paranoia and jealousy

I don't know how the world's population might break down in such a survey, but I liked your questions and know how I feel...

• Paranoia and Jealousy in my relationships - at some points when I was dating and during the downfall of a tumultuous marriage - was very, very high. I felt silly, irrational and ashamed at these feelings I couldn't stop.
  

• I've not seen anything that indicates whether males or females are more or less paranoid and jealous. That being said, my experience says that males are more often this way than females - this may be way in error - it's just my own perception
  

• What is it: My belief it it stems from insecurity (which may seem rather banal). The more insecure a person is in their natural state, the more they'll likely exhibit relationship paranoia/jealousy - the more they'll feel that panic of desperation when realizing the potential loss of a partner.
  

There's another aspect to this I'd like to toss out. It's a bit of a subtle point but I believe it has real bearing in the arena of relationship jealousy:[INDENT]We expect from others what we think other people do. What we think other people do is defined, in our minds, by how we see the world. Put simply, I believe the 'cheater-at-heart' is much more inclined to see that same possibility from others than not. The person who's felt the urge to steal expects others will do so, and so on down the line. How much of a bearing this has, I can't say, I only belief it to have *some* relevance.
[/INDENT]Interesting questions... in this area I'm far to constrained to my own head to feign objectivity.

Good luck!

Good observation. Accords well with my experience.

you must be speaking of all kinds of relationships, not only man and woman? i mean friends, parent/child, all of the possibilities. that is the context in which to take my answer. all you have mentioned has a bearing and much more is involved.

paranoia is a mental illness of course...which a person brings into a relationship and it will certainly impact the entire life of that person and anyone he interacts with. the actual percentage of people who suffer from it must be known, but i think what you are thinking of is when a person under the stress of a relationship, either of trying to maintain it or from fearing the end of it, various symptoms show up, one being paranoia.

as khethil mentioned, there doesnt seem to be any greater instance of destructive emotions either in male or female partners in relationships, but they tend to manifest in different ways.

everything destructive in a relationship seems to be caused by fear, to really oversimplify matters. (perhaps weakness of character or body can account for some of it) sometimes one of the partners is afraid of something else in life and it makes him so disagreeable that the other cannot choose to accept it in a partner.

i would say that most relationships consist of more than one unbalanced and immature individual. (because that is what the human race is composed of at the present time for the most part). they are unaware of their own true motivations let alone their partner's. if each one of us were able to find and identify our own fears, we would all be suitable partners!

good luck to us all...