hey, yeah i have those.

what i do... is i try not to think of them as 'thoughts' so much as 'feelings'.

'i feel afraid that people might be watching me' etc.

that isn't so irrational. most people don't like to be gawped at. if one has been hurt before its understandable that one might feel a little afraid of people sometimes.

but...

at the very same time that one acknowledges that one does indeed feel afraid... one can also acknowledge that 'rationally' one knows that it is very unlikely that people are gawping and that even if they are they are probably thinking about what to have for dinner or whatever or are worrying about whether you will smile back at them if they smile at you.

sometimes that helps my fear feel a little less intense. and... i can 'fake it till i make it' which is to say... the feeling gradually reduces and fades away...

i think our minds start playing tricks on us after we have isolated for a time. i used to find the same thing going on for me after isolating for a few days. i'd get hallucinatory phenomena too where everything looked outlined in black (like a cartoon) and black would drip down things kind of. hard to describe. mostly the atmosphere was one of threat and i felt very generally afraid.

i think it is a mild form of sensory deprivation. if people are locked in a cupboard or an isotank or are enclosed in a submarine or a station at antartica or whatever... largely working by themselves... or are fishing for 13 hours a day by oneself in a canoe in alaska...

it can bring on delusions and hallucinations.

they say one of the worst forms of torture is... (this is really rather surprising)... being tied to a table flat on ones back (so one can't move) in the total dark... with a dripping tap dripping water onto your forehead.

drip...
...
drip...
...
drip...
...

apparantly the sensory deprivation (no info coming in via your other senses) along with the predictable, repetitive sensory stimulation in exactly the same place

drip...
...
drip...
...
drip...
...

starts to feel like the most painful think you could possibly imagine.

sensory deprivation seems to induce delusions and hallucinations too...

i think...

the answer might be...

to stop with the isolation?