

When a patient seeks treatment for PPD, psychotherapy is the treatment of choice. As a result, many people with PPD do not follow their treatment plan and may even question the motives of the therapist. The distrust of others felt by people with PPD also poses a challenge for health care professionals because trust is an important factor of psychotherapy (a form of counseling). People with PPD often do not seek treatment on their own because they do not see themselves as having a problem. How is paranoid personality disorder treated? Psychiatrists and psychologists use specially designed interview and assessment tools to evaluate a person for a personality disorder. PPD is different from psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, paranoid type or delusional disorder, persecutory type, in that the person with PPD lacks the perceptual distortions (for example, hearing voices) or bizarre delusional thinking (for example, being followed everywhere by the FBI). If the doctor finds no physical reason for the symptoms, he or she might refer the person to a psychiatrist or psychologist, health care professionals who are specially trained to diagnose and treat mental illnesses. For example, difficulty hearing or long-lasting substance abuse may be confused with PPD. Although there are no laboratory tests to specifically diagnose personality disorders, the doctor might use various diagnostic tests to rule out physical illness as the cause of the symptoms. If a person has symptoms, the doctor will begin an evaluation by performing a complete medical history and physical examination. How is paranoid personality disorder diagnosed?


It is also believed that early childhood experiences, including physical or emotional trauma, play a role in the development of PPD. The fact that PPD is more common in people who have close relatives with schizophrenia and delusional disorder suggests a genetic link between the two disorders (may run in the family). The exact cause of PPD is not known, but it likely involves a combination of biological and psychological factors. What causes paranoid personality disorder? Studies estimate that PPD affects between 2.3% and 4.4% of the general population.

This disorder often begins in childhood or early adolescence and appears to be more common in men than in women. The essential characteristic of people with PPD is paranoia, a relentless mistrust and suspicion of others without adequate reason to be suspicious. People with these disorders often appear odd or peculiar. Paranoid personality disorder (PPD) is one of a group of conditions called Cluster A or eccentric personality disorders.
