How to deal with ideas of reference?
So I had psychosis about 8 months ago but since then I’ve had consistent experiences of ideas of reference and it’s really bothering me and I don’t know what to do. I feel like I perceive certain people doing things and I have the assumption that they’re against me or people are fucking with me. Since my episode I’ve gotten very observant to the point where I can no longer focus completely on myself. For example when people lick their lips I think that this means they’re trying to make me uncomfortable or say something about me subconsciously now to the point where I am noticing people licking their lips or me licking my own lips which I never noticed before. Or when I’m driving or a passenger and I see people orienting their phone in a way that looks like their recording me. Or when pedestrians lick their lips, scratch their head, touch their nose, or do a variety of different normal mannerisms and I perceive these as a signal I’m being watched or messed with to make me uncomfortable. Or when I hear people having conversations or laughing and I think it’s about me or that their messing with me. The biggest thing though is when people cough or clear their throat I feel like it’s a signal that the person is noticing that I’m there and they want to mess with me or that the cough or clearing the throat is directed at me. Are these considered ideas of reference because they ate so convincing and strong to the point I can’t tell if people are actually messing with me as if they know i’m recovering from psychosis even though logically that makes no sense. I’m still taking antipsychotics but ideas of reference have been consistent the whole time so i’m wondering will this ever go away or what can I do to make it better? Will it worsen as I taper of my antipsychotics too?
Posted Apr 8, 2026, 2:44 AM UTC