Sometimes paranoia is...

I am asked (by a young woman on the phone): "Doctor, is it you who had me followed home from the clinic yesterday by a man who told me he works there and is preparing me for a job working there, too?"

Yes, she has a history of paranoia. But working in the public sector, I have been burned more than once when I thought a story like this was symptomatic of a psychiatric disorder.

It's hell being poor, worse being poor and mentally ill, even worse to be a young mentally ill woman living on meager disability benefits but among the street-savvy who live on even less.

Aware of this young woman's particular version of hell, I asked her case worker to check out the story...