eye-contact issues

[FreedomFighter]

hi everyone , i think im after finding a cure for my social anxiety , all my anxiety relates to issues with eye-contact , whenever i leave my house (i hardly ever do) thats all thats on my mind , and i was browsing the internet today , and found a forum talking about add and eye-contact . Some of the people were talking about a medication called strattera that cured their eye-contact issues overnight , im going to see if i can get some , anyone else get a restless feeling when you make eye-contact and have to look away ?Thats why im so anxious whenever i leave my house, thanks in advance.

 

[JonnyD]

hey there,

several people here (including mysel) have related issues on eye contact.

i generally dislike overnight promisses, but if you really think it can help , i think you should give it a try. Just pay attention to the dangers realated to the med you're going to take.

 

[Felgen]

An ordinary conversation has about 70% of eye-contact. Learning it will take practice, but it's not impossible.

 

[FreedomFighter]

thanks jonnyd , i did read that there can be some really bad side-effects , its just that i know my anxiety is all caused from my issues with eye-contact , i cant keep eye-contact , if i do , its only for a second , no wonder im so anxious when i leave my house , i get a restless feeling and have to look away , this is the root of my anxiety , and if i can fix this , ill be well again , i dont know what to do .

 

[FreedomFighter]

thanks felgen , its more non-verbal eye-contact , things like gaze aversion , im ok making eye-contact when talking .

 

[FreedomFighter]

im also wondering if i have add , and thats what is causing my social phobia , i think i might be on to something here , but im trying not to get too excited

 

[FreedomFighter]

also wondering does anyone know if ADD and social anxiety are linked

 

[Slothrop]

I would highly recommend therapy and practice over medication for something as specific as eye contact. Drugs just don't have that narrow an effect. Nor do disorders manifest in such isolated ways.

As far as I know there are no specific established links between social anxiety and ADD, but my personal understanding of it leads me to believe people develop anxiety for a wide variety of personal reasons. i.e., if you're insecure about issues stemming from attention and distraction, then you may become socially anxious in general about it. So in that sense, the only link is that one caused the other.

I'd recommend that rather than focusing too much on the specific symptom and treatment, you look more into whether ADD issues are at the root of your anxiety. A lot of people have problems with eye contact because of feelings of inferiority and fear, but otherwise have no problem with attention. Unless you feel like your eye contact problem comes from inability to maintain attention (and not anxiety), then treating it as if it were ADD is probably not going to be the best thing for you.