Is paranoia a part of anxiety?

I was diagnosed several years ago with anxiety disorders and I can remember telling my doctor that I was paranoid quite a bit about a lot of things. He never said anything against what I said. I noticed that once my anxiety calmed down though, that my feelings of paranoia went away. I'm not on medication anymore though. Thankfully my anxiety is pretty controlled but I still have bouts of anxiety and paranoia though.

Hello my friend. Well in answer to your question yes paranoia is a part of anxiety, and especially now since you have been without your medications you will notice this more significantly than you would have before. As far as schizophrenia I personally don't think you are schizophrenic. Paranoia also is a part of schizophrenia but the symptoms you have are more from severe anxiety. As you know I too suffer from severe anxiety and have had to deal with the paranoia as well. Thank god I have finally gotten my medications figured out and am on the right dose so now life is returning back to normal for me. I take 100 mg of Sertraline a generic version of Zoloft and it has been working great for me. Even my insomnia has improved now I can stay asleep once I get to sleep. It's the problem of getting to sleep that's still bugging me but at least now I am getting some sleep. Anyhow here's a helpful article about Schizophrenia that I found. I hope this will shed some light for you. http://helpguide.org/mental/schizophrenia_symptom.htm Wishing you the best. Shell

Yes, paranoia is most definitely part of anxiety.