For some background, I would say I’m someone with social anxiety. I’ve never been diagnosed, or really sought help for it at all, but Ive had so many of the textbook symptoms for a long time that I would say it’s very likely my problem
For a long time, I’ve had an issue where I laugh at nothing. It is triggered by a variation of situations, mainly when somebody looks me in the eyes. It’s usually when it’s someone I’m friends with but not fully comfortable with makes eye contact with me (doesn’t happen with strangers, or people I’d say I’m very comfortable with). Its not a maniacal laughing on anything, it’s more of a goofy smile (or a “shit eating grin” as it’s been commonly described) + chuckle.
Some people say nothing about it to me, but admit they’ve noticed before and decided not to comment on it. Some point it out to me, most of the time in joking/lighthearted ways, but there’s been a couple people who would notice it and berate me about it, which makes it affect me worse. I’ve been called schizophrenic multiple times. The worst it’s ever been was when a group of douchey jocks in a class my sophomore year would subtly make fun of me about it, doing things like staring at me aggressively to see if I had the reaction, which of course made me experience the reaction more strongly. Once, I overheard someone talking about me saying “yeah everyone thinks he’s retarded cause he always laughs at everything,” which haunts me to this day.
Even if in the past two years or so my social skills have improved greatly, I still experience this, and it’s one of my least favorite traits about myself. I don’t know how to control it and I cannot find any information about this, or really even anyone else online who experiences similar. It’s one of my many social anxiety traits that make me think other people think I’m weird
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