[faerie_moon_x]

So, I have paranoid thinking but I can't always tell if I'm being logical or not in dealing with it. I have some things I do to reality check but I can't always trust my ability to do that... like right now I can't even think of any...

What are some of your best tips for checking if you're paranoid or not? Maybe I can remember some if I read them....

If you think that the illuminati is controlling all of the evil forces in the world by tricking people into trusting doctors who only hypnotize the patients through Anti-Psychotic Medication then.......you might be a redneck. Hope this helps!

[Wayfarer25]

my paranoia got so bad recently i checked my sorry butt into a hospital to get away from everyone i was scared of. i knew they couldn't get me there. now that i look back on it, that's pretty funny and totally screwed up. most people avoid those places.

anyway, i try reality checking like you mentioned. sometimes it's really hard to do that when the delusions take over because once they do, whatever i'm thinking has become reality in my head, so no amount of reality-checking works (and I don't bother trying).

if i'm not so delusional that they take over, then it's easier to not necessarily make the paranoia go away, but easier to handle it. i try to ground myself to what i'm feeling and not what i'm thinking. like the shoes on my feet, clothes on my back, cigarette in hand, etc. i focus on those things, which is basically a distraction, but it helps me when the paranoia starts to stress me out.

if the paranoia doesn't stress me out, and the delusions haven't taken over, i don't really do anything because i don't think its necessary.

Great advice wayfarer. Sometimes I am even afraid of children. But I quit smoking about two months ago. I used to love to smoke. It made me feel there was at least one friend who would never let me down. Then I started to suspect that the cigarettes were really from satan, and he had deceived me into believing they were my friend. They were my best friend for 17 years. I miss them every day. I wish we could be together again. But I believe I will go put a patch on right this second before I do something that I'm going to regret. I hate regretting things. Your friend, Glinda Gail

The only thing I've found that helps me is cuddling my puppy. He makes me feel safe and stroking him distracts me from whatever is scaring me. Haven't quite figured out what to do when he's not around other than by distracting myself with something else. Doesn't work as well as my puppy though. Maybe it's the touch thing, like stroking him grounds me? IDK...

*Willow*

[volatile]

I honestly don't know when I'm being paranoid, but I know when I'm anxious and when I feel bad. IMO it doesn't matter what is real, it matters how you deal with it. Only when I'm calm do I fully realize how bizarre my thoughts were so I focus on staying calm. always stay calm.

I do things like wayfarer, I try to bring myself outside of myself by grounding. I also do meditation like that and try to bring it to another level of calm by relaxing my mind as much as I can. I consciously let go of all my thoughts and do breathing exercises.
Lately I've noticed that meditation sounds help SO MUCH. I mean, I'm not even paranoid when I have it playing so I'm keeping it play all day. I feel so calm and relaxed. Even if a paranoid thought filters through I can so much easily let it go and I feel no distress.
I actually have an app on my phone for it and it's called Lightning Bug, it's for android if you are interested. It's awesome.

[faerie_moon_x]

Thanks for the responses. I don't get scared when I'm paranoid, but I get into these tangents like people are trying to hurt me or just be mean to me or single me out... they don't scare me for some reason, but I think I get grandiose thinking at those times too. They might go together for me, I don't know. Like, "This person is trying to hurt me but I'm more powerful than them, so good luck!"

The grounding ideas are good.

What is the Lightning Bug app for? I like apps so I am interested in knowing more.

[volatile]

Originally Posted by dark_heart_x

Thanks for the responses. I don't get scared when I'm paranoid, but I get into these tangents like people are trying to hurt me or just be mean to me or single me out... they don't scare me for some reason, but I think I get grandiose thinking at those times too. They might go together for me, I don't know. Like, "This person is trying to hurt me but I'm more powerful than them, so good luck!"

The grounding ideas are good.

What is the Lightning Bug app for? I like apps so I am interested in knowing more.

It's a meditation app that mostly consists of calming sounds that you can mix and add together to make your own little calming background noise. I originally got it for sleep but now I've pretty much extended its use to all sorts of things, It helps me a lot.
It's got sounds like birds, crickets, wind, water, rain. It's even got things like musical sounds, dogs barking, even the refrigerator hum.
You'll have to get the extensions for more sounds (I just got all the free ones). It's a little confusing at first but not hard to figure out. It's a really nice app and it's free.

[faerie_moon_x]

Originally Posted by volatile

It's a meditation app that mostly consists of calming sounds that you can mix and add together to make your own little calming background noise. I originally got it for sleep but now I've pretty much extended its use to all sorts of things, It helps me a lot.
It's got sounds like birds, crickets, wind, water, rain. It's even got things like musical sounds, dogs barking, even the refrigerator hum.
You'll have to get the extensions for more sounds (I just got all the free ones). It's a little confusing at first but not hard to figure out. It's a really nice app and it's free.

Thanks for this! Gentle noises that drown things out can really help me.