help with paranoia

[Eggplant345]

does anyone have any advice for someone who is paranoid? or if someone knows if paranoia stems from anxiety? i battle with anxiety (hypochondria, gad, etc.) currently and now i am paranoid 24/7. like from a scale from 1 to 10 i'll tell you have my paranoia ranges. it goes from "oh no i cant use my phone while i'm taking a bath for sure the boy i used to talk to hacked into my phone and is watching my every move through the camera" to "oh no the people in the class said 'she' they must be talking about me" to "oh no a strand of my hair fell off i can't leave it here because someone might commit a crime here and they will find my hair and convict me and throw me in jail." i know, i'm crazy.

[LiveAboveIt]

Haha. I don't mean to laugh, but.. You sound a lot like me. We are all different in many ways. Same thing with the camera things on phones and tablets.. I also used to need to locate the closest thing I could find to a weapon for each and every room I entered, incase I was ever attacked or in a situation that I needed one.

I suffer from G.A.D. and paranoia is incredibly common and normal. When you have anxiety, your entire system is in fight or flight.. Everything becomes a potential enemy or threat, thus brings on the paranoia.

Also, even if you have these issues when you are NOT having anxiety.. Like, if they pop up from time to time.. It's just a learned habit from when you DO have anxiety.

Had to go all through this with my therapist. You are completely normal. Do not fret, it will pass.

[Round in circles]

I'd worry about using my phone in the bath, but only because I'd probably drop it in the water and it would end up in a bubbly electronic afterlife :)

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yes, I think this is common with anxiety. Even before I suffered from it I can remember certain types of paranoia that were completely irrational, which I laugh at myself for, e.g. making sure the large cupboard door in the bathroom (towels, water tank, etc) is shut incase I'm being watched. Sounds craxy doesn't it...I don't really know why I did it back then.

I'm also a bit obsessive over cover myself when dealing with complex situations at work, doing too much checking to ensure my case is watertight...so a bit of OCD there.

The cupboard door thing doesn't really bother me but the work stuff would and still does.

I think it's case of relaxation and trust. It would probably help you to try CBT because you need to alter your perception by changing your thoughts to bring this back into perspective.

In some ways it's like "look both ways when you cross the street son" being drilled into you as a child and you end up checking it a couple of times...then it spills into these issues when anxiety starts coming out.

---------- Post added at 04:50 ---------- Previous post was at 04:49 ----------


I also used to need to locate the closest thing I could find to a weapon for each and every room I entered, incase I was ever attacked or in a situation that I needed one.



Thats makes you Jason Bourne!!! :shades:

[Oosh]

Having thoughts like that isn't necessarily abnormal. I'm pretty sure these kind of thoughts pop into most peoples heads.
The difference is they have another rational, reassuring voice in their head that calms them, looks for evidence, reassures and comes to balanced conclusions on the evidence found.

Much like the personalities on these boards. There are some who are anxious and there are some who are rational and reassuring. The reassuring types are not anxiety free. But they're more in touch with their calming, reassuring, rational side.

You need to have both in your head. If you're not hearing it that's ok. You're just not in the habit. Practice it, strengthen it, the more you use it the more dominant it will be. It will calm you down when you're panicky and it'll keep you grounded in reality when you have paranoid suggestions.

"People in the class said she. They must mean me."
If they were referring to any other female how would they refer to her ? She.
How many other females could it have been ? Loads.
The reason it bothers me is because it WOULD bother me if they were bitching about me and that's a normal way to feel.
But the fact is I don't have enough evidence to know they're referring to me so I'll assume they're not until I get a lot more concrete evidence that suggests they are.

[Eggplant345]

it's kind of irrational thinking don't you think? like i was on a whole loosing weight crave and i took a picture of myself in under clothes so i can view my progress. seriously deleted it 2 minutes later because i don't know what got into my mind that some boy i was talking to was hacking my email/iphone and has the picture in his possession now. i restored by phone and stopped talkig to him all at once. well, i did not stop talking to him because of that but because he got disgusting further into the "friendship"

[Oosh]

I don't think its irrational. Phone hacking is real. But whether it was actually possible for him to do what you were worrying he did is something google will tell you.
Find out what phone hacking is possible and how to secure your phone then you can relax.
You can educate yourself on phone hacking and KNOW if he could have or don't and just spend forever not trusting your phone.
But I wouldn't say it was irrational, cautious or fearful maybe.
And that's where self reassurance comes in.

[Eggplant345]

i have gone on a support community section of apple.com and multiple people have told me that if the phone itself could be hacked but not if the person hasn't had the phone in their possession. i was relived for a while but that little bug in the back of my mind thought "i might be the 1 exception."

[Fishmanpa]

Ok EPlant....

Can someone hack your phone if they really wanted to? yep... Of course, they'd have to have access to it in order to do so. Would someone hack "your" phone? The possibility remotely exists. The question you have to ask yourself is why would someone even go to the trouble of doing so?

Unless you're a celebrity or government official, what use would it be? That being said, if some "boy" got some semi nude images from your phone (and they'd have to be while you were using your phone while on, pointed at you while naked)... so what?... really?... so he get's his jollies off and the chances of that are pretty much nil if you know what I mean. If you were doing things and pointing your phone at yourself.... well then I can understand but otherwise, I think you're safe ;)

Positive thoughts

[MyNameIsTerry]

Try being practical about it to alter your perception of the danger as said above plus...

- mobile networks on GSM are digitally encrypted, aside from obtaining your phone to do it, it would mean cracking this encryption. So, is the guy clever enough to hack a network? If not, its an irrational thought process working with your anxiety.


- secure your phone by SIM and PIN barring it. Without specialist equipment, it wont be possible to do it then.


Thats for the UK, I dont know about the US.


Remember its an irrational thought process, you are not irrational. Anxiety makes you look for threats to protect yourself but too much anxiety makes you see what isnt really there.

[Eggplant345]

[/COLOR]I have called my carrier to ask about this when the fear first started(which was about 5 months ago) and they said their was nothing suspicious about the activity on my phone. I guess i should let it go. And i know the person personally so i have been thinking that if they did have that photo of me that they would have used it to black mail me by now. Funny part was that i didnt even have a reason to think my phone was compromisedto begin with. it was just another paranoid thought that popped into my mind the second i deleted it.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Thats good though because you recognised as only a thought, not a tangible threat.

The network can perform investigations and push for prosecution. If someone hacked the encryption, they could listen to a lot more so digital encryption was put in place to stop this. It can be broken, but by experts e.g. security services.


I dont know what the US networks are like, I always assume the US to be ahead of the UK with technology, but on the old analog networks listening in was rife and possible with scanners but thats going back to the nineties when I worked in that sector as digital was coming in for us.