English Test 95
Directions for Questions from 1 to 5:
Paranoia neurosis is fast growing in modern utilitarian society where money is the be all and end all of all moral and spiritual values. In extreme
cases, it drives people to murder, and even in mild ones, it nods them into a states of agitation. Paranoia is said to be the morbid and neurotic fear
of being duped or abused. It is most prevalent in people who have been taken advantage of repeatedly, or belong to a group that has been
discriminated against. People are often very sensitive and vulnerable; they lose their temper and become crazy on petty matters. For them it is a
short step from taking warranted precautions to taking unwarrantedones, and it is believed that this syndrome consists essentially of
overprotecting ourselves.
This syndrome is also prevalent among people seldom exploited in actuality, whose fear of being taken advantage of has been generated by
warnings from friends and parents. It is common among women, living and working in the big cities late hours. Their domestic life is often
paralyzed .Those that have been repeatedly mistreated and abandoned become the victims of paranoia. The diagnosis of this neurosis is applied
only in extreme condition, in state mental hospitals; it is made when there are delusions of grandeur or delusions of persecution. When either of
these two syndromes becomes strong, it is nearly always accompanied by the other. If you think mistakenly that one person does not like you, you
may become the victim of persecution. In case a man thinks he is a genius, and people are indifferent, he suffers the neglect of others; it would
seem to him that other people are persecuting him. To be great without being celebrated is to be discriminated against and this creates a situation
of being a paranoid.
The common symptoms of this neurosis are feelings of transparency and delusions of reference. The sufferer from severe paranoia sometimes
believes he is so transparent that people can read his mind. The victim of