I instantly assume people dislike me no matter what I try to tell myself.
I’ve built a lot of friendships with people IRL and online, but in the back of my mind I always seem to subconsciously think that people dislike me. Or that they are nice to my face but do not care about me.

Even when people tell me or show signs that they enjoy my company, I have this recurring thought that they actually dislike or hate me and it’s really annoying. I can’t have a conversation with someone without thinking that they secretly don’t like me. :/

Some background info – I never had proper friends that actually cared about me until 17 (I am 18 now) so I think it could be an insecurity thing. I don’t struggle with liking myself, and I know that I am a somewhat nice person. Yes I have bad traits, but I wouldn’t consider myself an a******. I do seem to interact with strangers without much trouble so I’d assume I am easy to get along with.

Let’s pretend I meet Person A. People will tell me that Person A likes me, but I will randomly have thoughts that they hate or dislike me no matter what I am told. It is really playing with my head and I can’t remember a time where this did not happen in my life.

Has anyone else had this problem? And if so, what was the cause of it? And how did you cope with it?

Any other general advice?

Thank you for reading, have a wonderful day 🙂