The author differentiates between 'social' and 'individual' behavior and attributes the paranoiac's delusions to a defect in his adjustment to his social environment. Anticipated and fixed perspectives represent an important hindrance to adjustment. This is especially true concerning social taboos. Incorrect ideas in the asocial individual lead to further incorrect ideas and finally a 'pseudo-community' is created by the paranoiac's reactions to his own preoccupations. The paranoid person projects his individualistic standards on to the external world and so glides into conflict with his environment. This development ends in estrangement of the community to the paranoid person and eventually leads to his elimination from the social environment. Psychoanalytic theories are not mentioned.