Paranoia?

[Mzor203]

I didn't see a forum for something like this, so I'm just posting it here. Correct this if it is an error on my part.

Anyways, I don't think I have any form of full blown paranoia, but I do have a thing were if I'm in the vicinity of anyone I have never met, I get really nervous. Often, if I am passing somebody on the street, I expect them to be a murderer and to whip out a gun or a knife or something and try to kill me. If a car is coming and I'm on the side of the road, I think it's going to swerve at the last moment and crash into me. Sometime I even go to the extent of hiding behind a bush or parked car if I see anyone who looks slightly scary. These effects are lessened when someone else is with me, and after an incident like that I feel really stupid. I would like this to go away, and I try to talk myself and tell myself that these thoughts are stupid ones. I've even approached my mom on the subject, saying very tentatively, "Mom, I think I might be paranoid." She just says, "No, you're probably just a bit shy around strangers. She doesn't understand.
Anyways, thank for taking the time to read this, and please help and assure me that psycho-killers are not out to get me.

[theOperaGhost]

I can be like that if I walking around at night in a city. Usually not in my town cause the population is only about 1000 people. But even at night my town can be a little scary. There are some creepy people, but there aren't any psycho-killers out to get you.

[Mzor203]

My town is bigger, like 15,000 people. It's not only night that I feel like this, but also in the bright sunshine.

[Mzor203]

I'm sorry if this is a bad thing to do, but the thread is less than 6 weeks old, and no one answered it really and I need help on this since it's worse than ever lately. Anyone help please?

[Techno Monster]

I have Anxiety and I get like that sometimes, maybe you should try to see somebody? Or have you been under more stress lately?

[Mzor203]

wow, didn't see this.

No, I'm not under stress or anything, I've just always been like this. It's weird. I'm fine when others are around, but as soon as I'm alone. 0.o

[theOperaGhost]

Maybe you have a phobia of being alone. I'd say you have some kind of phobia, but I don't know.

[Zephyr]

Paranoia... [blegh]
I get like that at times.
I live out in the middle of nowhere, so I'm constantly afraid that some person is going to kill me and nobody is around to hear or witness it. I'm also paranoid when I'm walking around in the middle of the night because I've been stalked a few times.

Really though, it's all in your head. Just use your street smarts/common sense rather than you imagination and you'll be alright = )

[Mzor203]

Hmm, maybe it's a phobia, but not of being alone, only when I am near a stranger.

Good advice Steph, I'd put i to use, but it's hard.

[lxl]

yeah im kinda on the same boat here
i do manage to piss off my parents once in awhile
and my dad has ferocious temper...
so i get paranoid that one day, he's gonna whip out something to kill me behind my back or something really crazy
so i kinda know how you feel...

[Oblivion]

Rex i would advise taking some kind of martial art maybe? I love to do karate, and i feel a lot more confident when i do it. If you get really good you can learn all different ways to defend yourself and maybe you won't be so creeped about strangers :)

[thesphinx]

Maybe you should try something called cognitive therapy, pretty much it is filtering the the thoughts and fears that are a reality from those that are a figment of your imagination.
In example you see a group of people in an alley (just as an example) it is probably a legitimate concern to walk past all of them ( of course you shouldn't assume there bad or anything ) but if there is just a normal guy walking by you and you feel you need to jump in a bush I would say that is a false concern.
Anyway you can do this on paper or in your mind or however you want to do it.

[byee]

Well, I don't know if this is considered 'paranoia', because you seem to be aware that the threat is more imagined than real. People with 'true' paranoia really believe there is real danger, their reality testing is very impaired.

It sounds like what you might have, though, is generalized anxiety. That's when you experience a very heightened sense of worry and doom, usually caused by some obscure environmental situation which acts like a trigger (like seeing strangers). Your reality testing is OK, it just gets a little blurry under certain situations.

I like the idea of you telling your mom, but it seems like you might need to be a bit more detailed about the extent of it. It's more than 'shyness' here, it's really getting in your way, and it might need some treatment in therapy. Impress upon her the seriousness of it.

[emecrazy]

i think i have paranoia too im affraid to hold my fone next to a window in a car cause i think its gonna fly out the window
i cant buy food from like McDonalds.. i think they will say no
I always think ppl are laughing at me when they jsut laugh.

and all this other stuff..

i just learned to take a breath and say... my fones not gonna fall out
they arent laughing at me.
and so on ... i think that could help out it helps me sometimes.

[Nihilus]

That happens to me too and its just annoying and not paranoia.

[My_Toes_Are_Cold]

After I saw The Truman Show, I thought I was always being watched.

And I still do.

[Mzor203]

Hmm... I've been thinking lately, and I realize there is a greater extent to this than I realized... and it seems to be getting worse as time goes by. There's another thing that I do.... which is quite embarrassing.

Every night I always have to use the bathroom around 12:00-2:00 AM, regularly. But when I come back from the bathroom, first, I have to check out around the door to make sure no one is waiting, run to my room as fast as possible, then turn on the light, and check every nook and cranny. No, not for monsters, but for something waiting for me...

I hate it. I'm really too embarrassed to tell my mom the extent of it, but I'm thinking I might at some point. It's annoying, and when I think about it could be tied into my other problems, shyness, my impairation when it comes to girls, etc.

[The Batman]

whenever I do anything I have to have all the lights on because I get scared that there is someone in the darkness just waiting to get me.

[Φρανκομβριτ]

do you live in a rough area? I don't like walking on the streets alone in toronto. If you feel it's a problem, and it's getting in the way of your everyday life, you should go see your doctor

[Mzor203]

Not a rough area at all... Very small town way up in the wilderness of BC. So no...

[Φρανκομβριτ]

Not a rough area at all... Very small town way up in the wilderness of BC. So no...

ah, well then.

Well If I lived in ft. nelson or something, I'd prob. do the same

[Never_Forget]

Hmm... I've been thinking lately, and I realize there is a greater extent to this than I realized... and it seems to be getting worse as time goes by. There's another thing that I do.... which is quite embarrassing.

Every night I always have to use the bathroom around 12:00-2:00 AM, regularly. But when I come back from the bathroom, first, I have to check out around the door to make sure no one is waiting, run to my room as fast as possible, then turn on the light, and check every nook and cranny. No, not for monsters, but for something waiting for me...

I hate it. I'm really too embarrassed to tell my mom the extent of it, but I'm thinking I might at some point. It's annoying, and when I think about it could be tied into my other problems, shyness, my impairation when it comes to girls, etc.

I'm exactly the same... Especially after seeing the exorcist spiderwalk.. Bleugh.. I have to actually turn the lamp on before I go into the bathroom in case Linda Blair creeps up on me and kills me, and I'm being deadly serious. Once we got a new mechanical air freshener that made a kind of screeching sound, and I was terrified to open my door because I thought there was something out there.. Whenever I go past anyone and they so much as blink I have to duck because I think they're about to hit me... It's freaking ANNOYING. I could go on about different things for HOURS but I just can't be bothered... I don't have it as bad as you though...

[NightHawksr71]

I'm a bit like this to, thinking some random people are out to get me, or the people laughing behind me are laughing at me. I think I found a personality disorder that describes me well enough to talk to a counselor or something, however as I am 16 I think I will wait. just to see if it its a passing thing or whatever. but as far as I remember I always thought it. it just seems to have gotten a little worse recently. But really, Theres not much you can do except tell yourself that they aren't out to get you and that they aren't laughing at you sort of thing, Best of luck hope everything goes well for ya mate. And if it gets to serious see a psychiatrist.

[Hyper]

tis a bit old.. So its getting locked..

If you want me to open Rex PM :)