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The other day I heard or read (I can't recall now) this terrific quote in regard to the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. The gist of the quote was that our unconsciousness is watching us all the time and that is has far more "consciousness" than we do because it's aware of that which we are unconscious of.

It got me wondering if perhaps this accounts for the sense some people get of being watched all the time. Maybe they're simply aware that their unconsiousness is watching them.

i am sure that people at my school set me up and are watching me on my holiday.

It seems to me that there's two options you could consider at this time. The first option would be to say, "My meds must not be working because here I am, still having hallucinations and delusions. I should go see my doc and have my meds changed or the dosage altered." That's one option.

The second option would be to explore the sense of paranoia that you're having so you can understand why it's there. It's important to remember that it's only paranoia if it's not justified. For example, if you think the FBI is tapping your telephone conversations and they are, that's not paranoia -- it's justifiable concern.

So, let's say that you're concerned that people at school are watching you. To determine if your concern was justified you would probably gather information, like so...

- Who is watching you -- one person or a group of people?

- What do you know of this individual or group of people? For example, are they authority figures or are they your fellow students?

- If they are authority figures, what kind of authority figures are they -- teachers, counselors, the principal, the parents of other students?

- If they are your peers, what kind of students are they -- geeks, jocks, preppies?

It might be helpful to see if you can classify the individual or the group. Next, you could ask yourself, why would that particular individual or group specifically be interested in watching you? The answers might vary according to the group they belong to. For example, a teacher can be concerned about attendance, so they might watch you to ensure that you are attending school regularly.

You also noted that you're on holiday so there's some potential information that could be found there. What role might the fact that you're on holiday have to do with why people might be watching you? Are you somewhere you're not supposed to be or doing something you're not supposed to be doing -- like taking a holiday instead of going to school?

It can also be helpful to examine what elements you might bring to the mix. For example, it's not unusual for people (including teens) to want to measure up -- to be considered cool, or hip, or whatever quality it is that their peer group identifies as being valuable. Could your feeling of being watched relate to feeling judged or assessed by your peers? If so, do you have any fears about this process such as what will happen if you don't measure up to your their expectations? If that was the case, then your fears about being watched would be easy to understand.

Naturally, I don't know if any of the above will be true for you or not. They simply offer some examples of how we might explore our feelings and what they might be telling us that we're not consciously aware of. If you think exploring your paranoia in this manner will be useful to you, you might find it helpful to discuss the matter with someone you trust -- your parents, a counselor or therapist if you have one, maybe an older sibling or good friend. As an alternative, you might find it helpful to journal about the situation. Sometimes, writing things out can help us better understand what they're all about.