Diagnosis of Paranoid Personality Disorder

A diagnosis is made via a medical professional’s evaluation, based on specific criteria.

For medical professionals to diagnose paranoid personality disorder, individuals must be persistently distrustful and suspicious of others, as shown by at least four of the following:

1. They suspect, without sufficient reason, that other people are exploiting, injuring, or deceiving them.
2. They are preoccupied with unjustified doubts about the reliability of their friends and coworkers.
3. They are reluctant to confide in others lest the information be used against them.
4. They misinterpret harmless remarks or events as having hidden belittling, hostile, or threatening meaning.
5. They hold grudges if they think they have been insulted, injured, or slighted.
6. They are quick to think that their character or reputation has been attacked and to react angrily or to counterattack
7. They repeatedly suspect that their spouse or partner is unfaithful, although they have no sufficient reason to suspect it.

Also, symptoms must have begun by early adulthood.