PSSST! CALLING ALL PARANOIDS

By Christine Gorman.

A little paranoia can be good -- especially for a police officer walking a beat or a child who is approached by a stranger. But how does a healthy distrust of government, which is the birthright of every American, turn into an unshakable conviction that the U.S. is about to be overthrown by a United Nations force made up of Hong Kong police and Russian troops? It is tempting to dismiss people with such paranoid beliefs as sick, demented individuals. But that doesn't explain the widespread membership in the U.S. in militias and other extremist groups. Experts in psychology and group behavior warn that anyone can fall prey to paranoia-given the right combination of peer pressure and repeated exposure to one viewpoint.

By all accounts, the descent into delusion is gradual. Everyone has experienced slights, insults or failures at one time or another, and most people find some way to cope. Or, if they don't, a trusted friend or family member may persuade them to forget the past and get on with their lives. But if they cannot shake off the sense of humiliation, they may instead nourish their grudges and start a mental list of all the injustices in their lives. Rather than take a critical look at themselves, they blame their troubles on "the company," for example, or "the government" or "the system."

Often these aggrieved people fall in with others sharing the same point of view. The group helps them to rehearse their grievances, ensuring that the wounds remain open, and exposes them to similar complaints. As a result, paranoia blossoms and spreads.

The initial concerns may be quite genuine and shared by many other citizens. "There is almost always a kernel of truth to the false beliefs that these groups hold," says Dennis Johnson, a clinical psychologist and head of Behavior Analysts & Consultants, in Stuart, Florida. "Perhaps [it is] a piece of legislation they can point to and say, 'Here, look. Here's our justification.'" But then they look beyond that trigger and see a world that is painful, malevolent and out to get them.

Members of the group bond to one another and lose contact with other people who hold different opinions. The isolation works to reinforce their views, which in turn gives them new purpose. Individuals may even begin unconsciously to compete with each other to make the strongest statements. Nonetheless, many Americans with paranoid fantasies adopt a harmless defensive posture-perhaps stockpiling food, cash and weapons to guard against future calamity.

Not even the experts can explain why a few individuals or breakaway groups resort to violence against innocent people. "Most people have a lot of restraints-family or close friends. And they don't have the means to be violent," says Dr. Richard Wyatt, chief of neuropsychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health. Militia officers themselves may stop some hotheaded individuals from taking up terrorist tactics. Sometimes, it is only after people have been kicked out of a group that they feel free to commit murder.

Most of them don't, of course. In fact, psychologists say that many members of militias and similar groups are ordinary people who take ordinary ideas to extremes. "If you think these people are crazy, then you have to ask [if] there [is] anything the Federal Government could do that would make you willing to take up arms against it," says Clark McCauley, a psychology professor at Bryn Mawr College. "If you can answer no, then you're entitled to think these people are crazy. But if you say yes, then you'd better hazard a thought that they are human beings just like you." --By Christine Gorman. Reported by Lawrence Mondi/New York

With reporting by Lawrence Mondi/New York