Definitions HQ

Paranoia (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the closest modern analogue to the unrflective religious fantasies of the pagan world.

Paranoia (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠where the vanished spectators of childhood return: invisible, yet inferred with fanatical conviction.

Paranoia (n.) sees ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠more clearly than the normal mind — that others' trifling acts are full of meaning — but displaces onto them what is in himself, which makes his knowledge worthless.

Paranoia (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠something each of us has in one respect: we correct some unbearable corner of the world with a wish and slip the delusion into reality.

Paranoia (n.) makes ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the person one loved most into one's persecutor — a too-strong homosexual attachment fended off by turning it into hate.

Paranoia (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠conscience turned back into an outside voice: the patient, revolting against his parents' influence, meets his conscience regressively as a hostile power from without.

Paranoia (n.) betrays ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠in distorted form exactly what other neurotics keep secret, so a written self-account can stand in for personal acquaintance with the patient.

Paranoia (n.) translates ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠into normal speech by the usual technique: strip a statement of its negative form, take an example for the thing itself, a quotation or gloss for the original source.

Paranoia (n.) has ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a grammar: from "I love him", jealousy contradicts the subject, persecution the verb, erotomania the object, and megalomania the whole sentence.

Paranoia (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠defined not by its complexes, which all neuroses share, but by its mechanism: how symptoms form and repression works.

Paranoia (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a defence too, Freud argued early: a way of repressing painful memories, with its own mechanism.

Paranoia (n.) projects: ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the self-reproach is repressed by blaming others, and returns as delusions the ego cannot defend against.