Are your friends talking about you? The truth about paranoia – and why it’s higher than ever

As a young psychologist, the delusions of a patient with schizophrenia made me curious about mistrust. Here’s what 30 years of research has taught me – plus a quiz to find out just how paranoid you are

Autumn 1992. I am struggling down a narrow, overgrown passageway in the front garden of a house in south London, squeezing past overflowing bins in the rain. If anyone is watching – and I hope they are not – they must take me for an incompetent burglar. This was definitely not mentioned in the job description when I began work at the Institute of Psychiatry, one of the largest centres in the world for mental health research. The project I’m assisting with is one of the first clinical trials of psychological therapy for schizophrenia patients with delusions and hallucinations. Surely, I think, as I continue my slow progress to the back of the house, this can’t be right. Why shouldn’t I just present myself at the front door?

But the psychiatric nurse who briefed me was adamant that I shouldn’t ring the doorbell. There would be no point: the man I have come to see would never appear. Robert believes that government agencies are conspiring to murder him. So instead of answering the door, Robert would be hiding in terror, keeping silent and still, and crouching below window height. The only way to reach him is to give the secret signal: three knocks on the window at the side of the house. And so, feeling somewhat self-conscious, this is what I do. Sure enough, the kitchen door opens a fraction, Robert’s apprehensive face appears, and I am politely hurried inside. The house is dark and silent. Curtains are drawn; kitchen blinds closed. No radio plays. No music lightens the gloom. The place, like Robert, is on edge. It’s as if the house is holding its breath, desperate not to give itself away. Straining to detect the disaster that one day – who knows, maybe today – is sure to come calling.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/fmiwHnM