Distrust of Authority in Adults: Why It Happens and What to Do
Most of us don’t walk around thinking of ourselves as people who inherently distrust authority. Yet this feeling can come up in small moments or situations. A flash of irritation during a doctor’s appointment when we sense we’re not being heard or the tensing of the shoulders when having a meeting with a supervisor.
These reactions, for some, can feel more like instinct than choice. Many people discover, usually later in life, that they learned to stay alert around authority that didn’t use their power kindly or consistently in the past. Others have spent years finding their way through systems that didn’t include them, protect them, or recognize the nuances of their experience.
Distrust of authority isn’t simply about rebelling or refusing direction. It’s about questioning safety, who gets to decide things, and what it costs to hand over even a little control. The trouble starts when this caution turns into chronic vigilance. When every person in a position of influence feels like someone we need to brace against.
The information on this page isn’t here to convince you to trust blindly. Instead, it explores:
- What it means to distrust authority and the signs that point to it
- Some of the reasons for issues with authority
- Therapy for coping with suspicion and distrust
- Where to find professional support
- Answers to commonly asked questions about distrust of authority
What Does It Mean to Distrust Authority?
To distrust authority means that you have an expectation that someone in power’s motives, intentions, and behaviors are sinister or harmful. This expectation usually means that something occurred in life that led to a sense of disillusionment with authority figures. It’s normal, and even healthy, to question and be skeptical. But when there’s an ingrained belief about or paranoia of authority figures all being “unsafe” or out to cause harm, this can cause difficulties for well-being.
But how can you tell if you have a typical level of caution or paranoia about authority?
Signs You Might Mistrust Authority
People who carry a deep wariness of authority might notice small patterns in everyday moments. These patterns could look like:
- An urge to push back when someone in a leadership role gives direction.
- Feeling your body tense during evaluations, performance reviews, or situations where you’re being observed.
- Assuming someone is criticizing or judging you, even if the feedback is neutral or well-intentioned.
- Replaying interactions with authority figures like doctors, teachers, or supervisors, after they’ve ended, to search for signs of threat or disrespect.
- Feeling defensive or misunderstood when someone with power asks questions, even if they’re just gathering information.
- A habit of interpreting rules, procedures, or policies as attempts to control you rather than structure.
- Noticing your reaction is to handle things yourself when collaboration or guidance might actually help.
- Avoiding situations where you’d need to rely on an expert, like doctor’s appointments, financial consultations, or therapy intake calls.
- Overanalyzing body language, tone, or word choice when interacting with people in positions of authority.
- Feeling unusually sensitive to hierarchies of who leads, who decides, and who gets the final say.
- Struggling to trust that people with authority won’t become unpredictable, dismissive, or punitive without warning.
These signs and patterns of behavior tend to reflect old experiences or internalized lessons that taught your nervous system to stay on alert around those in power.
Why Distrust of Authority Happens
Distrust of authority can happen for a variety of reasons, but it doesn’t come out of nowhere. It might come from the stories, whether personal, inherited, or absorbed, that we get over the years, about systems that didn’t feel safe. Here are some of the reasons why distrust of authority happens:
Early Family Interactions
The first experiences with authority that we have in life are with our caregivers. And the attachments we form from our caregivers lay the foundation for trust later in life.1 A parent who punished unpredictably, a household in which mistakes led to shame, or an adult who used control as a way to keep order could cause insecure attachment. This may lead us to not know how to trust people in charge. Even subtle things, like growing up in a household where we weren’t allowed to question decisions, can teach us that authority is something to endure rather than trust.
Mistrust of Authority and Trauma
Mistreatment in childhood, whether it’s a coach who humiliated you, a spiritual leader who manipulated you, or someone meant to protect you causing you pain, can create issues with trust.2 This trauma-related mistrust happens because, when a person in a position of power causes harm, your nervous system remembers the mismatch between their role and their behavior. PTSD mistrust symptoms might look like constant suspicion, avoiding vulnerability, or feeling overly jealous of relationships in your life with authority figures.
Cultural or Systemic Realities
Distrust can also be collective. Communities with long histories of discrimination or institutional harm often carry a generational mistrust toward systems of power.3 For marginalized people, skepticism toward institutions isn’t paranoia. It’s a lived truth passed down through experience and meant to keep people safe.
Temperament and Personality
Some people come into the world with a strong sense of autonomy. They notice inconsistencies, dislike being directed, or feel uncomfortable when someone else sets the pace. This can be a part of our inherent temperament or personality, where we lean toward independence or analytical thinking.
Some people might also grow up with a behavior disorder, called “oppositional defiant disorder,” which shows up as angry, irritable, or defiant behavior toward authority figures.4 ODD authority issues in childhood can still linger into adulthood, where you feel an instinctive need to reclaim control in situations where someone else holds power.
Mental Health Patterns
Sometimes our mental health and emotional patterns can amplify distrust of people in power. Anxiety can sharpen our attention to threat, while depression can shape the belief that people will eventually overlook or disappoint us.
Some personality disorders, specifically paranoid personality disorder (PPD), can cause a widespread pattern of suspiciousness and distrust of others.5 Other long-standing patterns connected to personality disorder symptoms can also make authority feel more unpredictable or overwhelming than it might to someone else. These patterns may include a fear of abandonment, emotional volatility, or a deep sensitivity to perceived rejection.
None of these conditions creates distrust out of nowhere. They often increase reactions that are rooted in earlier experiences.
Therapy for Authority Anxiety
Finding ways to cope with a constant distrust of authority isn’t about learning to “obey” or forcing ourselves to be comfortable with people who hold power. It’s about creating enough internal steadiness that authority no longer feels like a threat, so we can choose when to listen, when to question, and when to walk away. The following approaches can help you achieve this balance:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT helps us address flawed beliefs that can cause trust issues.6 It helps us identify the inadvertent thoughts and feelings that come up when we’re around authority. For example, those split-second beliefs that someone is judging, controlling, or dismissing us before we’ve had time to assess what’s actually happening.
Instead of forcing “positive thinking,” CBT invites us to slow down the moment, look at the evidence, and develop more realistic interpretations. Over time, the situations that once triggered a surge of defensiveness start to feel more manageable.
Trauma-Focused Therapy and EMDR
Trauma-focused work, including EMDR, is often effective in treating trauma.7 It can help process moments when authority was misused or unsafe. Instead of reliving the past, you revisit the emotional imprint it left behind, like the fear, confusion, and sense of being small or powerless, and update it with the safety of the present.
Attachment-Based Therapy
Attachment-focused therapy helps us understand how our early experiences influence our current emotions, behaviors, and relationships.8 It looks at the templates we learned from childhood, like what it meant to trust, what it cost to depend on someone, and how we learned to read power. In sessions, the therapeutic relationship becomes a kind of testing ground – one where we get to experience consistent, collaborative authority that doesn’t overpower us. These small, repeated experiences can shift our sense of what’s possible with others.
Mind-Body Approaches
The distrust of authority not only shows up in our thoughts, but also in our bodies. The nervous system might tighten at the slightest hint of pressure or direction. Mind-body practices, like somatic therapies, help us notice those reactions, understand what they’re trying to protect, and develop ways to manage them. With things like deep breathing, instead of bracing, we can teach the body to learn how to stay present and grounded in situations that used to feel charged.9
Many adults assume that healing distrust means suddenly becoming open and agreeable, but therapy works in much smaller steps. You learn to set boundaries without shutting down. To ask questions without assuming the worst. To try collaboration in low-stakes moments, then gradually increase the level of vulnerability as your nervous system becomes more confident.
Mission Connection: Helping You Rebuild Trust and Safety
At Mission Connection, we know that chronic distrust of authority doesn’t come from nowhere. We understand that it comes from the stories, experiences, and memories that once helped you survive. By using a combination of evidence-based approaches, like CBT and trauma-focused therapy, with somatic practices, we can help you untangle the reactions that lead to distrust.
If you’re looking for support for trauma recovery and ways to learn how to trust again, we’re here to help. Contact Mission Connection today to explore these patterns with someone who meets you where you are.
FAQs About Anxiety and Fear of Authority
If mistrust of authority trauma is something you regularly experience, you might have some ongoing concerns. For this reason, we’ve provided some responses to questions people frequently ask about authority anxiety.
1. Why Do I Get Authority Anxiety?
You might get anxiety or fear authority because of limiting beliefs you formed early on or as a result of a negative experience with authority figures. For instance, you might have been embarrassed or humiliated by a parent or teacher. Or maybe you were harmed, either physically or emotionally, by law enforcement or a spiritual leader. Whatever the experience, your body can hold that anxiety.
2. Can Distrust of Authority Affect Relationships?
Yes, distrusting authority can impact relationships. You might pull back when someone tries to take control, feel irritated when a partner takes initiative, or struggle with feeling “controlled” by a superior at work.
3. Why Do Some Youth Struggle to Accept Authority?
Some youth might struggle with authority because growing up is a time when their identity and independence are forming, making limits feel more intrusive. For some teens who have had inconsistent parenting, harsh discipline, or felt unheard, this may make them more likely to push back against authority.
Teenage behavior concerns, like anxiety, trauma, and depression, can also make it harder for teens to accept authority. This is why a mental health evaluation can sometimes help to identify what might be going on. In more serious situations, especially when safety or stability is at risk, residential mental health treatment gives teens the structure and support they can’t access at home. Such an environment can help them feel safer and more understood rather than controlled.
4. How Does Mission Connection Help With Authority-Related Anxiety or Trauma?
We work with you in a collaborative and trauma-focused approach to allow you to feel in control rather than overpowered or pressured. Using evidence-based approaches like CBT, EMDR, and attachment-focused work, we aim to help you unpack where your distrust comes from and how to navigate authority without feeling on edge.
References
- Rodriguez, L. M., DiBello, A. M., Øverup, C. S., & Neighbors, C. (2015). The price of distrust: trust, anxious attachment, jealousy, and partner abuse. Partner Abuse, 6(3), 298–319. https://doi.org/10.1891/1946-6560.6.3.298
- Hepp, J., Schmitz, S. E., Urbild, J., Zauner, K., & Niedtfeld, I. (2021). Childhood maltreatment is associated with distrust and negatively biased emotion processing. Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation, 8(1), 5. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40479-020-00143-5
- Fernandez-Barutell, L. (2020). When personal raises political: Experience of racial discrimination and distrust of authorities among children of immigrants. The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 47(4). https://doi.org/10.15453/0191-5096.4349
- Mars, J. A., Aggarwal, A., & Marwaha, R. (2024, October 29). Oppositional defiant disorder. StatPearls – NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557443/
- Jain, L., & Torrico, T. J. (2024, June 5). Paranoid Personality Disorder. StatPearls – NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK606107/
- Nakao, M., Shirotsuki, K., & Sugaya, N. (2021). Cognitive–behavioral therapy for management of mental health and stress-related disorders: Recent advances in techniques and technologies. BioPsychoSocial Medicine, 15(1), 16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13030-021-00219-w
- Wilson, G., Farrell, D., Barron, I., Hutchins, J., Whybrow, D., & Kiernan, M. D. (2018). The Use of Eye-Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy in Treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder—A Systematic Narrative Review. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 923. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00923
- Diamond, G., Diamond, G. M., & Levy, S. (2021b). Attachment-based family therapy: Theory, clinical model, outcomes, and process research. Journal of Affective Disorders, 294, 286–295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.07.005
- Kuhfuß, M., Maldei, T., Hetmanek, A., & Baumann, N. (2021). Somatic experiencing – effectiveness and key factors of a body-oriented trauma therapy: a scoping literature review. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 12(1), 1929023. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2021.1929023