Can social media research solve the puzzle of paranoia?
Keywords:
Gangstalking, Targeted Individuals, Paranoia, Delusional Disorder, Paranoid Pseudo-community, Social mediaAbstract
This paper summarizes the current research available on gangstalking and calls for coordination between social media, psychology and criminology researchers. Gangstalking is a novel persecutory belief system; victims believe they are harassed by a group of unknown stalkers, perhaps connected with the mafia, CIA or law enforcement. Victims describe themselves as targeted individuals (TIs). Counselors report an increasing number of clients who identify as TIs, while police departments have recieved numerous calls for help from TIs. Gangstalking is connected to violence; many shooters in mass shooting incidents believed they were being gangstalked and lashed out in self defense. However, there are very few papers in the psychology and criminology literature about gangstalking. TIs are often dismissed as paranoid. However, paranoia is a puzzle, because there is no coherent psychological theory or workable treatment for paranoia. TIs post prolifically on social media and also spend excessive time online researching gangstalking. Thus, social media is the main information source about gangstalking and has allowed the concept to spread globally. In addition, social media research using Internet sources is currently exploring gangstalking, providing a deeper understanding of gangstalking and TIs. Thus, social media contributes to the problem of gangstalking, while social media research may illuminate gangstalking, help solve the puzzle of paranoia and contribute to developing interventions to help TIs.
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