Paranoia

A Journey Into Extreme Mistrust and Anxiety

By: Daniel Freeman

Narrated by: Robin Laing

Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

What is paranoia? What makes us mistrustful? How can this be overcome?

Daniel Freeman, Professor of Psychology at Oxford, has spent thirty years at the vanguard of paranoia research and treatment. This remarkable and moving book tells the story of that journey.

For decades, conventional wisdom held that paranoia was only experienced by people with severe mental health problems and little could be done to rectify its disastrous effects. Paranoia gives us a front row seat as Freeman turns the traditional view on its head.

He develops life-changing treatments for clinical paranoia – often using state-of-the-art technology like virtual reality. He reveals that suspicion is rife in society, with paranoia widespread, conspiracy theories rampant and emotion all too often trumping evidence. He discovers the causes of mistrust, including the role of genes, trauma, lack of sleep, worry, low self-confidence, cannabis use and hearing voices, and delves into the murky world of Covid-19 conspiracy theories. Lighting up the narrative throughout are the rarely heard voices of people whose lives have been almost wrecked by paranoia – and then in many cases transformed by Freeman’s groundbreaking treatments.

This is also a practical book. Freeman shows how we can measure our own levels of mistrust. He explains how we can remedy things if those levels are higher than we’d like, because although mistrust can seem engrained, things can change for the better. Ultimately, it can be overcome. Compelling and compassionate, this is a gripping tale from the front line of suspicion – an impassioned plea for the urgent rebuilding of trust between us all.

©2024 Daniel Freeman (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

‘This is a fascinating and deeply personal story of a career spent understanding and treating extreme mistrust and anxiety. Daniel Freeman's brilliant book guides us through his groundbreaking experiments, pioneering treatments and profound insights on paranoia. This is a fascinating read for anyone who wants to understand the human mind, not least because we hear the voices of those whose lives have been consumed by this crippling condition’ PROFESSOR RUSSELL FOSTER FRS, University of Oxford

'A TRULY IMPORTANT BOOK’ JOHN HUMPHRYS

more of a clinical researcher's memoir than an exploration of current science of paranoia

not a cost or time efficient way to learn more about paranoia and persecutory delusion. if you want to hear a somewhat meandering recount of an influential researcher over the past 20+ years, this would be a fit

Amazingly moving and accessible gourmet through mistrust to paranoia.

Daniel Freeman does it again with an amazing journey into understanding paranoia.

He makes it accessible to readers through a fusion of his research journey and the outcomes from that research. He helps understand the phenomenon, how to understand it, the history of our society's misunderstanding and its treatment. He expands mistrust past psychosis and reveals it as common and widespread.

The narration makes it an easy and must listen to audio.