Paranoid Personality Disorder Treatment

Paranoid personality disorder treatment rarely involves medication and typically focuses on therapy.

Upon diagnosis, one of the most common questions a patient or their family may ask their physician is: canparanoid personality disorderbe cured? Traditionally, psychiatrists thought personality disorders were intractable and that the best someone could hope for with treatment was to manage their most severe symptoms. However, research within the last couple of decades has shown that many people with personality disorders frequently experience full or partial remission over time, primarily when they engage in treatment.

Paranoid personality disorder treatment rarely involves medication and typically focuses ontherapy. The specific combination of interventions a clinician recommends varies based on which paranoid personality traits or behaviors are most prominent and whether a person has any co-occurring disorders. A paranoid personality disorder left untreated can wreak havoc on someone’s life, but the right treatment can help someone with the disorder improve their ability to trust others and live more freely.

Therapy Options for Paranoid Personality Disorder

People with paranoid personality disorder are more likely to establish trust with a therapist who is plain-spoken and more focused on facts than emotional expression. Therapists can play important supportive roles for people with paranoid personality disorder, modeling positive and trustworthy interactions and helping their clients be more accepting of and engaged in treatment.

Psychotherapy for paranoid personality disorder is most effective when therapists use techniques focused on problem-solving and rational insight. People with paranoid personality disorder usually have a hard time forming intimate emotional connections with others and withdraw when they feel like someone else is being too intrusive. Many people have a hard time connecting with a therapist on an emotional level orresponding to emotional cues. They respond better to therapists who make direct statements and avoid emotional appeals.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)is a practical choice for people with paranoid personality disorder. Nearly all of the traits associated with paranoid personality disorder are rooted in distorted cognitive patterns that emphasize and magnify potential interpersonal threats and attribute malice to neutral people or events. People with paranoid personality disorder can experience a significant improvement in their symptoms when they learn how to identify and challenge irrational or distorted beliefs in CBT.

Individual Therapy

Whether a therapist uses CBT or another related approach,individual therapyfor paranoid personality disorder typically focuses on the cognitive aspects of the disorder, or paranoid thought patterns and belief systems. People who participate in individual therapy receive support and encouragement from therapists who help them learn and practice different ways of thinking and behaving.

While individual therapy can be useful on its own, people with paranoid personality disorder usually have better outcomes when they participate in integrated services that are coordinated to target different symptoms. For example, many people with paranoid personality disorder will pair individual therapy with support groups and family therapy.

Group Therapy

For people with disorders that affect their functioning in relationships,group therapycan be an efficient and effective treatment option. This format allows therapists to provide some of the same interventions and education they would participate in individual therapy while helping a person explore and challenge beliefs about other people in real time.

Treatment groups allow people to learn from other people with similar symptoms or disorders. People receiving group treatment for paranoid personality disorder might be able to see how another person’s paranoid thoughts are delusional and start to question their beliefs. Therapy groups can also make people feel less alone and give them a safe space to talk about their challenges in a stigma-free environment.

Family Therapy

Family therapycan help individuals recover while helping family members learn how to support them in their recovery. Family therapists help individuals reflect on their roles in conflicts and practice calmer, more effective ways of communicating with each other. When a person with paranoid personality disorder is actively living with family members, family therapy can be particularly useful.

Nutrition Counseling

In severe cases, people with paranoid personality disorder may severely restrict their diet due to not trusting entire categories of food or the people who sell the food. More typically, people with thought or Cluster A personality disorders suffer nutritional deficits due to the effects of medications or a lack of awareness of how nutrition affects mood and cognition.

Anutrition counselorcan help people with paranoid personality disorder establish a well-rounded diet withnecessary minerals for mental healthlike Omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins and magnesium.

Medications Used for Treating Paranoid Personality Disorder

Little research has been done on potential paranoid personality disorder medications, though some studies show pharmacological interventions can be useful under certain circumstances. People with paranoid personality disorder and co-occurring conditions may particularly benefit from the use of medication.

Anti-Anxiety Medications

There are two types of medications commonly used to treat anxiety symptoms: sedatives and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

Sedative medications likebenzodiazepinescan be helpful for people with severe anxiety symptoms but have many dangerous side effects and a high risk of addiction. For this reason, they are less typically prescribed to people who are at an elevated risk of harming themselves or who have co-occurring substance use disorders.

For many people, SSRIs reduce anxiety symptoms just as effectively and are a safer option with fewer side effects. These five SSRIs are the ones most commonly prescribed for anxiety:

• Paroxetine (Paxil)
• Citalopram (Celexa)
• Escitalopram (Lexapro)
• Sertraline (Zoloft)
• Fluoxetine (Prozac)

People with paranoid personality disorder and co-occurring anxiety require evaluation by a clinician to determine which anti-anxiety medication, if any, is recommended.

Antidepressants

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitorsare the most researched and most commonly used antidepressant medications. They can help the brain regulate levels of serotonin, form new connections and build new nerve cells, reducing levels of both depression and anxiety. Studies show that commonly prescribed SSRIs like Prozac and Zoloft are safe for most people with co-occurring depression.

Antipsychotics

Psychiatrists have not historically used antipsychotic medications to treat personality disorders, even Cluster A disorders like paranoid personality disorder that resemble psychotic disorders. More recently, however, researchers have found that atypicalantipsychoticslike risperidone (Risperdal) and olanzapine (Zyprexa) canalleviate symptomsof paranoid personality disorder.

Still, these medications do not appear to have as pronounced an effect on people with paranoid personality disorder as they do on people with schizophrenia. For this reason, they are usually only recommended when severe aggressive or delusional symptoms put a person with paranoid personality disorder at risk of harm or impede their ability to participate in psychotherapy.

Inpatient Care

People with paranoid personality disorder might receive treatment for the first time in aninpatient facilityafter experiencing a mental health crisis. People with thought or Cluster A personality disorders are at risk of acting on delusional beliefs in ways that put themselves or others at risk of harm. When this occurs, they may be placed voluntarily or involuntarily in an inpatient facility for their safety.

For example, if a person believes someone is poisoning all of their food and water and then stops eating or drinking, or thinks they need to take drastic action to stop someone they suspect is intending to harm them, they may need inpatient stabilization before being able to safely proceed tooutpatient treatment.

Voluntary inpatient care can be a good choice for a person with a long-term disorder like paranoid personality disorder who finds they need a period of intensive treatment to make progress on treatment goals. Inpatient treatment can help people focus on their mental health in an environment that removes them from external stressors and obstacles to recovery. This type of therapy can be crucial for people who are prone to paranoia and who live in stressful situations.

Treating Paranoid Personality Disorder and Co-Occurring Conditions

Minimal research has been done on rates of paranoid personality disorder and co-occurring conditions, though general research shows that people with any personality disorder aremore likely to develop substance use disordersand are at a significantly elevated risk of suicide when they have comorbid anxiety or depressive disorders.

One study suggeststhat people with paranoid personality disorder and a co-occurring condition are most likely to have one of the following disorders:

• Anxiety disorders
• Substance use disorders
• Major depressive disorder
• Other depressive disorder
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder

Fortunately, integrated treatment can address these co-occurring disorders simultaneously, lowering the risks linked with them.

People with paranoid personality disorder may have a hard time with group therapy, one of the traditional methods used to treat substance use disorders. With the right support, they can tolerate and benefit from group treatment or receive individual counseling instead. Either way, it is essential that their treatment team is aware of and treating both of their conditions.

For people seeking treatment for these complex disorders, finding the right provider can be intimidating. Fortunately, growing numbers of rehab centers provide coordinated treatment for substance use and co-occurring disorders. The Recovery Village operates facilities across the United States with integrated treatment options for people with co-occurring disorders.Contact a Recovery Village representativetoday to learn more about treatment options that can meet your needs.