Ep 30: Paranoid Personality | The 6 Subtypes Explained

Personality Couch

In this episode of The Personality Couch Podcast, we (licensed clinical psychologists Doc Bok and Doc Fish) continue our discussion about paranoid personality disorder, exploring its three severity levels: Mild, Borderline, and Paraphrenic. We unpack the six subtypes of paranoid personalities as outlined by Dr. Theodore Millon: The Self-Righteous Mistrustful, The Obdurate Mistrustful, the Querulous Paranoid, the Insular Paranoid, the severe Fanatic Paraphrenic, and Malignant Paraphrenic. We highlight the fragility of Paranoids at all levels of severity, noting they can easily deteriorate with stressors and setbacks. We emphasize the importance of understanding these very common personality dynamics in all settings, especially with increasing paranoia in the post-pandemic world.

Are you a clinician stuck on a case? To schedule a consultation, please visit the practice website, which will guide you to the email address to use. www.questpsych.org

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Paranoid Personality Disorder
03:44 Paranoid Personality Disorder Symptoms
06:03 Historical Examples
06:09 Timothy McVeigh - Oklahoma City Bombings
06:36 Richard Farley - Erotomania
07:52 Explaining the 3 Severity Levels
09:30 Mild Paranoid Personalities: Mistrustful Types
10:16 Self-Righteous Subtype
14:28 Obdurate Subtype
17:14 Moderate Paranoid Personalities: Disorder Level
17:44 Querulous Subtype
21:32 Insular Subtype
23:52 Severe Paranoid Personalities: Paraphrenic Level
25:44 Fanatic Subtype
30:57 Malignant Subtype
36:12 Summary & Conclusion