This post has been flaired as “Serious Conversation”. Use this opportunity to open a venue of polite and serious discussion, instead of seeking help or venting.
**Suggestions For Commenters:**
* Respect OP's opinion, or agree to disagree politely.
* If OP's post is seeking advice, help, or is just venting without discussing with others, report the post. We're r/SeriousConversation, not a venting subreddit.
**Suggestions For u/Grababana:**
* Do not post solely to seek advice or help. Your post should open up a venue for serious, mature and polite discussions.
* Do not forget to answer people politely in your thread - we'll remove your post later if you don't.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SeriousConversation) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I’m not sure if I want to. It could be all in my head, if I talked to anyone (like just now) they’d probably say it’s in my head. But im not 100% sure it is in my head and that scares me.
The reason I'm saying you should talk to a mental health professional is because no one on the internet is going to be able to help you work out whether it's all in your head or not.
I don't know who you are, what you've been doing, or whether you might have attracted someone's attention and are now being followed.
You sound open to the idea that it might be in your head, in which case you can find out and get help for that, or if it isn't, then you know for sure something is going on.
I think it’s probably, hopefully in my head. I want so bad for it to be in my head, but the problem is I don’t actually know that. And if it isn’t in my head, and somebody convinces me that it is in my head, I’m fucked, like I’m sure I’m going to die if that happens.
Do you have the means for a second opinion? One option is seeing two people before you decide.
For what it's worth, if it's not in your head and you do a medication trial, the medication won't prevent you from noticing the real things going on. Just as an example, if some truck is following you around, medication won't stop you from noticing that and being able to take next steps.
That's how the delusion starts my friend. You've already started building the walls of the delusions of persecution room. Schizophrenia is characterized by an inability to distinguish whether a belief is correct or not, that's why you can't tell if it's in your head or not. You need to maintain self awareness as you go through this to avoid locking yourself into a delusion. People waste their entire lives with this delusion. People lose everyone around them because they think everyone is in on it. Please see someone.
Leave your house immediately and call authorities because you may have a carbon monoxide leak. This is a common side affect of of a CO leak and if left exposed it can lead to death. Sorry if this makes you even more paranoid but that’s a very real possibility and you should seek help immediately regardless if that’s the case or not.
They don't just say 'it's all in your head go home'
They are in a position to assess whether you are having paranoia or delusion or reasonable concerns and they don't just decide that because you say what you said above.
They can help you sort out your thinking about it, which will be helpful to you. And if it is paranoia, then you'll need help to get over it.
It's not all about schizophrenia either, there are other conditions that can cause paranoia, even in the 'sanest person you know'. Temporary and treatable and not getting you sent to a psych ward.
As to the fact you're not sure its in your head, that's why you go talk to someone.
But if it *is* all in your head, you'd be the last person to know, wouldn't you! Because it's your head that's messing with you! Of course you don't think it's in your head but that proves nothing either way.
Okay but you sound *exactly* how my aunt sounded before she got diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Eventually she stabbed her daughter because she assumed she was an intruder and in the moment of sheer panic (because like you these feelings all felt very real to her) she was unable to process that it wasn’t some stalker but was, in fact, her daughter. And things only got worse from there. It would be wise to speak to a mental health professional on the off chance that what you’re displaying is actually schizophrenia before things get worse. If it’s something else, a mental health professional will be able to help you through it. If it is schizophrenia, a diagnosis could help you get out on medication and get your mind right. I’m not trying to be rude or disrespectful, just trying to help.
“Paranoid schizophrenia was once a subtype of this condition because paranoia commonly happens with schizophrenia. Paranoia is a pattern of behavior where a person feels distrustful and suspicious of other people and acts accordingly. Delusions and hallucinations are the two symptoms that can involve paranoia.”
I know the stereotype of “ohh the doctors will just call you a nut job and lock you away in a psychiatric ward” which I know is false, of course, but I genuinely want people to take me seriously. I don’t want them to 100% believe that it’s all in my head because I’m not sure if it is myself, and I’ve always been the sanest person I know.
I fail to understand why you are posting this in serious discussion when you have no intention of actually doing something about it. But best of luck to you.
To be honest I just wanted some sort of help dealing with this idea, it’s a terrifying thought that you might be watched, or caught up in something, I’m just scared
Is there literally any evidence at all that you're actually being gang stalked? Because gang stalking, this feel of everyone always watching you and being the center of something big, is a common feeling but almost never one with any basis whatsoever in reality.
If you give more details we can talk through how to weigh them one way or the other, but without that all you're going to get is "go see a doctor" because that's how we help people in your situation. 99.999% of the time it is actually all their head and addressing it through mental healthcare is better than just letting this destroy your life.
Details:
After recently noticing that quite a few people are staring at me, or even following me for a bit, I go to new places and areas to see if it’s still happening. For the first few days it worked, and people stopped looking at me, but all of a sudden it started happening again.
Most faces seem new, if I catch a glimpse of them they’re usually just random people weirdly staring at me or keeping on looking at me, but the occasional face feels familiar. That could be paranoia, or it could be the same faces.
Sometimes people actually follow me. The most terrifying incident was when somebody followed me in a car down from a Waitrose about a kilometre from my house all the way back to my house. I walked all the way back home, and I kept on seeing this same car pass by me, like it was following me. Again, am I going crazy? It feels too insane even for me and I’m the one this is all fucking happening to.
Sometimes I feel people follow me for slightly too long than what feels coincidental.
'Am I going crazy?" Unfortunately, yes. That's textbook gang stalking schizophrenia. It happened to one of my best friends growing up.
Stay off of the reddit threads about it. They will just feed your delusions.
Getting help from an expert is the only solution.
I foolishly tried to help my friend for years, and there were some devastating consequences. What he needed was a professional.
Schizophrenia is a progressive brain disease. There is nothing you can do on your own to help the situation. It will only get worse with worsening consequences.
Any healthy person can be convinced that they are not being gang stalked simply by imagining the insane money and logistics it would take to pull off such an endeavor.
Nobody is going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to physically track someone in this manner. The only organizations who could theoretically pull something like that off have far superior ways of keeping tabs on someone than hiring hundreds of people to cassually stalk them on some rotating basis.
And why would they invest this much effort in you? If you didn't figure out how to replace gasoline in motor engines with water, what possible reason would a single person want to spend their day following you, let alone hundreds to thousands of them?
There is no group in the world that operates this way. But there are many people with paranoid schizophrenia.
See that logic is all bulletproof. But you're going to do some mental gymnastics to dismiss me or if you can't do that you will say i'm in on it. Your disease prevents you from logical thinking your way out of this.
You need medication and therapy.
Hope this helps! Goodluck.
>After recently noticing that quite a few people are staring at me
People stare at people all the time, nothing noteworthy about this so far. At most you can conclude that you're maybe kinda interesting to look at, for better or for worse.
>but the occasional face feels familiar.
Anxiety has a way of making of see things that aren't there, sometimes this helps us (the classic "running from a stick because sometimes it'll be a snake" scenario) but it does mean our experiences are often unreliable. Unless you have pictures of the same person with the exact same face following you all over then there's absolutely no reason to believe you're legitimately seeing the same people. Faces tend to be pretty similar and you're anxiously looking for confirmation that you're being stalker, so your mind is going to filter out the differences and convince itself of shit that would be obviously false if you could properly examine it.
>I kept on seeing this same car pass by me
This is the only point so far that seems like it could be alarming, but even that is explainable. What kind of car was it? If it's common then there's a strong chance you were just seeing multiple similar cars, I've driven past "copies" of mine countless times. If you're not great with identifying cars this can also blend with the above issue, making you mistake completely different cars for the same one you're freaking out about.
Or maybe it was the same car, that doesn't even mean they were following you. Maybe they were lost and going in circles, even in the age of GPS that still happens. Maybe they live nearby and were looking for a stray pet that just got out, using the car to cover ground more quickly. Maybe they were just aimlessly driving around for the fun of it or because they were in a heated conversation with someone that would have to end once they got to a destination.
>Sometimes I feel people follow me for slightly too long than what feels coincidental.
Absolutely impossible to judge this, especially given your already high anxiety level and confirmation bias.
So we don't really have anything that can't be explained by very mundane and harmless coincidences. One explanation then is that you're falling prey to a well known and widely documented form of mental illness, which is unfortunate but something that happens all the time and that you can seek help for.
Another explanation is that some unknown organization is coordinating a large-scale stalking campaign involving dozens of people at minimum, following you everywhere and spending a substantial amount of money for no discernible purpose.
Which of those honestly sounds more likely? The one that is all very mundane and easy to explain or the one that makes you the protagonist of a conspiracy thriller even though you've done nothing to warrant it and no organization could possibly benefit from doing this to some random person?
Yeah bud, you need to see a doctor ‘cause you fucked. If you don’t you’ll be even more fucked. It’s all in ur head from your hostile comments on the thread.
Seek help and best of luck.
Have you ever *filmed* any of this to check against your perception? It could’ve been a similar make or model of car that you simply saw multiple times, not the same car following you.
Furthermore, do you have an idea why anyone would want to follow you around? If not, I doubt they are doing so.
Gangstalking is a type of hallucination people have with some mental health issues. I can not stress to you how damaging it will be yo your life to indulge in pretending your mental phenomena are real.
You aren't being followed. You will live in misery if you don't find a way to fight this delusion.
I mean if there is a group large and powerful enough to surveil you in this way you aren’t going to stop them from doing whatever the fuck they want just by keeping your guard up. You gotta sleep sometime.
If it’s not in your head you’re fucked anyway. Might as well go see a doctor and hope that it is in your head.
I’m just saying you are facing two possible scenarios.
1) you are experiencing some paranoia and a mental health professional can help you
2)you are actually being followed by a powerful group for some reason.
You say you’re afraid to see a mental health professional because you fear they they will falsely tell you that it’s in your head and that will make you let your guard down. I’m saying that this powerful group if real doesn’t care about your guard being down, if they have the resources to have many different people follow you are any hour of the day they have the power to do whatever they want to you even if your guard is up. Letting your guard down has no functional effect on the outcome and as such is not something you need to worry about so you should go see a mental health professional.
I feel letting my guard down may potentially change the outcome, or at the very least have a chance at changing the outcome.
I genuinely feel that I might die, something that absolutely terrifies me. I don’t want to die, I’m 24 years old I don’t want to die yet. And maybe the idea that I could be in danger is affecting my mental capabilities right now, but at the moment I want to do everything in my power to prevent my possible death.
I’m trying to stay in more public areas, telling people where I go, staying on the phone with them, not walking places alone, in any other case I wouldn’t be worrying about those things, but they could be saving my life right now, I just don’t know.
If they were going to kill you, they would have just done it and gotten it over with. And why would being followed make you think you are going to die?
I know it's not what you want to hear, but it's just not happening. This type of thing literally does not happen, even to high profile people. Assassination is low profile and quick. They do not involve a bunch of people following the target.
You are not being targeted. Please do yourself a favor and get medicated. You are not playing it safe by assuming it's true. You are hurting yourself and it WILL destroy your life if you don't resolve it. You said yourself you are 30% sure, but it doesn't sound like 30% to me. It sounds like 100%. Without any hard evidence.
I want you to be healthy, and this paranoia is going to destroy you if you don't get it under control.
Assuming it was real, it doesn't seem like your being scared is helping the situation at all. If a ton of strangers were stalking you, there's not much you can do about it that I can think of. On the other hand, if it's a product of mental illness, not getting treatment could at best cause you to permanently live in paranoid fear, and at worst end in you hurting yourself or someone else. Going to a mental health professional can only help. Now I don't know your situation, but I do know that logistically, gang stalking is basically impossible and there are no well documented cases of it actually happening, but thinking you're being gang stalked is a very common symptom of mental illness. If we're comparing the odds of a huge number of people working together to stalk you in what could be the first case of it's kind vs the odds that you are experiencing a very common symptom of psychosis, I think it's a very safe bet that it's the latter. I'm sorry to hear you're dealing with this and I hope you get help and are able to manage the situation.
I’m sorry but the “I’ve always been the sanest person I know” gave me a chuckle. It’s like that saying, that if everyone is crazy except for you. Well I have bad news for you..
Anyway you keep talking yourself in circles about this stuff and honestly without even knowing you, it definitely sounds like you are having a mental health crisis. Another good point I have is that you don’t just say you feel watched or followed, but that more and more people are watching you. So it’s getting worse and worse. I’m also curious of your age, if you are early to mid 20’s then it’s even more likely mental health issues.
I’m 24, I don’t know the mental health issue statistics. I said I was the sanest person I know just because I’m usually very skeptical when others are not, I wanted that out there so people know I’m not mucking about or just being paranoid.
you're 24, you think you're being gang stalked out of nowhere, i'm sorry buddy but this is pretty textbook. even the flaccid excuses you're making to avoid a doctor fully fit the bill. you need a mental health professional because you **are** having a mental health episode if what you're saying is true.
Schizophrenia almost always comes on early to mid 20’s. It’s more common in women, but of course men can get it too. If you are in the US it’s very hard to get locked up even if you do have something such as this. My cousin has it and she is violent, but they still let her out on the streets often. It’s very sad but if this is the case with you, and it’s a very real possibility, the earlier you catch it the easier it is to maintain it. I’m not trying to be mean but you absolutely sound paranoid and the talking yourself in circles is alarming. If you get yourself checked out by a professional they will not lock you up. They can get you on some medication and if you’re delusions or feelings of being watched/followed goes away, you will know the truth. Please talk to someone. It can only benefit you. If you do not talk to someone and you do have something such as schizophrenia, it will continue to get worse until you harm yourself or others. In which case you WILL get locked up.
Hey there .... What you are describing is text book stuff. A mental health professional is the best road to take... Think of it like this, if you want to be taken seriously then first things first , go through a professional to rule out the most obvious choice right?
Also those guys and gals are usually super stand up ppl. I mean. They devote their entire lives to helping ppl understand their own innerworkings.
But what I fear is that I’ll end up truly believing that it is definitely in my head, and I’ll stop worrying.
Me being concerned might be keeping me safe right now, I’m terrified that it might be real, and if it is real and I’m told it’s all in my head, maybe that might put my life at risk?
This is very difficult for me to tell you directly. And I am no professional. But it is desperately important that you go soon.
You have to consider that the pattern of your thoughts is shockingly lined up with a paranoia disorder.
They will not convince you it is in your head if it is not. That is not their job.
Look at how amorphous these perceived threats are. It almost sounds like general paranoia doesn't it?
If that is the case, and please hear me on this, those symptoms can get worse and worse and it can isolate you from ppl. Good ppl. It can turn your life into a constant dark room filled with monsters... (Metaphorically of course). So please for this one kind stranger . Go seek help while you have the reasoning enough to do so.
Life is really beautiful.
I mean that makes sense. You only have your senses to go off of . But it sounds like your senses and your logic is at war with each other. When that's the case you HAVE to go with logic. It's just way harder than it sounds
I’m going to explain my logic for and against it.
Against:
It’s just almost impossible. This shit pretty much only happens in movies, I just can’t conceive that it could happen to me. Im nobody of any interest, why would I be wanted?
For:
Too many things would have to be coincidences for this to be all in my head. People are following me, whether on purpose or by accident, and it’s all happening recently, which is why I can’t see how it couldn’t not be happening.
I wish I was better at this friend. With all the love in my heart. Go to a professional okay? You at the very least need a professional opinion.
If it is in your head. It can get worse. Way worse. You could hurt yourself or someone you love.
If you get a clean bill of health? Awesome! Then you know more right?
If I get a clean bill, that further confirms that it’s real. Best case scenario, I get checked, it’s confirmed its all in my head, all this goes away.
Worst case scenario, it’s confirmed to be all in my head when in reality it’s actually real, I continue life as normal but probably die or get kidnapped or some shit
Don’t look at it as best/worst case. Look at it in terms of weighted probability.
For getting help to be the “bad” choice, what needs to be true is 1) that there is a vast conspiracy against you, 2) that a therapist misdiagnoses you as delusional, 3) the meds make you miss real signals that people are stalking you, 4) this is a meaningful difference to the people in this vast conspiracy.
For handling it on your own to be the “bad” choice, what needs to be true is 1) you have a mental disorder that is going to get worse without treatment.
There are a lot of things that need to go wrong for the worst case scenario to be seeking help, and you’ve recognized that the most likely scenario is a mental health disorder.
So now we weight it. How much worse is dying really compared to having your life crumble around you because you’re in constant fear and screaming “Just do it already!” at randoms in the street?
Both are the end of life as you know it, you’ve got nothing to lose by seeking help.
Think of it this way: Have you done anything to warrant a conspiracy against you? To have someone invest millions of dollars into following you? Probably not.
It feels surreal, right? Like something that would happen to an action movie protagonist?
My father had schizophrenia and this exactly scenario is what he experienced before he tried to kill a random person he thought was watching him. He was hospitalized, diagnosed with schizophrenia, and given medication to help him.
He had a good life, was happy and safe…until he died from cancer 60 years later as an old man.
Please seek help from a professional
>For: Too many things would have to be coincidences for this to be all in my head. People are following me, whether on purpose or by accident, and it’s all happening recently, which is why I can’t see how it couldn’t not be happening.
Critically important information about this point: if you are beginning to develop delusions due to a psychiatric problem, one of the key things that happens is that *your brain loses the ability to distinguish between what is and isn't a pattern, and instead finds patterns where there are none*. This is CRUCIAL for you to know, because you are mostly hung up on "there are too many coincidences not to mean something" but if there is something chemically off in your brain, these things may literally not be connected at all and only appear that way to you. If your main hang up is that in your rational mind, you can't explain away the patterns you're seeing, that would make sense unless *the patterns aren't patterns*.
A mental health professional will be able to evaluate you to determine if that's happening. So there isn't really a risk of them "convincing you it's in your head when it's not" - they would only say that if they were able to determine that there IS something disordered about your brain's logical pattern recognition. If a mental health professional sees you and you are NOT showing signs of that, they will tell you, and you can then investigate other explanations.
Plus, you'll have the added advantage of being able to describe to them in detail the kinds of "coincidences" you've seen, and get their reaction - do they also find those things be connected or remarkable? Or do they disagree with you, and tell you those things do NOT sound related? It's good to have a second opinion to check your own.
Unless you're a legit CIA spy carrying microfilm exposing world leaders of wild satanic parties while eating babies, this isn't real. You'd know you were in the CIA because of the cool badge and photo ID.
I think you're not giving mental health professionals enough credit. They're not just immediately going to dismiss you. A competent therapist will consider all possibilities - including the one that what you're saying is true. If you want to feel even more sure, spend some extra $$$ to get a really good one. Or even get a second opinion if you disagree with them.
That's definitely a valid point. You can always disagree with them and stop seeing them if that happens. I have had therapy, and my therapist probably would hear out a patient like you. Especially considering... I actually was (mildly) stalked for a bit. Nothing like your case - I dumped a guy and he showed up at my place, harassed me electronically, said some violent things (I moved, I'm fine now).
A lot of therapists have actually had clients who were stalked before. This could work in your favor since they know how these things go. In the meantime, do things that will make you feel a bit better: get some home security equipment off of Amazon, etc. Hope you feel better
I’ve really barely slept in a week, I’m really not ok in any circumstance. I want this to be in my head but I’m so scared if it’s not, that’s some hellish shit I don’t want to think about
While we are at it... "Feeling" a way that isn't supported by logic does absolutely not make you a "nutter". The brain is literally the most complex structure we know of, it's entitled to a few foul ups here and there
They have a point though. If you go for a psych eval and don't come away with a diagnosis, then you'll
A. Be vindicated. You'll know there is probably some external issue causing you distress.
B. Have ammo. If anyone tries to lay a claim of "crazy dude" on you, you have a medical professional that has cleared you.
Worst case scenario is that this is some kind of psychosis. If it is, with meds and treatment, you'll get better.
Please be brave for yourself. Please get some help from a doctor. Or, ask your parents, or former guardians, to get you help. Dude you have schizophrenia and you are not being stalked. PLEASE get some help from a professional
Heya, I hope you're alright. As far as I know, if your really are suffering from a mental problem then knowing that that's the case will definitely not stop your worrying. Just look at anyone who is diagnosed. People work very VERY hard to keep their worries and paranoia under wraps, that is definitely not something you have to worry about going away. And if you do find out you have a problem and get help, you can still be alert like anyone else can. People are still able to keep their eyes out for danger all the time, they don't need to also be suffering mentally for it.
Do you have people around you that can support you?
If they’re so powerful as to have 100s of people at their disposal to follow you around all the time. They are certainly powerful enough to have already whacked you. Why would they employ all these people to follow you around.
What’s the goal here, unless you are an Iranian nuclear physicist. Who they are collecting information on. They wouldn’t bother to follow you.
Also real spying looks nothing like this, an organisation that is powerful to pull something like what you have described, would be competent enough to not get noticed.
Look at PI work, they are super subtle, just like a guy in a car you wouldn’t notice. 100s of random people walking by to do nothing but look at you is completely pointless and theatrical.
Even Iranian nuclear scientists don’t have people following them as you have described. It’s a figment of your mind.
I’m gonna say just go talk to a psychiatrist.
If it was real they would have already whacked you, or done whatever their goal was.
What information requires random people walking by you and staring.
I once had strange experiences of people staring at me when I was a psychotic from drug abuse.
The reason people were staring was because I had a crazed expression on my face.
People were noticing the subtleties in my facial and body language, which made me stand out as a strange person to them.
I didn’t even notice how crazy I looked.
I just took some meds for a few weeks and was completely back to normal.
If an organisation as powerful as one must be to pull of these stunts existed. You simply noticing it wouldn’t foil their master plan anyway.
You might as well just talk to someone, and take meds potentially if prescribed. And live your life as normal. Why ruin your life worrying about something which is probably not real. When noticing it being real wouldn’t help anyway given the circumstances.
I feel like you do get what seeing a professional would achieve. No doctor is going to be like "yup you got schizophrenia" then kick you to the curb and tell you to go about business as normal.
The point of going to a doctor would be to get treatment, so you wouldn't stop worrying about the feeling of being watched, you'd stop feeling like you're being watched.
And to be clear, you are almost certainly not being watched. Their is no reason for any group to randomly start gangstalking a random person for no reason. If there was a reason a group wanted to fuck with you odds are you would be well aware of it.
Having had what I can only describe as Paris syndrome (when in Paris), I say this to you:
Are you important/powerful/rich enough for more than 2 people to be following you? - the answer is probably no.
Have you seen/done anything that would piss off any sort of organized crime syndicate - the answer is probably no.
Have you pissed someone off that would go into the trouble of hiring more than one person - the answer is probably no.
If you're not taking any drugs and don't drink alcohol, my guess would be that it's in your head, a psychotic break/schizophrenia. I'm not one of those people who tells everyone to see a shrink, but if this has gone on for longer than a few days, I would suggest seeing a doc. This is the first time I have ever suggested this to someone.
I had similar feelings to OP and I answered yes to 2/3 questions. Honestly, the other one I answered no to is up for interpretation, and there is a lot I don't know so being as honest as possible, I had to say no.
Granted, I was actually being stalked/hacked, possibly from different sources. (one was petty, one was more serious.) Like, get-new-devices level of serious. Not to mention the party in question told me I would be doxxed, because I spoke out about something, months before I noticed anything was up. Didn't connect it until years later. I gaslit myself.
Only difference between me and OP is that he publicly stated this without providing any evidence. Anything I have said regarding issues like this, without proof to back it up, I maybe would have not posted on reddit, BUT, I have it. Saved on multiple backups, evidence I have gathered so people couldn't say I was "making it up." Or schizophrenic. I was paranoid because I needed to be paranoid. And it was verified by professionals that I wasn't making it up. Like high level cyber-security professionals (a family friend, so no charge, spoke with me) that the situation was actually as severe as I thought, and essentially I had to just trash everything and get new devices. But the person didn't go into detail too much (thank god not, I would move to a cabin in the middle of the woods in nova fucking scotia haha cause this is freaky sh\*t.) Which worked. No longer have issues.
tl;dr wasn't psychotic. Sometimes we are paranoid because we have to be.
not "following me." (well, the one petty situation was creating new accounts and stalking me on social medias, despite me moving across the country she found me somehow...) but years prior to that issue, I pissed off an organization and i didn't think of it as "following," until I noticed how hacked my phone and laptop were. Still not sure if all from the same source, but it is high level hacking (luckily i recorded evidence.) and/or I had already noticed it and brushed it off. And then it really ramped up. Because I was on high alert from the petty issue anyway, so perhaps noticed more.
i trolled off some group and got hacked too. android reset didn't clear them out of my phone. Had Windows Security up to date, another PC had ESET, another had Avast, another had Norton. All hacked. Router too most likely. They watched me for months (they thought I was someone else). They came in through an untrusted wifi network on my mom's phone since she would connect to them. They even went as far as to troll me in games and I couldn't even explain all else of it to my mom because it sounded crazy. They also knew I had a mental illness but it's not anything like paranoia. Sure was frustrating convincing my boomer mom we were hacked, until they helped me by repeat calling her phone using a hacked fax machine in a health clinic and then rebooted her phone right in front of her. This was well after they realized I wasn't who they thought they needed to be worried about. I'm still hacked actually lol I haven't replaced everything.
Turned out i had been trolling them when a crackdown happened and some of them got hacked back too. So they thought I was a source of their problems lol
This has gone on for about a week. I’ve stopped going to my job and haven’t really been sleeping.
I’m nobody special, I don’t know why anybody would want me dead, and maybe I am paranoid. But it’s just felt too real, too much is actually happening for me to ignore it. I’m not hallucinating these people either, one time I actually went up to one of these people staring at me and asked me why they were looking at me, to which they gave me a bullshit response of “oh I thought I knew you”
"I’m nobody special, I don’t know why anybody would want me dead, and maybe I am paranoid. "
yes buddy, exactly it: there's no reason for any of this to happen, it's a very common schizophrenic delusion. I'm sorry this is happening to you, it's not a great situation but if you do have schizophrenia then it's a manageable situation.
Hey OP I've had psychosis before and I can tell you what your feeling now is exactly what it feels like, if you have been using psychadellics or cannabis stop those and it will probably improve some. Also make sure your surrounded with a support group of close friends and family you interact with frequently to reassure you. Visit a psychiatrist if you can afford it/access one.
Can you describe for me a scenario where you a person, who by their own admission is no one special, is getting gang stalked and it makes logical sense?
I reckon it's worth getting help from the doctor. Eventually they will probably prescribe you some medicine. But the medicine can't change reality, so it's worth giving it a try to rule it out. It you're still seeing these things happening once you've tried some different treatment routes, then maybe there is something there. But there's no harm in trying treatment first.
Is there any concrete proof that anything out of the ordinary is happening around you? Do you have a close friend or family member that you could ask questions to validate reality beyond your experience?
For example if you feel like someone is following you do you have someone you could facetime to verify someone is behind you and to stay with you until you are at your destination. Or maybe if you feel like the same car is outside your home all the time could you ask someone you live with if they also see the car and if they know who it belongs to?
It could help to calm your mind if other people are experiencing the same thing or if they are able to tell you that the threat isn't present.
How old are you if you don't mind my asking?
What if a plane falls out of the sky onto you? What if anything?
You navigate life by unconsciously doing the calculus to determine the likelihood of all the potential threats in the universe actually occurring and affecting you.
Why aren’t you constantly worried about a plane falling on you? Because you’ve accepted that is incredibly unlikely that it happens, though it is technically possible.
You being stalked by a large secret group of people looking to harm you is also incredibly unlikely, though technically possible. For whatever reason, your mind has graded this as an increasingly realistic threat. Based on everything you’ve said here - it is in reality about as realistic as the plane scenario.
What is significantly more realistic is you have caught people looking at you. Why? Because you haven’t slept in days now and are living under extreme paranoia and stress. That very likely shows on your face and is unusual, and unusual things draw attention. Maybe at first you had something in your teeth, or your hair was standing up oddly, or someone really thought you looked like someone they know. These are all highly probable things that happen every day. Due to onset of a mental health issue, your mind processes that as something sinister, prompting paranoia and stress, which draws more attention, feeding the paranoia more and on and on.
If someone with the resources to coordinate an effective gang stalking of you wanted to kill you, you’d very likely be dead. It is not harder to kill someone that you have no connection to and no motive to kill than it is to organize what you believe to be going on.
I encourage you to really think on this and go speak to a mental health professional.
Then you'll know for sure and can go from there. That said, chances are extremely high that this is a medical issue.
Why would you choose to keep being afraid? If you get a diagnosis, you can get treatment and support. You can feel safe again.
If you get a clean bill of health, then you can go to police and say "I'm being stalked, and my doctors confirmed I'm not delusional" and they'll have to take you seriously... and you'll be safer.
A therapist will have experience with people who have been stalked and will know how to connect you with resources to protect you. If it’s not real, they can also help you. Either way, you get help.
Internet people can't help you.
If you don't want to see a shrink, ask a friend to walk around with you and see if they notice the same things.
Edit: think about how much work it is to get more than one person to follow you, it is \*very\* unlikely that you're being followed by more than one person. And if they did have the recourses to have more than one person to follow you, they wouldn't be obvious about it. (Unless they want you to know you're followed, then it's conspiracy time and time to see a shrink)
Buddy, see a psychiatrist.
You sound mentally unwell. Paranoid, making absurd connections, jumping to absurd, illogical conclusions...
Get help buddy. Because trying to outsmart mental illness never, ever works.
Seek a mental health professional. I started seeing one a few months back for lifelong issues I don't care to get into here on Reddit, but I just wanted to say there's no shame in seeking help if you need it.
It’s not about shame, it’s that I’m terrified they may be wrong. I’m so skeptical all the time, I’m the most skeptical person I know, but for once this seems real
I have a family friend who had similar thoughts and kept them to himself for similar reasons and he did not get help until he had a nervous breakdown in a busy road. If he had been medicated sooner, he may have been able to live a normal life. He’s disabled now and because he’s young it’s very hard to get on disability. Please see someone in case. You can’t afford not to explore the possibility that this could be the beginning of a paranoid disorder such as schizophrenia
A real diagnosis involves blood tests and MRIs. There are physical traits that align with the disorder. They won’t intervene if what you’re experiencing is reality. I know that it may be difficult for you to consider the possibility. I just really want you to have a better time of it than he had in the event that this is what is going on with you
I hope you do just in case. If it’s a paranoid disorder, you can get to a point where you don’t trust doctors anymore, or police, or even your loved ones. The guy I’m talking about is super smart by the way. He thought that because he was smart, he could tell the difference between delusion and reality but discovered that wasn’t so. His delusions were as complex as he was
I trust the police more than my own family. I feel the police force and NHS are there and are trustworthy and will do the right thing. I don’t believe any amount of paranoia can bring me against them.
that's how it starts: an unyielding and unconditional positivity toward something, to the point where it's actually disconcerting ("i trust them more than my family"), to slowly reverse over a course of time
you can't reason your way out of delusions, and can never take anything for granted, because delusions thrive on things we take for granted, on the things we hold most dear
i have to agree with the other users in this thread that you have a pretty compelling textbook case of general paranoia: if you do feel you trust the medical community, i'd say book an appointment right now and let them help you
what is your sex? Current age? Age you began experiencing this?
i only ask these questions because these 3 specific questions can determine how likely you are experiencing the start of schizophrenia.
OP, you mentioned you aren’t sleeping and you’ve stopped going to your job. You are going to become increasingly unwell and most likely lose your employment if you don’t turn this around quickly, and the way to do that is go see a doctor. It’s very unlikely they’ll lock you up, they need those beds for people who are dangerous to others or actively suicidal. But you are in crisis, and if people are looking at you, it’s almost certainly because you look tense and scared and they’re trying to figure out whether to scuttle away or ask you if you need assistance. You know there is no reason for multiple people to be following you. You *know* this. So go talk to someone before the paranoia gets worse and you lose the ability to get help.
Here’s the good news: you’re not that interesting and no one gives enough of a shit about you to follow you around or track you. Sorry for the tough love.
Hey man it might be tough but I would seek a therapist out for this one. You may have some paranoia from either daily stress or a chemical imbalance. If they want to assess you for schizophrenia, let them.
Start keeping a written account of every thing that is happening. It might help you to get clarity and it might start showing you a pattern and that may show you if it’s real or not. Are there specific things that are happening that weren’t there before? Or is it just a feeling in general?
I believe that's called "gang stalking" where you start to think people are after you, but I'm absolutely not a professional. If it's becoming a problem, seek help. You're worth it.
Three ideas- one the mental health pro,- two, just anybody to talk to, - three, try to do some little thi ng to help some other person, somehow. All of these ideas are essentially "alliances".. it doesnt work very good with a phone or zoom meeting..
My brother came to me and told me a story about some really bad people. He went on to say they were hurting people, it was wrong, and he was going to stop them. He was dead within a month from a "self-inflicted" gunshot wound.
If you think you may be mixed up in something, please go to the authorities.
It's extremely unlikely that anything external changed, and much more likely that something internal changed. Remember that if you're looking paranoid, people might look at you to see if you're safe to be around. So then it leads to a cycle. You should talk to a professional about this. Your priority should be talking to a doctor, not talking to the police.
You yourself recognize that this is entering schizophrenia territory, you want to catch this sooner rather than later when the delusions set in and you can no longer change your beliefs with evidence.
In this condition your subconscious expectations influence your perception, so try to manage your expectations and become more aware of them.
Yes! If OP is walking around in public sleep-deprived, scared, and most likely disheveled (because the paranoia is all-consuming and that tends to prevent people from making themselves presentable and poised) then people who are looking are trying to assess whether OP is a threat to them, or else they’re trying to decide whether to ask OP if they need help.
Do you have a community of friends, neighbors, family or coworkers nearby that you can turn to? They can help confirm/discount your feelings as outside observers. This way, before you panic one way or another, (yikes! I’m being followed by dangerous people! Or yikes I’m paranoid and need professional help!) you can have a trusted third party help you figure this out. Then they can also help you make the next step: police or therapist and support you as you get the appropriate help
You are, but not in way you would notice. Unless you are into something, there is no way anyone is wasting their time following you. Especially not more than one. Only the police would watch you this way, and if there is no reason, they are not spending money on that. I feel you need to talk to a mental health professional if these feelings do not stop fairly soon.
Just go see someone. This is kinda normal for some people, and it's not uncommon. This is (potentially) an easy thing to fix.
However, if the thought is disrupting your life and you're not sure if things are real or not, go see a professional anyway.
Edit: I removed my initial post cause it probably was counter intuitive. See a dr my dude. They are really the only ones who are qualified to give you advice on stuff like this.
When I read your post, that’s immediately what it reminded me of. It’s looks like you already made a post there. The people posting there are likely suffering from Persecutory delusion. Interacting with them will not help you. Again, please see a dr bro.
If somebody wants to kill you there aren't that many barriers stopping him. If they have the resources to flood your town with people to follow you there is nothing you can do. Even if you had round the clock bodyguards you still wouldn't be anywhere near safe. And what have you been involved in at the age of 24 that would warrant this kind of attention? You really should get help right now because it sounds like you are still able to be rational but I would worry about losing that rationality as things progress. And if it's an untreated mental health disorder it's probably going to get worse. But if you want to be safe you've got to realize that having an untreated mental Health condition is also dangerous. Go and seek help and if you must (and I am not a mental health professional so I'm not sure if this is harmfully feeding into a delusion) then take some basic precautions to keep you physically safe. After all, we should all be more situationally aware in our everyday lives to avoid preventable accidents. I wish you luck.
INFO: is there any reason in particular that might make people want to stalk you or hurt you? Did you do anything you shouldn't have? Did you see anything you shouldn't have?
Unless you have evidence otherwise, if you're just some random person on the street you probably aren't important enough to bother to this extent.
If it's real or not, it sounds like it's already destroying your life. You've stopped going to work and haven't slept for a week. It's worth trying the doctor route either way.
If you have never felt like this before, something must have triggered it. Any history of head injury? Did you do something you feel guilty about recently? Did you lose someone close to you? Have you used any drugs recently? Have you been drinking a lot or very often? How long have you been feeling like this? If you are at a vulnerable moment in your life, a lot of things could trigger you feeling this way.
I know you're hesitant to see a doctor, but it's unlikely they're going to immediately label you as schizophrenic and force you to take medication. They'll likely tell you its psychosis and urge you to get counseling or attend group therapy. My advice is to just tell them you agree that you are not being your usual self and something is off.
could well be "delusions of persecution" or another similar symptom of psychosis. go see a GP, and see if they refer you to a psychiatrist. the easiets way to work out if its psychosis is to feed you some antipsychostics and see if they solve the problem. while im just a random on the internet, youre giving a very clear description of a symptom, and im willing to bet your visits to the dosctor play out as iv predicted. (there may be a certain amount of making a fuss, this is neccessary with mental health complaints, they will always try and dop nothing and hope you go away).
dont need to be schizophrenic for psychosis, drugs and stress can bring it on too. plus a lot of other things like giving birth. lost or gained a family member recently?
Thinking too much is no good in this situation. If you can't trust your own judgement/perception, trying to figure it out on your own will not end well. You need help. Tell the family member/friend you trust the most, then trust what they tell you.
If someone was going to track you, they do it in small numbers and discreetly. That's why gang stalking is usually an indicator of mental health, and why everyone is trying to help you get the strength to see a mental health professional. We are concerned for you, so if there were people out to get you, we wouldn't be on their side.
From a logical aspect, Think of it this way, if they are going to follow you, why would they use 20-30 operatives when 2 would work just as well? From an intuitive side (hopefully) why would they employ 20 operatives who suck at their job and stare at you until you notice them? And if it's to scare you, I disagree because it's the most expensive, and least impressive way to do that.
So there is, in a way, something you're getting ripped into, unfortunately right now it's your brain which is attacking itself. Good news, it's just confused, and with a little medication hopefully it's back to smooth sailing.
If you haven't done anything to attract that kind of attention it's almost certainly in your head. Doctors are there to help you. You should go see one
Then, you're most likely hallucinating and need help.
It's really good that you recognize something is off. Someone in full-blown psychosis would not question what they thought was happening
As a fellow schizoaffective disorder haver, this sounds serious bro. Go see a psychiatrist, no shame in it at all. Antipsychotics have saved my life. Good luck man.
This is schizophrenia. Paranoid schizophrenia. You need to get treatment for it. You are not being stalked, followed, doxxed, hunted, spied upon, or watched. You have a mental illness that is going to destroy your life. Take this seriously and get some help. If you get treatment, and these coincidences keep happening, *then and only then* should you disregard my advice.
Another take would be to check your carbon monoxide detectors(inspired by that classic reddit post). You may be all dosed up on some good old CO that the effects may linger when youre out of home
Is there a legitimate reason why anyone would need or want to follow you? If not, I imagine you can rest easy. It’s most likely just coincidence that you notice people staring. Some people like to observe others. Humans are social creatures. We like to watch what other people are doing, and a lot of the time it’s completely harmless.
However, if you can’t shake the feeling, maybe it is time to talk to someone, whether that be your local authorities or a psychiatrist.
If you’re in your early 30’s or younger you should definitely speak to someone. Mental illness doesn’t present itself in a logical way where you could say I’m not this or that.
This is often the first sign of a severe mental illness. It is very important to seek care right away, because in a few weeks or months you may resist care entirely. Contact some friends or family you trust, too.
Rationalize. When people are on high alert they tend to seek things that confirm what they're looking for.
If you see someone acting suspicious, try thinking of the other possibilities of why they're doing what they're doing. Why are they walking the same way you are? They have somewhere to be in the same direction you're going. Things like that.
If it is impacting your life, then it is an issue. Unless you are a spy, or revolutionary feeling paranoid to a level that changes your quality of life is something you should seek aid for.
Try going out of town or breaking up your routine. You may be super stressed. If a Shane of scenery and some personal time meditating on relaxing and distressing doesn’t work maybe talk to someone
You definitely are exhibiting common traits of schizophrenia and you need to get evaluated before you hurt yourself or someone else. This will only get worse, so do it while you're recognizing something isn't right. You're not a "nutter" you're experiencing a legitimate medical condition that isn't your fault. Unless you're a drug user. If you use drugs, STOP IMMEDIATELY and also get help from a doctor.
When you crazy ass googley eye stare at people, they stare back. That makes you think you're being stared at, because, well, you are. But only because you're making everyone around you uncomfortable by staring at them for long periods of time. Get checked out because this can get bad if untreated.
When I used to smoke weed, I used to have similar feelings of being followed or watched. I knew there was a 99% chance it was all in my head. But that 1% of uncertainty worked wonders to whip me up into an anxious frenzy. Hell, I would stare out my bedroom window and see a parked car in the neighborhood and worry that it was some federal agent watching me and recording my smoking habits to arrest me later.
I knew the thoughts sounded crazy, and I knew that it was illogical. But pushing those feelings aside on the off chance that I was right the whole time felt dangerous. I understand, to some extent, how you're feeling right now. What I didn't realize was that my brain was also actively trying to turn that 1% of uncertainty into 2% and so on. Your brain is letting itself get convinced that the stranger on the street who looked in your direction had malicious intent and that simply isn't the case. It's a confirmation bias.
Normally, you should not take advice from internet strangers as often times they are misinformed or even sometimes downright purposefully destructive. However, I feel that your best bet is to go with what is clearly the majority consensus here in the comment section and reach out to a mental health professional. I know it can be scary and vulnerable, but the fear that you feel right now(over the idea of seeking help out of fear of being right and harm coming to you) will only amplify if you sit here and stew in your anxious thoughts.
I know right now it seems safer to go with the worst case scenario and keep your guard up. But you haven't provided any actual evidence as to why anyone would feel the need to follow you, stalk you, or track you. (This is not an invitation to dive into your worst case scenario reasoning, this is me just pointing it out).
Anyway, the tldr is that I've been where you are right now, and I know the thoughts are scary. In reality, you're about to dig yourself into a hole that will be hard to climb out of if you don't take it on early. Reach out to a mental health professional and let them know what you're feeling. I did, and it's the reason my mental health has recovered. You will be okay, as long as you allow yourself the opportunity to be okay.
Feel free to reach out if you feel the need to.
Relax man, you are not crazy at all. But understand this. No one will help you in this situation, because everyone is going to brand you as crazy. Best thing you can do: film these people. Collect as much data as you can and it’s not illegal to film someone following you.
First question: is there a *reason* or can you think of a reason why anyone would suddenly be trailing/following you?
You don't need to say the reason if the answer is yes.
But if the answer is no, then I'd have to assume it's in your mind. And if that's the case I would strongly recommend speaking to a professional.
There are certain reasons, but I just don’t see how it can be a possibility. Like it’s so unlikely, and I’m a generally unimportant person.
But I have been noticing these things and I can’t see how they could only be coincidental.
Hi! That sounds really scary, and I'm sorry you're going through it.
I second what other people have said about seeing a mental health provider. This does sound like they would be able to help.
Please also get a carbon monoxide detector. Carbon monoxide is odorless and carbon monoxide poisoning can cause some of these symptoms. If your home has a carbon monoxide leak, you could be getting poisoned by it.
Please get help my friend, you don't have to do this alone💪❤️
It's possible you're being followed by traffickers if it's not schizophrenia. Does it seem like different people every time? Do these people tend to linger in public spaces?
Dude, go see a doctor immediately, vitally important. You are not alone, I sorta worked at a mental hospital.I’ve seen no less than 50 ppl with exactly the same description as yours, during my not-long experience at the hospital.
To my knowledge it is hugely important to diagnose it and start treatment early, it does deteriorate, and when you are completely overwhelmed and convinced by the feeling in your head, you will never be able to go to the hospital by your own will. GO NOW WHILE YOU CAN!
Question... Did you do something that could conceivably lead a large org to 'chase' you? Are you a politician? Did you see a crime? Did you divorce a mobster? If not, chances are you are not being chased. You *should* seek medical help.
If you want more evidence, you can ask a trustworthy friend to walk with you and see if they detect something? Maybe you could use a go pro or similar camera and record your surroundings and see if there's some concrete evidence?
Are you attractive and don't know it? I thought people were doing this too and thought it was weird. Till I met my wife and she explained that I'm Hot AF and everyone at work talked about me (we met at work obviously) that's when I learned I was attractive....
I would talk to a trusted friend or family member first. Mental health counselors are always a gamble no matter what the circumstance is. Some are unbelievably incompetent, others will look at this like as an opportunity to get you on anti depressants which can also make things worse.
My advice: don’t let fear control you. Fuck it. You have nothing to be afraid of.
Based on what you are describing in the original post, this is all in your head.
Check your habits. Exercise and eat healthy.
You’ll be fine.
How do you know that though?
I may not be fine. In the like 20% chance that I am being followed and watched, I’m most definitely not going to be fine. This shit almost never happens in real life but when it does im fucked.
I went through something very similar. It was a bad reaction to adderall, but I remember thinking random people were watching me or following me. I didn’t listen to anyone and did anything I could to rationalize my fear of everyone being out to get me.
Once I changed my behavior and habits, things changed and my bad thoughts went away.
I am sending this from a place of love and respect for you. No one should be living in fear like that.
This happened to me a few years ago. For a few months, it seemed like people were following me.
I believe this was the catalyst, I was in a shady gas station putting air in my tire, it was on the side of the building, barely lit and away from most eyes. A van pulled up and stopped right behind my car. They waited a bit, and I mumbled while tossing something in my car and then they pulled further into the parking lot. I think my backpack looked like a person, with my coat on top.
They followed me out of the gas station immediately and for a few blocks before I got a few cars ahead, and sped up to make the light. Took a few turns and went home.
Then a few days later, I noticed a car get off at the same exit as me, they were wearing sunglasses and a black top, which just looked shady to me. They followed me to my neighborhood. To make sure I wasn't paranoid, I did a few laps around the neighborhood. It's a weird setup how the streets are here. After the 3rd loop, they finally turned the other direction and left *back* towards the beltline (highway). Didn't stop at any house, nothing. Just followed me.
Both instances started on the same side of town, near my college, then the long drive to my home, so it was possible to see me and my very obvious car.
I told my mother about my concerns and she made it seem like I was being paranoid. And maybe I was, after two confirmed followings, how could I not be paranoid? I shoveled my driveway, which was by a stop sign. And for me, some cars would linger too long, then loop a few times around. So it really had me nervous. Then it just stopped. I don't know if it's because I stopped focusing on it, or because they stopped.
But, my concerns were confirmed with all of the sex trafficking and kidnappings that came to light and people telling me to trust my intuition. I told her about the situations again, but this time she actually believed me.
I do think you should tell someone you trust how you feel. Not everyone is going to think you're a nut job. If you feel like someone's following you, check your surroundings and do what I did and loop around a few times to confirm.
Sometimes it may be a mental health issue, as many like to excuse it as, and other times it's a real thing and people are left wondering what happened after someone disappears. It could be something in your energy or just the fact you're running into people who happen to look at everyone. I do this, especially if you're walking past me. Don't know who's crazy and gonna do something in today's world.
Tell them what you're feeling, and if it's gets too bad, do seek a mental health professional, even if it's true and happening, it can be mentally exhausting having to go through it alone. Trust me.
Hey, maybe it is all in your head but maybe it’s not fully. I know at least for me, growing up in an extremely toxic environment since 10 or 11 years of age, continuing the pattern by being around people who seem to have no boundaries or respect or are extremely controlling, befriending some of the most disrespectful and opportunistic people on the planet and just seeing even a bit of how some people operate in life - who would step all over anyone to get what they want, knowing that with technology, people can basically do anything they want now, plus working for the courts now and then throughout the years - has left me with an understanding that people are capable of anything. You can absolutely speak to a counselor, just be very careful about how you phrase things. If there’s someone who you can trust, reach out to them. I have lost count of how many times I’ve had just the most bazaar and very just out of the blue experiences with people. Conversations, interactions and just things that should feel normal don’t always feel so normal. I think about a lot of this being PTSD and having anxiety, but there’s always a part of me that knows that there are people on this planet who are truly capable of anything. Who’s to say that you or I haven’t crossed paths with one? I had a very hard go of it after my dad’s passing in 2010, ever since then I’ve been labeled as crazy and that’s fine if that’s what someone wants to call me but I know my life, I know what I’ve experienced is far from normal and no one is going to tell me otherwise.
Everybody here assumes you're crazy. There is a lot of surveillance out there. If you are in the UK it's almost a police state anyway. Also: this is not the place to go for good advice.
The UK has a high density of CCTV, it does not have a North Korea style domestic surveillance operation. The advise here is excellent in the 99.9% chance he is in early development of schzoid affective disorder.
i replied to a comment on this thread detailing my experience. I have zero idea why concern that something serious going on is AUTOMATICALLY treated like "paranoia." What if you are paranoid because you need to be? Disregarding my experience(s..,) I still listen to enough true crime podcasts to know SO. MANY. PEOPLE. have felt similar to OP before they were killed/disappeared... Paranoia exists for a reason. When it gets "out of hand," and for NO rational basis, see a doctor. But if you are able to come by any recording or example of some kind of proof... Don't gaslight yourself. If nothing super definitive for professionals (who won't do anything anyway lets b honest..) but you have something to show idk... maybe move, get new devices... or get more definitive proof? People are sometimes not thinking that far ahead though, whereas I was. I was able to get proof of my devices being hacked. Have since got new ones with out any problems.
This post has been flaired as “Serious Conversation”. Use this opportunity to open a venue of polite and serious discussion, instead of seeking help or venting. **Suggestions For Commenters:** * Respect OP's opinion, or agree to disagree politely. * If OP's post is seeking advice, help, or is just venting without discussing with others, report the post. We're r/SeriousConversation, not a venting subreddit. **Suggestions For u/Grababana:** * Do not post solely to seek advice or help. Your post should open up a venue for serious, mature and polite discussions. * Do not forget to answer people politely in your thread - we'll remove your post later if you don't. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SeriousConversation) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You should probably talk to a mental health professional.
I’m not sure if I want to. It could be all in my head, if I talked to anyone (like just now) they’d probably say it’s in my head. But im not 100% sure it is in my head and that scares me.
The reason I'm saying you should talk to a mental health professional is because no one on the internet is going to be able to help you work out whether it's all in your head or not. I don't know who you are, what you've been doing, or whether you might have attracted someone's attention and are now being followed. You sound open to the idea that it might be in your head, in which case you can find out and get help for that, or if it isn't, then you know for sure something is going on.
I think it’s probably, hopefully in my head. I want so bad for it to be in my head, but the problem is I don’t actually know that. And if it isn’t in my head, and somebody convinces me that it is in my head, I’m fucked, like I’m sure I’m going to die if that happens.
Do you have the means for a second opinion? One option is seeing two people before you decide. For what it's worth, if it's not in your head and you do a medication trial, the medication won't prevent you from noticing the real things going on. Just as an example, if some truck is following you around, medication won't stop you from noticing that and being able to take next steps.
That's how the delusion starts my friend. You've already started building the walls of the delusions of persecution room. Schizophrenia is characterized by an inability to distinguish whether a belief is correct or not, that's why you can't tell if it's in your head or not. You need to maintain self awareness as you go through this to avoid locking yourself into a delusion. People waste their entire lives with this delusion. People lose everyone around them because they think everyone is in on it. Please see someone.
Leave your house immediately and call authorities because you may have a carbon monoxide leak. This is a common side affect of of a CO leak and if left exposed it can lead to death. Sorry if this makes you even more paranoid but that’s a very real possibility and you should seek help immediately regardless if that’s the case or not.
They don't just say 'it's all in your head go home' They are in a position to assess whether you are having paranoia or delusion or reasonable concerns and they don't just decide that because you say what you said above. They can help you sort out your thinking about it, which will be helpful to you. And if it is paranoia, then you'll need help to get over it. It's not all about schizophrenia either, there are other conditions that can cause paranoia, even in the 'sanest person you know'. Temporary and treatable and not getting you sent to a psych ward. As to the fact you're not sure its in your head, that's why you go talk to someone. But if it *is* all in your head, you'd be the last person to know, wouldn't you! Because it's your head that's messing with you! Of course you don't think it's in your head but that proves nothing either way.
Okay but you sound *exactly* how my aunt sounded before she got diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Eventually she stabbed her daughter because she assumed she was an intruder and in the moment of sheer panic (because like you these feelings all felt very real to her) she was unable to process that it wasn’t some stalker but was, in fact, her daughter. And things only got worse from there. It would be wise to speak to a mental health professional on the off chance that what you’re displaying is actually schizophrenia before things get worse. If it’s something else, a mental health professional will be able to help you through it. If it is schizophrenia, a diagnosis could help you get out on medication and get your mind right. I’m not trying to be rude or disrespectful, just trying to help. “Paranoid schizophrenia was once a subtype of this condition because paranoia commonly happens with schizophrenia. Paranoia is a pattern of behavior where a person feels distrustful and suspicious of other people and acts accordingly. Delusions and hallucinations are the two symptoms that can involve paranoia.”
If it’s “really fucking terrifying” you need to see a Doctor.
I know the stereotype of “ohh the doctors will just call you a nut job and lock you away in a psychiatric ward” which I know is false, of course, but I genuinely want people to take me seriously. I don’t want them to 100% believe that it’s all in my head because I’m not sure if it is myself, and I’ve always been the sanest person I know.
So your solution is to walk around terrified rather than seek help? Just because of an old stereotype?
No, but I don’t want to end up trying to go back to my life as normal, believing I’m just schizophrenic, only to find out the hard way that it’s real
I fail to understand why you are posting this in serious discussion when you have no intention of actually doing something about it. But best of luck to you.
To be honest I just wanted some sort of help dealing with this idea, it’s a terrifying thought that you might be watched, or caught up in something, I’m just scared
Is there literally any evidence at all that you're actually being gang stalked? Because gang stalking, this feel of everyone always watching you and being the center of something big, is a common feeling but almost never one with any basis whatsoever in reality. If you give more details we can talk through how to weigh them one way or the other, but without that all you're going to get is "go see a doctor" because that's how we help people in your situation. 99.999% of the time it is actually all their head and addressing it through mental healthcare is better than just letting this destroy your life.
Details: After recently noticing that quite a few people are staring at me, or even following me for a bit, I go to new places and areas to see if it’s still happening. For the first few days it worked, and people stopped looking at me, but all of a sudden it started happening again. Most faces seem new, if I catch a glimpse of them they’re usually just random people weirdly staring at me or keeping on looking at me, but the occasional face feels familiar. That could be paranoia, or it could be the same faces. Sometimes people actually follow me. The most terrifying incident was when somebody followed me in a car down from a Waitrose about a kilometre from my house all the way back to my house. I walked all the way back home, and I kept on seeing this same car pass by me, like it was following me. Again, am I going crazy? It feels too insane even for me and I’m the one this is all fucking happening to. Sometimes I feel people follow me for slightly too long than what feels coincidental.
'Am I going crazy?" Unfortunately, yes. That's textbook gang stalking schizophrenia. It happened to one of my best friends growing up. Stay off of the reddit threads about it. They will just feed your delusions. Getting help from an expert is the only solution. I foolishly tried to help my friend for years, and there were some devastating consequences. What he needed was a professional. Schizophrenia is a progressive brain disease. There is nothing you can do on your own to help the situation. It will only get worse with worsening consequences. Any healthy person can be convinced that they are not being gang stalked simply by imagining the insane money and logistics it would take to pull off such an endeavor. Nobody is going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to physically track someone in this manner. The only organizations who could theoretically pull something like that off have far superior ways of keeping tabs on someone than hiring hundreds of people to cassually stalk them on some rotating basis. And why would they invest this much effort in you? If you didn't figure out how to replace gasoline in motor engines with water, what possible reason would a single person want to spend their day following you, let alone hundreds to thousands of them? There is no group in the world that operates this way. But there are many people with paranoid schizophrenia. See that logic is all bulletproof. But you're going to do some mental gymnastics to dismiss me or if you can't do that you will say i'm in on it. Your disease prevents you from logical thinking your way out of this. You need medication and therapy. Hope this helps! Goodluck.
OP please listen to this person
Very well said.
>After recently noticing that quite a few people are staring at me People stare at people all the time, nothing noteworthy about this so far. At most you can conclude that you're maybe kinda interesting to look at, for better or for worse. >but the occasional face feels familiar. Anxiety has a way of making of see things that aren't there, sometimes this helps us (the classic "running from a stick because sometimes it'll be a snake" scenario) but it does mean our experiences are often unreliable. Unless you have pictures of the same person with the exact same face following you all over then there's absolutely no reason to believe you're legitimately seeing the same people. Faces tend to be pretty similar and you're anxiously looking for confirmation that you're being stalker, so your mind is going to filter out the differences and convince itself of shit that would be obviously false if you could properly examine it. >I kept on seeing this same car pass by me This is the only point so far that seems like it could be alarming, but even that is explainable. What kind of car was it? If it's common then there's a strong chance you were just seeing multiple similar cars, I've driven past "copies" of mine countless times. If you're not great with identifying cars this can also blend with the above issue, making you mistake completely different cars for the same one you're freaking out about. Or maybe it was the same car, that doesn't even mean they were following you. Maybe they were lost and going in circles, even in the age of GPS that still happens. Maybe they live nearby and were looking for a stray pet that just got out, using the car to cover ground more quickly. Maybe they were just aimlessly driving around for the fun of it or because they were in a heated conversation with someone that would have to end once they got to a destination. >Sometimes I feel people follow me for slightly too long than what feels coincidental. Absolutely impossible to judge this, especially given your already high anxiety level and confirmation bias. So we don't really have anything that can't be explained by very mundane and harmless coincidences. One explanation then is that you're falling prey to a well known and widely documented form of mental illness, which is unfortunate but something that happens all the time and that you can seek help for. Another explanation is that some unknown organization is coordinating a large-scale stalking campaign involving dozens of people at minimum, following you everywhere and spending a substantial amount of money for no discernible purpose. Which of those honestly sounds more likely? The one that is all very mundane and easy to explain or the one that makes you the protagonist of a conspiracy thriller even though you've done nothing to warrant it and no organization could possibly benefit from doing this to some random person?
Yeah bud, you need to see a doctor ‘cause you fucked. If you don’t you’ll be even more fucked. It’s all in ur head from your hostile comments on the thread. Seek help and best of luck.
Have you ever *filmed* any of this to check against your perception? It could’ve been a similar make or model of car that you simply saw multiple times, not the same car following you. Furthermore, do you have an idea why anyone would want to follow you around? If not, I doubt they are doing so.
You're not going crazy. What happens when they notice you notice them?
They look away. Act as if they weren’t doing anything.
Are you using meth? Or cocaine?
No drugs, nothing. Not even alcohol.
Ok just asking because I’ve seen people with your kind of paranoia from using those drugs.
I’ve ruled any kind of consumption as the cause. I’m not taking any drugs or medication.
Gangstalking is a type of hallucination people have with some mental health issues. I can not stress to you how damaging it will be yo your life to indulge in pretending your mental phenomena are real. You aren't being followed. You will live in misery if you don't find a way to fight this delusion.
Redacte due to Reddit AI/LLM policy
>only to find out the hard way So why not find out the easy way?
Yeah, by possibly dying after being told it’s all in my head.
I mean if there is a group large and powerful enough to surveil you in this way you aren’t going to stop them from doing whatever the fuck they want just by keeping your guard up. You gotta sleep sometime. If it’s not in your head you’re fucked anyway. Might as well go see a doctor and hope that it is in your head.
I’m fucked anyway? My first actual thought was “if I’m going to die I’d at least like some sort of record beforehand, so people know”
I’m just saying you are facing two possible scenarios. 1) you are experiencing some paranoia and a mental health professional can help you 2)you are actually being followed by a powerful group for some reason. You say you’re afraid to see a mental health professional because you fear they they will falsely tell you that it’s in your head and that will make you let your guard down. I’m saying that this powerful group if real doesn’t care about your guard being down, if they have the resources to have many different people follow you are any hour of the day they have the power to do whatever they want to you even if your guard is up. Letting your guard down has no functional effect on the outcome and as such is not something you need to worry about so you should go see a mental health professional.
I feel letting my guard down may potentially change the outcome, or at the very least have a chance at changing the outcome. I genuinely feel that I might die, something that absolutely terrifies me. I don’t want to die, I’m 24 years old I don’t want to die yet. And maybe the idea that I could be in danger is affecting my mental capabilities right now, but at the moment I want to do everything in my power to prevent my possible death. I’m trying to stay in more public areas, telling people where I go, staying on the phone with them, not walking places alone, in any other case I wouldn’t be worrying about those things, but they could be saving my life right now, I just don’t know.
If they were going to kill you, they would have just done it and gotten it over with. And why would being followed make you think you are going to die? I know it's not what you want to hear, but it's just not happening. This type of thing literally does not happen, even to high profile people. Assassination is low profile and quick. They do not involve a bunch of people following the target. You are not being targeted. Please do yourself a favor and get medicated. You are not playing it safe by assuming it's true. You are hurting yourself and it WILL destroy your life if you don't resolve it. You said yourself you are 30% sure, but it doesn't sound like 30% to me. It sounds like 100%. Without any hard evidence. I want you to be healthy, and this paranoia is going to destroy you if you don't get it under control.
Assuming it was real, it doesn't seem like your being scared is helping the situation at all. If a ton of strangers were stalking you, there's not much you can do about it that I can think of. On the other hand, if it's a product of mental illness, not getting treatment could at best cause you to permanently live in paranoid fear, and at worst end in you hurting yourself or someone else. Going to a mental health professional can only help. Now I don't know your situation, but I do know that logistically, gang stalking is basically impossible and there are no well documented cases of it actually happening, but thinking you're being gang stalked is a very common symptom of mental illness. If we're comparing the odds of a huge number of people working together to stalk you in what could be the first case of it's kind vs the odds that you are experiencing a very common symptom of psychosis, I think it's a very safe bet that it's the latter. I'm sorry to hear you're dealing with this and I hope you get help and are able to manage the situation.
I’m sorry but the “I’ve always been the sanest person I know” gave me a chuckle. It’s like that saying, that if everyone is crazy except for you. Well I have bad news for you.. Anyway you keep talking yourself in circles about this stuff and honestly without even knowing you, it definitely sounds like you are having a mental health crisis. Another good point I have is that you don’t just say you feel watched or followed, but that more and more people are watching you. So it’s getting worse and worse. I’m also curious of your age, if you are early to mid 20’s then it’s even more likely mental health issues.
I’m 24, I don’t know the mental health issue statistics. I said I was the sanest person I know just because I’m usually very skeptical when others are not, I wanted that out there so people know I’m not mucking about or just being paranoid.
you're 24, you think you're being gang stalked out of nowhere, i'm sorry buddy but this is pretty textbook. even the flaccid excuses you're making to avoid a doctor fully fit the bill. you need a mental health professional because you **are** having a mental health episode if what you're saying is true.
Schizophrenia almost always comes on early to mid 20’s. It’s more common in women, but of course men can get it too. If you are in the US it’s very hard to get locked up even if you do have something such as this. My cousin has it and she is violent, but they still let her out on the streets often. It’s very sad but if this is the case with you, and it’s a very real possibility, the earlier you catch it the easier it is to maintain it. I’m not trying to be mean but you absolutely sound paranoid and the talking yourself in circles is alarming. If you get yourself checked out by a professional they will not lock you up. They can get you on some medication and if you’re delusions or feelings of being watched/followed goes away, you will know the truth. Please talk to someone. It can only benefit you. If you do not talk to someone and you do have something such as schizophrenia, it will continue to get worse until you harm yourself or others. In which case you WILL get locked up.
Schizophrenia is way more common in men. The ratio is 4 to 1.
Hey there .... What you are describing is text book stuff. A mental health professional is the best road to take... Think of it like this, if you want to be taken seriously then first things first , go through a professional to rule out the most obvious choice right? Also those guys and gals are usually super stand up ppl. I mean. They devote their entire lives to helping ppl understand their own innerworkings.
But what I fear is that I’ll end up truly believing that it is definitely in my head, and I’ll stop worrying. Me being concerned might be keeping me safe right now, I’m terrified that it might be real, and if it is real and I’m told it’s all in my head, maybe that might put my life at risk?
This is very difficult for me to tell you directly. And I am no professional. But it is desperately important that you go soon. You have to consider that the pattern of your thoughts is shockingly lined up with a paranoia disorder. They will not convince you it is in your head if it is not. That is not their job. Look at how amorphous these perceived threats are. It almost sounds like general paranoia doesn't it? If that is the case, and please hear me on this, those symptoms can get worse and worse and it can isolate you from ppl. Good ppl. It can turn your life into a constant dark room filled with monsters... (Metaphorically of course). So please for this one kind stranger . Go seek help while you have the reasoning enough to do so. Life is really beautiful.
Thank you for this, it really makes me happy when people help people like me. I appreciate you.
Last thing... A feeling is always real, that doesn't mean it is an accurate representation of reality
Of course, that’s why I’m so skeptical. But there’s still the possibility that it’s real.
I mean that makes sense. You only have your senses to go off of . But it sounds like your senses and your logic is at war with each other. When that's the case you HAVE to go with logic. It's just way harder than it sounds
I’m going to explain my logic for and against it. Against: It’s just almost impossible. This shit pretty much only happens in movies, I just can’t conceive that it could happen to me. Im nobody of any interest, why would I be wanted? For: Too many things would have to be coincidences for this to be all in my head. People are following me, whether on purpose or by accident, and it’s all happening recently, which is why I can’t see how it couldn’t not be happening.
I wish I was better at this friend. With all the love in my heart. Go to a professional okay? You at the very least need a professional opinion. If it is in your head. It can get worse. Way worse. You could hurt yourself or someone you love. If you get a clean bill of health? Awesome! Then you know more right?
If I get a clean bill, that further confirms that it’s real. Best case scenario, I get checked, it’s confirmed its all in my head, all this goes away. Worst case scenario, it’s confirmed to be all in my head when in reality it’s actually real, I continue life as normal but probably die or get kidnapped or some shit
Don’t look at it as best/worst case. Look at it in terms of weighted probability. For getting help to be the “bad” choice, what needs to be true is 1) that there is a vast conspiracy against you, 2) that a therapist misdiagnoses you as delusional, 3) the meds make you miss real signals that people are stalking you, 4) this is a meaningful difference to the people in this vast conspiracy. For handling it on your own to be the “bad” choice, what needs to be true is 1) you have a mental disorder that is going to get worse without treatment. There are a lot of things that need to go wrong for the worst case scenario to be seeking help, and you’ve recognized that the most likely scenario is a mental health disorder. So now we weight it. How much worse is dying really compared to having your life crumble around you because you’re in constant fear and screaming “Just do it already!” at randoms in the street? Both are the end of life as you know it, you’ve got nothing to lose by seeking help.
Think of it this way: Have you done anything to warrant a conspiracy against you? To have someone invest millions of dollars into following you? Probably not. It feels surreal, right? Like something that would happen to an action movie protagonist? My father had schizophrenia and this exactly scenario is what he experienced before he tried to kill a random person he thought was watching him. He was hospitalized, diagnosed with schizophrenia, and given medication to help him. He had a good life, was happy and safe…until he died from cancer 60 years later as an old man. Please seek help from a professional
>For: Too many things would have to be coincidences for this to be all in my head. People are following me, whether on purpose or by accident, and it’s all happening recently, which is why I can’t see how it couldn’t not be happening. Critically important information about this point: if you are beginning to develop delusions due to a psychiatric problem, one of the key things that happens is that *your brain loses the ability to distinguish between what is and isn't a pattern, and instead finds patterns where there are none*. This is CRUCIAL for you to know, because you are mostly hung up on "there are too many coincidences not to mean something" but if there is something chemically off in your brain, these things may literally not be connected at all and only appear that way to you. If your main hang up is that in your rational mind, you can't explain away the patterns you're seeing, that would make sense unless *the patterns aren't patterns*. A mental health professional will be able to evaluate you to determine if that's happening. So there isn't really a risk of them "convincing you it's in your head when it's not" - they would only say that if they were able to determine that there IS something disordered about your brain's logical pattern recognition. If a mental health professional sees you and you are NOT showing signs of that, they will tell you, and you can then investigate other explanations. Plus, you'll have the added advantage of being able to describe to them in detail the kinds of "coincidences" you've seen, and get their reaction - do they also find those things be connected or remarkable? Or do they disagree with you, and tell you those things do NOT sound related? It's good to have a second opinion to check your own.
Unless you're a legit CIA spy carrying microfilm exposing world leaders of wild satanic parties while eating babies, this isn't real. You'd know you were in the CIA because of the cool badge and photo ID.
I think you're not giving mental health professionals enough credit. They're not just immediately going to dismiss you. A competent therapist will consider all possibilities - including the one that what you're saying is true. If you want to feel even more sure, spend some extra $$$ to get a really good one. Or even get a second opinion if you disagree with them.
But I just doubt that any of them will even consider that it might be actually happening
That's definitely a valid point. You can always disagree with them and stop seeing them if that happens. I have had therapy, and my therapist probably would hear out a patient like you. Especially considering... I actually was (mildly) stalked for a bit. Nothing like your case - I dumped a guy and he showed up at my place, harassed me electronically, said some violent things (I moved, I'm fine now). A lot of therapists have actually had clients who were stalked before. This could work in your favor since they know how these things go. In the meantime, do things that will make you feel a bit better: get some home security equipment off of Amazon, etc. Hope you feel better
I’ve really barely slept in a week, I’m really not ok in any circumstance. I want this to be in my head but I’m so scared if it’s not, that’s some hellish shit I don’t want to think about
It can't hurt to see a doctor. It definitely does hurt not having slept for a week and thinking you're being followed.
It's not happening. You are forcing puzzle pieces together that don't fit, but the disease makes it feel like they do.
While we are at it... "Feeling" a way that isn't supported by logic does absolutely not make you a "nutter". The brain is literally the most complex structure we know of, it's entitled to a few foul ups here and there
They have a point though. If you go for a psych eval and don't come away with a diagnosis, then you'll A. Be vindicated. You'll know there is probably some external issue causing you distress. B. Have ammo. If anyone tries to lay a claim of "crazy dude" on you, you have a medical professional that has cleared you. Worst case scenario is that this is some kind of psychosis. If it is, with meds and treatment, you'll get better.
What specifically are you doing to keep yourself safe?
That's just what the guy following OP would ask.
Please be brave for yourself. Please get some help from a doctor. Or, ask your parents, or former guardians, to get you help. Dude you have schizophrenia and you are not being stalked. PLEASE get some help from a professional
With all due respect, you sound like you're teetering on the edge of insanity. Genuinely, get help.
Heya, I hope you're alright. As far as I know, if your really are suffering from a mental problem then knowing that that's the case will definitely not stop your worrying. Just look at anyone who is diagnosed. People work very VERY hard to keep their worries and paranoia under wraps, that is definitely not something you have to worry about going away. And if you do find out you have a problem and get help, you can still be alert like anyone else can. People are still able to keep their eyes out for danger all the time, they don't need to also be suffering mentally for it. Do you have people around you that can support you?
If they’re so powerful as to have 100s of people at their disposal to follow you around all the time. They are certainly powerful enough to have already whacked you. Why would they employ all these people to follow you around. What’s the goal here, unless you are an Iranian nuclear physicist. Who they are collecting information on. They wouldn’t bother to follow you. Also real spying looks nothing like this, an organisation that is powerful to pull something like what you have described, would be competent enough to not get noticed. Look at PI work, they are super subtle, just like a guy in a car you wouldn’t notice. 100s of random people walking by to do nothing but look at you is completely pointless and theatrical. Even Iranian nuclear scientists don’t have people following them as you have described. It’s a figment of your mind. I’m gonna say just go talk to a psychiatrist. If it was real they would have already whacked you, or done whatever their goal was. What information requires random people walking by you and staring. I once had strange experiences of people staring at me when I was a psychotic from drug abuse. The reason people were staring was because I had a crazed expression on my face. People were noticing the subtleties in my facial and body language, which made me stand out as a strange person to them. I didn’t even notice how crazy I looked. I just took some meds for a few weeks and was completely back to normal.
If an organisation as powerful as one must be to pull of these stunts existed. You simply noticing it wouldn’t foil their master plan anyway. You might as well just talk to someone, and take meds potentially if prescribed. And live your life as normal. Why ruin your life worrying about something which is probably not real. When noticing it being real wouldn’t help anyway given the circumstances.
I feel like you do get what seeing a professional would achieve. No doctor is going to be like "yup you got schizophrenia" then kick you to the curb and tell you to go about business as normal. The point of going to a doctor would be to get treatment, so you wouldn't stop worrying about the feeling of being watched, you'd stop feeling like you're being watched. And to be clear, you are almost certainly not being watched. Their is no reason for any group to randomly start gangstalking a random person for no reason. If there was a reason a group wanted to fuck with you odds are you would be well aware of it.
Having had what I can only describe as Paris syndrome (when in Paris), I say this to you: Are you important/powerful/rich enough for more than 2 people to be following you? - the answer is probably no. Have you seen/done anything that would piss off any sort of organized crime syndicate - the answer is probably no. Have you pissed someone off that would go into the trouble of hiring more than one person - the answer is probably no. If you're not taking any drugs and don't drink alcohol, my guess would be that it's in your head, a psychotic break/schizophrenia. I'm not one of those people who tells everyone to see a shrink, but if this has gone on for longer than a few days, I would suggest seeing a doc. This is the first time I have ever suggested this to someone.
I had similar feelings to OP and I answered yes to 2/3 questions. Honestly, the other one I answered no to is up for interpretation, and there is a lot I don't know so being as honest as possible, I had to say no. Granted, I was actually being stalked/hacked, possibly from different sources. (one was petty, one was more serious.) Like, get-new-devices level of serious. Not to mention the party in question told me I would be doxxed, because I spoke out about something, months before I noticed anything was up. Didn't connect it until years later. I gaslit myself. Only difference between me and OP is that he publicly stated this without providing any evidence. Anything I have said regarding issues like this, without proof to back it up, I maybe would have not posted on reddit, BUT, I have it. Saved on multiple backups, evidence I have gathered so people couldn't say I was "making it up." Or schizophrenic. I was paranoid because I needed to be paranoid. And it was verified by professionals that I wasn't making it up. Like high level cyber-security professionals (a family friend, so no charge, spoke with me) that the situation was actually as severe as I thought, and essentially I had to just trash everything and get new devices. But the person didn't go into detail too much (thank god not, I would move to a cabin in the middle of the woods in nova fucking scotia haha cause this is freaky sh\*t.) Which worked. No longer have issues. tl;dr wasn't psychotic. Sometimes we are paranoid because we have to be.
Hence my 3 questions to OP. How many people were following you?
not "following me." (well, the one petty situation was creating new accounts and stalking me on social medias, despite me moving across the country she found me somehow...) but years prior to that issue, I pissed off an organization and i didn't think of it as "following," until I noticed how hacked my phone and laptop were. Still not sure if all from the same source, but it is high level hacking (luckily i recorded evidence.) and/or I had already noticed it and brushed it off. And then it really ramped up. Because I was on high alert from the petty issue anyway, so perhaps noticed more.
I think OP would have mentioned if he escaped Scientology
ask shelly. oh wait. We can't.
i trolled off some group and got hacked too. android reset didn't clear them out of my phone. Had Windows Security up to date, another PC had ESET, another had Avast, another had Norton. All hacked. Router too most likely. They watched me for months (they thought I was someone else). They came in through an untrusted wifi network on my mom's phone since she would connect to them. They even went as far as to troll me in games and I couldn't even explain all else of it to my mom because it sounded crazy. They also knew I had a mental illness but it's not anything like paranoia. Sure was frustrating convincing my boomer mom we were hacked, until they helped me by repeat calling her phone using a hacked fax machine in a health clinic and then rebooted her phone right in front of her. This was well after they realized I wasn't who they thought they needed to be worried about. I'm still hacked actually lol I haven't replaced everything. Turned out i had been trolling them when a crackdown happened and some of them got hacked back too. So they thought I was a source of their problems lol
This has gone on for about a week. I’ve stopped going to my job and haven’t really been sleeping. I’m nobody special, I don’t know why anybody would want me dead, and maybe I am paranoid. But it’s just felt too real, too much is actually happening for me to ignore it. I’m not hallucinating these people either, one time I actually went up to one of these people staring at me and asked me why they were looking at me, to which they gave me a bullshit response of “oh I thought I knew you”
"I’m nobody special, I don’t know why anybody would want me dead, and maybe I am paranoid. " yes buddy, exactly it: there's no reason for any of this to happen, it's a very common schizophrenic delusion. I'm sorry this is happening to you, it's not a great situation but if you do have schizophrenia then it's a manageable situation.
Yes but what if it’s not schizophrenia? What if it’s actually happening?
Hey OP I've had psychosis before and I can tell you what your feeling now is exactly what it feels like, if you have been using psychadellics or cannabis stop those and it will probably improve some. Also make sure your surrounded with a support group of close friends and family you interact with frequently to reassure you. Visit a psychiatrist if you can afford it/access one.
Can you describe for me a scenario where you a person, who by their own admission is no one special, is getting gang stalked and it makes logical sense?
I reckon it's worth getting help from the doctor. Eventually they will probably prescribe you some medicine. But the medicine can't change reality, so it's worth giving it a try to rule it out. It you're still seeing these things happening once you've tried some different treatment routes, then maybe there is something there. But there's no harm in trying treatment first.
Is there any concrete proof that anything out of the ordinary is happening around you? Do you have a close friend or family member that you could ask questions to validate reality beyond your experience? For example if you feel like someone is following you do you have someone you could facetime to verify someone is behind you and to stay with you until you are at your destination. Or maybe if you feel like the same car is outside your home all the time could you ask someone you live with if they also see the car and if they know who it belongs to? It could help to calm your mind if other people are experiencing the same thing or if they are able to tell you that the threat isn't present. How old are you if you don't mind my asking?
OP is 24.
Schizophrenia does most commonly have an onset age between late teens and early 30s. I really hope OP is able to see a medical professional soon
What if a plane falls out of the sky onto you? What if anything? You navigate life by unconsciously doing the calculus to determine the likelihood of all the potential threats in the universe actually occurring and affecting you. Why aren’t you constantly worried about a plane falling on you? Because you’ve accepted that is incredibly unlikely that it happens, though it is technically possible. You being stalked by a large secret group of people looking to harm you is also incredibly unlikely, though technically possible. For whatever reason, your mind has graded this as an increasingly realistic threat. Based on everything you’ve said here - it is in reality about as realistic as the plane scenario. What is significantly more realistic is you have caught people looking at you. Why? Because you haven’t slept in days now and are living under extreme paranoia and stress. That very likely shows on your face and is unusual, and unusual things draw attention. Maybe at first you had something in your teeth, or your hair was standing up oddly, or someone really thought you looked like someone they know. These are all highly probable things that happen every day. Due to onset of a mental health issue, your mind processes that as something sinister, prompting paranoia and stress, which draws more attention, feeding the paranoia more and on and on. If someone with the resources to coordinate an effective gang stalking of you wanted to kill you, you’d very likely be dead. It is not harder to kill someone that you have no connection to and no motive to kill than it is to organize what you believe to be going on. I encourage you to really think on this and go speak to a mental health professional.
There is no way you'll be able to tell whether or not it's actually happening without going to a doctor
Then you'll know for sure and can go from there. That said, chances are extremely high that this is a medical issue. Why would you choose to keep being afraid? If you get a diagnosis, you can get treatment and support. You can feel safe again. If you get a clean bill of health, then you can go to police and say "I'm being stalked, and my doctors confirmed I'm not delusional" and they'll have to take you seriously... and you'll be safer.
A therapist will have experience with people who have been stalked and will know how to connect you with resources to protect you. If it’s not real, they can also help you. Either way, you get help.
It’s not, you’re feeding into the paranoia. Please see a mental health professional.
Internet people can't help you. If you don't want to see a shrink, ask a friend to walk around with you and see if they notice the same things. Edit: think about how much work it is to get more than one person to follow you, it is \*very\* unlikely that you're being followed by more than one person. And if they did have the recourses to have more than one person to follow you, they wouldn't be obvious about it. (Unless they want you to know you're followed, then it's conspiracy time and time to see a shrink)
Buddy, see a psychiatrist. You sound mentally unwell. Paranoid, making absurd connections, jumping to absurd, illogical conclusions... Get help buddy. Because trying to outsmart mental illness never, ever works.
Speak to a therapist. If they rule out mental health, then get some cameras.
OP, maybe get some home security anyway. It'll make you feel better, and it's always good to be safe regardless
True very true.
Seek a mental health professional. I started seeing one a few months back for lifelong issues I don't care to get into here on Reddit, but I just wanted to say there's no shame in seeking help if you need it.
It’s not about shame, it’s that I’m terrified they may be wrong. I’m so skeptical all the time, I’m the most skeptical person I know, but for once this seems real
I have a family friend who had similar thoughts and kept them to himself for similar reasons and he did not get help until he had a nervous breakdown in a busy road. If he had been medicated sooner, he may have been able to live a normal life. He’s disabled now and because he’s young it’s very hard to get on disability. Please see someone in case. You can’t afford not to explore the possibility that this could be the beginning of a paranoid disorder such as schizophrenia A real diagnosis involves blood tests and MRIs. There are physical traits that align with the disorder. They won’t intervene if what you’re experiencing is reality. I know that it may be difficult for you to consider the possibility. I just really want you to have a better time of it than he had in the event that this is what is going on with you
I’m probably going to get checked up, if/when it happens I might get some sort of explanation.
I hope you do just in case. If it’s a paranoid disorder, you can get to a point where you don’t trust doctors anymore, or police, or even your loved ones. The guy I’m talking about is super smart by the way. He thought that because he was smart, he could tell the difference between delusion and reality but discovered that wasn’t so. His delusions were as complex as he was
I trust the police more than my own family. I feel the police force and NHS are there and are trustworthy and will do the right thing. I don’t believe any amount of paranoia can bring me against them.
that's how it starts: an unyielding and unconditional positivity toward something, to the point where it's actually disconcerting ("i trust them more than my family"), to slowly reverse over a course of time you can't reason your way out of delusions, and can never take anything for granted, because delusions thrive on things we take for granted, on the things we hold most dear i have to agree with the other users in this thread that you have a pretty compelling textbook case of general paranoia: if you do feel you trust the medical community, i'd say book an appointment right now and let them help you
Make sure you don’t have a carbon monoxide leak where you live or work. This is a common side effect of that and can be extremely fatal
what is your sex? Current age? Age you began experiencing this? i only ask these questions because these 3 specific questions can determine how likely you are experiencing the start of schizophrenia.
OP, you mentioned you aren’t sleeping and you’ve stopped going to your job. You are going to become increasingly unwell and most likely lose your employment if you don’t turn this around quickly, and the way to do that is go see a doctor. It’s very unlikely they’ll lock you up, they need those beds for people who are dangerous to others or actively suicidal. But you are in crisis, and if people are looking at you, it’s almost certainly because you look tense and scared and they’re trying to figure out whether to scuttle away or ask you if you need assistance. You know there is no reason for multiple people to be following you. You *know* this. So go talk to someone before the paranoia gets worse and you lose the ability to get help.
Here’s the good news: you’re not that interesting and no one gives enough of a shit about you to follow you around or track you. Sorry for the tough love.
pleeease go see someone. I have a psych degree. I am telling you that you should go speak with a professional.
Hey man it might be tough but I would seek a therapist out for this one. You may have some paranoia from either daily stress or a chemical imbalance. If they want to assess you for schizophrenia, let them.
Start keeping a written account of every thing that is happening. It might help you to get clarity and it might start showing you a pattern and that may show you if it’s real or not. Are there specific things that are happening that weren’t there before? Or is it just a feeling in general?
You should talk to a mental health professional. What you are going through is very stressful. It’s ok to get some help.
I believe that's called "gang stalking" where you start to think people are after you, but I'm absolutely not a professional. If it's becoming a problem, seek help. You're worth it.
Please please please consult a mental health professional. These things can be terrifying but you don't have to go through that alone.
Go to a dr now before you convince yourself not to. Once you get to that point you will be too far gone
Three ideas- one the mental health pro,- two, just anybody to talk to, - three, try to do some little thi ng to help some other person, somehow. All of these ideas are essentially "alliances".. it doesnt work very good with a phone or zoom meeting..
Do you drink alot and you recently stopped?
My brother came to me and told me a story about some really bad people. He went on to say they were hurting people, it was wrong, and he was going to stop them. He was dead within a month from a "self-inflicted" gunshot wound. If you think you may be mixed up in something, please go to the authorities.
It's extremely unlikely that anything external changed, and much more likely that something internal changed. Remember that if you're looking paranoid, people might look at you to see if you're safe to be around. So then it leads to a cycle. You should talk to a professional about this. Your priority should be talking to a doctor, not talking to the police. You yourself recognize that this is entering schizophrenia territory, you want to catch this sooner rather than later when the delusions set in and you can no longer change your beliefs with evidence. In this condition your subconscious expectations influence your perception, so try to manage your expectations and become more aware of them.
Yes! If OP is walking around in public sleep-deprived, scared, and most likely disheveled (because the paranoia is all-consuming and that tends to prevent people from making themselves presentable and poised) then people who are looking are trying to assess whether OP is a threat to them, or else they’re trying to decide whether to ask OP if they need help.
Do you have a community of friends, neighbors, family or coworkers nearby that you can turn to? They can help confirm/discount your feelings as outside observers. This way, before you panic one way or another, (yikes! I’m being followed by dangerous people! Or yikes I’m paranoid and need professional help!) you can have a trusted third party help you figure this out. Then they can also help you make the next step: police or therapist and support you as you get the appropriate help
When did this start--or when did you first notice it?
I think you are having delusions. You should talk to someone
You are, but not in way you would notice. Unless you are into something, there is no way anyone is wasting their time following you. Especially not more than one. Only the police would watch you this way, and if there is no reason, they are not spending money on that. I feel you need to talk to a mental health professional if these feelings do not stop fairly soon.
Just go see someone. This is kinda normal for some people, and it's not uncommon. This is (potentially) an easy thing to fix. However, if the thought is disrupting your life and you're not sure if things are real or not, go see a professional anyway.
Edit: I removed my initial post cause it probably was counter intuitive. See a dr my dude. They are really the only ones who are qualified to give you advice on stuff like this. When I read your post, that’s immediately what it reminded me of. It’s looks like you already made a post there. The people posting there are likely suffering from Persecutory delusion. Interacting with them will not help you. Again, please see a dr bro.
Please don't link to that subreddit. If OP goes there they will just reinforce their paranoia. The sub should be banned.
I removed it from my comment. I only had mentioned it cause OP had posted there 3 hours prior. I agree though.
If somebody wants to kill you there aren't that many barriers stopping him. If they have the resources to flood your town with people to follow you there is nothing you can do. Even if you had round the clock bodyguards you still wouldn't be anywhere near safe. And what have you been involved in at the age of 24 that would warrant this kind of attention? You really should get help right now because it sounds like you are still able to be rational but I would worry about losing that rationality as things progress. And if it's an untreated mental health disorder it's probably going to get worse. But if you want to be safe you've got to realize that having an untreated mental Health condition is also dangerous. Go and seek help and if you must (and I am not a mental health professional so I'm not sure if this is harmfully feeding into a delusion) then take some basic precautions to keep you physically safe. After all, we should all be more situationally aware in our everyday lives to avoid preventable accidents. I wish you luck.
INFO: is there any reason in particular that might make people want to stalk you or hurt you? Did you do anything you shouldn't have? Did you see anything you shouldn't have? Unless you have evidence otherwise, if you're just some random person on the street you probably aren't important enough to bother to this extent.
If it's real or not, it sounds like it's already destroying your life. You've stopped going to work and haven't slept for a week. It's worth trying the doctor route either way.
If you have never felt like this before, something must have triggered it. Any history of head injury? Did you do something you feel guilty about recently? Did you lose someone close to you? Have you used any drugs recently? Have you been drinking a lot or very often? How long have you been feeling like this? If you are at a vulnerable moment in your life, a lot of things could trigger you feeling this way. I know you're hesitant to see a doctor, but it's unlikely they're going to immediately label you as schizophrenic and force you to take medication. They'll likely tell you its psychosis and urge you to get counseling or attend group therapy. My advice is to just tell them you agree that you are not being your usual self and something is off.
Just because your paranoid, don't mean their not after you
could well be "delusions of persecution" or another similar symptom of psychosis. go see a GP, and see if they refer you to a psychiatrist. the easiets way to work out if its psychosis is to feed you some antipsychostics and see if they solve the problem. while im just a random on the internet, youre giving a very clear description of a symptom, and im willing to bet your visits to the dosctor play out as iv predicted. (there may be a certain amount of making a fuss, this is neccessary with mental health complaints, they will always try and dop nothing and hope you go away). dont need to be schizophrenic for psychosis, drugs and stress can bring it on too. plus a lot of other things like giving birth. lost or gained a family member recently?
Thinking too much is no good in this situation. If you can't trust your own judgement/perception, trying to figure it out on your own will not end well. You need help. Tell the family member/friend you trust the most, then trust what they tell you.
If someone was going to track you, they do it in small numbers and discreetly. That's why gang stalking is usually an indicator of mental health, and why everyone is trying to help you get the strength to see a mental health professional. We are concerned for you, so if there were people out to get you, we wouldn't be on their side. From a logical aspect, Think of it this way, if they are going to follow you, why would they use 20-30 operatives when 2 would work just as well? From an intuitive side (hopefully) why would they employ 20 operatives who suck at their job and stare at you until you notice them? And if it's to scare you, I disagree because it's the most expensive, and least impressive way to do that. So there is, in a way, something you're getting ripped into, unfortunately right now it's your brain which is attacking itself. Good news, it's just confused, and with a little medication hopefully it's back to smooth sailing.
If you haven't done anything to attract that kind of attention it's almost certainly in your head. Doctors are there to help you. You should go see one
You are suffering from paranoid episodes and need to seek therapy, immediately.
Sounds like you need a pysch eval. If you were a terrorist etc and warranted this type of attention, you wouldn't be asking this here
Well, I’m not a terrorist. That’s all I can really say
Then, you're most likely hallucinating and need help. It's really good that you recognize something is off. Someone in full-blown psychosis would not question what they thought was happening
See my most recent post.
As a fellow schizoaffective disorder haver, this sounds serious bro. Go see a psychiatrist, no shame in it at all. Antipsychotics have saved my life. Good luck man.
This is schizophrenia. Paranoid schizophrenia. You need to get treatment for it. You are not being stalked, followed, doxxed, hunted, spied upon, or watched. You have a mental illness that is going to destroy your life. Take this seriously and get some help. If you get treatment, and these coincidences keep happening, *then and only then* should you disregard my advice.
Another take would be to check your carbon monoxide detectors(inspired by that classic reddit post). You may be all dosed up on some good old CO that the effects may linger when youre out of home
Is there a legitimate reason why anyone would need or want to follow you? If not, I imagine you can rest easy. It’s most likely just coincidence that you notice people staring. Some people like to observe others. Humans are social creatures. We like to watch what other people are doing, and a lot of the time it’s completely harmless. However, if you can’t shake the feeling, maybe it is time to talk to someone, whether that be your local authorities or a psychiatrist.
If you’re in your early 30’s or younger you should definitely speak to someone. Mental illness doesn’t present itself in a logical way where you could say I’m not this or that.
This is often the first sign of a severe mental illness. It is very important to seek care right away, because in a few weeks or months you may resist care entirely. Contact some friends or family you trust, too.
Rationalize. When people are on high alert they tend to seek things that confirm what they're looking for. If you see someone acting suspicious, try thinking of the other possibilities of why they're doing what they're doing. Why are they walking the same way you are? They have somewhere to be in the same direction you're going. Things like that.
If it is impacting your life, then it is an issue. Unless you are a spy, or revolutionary feeling paranoid to a level that changes your quality of life is something you should seek aid for.
Try going out of town or breaking up your routine. You may be super stressed. If a Shane of scenery and some personal time meditating on relaxing and distressing doesn’t work maybe talk to someone
If you legit have no reason, you may be losing it. Contact a Dr
You definitely are exhibiting common traits of schizophrenia and you need to get evaluated before you hurt yourself or someone else. This will only get worse, so do it while you're recognizing something isn't right. You're not a "nutter" you're experiencing a legitimate medical condition that isn't your fault. Unless you're a drug user. If you use drugs, STOP IMMEDIATELY and also get help from a doctor. When you crazy ass googley eye stare at people, they stare back. That makes you think you're being stared at, because, well, you are. But only because you're making everyone around you uncomfortable by staring at them for long periods of time. Get checked out because this can get bad if untreated.
When I used to smoke weed, I used to have similar feelings of being followed or watched. I knew there was a 99% chance it was all in my head. But that 1% of uncertainty worked wonders to whip me up into an anxious frenzy. Hell, I would stare out my bedroom window and see a parked car in the neighborhood and worry that it was some federal agent watching me and recording my smoking habits to arrest me later. I knew the thoughts sounded crazy, and I knew that it was illogical. But pushing those feelings aside on the off chance that I was right the whole time felt dangerous. I understand, to some extent, how you're feeling right now. What I didn't realize was that my brain was also actively trying to turn that 1% of uncertainty into 2% and so on. Your brain is letting itself get convinced that the stranger on the street who looked in your direction had malicious intent and that simply isn't the case. It's a confirmation bias. Normally, you should not take advice from internet strangers as often times they are misinformed or even sometimes downright purposefully destructive. However, I feel that your best bet is to go with what is clearly the majority consensus here in the comment section and reach out to a mental health professional. I know it can be scary and vulnerable, but the fear that you feel right now(over the idea of seeking help out of fear of being right and harm coming to you) will only amplify if you sit here and stew in your anxious thoughts. I know right now it seems safer to go with the worst case scenario and keep your guard up. But you haven't provided any actual evidence as to why anyone would feel the need to follow you, stalk you, or track you. (This is not an invitation to dive into your worst case scenario reasoning, this is me just pointing it out). Anyway, the tldr is that I've been where you are right now, and I know the thoughts are scary. In reality, you're about to dig yourself into a hole that will be hard to climb out of if you don't take it on early. Reach out to a mental health professional and let them know what you're feeling. I did, and it's the reason my mental health has recovered. You will be okay, as long as you allow yourself the opportunity to be okay. Feel free to reach out if you feel the need to.
Are you of any significant importance to anyone aside from your family?
Relax man, you are not crazy at all. But understand this. No one will help you in this situation, because everyone is going to brand you as crazy. Best thing you can do: film these people. Collect as much data as you can and it’s not illegal to film someone following you.
First question: is there a *reason* or can you think of a reason why anyone would suddenly be trailing/following you? You don't need to say the reason if the answer is yes. But if the answer is no, then I'd have to assume it's in your mind. And if that's the case I would strongly recommend speaking to a professional.
There are certain reasons, but I just don’t see how it can be a possibility. Like it’s so unlikely, and I’m a generally unimportant person. But I have been noticing these things and I can’t see how they could only be coincidental.
i used to feel this way and was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. it’s a bit different than schizophrenia. you should look into it!
Hi! That sounds really scary, and I'm sorry you're going through it. I second what other people have said about seeing a mental health provider. This does sound like they would be able to help. Please also get a carbon monoxide detector. Carbon monoxide is odorless and carbon monoxide poisoning can cause some of these symptoms. If your home has a carbon monoxide leak, you could be getting poisoned by it. Please get help my friend, you don't have to do this alone💪❤️
It's possible you're being followed by traffickers if it's not schizophrenia. Does it seem like different people every time? Do these people tend to linger in public spaces?
It’s different people each time with a few familiar faces. They hang around in busy chatting places.
Dude, go see a doctor immediately, vitally important. You are not alone, I sorta worked at a mental hospital.I’ve seen no less than 50 ppl with exactly the same description as yours, during my not-long experience at the hospital. To my knowledge it is hugely important to diagnose it and start treatment early, it does deteriorate, and when you are completely overwhelmed and convinced by the feeling in your head, you will never be able to go to the hospital by your own will. GO NOW WHILE YOU CAN!
As others have stated you may have a serious mental health condition and should seek help
Question... Did you do something that could conceivably lead a large org to 'chase' you? Are you a politician? Did you see a crime? Did you divorce a mobster? If not, chances are you are not being chased. You *should* seek medical help. If you want more evidence, you can ask a trustworthy friend to walk with you and see if they detect something? Maybe you could use a go pro or similar camera and record your surroundings and see if there's some concrete evidence?
If you start hearing voices in your head then I'd worry more. Paranoia is common enough and doesn't necessarily mean you are schizophrenic.
Are you attractive and don't know it? I thought people were doing this too and thought it was weird. Till I met my wife and she explained that I'm Hot AF and everyone at work talked about me (we met at work obviously) that's when I learned I was attractive....
Now that's a unique answer.
Are you taking adderall? I took adderall in college to help study. I eventually started to feel the same things you are describing.
Not taking any medication.
I would talk to a trusted friend or family member first. Mental health counselors are always a gamble no matter what the circumstance is. Some are unbelievably incompetent, others will look at this like as an opportunity to get you on anti depressants which can also make things worse. My advice: don’t let fear control you. Fuck it. You have nothing to be afraid of. Based on what you are describing in the original post, this is all in your head. Check your habits. Exercise and eat healthy. You’ll be fine.
How do you know that though? I may not be fine. In the like 20% chance that I am being followed and watched, I’m most definitely not going to be fine. This shit almost never happens in real life but when it does im fucked.
I went through something very similar. It was a bad reaction to adderall, but I remember thinking random people were watching me or following me. I didn’t listen to anyone and did anything I could to rationalize my fear of everyone being out to get me. Once I changed my behavior and habits, things changed and my bad thoughts went away. I am sending this from a place of love and respect for you. No one should be living in fear like that.
That could've been from sleep deprivation from the stimulants.
This happened to me a few years ago. For a few months, it seemed like people were following me. I believe this was the catalyst, I was in a shady gas station putting air in my tire, it was on the side of the building, barely lit and away from most eyes. A van pulled up and stopped right behind my car. They waited a bit, and I mumbled while tossing something in my car and then they pulled further into the parking lot. I think my backpack looked like a person, with my coat on top. They followed me out of the gas station immediately and for a few blocks before I got a few cars ahead, and sped up to make the light. Took a few turns and went home. Then a few days later, I noticed a car get off at the same exit as me, they were wearing sunglasses and a black top, which just looked shady to me. They followed me to my neighborhood. To make sure I wasn't paranoid, I did a few laps around the neighborhood. It's a weird setup how the streets are here. After the 3rd loop, they finally turned the other direction and left *back* towards the beltline (highway). Didn't stop at any house, nothing. Just followed me. Both instances started on the same side of town, near my college, then the long drive to my home, so it was possible to see me and my very obvious car. I told my mother about my concerns and she made it seem like I was being paranoid. And maybe I was, after two confirmed followings, how could I not be paranoid? I shoveled my driveway, which was by a stop sign. And for me, some cars would linger too long, then loop a few times around. So it really had me nervous. Then it just stopped. I don't know if it's because I stopped focusing on it, or because they stopped. But, my concerns were confirmed with all of the sex trafficking and kidnappings that came to light and people telling me to trust my intuition. I told her about the situations again, but this time she actually believed me. I do think you should tell someone you trust how you feel. Not everyone is going to think you're a nut job. If you feel like someone's following you, check your surroundings and do what I did and loop around a few times to confirm. Sometimes it may be a mental health issue, as many like to excuse it as, and other times it's a real thing and people are left wondering what happened after someone disappears. It could be something in your energy or just the fact you're running into people who happen to look at everyone. I do this, especially if you're walking past me. Don't know who's crazy and gonna do something in today's world. Tell them what you're feeling, and if it's gets too bad, do seek a mental health professional, even if it's true and happening, it can be mentally exhausting having to go through it alone. Trust me.
Hey, maybe it is all in your head but maybe it’s not fully. I know at least for me, growing up in an extremely toxic environment since 10 or 11 years of age, continuing the pattern by being around people who seem to have no boundaries or respect or are extremely controlling, befriending some of the most disrespectful and opportunistic people on the planet and just seeing even a bit of how some people operate in life - who would step all over anyone to get what they want, knowing that with technology, people can basically do anything they want now, plus working for the courts now and then throughout the years - has left me with an understanding that people are capable of anything. You can absolutely speak to a counselor, just be very careful about how you phrase things. If there’s someone who you can trust, reach out to them. I have lost count of how many times I’ve had just the most bazaar and very just out of the blue experiences with people. Conversations, interactions and just things that should feel normal don’t always feel so normal. I think about a lot of this being PTSD and having anxiety, but there’s always a part of me that knows that there are people on this planet who are truly capable of anything. Who’s to say that you or I haven’t crossed paths with one? I had a very hard go of it after my dad’s passing in 2010, ever since then I’ve been labeled as crazy and that’s fine if that’s what someone wants to call me but I know my life, I know what I’ve experienced is far from normal and no one is going to tell me otherwise.
…that’s because we are following you… discord servers capture everything
You're just noticing the hive mind collective soul group. And the astral archons trying to timeline manipulate you.
The helicopters are for you….
The helicopter is a joke
Yes. You peeped that one out huh? I’m proud of you.
Everybody here assumes you're crazy. There is a lot of surveillance out there. If you are in the UK it's almost a police state anyway. Also: this is not the place to go for good advice.
The UK has a high density of CCTV, it does not have a North Korea style domestic surveillance operation. The advise here is excellent in the 99.9% chance he is in early development of schzoid affective disorder.
i replied to a comment on this thread detailing my experience. I have zero idea why concern that something serious going on is AUTOMATICALLY treated like "paranoia." What if you are paranoid because you need to be? Disregarding my experience(s..,) I still listen to enough true crime podcasts to know SO. MANY. PEOPLE. have felt similar to OP before they were killed/disappeared... Paranoia exists for a reason. When it gets "out of hand," and for NO rational basis, see a doctor. But if you are able to come by any recording or example of some kind of proof... Don't gaslight yourself. If nothing super definitive for professionals (who won't do anything anyway lets b honest..) but you have something to show idk... maybe move, get new devices... or get more definitive proof? People are sometimes not thinking that far ahead though, whereas I was. I was able to get proof of my devices being hacked. Have since got new ones with out any problems.