Persecution complex

I think it was something I experienced more acutely as a child. As an adult, it's not so much people that I think are out to get me, but I do occasionally feel like the system is out to get me when I feel that I'm not being heard and taken seriously.

As I've got older, I have found myself worrying less about what people may think of me. Sometimes I might think that a person or a group of people hate me and are out to get me. Maybe I'm right, and maybe I'm not and it's just in my head. If I know that I haven't intentionally done anything to cause people to hate me, then I try not to dwell on such thoughts.

When I moved to my current home during my late twenties, I had an elderly next-door neighbour with a dog. There was an occasion when she had gone on holiday for a week and had arranged for someone to visit daily and tend to the dog. That poor dog spent the entire week whining, as it was clearly missing my neighbour. As a window had been left open, everyone walking past my neighbour's house could hear the whining, resulting in someone calling the RSPCA because they were understandably concerned. After the neighbour returned from her holiday, I had one of her granddaughters pounding on my door, demanding to know if it was me who had contacted the RSPCA. It should be noted that the granddaughter hadn't visited any of the other neighbours. After that, it was as though my neighbour and her family started to turn against me.

On another occasion, I'd had a friend visiting, who thought I had a gas leak. Having called someone out, it was then suspected that it was my elderly neighbour who had got a gas leak. This resulted in a detector probe being put through her letterbox, which sent the readings off the scale. The gas people needed to gain access to her home, but because it was late and my neighbour had gone to bed, the fear was that if they started banging on her door, the first thing my neighbour would do would be to turn on her lights, potentially resulting in an explosion. As my neighbour's daughter lived in the next street, and I knew she had a spare key, I called round to make her aware of the situation. Thankfully, there was no gas leak, and it came to light that my elderly neighbour's son had been pouring a load of oil-based paint down her toilet. As we shared the main soil pipe, the paint fumes had wafted into my house via my downstairs toilet.

After the suspected gas leak, I really did feel as though my neighbour and her family were holding me personally responsible for what had happened. Whenever they saw me and my son, we would be subjected to deathly stares, or else they would look at us in a way that suggested we were completely insane. When the family visited, they would park in front of my drive. Was it deliberate, or was it just thoughtlessness on their part? As I don't drive, then maybe it hadn't occurred to them that someone might visit me who needed to park on my drive.

The point I'm making is that if I'd allowed myself to dwell on what I truly believed that neighbour and her family thought of me (and my son), then my persecution complex could have quite easily become a major issue.

I think it was something I experienced more acutely as a child. As an adult, it's not so much people that I think are out to get me, but I do occasionally feel like the system is out to get me when I feel that I'm not being heard and taken seriously.

As I've got older, I have found myself worrying less about what people may think of me. Sometimes I might think that a person or a group of people hate me and are out to get me. Maybe I'm right, and maybe I'm not and it's just in my head. If I know that I haven't intentionally done anything to cause people to hate me, then I try not to dwell on such thoughts.

When I moved to my current home during my late twenties, I had an elderly next-door neighbour with a dog. There was an occasion when she had gone on holiday for a week and had arranged for someone to visit daily and tend to the dog. That poor dog spent the entire week whining, as it was clearly missing my neighbour. As a window had been left open, everyone walking past my neighbour's house could hear the whining, resulting in someone calling the RSPCA because they were understandably concerned. After the neighbour returned from her holiday, I had one of her granddaughters pounding on my door, demanding to know if it was me who had contacted the RSPCA. It should be noted that the granddaughter hadn't visited any of the other neighbours. After that, it was as though my neighbour and her family started to turn against me.

On another occasion, I'd had a friend visiting, who thought I had a gas leak. Having called someone out, it was then suspected that it was my elderly neighbour who had got a gas leak. This resulted in a detector probe being put through her letterbox, which sent the readings off the scale. The gas people needed to gain access to her home, but because it was late and my neighbour had gone to bed, the fear was that if they started banging on her door, the first thing my neighbour would do would be to turn on her lights, potentially resulting in an explosion. As my neighbour's daughter lived in the next street, and I knew she had a spare key, I called round to make her aware of the situation. Thankfully, there was no gas leak, and it came to light that my elderly neighbour's son had been pouring a load of oil-based paint down her toilet. As we shared the main soil pipe, the paint fumes had wafted into my house via my downstairs toilet.

After the suspected gas leak, I really did feel as though my neighbour and her family were holding me personally responsible for what had happened. Whenever they saw me and my son, we would be subjected to deathly stares, or else they would look at us in a way that suggested we were completely insane. When the family visited, they would park in front of my drive. Was it deliberate, or was it just thoughtlessness on their part? As I don't drive, then maybe it hadn't occurred to them that someone might visit me who needed to park on my drive.

The point I'm making is that if I'd allowed myself to dwell on what I truly believed that neighbour and her family thought of me (and my son), then my persecution complex could have quite easily become a major issue.