Ep 30: Paranoid Personality | The 6 Subtypes Explained

Doc Bok, Doc Fish
Jun 17, 2025 38 min Personality Couch Podcast
Blog: Paranoid Personality Subtypes


In this episode of The Personality Couch Podcast, we (licensed clinical psychologists Doc Bok and Doc Fish) continue our discussion about paranoid personality disorder, exploring its three severity levels: Mild, Borderline, and Paraphrenic. We unpack the six subtypes of paranoid personalities as outlined by Dr. Theodore Millon: The Self-Righteous Mistrustful, The Obdurate Mistrustful, the Querulous Paranoid, the Insular Paranoid, the severe Fanatic Paraphrenic, and Malignant Paraphrenic. We highlight the fragility of Paranoids at all levels of severity, noting they can easily deteriorate with stressors and setbacks. We emphasize the importance of understanding these very common personality dynamics in all settings, especially with increasing paranoia in the post-pandemic world.

Are you a clinician stuck on a case? To schedule a consultation, please visit the practice website, which will guide you to the email address to use. https://www.questpsych.org

Chapters

  • 00:00 Introduction to Paranoid Personality Disorder
  • 03:44 Paranoid Personality Disorder Symptoms
  • 06:03 Historical Examples
    • 6:09 Timothy McVeigh - Oklahoma City Bombings
    • 6:36 Richard Farley - Erotomania
  • 07:52 Explaining the 3 Severity Levels
  • 09:30 Mild Paranoid Personalities: Mistrustful Types
  • 10:16 Self-Righteous Subtype
  • 14:28 Obdurate Subtype
  • 17:14 Moderate Paranoid Personalities: Disorder Level
    • 17:44 Querulous Subtype
    • 21:32 Insular Subtype
  • 23:52 Severe Paranoid Personalities: Paraphrenic Level
    • 25:44 Fanatic Subtype
    • 30:57 Malignant Subtype
  • 36:12 Summary & Conclusion

Additional Podcast References

Paranoid