I am soooo glad you are seeing a psychotherapist! The help you get from psychotherapy will be lasting and life changing. When our moods and energy level are affected by our perceptions, psychotherapy is what will help the most. It takes time but it works!

I also tend to be paranoid. I hate that if someone is not right in front of me being nice or non-threatening to me, then all kinds of scenarios run through my thoughts. This is about thinking and about needs, and not about brain function, in my opinion. By becoming aware of this pattern that happens with me, I can recognize it as a pattern, and not a truth, when it happens or begins to happen. My therapist and I talked about early childhood development in my last session, and an experiment done with babies and mothers: the babies and mothers were interacting face to face pleasantly and then the mother was to make her face 'go blank', registering nothing (pleasant or unpleasant). The babies reactions were of immediate distress (this was a very short experiment and babies and moms were quickly back on pleasant footing). So my therapist and I were talking about how something like this can happen early and can be lasting. I'm not saying this is why each person can be paranoid, but it is one explanation and it seems to be one that would fit my history.

About the Remeron. I was on Remeron briefly and a long time ago. I seem to remember it making me very tired, even if I took it at bedtime I had a hangover effect, and so I didn't stay on it long.

I don't know, but I wonder if the effect the psychiatrist is looking for is anti-anxiety. Maybe there is something milder of that can be taken as needed for those times?