Paranoia and the news

[birchswing]

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What is the effect of news regarding people's privacy (Internet/telephone/drones) on people who already have paranoia and people who don't already have a diagnosis regarding paranoia?

It doesn't affect me personally, but each time I see something about this in the news, I think it must be a hard time to be someone who struggles with the anxiety of paranoia.

 

[pre med 2014]

Well it depends on whether you're a Verizon customer or not.

 

[birchswing]

Well it depends on whether you're a Verizon customer or not.

Seems like you're not paranoid enough 🙂

 

[Ceke2002]

Nevermind, misunderstood OPs question/discussion...

 

[birchswing]

I'm not sure we're supposed to be talking about this, but seeing as the thread hasn't been closed I'm going to assume it's okay. Speaking personally it doesn't really affect me that much. I see news reports about how I'm supposed to be paranoid about all this tracking stuff and invasions of privacy and my first thought tends to be 'Yep, I'm way ahead of you there'. I have paranoid ideations, so it just is what it is, I don't need to be told to be paranoid. Now the TV talking to you, that's a guaranteed freak out

I don't really want to go into too much more detail in this thread (this is a forum for Psychiatrists after all, not patients), but you're welcome to PM me if you have any questions.

I actually didn't mean to ask how it affects members of this forum. I was curious from the perspective of psychiatrists how they see it affecting their patients already diagnosed with paranoia and/or the general public.

It just struck me that it might be a more difficult time for people with paranoia and also that practitioners who typically ask people to challenge irrational thoughts might have a more difficult time as technology changes communication and thus privacy. What people assumed to be paranoia could change.

For example, how confident would a practitioner be saying, "Well, yes it does seem as if the government is monitoring the meta-data of phone calls, but it's irrational to believe they're monitoring or recording the actual content of your calls"?

 

[hamstergang]

I had a patient in our psych ER/screening center who was an older man, previously diagnosed with schizophrenia I believe. He told me that the world was ending, which he knew because it was getting colder. All I had to do to verify this was to call anyone I knew in Boston and confirm with them that it was getting colder (because the cold would hit them first).

Later that day the Boston Marathon bombing happened. He was watching the tv earlier, but luckily we had him in the hospital before the news broke. I can only imagine what his reaction would have been. Not just in the sense that it would have been harder to counter his delusion, but he might have started to act out more strongly on his belief that we had but minutes left in this life.

 

[Ceke2002]

I actually didn't mean to ask how it affects members of this forum. I was curious from the perspective of psychiatrists how they see it affecting their patients already diagnosed with paranoia and/or the general public.

It just struck me that it might be a more difficult time for people with paranoia and also that practitioners who typically ask people to challenge irrational thoughts might have a more difficult time as technology changes communication and thus privacy. What people assumed to be paranoia could change.

For example, how confident would a practitioner be saying, "Well, yes it does seem as if the government is monitoring the meta-data of phone calls, but it's irrational to believe they're monitoring or recording the actual content of your calls"?

Ah, gotcha, sorry it sounded a bit open ended, which is why I answered. If my answer wasn't really what you were looking for, I'll edit it out. 🙂

 

[notdeadyet]

What is the effect of news regarding people's privacy (Internet/telephone/drones) on people who already have paranoia and people who don't already have a diagnosis regarding paranoia?

I'm finding it has a much bigger impact on folks who don't have a paranoia pathology than those that do.

Most of the paranoid type schizophrenic patients have pretty fixed paranoid delusions that reality can't touch. You can't show them their delusions aren't real with reality doses, but on the upside, I find that supporting evidence for their deluisons from the real world also doesn't seem to feed into it much.

But for the Narcissistic PDs, Borderline PDs, and GAD folks, it seems to be have a larger effect. They have a more fluid interaction with reality.

 

[Ceke2002]

I'm finding it has a much bigger impact on folks who don't have a paranoia pathology than those that do.

Most of the paranoid type schizophrenic patients have pretty fixed paranoid delusions that reality can't touch. You can't show them their delusions aren't real with reality doses, but on the upside, I find that supporting evidence for their deluisons from the real world also doesn't seem to feed into it much.

But for the Narcissistic PDs, Borderline PDs, and GAD folks, it seems to be have a larger effect. They have a more fluid interaction with reality.

Out of curiosity, how does the fluidity of reality in Borderline, GAD, etc, compare with patients who have retained insight with psychosis?

 

[kugel]

I'm finding it has a much bigger impact on folks who don't have a paranoia pathology than those that do.

Most of the paranoid type schizophrenic patients have pretty fixed paranoid delusions that reality can't touch. You can't show them their delusions aren't real with reality doses, but on the upside, I find that supporting evidence for their deluisons from the real world also doesn't seem to feed into it much.

But for the Narcissistic PDs, Borderline PDs, and GAD folks, it seems to be have a larger effect. They have a more fluid interaction with reality.

I was in residency when 9/11 happened. We were very worried about how our outpt psychotics would react. Most of them failed to show up for a few months. When they re-appeared, I asked them why we hadn't seen them. Almost all of them told me that when 9/11 happened, they felt their own problems were small in comparison. They felt they wanted to "tough it out" and start getting along without relying so much on public services. But when their meds ran out and symptoms started to increase, they realized they need the meds and coming in to the clinic was the only way to do that.
Nearly broke my heart.

On the other hand, anxiety pt's, esp combat PTSD, obviously got worse. I had a number of retired military in their 50's and 60's who were living with PTSD, but not realizing it and never getting tx. When their symptoms got dramatically worse after 9/11, family demanded they get help.
First prescription, no more than 30 min of TV news per day.

 

[Ibid]

I was in residency when 9/11 happened. We were very worried about how our outpt psychotics would react. Most of them failed to show up for a few months. When they re-appeared, I asked them why we hadn't seen them. Almost all of them told me that when 9/11 happened, they felt their own problems were small in comparison. They felt they wanted to "tough it out" and start getting along without relying so much on public services. But when their meds ran out and symptoms started to increase, they realized they need the meds and coming in to the clinic was the only way to do that.
Nearly broke my heart.

On the other hand, anxiety pt's, esp combat PTSD, obviously got worse. I had a number of retired military in their 50's and 60's who were living with PTSD, but not realizing it and never getting tx. When their symptoms got dramatically worse after 9/11, family demanded they get help.
First prescription, no more than 30 min of TV news per day.

Well...it's a topsy turvy world. The real problem was of course how the politicians would react....

http://www.cfr.org/democracy-and-human-rights/promoting-democracy-fighting-terror/p5357

 

[notinkansas]

"Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean the government isn't after you"
KInda has new meaning these days, doesn't it?

 

[CounselortoMD]

I'm finding it has a much bigger impact on folks who don't have a paranoia pathology than those that do.

Most of the paranoid type schizophrenic patients have pretty fixed paranoid delusions that reality can't touch. You can't show them their delusions aren't real with reality doses, but on the upside, I find that supporting evidence for their deluisons from the real world also doesn't seem to feed into it much.

But for the Narcissistic PDs, Borderline PDs, and GAD folks, it seems to be have a larger effect. They have a more fluid interaction with reality.

And OCD as well. I had an OCD therapy client who had been compensating rather well for quite some time, and she fell to pieces after the Boston Marathon bombing and the oil explosion in Texas.

 

[Kahreek]

i guess the more pertinent question is how it would affect normal people. Paranoid patients dont reason well and dont need strong or coherent facts to justify paranoia. Well thats what defines paranoia as a disease.

 

[whopper]

Culture's effects must be taken into consideration in any evaluation. There is data supporting that negative news and trends in society do have effects on mental health. E.g. fear of global warming terrorism, etc. do have some data showing it has harmful effects on one's psyche.

I've had this discussion where I asked other doctors, what will happen 10-20 years from now when surgically implantable micro devices start becoming not impossible but possibly the norm? What will it do to our profession? What will happen when drones the size of a bird, that are already a reality, become common to the point where someone suspects they are being followed by one? How then will we separate the delusional from those just a bit more paranoid than others but still within a cultural norm?

I get no answer when I ask that one.

 

[Ibid]

Culture's effects must be taken into consideration in any evaluation. There is data supporting that negative news and trends in society do have effects on mental health. E.g. fear of global warming terrorism, etc. do have some data showing it has harmful effects on one's psyche.

I've had this discussion where I asked other doctors, what will happen 10-20 years from now when surgically implantable micro devices start becoming not impossible but possibly the norm? What will it do to our profession? What will happen when drones the size of a bird, that are already a reality, become common to the point where someone suspects they are being followed by one? How then will we separate the delusional from those just a bit more paranoid than others but still within a cultural norm?

I get no answer when I ask that one.

Well...I wasn't actually under the impression that most psychiatrists were any good at doing that right now, never mind in the future. Could explain the blank expressions.