Managing Visual Tourettic OCD: Techniques for Eye Control

Staring OCD, also known as visual Tourettic OCD or VTO, means people automatically look at the private regions of others and peripherally. It resembles a motor tic, such as rapid blinking, seen in Tourette’s syndrome. VTO makes interaction and communication difficult to manage. But several techniques can help. In this article, we will focus on the issue of controlling eye movements and explore how to do so, which can help us communicate more effectively.

Why Looking is Not Rude

Staring in OCD might be mistaken for the well-known intimate gaze, a natural human behaviour in which individuals make two glances up and down before looking at the person’s face. This gaze, which originally served to determine each other’s sex, is a typical form of staring that is not meant to be rude. It’s important to note that individuals are not entirely conscious of engaging in the intimate gaze, which helps show that looking can be automatic.

The Obsessive Worry of Automatic Gazing

However, even though the intimate gaze is natural, it still differs from VTO, which becomes an obsessive worry for people who develop this condition. This is due to the tic-related problem involved and its automaticity. In other words, think of a sudden flash of light. You automatically turn to look or respond with a startle. Likewise, people with VTO experience a startle response towards specific body parts and peripheral distractions.

How Identifying Behaviours Can Put You In Control

Identifying your behaviours immediately before you get the premonitory urge to look can help you choose a technique that works for you. For example, suppose you’re having a conversation. Now imagine you get the urge to gaze at the other person’s private area, and you look to one side to avoid it. This behaviour is repetitive, moving from the person you’re interacting with and then avoidance, and it draws attention, making you feel conspicuous and anxious. In this situation, you would manage the gaze around that behaviour (looking to one side) with an effective technique.

Interactions Made Easier with the Imaginary Triangle

First, a toolbag of techniques can help you choose what works best for you. So, for example, you might select an imaginary triangular gaze from your toolbag during a conversation to avoid looking sideways. Imagine drawing a point on a person’s forehead. Next, draw a line on either side of their face to reach the jawline. Finally, a line across the jawline completes the triangle. Now imagine the triangle is on the person’s face with whom you next have a conversation. The triangle is your focus. It does two things. 

First, it’s a social look and non-threatening because you’re not making direct eye contact, even though it might appear as though you are. Second, since you’re not making direct eye contact, it eases your anxiety. But do be confident when you make the triangular gaze. In other words, it’s okay to be casual and not worry because the goal is to practice and manage the tic-like gaze, turning it into a skill.

The Appearance of Non-Threatening Eye-Contact

What can help is knowing that most people without VTO make the triangular gaze. They’re just less conscious about using it, so they come across as natural. Therefore, the good thing is that when you do it, the other person is likely to do it too. So, there is no need to feel intimidated because it looks like non-threatening eye contact.

Next, you want to gauge how long you’ve made the triangular gaze. When you do it, you want it to be between three and five seconds before looking away. People without VTO naturally manage their gaze for three to five seconds before briefly turning away. So, let’s say you’re happy to go with three seconds, even two. 

Convince yourself you can do this and try it out. Start with one second, then two, and three after that. If you can stretch to four and five, that would be great, mainly because the other person will likely look away first. This can empower you. It can make you feel more at ease and natural when you look away and resume the triangular gaze.

The Ease of Fleeting Eye-Contact

You might be surprised to learn that many people don’t make direct eye contact in social settings, and when they do, it’s usually fleeting. So don’t worry about direct eye contact when you use the triangular gaze; the main thing is that you’re interacting like most people do. Fleeting eye contact happens naturally; the more you practise the triangular gaze, the more you’ll see it.

Finally, rehearse with friends or family who are happy to be your practice person. When perfected, you realise you have the power to control the tic-like feature in VTO. So it’s crucial to focus on managing it rather than avoiding it. Let it become a skill, as mentioned before.

Want to understand more about the visual tic in VTO? Check out my book below!

“Through the Eyes of OCD: Understanding Tourettic Tics and Involuntary Gazing”.