To those of you saying, "Well, I'm paranoid, too, I keep thinking about why those people are looking at me," or the ones with jokes, I seriously wish you'd all just shut the bleep up.
If you're not walking around literally afraid for your life of everyone you see, wondering which one of them it is that's going to do you in, then you're not paranoid.
Paranoia is not a mood, it's not something you can talk yourself out of, and it's not something that comes and goes with the weather. Sufferers cannot carry on normal lives without treatment and medication. I lived with a paranoid schizophrenic for 13 years, until her perception of the marriage was something she just couldn't tolerate any more. Nothing I've ever done has required more patience, understanding, and sacrifice than caring for this woman, and in the end it was all for naught. Her irrational fear of me overcame her trust in me, and she left.
Joking about it is no different from joking about amputees, blind people, people confined to wheelchairs, or any other such debilitating condition. It's offensive, tasteless, and contributes nothing to the OP's hopeful reach for assistance.
Cut it out.
