#lauren!

there's also stimming! hot stims like a heating pad, cold stims like holding an ice cube, touching items near you, writing something down and focusing on the feeling and the sound of the pen on the page. that last one is something i used to do when my anxiety got so bad i'd start to feel like i was disassociating

you could also take a walk, do a puzzle, listen to music or podcasts, whatever helps you cope

one of the big things too is having a support network. it's always good to be connected to a therapist and/or psychiatrist, and maybe a case manager if you're having trouble managing your ADLs (activities of daily living), but you should also try to connect to family members and friends who can help you get grounded and talk through whatever you need to process, or even just distract you when you need it

paranoia is defined by the apa as "relating to or exhibiting extreme distrust or suspiciousness". this can be anything from not trusting the people around you to not trusting the world around you.

a paranoid delusion is a persistent and deeply-held belief that is characterized by extreme distrust or suspicion. an example could be believing that a pharmacy puts tracking technologies in antipsychotic medications. it doesn't have to be this extreme, but this is the general idea. delusions are likely to grow stronger when directly challenged, and are best dislodged through long-term therapeutic work

in the meantime, you might experience fear and anxiety, anger or frustration when you feel you're not being listened to or taken seriously, depression, irritability, your startle response might be exaggerated, a highly paranoid person might even see someone trying to help as that person trying to hurt. depending on your disorder, you might also experience negative symptoms, like apathy, anhedonia, or social withdrawal

medications can be helpful to manage symptoms like depression or anxiety. there are mood stabilizers to help with rapid mood cycling (going from hot to cold, angry to spacy or sad within hours or even minutes). there are mild sedatives that can help with persistent anger or irritability that might be due to a neurochemical imbalance

medication can't remove a paranoid delusion or 100% prevent paranoid thinking, but it can reduce the symptoms that go along with those thoughts, which can make the paranoia less severe

there are two major medication types as i understand it. (i'm not a nurse, so bear with me!)

there are pills, some of which need to be taken with food, and some of which are more effective in the morning or at night

then there are long-acting injectables, like abilify or invega. as the name suggests, these are received in vaccine form and can last 4 weeks, mayyybe longer? (again, not a nurse.)

injections and pills such as clozaril or lithium can be monitored by fasting labs (bloodwork), which usually starts off being drawn every other week, then can be drawn once a month. this is done to make sure that whatever med you are on is at a therapeutic level in your bloodstream, and isn't too high or too low. if you're in an inpatient setting, or you're connected to a community mental health center who prescribes and dispenses your meds, this can also be done to help keep you honest about taking them

what else is there?......exercise helps, or so i'm told 😜 there are other things, i'm sure, and i don't have a paranoid disorder so ik this was really heavy on the treatment side rather than the lived experience side