I once thought that my downstairs neighbors were conspiring against me. When I was in bed trying to fall asleep I would hear their muffled voices through my pillow, and as I strained to make sense of the words, they became clearer. I distinctly heard four different people discussing various aspects of my daily activities and some sort of vague plan they had for correcting my behavior they referred to as “the project.”
I really didn’t know what to think of this at first. I started paying very close attention to customers and coworkers and passersby on the street, trying to figure out if I was under some kind of surveillance. This continued for a few weeks. Every night, they were having another meeting about me downstairs, strangely at precisely the time I went to bed, which tended to vary within a few hours. They had also progressed from discussing my activities to detailed observations and opinions about my beliefs. I began to suspect that my family and friends must be in collusion with them. I started being very evasive with them or deliberately feeding them misinformation, which I would then hear discussed at subsequent meetings - so now I was sure that they were all conspiring against me.
Then the conspirators began making comments that they knew I was listening and what they should do about it. So I began sleeping with a machete by my bed and leaping out of bed at the slightest creaking noise several times a night to investigate. I began hearing shuffling outside my front door and thought that they were trying to break in, but as I would head for the door to check, they would run off.
I made the decision to finally confront my friends and family and then to go to the police. But the next day, when I was all alone in an elevator, I suddenly heard the conversation start up again, and it continued as I was walking through an empty parking structure. Finally I realized that I was hearing these voices in my head. So I told my family and they convinced me to go to a psychiatrist and I started taking medication and within a few weeks the voices were gone, and thankfully, have never returned.
In hindsight, I should have figured out much earlier that I was hallucinating, but nobody wants to admit to themselves that they cannot trust their own senses or mind. At least, not without ruling out other options first. I hope AShowers will at least talk to someone in the mental health field about this and get their opinion.
I agree that the OP is, more than likely, having some mental health issues and needs to see a professional. But this kind of neighborly harrassment is POSSIBLE, if not probable. Here is a guy who kept whistling the Addams Family theme song at his neighbors for years, violating several court orders: http://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/news/local/nightmare-neighbour-sent-down-1-482011 He was finally arrested after they installed CCTV cameras to catch him.
They are judging me! Are you seeing this through walls? Or do you just know for certain, you can feel it?
Seriously this is called paranoia, it’s treatable. Your parents think you’re making it up, they are unlikely to see past that to that you need to see a doctor. Take yourself off to one, and share what you’ve told us. That’s not much, you can do that surely. You say it’s hell for you, wouldn’t you like to get out of that hell? What’s it hurt to try?
AShowers, how could they see what you’re typing? Unless you’re reading aloud as you type, they don’t know what you’re typing.
Please go see your doctor. Either you or your neighbour is mentally ill. You can’t make him go, but you can at least go and get yourself checked out. If your doctor gives you a clean bill of mental health then come back and we’ll help you brainstorm how to get your neighbour the help he needs.
If your neighbors are making you this anxious possibly a trip to the doctor is in order to talk to him about your increasing anxiety. Make sure you explain what’s going on. People often become progressively less able to handle their every day situations even at their jobs. If you weren’t this anxious you might just be able to ignore them.
Really, if your neighbors want to spend their time huddled against your shared wall, that’s their misery not yours.
Also, have you tried ear plugs? If you hear them while wearing earplugs you’re probably hearing something other than the neighbors. It’s a test for yourself anyway.
I also think I talk loud when I type and these farts are right near the walls. It always seems to escape my mind that they are right there. They can’t wait to hear the slightest whisper that vacates my lips. That’s also how they know. It’s like I have to constantly bite my lips to stop myself from saying these things out loud. He stands right next to the walls waiting for me to say something/anything so he can gossip about it to his wife and another lady who lives with them. Oh how I wish I had the sense of mind to not say things out loud. Now I really feel like I’m suffocating. This is how they know, and this is how they judge me.