Mike Hedrick

If you suffer from paranoid delusions you've probably heard it time and time again that your paranoia is just social anxiety, and while there's a function of anxiety in your delusions, paranoia seems to be a deeper, more sinister animal. It used to bother me to no end when people would tell me my paranoia was social anxiety.

I count myself extremely fortunate for the support of my family and friends. I feel blessed knowing that I've got this network of good people that can help me if and when a problem arises and I value that tremendously. That said, there are a lot of people out there with mental illness who can't count on a support network like I can. It hurts my heart to know that people are struggling with both the illness, as well as the lack of help from any family or community structure.

I'm guessing I'm not the only out there that has a tendency to think and overthink things to the point of exhaustion. In fact, I know I'm not. Millions of people struggle with anxiety in their daily lives and one major facet of that anxiety is the tendency to overanalyze. For me, my mind seems to mostly spiral on social interactions and money related issues sometimes to the point of ridiculousness. "Did I say something off when I was talking to that woman? it seemed like the energy shifted.