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Re: OCD staring / eye contact / peripheral vision

Im going to print off partsof this chat from the start and bring it along with me to doctor to refer me.

I suggest you seek professional help to.

Re: OCD staring / eye contact / peripheral vision

Thank you so much, for now all my bets are riding on you Dino. I still haven't talked to anyone about this and I don't know how to seek the right professional help I need.

Can you be sure to include that Linc that I posted, it's got some good info.

Re: OCD staring / eye contact / peripheral vision

Start with your local GP ( ordanary local doctor). . . Try pick one that is based in your area for a good while. Might have more experiance.

 

Will point you in the right direction.  Please dont say all bets are on me. Im no doctor.

 

Just a friend  that knows how hard it can be at times.

 

D

Re: OCD staring / eye contact / peripheral vision

How are you getting on?

 

I finally after 25 years went to my GP about this....seeing a professional..Local doc says some meds will help...

 

 

Keep you posted.

 

On that note. I took up working out for 1 hour a day...at it since..and it helps soooo  much.

 

dino1.

Re: OCD staring / eye contact / peripheral vision

Hi all..Im living with looking at everyone in the room now for years..BUT finally after 20 years went to a 1 hour session with my psychaitrist...learned i have

 

body dysmorphic disorder..

trichotillomania (had to google spell it..im not good at spelling!)..

and socal anxeity.

to sum up...I hate my body....and I have OCD (counting things all the time)..and being close to a person...i just cant relax..and actually get close to a person.i get afraid...of what? fo what they think? Im not sure yet.

 

had some bad things said to me as a teen..and it stuck to me...i felt very very low.

 

but the fantastic news..its treatable.... Going for CBT sessions in January. ...was very very low only when I joined this forum(6/7 weeks ago )....but compaired to then..im 300% better...actually feel good about myself..for the 1st time since i was a teeager.

 

It will take time....in the mean time...i suggest you do the following....go for a long walk...or a short run everyday..do not stress yourself out in suitautions you know you cant handle...try little things you can do...I could NEVER watch the tv with people in the room ..because im obbsessed if they are looking at me..or im looking at them..its strange..but its there...so today i lasted 10 mins..head down 3 times.....relax....relax...focus on the content on the tv..little steps...

 

Hope this helps others...thats all.......GET HELP...dont suffer in silence. ONE hour after living with this for over 20 years...omg...why did'nt i seek help before this? I do not know..but its ok.

Re: OCD staring / eye contact / peripheral vision

Hi Tyler, Thanks very much for sharing your experience.

Sorry If I am jumping to the point real quick, but I almost has the same situation you had in terms of this peripheral vison (eyes flicking back and forward) with people in the corner of my vision.
It is a bit stange that there are not a lot of people who experience this type of OCD (or what ever you may call it).

Mine started at an exam hall actually when I was giving my exams for my masters degree (which I havent yet completed succesfully). To be honest and frank, I was using bits of text book pages to cheat on the exams and had to make sure that the invigilator isn't coming anywhere near. I remember that one first time I did this trick, I looked though the corner of my eyes to figure out if the invigilator is coming near. Sadly it all started from there, my brain seems to have thought its some sort of superpower that I can look through the corner of the eyes and nobody actually notices it. But in reality, it wasn't the case and I started to use this trick more and more going forward.
It actually took me quite some time to understand this is some sort of disorder. At the moment it has got more weird and I am completely loosing control over it. I cannot join any social gatherings or anything where I have to see/ meet many people (be it friends or family or people I have never met). I beleive this is the first ever post I am putting on the internet about my screwed up brain.
Have been searching about this particular OCD for a while on the internet and I was really disappointed that there isn't much information available. In fact it seems like a rare type of OCD.
I have been so far trying meditation on a regular basis for an year now, but it has shown no real promise although it actually helped me to bring controll over my depression and anxiety to an extend 🙂 (Happy about it).
I am completely lost with this problem right now, it has actually made me a different person now, who doesn't have any level of confidence to do things or to meet people. 

I am unable to controll or fix it own my own, and am seeking medical help right now. Your post gave me a ray of hope that this can be cured at least upto a limit!! I wish to know more about the medication and other related stuffs from you. I was wondering if you could share more details about them. I'm not completely sure about the rules you guys maintain here, but it would be so great if you could provide me another way to reach your directly to understand about it more.

Thanks

Harry

Re: OCD staring / eye contact / peripheral vision

Hi All,  

I have had some success in this.  So thought will inform. 

First I use medication since last so many years - same that other contributor too had mentioned - ssri - psychiatrist given. 

APART from that,  I now daily have a tablet PC on,  playing a movie - on mute sound. (Netflix / Amazon prime/ whatever).   And  I continue to do my work on another PC.  The movie I select is general / popular drama / everyday life / with males / females acting. Daily I play different movies for an hour or so.  What this has done is that it has helped me to practice live erp - exposure response prevention therapy.  I have got a 10 inch tablet PC - so this works good - gives a real life feel.  The tablet PC is placed next to the PC I am working on . Initially I had still  photos on digital Photo Frame.  After seeing some success - I shifted to playing movies.  To get a more real life exposure feel.  It has helped me tremendously.  The hesitation to go out in public is slowly waning.  This works. Please share your experience too.  I don't log in often. So will check back in due course. 

Re: OCD staring / eye contact / peripheral vision

To add to above,  I don't watch the movie - it is just to subconsciously register / normalise the peripheral exposure to my brain / reduce the anxiety. I continue to focus / work on the other PC.  Further the movies I select are general dramas / not adult or se xu al in nature. 

Re: OCD staring / eye contact / peripheral vision

Hi I suffered with OCD eye contact awareness & staring at those in my peripheral view. It started when I was 19 & pregnant & went on maternity leave from my job. A work colleague came to my home & I couldn't make eye contact...it made me so uncomfortable & caused so much fear & anxiety & made me feel like I was crazy & that she could tell I had trouble looking at her & thought I was weird!  It lasted for 10 yrs & I never told a soul...as I thought they would think I was crazy & I don't think I could of explained it anyway! I thought I was crazy & weird. It was hell!!! I was petrified to make eye contact. What I use to do automatically turned into a over awareness that caused me so much fear & anxiety. I would even dream about not being able to make eye contact & feel the fear it brought. Just mentioning eyes & especially eye contact gave me so much fear & anxiety. To make eye contact just totally scared me & made me so anxious! I thought others could see I had trouble making eye contact or that I was looking at them in my peripheral view & that I made them feel uncomfortable & they would think I was weird & crazy!  I would do anything to avoid eye contact as it so freaked me out...I would get up & walk away, or I would pretend to be looking at a magazine, I would look away so much, or I wouldn't make eye contact. I was so over conscience about eye contact that I would look back & forth at each eye, petrified & not knowing where to look & not wanting to make eye contact. I suffered for 10 yrs thinking I was the only one in the world to suffer with this...as I would watch others & even people on TV to see if they struggled with eye contact like me & I could never see it.              In 1992 I started seeing a counsellor at a sexual assault clinic at the hospital...after suffering severe  depression... which I was told came from being sexually abused as a child for yrs, by my step grandfather we lived with.  I told her about my eye contact problem. After I had been seeing her for a year she suggested I go to the Anxiety Clinic at the hospital re my eye contact fear.                *At my first session he diagnosed my eye contact problem I had for 10 yrs as OCD! I cried when he told me...because I was so relieved I wasn't crazy & that it was OCD a diagnosed condition. He also diagnosed me with Anxiety Disorder. **He got me to do CBT. I had to purposely look people in the eye & for 15 minutes everyday & keep a journal & rate out of 1 to 10 how much anxiety it caused. I had to do the same with people that came into my peripheral view. I hadn't gone to the Movies in 10 yrs because of looking at people in my peripheral view & the anxiety it caused. So he told me I had to go to the Movies as well & purposely look at people in my peripheral view...which I did. I also had to listen to relaxation music & do relaxation exercises everyday. Within 2 months my OCD eye contact fear & looking at people in my peripheral view had totally gone!!! He warned me though that in times of stress it may come back. Well you could write a book on the awful stressful times I have had in my life & it never came back. But Sadly then it did...it was 10 yrs after it had gone after I did the CBT. I suffered for yrs again. Forgetting I could do the CBT by myself that I had done at the Anxiety Clinic. So I did the CBT again & the relaxation exercises & within 2 months it was totally gone again!!! I pray it never comes back again!!! It was hell!!! If it does I pray I remember to do the CBT & relaxation exercises straight away this time! The CBT I did was actually getting me to face my fears...

purposely doing what I feared. That is making eye contact & looking at people in my peripheral view, even though it caused me so much anxiety. As I did this...faced my fears the anxiety got less & less...until it was totally gone. So I guess you could also call the CBT I did Exposure Therapy too.    I So Hope & Pray this will help so many others!!!!

Re: OCD staring / eye contact / peripheral vision

Hi Tyler,

Really amazing to read your post I wish I had seen it 6 years ago. I am a peripheral vison (OCD staring) suffer, which I finally worked out thanks to people like you talking about it. Finding the Facebook group and not feeling alone with this has saved me

 

To say this OCD has affected me would be an understatement. I was too embarrassed to tell the psychiatrist, and it developed into major psychosis for me.  Total fear of leaving the house of engaging people, even family. 

 

The OCD groups have been not much help, even the psychiatrist had not encountered it. I buddied up with a fellow suffer in Canada last year and we worked through things and both have it under control now.

 

I find it interesting you feeling okay walking the dog in the morning. I think all those nice moments and feeling good about yourself work more than medication options.

 

I don't take anything for the OCD, I just get out and work hard at enjoying life now. Regaining self belief and feeling positive is really important beating this OCD. 

 

Years of bullying in the workplace really took it's toll on me and it has been a massive comeback. So excited to read this post haven't finished the thread. I put a thread up on another forum years ago like the Voyager sateliite years ago. I hear from people around the world alone with this horrible OCD. The more we post hopefully helps people not feel isolated

 

 

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