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NEWS > HEALTH > PSYCHOLOGISTS FEAR PARANOIA ON THE RISE

PSYCHOLOGISTS FEAR PARANOIA ON THE RISE

November 21 2008

London, U.K. - At one time paranoia was thought to be solely an expression of mental illness, but studies are finding that more and more people are experiencing irrational fear than ever thought possible before, and that has experts terrified.

Studies throughout the western world have shown that growing numbers of ‘normal’ people are experiencing heightened levels of fear throughout their daily lives. From Britain, to the Netherlands, to the United States, studies are showing that more and more people are living their lives in absolute terror.

“We are now starting to discover that madness is human and that we need to look at normal people to understand it,” said Dr. Jim van Os, a professor of psychiatry at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. “It may very well be that what we have deemed as normal may in fact be a level of insanity. It may be that we will have to completely redefine our view of what normal and mad is; there may in fact be very few normal people in the world at all.”

In a recent British study, researchers found that nearly 21 per cent of the 8500 people surveyed felt at time that people had been acting against them, a number significantly higher than fund in previous studies. In a related study conducted at the University of Texas rates of paranoia have tripled amongst students in the last ten years.

“Those numbers are much higher than we had initially feared. We have to now determine whether or not this is a product of a changing environment or whether or we have been misdiagnosing the illness for all these years,” said Dr. James Ham of the University of London. “If we continue to see these rates continue we could be in for some very serious problems. If the rates continue to triple the entire population of the western world will be suffering from paranoia in fifteen years. I’m afraid to say it, but we could be looking at the end of civilization as we know it.”

The concern of mass mental illness hasn’t just frightened mental health professionals. Government agencies are starting to take notice and realize that this could be a major issue for the basic structure of society going forward. London in particular, already considered the most monitored city in the world, is seen as one of the epicentres for a possible outbreak of mass mental illness.

“Any major city is at risk. The sheer amount of people in the cities not only breeds that feeling of claustrophobia but there are so many more opportunities for paranoid incidents with the sheer crush of people,” continued Dr. Ham. “With so many cameras around the possibility of a calamitous rise in paranoid incidents is ripe in London. I know the British government has already looked into possible resolutions should such a thing happen and have begun installing even more surveillance in order to catch any outbreaks of violence should they happen. They are watching, so be careful what you do.”

Of course there are detractors to the studies. Some believe that the rush to diagnose mental illness is a result of decreasing salaries and high payouts from drug companies.

“Simply put, people are more willing to take a small issue and escalate into something it is not in order to get a paper published or increase your grant money,” said Dr. Moheb Ibrahim of the University of Leeds. “Everywhere I look there are doctors misdiagnosing and putting people on unnecessary drugs. It’s not just in England; doctors across the western world are doing this. They are out to get more money and they are only multiplying. People should be worried about being misdiagnosed than they should be about the random stranger. People who will stab you in the front have a much better chance of success than those who stab you in the back.”

As yet, there has been no mass outbreak of mental illness, nor major city-destroying riots reported.  

Lauren Hebert, Health Correspondent

NEWS > HEALTH > PSYCHOLOGISTS FEAR PARANOIA ON THE RISE