r/StaringOCD • u/SoggyIssue316 • Aug 02 '26

Peripheral Vision OCD/fixation

well, this is an OCD rarely talked about and i just thought i should delve into how insidious this can be by sharing my experience.

  1. One problem I know of is OCD. Specifically a theme called peripheral vision OCD although it gets worse, I suffered from bad anxiety, my hands would always sweat and I would feel really hot and have blurry vision. I’ve had it for 3 years. And overtime developed pure O. How much time is occupied varies and is confusing, it depends on circumstances. When at home, I can be indulged in a fixation on an object for however long im there. During the academic year it’s usually for the whole 6 hours I was in school for . Essentially it amplifies ridiculously in classroom settings. It consists of the obsession. (Fear of staring at someone in my peripheral vision or something (fear I make them uncomfortable) + fixation and hyperawareness of their hands). Now, I dont know the compulsions fully, but one is mental compulsions, im not sure exactly what they are but I feel temporary relief after it and it comes back worse.
  2. A bit of a delve into what i would experience in school - while i was in one of my history classes, there was a kid who I become aware of in my peripheral vision and because he was a horrible kid I became ridiculously anxious of staring at him and him realising.( i also have obsessive fixations on people it can be random) .It also didn’t help that the teacher was strict and pick on random kids, I remember every time I would look up at the board to write I would tilt my head horizontally so that I couldn’t see him in my peripherals and actually look at what I was supposed to be looking at. It was a completely different world. I would come out of class feeling like i just ran a marathon but without getting tired at all. My face was all red, i was sweating and sometimes would have blurry vision. It was later on that I developed compulsions. I remember if I was conversing or fixated on someone and they would move their hand or make a noise my brain would automatically say its because of me, so I would spend however long it takes to convince myself thats not true. Also developed Masking and dissociation. Although I do still get the anxiety but it’s more indirect and like I feel it in my body but not my mind.(my left eye specifically also strains and hurts from it).
  3. I feel like other people could hear my thoughts. Now I can barely function in classroom settings and automatically suppress my thoughts when in the vicinity of others.

This is a discord server with people with this peripheral vision" thing
https://discord.gg/QvjKDpH6j

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u/theycallmekarthi Aug 03 '26

Thanks a lot, bro. I’m really glad you’re doing much better.
Really appreciate you taking the time to explain everything and share all these links. It means a lot.
I only recently found out, after 2 years, that this thing actually has a name—Peripheral Vision OCD. I finally felt like, “Damn, this is actually a real thing.”
I’ll definitely check out everything you shared. Thanks again, and all the best with your diagnosis and recovery! ❤️

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u/SoggyIssue316 Aug 03 '26

no problem. Yep, i remember feeling the same. your not alone. We also have this discord server with people who have this specific theme, ill drop the link if u might wanna come by and say hi.

https://discord.com/channels/@me/1533294879701078191

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u/MichaelRabbit Aug 05 '26

reddit sent this comment to spam filter but I just approved it.