The Rock & Roll Shrink Ep. 103 Paranoid Personality vs. Delusional Disorder

This show has done several episodes on various pathologies that are darlings of pop culture and media; the conditions that most of us have heard of most likely first from a book, a song, a TV show, or movie. For various reasons, certain pathologies seem to craft an enticing story in our eyes or command more interest than others. But it also seems that some of the allure may be the fictionalized, often inaccurate portrayals of what we imagine or fantasize a specific condition to be like.

Paranoia is one such pathology, and like many similar conditions, (similar in that it is popular because of pop culture), the terminology and understanding of it by many laypersons are significantly inaccurate, compared to the medical reality.

We have talked about romanticizing certain conditions back in our two part series from 2017 (Ep 24 – Pathology Chic & Misconceptions Pt. 1 6-28-17 (Hollywood versions), and Ep. 25 - Pathology Chic & Misconceptions Pt. 2 7-12-17 (Real Pathologies), as well as warned against layperson/self-diagnosis in Ep. 7 – Armchair Psychology 10-19-16.

Tonight, we will discuss:

1.The History of Paranoid Personality Disorder and Delusional Disorder

2.Paranoid Personality Disorder vs. Delusional Disorder Today

3.Differences and Misconceptions

4.Resources and Coping with either Paranoid Personality Disorder and/or Delusional Disorder

We'll start off the evening with some topic-relevant Classic Rock played by Dr. Mathis, followed by Classic Rock trivia in "The Rock & Roll Shrink Recalls," followed by our topic discussion.