Thinking everyone is thinking the same as you

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Does anyone else feel the same way, or is it just me and my paranoia? I don't think it's got much to do with AS because some NTs have this same habit too, but I seem to be getting worse.
I'm terrible. When I'm walking in the street, I'm always thinking that everyone else around me thinking what I'm thinking, especially about myself. Say, for example, if I was sitting on a bench by myself, I keep thinking that when people walk by they think, ''what's that stupid girl doing sitting there?'' Or, when I was in hospital last year (I as waiting in the ward to have the operation done in my ears), I was afraid to get up and walk across the ward to the toilets because I keep thinking that everyone else in the ward would watch me walk past and think, ''where's that stupid girl going?'' Or when a friend or relatives calls my name across the road, people around might think, ''oh, that stupid girl over there is called Josie.'' Or when I get on the bus other regular passengers might think, ''I wonder where that stupid girl is sitting today. Oh, she's sitting at the back today, gawking down the aisle and pulling her usual funny face.''
I know this all sounds silly. But all the time I'm worrying so much about what other people might be thinking of me than actually trying to concentrate on my own life. And I know it's easy to just say, ''other people definately aren't thinking the same as what you're thinking - they probably don't even notice you,'' and that is absolutely true, but that still doesn't stop me from thinking how I do. It's just that people do check out others, and judge others a lot, especially if you give off vibes that you're unconfident, without even doing anything. I just stand or walk somewhere in the street and people look at me like I'm the Elephant Man, and sometimes that makes me wonder if they really are thinking what I'm thinking. Say if I was standing outside a shop waiting for someone, people walk by and glare at me like I look weird standing there or something. I'm thinking to myself, ''I feel like a dick standing here,'' and people look at me as though I am a dick standing there, so it looks like they're thinking exactly what I'm thinking. Do you see what I mean?
Also, say if the gas man was coming to inspect the gas metre, and I was the one who happens to be there to let them in - I'd never answer the door. I'm just scared that he might be thinking, ''who's that dopey-looking girl? Why is she just at home all day - why ain't she at school? She only looks about 13, and she doesn't even speak properly!'' (I'm actually 20!) Then when he's gone he might jump into his van and laugh to his workmate about me. ''Such a stupid girl lives in that house!'' And his mate might say, ''perhaps she's the village idiot.''
I know this all sounds really stupid and I sound like a Panicky Pete, but I just get these crazy paranoied thoughts swimming round and round in my head and I can't seem to find a way to shake out of it. The more I try not to think stupid thoughts, the more I'll get worse.

It might be due to paranoia and self-consciousness, but sometimes I've had proof that someone's been thinking the same as what I've been thinking - which knocks me back. Does anyone feel like this, or is it just me? s it AS-related, or just general anxiety-related?

I get like that sometimes, too. I start thinking about what other people think of me and then I get a bit too paranoid about stuff I can't do anything about, like what they are thinking., Their thoughts belong to them and they can think what they want. I can't change that. What I try to do is not be concerned about what they might be thinking. They can and will think whatever they want, while I think what I want about them. It's a fair trade that way.

I used to do this all the time but mostly it was because I had low self esteem so I was assuming what they were thinking. My ex did it too and he also assumed what people were saying and thinking and it drove me crazy. He also had low self esteem and was too paranoid. But once I stopped caring what people thought, this went away. Now it's only sometimes but I shake it off going "who cares what they think."

I think it has to do with paranoia, low self esteem and the inferior complex.

When I was a teen and my self-esteem was at absolute zero, yeah. It did seem that random strangers would point out every weird/abnormal/whatever muscle twitch/tic/off-gait/etc., so I don't think it was completely unjustified to feel constantly watched.

But when I got older that feeling (thankfully) faded. Now, I hardly ever think like that. I think part of was realizing that most people are thinking about their own lives and problems and actually don't care much at all about about some random stranger walking by on the sidewalk.

http://www.google.com/search?q=theory+o ... =firefox-a

What you describe pretty much fits.

Do you always have "stupid girl" in your thoughts? That's very sad. I doubt people are thinking that. Otherwise, I know what you mean. I have always thought that others would be thinking the same thing as me to the point where when I have interpreted from one language to another that I have a very hard time believing that the two parties can't understand each other.

I also feel that the whole world must have experienced the 70s the way I did - in poverty - so that when I think about how my own life has improved that I just assume it's really just society in general that has developed a higher standard of living. I thought everyone was poor in the 70s. It's taken me a long time to realize my mistaken assumptions and when I see footage of wealth from that time frame I find it somehow unbelievable.

I know what you mean. I am always wondering what other people may think of me. And it is always the people who don't matter, who I am never likely to see again. I get very self conscious when people call my name and imagine the whole room stops what they are doing and looks up at me ( which they don't).

I try to just block it out and tell myself how ridiculous it is.

I'm not sad, the reason why I think everyone thinks I'm stupid is because I have read that people on the spectrum apparently don't give the ''positive vibes'' that NTs give off, so therefore I fear that I give off vibes that make other people know I'm a daft person. I may be averagely intelligent, but my social cues are ''stupid'' (in my opinion), and so that's why I always think everyone can sense that I have a condition. And because strangers don't know me, they wouldn't just think, ''leave her alone, she has Aspergers'', they'll just think, ''she looks very odd'' and they tend to stare - (which they do).

This is a big problem for me too. When someone judges me in an inaccurate way, instead of assuming that this is just their flawed point of view, I think that they must know something that I don't because I cannot see the negative traits that they tell me I have. Since I can't see it I start thinking that maybe I'm in denial about it and this person is portraying me accurately but my brain has made me blind to this aspect of myself as a psychological defense mechanism. I start thinking deeply about this and try to uncover the truth by reverse engineering and after a bit of reverse engineering it becomes clear that theres no way I could actually have these negative traits that someone else has convinced me that I have. Then I'll start thinking that maybe they were symbolically alluding to something else, as a way of trying to help me see the truth about myself that I am incapable of perceiving because I'm in denial. I start thinking that maybe they're speaking symbolically as a way to circumvent the filters setup by my brain which would filter out any information they say in a direct manner. Its only when I straight up interrogate the person on exactly what they meant that I see it was some petty BS that is little more than a reflection of their own model of reality.

Huh. People stare at me a lot, too. I used to wonder if it was because I had something on my face or something. Eventually I realized they were staring at something I couldn't see. I've never thought of them as assuming I was stupid though.

I used to think that everyone is thinking what I was thinking or I was thinking that they were looking at me in a disgusted manner. Not so much anymore after the last year or two. Been working toward not caring about what other people think. It's not an easy process to do with your mind. Occasionally the old thinking comes back, and I have to be vigilant with my conscious thought to disable that kind of thinking whenever they appear.

Hopefully in the next year, I will completely not care at all about what other people are thinking, whether they are thinking what I am thinking they are thinking or whether they are looking at me all the time. I don't care anymore. I know I am a weirdo, and that's not going to change. What I can only do is to change my own thought process. Doing that will make me much happier, less stressful and be able to process things better in life.

Well I'm the type of person who cringes easily. I don't know about anyone else here, but I don't want to go out looking like an idiot. I want to go out looking nice and ordinary. I only have Aspergers - I'm not some sort of ret*d, so I do have the abilty to look the same as everybody else. It is very upsetting when I get people glaring at me, because standing out is one of the worst things what can happen to you, especially if you're young and attractive like me. I don't want to spend my young, healthy days looking like a weirdo, because I'm not a weirdo.

The other reason why I'm over-paranoied is because people can be very animalistic and predatory and if they notice any difference in someone it can be interpreted as a probable weakness and so they just jump to the fact that you're ''weird'' or a ''dork'' without even thinking. I thought that all happened in the playground, but I found that adults are worse - in a different sort of way. Getting abusive looks when you're just walking along minding your own business makes me so angry and confused, and can sometimes throw me into a mini meltdown.