Geriatric paranoia: case report illustrating behavioral management

Paranoid thinking is a defense mechanism against feelings of inferiority and humiliation. Paranoid behavior serves as a means of getting attention, sympathy and help. A case study of an 81-year-old woman illustrates the nature of geriatric paranoia and the roles of interpersonal relationships, rigid personality, depression, and the impairment of sensory and memory functions. The problem proved to be the effects on the family and neighbors of the patient's verbally expressed paranoid delusions. Treatment consisted of reducing the frequency of these paranoid complaints by means of reality therapy and verbal non-reinforcement.