Paranoid eye contact ??

[nik8455]

It is happening more and more with good friends... I don't know why I start to be paranoid about keeping eye contact with someone, I tend to look like all around the eyes and parts of the face and not the face as a whole. I never had this problem before.

The worst is that it's happening with some of my best friends and just makes everything awkward. It makes me not want to see them or go to parties where they are etc because I can't pretend we didn't have those awkward looks. Makes me seem awkward/dishonest/ashamed and like if i'm hiding something.. also gives me so much anxiety.

What is happening ? How do I get back a normal eye contact ?

 

[Tiina63]

I have aspergers so have always found eye contact difficult. I thought at first that you might have the same condition, till I read that it is a recent problem for you. How old are you? I don't want to sound patronising, but sometimes this sort of problem happens when we are very young and starting to feel self conscious. If this is not the case with you, then has something happened in your life which has affected you a lot. For example has someone made you feel very self conscious recently to the extent that you fear it happening again? Or is one of your friends teasing you about something? Or are they talking about subjects which you find embarrassing?

 

[perfanoff]

Well you've got no business making prolonged eye contact with a friend. lol

 

[nik8455]

I have aspergers so have always found eye contact difficult. I thought at first that you might have the same condition, till I read that it is a recent problem for you. How old are you? I don't want to sound patronising, but sometimes this sort of problem happens when we are very young and starting to feel self conscious. If this is not the case with you, then has something happened in your life which has affected you a lot. For example has someone made you feel very self conscious recently to the extent that you fear it happening again? Or is one of your friends teasing you about something? Or are they talking about subjects which you find embarrassing?

I'm 18. I think that you're right i'm starting to feel really self conscious, it might be it. It's probably because i'm not that 'overly-manly' guy that would fight for jokes or be in the high school sports team or something, i'm more calm and discreet, but most of my friends are like this. I'm not anti social though when I feel comfortable I talk a lot and stuff.

 

[Cucuboth]

I've always had great difficulty in making eye contact. Even with my family and people I know. Doctors and therapists have said that I don't have Aspergers though. I think, for me, a lot of it has to do with being told that I'm ugly and useless for most of my life, and also with a lack of experiencing physical contact and affection, it feels now like nobody wants me to look at them.