I get anxious when people look at me

[lamchops]

i always feel people are staring at me, and it makes me really anxious. i see people's faces out of the corner of my eye, and it looks like they're staring at me, but im too anxious to look back. i feel this way when girls look at me, but the anxiety is worse when guys look at me (im a guy by the way). when a guy looks at me i feel like im being "challenged", and its making me cower up on the inside. im tired of this, i wanna be a man. im not sayin i wanna start fights with them or nothin, but im tired of being afraid to look back at them. i have a strong feeling that my anxiety shows

and by the way, i live in the city and ride the subway everyday, i encounter this daily

 

[anarchogen]

wear mirror sunglasses and put little mirrors on little arms on the side so you can see who's behind you, or looking at you from the side...

or invest in some mdma, that helped me get over my social cowardice, cumulatively at least. not sure if that will help for the paranoia aspect of your anxiety.

like in jail/prison its usually best not to look back at somebody, if that person would seem to be one to challenge somebody (tuff g's who ben in da pen), just mind your own business.

 

[bigstevederry]

I know how you feel man, I get it all the time even when I'm not on drugs, makes standing in a local shop a challenge, thinking people are giving me dirty looks or making conversations about me, valiums help me over come the situations then again them things are addictive so I try not to take them too much

 

[mrflowers00]

try asking your doctor to prescribe you ativan or xanax for the anxiety they have helped me wonders

 

[love2party]

I get this usually when i'm anxious, its starting to go away though. Just relax most people are in their own little world and don't really care to stare at you. I usually just glance at people and turn away even if their looking at me. Most people are cool and don't want to pick random fights with strangers.

 

[†∆†]

do you do a lot of uppers?

 

[malakaix]

People are more concerned about themselves then what someone else is doing, their probably thinking the exact same thing.

If you feel insecure about yourself in public, you'll believe people are seeing that negative image of yourself when they look at you..

I remember the first few weeks i had dreadlocks, all i could think about is 'are people looking at me, i bet their wondering 'what the fuck'?' People were looking at me as they passed by but because i doubted my appearance so much i believed that's all they saw.. my doubt and insecurity in myself. As time went by, i became more comfortable with myself, people continued to stare but because i felt confident in myself it didn't phase me in the slightest.. in-fact in make me grin because for each person who stared as they passed by, they reflected the confidence i had in my appearance.

Find out why you feel insecure about people staring at you, and you will find your solution.

 

[SececaRD]

Insecurity...


I was like this.. Many years of E use had taught me how to overcome this...

NOT SUGGESTED FOR CURE

 

[Crack4Lyfe]

Honestly think the best cure is to get involved in a fight and smack someone down. Your experience isn't unique, it's is something that has been hardwired into you by evolution.

Start of small, pick a weedy looking guy and keep moving up until you feel content with your position on the ladder.

 

[badandwicked]

^ ???

You may be attractive or eye catching, which is no bad thing. If people are genuinely peeking at you, it may be for a positive reason, or maybe it's all in your imagination.Try to set yourself small personal challenges regarding returning their eye contact. As in 'today, I will make eye contact for 1 seconds with 1 person. Tomorrow, 2 seconds with 2 people.' Desensitize yourself gradually. Remember, no one knows whats going on in your head, if you appear calm, controlled & confident they will think you are.

 

[lamchops]

thnx for the replies, u guys made some good points. and no i dont do uppers haha, i quit drugs awhile back (although i do think all the E i did before has had a lasting impact on me). i think i do have some insecurity issues, cuz im always quick to make assumptions, but its soo hard to pinpoint the root of my insecurity

 

[OnePageMemory]

I use to be like you and like many others E has made me overcome this issue. You have to have confidence in yourself and keep telling yourself in your head that youre the shit and fuck everyone else but dont be all conceited outside if you know what i mean. Also, dont care what everyone else is saying or doing just look straight ahead of you and ignore everyone else. You making eye contact with another male makes you look weak or sometimes gay ( no offense to anyone ) if youre not being spoken to in the beginning. And a lot of people can sense weakness if youre not confident in yourself. Every time I go to a club or a party or somewhere where there is a lot of people I go in there thinking im the shit and its all about me right now but in reality im not like that im easy to get along with and talk to it just keeps me confident when im dealing with public situations. A lot of people say I bring and give out good energy when I walk into a room which I dont intend to but my mind set does the job for me. It also helps walking up and talking to woman or when they come up and talk to you.

 

[mymindisgoo]

some of these replies are kinda retarded, but to each their own. i would advise against taking any substance to 'solve' yer problem, that's only temporary.
i used to be like that, not being able to make eye contact, feeling scared by people looking at me. i've always been anti social and had low self esteem. but like someone said, it's not necessarily a bad thing when people look at you. once i was able to boost my self confidence, i could walk on the bus and people would look at me and i loved it. or maybe they weren't looking at me, it's all in yer head. there's nothing to be scared about. you said yer self yu live in a city, yer never going to see those people again, so why not look back?
i feel the best would to just look at the person until they give you that 'what the fuck look,' or until they stop looking. that's what i do. it's not a tough guy thing, it's more of 'yer looking at me, so i'm going to look at you, you caught my eye so whats the big deal?'
it could be that no one is looking at you. they could be looking at the person or thing next to you, but it's nothing to be worried about. people look allllllllllll the time

 

[ElectroChemical]

I can give you a fictional example of an experience I've been through and maybe the story could help you understand.

Around a year ago SWIM was prescribed Adderall for ADD/ADHD symptoms, however SWIM obtained them by lying to the psychiatrist about symptoms. SWIM started out low dosing everyday and within a short couple of weeks was binging heavily, snorting huge amounts and trying to chase that euphoria the first amphetamine dose produced.

SWIM continued this process for about 6 months, battling back and forth, having bouts of willpower and flushing 30 day supplies down the toilet, but to only refill a prescription to start all over again.

SWIM, before this, had minor symptoms of anxiety but nothing related to social anxiety. During the abuse and binging SWIM's perception changed significantly. At first SWIM only became paranoid under the influence of the amphetamines, but after the last binge and toilet flush he returned to a new psychiatrist and told him of the paranoia and extreme anxiety that the Adderall had produced. During this time SWIM was not under the influence but was beginning to display paranoia and social anxiety.

Conclusion that I have made about SWIM's mental status:

Research has shown that amphetamines can escalate certain mental disorders such as anxiety, schizophrenic, paranoia. I believe that abusing these stimulants carried SWIM's preexisting disposition over the threshold; producing a chemical change in SWIM's brain.

I have no theory or statistics as to if and when these symptoms will vanish. SWIM has not abused stimulants for over 2 years but SWIM states he still carries the symptoms daily.

SWIM although does state that the symptoms have decreased, and that he has good and bad days/weeks/months.



Psychiatrist prescribed clonazapam; which helped SWIM return to baseline. SWIM, being still engulfed by the "Dark Side" decided to abuse the benzodiazapine, but that is a whole other story.

Long story short SWIM, to this day, still battles with that same social anxiety and panic disorder that was brought forward by the Amphetamine abuse. SWIM still uses clonazapam, but however has been rehabbed from the "Dark Side" and can manage his own medicinal needs.

SWIM admits that cognitive behavioral therapy does help, but only with the addition of exposure therapy. The more SWIM interacts with others and puts his self into social situations, the more the symptoms become manageable.

Conclusion is that SWIM never before experienced social anxiety until abusing amphetamines. So my advise to you is to stay away from stimulants, or rather use them responsibly (if that's even possible)

There are also numerous support groups located on the internet as well as in treatment programs. It could be an option for you, in SWIM's experience the more he denies that symptoms and becomes afraid and isolates from the outside, the more the symptoms paralyze him; manifesting into panic situations/attacks.


I hope this helps, don't hesitate to message me if you'd like to talk more about the subject.

 

[BlueberryfishY]

i always feel people are staring at me, and it makes me really anxious. i see people's faces out of the corner of my eye, and it looks like they're staring at me, but im too anxious to look back. i feel this way when girls look at me, but the anxiety is worse when guys look at me (im a guy by the way). when a guy looks at me i feel like im being "challenged", and its making me cower up on the inside. im tired of this, i wanna be a man. im not sayin i wanna start fights with them or nothin, but im tired of being afraid to look back at them. i have a strong feeling that my anxiety shows

and by the way, i live in the city and ride the subway everyday, i encounter this daily

lol man, i know what you mean.. i get this real bad when i'm in withdrawal or on my way to pick up or just go to the store, and 80 percent of the time when i look back or at the person who i feel is staring at me really is! pisses me off sometimes.

sometimes i say shit, but only when it gets bad.

 

[silvercrimson]

i know exactly how you feel, espically that corner of the eye deal, im a girl and i always see them looking in the corner of my eye. i sometimes wont even leave my appt. to even check the mail, because i feel like the whole building is watching. not so much now, but before i couldnt even leave the my apt to fucking do anything. id make plans and flake out at the last minute because i knew that id have to leave my apt. ive been taking wellbutrin 300xl, and my doctor has also thrown in 20mg prozac along with it, and it has kind of helped. i dont know anything about pills because they are not my thing, but i can honestly say since adding the prozac, i feel a little better and i know they must be working. so dont worry youre not alone on this one!

 

[hurtin4certain]

Honestly think the best cure is to get involved in a fight and smack someone down. Your experience isn't unique, it's is something that has been hardwired into you by evolution.

Start of small, pick a weedy looking guy and keep moving up until you feel content with your position on the ladder.

if anyone needed ANYMORE proof that Crack4lyfe is a complete amd utter fool. please read the above post where he advises somebody to commit a violent felony.

 

[Transform]

Not to mention the fact that it would not help in the slughtest.
Nor would using MDMA in a non-medical situation. It might be helpful, but to be sure you'd need someone trained in MDMA therapy or it could just make things worse.

It sounds like you aren't in too deep, I don't think you need anxiolytics just yet. Badandwicked's solution sounds like an excellent one, gradually challenge yourself so that you can effect the change naturally.

Good luck

 

[AEB]

I have the same issue as you do. Thinking that people are watching you is most certainly a product of your imagination and even if they really do look at you then simply don't give a fuck. After all chances that they meet and remember you again are slim.

Just follow badandwicked's advice and it'll slowly get better.

 

[shadow_onion]

i always feel people are staring at me, and it makes me really anxious. i see people's faces out of the corner of my eye, and it looks like they're staring at me, but im too anxious to look back. i feel this way when girls look at me, but the anxiety is worse when guys look at me (im a guy by the way). when a guy looks at me i feel like im being "challenged", and its making me cower up on the inside. im tired of this, i wanna be a man. im not sayin i wanna start fights with them or nothin, but im tired of being afraid to look back at them. i have a strong feeling that my anxiety shows

and by the way, i live in the city and ride the subway everyday, i encounter this daily

It sounds to me like you just have social anxiety, which I've experienced a bit in my life. Working out really helped improve my self-confidence, I'd highly recommend lifting some weights or going running a couple times a week, it helped me a ton. Also keep in mind that you're not the only one who feels this way, I'm sure a lot of the people that make you feel insecure feel insecure also.