Features of working with clients with paranoid adaptation

This article continues the cycle of materials on personality adaptations. The author examines the definitions and symptoms of paranoid personality disorder according to DSM-V and ICD-10 in order to differentiate the disorder itself and paranoid personality adaptation. Further, based on the work of Nancy McWilliams “Psychoanalytic Diagnostics” and the theory of personality adaptations by Joines and Stewart, the paranoid personality structure, paranoid adaptation and the processes that occur in therapy with clients who have this adaptation are described. The author gives recommendations on working with such clients and emphasizes that the most important thing in working with them is to create a safe psychotherapeutic alliance, since the issue of trust is a priority for a client with paranoid adaptation.