Does anyone else experience pictures/photos/paintings looking at you and reading your thoughts?
Hi,
So this is problem I've had my whole life, but I've never found anything on the internet about this- not for a lack of trying though! Maybe I never worded it correctly.. So I decided to post this here so that even if no one soon relates to this, maybe someone will come across it on the internet one day. Okay anyway, so pretty much as the title reads: pictures of people or characters (as long as their anthropomorphized i.e have human traits) look at me and read my thoughts. These pictures/photos/posters or what have you judge me based off my thoughts and depending on who they are will respond differently to my thoughts. Like my boyfriend has a poster of a "villain" on his wall from a videogame and that person encourages any negative or evil thoughts that I have (I don't have a lot of "evil" thoughts I would say, so this person is often disappointed in me or thinks I'm stupid).
A photo of my boyfriend and my friends on the fridge all look at me and judge me based off their own personalities. Posters at school of random people all look at me too and judge me pretty much just off my own insecurities. They don't effect me as much- its only characters I care about I guess? Or at least those are the ones that bother me the most. The only way I can feel relief from them is by covering them with something. Closing my eyes doesn't work because they can see me doing that. But when they are covered its like they're cut off from me and don't have any knowledge of what I'm doing or thinking. But when I'm in a room with one of the pictures it's like I can feel their eyes burning into me, it's impossible to ignore :( you'd think my ego would be massive because my brain certainly seems to think that everyone is paying attention to me and cares about every little thing that I'm doing, but no instead I'm still terribly insecure!
Writing this all out and then reading it has made me feel like a crazy person, but I know in my heart I can't be the only person whose dealt with this.. I've gone to therapists and psychiatrists and I've tried every anti-psychotic under the sun and none of them do anything for this problem that I have. I've pretty much confirmed with my therapist that I'm not hallucinating- but we still don't have any idea of why this happens other than that it clearly stems from a fear of being judged lol. I'm sorry if this doesn't belong under Pyschosis, but I wasn't really sure where this fits? My hope with this post is that someone experiencing the same thing will answer and tell me what they do to cope, but that might be a long shot haha. I'll take any piece of advice at this point I think.
Hi there, facingthesun!! Thank you for sharing your experience. I know it's a pretty common delusion for us to believe the people on tv are communicating directly to us, and your situation sounds similar. It can be so scary at times!!! You want to believe what your brain is telling you, and it feels so unfair when you can't. I try to avoid watching shows that can trigger my delusions, so you might find ways to avoid the pictures when possible. Btw, I really appreciated you mentioning that you're actually insecure, despite the challenges you face with this problem. I've also found it so strange that I'm usually insecure, but when in psychosis I become very self-involved because i experience delusions of grandeur. It can all be so humiliating, especially once the experience has past and I can see the facts. However, I've learned we have to remind ourselves that these symptoms/delusions are simply part of the condition. You wouldn't be ashamed if you were physically ill, so why should we feel shame over a mental illness? Sending ya love n light!! Take care!!!
Hello there, I'm not an expert, it's a personal opinion.
İt looks to me like you have the urge to be validated by others, and it is a tremendous pressure for your psyche.
İ think it's a lack of self esteem.
What to do with this i think you should develop a positive self esteem and inner confidence, and become less dependent on others' opinion or validation, so that this torturing inner dialog would eventually stop.
İ would also take away all the pictures from the interior if a person or characters on them is associated with negativity, and if you are bothered by the pics.
To distinguish between just being stressed out or having a sign of something more serious, is whether you hear commands from the pics, (control) if it's just in your head or is a very realistic hallucination like you live it.
İ hope you find a good professional for your issues, because it looks like overwhelming stress, not just everyday stress. Hope you feel better soon!
