How to build a paranoid in the 21st century? Paranoid psychic policies in turbulent times.

Abstract

Paranoia is a clinical and cultural phenomenon of the 21st century. From a Jungian lens, paranoia is thought of in two fundamental ways: as a disorder of meaning rooted in the Self, and the insanity of literalism where metaphor is absent. Paranoia, in our current 'civilization in transition', takes the form of a 'tyranny of unification or the curse of the One' promulgated by waves of fear, panic, horror and exclusion towards everything that differs from the supposedly instituted order. As a single fundamentalist truth, paranoia takes root in the public field of politics where self-exhibitionism feeds the delusional paranoid logic that degrades both the personal and collective fabrics. Jungian psychology offers an antidote to paranoia by cultivating and respecting democratic spaces both analytically and in the collective.