Yeah, know exactly what you mean. I'm not sure why all adults felt it was their duty to make me look them in the eye while they berated me, like I wasn't completely aware and able to hear them. For me, eye contact is somehow associated with shaming. I feel threatened too by eye contact, esp w/authorities. But, sometimes I can do it for extended periods if the other person isn't uncomfortable with it. I learned to overcome the pain it caused me during an on camera acting class where we had to maintain eye contact with the actor opposite us for the entire scene and react off them. However, when I'm extremely depressed, it still is very hard to do for more than a second or two.