I had my first real experience of paranoia (rather than just feeling vulnerable or sensitive or "got at") a couple of months ago. A neighbour offered to take my dog for a walk with her dog and later suggested that we should go for a walk together. To most people that would just be neighbourliness, but I formed the idea that this attempt at befriending was so that her boyfriend could rob my house. I really believed that is what would happen, I had no reason for thinking this at all.

I'm no good at making friends so, for me, I guess the anxiety of this unfamiliar situation was what triggered the episode of paranoia. It certainly was a very uncomfortable experience, both in the fear of the imagined robbery and the fear of not being able to control my thoughts.