Caring for a Parent with Paranoid Personality Disorder

Witnessing strange, unfamiliar behaviors in a parent is always unsettling—but many factors can cause a change in the behavior of a loved one. How do you know it’s PPD?

Various symptoms may be present, but the main way in which PPD manifests itself is in paranoid delusions. Ask yourself:

• Does your parent distrust others and believe they harbor secret, harmful intentions?
• Do they question the loyalty of even their closest family and friends, even in the absence of any evidence to support their suspicions?
• Have they begun to isolate themselves due to their fears that others are “out to get them” or trying to take advantage of them?

Sufferers of PPD can be reluctant to confide in others and tend to hold grudges or read offensive or threatening meanings into even the most innocent comments. They are quick to anger and become hostile. When people react negatively to this hostility, the PPD sufferer believes their suspicions are confirmed. The disorder has a greater chance of appearing in families that have a history of schizophrenia and delusional disorders. Co-occurring conditions like depression and anxiety can further complicate matters, making your parent moody or isolated.

Helping a parent with PPD is tricky. But it can certainly be done. Never give up hope. Residential psychiatric professionals are ready and waiting to help your parent begin a treatment plan that will benefit your entire family.

Perhaps the most effective way to help your parent recover from PPD is to get them around-the-clock psychiatric care in a residential treatment center. In this setting, they can get the therapies, medications, and support they need to manage their paranoid delusions and other symptoms. This is especially helpful for parents who have such advanced PPD they have difficulty caring for themselves. It helps you, too, as caring for parents who have PPD can be quite stressful and emotionally draining. You parent needs professional psychiatric care that cannot be provided by a loving family alone.

Talk therapy and psychotherapy often form the cornerstones of a PPD treatment program. They can help your parent re-examine paranoid thoughts, reduce their feelings of anxiety and paranoia, and learn to communicate more constructively with others. Residential treatment is a safe place for clients to address emotionally difficult challenges using new coping skills like emotional regulation and reality acceptance.

In a residential setting, your parent will also get the psychiatric prescriptions or adjustments to the medications they need. They may receive anti-anxiety or antipsychotic medications to reduce and manage their symptoms. Another benefit of seeking treatment at a residential facility is round-the-clock medical supervision that will help ensure your parent is taking the right doses at the right time—a task which can be difficult for family members to take on, especially at first, as people with PPD often resist taking their medication.

Setting parents up on a long-term treatment plan tailored to their individual needs can help prevent them from relapsing into old paranoid patterns even after they’ve left the facility. All in all, residential treatment sets you and your parent up for effective, lasting recovery.