Who relates to the symptom of paranoia

[Moonhart44]

I think i blamed it on my recreational use for a long time, but i realized that i have always been this way. I remember being very young and thinking aliens or monsters were watching me, and i would imagine how they would look. when i got more in school, thats when i went away from monsters and into people, or my peers. (Even typing this down, I am remembering more things). I remember at one point getting upset to the point of tears because I felt like couldn't relax because I was always being watched.
When I was younger I believed people could read my mind, particularly my dad. With my dad, I believed he just somehow had this ability, but with others, I believed that they were in my mind using a form of technology. I asked my dad at one point whether he could read my mind, and he said no, and i believed him.

Nowadays I have hallucinations of people in the corner of my eye, someone waiting for me to talk to them, someone there to give me something social to do. But, upon looking, there is always something there that i just mistook for a person, and i conclude it to be paranoia.

i was wondering if others had similar experiences to this.

 

[Trophonius]

I had a mild paranoia until I was 18. It stopped on its own apparently, as I got more busy I paid less attention to that kind of thoughts.

 

[Bolletje]

I have occasional bouts of bad paranoia, I have had them ever since my teens. For me it’s closely related to my bipolar disorder and it most often occurs when my depression is really bad. At those times my paranoia often dips a toe into the delusional (and sometimes plunges into the deep end of delusion).
With the paranoia usually comes social withdrawal and a tendency to be difficult to get a hold of. When my parents and sister can’t reach me during the day they generally know they’re about to get a “hey so things aren’t going great for me right now” talk from me in the nearby future.

 

[Bolletje]

Nowadays I have hallucinations of people in the corner of my eye, someone waiting for me to talk to them, someone there to give me something social to do. But, upon looking, there is always something there that i just mistook for a person, and i conclude it to be paranoia.

To add to my previous post, I just wanted to state that hallucinations and paranoia are very different things. They can coexist but paranoia is strictly cognitive, a thought disorder, whereas hallucinations are strictly related to the senses.
Anyway, thinking you’re seeing things out of the corner of your eye when they’re not really there would be a hallucination or a manifestation of anxiety, but it wouldn’t be paranoia. It would be a type of paranoia if there were actually people there and you think they’re (just an example) talking about you or after you.

I hope I didn’t come off as pedantic, I don’t mean to be. I just wanted to clear up a common misconception

 

[Moonhart44]

To add to my previous post, I just wanted to state that hallucinations and paranoia are very different things. They can coexist but paranoia is strictly cognitive, a thought disorder, whereas hallucinations are strictly related to the senses.
Anyway, thinking you’re seeing things out of the corner of your eye when they’re not really there would be a hallucination or a manifestation of anxiety, but it wouldn’t be paranoia. It would be a type of paranoia if there were actually people there and you think they’re (just an example) talking about you or after you.

I hope I didn’t come off as pedantic, I don’t mean to be. I just wanted to clear up a common misconception

it's fine and you didnt come across that way
yeh i defintely relate to the social withdrawal thing, being hard to reach thing. I feel bad but i also want to avoid avoid avoid.
i do feel the sense that people are after me or talking about me. I am not sure if always believed this, or was always inclined to believe this, because of the feeling of being watch at all times, or its a result of my own personal experience, in that it has happened many times, and now i just assume.

i never realized how calm i appeared to people because apparently to them i am being rude or mean or cold. i recently told a couple people about my depression and i was surprised that they were shocked.

 

[Bolletje]

i recently told a couple people about my depression and i was surprised that they were shocked.

I can relate.

 

[oregano]

A little levity for a serious subject (I was reminded of this song by this thread):

Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell. This song is VERY OLD (1983), and only the Gen Xers who were old enough to hear it first run on the radio recall it. Apparently there was a cover of it that was somewhat popular a few years ago, but to me there is only one version, the original. It's the sort of thing that wouldn't be possible today in our social justice social milieu.

 

[LunaticCentruroides]

Ohh we are similar in some ways. Since when do you have the hallucinations?

I became paranoid due to excessive drug use as well but it already decreased fully fortunately. I was very anxious and fearful as kid as well. The paranoid state of mind was just a result of the things that were already there in combination with the drugs. I thought people and the police were after me, everybody is looking at me and reading my mind…. Being followed, observed and so on… I felt strange my whole life, but the drugs made it really really bad. The truman show...

 

[Gift2humanity]

Although I have had full blown paranoia psychosis from amphetamines a long time ago, hearing persecutory external voices etc, I sometimes get paranoia lite, extreme anxiety with no evidence.
An example of paranoia lite might be, I'll send a Facebook private message and won't get a response because "the recipient doesn't want to talk to me", when there is no evidence that the recipient doesn't want to talk to me, and I later find out that they had a valid reason, busy with something preventing them from responding.
False evidence appearing real F.E.A.R "Person I messaged doesn't want to message me, otherwise they would have replied by now."
I also get what I call "reverse paranoia-lite". This is possible actual-factual things where there is possible or photographic evidence of problems that I am scared to face. I say "Am I being paranoid-lite about that stale milk smell on the sofa?" "I haven't spilt milk, I am being paranoid-lite, then I see a big smelly patch that smells of milk".
Hope that makes sense.

 

[Hylian]

As a kid I was pretty paranoid and used to think everyone could read my thoughts, and sometimes I still have to reason with myself and remind myself that people can't do that. I think in my case it's because people are recognizing emotions/thoughts I might be having via body language that I'm not noticing myself, and since I'm not good at picking up on that I don't always realize that's why people seem to know what I'm thinking/feeling. So I get confused and paranoid.

 

[Gift2humanity]

As a kid I was pretty paranoid and used to think everyone could read my thoughts, and sometimes I still have to reason with myself and remind myself that people can't do that. I think in my case it's because people are recognizing emotions/thoughts I might be having via body language that I'm not noticing myself, and since I'm not good at picking up on that I don't always realize that's why people seem to know what I'm thinking/feeling. So I get confused and paranoid.

That must have been scary.

 

[The Autistic girl]

Does anyone else have paranoid thoughts with their Asperger's without being psychotic? Like non psychotic paranoid thoughts?

Is this Common with Asperger's/ autism?

Diagnosed Asperger's Female and Generalised anxiety disorder, Depression + pseudo hallucinations.

 

[elgat0verde]

I do

I have very bad paranoia and thoughts that everyone is out to hurt me and will end up hurting me. I can't really accept it when people are nice to me because I always think they have hidden intentions and just want to use me.

It all comes from my trauma.

I don't know how common it is tho

 

[Judge]

Does anyone else have paranoid thoughts with their Asperger's without being psychotic? Like non psychotic paranoid thoughts?

Is this Common with Asperger's/ autism?

Diagnosed Asperger's Female

Sure. A constant sense of immediately considering "worst-case-scenarios" where they aren't likely to happen. Where if and when it involves benign circumstances.

Over the years here I've come to believe that a lot of us on the spectrum have that. In my own case I believe this is "amplified" by my OCD. Imagined consequences over the most trivial of things. Something my physician once mentioned as well.

I suppose the real issue is what resolve one takes over such things. In my own case, I either do nothing or do nothing that involves another person. No harm, no foul. Just passing negative thoughts that come and go. And yet in real time, It's not easy for me to rationalize it all and quickly dismiss it. That's the really distressing aspect of this for me at least. Much like my OCD rituals.

 

[Outdated]

Does anyone else have paranoid thoughts with their Asperger's without being psychotic? Like non psychotic paranoid thoughts?

It's quite common amongst autistic people but I think it's magnified by autism rather than caused by it.

It's a very common phenomena with most people that have very low self esteem or suffer depression.

 

[LadyS]

Yes I always feel like someone is watching or silently judging. Although I think it's a byproduct of always having been watched and judged (and not silently) my whole life, specifically by my family and community. It happened enough from a super young age so that it makes sense that I feel this way...

 

[Aspychata]

Truthfully, l feel l am too boring a person to watch or be bothered with. However l was stalked twice in another state, a guy who did it four years, and a woman who became obsessed, like kept stopping me every time l left work, but it had a creepy vibe, like she had a very intense stare. I also had a guy follow me around an amusement park as a tween, we called the police.

 

[Wolfnox]

I’m being followed by Rocks.
Looks back at Rock. Shoo.

 

[Wolfnox]

Truthfully, l feel l am too boring a person to watch or be bothered with. However l was stalked twice in another state, a guy who did it four years, and a woman who became obsessed, like kept stopping me every time l left work, but it had a creepy vibe, like she had a very intense stare. I also had a guy follow me around an amusement park as a tween, we called the police.

Those people scare me.

 

[Misty Avich]

I get paranoid that people in public places are looking at me and judging me. I've been feeling this way for years, even after therapy.