white way of viewing things

constant mobilization and vigilance for perceived threats

constantly calling the police to complain about things

conviction that someone will do them harm

defensive

often dwelling on these issues in their imagination

edgy, irritable, quarrelsome, and querulous demeanor

emotionally cold and detached

evasiveness; moves away from people

everything means something; no chance occurrences

excessive sense of self-importance

feeling wronged by others

flaring up when certain touchy subjects are brought up or even alluded to

frequent references to listening, looking, and monitoring devices including by x-rays, radio waves, microwaves, computers, and computer chips that have been implanted

grandiosity

guarded

high levels of anger

hostility

hostility occasionally erupts into verbal or physically violent outbursts

humorlessness

hypersensitivity, which results in self-references even when no reference is actually made (ideas of reference)

hypervigilance

inference of maliciousness based on specious reasoning

inferential leaps based on insignificant details

jealousy

lack of trust

litigiousness

looking for threats

making mountains out of molehills

often hard people in the sense that it is a dog-eat-dog world, so they don't expect breaks and don't cut any either

overly concerned with evidence

persecutory delusions

rigid and fixed beliefs that are not modified by evidence to the contrary

rigidity

secretiveness

susceptibility to slights (intended or unintended) by others

SUBSTANCES

ACTH

Actifed

Albuterol

alcohol intoxication

alcohol withdrawal

alcohol hallucinosis

alpha-Methyldopa

amphetamines

anticholinergic drugs

antimalarial drugs

antitubercular drugs

arsenic

atropine toxicity

barbiturates

bromide intoxication

Bromocriptine

Bupropion

carbon monoxide poisoning

Cimetidine

cocaine

Contac

cortisone

DDAVP

Diphenylhydantoin

disulfiram (Antabuse)

ephedrine

ibuprofen

imipramine

indomethacin

levodopa

lidocaine

LSD

manganese

marijuana

mephentermine

Methylphenidate (Ritalin)

mercury

mescaline

methyltestosterone

nasal decongestants

nitrous oxide

pentazocine

pervitin

phencyclidine (PCP)

phenylpropanolamine

prednisone

procaine penicillin

propylhexedrine

propranolol

salbutamol

thallium

CONDITIONS

acute intermittent porphyria

Addison's disease

AIDS

Alzheimer's type dementia

bipolar disorder

cerebrovascular disease

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Cushing's syndrome

delirium

encephalitis lethargica

epilepsy (temporal lobe origin)

Fahr's disease

fat embolism

folate deficiency

hearing loss

hemodialysis

hepatic encephalopathy

herpes simplex encephalitis

HIV infection

Huntington's chorea

hydrocephalus

hypercalcemia

hypertensive encephalopathy

hyperthyroidism

hypoglycemia

hyponatremia

hypoparathyroidism

hypopituitarism

hypothyroidism

Klinefelter's syndrome

leukoencephalopathy

liver failure

malaria

malnutrition

Marchiafava-Bignami disease

Menzel-type ataxia

metabolic encephalopathy

metachromatic leukodystrophy

Alzheimer's disease

Lewy body dementia

Pick's disease

frontotemporal dementia

dementia associated with Parkinson's disease

vascular dementia

primary progressive aphasia

semantic dementia

AIDS Dementia Complex

dementia associated with tertiary syphilis

dementia associated with Huntington's disease

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

normal pressure hydrocephalus

Binswanger's disease

Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome

dementia due to repeated traumatic brain injury

herpes encephalitis

corticobasal degeneration

Fatal Familial Insomnia

(A complete bibliography of over seven hundred references used in preparing this book is available upon request from the author)

Aiello, L. C., and R. I. Dunbar. Neocortex Size, Group Size, and the Evolution of Language. Current Anthropology 34, no. 2 (1993): 18493.

Amerithrax Investigative Summary. Department of Justice. June 2000.

Amphetamine and Methamphetamine Emergency Department Visits, 19952002. Drug Abuse Warning Network. July 2004.

Andryszewski, T. The Militia Movement in America. Brookfield, CT: Brookfield Press, 1997.

Angrist, B. et al. Early Pharmacokinetics and Clinical Effects of Oral D-Amphetamine in Normal Subjects.