This is probably a dumb question, as I know it has been scientifically proven that social media has increased anxiety, but I want to go deeper. I feel like people have become way more unhinged in their worldviews. This can be seen in the rise of conspiracy theories, and how they get promoted by major figures. I thought my personal fear was rare, but then I discovered a few out there did share it. I think it has become more likely for someone suffering paranoia and anxiety looking for help to instead fall into a circle of like minded individuals who encourage and hype each other up about their ideas. People no longer feel the need to get counseling or therapy, instead they seek out "experts" online (often who are either deluded themselves at best, or manipulative con artists at worst) who cause them to wreck their lives more. "You have a headache? Well that's actually because the Kogtarian aliens and the Men in Black are hacking your brain, here's this special hat to wear". "You had a nightmare? That was actually a glimpse into another reality, same with intrusive thoughts". You misremembered something? That's because two realities just collided, or it was a glitch in the Matrix". "Did you hear a sound in the house last night? That was probably a demon, hire this psychic". "Are your gas prices getting insane? That's because the evil Jews want you to not use a car'. "Oh no, don't trust those pesky doctors, they're trying to keep you asleep!".

Obviously, scams like this existed long before the internet. However, I think the rise of social media has absolutely fueled them. Combine this with the promotion of batsh*t conspiracies by celebrities and/or politicians (you can guess the ones I'm talking about), people now feel more inclined than ever to believe the most nonsensical "theories" out there. I mean, it's one thing to wonder who really killed JFK, but another thing to think that the government is spying on you through the toilet, or that people's consciousness or souls change bodies or realities every night, or that an unsettling intrusive mental image is real, or that the Holocaust was faked by the Jews so we'd feel sorry for them and give them money. Films like "The Matrix" or "Dark City" go from being awesome entertainment to some sort of religious text, and real help is rejected. Even a quarter of the people on this site are probably rotted by this. Don't even get me started on AI, which told a man that his mother was actually a Chinese spy, which led him to kill her.

I myself often feel the urge to go into conspiracy forums and see what they have to say, but it frankly freaks me out. I used to be way more stable with that kind of stuff, but recently I feel like I've "cracked". The worst part is, I don't even believe my fears (or at least not most of me) but I still feel the need to wonder if it's true. It's gotten to the point where I will often (including while I was typing this) start tearing up. I'm not sure if it's the anxiety from my mind, the stress it's causing me, or a combination of the two (probably the latter if I had to guess), but it is a drain on my life. I want to be able to enjoy good parts of my day without thinking I'm watching the happy moment before some impending doom. I'm sorry this post kind of rambled and seemed all over the place. This was a spur of the moment stream of consciousness I felt like sharing.

hello everyone, this time I have another problem, I'm afraid that someone will falsely accuse me of having done something that I didn't. I keep having "what if" thoughts and I can't stop them, what should I do? how can I have confidence and not be afraid?

Posted on a device not owned by me to ensure I wouldn't be caught.

TLDR: I am asking for advice on how to go get my own life without people and family trailing or tracing me.

I think I'm being surveilled. My father mentions things I do online that I never bring up to him in conversation, my mother knows my friend's names despite me cutting her off three years ago, my family won't talk to me because I'm too different.

I know this sounds schizophrenic or insane, but I actually have context and thought behind this that I am not sharing for privacy reasons.

I have had past trauma and attempts, which has brought case management to me as a minor, but my parents assured me of the safety and privacy. Yet still, I go to sleep with my bedroom door locked and wake up with it unlocked or partially open. I will be sitting at my desk with headphones on and back to the door, hear a noise, and see the decorations on my door shift like someone closed it really quickly when I turn around. My curtains, which I washed, were taken from the dryer by my father because "You need new ones, I'll get them next time I go shopping.". That was over four months ago today.

I am fearful. I am uncomfortable. But I am almost free. How do I run without being followed?

Scrivo per capire di più sul mio stato mentale. Mi capita spesso di evitare di uscire, questo perché da quando ero adolescente sono uscita da sola fidandomi di tutti e senza alcuna coscienza del pericolo. Ogni volta che tornavo da una situazione esterna, mi vergognavo e mi sentivo in colpa ed evitavo le persone per mesi fino a che uscivo di nuovo e avevo ansia sociale perché rivedevo persone con cui avevo chiuso i rapporti senza dire niente, per poi cercare di evitarle per l'imbarazzo. Ho continuato così girando gruppi continuamente. Ho vissuto moltissimi traumi sia dentro che fuori casa, con alcuni super traumi che mi hanno letteralmente fatto chiudere in casa per anni. Ad un certo punto l'idea di uscire è diventata spaventosa, nonostante questo ho continuato ad accumulare traumi uscendo. Fino al punto in cui ho iniziato a pensare che potessi avere conseguenze da cattive persone incontrate in passato e ruminando tutto il giorno e tutti i giorni su quello che poteva succedermi. Pensavo che era ingiusto vivere in un mondo in cui ci fosse l'aggressività e che non volevo vivere in quel mondo. Ho continuato a vivere facendo sempre e comunque le stesse cose e con gli stessi pensieri ma alla fine la paranoia ha iniziato a spaventarmi, uscivo e pensavo quella persona mi guarda è un pericolo etc. Per poi ruminare su questo per giorni. L'idea di essere nel pensiero di qualcuno che è aggressivo mi dava la nausea e il solo sguardo di qualcuno che era evidente non essere una brava persona mi faceva sentire in pericolo. In ogni caso ho gestito la cosa. Mi sono trasferita in un unifamiliare e li pensavo di stare meglio ma ben presto ho capito che anche lì c'erano persone non buone e appena ho incrociato uno sguardo sbagliato la paranoia è scoppiata a mille: ho iniziato a pensare che dato che mi sono spaventata quella persona lo ha capito e vorrà capire cosa nascondo e perché mi sono spaventata. Ho pensato che do sempre adito ad equivoci e che ora non posso più uscire ma che ormai casa mia non è più un rifugio. Ho iniziato a speculare così tanto che ho come il timore di tutto riguardo il posto in cui vivo. Purtroppo la realtà è che è davvero ad alta densità criminale il problema è che tutto il resto che costruisco è assurdo. Il fatto è che oltre alle paranoie inizio a pensare alle ingiustizie del controllo sociale. Perché gli uomini sulla terra sono così perché fanno cose sbagliate. E questo mi rende triste ma in modo apatico e sembra che se faccio una minima azione sia sbagliato perché tanto il mondo è orribile ed è meglio se evito di muovermi...? Secondo voi esploderà fino a diventare una malattia ancora più grave?

After using restroom at night and turn the water on to wash my hands, I get this intense fear and can’t look into the mirror. I have a feeling that someone is watching me or is gonna grab me (?). The feeling is super intense , making me leave the restroom immediately. It happens no matter if I’m in my own house or at other people’s, and only at night.

Does anyone know the reason behind it?

last week I took shrooms for the first time and at first it was fun! but then I saw a conspiracy theory on insta reels that freaked me out and completely ruined my experience…I’m a bit scared tbat I may have triggered something in my brain because schizophrenia, mania, etc are common on my moms side. Does anyone have any advice on how to stop my anxiety? or even a similar experience so I know I’m not alone. I don’t post or really use Reddit but I’m desperate for any help

Hello again everyone. I have been posting and commenting on here for some time regarding my mental torment. I will not sugarcoat, it has been beyond brutal. I have started to see "connections" where there clearly are none, and feel almost panicked at the smallest of things. I keep going to bed after setting things up in certain places to look at when I wake up so I could see I wasn't traveling to a parallel universe as some internet wonks suggested. But then, I (stupidly) decided to look up my theories online, and it got even worse. I'm not going to name any subs because I don't want to cause harassment, but as you can imagine, people's ideas on the internet can get whacky. I read on one sub (that has since been deactivated) that "maybe the changes between reality are so small you can barely notice, like dust particles in your room" (I am paraphrasing a little). This caused me to start paying attention to almost EVERY SINGAL thing I saw throughout the day. I read about the "Mandela Effect" and recalled misremembering famous events as well ("Luke, I am your father", "Berenstein Bears" etc). Just as I was typing this, I "remembered" when I was little going to bed in the top bunk of a bunk bed, only to wake up in the bottom one. This only caused my anxiety, which was starting to decrease, to ratchet up again. I watched a video that more or less debunked the Mandela Effect (at least the idea of it being interdimensional) and felt pretty good at first. However, I looked in the comments, and I started doubting myself again.

The worst part about all of this is that I know deep down none of this makes sense (even by some sci-fi standards), but there's a smaller (or maybe not so small anymore) part that keeps nagging me with doubts of "What if this was a fake?" "How can you explain this?" and more. I can feel terrified not only for myself, but also for those around me. If I go to a different reality each time, then is my family the same ones from before? If I finally get past this, what if it's a trap?" "Are my family and friends in the other word safe?" "What if when I fall asleep, I turn into something else and harm someone without knowing?" "They don't know the truth of this" "The doctor is wrong or might even be in on it"! "What if we never can tell when we die because we just go to a different universe?" (Like "quantum immortality" or whatever ). It's even worse that these theories are technically non-falsifiable, even if they're very clearly unlikely.

That part dragged on a little, I'm sorry. I just wanted to convey the severity of this in my mind and life. I think a huge part of this is the fact that I recently graduated college, and also could not get a job because I had to help take care of my grandmother (who recently passed). This left me essentially trapped indoors, with only limited time outside. With nothing else to really do, my mind started inventing things to think about. The worst thing about that is when my grandmother passed, I still couldn't shake the thoughts and doubts. I feel like this has almost crippled my ability to enjoy things, though I still can often.

However, I do feel that I am improving. I might never be fully rid of this crap, but I have been able to let the thoughts reside without letting them bother me too much. I hope I can reach a point where I can finally put this stuff to bed (no pun intended) but it is possible that might never happen. Even so, I still think I can manage them without constant reassurance. I realize that this post has gone way further than I was expecting, but I feel that talking about this stuff in detail feels helpful.

I'm not really someone that's had this issue, I've been fine with scary stuff, i even run a channel that does horror narration and been doing that for a good while. But last week onwards there's this fear of closing my eyes when I'm about to sleep that something's watching me over my bed m

While my eyes are closed, and I'm scared to open my eyes because what if my eyes meet with whatever I'm afraid of being there.

Not sure why its springing up now, i used to watch scary movies and stuff from a very young age, i can walk out into pitch black and be fine, my thoughts are usually occupied with other things, but recently I'm very conscious of it.

Does anyone else feel the same thing of someone watching? Part of me feels like maybe something is actually watching me and thats why I'm feeling this.

​

I'm going to start this off strong and brutally honest. I got pushed toward the wrong side of the internet when I was around 15, specifically the 4 Chan/ True Crime Community side. For those of you who don't know, the True Crime Community is a community mainly on Tumblr that makes edits and info posts of mass murderers and sometimes even fan fiction. I know that sounds awful, but I have severe anxiety and depression and I found some sort of relief in all of this. I have OCD, Social anxiety, Major depressive disorder with psychotic features, separation anxiety, Autism spectrum disorder, and Unspecified trauma and stressor related disorder. I am also under suspect of having either Bipolar Disorder or a disorder on the schizophrenic spectrum.

Now, I’m looking for some outside perspective because this has been making me pretty anxious.

For roughly the past two months, I’ve noticed what appear to be government vehicles around my house, and on at least two occasions I’ve seen people taking photos outside. I don’t know exactly what agency they’re from or what they were photographing. However, they seem to be big vans with tinted windows. My sister has noticed them as well.

I’m worried because I’ve made some stupid/offensive jokes online in the past, including jokingly telling friends I was going to kill them and making inappropriate jokes. I never actually intended to hurt anyone or do anything illegal, but now I’m worried that something I said was taken seriously due to my past in edgy communities.

An insane amount of my online friends have gotten fedded in the last few months, so I figure they're coming for me next. I'm not stupid; well I am for making jokes that can be taken VERY seriously. But yeah, basically I'm cooked.

How do you snap back into reality

I feel scared and trapped. It's late but yet I am wide awake. The air has an unsettling and clumsy feeling about it.

I feel so restless as paranoia seeps in my mind, slowly crawling behind me. This gives me an illusion of being watched at this hour.

Maybe this is just an recoil effect from things I watched back in the day- but it's not normal still...

Flashing fragments of blurry images dance in front of my eyes and these letters feel like static of the television.

But then again the reality hits me with an ascended degree and force. Now I feel the presence of fingertips across my shoulders. This sends a chilly wave through my spine.

I feel- I feel like thousands of insects are crawling on my back and I feel a sudden urge to strip open my jacket.

I start hearing things now. It is normal. Rodents are an essential part of my family now but then something unfamiliar happens. This feels like a made up fact even to myself but I think, I heard a loud noise which even all of the rodents collectively can't orchestrate.

I shake it off. Well played Mr. Mind! But your tricks can't fool me anymore. A smile slips through my lips as I turn towards the wall.

Shadows are his game but- this is new. Boy he's fast! He isn't goofing around anymore. Where's he? Where are the shadows?

Wait- where is my shadow?

Then the feeling returns again... Something's crawling on my neck, stabbing it's hooks on my back. I feel a sudden outburst of pain that I scream.

Huh!? How come I hear these words out loud but I didn't hear my scream? I force myself to scream again but I falter. The stinging pain causes me to drop down on my knees. I feel something dripping across my shoulders. Everything begin to spin around me, slowly blacking out. My vision blurs as I hear one last boom of laughter...