Title: Why Am I So Paranoid That Someone Is Watching Me? | OptimistMinds
Headings: Why am I so paranoid that someone is watching me?
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Why am I so paranoid that someone is watching me?
Table of Contents
Why am I so paranoid that someone is watching me?
‘The feeling of being watched’
Your eyes see more than you imagine
Sometimes we are wrong
Do you feel that someone is watching you all the time?
FAQ on Why am I so paranoid that someone is watching me?
What does it mean if you feel like someone is always watching you?
What is it called when you have a fear of someone watching you?
Why have I been so paranoid lately?
Is being paranoid normal?
Does paranoia go away?
What triggers paranoia?
Conclusions
Further reading
What we recommend for personality disorders
Professional counselling
References
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Divya Tiwari

Content: Specifically, a 2013 study found that even if the blind person was unaware of what was in front of them, the activity of their amygdala (the part of the brain that allows them to detect and respond to threats) was intensified when they were shown images with faces that they seemed to stare at him. When we are not sure if we are being watched or not, we often mistakenly assume that we are the centre of all eyes. Our brains work much harder than we realize, so if you are walking and you have that strange feeling of being watched, chances are you have picked up signals that escape your most direct field of vision. In effect, we spend an inordinate amount of energy wondering if people are watching us, so much so that there is a theory that explains that we have an entire neurological network dedicated to this activity. In fact, Oxford researcher Harriet Dempsey-Jones explains in ‘The Conversation ‘ that “not only our brains are specialized in attracting attention and revealing the direction of the eyes, but also the eyes .” In this regard, it ensures that human eyes are different than those of any other species thanks to its communicative capacity and, specifically, to the white area around our pupils and irises, known as the sclera. In a species whose main strength is peer-to-peer communication, gaze has evolved into a powerful tool to indicate interest, danger, lust, and even more complex emotions like love. Sometimes we are wrong
As powerful as the gaze is, it does not mean that we always do it well. A study published in the journal ‘Current Biology’ concluded that when we are unsure which way a person’s gaze is directed – such as when the eyes in front of us are hidden behind sunglasses – we often mistakenly assume that we are the centre to which all eyes are directed. Which, somehow, means that the feeling of being seen can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.