Does anxiety make you paranoid?

[Surf207]

Hello

I've had issues with anxiety for quite a while, but due to recent stressful life events this seems to have become worse than I have ever experienced before. Recently, I've found that everytime I get stressed and worked up I've started to get paranoid thoughts. These are normally along the lines of people are out to get me, or are watching me/tapping my phones/following me etc. I actually find this really scary, not so much the thoughts (although sometimes these are scary), but the fact that I am thinking these sorts of things. Once I can ease the stress a bit I've found that the thoughts lessen, but everytime it happens it takes longer for them to go away and I find myself believing them more and more. Even now I'm worried that someone will recognise me from this post, or that people can see my internet history etc.

i'm not quite sure how to deal with these thoughts and was wondering if anyone had any advice?

Thanks

[J Stabler]

Yeah I have really bad paranoia, sometimes I thinks its a good thing but most of the time its really unhealthy.

[firemonkey]

http://www.paranoidthoughts.com/assess.php only works in internet explorer. My pdoc said my anxiety is to be expected given my paranoia. I guess it works the other way round too.

http://www.researchgate.net/publicat...ch_comes_first

[SeekingSolace]

I get terrible paranoia. For some years I had to install CCTV cameras all around my place, recording every time they detected motion. My anxiety causes paranoia, that paranoia causes anxiety, and on it goes. This was largely due to increasingly toxic relationships and friendships over the years, much of it at that point was frankly, completely justified. I've now near-completely got rid of all the nasty, dangerous people with whom I associated, but since Ed Snowden, well, it's true that someone (could be anyone too I guess) knows who I am when I post here, it's true that these people can see my internet history, they can and do record all telecomms, it does make me wonder whether that cam and mic on my laptop, desktop and phone might be accessed too, given that, well, they are accessible, so why wouldn't they be? I have to put tape over all of my cams when they're not in use. Christ knows what else they're up to, and who "they" are. Really doesn't help with my anxiety/paranoia.
Brand puts it pretty well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-FfnKUlcvQ