I have similar issues and had that anxiety feedback loop once when questioned by an airline security officer, &quot;How long have you been in Europe?&quot; on a backpacking trip.  I was wondering if they meant EU or the continent and whether only since last exit or since I left home (since they were holding my non-European passport), and no exact correct answers were coming to mind for any of the possibilities, I was tired, wondering why didn&#x27;t they just read the stamps in the passport if they cared so much, I wasn&#x27;t prepared to get a grilling just to check in for my flight, and OH NO I&#x27;M HESITATING I LOOK LIKE SUSPICIOUS WHAT&#x27;S GOING TO HAPPEN?!?  Well, I muddled through with vague hesitant answers that may have even been contradictory because of my uncertainty.  Anyway, despite a really cringey performance from me, I guess they were satisfied that I wasn&#x27;t knowingly or unknowingly carrying drugs&#x2F;bombs (seemed to be the main concerns), because they gave me my ticket and I went through the real security and passport control which IIRC was nowhere near as invasive.<p>I guess they can tell the difference between a socially-anxious perfectionist stressing about giving correct answers and a liar stressing about giving false answers... or the airline is wasting their money by giving this &quot;interview&quot; but ignoring really sketchy answers.  Or maybe I did not appear as suspicious as I thought.<p>Another time I casually broke eye contact with a bus security officer while he was rattling off  prohibited items and searching my bag.  I&#x27;ve noticed sometimes I subconsciously prefer to focus by looking down and maybe turning an ear toward someone talking about something detailed like this, but this guy seemed to interpret it as a sign that he&#x27;d just said something that was in my bag and shouldn&#x27;t be.  He repeated the question once and maybe twice, so this time I stared straight into his eyes as I answered.  Maybe it looked like a liar over-compensating, but whatever, he was tossing my bag anyway.