Ask HN: What to Do with Stalking Neighbours?

Paranoia is common, especially during times of high stress.

People are very quick to leap from paranoia to schizophrenia. Paranoia can be a symptom of schizophrenia, but it can also be caused by other mental illness, or it can exist on its own without a mental illness. This website is pretty good: https://livingwithschizophreniauk.org/information-sheets/und...

You could try recording what they say, and then comparing your impression of what you hear them say in your apartment with your impression of what you hear them say on the recording.

It's important to get help early.

Haha I'm not paranoid guys, I know what I'm hearing!!

Whatever you decide to do you'll want to try to get a recording. If you want to get law enforcement involved you'll need a recording. If you want to get whatever your local neighbour dispute resolution process is involved you'll need recordings.

FWIW, most people have a poor understanding of auditory hallucinations. Ask someone to stand behind your back and talk to you. That's what hallucinations often sound like: a completely normal, real, voice that you hear like any other voice.

You can prove this is real to law enforcement by recording your neighbors talking and playing back the recording. If you can hear them clearly enough to know that they're speaking about you personally (and not about their own personal business, or something they saw on TV, or about the weather, or the local sports team) it should be trivial to prove.

If you can't hear them well enough to determine that they're speaking about you, and it's just the muffled sound of indecipherable voices, then you're assuming they're speaking about you when they almost certainly aren't.

Have you brought this up with friends or family? What do they think?

Sorry, I am confused, if they deny doing this how do you know they can tell when you're in bed etc?

Your best bet might be a white noise machine or similar artificial background noise (quite music). I used that when I was irritated I could hear my neighbours moving around/talking etc. The good thing about this is it works both ways so you can't make out the sounds they make any more than they can hear you...

It also might be worth checking out reddit.com/r/legaladvice they're pretty experienced and can tell you your rights, how to get them, what to quote etc.

I can hear them talk and walk ... imagine being in a sitcom and the narrator is saying everything that the character on screen is doing that's what it feels like.

Thanks, that makes more sense. They sound a bit crazy. I'd go with the Music\background noise approach and check with /r/legaladvice to see if they can recommend anything else...

It might be worth recording some of their commentary. If you can do that, you would (I think) have a good case for harassment or similar.

I would suggest making a recording and checking if someone else hears the same 'narration' as you do just to rule things out. The best case to be made for sanity is open-mindedness.

> To give you an idea, they can tell when I'm in my bed and whether or not I'm sleeping (based on my breathing) they can tell what I'm watching on TV etc

To be honest I'm confused. What makes you think they're listening to you breathe?

They've denied hearing you, and it sounds like you're guessing they're following your movements because when you move in your apartment, you hear them move in their apartment upstairs at the same time, repeatedly.

What makes you think they're stalking you? Why would they be interested in your movements?

In all honesty, this sounds more like schizophrenia in the OP than the neighbors listening to him breathe to determine whether or not he's sleeping.

Again I can hear them talk!!

Turn a radio on quietly to play music in the back ground or leave a television on quietly as back ground noise. Get a fan and let it run 24/7 and the white back ground noise should help.

Troll them and pretend to be on the phone planning murders and drug shipments.

If all else fails, look for a new place.

A buddy use to tell me that his next door neighbor (condo) would complain every time he pissed in the toilet. She said she could hear everything.

Make sure you aren't over reacting?

What evidence do you have for them listening/being able to decipher your every move?