How to Control Paranoia

If you are having trouble trusting others in your life, you may be experiencing paranoia. Paranoia occurs when an individual has fears that are not necessarily founded in reality. You may be experiencing paranoia if you think other people are watching you, or wanting to cause you harm. If you have a less serious case of paranoia, you may believe you partner is unfaithful to you, or that you are about to get fired from your job. Either way, there are steps that you can take to control your paranoia and go on to live a happier and healthier life.

Instructions

• 1

  Talk to a friend, family member, counselor or trusted individual about your paranoid feelings. This can help you determine if you need to seek professional help for your paranoia. After conversing with those close to you, decide whether you need professional help; make an appointment with a psychologist or psychiatrist if you believe your paranoia is serious enough. Professional therapy or treatment can help you work through your issues. You may also take medication if it deemed necessary.

• 2

  Write down all of your paranoid thoughts. If you are unsure whether a thought is paranoid, but it is making you feel unhappy, write it down anyway. Read these at a later time and talk back to the negativity within them. This means looking at the thought from another way and determining if something else could be happening in the same situation. Utilize a good friend or family member to help you with this. He might be able to provide a different perspective on your negative or paranoid thoughts.

• 3

  Work on building trust in your relationships by being honest about your paranoia. Tell a friend or your partner that paranoid thoughts are a problem for you and it is something you want to work on. Ask her if it would be okay if you ran thoughts by her occasionally. When you have a paranoid thought, express it honestly. Most likely the other person will be able to assuage your doubts or fears on the subject.

• 4

  Meditate or do other activities that relax you. Exercise, deep breathing, yoga, taking walks or enjoying nature all have relaxing effects on people. Doing any of these things will help the anxiety that causes paranoia or makes it worse.

• 5

  Live a healthy lifestyle. Eat three nutritious meals per day, sleep six to eight hours per night and drink eight glasses of water per day. Doing these things facilitates good mental health, and can help relieve paranoid thoughts.