I Think Im Paranoid

This last week 'Paranoid' is a word that has been thrown at me, and although most of us would take offence at the accusation it got me thinking about the whole idea of paranoia.

Now to clarify I'm not talking on an aliens shot JFK conspiracy theory level of paranoia, but the type we all feel at times, and i started to ask myself if there is anything wrong with people who are accused of being paranoid. Let me explain as I'm sure this is making little or no sense. My teenage step daughter sometimes walks home now let us say for example she notices someone following her, she assumes that this person or persons are following her for some clandestine reason so she approaches a house knocks and asks for help, is she paranoid? now let us take it that someone was indeed behind her, but that they were just walking home like her. The point is this, it seems to me that often those we condemn as paranoid are not that far from the truth.

We use the allegation to throw someone of a scent, hypotheticaly let us say your having an affair, some steamy romance of expensive hotels with your secretary (I am immune to this as i slept with the secretary that often i married her). Your spouse suspects and begins to make subtle but telling comments so you accuse them of being suspicious, un-trusting and paranoid. The very word makes us recoil, to re-examine and often conclude that yes that must be it, that our imagination ran away with us, all the while the secretary keeps getting 'overtime'.

My thought is this, we should trust our initial feeling, not be put off by accusations of paranoia as even in some small way I believe our paranoia may be closer to the truth than we realise. So I shall continue to form my conclusions regardless of others who say I'm paranoid because maybe just maybe I'm not paranoid & she really is out to get me.