Do people mock you for being "paranoid"?

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Jayo
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30 May 2015, 8:19 am

Maybe this is why some people with ASD have been misdiagnosed with (paranoid) schizophrenia in the past.

While I've been mocked for "paranoia" in the past - notably during my early to mid teens - it was more than justified due to all the bullying I had to suffer. Matter of fact, three of the worst bullies I've had to deal with constantly mocked me for being "paranoid" which made me ashamed and I let my guard down later in the life because I absolutely detested "paranoid" accusations. (Think of the old expression, "don't piss down my back and then tell me it's raining" :evil: )

IMO, paranoia is not a primary symptom of Aspergers, but more of a defence mechanism, not to trust people (and even avoid them), which is highly rational but NTs don't usually see it that way. 8O

For them, since they have spontaneous social intuition and are non-verbally fluent, they simply can't understand how someone would react with paranoia to "everyday" interactions. :roll:

I've also been "paranoid" in the workplace, but only mocked once as such, by a former bully boss who just had a hate-on for me because I wasn't "normal". As you might expect, that "paranoia" revolved around always waiting to be summoned into a manager's office to be told that so-and-so found my behaviour unsettling or disruptive or what have you, and I'd be totally blindsided. Such fears were not arbitrary or unfounded, but based on actual experience. Whereas someone who's clinically paranoid has no rational basis for their fears of persecution.



zer0netgain
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31 May 2015, 3:02 pm

I've been mocked for being into conspiracies, but so far, pretty much everything I said was going on has come out as being true.

Haven't gotten the first apology for having been right from the beginning.



dianthus
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31 May 2015, 5:23 pm

zer0netgain wrote:
I've been mocked for being into conspiracies, but so far, pretty much everything I said was going on has come out as being true.

Haven't gotten the first apology for having been right from the beginning.


Same, although some of the things I've researched and talked about have been pretty far out there and may never come out in the open, or probably not in my lifetime anyway. But most things have come out.

It's gratifying to see people who once mocked me, now have a lot of the same ideas, but they seem to have amnesia about how they were introduced to it and how they once put me down for it. :roll:



dianthus
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31 May 2015, 5:26 pm

Jayo wrote:
Such fears were not arbitrary or unfounded, but based on actual experience. Whereas someone who's clinically paranoid has no rational basis for their fears of persecution.


What you are describing isn't paranoia, it's hypervigilance.

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ToughDiamond
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31 May 2015, 6:38 pm

Yes it depends on what you mean by "paranoid," I think it's a word that's over-used and misused by many of the people who use it. I don't seem to be paranoid at all in the technical sense of the word. I disapprove of magical thinking and I don't think anybody is out to persecute me.

I've never been exactly mocked for "being paranoid," but people have sometimes given me the impression that they think I'm too risk-averse. They're probably often correct, but my risk-aversion, hypervigilance, or whatever it may be, is the only way I know, and I don't see how I could relax it without more information on such matters as the probabilities of good and bad outcomes and how good or bad it would be if things went right or wrong for me. I don't see it as at all wise to take uncalculated risks. I guess what's missing is an intuitive grasp of risk, and without intuition, like with many other things in my life, my only recourse is to go the long way round and to try to compute the thing from objective facts, but those facts are rarely available to me.

The only time I've been called paranoid was by an authority figure at work. He had just told me that I had been identified by my colleagues as somebody who could do more in terms of enthusiasm and initiative, and I had responded by asking him who had said so and what exactly they had said. I reckon he was just using an underhand way of trying to get more out of me.



AspieUtah
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31 May 2015, 6:41 pm

zer0netgain wrote:
I've been mocked for being into conspiracies, but so far, pretty much everything I said was going on has come out as being true.

Haven't gotten the first apology for having been right from the beginning.

Exactly! :D


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ASPartOfMe
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31 May 2015, 10:00 pm

I have been told I am to paranoid and too cynical and too negative yes it's a defense mechanism for being the opposite of those. Finding out I am autistic led me to find out why I am paranoid and cynical and led me to dial it back a bit. So while you will see posts of mine that are "paranoid" etc will you will also see threads where I am the optimistic/positive poster on a thread which never would have happened in the past.


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GiantHockeyFan
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01 Jun 2015, 8:49 am

Jayo wrote:
While I've been mocked for "paranoia" in the past - notably during my early to mid teens - it was more than justified due to all the bullying I had to suffer. Matter of fact, three of the worst bullies I've had to deal with constantly mocked me for being "paranoid" which made me ashamed and I let my guard down later in the life because I absolutely detested "paranoid" accusations. (Think of the old expression, "don't piss down my back and then tell me it's raining" :evil: )

IMO, paranoia is not a primary symptom of Aspergers, but more of a defence mechanism, not to trust people (and even avoid them), which is highly rational but NTs don't usually see it that way. 8O

For them, since they have spontaneous social intuition and are non-verbally fluent, they simply can't understand how someone would react with paranoia to "everyday" interactions. :roll:

I've also been "paranoid" in the workplace, but only mocked once as such, by a former bully boss who just had a hate-on for me because I wasn't "normal". As you might expect, that "paranoia" revolved around always waiting to be summoned into a manager's office to be told that so-and-so found my behaviour unsettling or disruptive or what have you, and I'd be totally blindsided. Such fears were not arbitrary or unfounded, but based on actual experience. Whereas someone who's clinically paranoid has no rational basis for their fears of persecution.


I can relate all too well to all of this. If you suddenly lived in a world where snipers were taking random shots at you and you had no idea why, who wouldn't become paranoid? My 'paranoia' as a teenager was justified because the worst attacks I suffered were usually a)by the nerdy or unpopular kids and b)when I least suspected it.



jimmyboy76453
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01 Jun 2015, 10:17 am

Yes, I can understand. I don't get a lot of 'you're being paranoid' attitude, but I can understand. Part of autism is being less able to tell what other people's intentions motivations are, not understanding their non-verbal messages, and not always getting underlying meanings, double-entendres and sarcasm. This leads to some people, myself included, having very little indication or understanding of what other people are going to do so EVERYTHING comes as a surprise. As a result, it's understandable for a person to make guesses about what the other person might do, especially negative guesses, because they just don't know and want to be prepared. For example, if I can't see a reprimand from my boss coming, it feels like it could happen at any time for any reason. Why wouldn't I constantly be on the watch for it?
It is possible to become too concerned with something to the point of neglecting other things or missing the positive things, but unless that is the case, it isn't a problem.
I had a boss that seemed to find something wrong with EVERYTHING I did, and it got to the point where any time she talked to me, I expected to get yelled at.


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