Paranoid anxiety is a term used in

object relations theory Object relations theory is a school of thought in psychoanalytic theory and psychoanalysis centered around theories of stages of ego development. Its concerns include the relation of the psyche to others in childhood and the exploration of re ...

, particularly in discussions about the

Paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions In development psychology, Melanie Klein proposed a "(psychic) position theory" instead of a " (psychic) stage theory". Paranoid-schizoid position In object relations theory, the paranoid-schizoid position is a state of mind of children, from ...

. The term was frequently used by

Melanie Klein Melanie Klein (; ; Reizes; 30 March 1882 – 22 September 1960) was an Austrian-British author and psychoanalysis, psychoanalyst known for her work in child analysis. She was the primary figure in the development of object relations theory. Kl ...

, especially to refer to a pre-depressive and persecutory sense of anxiety characterised by the psychological splitting of objects.

Further developments

Donald Meltzer Donald Meltzer (1922–2004) was a Kleinian psychoanalyst whose teaching made him influential in many countries. He became known for making clinical headway with difficult childhood conditions such as autism, and also for his theoretical innovat ...

saw paranoid anxiety as linked not only to a loss of trust in the goodness of objects, but also to a confusion between feeling and thought. For the extreme forms of such anxiety, he coined the term 'terror', to convey something of the qualitatively different intensity of their nature.

External sources

Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies seen as originating from conflicts in t ...

considered that there was generally a small kernel of truth hidden in the exaggerated anxiety of the paranoid - what

Hanns Sachs Hanns Sachs (; 10 January 1881, in Vienna – 10 January 1947, in Boston) was one of the earliest psychoanalysts, and a close personal friend of Sigmund Freud. He became a member of Freud's Secret Committee of six in 1912, Freud describing him as ...

described as an amoeba about to become monster. The anti-psychiatrist David Cooper argued indeed that "The therapist in working with people might far more often have to confirm the reality of paranoid fears than in any sense disconfirm or attempt to modify them", but most family therapists would probably agree that this is an extreme and one-sided position.

Defensive functions

Idealisation Psychoanalytic theory posits that an individual unable to integrate difficult feelings mobilizes specific defenses to overcome these feelings, which the individual perceives to be unbearable. The defense that effects (brings about) this process i ...

(as in the

transference Transference () is a phenomenon within psychotherapy in which repetitions of old feelings, attitudes, desires, or fantasies that someone displaces are subconsciously projected onto a here-and-now person. Traditionally, it had solely co ...

) can be used as a defence against deeper paranoid anxieties about the actual presence of a destructive, denigrating object. Conversely, paranoid fears, especially when systematised, may themselves serve as a defence against a deeper, chaotic disintegration of the personality.

Persecutory anxiety state (panic attack) and persecutory delusion

Paranoid anxiety may reach the level of a persecutory anxiety state (a form of ''

panic attack Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear and Comfort, discomfort that may include palpitations, otherwise defined as a Tachycardia, rapid, Arrhythmia, irregular Heart rate, heartbeat, Hyperhidrosis, sweating, chest pain or discomfort, s ...

''), including various levels of

persecutory delusion A persecutory delusion is a type of delusional condition in which the affected person believes that harm is going to occur to oneself by a persecutor, despite a clear lack of evidence. The person may believe that they are being targeted by an ...

s (the preferred term to ''paranoid delusions''). Heavy drinking is said to sometimes precipitate acute paranoid panic – the protagonist's unconscious hostile impulses being

projected Projected is an American rock supergroup consisting of Sevendust members John Connolly and Vinnie Hornsby, Alter Bridge and Creed drummer Scott Phillips, and former Submersed and current Tremonti guitarist Eric Friedman. The band released the ...

onto all those around.

Literary examples

Hamm in ''Endgame'' by

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...

has been singled out as a character driven by paranoid anxiety.Meltzer et al, p. 176-7 Noboru in ''

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea ''The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea'' () is a novel written by Yukio Mishima, published in Japanese in 1963 and translated into English by John Nathan in 1965. Plot The story follows the actions of Noboru Kuroda, an adolescent boy ...

'' by

Yukio Mishima Kimitake Hiraoka ( , ''Hiraoka Kimitake''; 14 January 192525 November 1970), known by his pen name Yukio Mishima ( , ''Mishima Yukio''), was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, Ultranationalism (Japan), ultranationalis ...

is shown to have persecutory anxiety

References

External links

On the Dynamics of Social Structure : A Contribution to the Psycho-Analytical Study of Social Phenomena
article has discussions of defenses. See headings: ''defenses against paranoid anxiety'' and ''defenses against depressive anxiety.'' {{Delusion Delusional disorders Paranoia Object relations theory