How does a doctor treat someone with paranoid personality disorder?

Treating people with paranoid personality disorder can be difficult for several reasons. One of the primary symptoms of paranoid personality disorder is distrust of others. Those who have  trouble trusting others may not want to seek help from a doctor, even if the disorder causes distress. Another factor is that medications don't often help. While medications are used to treat various mental illnesses, personality disorders don't always respond to drug treatment.

However, psychiatric medications may help reduce depression, anxiety, or other mood symptoms that accompany the personality disorder. Due to the nature of a personality disorder, symptoms can become so ingrained in an individual that the disorder continues for many years, sometimes indefinitely. Since these symptoms are so persistent, people with paranoid personality disorder sometimes need to participate in psychotherapy throughout their life. Paranoid personality disorder can cause such severe symptoms that hospitalization may be necessary on occasion.