# Eye Contact OCD



## amaze77

Hi All,
I have been searching the internet high and low and as i have found so many fellow sufferers out there i thought it would be a good idea to start a thread, maybe for feedback/ support etc. etc....
Here goes.... i have eye contact ocd i.e. compulsion to stare at inappropriate body parts, i am happily married 35year old mother and have no joy or satisfaction about this whatsoever. It extends to close family, friends, especially women and only started after i had a bad case of mastitis nearly a year ago now. When i am chatting with anyone i have to strain to focus on their faces and find my eyes wandering "elsewhere", it is really frustrating, disturbing, i have to strain my vision to try stay focused and it is almost painful. If the dreaded occurs and the person i am conversing with adjusts their closes or looks uncomfortable in any way, i damn myself and beat myself up about it for the rest of the day.....
HELP!!!!!


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## matt860

Interesting, never heard of eye contact OCD, per se. But part of my social anxiety has been with eye contact.

When I was in group & individual counseling, as an "exposure" to help overcome the eye problem thing, the counselor had me go downtown to a very busy city intersection. For 10 mins, I was to make eye contact with as many people as possible. And while doing that, I was supposed to note their reactions, and also note my anxiety level on a scale of 1 to 100.

I did this exercise a few times, which helped a lot in being able to MAKE eye contact, instead of averting my eyes. The things I learned:
-some people are in a rush, and don't want eye contact
-other people are perhaps in a bad mood, and don't want to be bothered
-other people would stop and ask me, "do you need any directions"
-other people would smile
-other people would look back for a moment and then avert their eyes

Not sure if this related to your specific difficulty, but thought I would share.


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## ToucanSam

hi and welcome to the forum!

don't feel bad - that topic has been discussed here many times, so you're not alone.

As you probably realize, the harder a person fights a compulsion, the harder the mind fights back. (Tricky littler bugger, the mind is.) So, one suggestion is to - counterintuitively - stop fighting the urge so strongly, because fighting it just escalates your tension.

This is probably a side-effect of my SA: I enjoy observing people in public. I have often noticed that a person might glance at "inappropriate" areas of another person's body. Maybe it's just accidental, but they don't appear to realize it (or if they do, it doesn't bother them).


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## tomakerlut

*My experience (and website)*

Hi, I started having this problem around a year ago. In the beginning I had no idea what's going on, thought I have some mental block which makes me constantly conscious of eye-contact. Then found out it's OCD. I don't know if it's because my chemicals weren't that bad, or because I identified the problem early on, but I recovered relatively quickly, just weeks after starting with therapy (and confronting my anxiety during eye-contact head on).

Considering myself lucky, I decided to do something for others with this problem and created this quick-info website: eyecontact-ocd.com. Maybe you'll find something useful there, even if it's more about problem with eye-contact then with staring.

Anyway, as any OCD, the key is to understand the fears, see where they are baseless and/or accept the risks associated with them, and to "expose" yourself - avoid compulsions. This page about OCD is excellent.


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## bazinga

If you focus on a person's lips it will help you to concentrate on what they are saying as opposed to focusing on their reactions or being distracted by wandering eyes. I'd say work on it.


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## Ramon

Not illegal to take a gander at boobies. Remember they are like the sun never stare directly at them. Peripheral vision is your friend.


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## formance

i can relate with this alot. For me its not OCD but to do with my social anxiety and ive found it best described as 'extreme interpersonal monitoring'. Its basically being really self-conscious around others, particularly people i dont know well, people i havent seen in a while.

I always get worried about where im looking, what im looking at, am i listening to what they are saying. If i was 1 on 1 with a tutor and they were explaining to me a complicated concept, gah!! It can be really hard cause my mind wanders so quickly onto anxious thoughts like, will i understand this, do i look like im listening to them properly etcetc!

It can be a crazy race in my mind sometimes! When im with my mates, just sitting around talking, my mind wanders down the most random tracks, i explain the thought pattern to my friends and they kind of look at me like, "how the frack did your brain think that!?"

At gym these racing thoughts can get out of hand and i get really self-conscious, i feel hyper exposed. To combat it, i think alot of it is trying to calm my mind consistently over a period of time. It may not have a powerful affect at first, but practicing it for say a month, when i try and focus on my music and put the thoughts away, it becomes considerably easier.


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## shammie

My eyes play a large part in my SA, too. 

When I'm interacting directly with another, I sometimes have to remind myself to blink, or break eye contact. I can be a little too intense. 

Likewise, when I'm feeling at my most anxious, I'll almost never make eye contact. My SA is at its worst outdoors with other people; urban environments in particular. So when I'm at my most anxious, I'll be the guy leaning forwards staring at the floor, working on the basis if I can't see you, you can't see me.


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## kart

*A way to deal with this problem*

Hi Guys,
I have had this problem for a couple of years now and am on an effective road of recovery. There are two things about dealing with this OCD which has made my life a lot better.
Firstly, you have to accept the OCD. Dont try and fight it because then it will come back with a vengeance. If you make yourself respect nature and look at the OCD as a fascinating situation rather than a disease then you will feel a lot better. But it shouldnt be on the surface that you say to yourself that its not a problem but you should truly believe it from the bottom of your heart. Befriend your much hated problem and soon enough you will start trivialising its presence. 
Secondly, there is doubt and guilt. I felt that I shouldnt look in a certain direction because of the fear of getting judged etc. Also i assumed that the person I looked at might have found me creepy or something. So the way I tried to deal with this was by going down the street and talking to every single person i came across. If I started zoning out then I would just start accepting the OCD rather than panicking and it would become much less of a problem. 
Hope this helps x


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## Alana07

Amaze77: Have you found anything that helps with this? I've been suffering from this exact problem for a long time. I found some relief with citalopram but recently stopped taking the medication for about 4 months and the "eye contact ocd" came back with a vengeance. I've never heard of this before and was too embarrassed to talk about it even when I was seeing a therapist. I'm back on medication now but I can't seem to make this go away. It extends to my closest friends and family, especially women, and is making it really difficult to be around people. Any thoughts? I'm a 29 year old woman if you're curious.


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## FrozenInferno

I kind of have this, but more in the sense that I get very self-conscious about looking someone in the eyes when I'm anxious, because I'm scared they'll see through my best efforts to appear calm and hide my anxiety (which at this point, let's face it, ain't ****ing happening anyway). The eyes are the gateway to the soul after all.


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## ShatteredGlass

Sounds strange, I have something similar, I think.

When I try to look people in the eye, it's like a force is forcing me to turn my head and look elsewhere. I can't really do it. 

BTW, welcome to SAS!


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## George01

*OCD Staring*

Hi there 
I have had OCD (staring/peripheral vision) since I was 14 years old, I am now 42 . I remember the exact day in geography class when the first thought (don't look at the guys crotch sitting next to me) reared it's ugly head. Although there had been a build up of variations of OCD during the years proceeding that day in class. This turned my life upside down.
The thoughts include trying not to look anywhere inappropriate within my vision including people in my periphery .Trying not to look like you are trying to look.
This also includes environments such as cafés ( I have to face away from people and usually cover my face with a hand if there is anyone within my peripheral vision facing in my direction) and anywhere in public with people within my field of vision.
Not wanting to be judged either a 'creep' ,'crazy' or a 'pervert' is the main concern.
. Until fairly recently I didn't realise anyone else suffered similar OCD symptoms but as my wife is currently researching the subject for further university studies she advised me that there are many,many more in the world who suffer in similar ways. It is extremely frustrating to say the least but all you can do is take one day at a time.
This is very hard type of OCD to talk about or try to explain to anyone , as you could understand.
I feel I have embarrassed and failed myself over and over again but another part of me says stuff it , the OCD isn't me . All the best and stay strong.


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## dead24

^I have peripheral vision staring ocd also. To me this is WAY WORSE than my social anxiety/avoidant personality disorder. For example I'm watching a movie in a theater, Instead of me focusing on the movie my eyes would shift to the person beside me which makes him/her uncomfortable. I really need a cure for this.


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## SplendidBob

I have suffered with pure O OCD for many years. Although I don't (quite) have what the op suggests, it is very very familiar to me. I will get compulsions to do this kind of staring, and will sometimes give in to it, but for the most part I am able to forcibly stop myself. Definitely recognise this as one of those OCD compulsion type things tho. It goes hand in hand with pure O btw if the OCD is of the sexual type.


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## George01

*Peripheral vision*

The Peripheral vision problem in public places like theatres, concerts or anywhere else involving people sitting next to you or even driving the car when a car pulls up next to you is another major part of the eyes OCD (staring/peripheral) problem.
It is very frustrating that I cannot just relax and watch a movie, it's like a marathon the whole time trying to control my eyeballs from being distracted by the person sitting next to me the whole time. Usually have to put a hand up to cover the side of my face the whole movie (and get a very sore arm as a result) or try and find an empty isle where there is nobody else.
But it is also important to know that you are not alone.
I've never actually met anyone else with this social form of eye contact ocd so it is good news to know that some of you may understand.
They had no idea what it was when I was 14 years old (back in1986) .
Please be strong and good luck to all of you.


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## Dune

*OCD Eye Contact*

OK--this is great on the one one hand, since I've suffered from this for a long time and it has given me some very bad feelings, including suicidal ones, and is near to ruining my career in teaching.

For me, there is first the fear that I will look. That's an intrusive thought. Then there seems to be the compulsion to look. Then I feel so much anxiety I look away and do look. There there is a feeling of fear and anxiety that I'll be found out. For me I most often feel anxiety when making eye contact with women afraid I'll look at their breasts but it can also be the crotch of men. It can be children. There is no sense of looking being desirable--just wrong to do so.

I can freeze--while giving a lecture, for example. I'm sure my eyes dart around. I try to avoid the problem by not wearing my glasses--so I can't see.

As someone else mentioned, any adjustment of position or clothing sets off a lot of negative thoughts in me--that I'm horrible and I've made a person uncomfortable. I also feel that I could and probably should lose my job. Mostly it is a very deep rotten feeling.

I can deduce some of the origin points for this anxiety, which usually balances this action against disappointing a primary care-giver, a lover, parent, or a social institution, like a school.

So anyway, today I felt I was going to have a mental breakdown. I'm ready to give up teaching and crawl under a rock. I think I know a little how Oedipus felt.

I'm happy to find a google search that lead me to fellow suffers, so I don't feel alone--which is one of the main things, right? You can't talk about looking down the blouse of your friend. I'm wondering about answers to this--CBT? I'm not up for drugs. But I also want to survive.

I'm academic, so not beyond reading books--but I don't want to further obsess. Or maybe a great workbook? Help would be much appreciated.


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## Overthinker80

Amazing.

I have suffered from a very similar problem as many of you for most of my life!!!

It stopped being a problem for me years ago when I started taking Klonopin but now I have been taken off of it and can't take it again and some of the eye contact anxiety has come back.


I started another thread in the other section so if you guys want to respond there you can or we can just respond to eachother here.

Here is my post from the other thread:



What I want to know is:

1) Has anyone else here dealt with this very specific type of SA??

2) were you able to deal with it without benzodiazepenes like Klonopin or Xanax and if so, what medications helped?

3) MOST IMPORTANTLY: Entirely aside from medications, have people who have experienced this figured out any kind of coping strategies, grounding techniques or visualization that works with this?




Here is a description of what happens:



So, basically, I focus excessively on eye contact.

It only happens sometimes, but when it does I start worrying about whether or not I am staring at anyone or if anyone thinks I am staring at them.

But because of it I think I actually stare at people more often because I am hyper conscious of the issue and sort of can't help but try to test out whether or not it is occurring.

Then I not only become self conscious about whether or not I am staring at them or they think I am staring at them but whether or not they are staring back at me for staring at them...

Usually people don't notice anything is wrong, or if they do they will just think I'm uncomfortable but not know why.

However, if someone DOES notice that something is wrong and god forbid asks me "is anything wrong?" in so many words...at that point I can become very freaked out because I can't explain to them what is going on for fear of embarrassment and because they won't understand (unless of course they are a good friend or the sort of unique person that would understand, and then I could simply tell them privately and not have to worry about what they think).

Also, I completely feel like this particular form of anxiety attaches itself to particular people who I think will judge me.

Like, if I go into a room full of people I know that unconsciously my mind is looking for people it can place the anxiety on...as if to say "hmm, who here would it freak me out if I thought they thought I was staring at them?"

Then my my mind will select someone in the room and put all of the anxiety on them.

For me, it doesn't occur much with women for some reason, or really cool and understanding guys, but tends to occur more around guys I perceive as being "tough" or "cool" who I have to maintain a "cool" look around.





So, that is the problem.


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## Overthinker80

I'm getting annoyed that between this thread and the other on the main forum that no one has responded.

I think this form of SA is probably no different than what most people experience.

In fact, I bet it's almost identical to 85% of this forum.

I just want some confirmation that other people understand what I described here.

Thanks


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## dead24

^I have severe peripheral staring problem. I always stare people uncontrollably with the corner of my eye whenever they are in my peripheral vision. This has made my life a living hell. I always make people very uncomfortable. I have not yet consulted a doctor with this type of ocd. I am taking lexapro for my depression and I've read that lexapro is also for ocd. From my experience lexapro is effective for the depression but not the ocd. I'm taking 10mg everyday. I really need to go to the doctor and ask for medication before this completely destroys me.


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## Overthinker80

dead24 said:


> ^I have severe peripheral staring problem. I always stare people uncontrollably with the corner of my eye whenever they are in my peripheral vision. This has made my life a living hell. I always make people very uncomfortable. I have not yet consulted a doctor with this type of ocd. I am taking lexapro for my depression and I've read that lexapro is also for ocd. From my experience lexapro is effective for the depression but not the ocd. I'm taking 10mg everyday. I really need to go to the doctor and ask for medication before this completely destroys me.


I think you have what I have and just sent you a PM.

It really upsets me that Lexapro isn't working for you because I was thinking of trying that.

I would suggest that you try Klonopin but for reasons I explained in my PM I'm not able to take it now and if I were I might not because it also started making me very tired.

It sounds to me like you have this problem even worse then I do from the way you are describing it.

I think my prozac probably helps somewhat, but not like the Klonopin did, and my stupid psychiatrist now is claiming "Klonopin doesn't help for that kind of thing".

I don't know what I'm going to do because the Klonopin made me tired but was so effective and even if I wanted to take it again I don't know if anyone would prescribe it for me.

I was hoping Lexapro would work but if it's not working for you I don't know if it would work for me.

I mean, everyone's brain works differently, so maybe it would, or maybe you just need a higher dose.

I suggest you see a psychiatrist again and really try to get help for this and maybe see if they'd let you try Klonopin.

Message me back in your PMs when you get the chance.


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## GGTFM

Try looking at their foreheads instead of their eyes that way it looks like youre making eye contact but youre not.


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## WWJD

*here's help*

I had suffered from this for the past year following a time of burnout. I nearly turned everyone I knew away - especially the female friends and family. I am a Christian and cried out to God for relief and healing - I knew that

something this destructive was diabolical in nature and God would free me from it eventually. The other night (while at Church) God finally gave me the release from this.

The Bible says "you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free". The enemy is a snake - and like snakes the poison is in their mouth - through lies. First let me say that I know that none of you are the "pervs" that this

weapon was intended to cause others to think of you. I had wanted someone to know this about me during that time - so I am telling you I know this about you.

I wish to share the truth God gave me because I do not want anyone to suffer from this as I have. But let me say first something even more critical. It is of Life-and-death importance that any of you who do not yet know Jesus

to please call on Him as your Savior. Receive Him into your hearts. All who come to Jesus must confess they are sinners and turn to Jesus as their one-and-only sacrificial payment for their sins so they may be reconciled to

God their Father - if we were good enough to save ourselves then there would have been no need for the Cross. But we have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory. We must receive the payment that Jesus paid on the

Cross on our behalf to be acceptable before God. As the Bible says, "no one comes to the Father, except through Me (Jesus)." And since He died for us and was raised from death; no sin we have or ever will sin is too much

for Him to forgive. Once we come to Him the battle begins but this time we are on His side...and if God be for us who can be against us?

Now here is the truth God showed me to free me from this stronghold of destruction: as I was noticing my wife at Church the other night, I realized I did not have 'the problem' with her. Why? I thought. Well because I knew it

was ok and acceptable to look at her. The struggle we have had with our eyes was to avoid looking at others' privates because we knew that to do so was wrong. In thinking this (the battle in the mind) we created a conflict for

ourselves to fight against; what we knew we must not do. The truth I realized that night - one that we knew as children and which everyone else (who does not have this problem) knows inheritantly: is that it is ok to look at others

from head to toe! The only difference between we who have/had this problem and those who do not; is that it is ok for them to look at others' privates but it is not ok for us. This is the lie. There is no sin to perceive others - it is

not lust to see others. Lust is lust (which is sin) but this is not what this has been about for us. Let me be clear - I am not talking about being ok to give into 'the look' ...but rather it being ok to perceive another person from head-to-toe when we encounter them. We have received no sexual pleasure from giving into "the look". All we did was to create a conflict for ourselves "not to look" - and by doing so we strained our eye muscles in Herculean efforts not to look. By knowing it is ok to look...there is no longer any conflict to fight.

Please heed the more important part about knowing Jesus. I hope this helps many...


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## Overthinker80

The idea that it's ok "not to look" is true, but while I respect the comments, I don't believe it is necessary to be a Christian to solve this problem.

I found that Klonopin worked but I can't take that anymore.

To the guy who said to look at people's foreheads, that's an interesting suggestion, but I don't know that it would work because 1) you still make eye contact when you look at the forehead and that makes me uncomfortable

2) most of us who have this in the same way as me still have the compulsion to turn to look our heads at those in our peripheral view.

So therefore, people would still notice we are turning to look at their foreheads for no reason at all and get uncomfortable and wonder why we are looking at them and that's our fear (or my fear) and then I get uncomfortable.

You can say it's "ok to look" all you want, but people tend to find it weird if you are looking at them a lot for no reason and wonder what is wrong and that's where the anxiety comes from.

I know that there are more medications other than Klonopin that must work for this so I'm trying to find them, and I think there are probably mental techniques which can also help, but I am not sure that looking at the forehead will work since I tried looking at people's lips and that didn't work so far.

I know there has to be an answer to this problem so I'm interested in hearing from anyone else who has this problem.


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## Mattens72

This is so terrible what I did; but I'll tell as it relates directly to what you explained.

I have OCD. Although it is mainly a problem with other things, occasionally I did/do have a propensity to look at inappropriate body parts. It's not a genuine sexual interest, but the very thought of knowing that it would be so inappropriate to look at makes me do it. 

I was about 13 and went over to a good friends house. We were playing in his room and one of his sisters was there. She was about half as young as me and was romping around on the floor. Leaning back on the floor with her skirt, her underwear was clearly visible. I knew it would be SO inappropriate if I were to look at her underwear. Like I said before, there was no sexual interest at all, but this OCD thought made me look like right at her crotch. She immediately was like "don't look there." I blindly acted like I didn't know what she was talking about, and my friend was like "you looked at her underwear." 

Soooooo embarrassing, and now my friend and his sister think I'm a filthy pervert. Every time I hang out with my friend, I am haunted by that incident and am worried that as a now 21 year old man, his now pre-teen sisters think I must be still lusting after them as a textbook child-molester. Unfortunately, it would be impossible and they wouldn't understand if I tried to explain why I really did it.


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## melly123

I have the exact same problem!!!

depending on peoples body position in relation to me i have convulsions to glance it private parts... or exposed skin like legs chest ect... this is seriously bothersome.

i find that its triggered by certain body positions...

- if a person is standing too close to me
- if a person is facing me too directly
- if a person seems overly keen in conversation meaning i am pressured to recipricate that same keenness even though i dont have the energy to do so.
- at work i have OCD about not being able to look at a customer at all until im serving them at the cash register.
- i have peripheral vision ocd... if somone is in my peripheral vision and facing me i freak out until they turn around 

the entire experience feels super uncomfortable its like being choked and its drenched with panic...

its very hard to explain.


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## Ranjith

Damn!!(first of all sorry for bad english, in case of contact : [email protected])
Now im thinking of "How they can notice this". got this problem 5 years ago now things got even worse no friends, no job, no family support. some times i look at myself in the mirror , the exact way i look others but i cant find anything. at the earlier stages what i'm thinking is this is only in my brain and cant noticed by others (when i'm in college this started at first year of my degree). but i was noticed that some are being irritated by my presence, i leave it like nothing. but now im realised that everyone hates me my family my old friends my natives . some people laugh at me, i tend to be a terrorist when people do that. Do you know what im find interesting NO ONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS ISSUE till date. im a software engineer once i'm gone to an interview of an php post i try my best level to make an eye contact with him in the interview he asked me a lot of questions about personality and say me that we are a team here we wont allow some peoples (not directly). if i dead in that place i will be so much happy. now im a suicide maniac.


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## Ranjith

*Need a Hand*

Please do contact me on ranjumeloot0[email protected]


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## Insignificant Other

Overthinker80 said:


> Amazing.
> 
> I have suffered from a very similar problem as many of you for most of my life!!!
> 
> It stopped being a problem for me years ago when I started taking Klonopin but now I have been taken off of it and can't take it again and some of the eye contact anxiety has come back.
> 
> I started another thread in the other section so if you guys want to respond there you can or we can just respond to eachother here.
> 
> Here is my post from the other thread:
> 
> What I want to know is:
> 
> 1) Has anyone else here dealt with this very specific type of SA??
> 
> 2) were you able to deal with it without benzodiazepenes like Klonopin or Xanax and if so, what medications helped?
> 
> 3) MOST IMPORTANTLY: Entirely aside from medications, have people who have experienced this figured out any kind of coping strategies, grounding techniques or visualization that works with this?
> 
> Here is a description of what happens:
> 
> So, basically, I focus excessively on eye contact.
> 
> It only happens sometimes, but when it does I start worrying about whether or not I am staring at anyone or if anyone thinks I am staring at them.
> 
> But because of it I think I actually stare at people more often because I am hyper conscious of the issue and sort of can't help but try to test out whether or not it is occurring.
> 
> Then I not only become self conscious about whether or not I am staring at them or they think I am staring at them but whether or not they are staring back at me for staring at them...
> 
> Usually people don't notice anything is wrong, or if they do they will just think I'm uncomfortable but not know why.
> 
> However, if someone DOES notice that something is wrong and god forbid asks me "is anything wrong?" in so many words...at that point I can become very freaked out because I can't explain to them what is going on for fear of embarrassment and because they won't understand (unless of course they are a good friend or the sort of unique person that would understand, and then I could simply tell them privately and not have to worry about what they think).
> 
> Also, I completely feel like this particular form of anxiety attaches itself to particular people who I think will judge me.
> 
> Like, if I go into a room full of people I know that unconsciously my mind is looking for people it can place the anxiety on...as if to say "hmm, who here would it freak me out if I thought they thought I was staring at them?"
> 
> Then my my mind will select someone in the room and put all of the anxiety on them.
> 
> For me, it doesn't occur much with women for some reason, or really cool and understanding guys, but tends to occur more around guys I perceive as being "tough" or "cool" who I have to maintain a "cool" look around.
> 
> So, that is the problem.


I had eye contact OCD for years. I hate it! It's a good way to make enemies. What really helped me a lot was Edna Foa's book Stop Obsessing. I recommend it.


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## Gurjot

Pure O causes the SAD, who wants to interact with people when all the can think of is there obsessions, its torment but Mindfulness, Exercise, Medication, CBT, should do the trick once you decide to persevere and not be bummed that the treating process will take a long time


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## sizzlerwasbad

*Eye Contact OCD cure*

I had OCD staring very badly for over 10 years. I have cured myself completely. Every individual is different of course, I hope from my heart that this can also cure you, and give you the piece of mind you finally need. This is all natural, so why not give it a try. Again; this cured me 100% of OCD staring. This is the protocol:

I wake up and mix this into water:

1000mg Myo-Inosital (B8) Purchased from a company called PowderCity
500mg Choline Bitartrate Purchased from a company called PowderCity
100mg 5-htp. This is the key ingredient I believe. Purchased from a company called PowderCity
650mg L-taurine. Purchased from a company called Hard Rhino
Tianeptine (a nootropic) Purchased from a company called New Mind. Dosage is two scoops of their blue micro-scooper, not sure what the mg is of that something like 12-15mg.

I also mix these products into the glass of water, I'm not sure if they matter but they are good for you, and I need to tell you the exact, exact thing I do, this I hope will rid you of this horrible form of OCD.

Serving size of a vitamin/mineral supplement called Essence Health Blend
1/2 tsp of Moringa from the company Organic India
Q10 powder from Powder City
4mg Piperine Powder City

To give you a back story....I had lost all hope with this OCD staring, I just coped, I functioned but it was stressful with all the social stigma and confusion from people, anyone who suffers from this knows all that comes with it...and how sad it is and frustrating. I really just stumbled upon this serendipitously, I am just a regular person, not a doctor. I live a healthy lifestyle so it was basically me just being interested in these products for health reasons/stress reasons. In the back of my mind of course I was thinking "hey maybe it will make this horrible condition go away, but I highly doubt it". So after I took this mix one day ( I think it was 3 days after doing this mix in the morning) I went to the grocery store not thinking anything about maybe being cured, after over 10 years of this I never gave much thought to it going away. But as I stood in line to pay with many people around me which would usually spark off all the symptoms, I noticed I had no OCD staring feelings. It was like something out of a movie, it was just GONE. I got goosebumps and felt really elated. I am able to have a laser beam steady eye gaze now, just like anybody else. The OCD staring vanished, and I had it bad. I take this mix every morning, in the later afternoon I will take another 1000mg of the B8 and 500mg of choline. I have cured myself from this. I hope this works for you. This information is coming from the depths of my soul, may you be healed as well.﻿


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## gthopia94

_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## gthopia94

I've been dealing with this problem for 3 years now. I had a hard time keeping my head straight when walking in the street around other people. Overtime though I came up with a couple of tips that helped me. 

1) When walking around other people I keep my head a little above other people to avoid direct eye contact.
2) I found that excerising alleviate the issue for a bit & keeps me focused.


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## guardian003

I guess its an old thread. Just wanted to say that I'm in the same boat. This is mental hell. I'm close to suicide


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## alabamafan

*Eyestaring OCD and Mantra Meditation*

Do mantra meditation. When you do mantra meditation, you say a phrase over and over again. I am saying the phrase "I am fearless". The phrase has to have a positive tone to it. The eyestaringOCD you are suffering from is a thought that is stuck in the back of your conscious. Some of ya'll are just now receiving the compulsion so the thought is fresh and you can see the thought in your head. But for some like me, we have had it for almost four years or longer and we can feel the compulsion strain in our eyes, but we can not see the thought displayed out in front of us. Their is nothing to be afraid of. The thought is stuck in the back of our heads and it needs to be unattached and depowered from our minds. The power that is being generated into the thought is the power of fear. You can have other things power up thoughts as well. We just so happen to have fear power up our thought of eyestaringOCD. With that being said, what makes you think its is fear? Well, OCD is an anxiety disorder. Everything that is OCD based is anxiety based, and anxiety is fear. So, one great way and simple way to kill OCD from your life all together(100%), (if im not wrong im not fully there yet, but it is working pretty good so far) is by do mantra meditation. Mantra meditation (if im correct) connects to your inner conscious and the phrase your repeat gets engrained into your mind and becomes you. Now be careful, your goal is to have total control of your emotions that have been taken away by anxiety. You DO NOT want to be anxiety free. If you were anxiety fee, you could be fearless of things you should be fearful about, and you know what those things are. Have a mindset of where you want to go, and get there and keep yourself there. As you continue with your meditation, your mind is going to ask you if the meditation is working or if your doing it right when things are going fantastic. There is not a right or wrong way to chant something in your mind. As long as you are chanting the phrase in your head and listening to your breath THE BEST YOU CAN you will be OK. You will never be perfect the whole time. Just do the best you can and you will get the benefits from it. BE CAREFUL THOUGH!!!! DON"T TAKE TOO FAR! Do some research on mantra meditation before doing mantra meditation. Be Careful!


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## munir

Do you look at people's imperfect? Say somone has a big nose do you focus only at there nose but you don't want to?


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## alabamafan

*part 2*



alabamafan said:


> Do mantra meditation. When you do mantra meditation, you say a phrase over and over again. I am saying the phrase "I am fearless". The phrase has to have a positive tone to it. The eyestaringOCD you are suffering from is a thought that is stuck in the back of your conscious. Some of ya'll are just now receiving the compulsion so the thought is fresh and you can see the thought in your head. But for some like me, we have had it for almost four years or longer and we can feel the compulsion strain in our eyes, but we can not see the thought displayed out in front of us. Their is nothing to be afraid of. The thought is stuck in the back of our heads and it needs to be unattached and depowered from our minds. The power that is being generated into the thought is the power of fear. You can have other things power up thoughts as well. We just so happen to have fear power up our thought of eyestaringOCD. With that being said, what makes you think its is fear? Well, OCD is an anxiety disorder. Everything that is OCD based is anxiety based, and anxiety is fear. So, one great way and simple way to kill OCD from your life all together(100%), (if im not wrong im not fully there yet, but it is working pretty good so far) is by do mantra meditation. Mantra meditation (if im correct) connects to your inner conscious and the phrase your repeat gets engrained into your mind and becomes you. Now be careful, your goal is to have total control of your emotions that have been taken away by anxiety. You DO NOT want to be anxiety free. If you were anxiety fee, you could be fearless of things you should be fearful about, and you know what those things are. Have a mindset of where you want to go, and get there and keep yourself there. As you continue with your meditation, your mind is going to ask you if the meditation is working or if your doing it right when things are going fantastic. There is not a right or wrong way to chant something in your mind. As long as you are chanting the phrase in your head and listening to your breath THE BEST YOU CAN you will be OK. You will never be perfect the whole time. Just do the best you can and you will get the benefits from it. BE CAREFUL THOUGH!!!! DON"T TAKE TOO FAR! Do some research on mantra meditation before doing mantra meditation. Be Careful!


When you are in the situation, say that it is an irrational thought, dismiss it and every time you say that the thought will increase in power. This is according to my doctor. I have done it and i have seen some major progress with a lot of relapses. One day i will make it through. Im on my way to making a book on how i conquered my OCD. It will be free to all people. I don't believe in the idea on putting a price tag on helping people. You should do it for the right reasons.
When it comes to OCD there is an analogy on how all of your problems consist of a two year old crying in your head for something. So i came up with the coper "let the baby cry". When you don't please a two year old baby, the baby will pout and there is nothing you can do about it but let it cry it out. The baby, sooner or later, will stop crying and move on to something else to think about. Another coper i came up with was "let it play". When a thought rolls in your mind, a movie flows with it. So, in turn, you are stating that you want the thought to play over and over again, in and out of your thought filter until its does not appear again. It is one of the many ways I've learned how to dismiss thoughts. Do whatever you can to avoid compulsions and let the fear drain out of your eyes the best you can without avoiding people.


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## alabamafan

alabamafan said:


> When you are in the situation, say that it is an irrational thought, dismiss it and every time you say that the thought will increase in power. This is according to my doctor. I have done it and i have seen some major progress with a lot of relapses. One day i will make it through. Im on my way to making a book on how i conquered my OCD. It will be free to all people. I don't believe in the idea on putting a price tag on helping people. You should do it for the right reasons.
> When it comes to OCD there is an analogy on how all of your problems consist of a two year old crying in your head for something. So i came up with the coper "let the baby cry". When you don't please a two year old baby, the baby will pout and there is nothing you can do about it but let it cry it out. The baby, sooner or later, will stop crying and move on to something else to think about. Another coper i came up with was "let it play". When a thought rolls in your mind, a movie flows with it. So, in turn, you are stating that you want the thought to play over and over again, in and out of your thought filter until its does not appear again. It is one of the many ways I've learned how to dismiss thoughts. Do whatever you can to avoid compulsions and let the fear drain out of your eyes the best you can without avoiding people.


I suffer from side staring OCD as well. When people are on the side of me i am staring at them. Same concepts apply.


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## alabamafan

*Eyestaring OCD and Mantra Meditation (Keeping a Level Head)*



alabamafan said:


> Do mantra meditation. When you do mantra meditation, you say a phrase over and over again. I am saying the phrase "I am fearless". The phrase has to have a positive tone to it. The eyestaringOCD you are suffering from is a thought that is stuck in the back of your conscious. Some of ya'll are just now receiving the compulsion so the thought is fresh and you can see the thought in your head. But for some like me, we have had it for almost four years or longer and we can feel the compulsion strain in our eyes, but we can not see the thought displayed out in front of us. Their is nothing to be afraid of. The thought is stuck in the back of our heads and it needs to be unattached and depowered from our minds. The power that is being generated into the thought is the power of fear. You can have other things power up thoughts as well. We just so happen to have fear power up our thought of eyestaringOCD. With that being said, what makes you think its is fear? Well, OCD is an anxiety disorder. Everything that is OCD based is anxiety based, and anxiety is fear. So, one great way and simple way to kill OCD from your life all together(100%), (if im not wrong im not fully there yet, but it is working pretty good so far) is by do mantra meditation. Mantra meditation (if im correct) connects to your inner conscious and the phrase your repeat gets engrained into your mind and becomes you. Now be careful, your goal is to have total control of your emotions that have been taken away by anxiety. You DO NOT want to be anxiety free. If you were anxiety fee, you could be fearless of things you should be fearful about, and you know what those things are. Have a mindset of where you want to go, and get there and keep yourself there. As you continue with your meditation, your mind is going to ask you if the meditation is working or if your doing it right when things are going fantastic. There is not a right or wrong way to chant something in your mind. As long as you are chanting the phrase in your head and listening to your breath THE BEST YOU CAN you will be OK. You will never be perfect the whole time. Just do the best you can and you will get the benefits from it. BE CAREFUL THOUGH!!!! DON"T TAKE TOO FAR! Do some research on mantra meditation before doing mantra meditation. Be Careful!


One extra mantra that you HAVE TO apply is something along the lines of "i am a good person, i will make the right decisions, and i know what the right decisions are"(this is one phrase you say in the meditation). In doing this mantra, it will keep you from making bad decisions with a fearless mindset. Being scared means you care, so being scared is good. But being scared in some situations can be bad. People with OCD are overly scared in situations they shouldn't be scared in and our goal is to make the best depiction of the times when we are supposed to be scare and when we are not supposed to be scared. In doing a mantra with the same definition as the above mantra, you give yourself the capability to keep a level head with a fearless mindset.


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## alabamafan

alabamafan said:


> One extra mantra that you HAVE TO apply is something along the lines of "i am a good person, i will make the right decisions, and i know what the right decisions are"(this is one phrase you say in the meditation). In doing this mantra, it will keep you from making bad decisions with a fearless mindset. Being scared means you care, so being scared is good. But being scared in some situations can be bad. People with OCD are overly scared in situations they shouldn't be scared in and our goal is to make the best depiction of the times when we are supposed to be scare and when we are not supposed to be scared. In doing a mantra with the same definition as the above mantra, you give yourself the capability to keep a level head with a fearless mindset.


Do the phrase in two separate mantra meditation practices.("I am fearless")("i am a good person, i will make the right decisions, and i know what the right decisions are").
Tip: have a goal , get to that goal and switch the mantra meditation practice "I am Fearless" to mindfulness meditation and see what happens.
Mindfulness meditation is when you listen to your breath for as long as possible and when you drift to a story in your mind, your goal is to come back to your breath, and you continue to focus on your breath for a certain period of time. Look up the practice online and get the details of it. Read the cautions of all meditations before you decide to practice any type of meditation. Once you get to a particular point in to your mantra meditations, you will end up switching the "I am Fearless" meditation to a mindfulness meditation practice as I previously said. So, at the end of the day you will be doing two meditation practices the whole time. Be careful about hypnosis, do some research on meditation before practicing it.


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## alabamafan

*"I am fearless of EyestaringOCD"*



alabamafan said:


> Do the phrase in two separate mantra meditation practices.("I am fearless")("i am a good person, i will make the right decisions, and i know what the right decisions are").
> Tip: have a goal , get to that goal and switch the mantra meditation practice "I am Fearless" to mindfulness meditation and see what happens.
> Mindfulness meditation is when you listen to your breath for as long as possible and when you drift to a story in your mind, your goal is to come back to your breath, and you continue to focus on your breath for a certain period of time. Look up the practice online and get the details of it. Read the cautions of all meditations before you decide to practice any type of meditation. Once you get to a particular point in to your mantra meditations, you will end up switching the "I am Fearless" meditation to a mindfulness meditation practice as I previously said. So, at the end of the day you will be doing two meditation practices the whole time. Be careful about hypnosis, do some research on meditation before practicing it.


Switch 'I am fearless" to "I am fearless of eyestaringOCD."


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## Hillary2251

I've had a problem with never being comfortable enough to make eye contact, even with friends,family or someone I love. I either look at mouths or cleavage. Even my best friend, who is an ex-girlfriend. She had amazing-colored eyes and I could have started at them for the whole time we were together. But I never did. I actually first noticed them in a picture.So for me, it's not only inappropriate with strangers or business contacts or whatever, but with people I love, and in those cases, I'm punishing myself by not making eye contact. It could be pleasurable. I deprive myself of it, and it's very misunderstood when I do that. I know it makes me come off as anti social or a snot, or a disinterested lover.


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## sarah38

amaze77 said:


> Hi All,
> I have been searching the internet high and low and as i have found so many fellow sufferers out there i thought it would be a good idea to start a thread, maybe for feedback/ support etc. etc....
> Here goes.... i have eye contact ocd i.e. compulsion to stare at inappropriate body parts, i am happily married 35year old mother and have no joy or satisfaction about this whatsoever. It extends to close family, friends, especially women and only started after i had a bad case of mastitis nearly a year ago now. When i am chatting with anyone i have to strain to focus on their faces and find my eyes wandering "elsewhere", it is really frustrating, disturbing, i have to strain my vision to try stay focused and it is almost painful. If the dreaded occurs and the person i am conversing with adjusts their closes or looks uncomfortable in any way, i damn myself and beat myself up about it for the rest of the day.....
> HELP!!!!!


Hi there,

I have experienced this problem for the past 4 years, following a stressful period at work. I just wanted to offer some hope as I feel things are really improving for me.

This is totally a social anxiety/ fear based condition- a dreaded 'what if I look' and fear of the embarrassment which seems to get more and more intense, especially if I feel the person has noticed me looking at their body...and so it goes on! Although sexual feelings can be triggered by looking at people's bodies it is NOT a sexual perversion etc- it is all about the anxiety around meeting people's eyes and the fear of being socially inappropriate.

It has taken me a long time but it is all about staying calm and keeping the mind light- trying to move the mind on before the thoughts get stuck. I have found meditation key to this and also the mantra 'It's okay to look' which I repeat every time I fear my glance may have strayed. This keeps the mind from going to the panic state, which is what gets stuck. The truth is, it is ok to look and move on- that's perfectly natural. The key is facing the fear head on and therefore diffusing its power.
I have found that if I can have one successful interaction with someone it almost breaks the fear cycle and then it magically stops happening with them. Slowly I feel I am 'correcting' the interactions I have with people.
I have found Buddhist writers like Pema Chodron really good for this problem as she is all about embracing our fears rather than running from them.

I hope this is of help, kindest regards,
Sarah


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## alabamafan

Hillary2251 said:


> I've had a problem with never being comfortable enough to make eye contact, even with friends,family or someone I love. I either look at mouths or cleavage. Even my best friend, who is an ex-girlfriend. She had amazing-colored eyes and I could have started at them for the whole time we were together. But I never did. I actually first noticed them in a picture.So for me, it's not only inappropriate with strangers or business contacts or whatever, but with people I love, and in those cases, I'm punishing myself by not making eye contact. It could be pleasurable. I deprive myself of it, and it's very misunderstood when I do that. I know it makes me come off as anti social or a snot, or a disinterested lover.


Create a mantra that will cope with your feelings with lack of comfort with body parts. Make sure when you are saying this mantra, you reach your particular goals with the mantra and then stop saying it. You do not want to get mesmerized by the mantra. Hope this helps! God Bless!


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## alabamafan

I recommend you to do research on any type of meditation before practicing it.


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## Dioxideping

I have almost the same problem. Im not sure if my developed because of my social anxiety or if I may have OCD as well. God it sucks when people look at you like your weird and/or laugh. Its extremely hurtful and in my case makes me feel worse and then I fall in a deeper depression. Sucks when your therapist smirks and laughs too. Then you feel like everyone thinks you're weird and there is no help. It really sucks. If you found help congratulations. I wish I could say the same.
Life sucks


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## Dioxideping

Alana07 said:


> Amaze77: Have you found anything that helps with this? I've been suffering from this exact problem for a long time. I found some relief with citalopram but recently stopped taking the medication for about 4 months and the "eye contact ocd" came back with a vengeance. I've never heard of this before and was too embarrassed to talk about it even when I was seeing a therapist. I'm back on medication now but I can't seem to make this go away. It extends to my closest friends and family, especially women, and is making it really difficult to be around people. Any thoughts? I'm a 29 year old woman if you're curious.


Thought I was alone.


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## Cheson

Hi guys I am new to this forum and found it extremely helpful. I was suffering this from almost 2 year. But in my condition whenever I am listener I tend to look at their body parts. specially breast of ladies but whenever I am speaker I dont feel that and give a natural glance or eye contact to them. I know the only situation to get rid of this is to not to think about it but I cant do that.


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## Cheson

For my ocd doctor gave two medicines one is lunazep and other is lonazep0.25 and other is fludep20 . Do anyone has this same medicine prescribed.


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## LVD33

*Eye Contact / Inappropriate staring anxiety*

Hello, I had (still have to a much lesser extent) the same issue (inappropriate staring related to OCD), but found something that has worked well for me so I thought I would share it. Hope it works for you too. It's really pretty simple, I refer to it as the NGD approach. Really what I found makes this so bad is our own reaction to our staring. In most cases the staring is barely noticed by the other party until we get anxious about it and react to it ourselves, snowballing the issue and becoming awkward, they then become awkward as well and it sort of snowballs. Instead, even though I still look initially, I just tell my self "I don't give a damn (****)about it, they don't give a damn, nobody gives a damn (****)" - and then I just move on. Really, I know it seems simple and a bit foolish, but it actually has helped me quite a bit. Someone else on the forum pointed out that it really isn't that noticeable (they filmed themselves and played it back to see how noticeable it is) - and they were right. It's not - what makes it so bad is our reaction to it. It seemed to help a little at first then much more the more I practiced it. Anyway - hope it helps you too. Good luck.


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## RockmanJL9981

i have trouble with this too but mostly from bootcamp where you get in trouble if you make eye contact. problem is that was 6 years ago and im still avoiding it


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## zomb

I think that's called being a man. 
Our eyes always go towards breasts/ crotch area .


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## raheel

I suffered from OCD staring and depression for 15 years. During those years i took medicines prescribed by doctor and tried ERP and other techniques suggested by my therapist. But all these efforts did not make significant improvement. I tried to understand this disorder more and more. I read books written by Dr Baer and Dr jenike in detail, joined some online support groups and read a lot about OCD on internet.

A year ago an idea struck my mind and i came to discover what mistake all sufferers of OCD staring were making. Based on all my personal experience and knowledge about OCD i devised a technique. I tried it on myself and it worked. Within a week i was 95% free from staring problem. It was as if i was out of hell. It has been more than a year and i am still doing well. 

Medicine was reduced to the minimum six months back by my doctor . I described this technique to two OCD staring sufferers whom i am acquainted with. Both of them improved significantly within days. One of them has more than 90% reduction in severity.

I shared this technique in an online OCD group but members did not pay much attention to my post. I believe that this technique can help hundreds of sufferers not acquainted to me and want to help them all. 

If can write this technique in detail if other sufferes are interested.


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## Morelife

@ Raheel yes some more info would be great 
@ Swizzlerwasbad - this sounds really good, will def be trying perhaps it works as a natural anti anxiety /ocd remedy


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