Suspiciousness: causes and ways to get rid of this condition

Morphological and syntactic properties

suspicious
Adjective, type of declension according to A. Zaliznyak’s classification - 1*a.

Root: -mn-

;
suffixes: -i-teln
;
ending: -y
[Tikhonov, 1996].

Pronunciation

Bibliography

suspicious adjective

What kind of suspiciousness is there?

Suspiciousness is a rather complex, multi-component concept:

• As a condition akin to anxiety, it occurs in most people, lasts paroxysmally and is relatively short-lived.
• As a manifested character trait, it generates constant anxiety for oneself, children, parents, spouses, making mountains out of molehills.
• As a separate disease, an anxious and suspicious state is complemented by muscle tension, somatic reactions of the body (sweating, palpitations, nervous tics), and excessive suspicion of everything around.
• As part of mental disorders, it is part of obsessive-compulsive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), persecutory mania, and paranoia.

There are several other types of suspiciousness that psychologists talk about: maternal (usually comes with the birth of the first child) and medical (manifests itself in those who like to look through medical reference books “just because”).

The negative impact of suspiciousness

A person kills himself and his body with his own negativity. Self-digging does not bring any benefit in this case, but, on the contrary, creates additional ground for stress. Frequent emotional tension, expectation of failure, betrayal, fear of getting sick, depresses, deprives one of peace.

The feeling of fear forces a suspicious person to commit many rash actions and actions that take away his time. The person begins to suffer from uncertainty and forgetfulness. He may think about a recent event several times in a row, chasing “mental gum”, for example, he may be in doubt: did he forget to turn off the iron from the outlet or close the front door.

In a suspicious person, if his condition progresses, alienation from family and loss of acquaintances, friends, and colleagues occurs, since it is difficult to find an approach to a person who is too constrained and withdrawn into himself. Such a person perceives what is happening around him very keenly and anxiously, looking for hidden meaning, a catch.

Causes

To find out how to overcome suspiciousness, you need to understand the mechanism of development of anxiety, depression and fears. Having understood the preconditions for anxiety states, it will be possible to control the process. Main reasons:

1. Suffered psychological trauma. The death of relatives, domestic violence, betrayal of a loved one can serve as an impetus for the development of anxiety and depressive disorders. If a child constantly hears from his parents that he is a poor student, can’t do anything, and won’t achieve anything in life, negative subconscious programs are formed that contribute to the development of pathological suspiciousness and neuroses.
2. Constant stress. Stressful situations can arise at work, in the family, in society as a whole (for example, due to high crime rates, political and economic instability).
3. Low self-esteem. Rejection of one’s “I”, dissatisfaction with oneself and one’s position in society.

Increased anxiety resulting from severe nervous shock can develop at any age. If a passer-by smiled, a suspicious person will perceive a possible manifestation of goodwill as laughing at himself. In this case, signs of low self-esteem are clearly visible, when an individual attributes to himself non-existent shortcomings and shortcomings.

Such people take every random, unflattering word addressed to them, look for and find hidden meaning in ordinary phrases devoid of deep meaning. They often take offense at others, seeing malicious actions and attempts to cause pain in harmless actions. This form is typical for adolescents, who often experience a feeling of uselessness, little significance, and uselessness for no reason.

Typically, women are dissatisfied with their appearance, men are more often dissatisfied with their social status and income level, representatives of both sexes are characterized by dissatisfaction with their chosen one and living conditions. Women are more susceptible to disorders that are accompanied by anxiety and suspiciousness.

Psychologists advise not to focus on personal characteristics and life circumstances that, in your opinion, are far from ideal standards. It is important to understand your individuality and value as an individual, to be content with existing material goods, to look at the world approvingly and then “he will smile back.”

Is it a disease or a character?

Initially, suspiciousness is a specific character trait. In psychology, a special type of personality is identified - “anxious-suspicious.” Such people are distinguished by excessive mental sensitivity.

Read also: Why do you need a green card?

They worry more about insults, mistakes and failures. In this case, suspiciousness is a character trait . If this type of personality is regularly exposed to negative factors, then increased mental sensitivity can become a mental disorder.

Only a specialist can define suspiciousness as a disease or character trait through special psychotherapeutic techniques.

Suspiciousness is...

To put it very simply, suspiciousness is cowardice. However, this fear is not specific (situational), but on a universal scale.

Suspiciousness is a character trait that manifests itself in constant anxiety - no matter what happens. Most of the time a person is in fear: this happens both with and without a reason.

A quick test to determine whether you are a suspicious person:

1. you worry about what others think and say about you;
2. you like to control everything and everyone around you;
3. you feel uneasy if uncertainty looms ahead;
4. you take a long time to make decisions, carefully weighing all the pros and cons”;
5. you are constantly on alert, otherwise troubles cannot be avoided;
6. thinking about different options for failures, failures, etc. – your favorite activity (especially before bedtime);
7. you are afraid of infections, drafts, sneezing people, etc. - anything that can make you sick.

If you agree with most of the statements listed, then suspiciousness is your character trait.

The word suspiciousness comes from the verb “to think.” The meaning of the latter is to think or believe.

Thus, a suspicious person constantly thinks about supposed dangers that have at least 0.000000...1 share of the probability of becoming reality. His whole life proceeds in a state of painful distrust of the world and hypercontrol over it.

Negative consequences of suspiciousness

Suspiciousness clearly has a negative impact on a person’s quality of life, affecting his physical and moral health. The main negative consequences of suspiciousness include:

• Development of diseases. The constant anxiety that accompanies suspiciousness is a serious psychological problem that can provoke prolonged depression, lead to mental exhaustion and loss of strength, and subsequently cause more serious mental pathologies. In addition, suspiciousness is one of the main reasons for the appearance of hypochondria, a special condition during the development of which a person begins to suspect that he has serious, often incurable, diseases. In such a situation, the immune system is weakened, and imaginary symptoms of fictitious diseases can turn into a very real disease.
• Having problems communicating with others. Suspiciousness always leads to the appearance of an internal imbalance, which will be noticeable when communicating with a person susceptible to this pathology. Agree, one can hardly call a person who is constantly afraid, tense and unreasonably offended a pleasant interlocutor. All this leads to a significant narrowing of the existing social circle, which is often limited only to the closest relatives and friends. This state of affairs negatively affects the personal life and career of a suspicious person.
• The emergence of internal problems. Any external problems that arise in an individual suffering from suspiciousness are closely related to his internal problems. Under the influence of constant anxiety and worry, fear develops for any previously committed action; as a result, suspicious people begin to be afraid to make independent decisions and take responsibility for their actions. Usually such a person strives to fully integrate into the team, so as not to decide anything and not be responsible for anything.

Signs of suspiciousness

Suspiciousness makes you constantly fear for your own well-being. Only disturbing thoughts come to mind, which significantly aggravate the situation. The personality strives to control everything, but in the end it turns out that control over oneself is completely lost. In this case, the individual begins to be guided by fears and concerns. Sometimes they become so pronounced that they do not allow you to live in peace. Symptoms of suspiciousness are noticeable even to an uninitiated person - they are so vivid.

Feeling of hopelessness

A person begins to feel as if he is in a trap from which he cannot find a way out. It seems that nothing in the world can help to understand the contradictory situation. A feeling of hopelessness in almost all cases accompanies suspiciousness. The appearance of this striking symptom indicates that the person has driven himself into a dead end and has brought the situation to the point of absurdity. Having become a hostage to our own fears, we find ourselves unable to act in accordance with our inner beliefs and fully accept responsibility for the events that occur. The feeling of hopelessness gnaws from within.

Fear

With developed suspiciousness, a person begins to experience a strong fear of life. He constantly experiences horror and fear of the unknown, he wants to protect himself from unpredictable consequences, to calculate everything in advance. Since this is hardly possible, the individual begins to be overwhelmed by uncontrollable panic. Fear increases the problem and leaves less chance of really understanding it.

Getting caught up in the experience

The individual truly feels trapped. He cannot influence his own feelings in any way: fears and anxiety intensify at the first suitable opportunity. Being overwhelmed by emotions is a clear symptom of suspiciousness. Sometimes people are in fear for several days, thereby driving themselves into severe stress. If such manifestations are noticed, it is necessary to try to correct the situation as soon as possible and think about how to get rid of nervous tension.

Constant anxiety

Any disorder is characterized by increased anxiety. An individual cannot independently understand the reasons that make him experience such painful feelings. A constant feeling of anxiety is something that is present with him throughout the day. As a rule, it is not possible to get rid of it by simply switching attention. It often requires significant effort.

Narrowness of consciousness

Developed suspiciousness does not allow a person to think about anything other than his problem. He is so immersed in the endless grinding of the situation that he ceases to notice the events that are unfolding next to him. In fact, such an individual is of little interest in anything other than his psychological and physical state. He cannot get out of anxiety for a long time, and this does not allow him to enjoy life. Very often, people suffering from suspiciousness remain aloof from what is happening and get lost in an unfamiliar situation. This is because all their thoughts are occupied exclusively with themselves.

Increased symptoms

When suspiciousness has formed, a person begins to be guided by vegetative reactions. As perception changes, disruptions in the functioning of the nervous system occur. As a result, physical manifestations intensify: trembling of the limbs, palpitations, increased sweating, dizziness, pressure surges. These symptoms indicate that the person is in a state of severe anxiety.

Characteristic

So, the main signs:

Suspicion

Such a person is constantly mobilized, as he is in a state of anticipation of an attack. She will constantly imagine possible threats and dangers. To understand how unbearable this condition is, try to remember whether situations have ever happened to you when someone standing next to you laughed, and you took this laughter personally?

And it seems like reasonable thoughts flash through your head that people can just joke that they don’t care about you, but these attempts are unsuccessful, inside you grow more and more confident that it was your appearance and so on that was the reason for the fun.

Uncertainty

Given the constant distrust of others, over time, having taken root in fertile soil, self-doubt and self-doubt grows like a chic bush. A person does not have the resources to discover reality, he simply does not have enough energy for this, because it is spent on always being on the alert. Why does it become impossible to check whether I am really so helpless? Or am I so “clumsy” that others don’t appreciate me? Or am I so undeserving of good treatment, recognition and respect?

Anxiety

And it is permanent. Everyone, in the event of danger or the threat of destruction of something valuable, experiences anxiety, but in a suspicious person it becomes so fused with his personality and character that he experiences it every second, sometimes intensifying, sometimes weakening a little. She seems to become background, no matter what he does, no matter what conditions he is in, she always accompanies him.

Pessimism

It is difficult to look at the world with happy, wide-open eyes when those around you wish evil and failure follows failure, which, by the way, may even be far-fetched. Have you heard of hypochondria? This is when a person, after reading medical literature, discovers that he has symptoms of any disease on which the page opens.

And he firmly believes that he has it, which is why he torments doctors with eternal examinations, according to the results of which he may be absolutely healthy, but refuse to believe in it, considering either medical workers to be charlatans and bad specialists, or himself to be so seriously ill that he They hide this by assuring them of excellent health. And where does confidence in a wonderful future come from? How to feel joy and pleasure?

Obsessiveness

All ideas are really intrusive, they seem to “stick” to him and do not give him the opportunity to breathe deeply. It seems like you want to brush them off, but your imagination draws such frightening pictures that you can’t relax.

Psychosomatic disorders

Considering the style of thinking a suspicious person has, how much stress, fear, shame he has to experience and generally endure, it is not surprising that he will actually have health difficulties. These could be problems with the stomach, heart, respiratory system... Headache is often a frequent companion, sometimes asthenia and, in general, depression.

Where does suspiciousness come from?

Suspiciousness can be either a part of your character from birth or an acquired, imposed trait. Unfortunately, the second option is more common. And, like many of our problems, it comes from childhood.

The most common reason for the development of suspiciousness is psychological trauma received in the first years of life. It’s sad, but most often the culprits are the people closest to them—the parents.

If your child constantly hears phrases like “All children are like children, but mine is a fool,” “Volodya’s machine got an A, but what are you doing?!” - and the like, he may develop suspiciousness from early childhood.

We are also very vulnerable in adolescence: when a child ceases to blindly trust his parents’ opinions about himself, but still does not know how to fully understand himself. During this period, it is dangerous to label a teenager, to motivate him, to offend him (“You’ve gotten fat,” “You can’t do anything on your own, you’re not independent,” “You’ll never learn...”). If a child is blamed for all troubles, he will quickly learn to consider himself to blame. At what always and in everything. And now it has already been taken, the first step towards pathological suspiciousness.

However, do not rush to immediately blame your parents - perhaps this is not your case. Suspiciousness can also be innate, then it is a trait of your character, a special “nervous constitution,” as doctors say. This “inheritance” often goes to women - usually anxious natures can be recognized even externally: they are often pale, asthenic in build, there is stiffness in their movements, as if they are afraid to take up extra space in space.

Whatever the reason for your suspiciousness, if it interferes with your life, you need to get rid of it! After all, we only have one life, and spending it on constant fears and anxieties is simply insulting.

Recommendations

What should loved ones do?

1. If there is such a person in your environment, you should not take his complaints with hostility because, feeling devalued, he, on the contrary, will try to convince you, eventually deciding to move away. But this does not mean that you should go to extremes and support his ideas about incurable diseases, selflessly rushing to save. Just learn to be there without doing anything. Sometimes it is important for a person to speak out, to “open his soul,” even just to remain silent.
2. Try to limit him from sources of stress, for example, by offering to go for a walk instead of leafing through a medical reference book for the thousandth time under the pretext that fresh air is necessary for health. Distract, show by example that life is valuable and you can enjoy it.
3. Be attentive to your children, do not shame them at the first opportunity, blame them without guilt, and so on. Support them and remind them that you love them. In addition, it is important to focus not on their shortcomings, but on the contrary, point out what they are good at.

What to do with yourself?

• As strange as it may sound, try to help those who need support more than you. Thus, by being distracted and feeling needed, self-confidence will increase, and anxiety, on the contrary, will decrease. There are many charitable foundations where you can apply as a volunteer.
• Do you have a hobby? Maybe it's time to do something new? Even assuming in advance that nothing will work out for you. New sensations and emotions will not only bring variety to your life, but will also help you feel joy, as the body will begin to actively produce dopamine, endorphins, serotonin...
• Psychasthenics (which means suspicious people) often suffer from sleep and eating disorders, so be sure to reconsider the lifestyle you lead. You will learn more about what to do in this article.

• If you have a childhood trauma, try working on it yourself. To do this, choose a time when you are alone, close your eyes, and, no matter how painful it may be, try to remember a situation from childhood when you were treated unfairly, injured, etc. Imagine that you are the adult that you are at the moment, approaching this little frightened boy or girl, hugging and reassuring. What words would you like to hear at that moment, but no one said? You have the right to do this now. Say whatever comes to mind and stay there until you feel that something has happened, and little you has calmed down and believed that he is loved. Slowly open your eyes and try to be alone for a while, rethinking what happened.
• You should immediately begin to increase your level of self-esteem, you can’t treat yourself like that! Check out the article here.
• Meditation will help you relax and gain a sense of inner harmony; among other things, it also cures many diseases. Find out more details here.
• There is not a single healthy person in the world who does not experience stress, so it is very important to know how to cope with it. Psychasthenics need this more than others, so don’t let anxiety and panic take over you, use the recommendations indicated in the article.

Suspiciousness: consequences

Suspiciousness has a serious impact on a person and it affects not only everyday life, but also the physical and spiritual state. The main consequences of such a feeling as suspiciousness are:

1. A constant state of stress and depression can provoke more serious mental disorders.
2. Mental exhaustion, loss of strength, all this can cause hypochondria. Hypochondria is a mental condition when a person is sure that he is terminally ill. He looks for symptoms of the most serious diseases and even treats them. This condition is fraught with the occurrence of more serious diseases. Against the background of nervous tension, a person’s immunity weakens.
3. Loneliness. Communication with a suspicious person does not bring pleasure. The environment tries not to contact such a person. Even the closest people eventually reduce their relationship to nothing. A suspicious person becomes lonely, which makes him withdraw into himself even more.
4. People suffering from suspiciousness lose their own opinion, responsibility for their actions, they are afraid to make decisions on their own, as a result of which serious problems arise.

What is a suspicious person afraid of?

So, a suspicious person is a person who lacks a sense of basic security or, simply, trust in life. It is not formed, it simply does not exist.

And since the world is so terrible and scary, we need to save ourselves: the individual unconsciously begins to invent ways in which he can survive.

The entire cohort of such a person’s fears can be divided into two large groups:

1. “I will be deceived” - the fears of this group are manifested in the fact that a person is not able to be open, trust others, rely on the environment, or ask for anything.
   In his worldview he is surrounded by enemies, envious people and spiteful critics. Everyone wishes him harm, wants to use him for personal gain, etc.

   In psychology there is the concept of projection. This is when a person assigns to the world (people) what he denies in himself. In this case, the suspicious person himself is hostile towards people, but projects these feelings into the outside world.

2. “I’ll get sick and die” - the fear of becoming sick, weak, unable to take care of oneself is familiar to all suspicious people. Why? Because getting sick is dangerous! Everyone around is evil and calculating, no one needs me, so no one will save me!
   The extreme form of this fear is hypochondria.

   It manifests itself in the fact that an individual constantly takes care of his health - goes to doctors, drinks various dietary supplements, vitamins, makes lotions, compresses, cleanses the chakras, blows on water during the full moon, when Mercury is in Scorpio, etc.

   He is afraid of getting sick and therefore avoids any realities that might contribute to this.

   Read also:  What to do if your loved one is in poor condition

   A hypochondriac purposefully looks out for any symptoms of illness and rushes to the hospital after the first sneeze or harmless pimple, so that God forbid he misses something serious. Although for him any deviation in physiological parameters is a serious illness leading to death.

Pros and cons of suspiciousness

A suspicious person is convenient for society. This is an excellent executive worker who double-checks the data received or the figures in the report dozens of times. He always takes precautions, calculates risks, and monitors safety precautions. But what is considered a plus for an employer turns out to be a minus for a suspicious person :

• He becomes timid, indecisive, uncommunicative, and uninteresting. These qualities drive him into a dead end, depriving him of communication, relationships, and friendship.
• His behavior and reactions are not always adequate. Because even in a harmless joke he is able to suspect a hidden meaning, and in a compliment - an insult. This makes it difficult to communicate with him or plan things together.
• Excessive precautions deprive you of initiative and prevent you from setting goals and taking action. All this deprives you of the chance to make a successful career or show your strengths in some bright, promising business.
• Constantly worrying about a possible mistake increases the state of tension. Muscles and blood vessels contract excessively, and hormones that increase blood pressure are released into the blood. All this provokes ulcers, hypertension and many other problems.

Perhaps the only positive quality of suspiciousness is that it is easy to notice and overcome on your own.

To be sure, you can take one of the tests developed by psychologists. There are tests and special questionnaires for preschoolers, teenagers, schoolchildren, and adults. If suspicions are confirmed, this problem will have to be dealt with closely.

Take a personality type test

What should suspicious people do?

How to get rid of suspiciousness - advice from psychologists:

1. Learn to test reality by mentally returning from fantasies about a terrible future to the “here and now.”
   Anxiety is always worries about the future. But he’s not there yet. There is only this moment - focus on it. Meditation practices help to concentrate on the present. Say “Stop!” more often. a stream of anxious thoughts.
2. Cultivate real, not illusory, confidence. This requires action. Lots of action. They give a person the feeling of “I am, I can, I matter.”
3. Remember that any event inherently has no color.
   It is like a film negative that we color with our own thoughts and emotions. The palette depends on what a person is filled with. Some people enjoy the rain, while others hate it. The event is the same - the view is different. Look for the positives even in the most dire situations.
4. Take a break between the event and the reaction more often. Give yourself time to look at what happened from the outside, imagine that you are an observer.
5. Stop “wanting” (fantasizing)!
   Every current moment has billions of development scenarios, and no one can predict which one will play out. Well, unless you are God. You're not God, are you? We don't know what might happen tomorrow or in a year, we can only plan and hope that this is exactly what will happen. And if we cannot control something, why this unnerving control?
6. Expand your circle of contacts: make friends, fall in love, trust.
   No one is immune from meeting bad people - you will inevitably come across them in your life. However, there are significantly fewer of them than those who can bring happiness and love into your life. The risk is worth it.

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Author of the article: Liliya Sergeevna Kovalenko (psychologist)

Good luck to you! See you soon on the blog pages KtoNaNovenkogo.ru

Comments and reviews (8)

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Of course, I don’t agree with everything in the article. I consider myself a suspicious person, but far from cowardly. For me, suspiciousness is excessive worry. Be it unforeseen circumstances, health problems, problems at work, etc.

If someone dear to me suddenly complains about their health, I will immediately begin to stress myself out, immediately think about the bad, and see everything in black and white. In my brain I understand that I need to tune in for the best, but I can’t help myself. By the way, I was raised by my grandmother, she was even more suspicious than me. Now I’m wondering if I was born like this, or if it’s just my upbringing.

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I could well be called suspicious, but in moderation, fortunately. I think this character trait has both good and bad sides. Excessive suspiciousness, of course, is annoying.

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Any more or less responsible person is a suspicious person! A thinking man! It should not be confused with a person who is overly concerned about any process when he does not sleep at night over trifles.

Cowardice? ))) Are you seriously?

What are you calling for? Think about nothing? Don't calculate anything?

Start treating from this!

Since childhood I was taught:

Seven times measure cut once.

Think before you do anything!

So imaginaryness, as I believe, is the quality of a responsible and prudent person.

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It is better to be suspicious than frivolous. Yes, it ruins my life a little, but I have everything under control.

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I am a suspicious person, in other words, a neurotic, but this is not a reason to develop complexes and surrender to a psychiatric hospital, you just need to accept your demons and learn to live with them. People are born neurotic, not made, understand this at last!!!

Yes, sometimes I can’t decide to act until I’ve thought through 1000 options, I need to keep everything under strict control, but this way I stay SAFE. Of course, I tried to let go of control, but it didn’t lead to anything good, so I accept myself as I am!

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The suspicious guy is the one who doesn’t have his own opinion! If you tell him that he is stupid, he will suffer from his own worthlessness!