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It very likely could be a dual diagnosis -- which is when a person has both a mental illness and a substance abuse addiction. Just over half of alcoholics/alcohol abusers are diagnosed with having had a mental illness at some time in their lives. Often the substance abuse begins in an effort to self-medicate the mental illness. Both of these (mental illness and alcoholism) are treatable but chronic brain diseases. It is important to get a proper diagnosis from a medical professional trained in these areas. This link provides additional information:
http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=By_Illness&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=54&ContentID=23049
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Posted by moy moy
My brother had an incident of paranoia after heavy drinking, like a mental melt down. He left my sisters place in an agitated, fearful state and drove for 40 km before I could talk him into stopping. He thought "they" ( my sister - conspiring) were out to get him somehow. I had to tell him that "they" were only looking for a car that was driving and would not find him if he stopped the car, which he did- but he was totally paranoid. He is a daily drinker ( 20+ years) but would / could this be just the alcohol or something else ie: nothing to do with alcohol. Now sober and discussing it with him he still seems to think their is something going on.