What would you do in these situations (people interacting with you during a walk)?

So today I decided to walk a few miles outside, but I only managed to get a few hundred feet from my house until this city bus came out of nowhere and stopped a little ways behind me.

One man got off the bus and started walking in my direction at a much faster pace. I walked almost two blocks while he was closing the gap, and he walked faster anytime I sped up, until eventually when he was just 10 feet behind me, he yelled "Hey you!". It turned out he was quietly speed-walk chasing me the whole time because he just wanted directions to a tavern that turned out to be right in front of us by the time he caught up to me.

About 2 miles later, I was walking on the sidewalk near a stop sign when this dark SUV stopped near where I was walking and some guy started shouting "HEY MAN! WHAT'S YOUR NAME?". I just looked at him and asked "why?" and then he goes "I DON'T KNOW, MAN. I JUST LIKE TO MEET NEW PEOPLE." I decided to just keep walking (since you don't just give personal information to strangers in dark SUVs that stop in the middle of the road and bark at pedestrians demanding to know their names'), so as I walked away, the guy goes "WHATEVER MAN, F*** YOU!!" (He was already yelling at me, but he screamed the F you part) and then he stomped on the pedal and drove off.

In addition to these two events, I already caught several people off in the distance staring at me from their porches (thinking I couldn't see them), watching me as if I was going to do something bad.

___________

I guess my question is, how would someone in a paranoid or psychotic mindset respond to these situations?

So while out for a walk:

-A bus showed up out of nowhere, and a man gets off it and starts chasing me.

-Later on, a dark SUV pulls over to the curb and a passenger starts demanding to know my name, then screams and swears at me and then speeds off when I wouldn't divulge personal info.

-I caught an unusual number of people staring at me, for a long time, and for no apparent reason.

This is why i have found New Yorkers to be more human and interactive than people in many other areas. They are more aware of the humans the are sharing space with. To me its like a dance - even a square dance, as you trade your partner after you passed a few steps with them. The awareness that its all a big crazy dance is more in the forefront in NYC.

Interesting. This was in Washington state (lot of crazies and serial killers in the pacific northwest, unfortunately).

I'm wondering now if the guy in the SUV was on something, or just a really social guy that's quick to anger when people deny him things.

While psychotic I was actually very disinhibited and wanted to interact with people...I would have probably chosen to talk with them and assumed they were associated with the people who were recruiting/initiating me. I had elements of paranoia like all the people with sunglasses on were part of the group or all the people with their car windows down half way...my psychosis started right around this time 3 years ago so the seasons were changing and my brain saw these actual literal changes in the world but attributed them not to the onset of summer but to my recruitment to a large group of telepathic healers...but my delusions were definitely more toward grandiose than paranoid despite having that same sort of pattern sensing and group involvement...

Well when I was considered manic by several people (and hospitalized), I thought I was there to help everyone, and also because they secretly knew I needed a quiet and relaxing place to make very important discoveries about the universe (think where Einstein left off). They just weren't allowed to acknowledge or speak about it.

I found myself unable to process or leave coincidences alone during this time, and so I was curious as to how a paranoid schizophrenic or someone that fears being followed/pursued/plotted against, would react to what happened to me today.

Not too long ago I asked someone if I should follow the white rabbit and they said yes, except they said it would be black, and over the past few days a black rabbit has been hopping around my yard (which hasn't happened since the home was built decades ago).

Things like this would have made me absolutely insane during certain vulnerable times in my life, and so I'm curious if anyone else has been made worse, simply by unlucky coincidences or odd events.

I thought I was there to help everyone too! Technically I was never manic but I was never depressed either...they also never used the word paranoid for me just psychosis....seemingly one of the acute and transient forms of psychosis...I'm sure someone else who is more oriented toward paranoia will give you a better answer but I thought I'd share too...but yeah everything was filled with meaning...I couldn't take my art project from the hospital so I decided it had to stay there so I could remotely channel energy through it or something....there was a street festival and I thought it was to help introduce me to others in the secret society and they were basically out to help humanity in all ways or something...

i am very quiet psychotic and scared so i wouldve ran and thrown rocks at them. im quiet and scared. paranoid when psychotic. but my behavior psychotically is disinhibited.

I would try not to scream at them to go away, then just run full out until I was back to my house, and hide in my living room, possibly shut the curtains etc.

Ok just on your logic.

On 'A bus turned up out of no where' buses do tend to turn up , they have routes they operate and its not unusual that a bus would stop near you.

On the guy that was following you. He probably was trying to find a location that happened to be in the same direction you were walking and it talies up as when he asked you where the location was it was very close.

On the suv, the part where they guy gets irate and speeds off is probably an incorrect interpretation of a guy that was acting an ***. Was there other people in the suv. If there were other people , in the suv it would be more likely.

On people staring at you , trust me this is not unusual

Honestly I think you handled each incident well. I would've done the same thing then wondered for the rest of the day why things happened the way they did. Next day I would've most likely forgot about it until I was reminded ahahaha >.<

Things like this happen to me all the time though. Personally the guy from the bus sounded so bizarre at first...I would've wondered his intentions too. Naturally. He should've said *something* instead of just following you the entire two blocks before he reached you though. A simple, 'Hey! I'm lost!' would've been helpful. It was just two blocks, he was close enough to raise his voice for you to hear. If anyone else was closer to him, he could've easily asked them instead. Nobody likes the feeling of being followed; it would've been polite if he said something along those lines before reaching you.

As for the whole car thing...again, that was handled well too. In fact, I wouldn't even ask why. I would look away and keep walking, fully aware they're there but pretend they're not. If they start talking again, English is not my language lol. I don't know you and you're in a car...a *dark* car...I don't know you from a hole in the wall. >.> You see me and just want to 'know' me? I don't think so. People can be pretty sketchy, sometimes you never know.

Maybe the people looking were involved. Maybe not. They could've just been overly curious people, wondering what was going on 'other there', lol. These things happening the same day probably wasn't a coincidence. But it sounds, to me, like it was. I'll mention again though, you handled them well. At least you didn't make a scene.

I'm not paranoid, and I would have been made uncomfortable by the first two situations. I doubt I'd notice if anyone was staring at me from a porch. If I noticed at all, I'd assume they were out there watching the world go by and I was part of the world they were watching.

The other two people were acting decidedly odd. The guy who chased a stranger for two blocks to ask directions I would consider to be socially awkward. The guy trying to 'meet new people' by shouting personal questions at a person on the sidewalk from a SUV I would assume was looking for a victim - maybe to rob or scam in some way.

I agree with Costello in so far as my not psychotic self would have responded this way...in fact about two weeks ago a guy in a jeep Cherokee pulled up next to me when I was walking home and asked me if I needed a ride anywhere....I was half a block from home so I said no I'm good thanks and walked away but was prepped to run if he did anything else...it very much triggered my spidey sense in terms of that's how you wind up locked in someone's basement....but when psychotic I was much more exploratory and not as concerned about getting hurt...

I didn't mean to imply any of it really bothered me, or that I had a "logic" in all of it...

The "bus turned up out of no where" is just an expression for it being nowhere in sight, to all of a sudden flying around the corner in front of me and stopping sharply just a little ways behind me.

The guy in the car yelling at me was the passenger, so I assumed he was either on something, just being an *ss because he was with friends, or he was from California. Maybe everyone in the car was driving along yelling at people, and I just happened to be on the passenger side of the road and caught his eye.

The people staring, yeah I know it's not unusual. Still stood out though because of the other things. It's not something I noticed on other walks.

I asked this because I was curious how other people might have interpreted it.

Another question:

If you're prone to paranoia and people know this, do you think you would be believed when you tell people you we're being followed and a dark suv pulled over asking questions? What if you were stable and not psychotic, and then something like this happens. Could it A, trigger you, and B, by telling someone, do you think they would automatically assume you're relapsing into psychosis?

New Yorkers are rude and nasty! Yes, they interact with you by cursing and giving you the finger.

I suppose its down to how believable any given situation is. But before I believe something , I ask that what im believing in to be clearly defined. So in your case I neither know , how believable your situation is , nor , what your even asking me to believe in. Do you understand me?

I'm sorry but your post was confusing to me. I was just wondering if the words of schizophrenic people are ever doubted due to their condition. If they told people about being followed and the dark suv, would they likely be written off as psychotic/delusional, despite it actually happening, in my case?

I cant say whether you were followed , although its doubtful in my opinion. All I can suggest is you think reasonably about the situation. Your suspicion originally arose from the guy who got off the bus. How probable is it that a bus driver was in conspiracy with a stranger and they were somehow in wait until you appeared. You would have to ignore the fact that bus drivers are usually public servents , who have a comitment to other passangers and their employers that they will perform their duties in a safe and timely manner.

But this is what I mean , you havent told me what im supposed to believe , its only a best guess to be fair.

I cant really tell you who you should confide your worries in , all I would encourage you to do is try and reality test your beliefs.

Yes often experiences are written off...medical care is especially bad because it is often assumed that you are hallucinating rather than having symptoms...this is well documented...pdocs have the lowest malpractice rates because patients are often not taken on by lawyers despite clear rights violations because they are not considered particularly good witnesses. Still being believed often leads to it's own issues...somewhere in a police file there is a pair of my underwear along with nail scrapings and blood samples etc because a rape kit was filed based on what I said despite the lack of plausibility...to my knowledge it was never investigated but still...the point is you are often given the benefit of the doubt in important scenarios and MDs are required to treat you even if they know you have a psych condition just in case you really are having a heart attack...doesn't always happen but it's supposed to.

Yes, it's common for people dx'd with sz to be written off that way. My son complains of not being believed.

thats why when i almost broke my toe i didnt tell them what meds i was on or my diagnosis at the medical care center because i was afraid they thought i was hallucinating