How to cope living with paranoid personality disorder? Pls help.?!


Question: How to cope living with paranoid personality disorder? Pls help.?
Someone very close to me is affected by this mental illness. I have done research on the illness, and it's been great in gaining a basic understanding of the condition, but I have not been able to find coping skills for those around a PPD sufferer. Please, I REALLY need some help with this. I just want to be helpful to my friend, but at the moment I don't know how to. It seems that everything I do and say is taken the wrong way. I'm at the bottom of the barrel. Please help me.
I would like to know the viewpoint of PPD sufferers. For example, what would you consider helpful from those around you? How can others help you? What should I definitely avoid?
Maybe it's not you with PPD but someone you know or are living with, how do you cope? Are there any strategies you use? Are there things you avoid doing/saying?

The things I struggle with the most is that my dear friend believes that people (strangers especially) cannot be trusted. When we are out at the shopping mall for example, my friend says that people are looking at her and judging her. I have noticed she is very possessive and can be hurtful in his speech (demeaning and condescending). Yet she honestly believes there is nothing wrong with her. So, naturally I don't want to hurt her feelings, but the more I try NOT to hurt her, the more I AM upsetting her, unintentionally. I really would like to be able to be a better friend to her.

I need all the help I can get, please.

Answers:

Be supportive but don't argue with you friend when she makes the negative statements. You will only make her feel worse. Instead, offer to bring her out of that immediate situation where she is feeling judged. She needs someone that will listen without making her feel like she's insane/seeing things/hearing things/imagining things. If she wants to talk about it, let her. Otherwise, try to distract her with positive conversations that are unrelated to her illness, distract her with humor or activities that she enjoys.



By no means is this an answer to your question, by reading your situation prompted me to reply. I too am im a relationship that shares the exact same details relating to PPD. Personaly I find myself close to seeking professional counseling to deal with her problem, as nearly all attempts I have made to reassure her have failed. It would be an ideal plan if she were to go with me to seek help, but she is in denial that she has this condition. Simply put, I too am out of answers. At any rate, good luck and wish you and her the best in resolving or coping with this terrible condition.




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