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Q: Stiff face

asked by: kingdevon on March 24th, 2009

New User

Well... I'm going to be quite honest with you, I've had this horrible problem for about half a year, and it has ruined my life completely. It has made me drop out of school, and basically avoid anything social. When I get nervous my face gets all stiff, it almost feels like my face is a mask, most of the problem is in my head, because I only look weird and have awkward facial expressions when I think about it, but once I start thinking about it, I can't stop... leaving me looking, well... weird. It kinda feels like I have a really stiff upper lip.
Friends have noticed it, and only my best friend I talk to it about, he knows I'm "crazy". When I get in public, I start to overthink it, and then my face gets all tense, especially on the left side of my face, I look awkward, and get laughed at. I can't even smile in public when my face gets tense because I have an awkward smile as well. As I said above I'm going to be honest, with that said, I've experimented with cocaine, LSD, marijuana, and ecstasy. I hardly do any drugs now besides marijuana, but the thing is, when I'm high on marijuana, my facial tenseness gets even worse...
I have school in about 7 days, and I know i'm probably going to look weird and get laughed at. If this continues to go on, I don't know what I'm going to do, I've thought about a bullet through the brain to just stop all the emotional pain. It's almost as if, in the back of my brain I'm telling myself to tighten up my face, and I can't tell myself to stop. Please also note that I have ADHD. I'm only 17, please I want my life back... help me

edit: just now.. from thinking about it, my face is stiff at the moment, and I'm not even in public. And please don't give me a short answer.

Replies(6)

kingdevon

replied on March 25th, 2009

New User

no help huh?

destiny8917

replied on March 29th, 2009

New User

my advice is to try and not think about your self or your face. I suppose if you keep your mind off of the problem while talking to others it should not bother you. I use to have social anxiety growing up and it seemed to fade as i got older. One thing that has helped me was to not think of how im feeling while talking to others but what was going around me and the people i was interacting with. If you feel your face tense up them just try to relax and keep busy.

Sulldemort85

replied on April 14th, 2009

New User

I know the answer

Listen, I know exactly what you are talking about. I had that exact problem, and I cured it after long practice -- and you can too.

The reason you are tense is due to anxiety from being in public, it's catch 22. You get anxious from being in public, so your face tightens, your face tightens so you get more anxious, etc.

All you have to do is relax those muscles (for me, I had horrible eyebrow tension, and lip tension, and eye tension, I had it all...my face looked messed up). I first learned to stop my eyebrows from being tense first, then came the other muscles in my face.

Sometimes i'd only be able to hold the relaxed posed for several seconds before a muscle in my face twitched, but I would relax again, and after a while I realized I can relax it at will, and then I started to practice more in public. It started to work, and suddenly I felt more confident then ever....

Relaxation is the key man. It's very very hard to be relaxed in public, but through excerises and what not, I was able to rid myself of most of bodily tension (I had tension all over my body, an marijuanna only amplified the feeling. When i moved i felt stiff, and awkward...) but now I move better from being relaxed.

You can do it too man, don't ever think about commiting suicde. Work on concentrated relaxation, and you will realize that it translates to public as well (after practice)...

you can do it!

Users who thank Sulldemort85 for this post: kingdevon

guitarmatt

replied on May 6th, 2009

New User

same

dude i have the same problem. im so mad at myself, its messing up my life. the muscles in my face actually are starting to hurt and i cant stop them from hurting. I really need help but i dont no where to look for it. its like right by my chin and mouth, i cant even smile in public. sometimes even alone i can hardly smile.

mn989

replied on August 13th, 2009

New User

This happens to me too!! I don't smoke pot though or do any drugs, except I do drink alcohol sometimes, but rarely and when I do that's the only time my face is relaxed. But this stiffness totally controls me out in public, I can't set with people behind me cause that only makes it worse. I wish I could get rid of this, it's ruining my life, I know that's a bit dramatic but it truly holds me back from a lot of things, like public speaking.

rightside

replied on August 13th, 2009

Active User, very eHealthy

First off, stop using drugs and booze. All it is doing is aggravating the problems. You are spending too much time dwelling on your anxiety in public. While people are talking to you, you are probably not even listening, but rather worrying about your face. You need to tell yourself you don't care what others think of you, that you are a pretty cool person. The more you tell yourself things that boost your self-confidence, the more you will learn to believe it, and the anxiety will go away, Don't put too much stock in what you think others are thinking of you, because surprise...they really aren't too worried about you...each and every one of us has something we are self-conscious about, and we are all preoccupied with our own thoughts of what others think of US too! Stop and think about this...If you saw a 500 pound man walking down the street, exactly how much time would you REALLY spend worrying about HIM? Not too much, is my guess! Once you see him, think to yourself he's fat, then it's on to thinking about something else.

Chill out, practice relaxing and being your own best friend, The rest will follow, and to those who want to bully or razz you, the heck with them! They don't pay your rent!

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