Thinking and paranoia.

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What is the relationship between working things out, thinking and paranoia?

I get called paranoid for thinking of things?

Paranoia is a mental condition characterized by delusions of persecution, unwarranted jealousy, or exaggerated self-importance, typically elaborated into an organized system.  It may be an aspect of chronic personality disorder, of drug abuse, or of a serious condition such as schizophrenia in which the person loses touch with reality.

Thinking is the process of using one's mind to consider or reason about something.  Rational thought and paranoia are mutually exclusive.

Working things out is the process of working to resolve some unpleasant or undesirable situation.  It may involve rational or irrational thought.

Agree with Fnord.

When people say someone is "paranoid" they don't know what "paranoid" actually means.
So why care what they say.

"Thinking" is the tool to accomplish "working things out." Problem solving. It's applied logic.
"Paranoia" starts as an emotion - generally fear - and then the mind backfills the "why."

So, paranoia starts with: "I'm afraid."
Then the brain explains "well, it's because the electrical transformer outside my flat is microwaving me, so the government must be watching me."

That's paranoia.

Can someone give me some paranoia vs thinking examples?

Thinking:
"I'm a little tired.
I would like to not be so tired.
Maybe a cup of coffee would help."
I make a cup of coffee to enjoy.

(starts with a problem and brain applies logic to solve the problem)

Paranoia:
"I'm fearful.
Well, I must be fearful because the electrical transformer outside my flat is microwaving me, so the government must be watching me."

(starts with fear and the brain tries to figure why the fear)

Example: A person is seated alone in a restaurant, minding their own business, when people at another table start laughing.

Thinking Person: "Hmm ... they must be having fun!"

Paranoid Person: "Hmm ... they must be laughing at me!  Do they know about my fetishes?  Are they Illuminati agents?  Do they know what I am thinking?  Where is my tinfoil hat?!"

Perfect illustration

None of the above posts hit the mark because none state the single most important trait of paranoia.

That trait is suspicion.

In particular -suspicion of conspiracies.

You become irrationally suspicious ...of folks around you... and further you have delusions that the folks around you are part of a big conspiracy....maybe even involving a big institution (the CIA, the Vatican).

"Thinking things out" would be...working out that you would make more money investing in real estate than in the stock market this year after analyzing economic trends and returns etc etc.

"Paranoia" is walking through the corner of a college campus on a nice day when its full of students milling around, and you notice that they all seem to raise their phones to their faces as you walk by...causing you to conclude that they did that BECAUSE you ...you as an individual....walked by....and that they are all reporting your whereabouts to some organization keeping tabs on you personally.

A non paranoid person might think "damned young folks...theyre glued to their phones even on a nice day this!".

Sure

If I think what if’ what ‘about’ is that working things out?

A certain amount of "what if" thinking can be useful, helpful, prudent. It never hurts to have a Plan B for certain possibilities.

BUT

There is a point where you begin to over-think things. While not paranoia, it is still an irrational relationship with perceived likely-hood of realistically unlikely events.

For example

"What if I forget to say something during my presentation" is a reasonable what-if to worry about.

"What if a satellite falls from the sky and crushes the building while I'm presenting" is a far less reasonable what-if to worry about.

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What exactly is it that you personally worry about or "what if" about?

I had a bout of paranoia just yesterday.

I have 2 friends that know they will inherit my retirement account money if I die before I spend it. One of those friends has not called me in 2 weeks (very unusual) and the other friend just texted me a picture of his brand new leased car that I can't believe he can afford. At first I thought the lease car was just a mistake that my friend had made. I worried about how he's going to manage financially with such a big car payment and insurance upgrade.

Then, out of the blue, I had the thought that they might both be conspiring to kill me to get their inheritance. I was suspicious, fearful, and upset for about 2 hours with that.

Then I convinced myself that my two friends are not that kind of people. Plus, they're too incompetent to pull something like that off. They don't trust each other enough to conspire together about something so risky.

I dismissed the paranoia as an errant thought (something I have frequently).