ABSTRACT
Paranoia and the paranoid reactions comprise those major personality disorders that are characterized by systematized delusions in individuals who otherwise show correct behavior. In both of these reactions the false beliefs are products of a “twisted,” emotionally determined type of thinking which appears to others as illogical. To be sure, many of our beliefs may be nothing more than the rationalizations of our own desires, but when these convictions are subjected to the test of reality and found wanting, we are able to give them up. However, the paranoiac and paranoid individuals tenaciously cling to their convictions and if questioned will even further elaborate them.
