Is Paranoia real, bad, or what?

[ErikEst]

(11 November 2013, 23:27)Scythe13 Wrote: Think this has kind of lost the point of what I was on about.
Paranoia is only paranoia if the end result is different from what you suspected. In retrospect you would not have been paranoid, only foreseen an uncommonly recognised outcome.
Getting lost in the meaning of paranoia has also lost the point of the post. Many people think that anyone expecting the social contract to snap, is paranoid. That's the reference point I'm coming from.
If you want to get really technical, then yes paranoia does mean you have real mental issues and should go and see the appropriate authorities. However, if you have no scientific evidence for your reason be believe something will happen, then you should probably go and see the same authorities, because your view of TEOTWAWKI or even a general SHTF situation, is based on opinion and not fact. In which case, you are paranoid

i think what you mean is good sense of self preservation. depending on persons intelligence and imagination it could vary from optimistic cautiousness to nearly paranoiac fear. problem with the word "paranoia" is that it means medical condition, the mental disorder. people lately started to use a lot of medical, technical and scientific terms for describing ordinary things. the more greek or latin the term the better, the more sophisticated you look.
in old times there were proverbs instead of those smart words. like "once bitten, twice shy" or "better safe than sorry" (in my native language it is "better fear than regret")