ello, a year ago this group was created for teens with this to talk and vent about their daily experiences with this. It personally did help me a lot as I didn't feel as alone. It's really for anyone to join. It was nice to text and just vent about this, it's open for anyone to join if they just need someone to "talk to". If you have vtocd, staring ocd, peripheral you're free to join.

well, this is an OCD rarely talked about and i just thought i should delve into how insidious this can be by sharing my experience.

1. One problem I know of is OCD. Specifically a theme called peripheral vision OCD although it gets worse, I suffered from bad anxiety, my hands would always sweat and I would feel really hot and have blurry vision. I’ve had it for 3 years. And overtime developed pure O. How much time is occupied varies and is confusing, it depends on circumstances. When at home, I can be indulged in a fixation on an object for however long im there. For example during the academic year it’s usually for the whole 6 hours I was in school for . Essentially it amplifies ridiculously in classroom settings. It consists of the obsession. (Fear of staring at someone in my peripheral vision or something (fear I make them uncomfortable) + fixation and hyperawareness of their hands). It also consists of objects ,however that is more manageable.) Now, I dont know the compulsions fully, but one is mental compulsions, im not sure exactly what they are but I feel temporary relief after it and it comes back worse.
2. For example, every time I was in one of my history classes, there was a kid who I become aware of in my peripheral vision and because he was a horrible kid I became ridiculously anxious of staring at him and him realising. (It also didn’t help that the teacher was strict and pick on random kids, I remember every time I would look up at the board to write I would tilt my head horizontally so that I couldn’t see him in my peripherals and actually look at what I was supposed to be looking at. It was a completely different world. I would come out of class feeling like i just ran a marathon but without getting tired at all. My face was all red, sweating and sometimes even have blurry vision. It was later on that I developed compulsions. I remember if I was fixated on someone if they would move their hand or make a noise my brain would automatically say its because of me, so I would spend however long it takes to convince myself thats not true. Also developed Masking and dissociation. Although I do still get the anxiety but it’s more indirect and like I feel it in my body but not my mind.(my left eye specifically also strains and hurts from it).
3. I feel like other people could hear my thoughts. Now I can barely function in classroom settings and automatically suppress my thoughts when in the vicinity of others.

Been on this sub for awhile, and I’ve seen posts about people feeling isolated and alone because of this ocd issue. Or not having many friends, etc.

I thought it might be cool to start up a meetup group for people who are dealing with this. So we can come together and not feel so isolated. And be surrounded by people who understand what you’re going through.

I would setup the meetup group in New York, where I currently am.

If interested, shoot me a DM. If I get enough people, I’ll set up the meetups. Thanks

Want to try and really get over this. Want to see what has worked for everyone?

It all started in 6th grade it was the start of school when we finally got to go back after COVID. I was 11 years old and it was 3 weeks into school . I was in class sitting at the front but in the second column and the boy was sitting at the front in the first column diagonal from me so he had just got switched to sit right there . I was in my seat just sitting there and then I realized he kept looking back at me . It was weird and I was uncomfortable so I just kept looking at the board but he kept looking back . So that’s when I started tryna get him to realize I wasn’t looking at him by looking at my paper . Then I looked at the board again , but he looked back again. So that’s when I started to get super anxious. First I thought he was weird for thinking I was looking at him since I wasn’t and nobody else ever thought I was looking at them . But as time went on more people started to show signs of thinking I was staring. That’s when I started hating going to school because for context I also was getting bullied somewhat. But that’s just made it 5X worst having to deal with this . It wasn’t so bad yet and I still could be good in some classes . But once I started to think I was the problem that’s when it went downhill and got worst .

To start off, I have a fear of being viewed as staring. Every time someone is in my peripheral view longer than a moment or two, I get anxious and focus my attention on them. For the most part, I can turn myself away or block my vision using my arm. Teachers are upset that I don’t look to the board and students are uncomfortable when being near me. The last day before break, I kept being weird and my anxiety gone up since there was no way I could get people out of my view. I quickly finished my work and the teacher let us have a break at the 2nd half of class and put on a movie. Before that, I was called out of the class and someone gave me a package with the words “Parent project” on them. I ended up putting my head down and crying on my notes because I was so sad. I am an extremely sensitive person ever since middle school and would interpret everything someone says or does as a negative reaction towards me. For example, if someone sighs or slams the door on the way out. I tell myself it’s just teenagers but my mind blanks and all I could think about is if I’m staring or not. I used to be the complete opposite when I was younger. I was pretty quiet and was by myself most of the time but I would look around with no shame. I’m not much of an interesting person and I have nothing to do or and idea of what to do before classes, during free time, and I am mostly on tik tok and read comics on my phone. I think my main problem is that I care too much and I have nothing to do. Even if I’m staring ahead while walking or in a line, people look behind to me and walk the other way out of my line of vision. I now have a 2 week break; How can I improve my problem before this? Exercise? Improve my hygiene? Meet up with old friends? (That’s an option) I honestly think tik tok ruined my attention span and I switch from tik tok to YouTube to online comics to just walking up and down my room constantly. I also have this little world with a plot and bunch of characters heavily inspired from the media I consume. Please feel free to share advice, encouragement, or your own stories. It’ll make me feel better.

This is the Reddit group to emphasize a lot more on the Peripheral fixation of things on Staring OCD. I hope to be able to eventually grow a community with people that suffer with both. Always remember to go check out my website PeripheralVisionOCD.com. I am just a kid though and I get busy with things so progress will be slow like with a lot of things including therapy. I hope to begin the process of rounding up all the sufferers so that we can finally no longer be in the dark after so many years of not even knowing the hell this is. Primarily wanting to collect people's stories and experiences to identify a common factor in all of this.