Anxiety & Eye Contact

[asohail]

I find very difficult to make eye contact as I suffer from anxiety. I try to avoid group meetings & I constantly think that I am being judged of not making a right eye contact. I find it more eye contact more difficult with men. I blush & smile while make a eye contact which might give a wrong indication to others. I used to be very outgoing & social but now I panic & become nervous in people. Please tell me how to handle this pls

[Stilltrying_]

Yes I have heard that shy people too find it difficult to make eye contact. I watched a TV programme about being shy and someone on this programme went to a group where they practised maintaining eye contact for something like 2 minutes with a stranger. I remember them saying it was excruciating but it is known as something like "saturation" or "confrontation" therapy. ie. If you have a problem why not meet the fear head on and make yourself maintain eye contact even though it is excruciating. This is supposed to build your confidence and overcome the fear. Another thing they did was get some of these people to train as stand up comedians. You would think it was the last thing a shy or anxious person would want to do but by confronting all their fears and going beyond all the anxiety to achieve something like this worked for them in overcoming their shyness.

I don't know if you are also shy or just anxious. I'm not saying this will work for you but its just an idea to practice it from time to time and see if over time your anxiety reduces. The more you run away from it the worse it could get. Gemma XXX