Paranoid Personality Disorder and Your Practice

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=160 BGCOLOR="#333333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="03cdedc2ddualp.png"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dr. Wade Silverman, Ph.D"><U><B>Dr. Wade Silverman, Ph.D</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U><B>Contact Us</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id147.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FAQs"><U><B>FAQs</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Dr. Silverman"><U><B>About Dr. Silverman</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id146.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Great links"><U><B>Great links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Mind Reader© archive"><U><B>The Mind Reader© archive</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="03d64643.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#666633" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>Dr. Wade Silverman, Ph.D</B></FONT>    |     <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000BF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dr. Wade Silverman, Ph.D"><U>home</U></A></FONT></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> Paranoid Personality Disorder and Your Practice</div> <bR> <div> In the last issue I focused on the Dependent Personality Disorder. In this issue we will discuss the type of personality disorder most frequently involved in litigation, the Paranoid Personality Disorder (PPD). This individual has a basic mistrust of others that manifests itself in four or more of the following: (1) Expects, without sufficient basis, that others are deceiving or taking advantage of him/her; (2) Preoccupation with doubts as to the loyalty or trustworthiness of friends and/or associates without sufficient basis; (3) Reluctance to confide in others because of possible harm to self; (4) Finds negative messages in benign remarks or events; (5) Bears grudges; (6) Perceives personal attacks on his/her reputation that are not apparent; and (7) Suspects infidelity without justification. </div> <div> The inherent difficulty in working with this client is that the PPD individual is incapable of truly trusting anyone. The strategy for working with the PPD client is to stick with the facts of the case scrupulously. Do not attempt to argue or reason with this client. Explanations are futile. Merely recite the facts and the law as applied to them. Document all of your activities in the case, particularly your billing. Describe in fine detail your proposed actions and the various options available to the client. His/her course of action may not be what you would consider prudent or reasonable. Once again, it would be fruitless to attempt to sway his/her decision. You can either accommodate to their requests or resign. In addition, this individual has a tendency to "cry wolf" so that his/her claims are suspect as to their validity.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>