How do I stop obsessing over and hating staring?

Livemylife

Well-known member
I see that most of the posts here are still about getting a girlfriend, but I'm going to ask something different.

Does anyone have any tips or advice for therapies/tricks I can use to tolerate staring? I really, really, REALLY hate being stared at. Please don't just say "everyone hates being stared at." Not everyone has suffered from staring like I have. And for the love of God do not say I'm just being paranoid. I would like to stop my unhealthy obsession with staring. I want to one day be able to go out in public and not worry about who is staring at me and why they're doing it. I would like to solve this problem on my own if I can. I am open to seeing a counselor but I rather not.

Is my hatred for staring called something? Are there specific solutions out there for it?

Thank you for reading.
 

Recidivism

Member
I think hating being stared at is called wanting some respect, it's pretty disrespectful when people stare.

I live in a community of Mennonites (basically, Amish + Mormon - No electicity) , I know that there aren't a lot of stereotypes on them but good lord do they love to stare at me. Not sure if it's a cultural thing or because I'm not Mennonite.

But I get stared at like I'm some special phenomenon or rarity, and I HATE it. Makes me want to drift my car a little towards the side-walk. So I can kinda understand that.

I seek therapy weekly, and my hatred of being stared at came up once or twice. We couldn't come up with a solution to this, sorry to say that, so I just stopped going outside during the day unless necessary. I don't think everyone can afford that solution, timewise, but it helped me quite a bit and I no longer get stared at because there is no one to stare.

I'm sure this wasn't helpful, but hey, at least I tried.

Sincerely,
-R
 

Livemylife

Well-known member
I think hating being stared at is called wanting some respect, it's pretty disrespectful when people stare.

I live in a community of Mennonites (basically, Amish + Mormon - No electicity) , I know that there aren't a lot of stereotypes on them but good lord do they love to stare at me. Not sure if it's a cultural thing or because I'm not Mennonite.

But I get stared at like I'm some special phenomenon or rarity, and I HATE it. Makes me want to drift my car a little towards the side-walk. So I can kinda understand that.

I seek therapy weekly, and my hatred of being stared at came up once or twice. We couldn't come up with a solution to this, sorry to say that, so I just stopped going outside during the day unless necessary. I don't think everyone can afford that solution, timewise, but it helped me quite a bit and I no longer get stared at because there is no one to stare.

I'm sure this wasn't helpful, but hey, at least I tried.

Sincerely,
-R
Thank you for sharing your experiences. I think they probably stare at you because you're different (not Mennonite). I agree that not going outside is not a good solution. I mean I would love to do that, but I can't afford to stay at home. When I get the money I might do that but ideally by then I will have conquered my dislike of staring.
 

Livemylife

Well-known member
You mean like Scopophobia?
Yeah, that sounds about right. I found this on Wikipedia: "Scopophobia is unique among phobias in that the fear of being looked at is considered both a social phobia and a specific phobia, because it is a specific occurrence which takes place in a social setting"
I'm going to read the treatments listed in the Wikipedia article. Thank you!
 
Top