What cues do you give in public?

I chose the family section because these are the people who would notice.

In conversation, people have noticed that I tilt my head to the side when I drift off from anxiety. It seems to be paired with darting eyes… I do that when analysing… But I’m not sure about the head tilting. Maybe a relaxation technique? Maybe I’m shifting the blood flow in my head? :stuck_out_tongue:

Any one else do anything similar?

My sis says I tilt my head to the left, blink a lot and and I start getting fidgety, play with my hair a lot. She says that’s the cue that the anxiety is amping up a bit and I’m getting tired as well.

I get quiet when I’m fighting anxiety…bounce my legs…most of the time I just “talk myself out of it”…for major anxiety I smoke pot.

The warning sign for me when I go way beyond angry is when I suddenly switch to a quiet agreement and very short answers.

I don’t brush hair when anxious and it can look wild

In conversation I’ll usually try to avoid eye contact, especially when ill.

Feel like a fool when I get paranoid symptoms feel very self conscious

People accuse me of being a liar when my paranoia hits.

The darting eyes in not uncommon with those with sz. Many other neurological issues cause the darting eyes.

As long as her symptoms are controlled no one could ever know she has voices. When she is not on meds she can’t even follow a conversation, she stares “through” people and into space. She delays responses because she has to go back and try to remember what was said. She bounces from activity to activity-hoping something will let her quiet the voices, and she is not very aware of what is going on around her.

But now she is on meds there are no obvious cues. She does the thought disorder, jump from subject to subject thing-but lot of people do that for a variety of reasons-it’s not a sz giveaway or anything.

I often start out a conversation successfully but often lose confidence halfway through. And I may avert my eyes and stop talking. Or I get self-conspicuous and try to go back in time and fix my mistake while the other person has moved on. I notice this puts me on the defensive in a way and I gives the other person power in some cases.

I fidget with my hands, like ringing them, or tapping my hand lightly against a hard surface. Or I’ll drift in a strong focus onto something, like when I was having a minor anxiety attack the other night while were at a restaurant I focused my attention on a small black nick on the outside of the salt holder at our table. If I get nervous around people I will either not look at them (if in a conversation with them or I’m with them) or if I’m not with them I will stare at them at least until they look back at me. But the most obvious is the twitching of the hands and fidgeting.

LOl. Is that a new word? Or just something George W. would have said?

SELF-CONSCIOUS, lol.

when i go into a shop, and there are a few people in there, i walk really slowly at a snails pace…like in slow motion… put my head down… and i start analzing the floor…
" don’t step on the cracks “
” don’t step on the cracks "
"don’t step on the cracks "
take care

Sometimes I find myself doing this on the sidewalk and stop myself from looking at it :blush:

My son, in my opinion, didn’t give many cues in public. I would watch sometimes how he walked or acted and really he didn’t appear any different then anyone else. When unstable he would be distracted and hard to get his attention but a lot of people are like that.

I think being self-conscious can make some things seem more noticeable than they are. Most people are too wrapped up in their own lives to even notice how other people are acting.

There is one other thing that seems out of the ordinary that my daughter does is not a mannerism-her hygiene and dress problems. I was just thinking about this last night. There are a lot of reasons why someone would dress and look differently, but it really sets her apart-and she used to look so cute and fashionable. I have been trying to work with her on this-but it’s SO SO SO hard. Hygiene is a little easier than dress-she has no insight into how she looks, and I don’t know how to address it, since there is a decision making process that goes into that I think is just off. Plus, she is happy with how she looks and I don’t like to take that away-I also feel dress is a part of self expression. The only problem I have is that I know how limiting it will be in life for her to look so disheveled, and “out there.”

My son is so secretive…but he does give himself away. He is always shaking his head–like someone said something really ridiculous. He also tends to have a very cross look on his face most of the time.

Isn’t smoking pot bad for people with sz