| Paranoia | |
|---|---|
 ' | |
|
Info |
Irrational delusions and mental symptoms. Victims distrust of others makes them unlikely to seek treatment or cooperate with others. |
|
DNA cost |
4, 0 (Mad Cow Disease, evolved from start) |
|
Severity increase |
Slight |
|
Lethality |
None |
|
Infectivity increase |
None |
|
Next Symptom |
|
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Required symptom |
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Paranoia is a tier 2 symptom found in all of the standard plague types. It makes people have irrational delusions. Their distrust of others makes them unlikely to seek treatment or cooperate with others. Increases cure requirement by 6%.
On rare occasions, paranoia can cause a country to be so paranoid that it will remove a major part of its contribution to a cure.
Interestingly, when combined with Insanity, it can cause nuclear explosions, which are said to be sabotaged power plants. However, it's likely that this is just countries nuking each other.
If you got Sympto-Stasis then in Nano-Virus mode, this, along with Insomnia, Paralysis and Coma won't cost any DNA, which means free to upgrade.
In real life
Paranoid schizophrenia was long diagnosed as the most common type of schizophrenia, but this sub-type is no longer used in the United States since the 2013 change in the DSM-V that classifies the range of symptoms of former sub-types all under "schizophrenia". Schizophrenia is defined as “a chronic mental disorder in which a person is withdrawn from reality."
Prior to 2013 schizophrenia had been divided into subtypes based on the “predominant symptomatology at the time of evaluation." The subtypes were classified as: paranoid, disorganized, catatonic, undifferentiated, and residual type. However, they are not completely separate diagnoses, and cannot predict the progression of the mental illness.
This disorder is considered dominated by relatively stable and often persecutory delusions that are usually accompanied by hallucinations, particularly of the auditory variety (hearing voices), and perceptual disturbances. These symptoms can have a huge effect on a person's functioning and can negatively affect their quality of life. Paranoid schizophrenia is a lifelong disorder, but with proper treatment, a person with the illness can attain a higher quality of life.