ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to differentiate trust and faith, and their relationship to each other and to paranoia. If K. S. Isaacs et al. are correct about immaturity as the cause of being unable to distinguish between faith and trust, there is a plethora of immature people to be found. Faith may also present the possibility of changing one's identity, as Esther Menaker points out. In fact, paranoia is the obverse of faith, except for the superficial contents of the individual's perceptions. Thus, paranoia is a means of maintaining faith and its supposed "protection" and "safety". T. Lidz and R. Lidz are in general agreement: "Trust is established through the therapist's inherent thoughtfulness, and efforts to understand the patient's dilemma and grasp what the patient seeks to convey even as he or she seeks to hide thought or feelings". Basic trust is necessary for the transference neurosis not to evolve into a transference psychosis.
