Paranoia

Paranoia is distinguished from neurosis by the alterations of the Self: this one, stuck between imperative requirements of That and inappropriate prohibitions of the Surmoi does not structure properly. There is a cleavage between the image of reality that the paranoid creates to escape his frustrations: he imagines, for example, that it is enough to want something to be realized. He thus exposes himself to continuous disappointments, from which he withdraws a feeling of persecution, one of the most apparent symptoms of this disorder.

It is obvious that paranoia, or more precisely general paranoid tendencies, can play a major role in the promethean illusion: the illusion of being able to master nature, to remove everything that suits us, is typically “parano.” Now, this illusion is at the centre of the environmental problem: people have imagined, and still imagine for many, that nature is boundless, that ocean masses will absorb all the waste, that biodiversity will recover whatever happens, that it is enough to make a “action for the planet” to avert the catastrophe…

Research into the root causes of paranoid trends is therefore essential. What are the educational or cultural errors that cause them in early childhood, or sustain them in adulthood? What means should be used to avoid or at least reduce this kind of distortion of psychism? What cultural or educational elements could be put in place?

It is one of the challenges of human ecogenetics to answer these questions, in the most objective way possible, and to initiate a general awareness. The task is not easy, as each individual may feel concerned and reject the necessary personal questioning. To be paranoid enough to think of herself over the mound and continue pushing the trailer as if nothing was happening. While a radical change in child-rearing methods may well be the only key for humanity to get out of the maze…