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mid-way assessment and social anxiety

buffy

Hi, I am going for my full assessment in 2 weeks and have been making notes to take to the psychologist. I've been thinking about social anxiety and eye contact and wondered if anyone else has experienced the following:

when I am with someone new in a cafe or restaurant, the anxiety I feel is so bad at times that when they were looking directly at me I cannot lift my cup / fork / spoon up to my mouth as my hand and head starts to shake. If for a moment they look away to look out of the window, or just look around and their eyes leave me, I am then able to drink / eat without shaking ... until they turn round and look back at me.

Anyone else experience this ever?

  • I didn't realise I had a problem with eye contact either until I started reading about it! And the head / hand wobbling thing when someone is looking at me, I just thought it was anxiety-related; I can't control it and it's always happened. I'll try the other thread like you suggested - thanks! 

  • Former Member
    Former Member

    Eye contact is a big issue for a lot (not all) people with autism so it has got a lot of interest in the forum... community.autism.org.uk/.../"eye contact" If you reply to one of those threads then you might get a bit of interest.

    Personally, I didn't realise that I didn't do eye contact and never developed an anxiety about it but I'm now fairly relaxed about it - I look people in the eye but still don't guess what people are thinking much.