Laura, Scotland
I believe that all of my very close friends are out to get me. I worry all the time about them. If one of my friends doesn't text me back or doesn't answer my phone call i worry that they hate me or are ignoring me and that i have done something wrong even if i haven't. I also worry that if something goes missing it was one of my friends. I know this isn't true and i can talk about this with my friends but they are getting sick of me going on at them now.
Simon, Canada
For the past few years I have been suffering from an extreme form of paranoia. I have basically fallen victim to the suspicion that my thoughts and daily life are somehow being broadcast on television throughout the world. Basically I am under the suspicion that my life is exactly like that movie the "The Truman Show". I think that people I interact with in my life are actors. This paranoia has severely stunted my social development and plagued me with a general fear of people. I have thankfully learned to live with this paranoia and have noticed that as time goes on the suspicion had grown weaker and my confidence had grown stronger. But that paranoia is always in the back of my mind no matter how weak it becomes.
Elise, Canada
Paranoia and anxiety are running my life. I am afraid to step out of the house alone for the fear of the neighbours looking at me and talking about me. I fear crowds and work because I believe people look at me weird and think I am strange.
Craig, UK
I've been largely paranoid for about 6-7 years now due to misuse and overuse of recreational drugs. it all started 6-7 years ago when I was 15 and started smokin ghanj. after about a year of smoking heavy, mainly having shottys, bongs and cloud 9's all day long I took fet(amphetamines) for the first time. i'd never experienced a come down before and it scared me, I wanted to do myself in..i was afraid as i've ever been because of the huge wave of ideas and questions, answers, philosophies and doubts about myself all coming to me at the same time and that was the first time i'd ever experienced thoughts which I hadn't created and weren't my own. I don't do any drugs anymore(besides huge quantities of alcohol, and smoking tobacco).since then, every time I smoked weed it was like fet had opened a gate or do
Rachel, England
I think of myself as a very insecure person. I get paranoid in social situations and I'm frequently suspicious of people's motives, particularly those of men. I assume that when I hear laughter from another group of people, say on a bus or something, that they are laughing about me. I hate leaving the room when I've been sitting with a big group of people because I assume they all talk about me to each other once I've left: about my appearance and my personality. It gets so bad that I feel almost paralysed and I get panicky sweats. I've never told anyone this and the funny thing is that I seem really confident in social situations. I can talk to people really easily and am quick to make jokes. Yet, despite my exterior social camouflage, I can't shake this feeling of paranoia.