Does anyone feel like a "Lepper" in their town. I suffer from mental illness I try to keep a low profile but everywhere I go I can read the people and know that they are judging me either by their words or their body language.

For this reason it's hard to make friends because I get the I know you're the "local crazy guy" look even when people are being polite to me.

I get on the bus or to a restaurant and people mutter angrily or laugh about me. All this impedes on my recovery efforts, it makes me not want to go out and be around people, things that many people take for granted.

I know some may think that I'm paranoid and that's why I'm crazy, this is what my wife and friends say. They don't believe that someones reputation as a mental health sufferer can travel around a community and create a barrier to wellbeing especilally when strangers gossip or make cutting remarks about that person. Has anybody else experienced what I'm trying to express not is it just me?