A. A pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of others such that their motives are interpreted as malevolent, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following:
(1) suspects, without sufficient basis, that others are exploiting, harming, or deceiving him or her
(2) is preoccupied with unjustified doubts about the loyalty or trustworthiness of friends or associates
(3) is reluctant to confide in others because of unwarranted fear that the information will be used maliciously against him or her
(4) reads hidden demeaning or threatening meanings into benign remarks or events
(5) persistently bears grudges, i.e., is unforgiving of insults, injuries, or slights
(6) perceives attacks on his or her character or reputation that are not apparent to others and is quick to react angrily or to counterattack
7) has recurrent suspicions, without justification, regarding fidelity of spouse or sexual partner
That right there is the criteria for paranoid personality disorder as laid out by the DSM IV-TR. Those are pretty much the same things one thinks of when one thinks of one being paranoid. Now imagine one has been diagnosed with paranoid personality disorder or they are borderline. Do you really think coming to a site where one can't enter a topic without someone being labeled a disinfo agent; where some claim that a race of reptiles are ruling the world; where our governments are merely a front for a shadow organization bent on killing most of the world's population in order to take over and enslave the rest; where governments kill thousands of their own innocent civilians is not going to make a person more suspicious about the people and the world around him? Not to mention that since we're dealing with the internet one cannot perceive the true intentions of a person's post and pretty much anything can be seen as an attack on one's character. In the time Ive spent on here I can say without a doubt that I have seen plenty of people who fit the criteria for paranoid personality disorder. The question that must be raised however is whether people who are paranoid seek out conspiracy websites or if the conspiracy websites provoke them to become paranoid.
