Will Zoloft help with paranoid thoughts?

[Mjr1821]

I really hope that somebody can help me. My doctor put me on Zoloft, however I think I suffer from paranoia more than depression or anxiety. I always think that someone like the police, FBI, State Police, are watching me and planning on arresting me, even though I don't do anything illegal or would give the police a reason to arrest me. I know this is the strangest thing, and I could see if I was a criminal or did something illegal to make me think that, but I'm just a normal regular guy and I don't participate in any kind of illegal activities, so why do I always think somebody is watching me or out to get me? If I see a police car on my street, or near me, I always assume that they're looking at me or watching me for something. So I finally decided to go to a doctor, and he recommends that I start taking Zoloft, I've been on it for about a week now, so if anyone could please help me with their opinion I would appreciate it.

[specialmom]

Everyone has some amount of paranoia.  Especially when anxious.  You describe a little more than that though.   Do you have hallucinations about the things you are paranoid about?  Do you hear voices?  Have paranoid delusions?  Almost everyone with paranoid schizophrenia has auditory hallucinations and believe they are being persecuted or there is a conspiracy against them.  Do you alter your life due to these delusions?  That is a distinction a psychiatrist can make for you if you explain what is happening.   So, perhaps you suffer anxiety as a disorder and paranoia as a disorder but not to the extent of paranoid schizophrenia?  Paranoia and anxiety are similar in that they represent fear. Zoloft will work for anxiety, calming the fear.  Anxiety can make you feel paranoid.  That's for sure.  However, when you start talking about the FBI following you and such, you should dig deeper in making sure a further diagnosis isn't necessary so you can be properly treated.  How long have you been on Zoloft?  

[Paxiled]

Just to be clear, Zoloft is a very effective med for many, but it only works about 30% of the time, the same as any other med for this stuff.  It works for some, and not for others, so it isn't really accurate to say Zoloft "will" work for anxiety.  It might, it might not.  But the important point that Mom and I are saying is, what you're reporting may be more than just simple anxiety or depression and you need to find out before you know which sort of med you need or if you need a med at all.  Paranoia, if it's really that, is not something that happens with ordinary anxiety or depression, it's something more than that, but the word is often used to indicate a lot of fear or anxiety instead of what the word really means.  We don't know what's really going on with you and want very much for you to find out.

[Paxiled]

Mom, when I took Zoloft, I could have been drinking water -- no effects, no side effects.  Which is how I ended up on Paxil, and the rest is, well, history.

[specialmom]

Zoloft is one of the medications that typically takes a higher dose to be effective and most don't take it to that milligram level.  Many do believe it is an effective medication though.  I've often wondered if there is a placebo effect at times when I hear the mg strength someone takes of Zoloft.  But definitely many people like Zoloft and feel it treats their symptoms.  

[Paxiled]

I certainly still think about it.  I've been on this site a long time, and it seems the most people who benefit have been on Zoloft.  And it would have saved me from what Paxil did to me.  

[Paxiled]

If you went to your regular doc, he can't actually diagnose you as he isn't an expert on mental illness.  To get a diagnosis you'd have to see a psychologist or psychiatrist.  Also, at least when I started out on this mad journey, doctors never put you on meds before trying talk therapy of some sort first.  I'm amazed at how many people come on here that have been put on medication as a first resort.  There's no way for anyone to tell, including you, if something more than anxiety or depression is going on without talking to you for awhile.  You also don't say how much this is affecting your life, and we have no idea if something happened in your life to trigger this fear.  That's what psychologists do -- they talk to you enough to figure this out.  Regular docs don't do this, aren't trained to do this, and aren't well trained in the meds available (well, some are, as some regular docs did their residency in psychiatry before deciding not to become psychiatrists after all, but psychiatrist aren't that thoroughly trained in this stuff, either -- their main training is in the medication used when it's necessary to use it, though many of them will go for continuing education by psychologists to better prepare them).  Without a proper diagnosis, choosing the proper medication, and whether you need medication or not, isn't really that easy to do.  Given you seem to be fine in every other way, it doesn't appear you're at the place where medication is necessary yet, but even if it was, you're right to question whether Zoloft is the right med.  I have no idea personally, but you don't sound like you're suffering from chronic anxiety or depression, you sound like you've developed an obsession with this one thing.