Suffering from paranoia is something quite difficult, especially when it comes to treatment. Namely, paranoid patients usually do not desire to be treated due to their doubtfulness regarding the process. Subsequently, they miss treatments sessions, medications and all other means which the doctors use to help them. Trust is something very hard to establish, when it comes to treating these patients. Hence, regardless whether you opt for psychotherapy or medications for treating paranoia in patients, you need to be very careful and pay attention to all the details regarding the process.
Psychotherapy vs Paranoid Personality Disorder
People with this disorder are likely not to show up to their psychotherapy sessions. However, even if they do, bonding and successful raport-building procedure will be very difficult. Nevertheless, the therapist needs to stay supportive and encourage his/her patient to open gradually, creating a connection based on mutual trust. Moreover, the therapist must always balance the purpose of the therapy with the support towards the patient, making both of these work and earning this extremely fragile trust.
The client should never be led into suspecting that the therapy is something bad. Yet, during paranoid bouts, the client may even doubt the loyalty and dedication of the therapist. Still, the doctor needs to stay supportive and cooperative.
These patients require extremely direct approaches when it comes to therapy. Therefore, jokes, allusions, metaphors or any other such language tools may easily be misinterpreted, jeopardizing the patient-therapist relationship. Also, be very careful when it comes to your patient needing to sign certain documents, since this can raise suspicion.
All in all, this is a very delicate condition to be treated and there is a high likelihood that certain paranoid traits of every patient will remain present for his/her lifetime. Thus, many times, these people end up in state hospitals or under day treatment programs.
Medications vs Paranoid Personality Disorder
Expecting from a paranoid person to take the prescribed medications regularly is simply not possible. If the medication treatment lasts for a longer time, the patient is likely to become suspicious and stop following the therapy instructions.
Therefore, medications which work fast and efficiently are recommended for treating this disorder. For example, for cases of severe anxiety and agitation, diazepam or other anti-anxiety agents are recommended. On the other hand for aggressive behavior and delusions doctors recommend thioridazine, haloperidol or other anti-psychotic medications.
Finally, there are groups which offer treatment for people with paranoid personality disorder. However, since these groups often involve exposure to others and talking about problems openly, they are likely to trigger mistrust and avoidance in a paranoid patient.
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