[lonely and scared]

for the past week or so i just feel like someone is following me and down every dark alley etc someone will come out and jump me. it even got to the point that when i am upstaris and its dark and i have to go downstaris or vice versa i just have a feeling someone is there and wants to get me. i also have a strong sensation that someone is watching me all the time.
help dont no what to do

[Rhiannonsmoon]

Hello lonely and scared,

I'm sorry you are going through this. I've had it and I hated it. I didn't feel safe anywhere and it wasn't actually a paranoia it was a full on anxiety issue (though how they decide the difference I am not sure yet, maybe I'll know by the last year of my Ph.D.? lol), and it took me a few weeks to work through it.

First thing I was advised to do was to have a flashlight with me all the time, which helped, and to put night lights in the hallways of the house along the skirting boards. They were inexpensive and low energy. I worked through it and now walk around in pitch black night without a problem (though I still reckon theres ghosts in this house and I've seen them, so has DJ).

I can't tell you to do what I was told to do because obviously I'm not your therapist. But if you have a therapist I suggest you go to them and get some help with it,

Good luck,

Rhiannon

[•Aoi]

Using tools such as a flash light and night lights in certain areas like stated above can be very helpful for getting over the initial fear and paranoia. In dark areas, it gives you the extra comfort of having light and makes you feel more enabled. However, in order to fully try and combat this, I would use it as a temporary defense and not permanently.

What I will do if extreme paranoia kicks in (especially when I feel monitored all the time) is take a deep breath, calm myself down and try and ignore it. A lot of time the anxiety will flare to no ends and you'll catch yourself quickly going into a sprint, lol. But try and keep yourself steady and move forward. The trick is noting that every time you are in one of those places that makes you nervous.. Nothing actually happens. Its almost like training your mind out of a bad thinking pattern. Like training a dog to some degree. Lol. Eventually, you will begin to teach your mind that it isn't necessary to fret when there is no one there.

This usually worked pretty well for me and it does take practice, but. There is nothing worse than extreme paranoia making everywhere you go miserable. So Im sorry you're having a bad time of it. I hope it gets better for you... Sometimes, the beauty of paranoia is it will just 'poof'. Hell, Ive had moments that came... then left and never bothered me again.

Anyway. Best of luck to you.