Emma Florez oh okay thanks. I didn't give any information thankfully, I just clicked it out of curiosity. Thanks for letting me know for future reference :) ✨
For a moment I thought this talk of “don’t click the button it’s not real” was all a cruel joke about derealization until I realized people were actually trying to be helpful by calling out spammers. Turns out there are kind people on the internet after all :)
had one hit over 3 years ago and that was enough to be one of the scariest moments in my life. things instantly felt off and like i was outside of my body. it definitely took over a year to no longer be aware of this feeling but 3 years after and i can barely notice it anymore. things slowly start to feel like you’re whole again with time
@zinnia someone commented a link to something, saying it was a website about depression, but it was just a virus that effects the data base of the software your on:(((
Some things are okay to self diagnose beacuse depersonalization is a such a broad term and most of the time its in other illnesses so it may be good to check yourself out to see why you have depersonlization
ODS_Cobbtune yeah it happened to me yesterday and it was crazy. i was in the city on a saturday night with thousands of people and there were loud music playing and the lights were flashing and it made me feel dizzy. i felt like i wasn’t in the real world and everything felt like i was dreaming. i have anxiety (diagnosed by a psychiatrist) and i think that is the cause. it makes me feel like nothing matters and everything around me seemed fake. i also started to laugh uncontrollably over not even funny things and i felt like i was high or drunk or something. i’m really worried this feeling won’t go away, i don’t feel like myself after it. i would always feel like this after a party or watching fire works and bright flashing colourful lights. i feel like we both should seek help before this feeling corrupts and affects our daily lives and our relationships with other people.
I had it when I was young and I had many episodes and then it just never came back. But it was terrifying and I’d often feel like I was gunna faint. I remember my teacher yelling at me when I told her I felt like I was going to faint again. I couldn’t help it and often asked ppl around me if I was in a dream. Huh I wonder why that just randomly stopped. I was told it was panic disorder
@janice You most likely don't have the disorder. High-energy experiences and flashing lights, especially that late at night are obviously going to cause some sort of detachment. No need to self diagnose, unless it constantly interferes with your day to day life.
Its been happening to me for about 2 years now. Ever since i moved into high school and i never knew why but ive just found out that its a genuine thing that other people have and im so releived that i know what it is
Yes same here This strange feeling hits me like once in a month,and it goes for seconds,but from the last time it hit me... I cant go off the feeling,I guess my lil sister stressed me too much,cus from soon when we are home alone only me and my 7 year old sister,she always fell,she almost fell from the 2nd floor,from the window,she locked herself in the bathroom,and couldn't go out,but she did somehow,and there is lipstick on the door every morning we wake up,it stoped suddenly,i guess that's what makes me feel like im not in real life,I always think what if I cant wake up from my dream,what if my friends and family are waiting for me to wake up?this though always cried me,I need help,someone tell me I'm not dreaming, I'm in real life,im. in. real. life. Strangely its stronger in the start of the day than the end,when I'm going to bed I still can feel the feeling but it doesn't bother me that much
@Bozhana Toneva I have the same thing. . It's really fricking not fun...ITS HELL And u are in real life but ik what u feel like i have the same exact thing. ..Sometime it would make me cry. And i wonder too what if i can't wake up from the dream? What if my family is waiting for me to wake up? What if i am in a simulation? What if i am the only preson that exists? I think about that the most and honestly my life..Is getting boring now that i always think about it...It isn't fun anymore like it used to be....But u are not alone :)..
Me too, when I'm alone it's always like this, and late at night I start having anxity like really anxity because I'm scared that I maybe never be like I was before
dude that is exactly me! i just had a panic attack yesterday because of it! geez isnt it weird to think about how many others in the world can be going through the same as you? it makes me feel kinda wierd like, its kinda crazy to think about.
Derealization is a dis-enlightenment experience that is simply a lac of energy. You have to bring electricity/light back. Deep breathing will give you that electricity back and so the clarity in your perception of life.
@janice It's been 6 yrs I'm dealing with this condition it's frustrating thing my life has become completely useless since I got affected by it but I'm trying my best to be free
Welp i think that life is a dream. Like i am dead and now I'm in a diferent world if ya'll get it. Its soo fricking horrible and kinda creepy when u really think about it.Or sometimes i think that i am the only one who is real and all the people around me are fake... It's a horrible feeling.. So if anyone knows how to stop this PLEASE tell me..
@xBun Bunx Talking to a therapist and see what help they suggest and also you may need to talk to more that one psychologist or psychiatrist to find someone who can help you.
The thing is, i cant remember the time i had it. I got full amnesia on two years of my life. Now i know the symptoms and the "beginning" of the feeling. The only time i realy experienced it in therapy Was FRIGHTENING. But it was liberating. It was like "omg i didnt dream this up". Now i try to accept that Stadium because it isnt going away any time. I try to look at it as a friend who tried to protect me, but didnt know how. Still, i'm afraid of it, because i know its Power. But its me- i created this for me, what is there to be afraid of? Its my reality.
@Gacha Q-Comber!! hey could you help me rq idk if i have it or not, like it feels like im asleep like ill be completely out of it for the whole day. Things seem blurry and hard to comprehend. I forget everything and i feel like im dreaming. Like somedays ill forget what im wearing and have to actually look at what i have on to know. I hope i dont have this but im confused
I don't think I have derealization but I feel bad for people like you who have derealization but sometimes I just don't feel like I'm the only one that is not real I feel like everything and everyone around me is real I always have that feeling it gives me small shivers or goosebumps and then it makes me think how the world was made and why were we here is God actually real or not what is this is a fake world and there was a real world but we have to escape this world to get to the outside world... YOU MAY THINK THAT IM JUST THINKING IT BUT I AM FEELING AND THINKING IT AND SOMETIMES I FORGOT I FEEL THOSE STUFF I ONLY FEEL THOSE WHEN IM BORED SAD OR DULL OR FEEL EMOTIONLESS ALONE AND IT'S HELL
well for someone who constantly experiences the dissociation, it starts feeling more comfortable than reality. dissociation makes you avoid stress and dulls your bad emotions.
@xBun Bunx There's a philosophical school of thought, started by Rene Descartes called Solipsism, explaining one of the things you described. Basically Descartes doubted everything, and the only thing we can objectively know is that we exist. therefore, there is no rational way to prove anyone else exists. To be a perfectly rational person, with everything the human mind is capable of, is to be a solipsist.
Hey. Mine was MUCH MUCH worse (disabling) after I tripped a ton of acid. I was stuck like that for 1-3 years but it DID go away. Most hallucinogenic effects like this (and weed is absolutely a hallucinogen) go away, so keep on truckin'.
@Anonymous I tried weed about a month ago after having a really strong dose and I felt completely numb and like I was in a constant dream and high state. The numbness is gone but everything feels like a dream still. I also get a ton of anxiety and would derealize in school. I'm trying to get Therapy
Slime Holy shit me too. I “believe” that everything is fake or a simulation except me. Ig you can say that i pretend that i’m talking to people even though i believe they’re fake. Just like now
juliette dufresne life has been pretty much hell since then. i took me several months to even get close to “used to it”. since then, i forget about it, but it really sucks when i remember
Same I used to feel like this as a kid but only for a little bit then it’d go away. Then I became a huge stoner and a couple acid trips later I haven’t been able to feel connected or awake for a couple months now
I thought about that but I don't wanna believe it...? I've done weed before but the last time idk, it was okay. But the next day I felt like a dream or that I was still high... I want it to stop it's giving me anxiety
I smoked massive amounts of weed and wax from 14-17. I suffered from derialization for a long time after, but after a bit over a year it went away. You're almost there, it isn't forever even though it feels like it is :)
@How_may_I_offend_ you everyone reacts differently. You couldn't tell me a negative thing about weed back then neither, and I suffered cause of my ignorance. No one's saying it should be illegal, I think it should be 100% legal. I just think people should be smart about it and know there ARE risk involved. I know more people that did experience derealization from weed then people that didn't and that says something. Should be considered a common side effect
VudoGaming I was just saying drugs have risks, and that is one of them. I don’t know why you worded it like you were angry with me, it seems like we are agreeing
@How_may_I_offend_ you I thought you meant that derealization from weed is 90's anti drug propaganda, didn't know you were agreeing my bad. Either way I didn't try to word it like I was angry probably just came off that way aha sorry about that
juliette dufresne i smoked every day for a year. i started having dissociative episodes while i was stoned, but then it began happening when i was sober. then it was all the time. i felt like someone was controlling me like a video game character... it was the first time i've ever actually wanted to die. it was horrible. first things first, STOP smoking. it might be hard but just stop. talk to a doctor so that they know you're dealing with it, give it a few months, and see what happens. if it doesn't get better, gets worse or if you feel suicidal get HELP. mine improved after about four months after i stopped smoking, now it only happens occasionally. good luck!
@Rachel Burry it'll go away completely eventually btw :) that shit really does suck. Took about a year and I was completely back to normal, no episodes or anything.
This is happening to me. I smoked up yesterday and it was really bad, it's gone a little bit better today however I'm still thinking about yesterday and what if I'm asleep right now and I never woke up from yesterday.
@Rachel Burry . I smoked up yesterday and I went through some crazy shit. I thought I was going mentally crazy. I smoked and 30seconds later I closed my eyes and opened them back and my brain thought I was asleep however I was awake the whole time and I thought i was dreaming and thought everything was fake/unreal. I never felt like that till the first high I got which was yesterday. I'm okay now however I'm still thinking, what if I'm still asleep now? and all this is just a dream. I'm trying to persuade my self its real lol
@Rachel Burry marijuana brought out alot of bipolar and schizophrenic behavior in me, would get manic, paranoid etc this was even when I wasn't high, just in between smoking I'd still be like that but the brain is pretty good at reaching baseline again I strongly believe that you'll be good 🖤
@Scrazelope same. The first 1 1/2 years i felt very weird. When i tried weed i got into a bad trip that fked my brain. After that i felt derealisation for months, like nothing is real, like i kinda died already or im in coma and just dreaming things. That kinda evolved into anxiety and still derealisation. But im okay most times. It's just worse when my life is stressful. Sorry for my language I'm not a native speaker.
The same thing happened to me, but I’ve connected to reality again for the most part. I got freaked out at first when I felt that everything was just a dream, but I feel like the more you worry the worse it gets. So I’m at this point where I had to accept that it was happening and I stayed with the “dream-like” feeling and at the same time I was looking for ways in which I could become more attuned to reality. here’s what I did/do: whenever I start to get anxious about a thought I like to acknowledge that thought and then ask myself “is it true a 100%?” “If it was true what would be so bad about it? Then I start to shift the thought into more perspectives as possible just so I can perceive that it’s just a thought and not actually my reality. Also whenever I get that anxiety bc of whatever mental state I’m in I just sink into the feeling. At first it is UNCOMFORTABLE but then after a while it gets better since you’re not fighting that emotion. I also like to remind myself of today’s date, my name, the settings and everything that makes up “reality” If you can take one step at the time without wanting to rush or wanting to “get better” you will find your way out. I completely understand what you guys are going through and for some this might work and for others it might not, but just know that if you’re incapable of feeling a change in your life you should just surrender to your new lifestyle and find approval for it.
Holy shit This exact thing happened to me. I seeked this video out again after having a few of the symptoms, looking through these comments now I know that I should not have done so much weed, for my first time, I don't think I should do it again because I hate constantly feeling out of control, which I have been ever since. Thanks for the reassurance that it will go away everyone :-)
Was the same with me. Ate a weed brownie, had a panic attack as soon as the drug kicked in, the worst trip ever and a hell of derealisation and a constant state of fear and panic for almost half a year. But now, almost two years later, I am fine again, even though I was convinced (and scared to death) I would get psychosis or something like that and never live a normal life again.
So to anyone who has it: There's a good chance it will get better if it's drug induced and you don't continue to use the drug.
What helped me the most was actually trying to accept the way I felt. And eventually it works because you don't notice it anymore and a new normal sets is. (That new normal is probably the old normal, your brain was just confused for a time.)
@Gerald Draper I wouldn't call it bullshit.. I had this Derealisation 3 or 4 times now, they mostly came with stress, when I was sick or when I was in travelling. But they went away in around 5 days or less. The last time was different though. I don't really drink often or much but at a birthday party of my friend I drank pretty much.. The next day I woke up and still felt drunk but I soon realized that I was not drunk anymore and the Derealisation stayed for almost 2 weeks.. It was horrible. What helped me to get out of this state was going out and trying not to think about it too much. After socialising with a friend, I redecorated my room for half a day and after that the Derealisation was gone.
Before I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety I smoked weed and it was the best Highs ever. I was so happy. Now 4 years later now diagnosed with anxiety depression and harm ocd I took ONE edible and had the worst trip of my life and now its 1 day later and I'm having disassociation and feeling horrible. It all depends on your mental state. Weed is not at fault you just need to be careful if you know you have mental illnesses already
Gents, ladies, this effect caused by weed does go away. Was a long term, high quantity user. Obviously everyone is not the same and the time it takes to get back to "normal" will vary. But I agree with other posts saying the same thing, it DOES go away :)
That’s why I’m choosing to stay away from it, I’m 18 and Ive managed to stay away from drugs my entire life so far , even though I feel like weed can be helpful for some, many people who I know use it kind of start changing in a way, it’s all they can talk about doing, it’s the only thing they wanna do and they come to school a wreck because of it, idk how it would effect me so i choose to not do it, period
I rolled a joint but messed up one step and ended up creating crystal meth. Now i own a bar front that sells the strongest meth on the east coast. Damn weed
S. E. Z lol can we create a group chat of us that had a bad acid trip and then couldn’t smoke weed anymore after bc of depersonalization and derealization
Scrazelope lol can we create a group chat of us that had a bad acid trip and then couldn’t smoke weed anymore after bc of depersonalization and derealization
hey, to everyone in this conversation It will all be fine. For me it has been going on for about 3 years with different forms of anxiety including depersonalization which hasn’t gone away but I learned to cope with it. So for me, the time in which I believed my thoughts, believed that life is not real, that my existence is a weird concept, a lie, this time was hell. So hey, just know that things around you are real! Everything is the same it was before you started tripping. Try not to fight it but to live with it. The only way for it to feel normal again is by not believing this crappy feeling and not giving it attention. Because it really is just your mind. Life can still be fun, keep going:3
Rosie Simpkins Id be so down for that! I don’t know you can message me via Instagram (@milistra) and depends on where the group chat would be opened, I could give you my number there:)
@Milistra for sure, i'll dm you soon. and to everyone else, ive been meaning to come back to this thread but i have been drinking ginseng lemon green tea and taking korean panax ginseng supplements for the last week or so and I believe it's helped me! my anxiety and dissociation feels more managed and i have that feeling of groundedness. to a certain degree i can always perceive myself from the backseat if i wanted to just because my mental plasticity is capable of that now? but its not that the feeling has hold of me. more of a disturbing thing i simply have perspective of. So I urge anyone to try it. I cant afford the expensive ginseng but i want to try it, too. for now the tea and supplements from walmart seem to do something.
@Mina Kimbley This comment has honestly brought me so much relief. It's not just me. I literally thought I was the only person who felt this way who wasn't like schizophrenic or something. It's like, I logically know that everything and everyone is real, but i can't seem to accept it. Watching films like inception give me panic attacks, because that's exactly what it feels like when I'm in that state, like it's a simulation, no-one else is real but me. Luckily, my anxiety's gotten better over the years and i don't get this very often anymore, but its so so so horrible to experience.
Guys... a little story to think about: My friends and I were smoking some weed and I got a bowl and asked if somebody wanted a hit too.. one girl did, but she hadn't smoked a bowl before so I said (partly joking bc I thought this was a rumor) "oh then maybe don't inhale all of it, I've heard of people puking before because it was too much..." and suddenly she was scared, but still wanted to do it. So she did, and as soon as the smoke hit her lips she stood up and ran to the toilet (she didn't even inhale anything!). And THAT my friends is how strong the brain is... that's placebo etc. If we THINK something can happen, it's MUCH more likely to happen, ESPECIALLY if it's just something mental. So don't smoke weed (or do any drugs) if you are even a tiny bit scared or don't want to, simply because the brain is weird. Just like you seem to get more side effects of a medicine if you've read them all before. I've been smoking daily for 7+ years now and I am completely fine, no more derealization than before. It's very much individual.
@Rachel Burry hey just wanted to let you know that’s you’re not alone in what happened to you. I smoked heavily from 23-24 after a series of traumatic life events. It helped at first, until it didn’t. I had such an intense derealization episode that lasted for weeks after I smoked last. I haven’t smoked at all in nearly a year and I still feel that feeling of derealizing creeping up on me. I’m not glad for your situation, but it’s nice to know someone else experienced this same thing.
@👁 Just because you're okay smoking weed doesn't mean others are. I've had derealisation periods from other drugs, no reason why weed can't cause it as well. Everyone's brain is differently wired so of course it can cause many mental health issues in other people.
@👁 How is it?! All drugs have the potential to do you harm, anything that alters your mind can alter in it in a negative way. There are plenty people who have had negative experiences from just weed alone.
It's a fact that everyone's brain - and different forms of drugs are different. The pharmacology of weed and MDMA would be totally different, but they can both cause derealisation in certain people. None of that takes away from the fact that any drugs can be harmful to people, especially those with underlying mental health issues but it's not a requirement.
If you're going to defend weed & act like it can't harm people then I suggest you actually look up and read up on what the impact of drugs can be. In fact, many people smoke weed for decades with no issues and then one day out of nowhere they may have a panic attack or start experiencing derealisation. The point is mind altering substance = potential to cause problems within the mind.
I also got derealisation from smoking laced hash (and I was a regular weed user for years prior). I’ve suffered for about 2 years before I started feeling better (I went to therapy in the meantime). Drug induced DR always wears off when the drug leaves your system. The reason it keeps lingering afterwards is because of high levels of anxiety. Even if you didn’t have an anxiety disorder before, the experience of a bad trip can be perceived as traumatic by our brains which creates PTSD-like symptoms such as anxiety and depression. This is why the feeling doesn’t seem to go away for some of us. But there are ways to end it, if that can reassure anyone, and it is by treating the extremely high levels of anxiety that cause DR. Medicine is very efficient. I’m on xanax for an anxiety disorder I had beforehand and it definitely helps me calm down. Grounding exercices, eye movement therapy, and anything that is used to treat PTSD can be used to relieve the disconnect between the body and the brain. Finally... Not an easy advice, but trust me: ignore it as much as you can. Believe me when I say it plays a huge role in recovery.
Basically — manage your anxiety and try to ignore the feeling (distracting yourself — or using grounding techniques). Those are difficult things to do but it will immensely help control the situation. It will not last forever.
Now, also keep in mind that experiencing drug induced DR is generally a sign of an underlying condition. People that fall on the schizo spectrum (schizoid, schizotypical, schizophrenia) are vastly more sensible to hallucinogenic drugs that can trigger psychosis. I recommend everybody who experienced a ‘bad trip’ that left them in a debilitating state of derealisation to consult a professional about possible underlying conditions.
With all this said I give my best wishes to everyone in this thread, you are not alone, and what you are experiencing may be extremely unpleasant but there are ways to help it fade. Drugs have not lingered in your body, what you are feeling is the result of anxiety which is, although sometimes difficult, very much manageable. Take care xoxo
It happened to me, I smoked for first time one month ago, then at the other day in the night I star feeling this way like if everyone it’s real and they have a life but I’m apart of them, but being here, so weird but it goes away by times but then it comes back, sorry my bad English, with this shit it’s kinda difficult to find the right words to explain, my brain it’s like freezer
Yeahh same it never happened before but then I smoked like 5 gs right there and there then was fucked up as hell then woke up fealt soooo weird i still got it
@Gerald Draper NFN, but body chemistry can vary greatly from person to person. So to claim that something can't possibly be because you or no one you know has never experienced anything like that is ignorant.
VudoGaming did u stop smoking to get back to feeling normal, sometimes i feel like smoking grounds me however i do it non stop daily as well and feel like it also makes things worse long term
@jojovsld I hope things get better for you. I've pretty much lowered my weed intake to like once a month now. The numbness thing doesn't happen to me anymore but the derealization and feeling like I'm in a dream/nothing is real is still here. Idk if that's ever gonna go away but I've learned to live with it now. Just try your best to not think about it, as hard as that may be, trust me I know. If you're really struggling with it, I'd suggest talking with a councillor or therapist if it's really negatively affecting you. Good luck 👌☺️
@Sai suman Bhuyan I lived 16 years being trapped deeper and deeper in a feeling of unreality, beside myself the depth solidity clarity of life. Only now doing deep breathing (wim hof and dmt breathing) + cold shower the perceive re connection & the clarity of life rising again. It's magical how derealization is very physical in facts
@Lily Stultz zero improvement I went through another mental health crisis and I’m just living. Doing worse but It’s whatever I have shit to live for I guess
@VudoGaming you give me hope brother, I smoked heavily from 14 to 19, sobered up about 2 months ago and I'm in a constant state of feeling as if I'm in a dream. You saying that it went away after a year gives me a sliver of hope, I hope you're doing well now man.
I have an exercise I do when it gets really bad. Take a deep breath and Name 5 things you can see, 4 things you can feel, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell and one you can taste. It helps ground you and remind you you are here.
I'm always writing song names/titles and one that came to me out of this problem is called "I forgot I was on earth" lol ;D It's best to just have some humor about it and try to force your mind away from the negative thinking into a positive outlet. I've dealt with it for years and it is a struggle. Call it ocd, call it pseudo balber affect, call it derealization or depression, call it what you want it's all just terror. Ppl dont even realize (me included once) that every auto negative thought that the mind has naturally sends electrical impulses to the body yhat tells it how to feel so we to train how talk back to ourselves. We have and will continue to grow in a world full of wounds but fight club must go on. God Bless you all!
My psychologist gave me this but with one important difference, the taste thing is usually just confusing and its hard to pin something down especially when my senses are dulled by depersonalisation. So it is:
5 things you can see 4 things you can feel 3 things you can hear 2 things you can smell 1 good thing about yourself
That last one is really difficult for a reason. It's okay if your one good thing is that 'I woke up this morning' or 'I am trying to ground myself, it might not be working but that's okay'
i tried but... idk its like TW!!!! my brain its convinced my senses are in another place? idk if that makes sense but... its like my brain its conviced im doing this but in another place and in another way?
@Rene Dominguez i love that you've written songs as an outlet to express yourself, im trying to do the same here! it really is a good outlet and it helps for me to write about dpdr as well. it's cool finding different ways to explain it and just different ways to explain how you feel in general.
This one never works because my dreams are vivid as hell and it feels the same. i cant ever get out of this state... suddenly realizing youre real works but its a lot more scary
I feel the same while writing thisss. I pinch myself during school because I want to try and realize that I am awake. I got it around 1 year ago at school and I literally couldn't think straight or just do anything. It was a struggle for me to learn for a while but like I felt very confused most of the time. It disappeared for a while then came back during school (I am in school now, started school about 3 days ago now). I realized that bright lights make me really light headed and causes me to be more in a dream, it's confusing and I don't umderstand. I had mental break downs about it during school last year because I really felt that I wasn't alive. My emotions would be crying but my thoughts and eyes are a whole new thing.
That’s derealisation / depersonalisation I guess , I have it too but don’t want to open up about it to my family and stuff just because I’ve had it as long as I can remember and so I’m learning to just deal with it .
So I'm updating this after 2 months ago cause I'm still getting notified about it. I obviously still have it, it's not that bad for now. I don't wanna self diagnose myself because I don't know anything. All I know is that these pieces match up exactly to what I describe. I feel like it stops me from doing things I want to enjoy with like my, "real" emotions.
It's honestly very scary and annoying to have. I've tried to search a video up like this 1 year ago and couldn't find anything on it so I gave up on trying. Until 2 months ago I started to feel this way and decided to search on it again, now I'm here. I've told my sister about it in the beginning of when it happened and she told me, "Don't self diagnose yourself", well I'm sorry. I'm not sure on how to tell my parents or my sister convince them how I feel but on the other side I just know they won't believe me so I'll just leave it at that.
I don't think it's something that is bad to hide from your parents, it's more of something that is your concern. I'd suggest to tell your parents to get checked up on it to make sure if you do have it, I'm not too concerned about it at the moment. This video just explains a little bit more to me about what's happening to me. Thanks! For reading, I know it's a lot to read but I hope I gave out some good information on me personally but everyone is different, I just wanted to clear things up.
@Depressed Alien I'm glad that you are coping with it. I've only had it for a while but I learned to deal with it. If it's a big concern to you I suggest you to open up to your family if you want to know everything about it. :)
You will understand if you have it, hopefully you don't though. I can actually relate to doing normal school activities but not feeling like I'm awake but more like in a dream effect. I'm not sure how you wandered here if you don't have it but you know, youtube recommends random videos. I really wish I didn't have it (I think I have it, just not sure).
Try meditating and concentrating very deeply on this feeling. You will find that you are one with everything and that you are the world. Advaita Vedanta tells us that the real you is not physical and not an object. It is the pure conscious observer that observes all the senses, the mind, and the intellect. The one who observes deep sleep, the dream state, and the waken state, is really who you are. Everything is in you, the conscious observer. When this feeling happens realize that you are that. It is ignorance to think that you are the mind, body, or intellect. You must identify yourself with the unchanging, not the temporary illusion of “reality”. Imagine like in a dream. What is everyone/everything that is in your dream? It is you. Similarly, once you see that everything is in you and that you are the world, you will see the non-dual existence bliss as the only reality. I recommend looking up swami vivekenanda or Arsha Bodha. The dispassion or indifference to the world you may feel is common to one who is ready to begin asking the big questions. Who am I?
Yes I have the same feeling like im floating and sometimes like my soul wants to leave my body and I just shake my head and I feel like I’m going back again ..
Me too! Weird example but I sometimes feel like I'm watching a movie or episode from a TV show and people around me are actors. Don't know it's just really weird :0
That happened to me 2 like while I was walking or learning and suddenly I felt like I didn't belong to this world and I couldn't believe I was right there sitting ,learning and even existing in this world as a human lol😅Idk what's that and I have never talked abt it to anyone
I feel like that it's kinda scary being there but not there.. fighting to stay at the front of my mind... seeing people there but it's not like your there..?
Like an out of body experience? Sometimes I feel like that too. I remember one time I was at a dance practice one time and we were dancing outside on the grass. I was trying to watch my dance instructor, but I suddenly felt as if I wasn’t in my body. I looked up at the sky and felt that the world was a big and I was just a small portion of it and it was like my head left my shoulders. It was super weird but also kind of humbling.
Could be many things... autism perhaps. That’s how I feel at times. Also I have a gluten sensitivity and used to always have de realisation until I stopped eating it.
Me too, just in random spurts that don’t last for very long and I still don’t understand exactly what it is because it doesn’t sound like what she described in the video.
EXACTLY! I feel like me, and who I am, and who ‘the body’ is are 2 completely different people. It’s like being trapped inside a jar, but the jar moves and talks, and does things that you sometimes don’t even realize, while your just.... there.
Same. Like it’s a movie and I’m watching it trough someone’s eyes. I normally snap out of it when something “wakes me up”. Like jumping in a cold pool at 3 am lol
Pink Aesthetic same ! i started to fail all my classes and at first i thought it was add, but i got diagnosed with dp. Thanks for sharing 🥺💗 proud of you
Yes same here This strange feeling hits me like once in a month,and it goes for seconds,but from the last time it hit me... I cant go off the feeling,I guess my lil sister stressed me too much,cus from soon when we are home alone only me and my 7 year old sister,she always fell,she almost fell from the 2nd floor,from the window,she locked herself in the bathroom,and couldn't go out,but she did somehow,and there is lipstick on the door every morning we wake up,it stoped suddenly,i guess that's what makes me feel like im not in real life,I always think what if I cant wake up from my dream,what if my friends and family are waiting for me to wake up?this though always cried me,I need help,someone tell me I'm not dreaming, I'm in real life,im. in. real. life. Strangely its stronger in the start of the day than the end,when I'm going to bed I still can feel the feeling but it doesn't bother me that much
Wow that's interesting to have so many people in common. It's weird that I always find someone describe a feeling perfectly which I've been through but didn't notice
YES! I tried explaining this to my friend. For myself I usually describe it as I'm almost in a different realm and I am an outsider observing everyone else's reality. Physically I'm there (obviously), but mentally I'm somewhere else and time can get confusing. Also I'm not saying I am diagnosed with either of these, this is just a feeling I get a lot and honestly it distracts me and disrupts my everyday life which is especially hard when I'm at work.
Me too. I used to describe it to people like being on heavy doses of antihistamines all the time. Things are dampened and there’s some barrier between me and everything else. Also, I tend to assume people won’t remember me or know what I look/sound like because I don’t know what I look/sound like... because I’m not really real as far as my brain knows. And moments where I really see or hear the world around me are shocking and overwhelming.
Can we start a group chat? I can’t afford any doctors or therapist right now but I believe this is why I’m feeling the way I feel. I’m trying not to think about but I see why people give up. We can’t afford help or resources on top of fighting our internal battles. I’ve been through a lot and I didn’t acknowledge that. I just want to feel alive again.
@bingbong I've felt it all my life and what helped was knowing I'm seeing life through my eyes and nobody else's, and that I'm real. My mom is very spiritual and says we are a soul in a body. It does get better <3
@Ambati Karthik Yes, we have something in the ear related to the balance and vertigo, when there is an infection we feel like vertigo it's similar to the dissociation feeling
Does your vision cause you to feel like you're in a dream state and can't concentrate on anything? That's what I feel, but doctors say that my eyesight is perfect and they don't know what to do.
Actually this happens to all but some of they think it real and some of them don't care it's nothing big problem just believe in yourself don't make the black magic divert your mind
@Brielle Jade Yea we don't have body in VR. That's why i love doing very cold shower to help re embodiment (and "Wim Hof" deep breathing practice too )
@HAKUNA MATATA Breathwork as " Wim Hof " and " Holotrpic " breathwork will help you dissipate that cloudy disconnection : ). Just do it 3 week, you will see already the result
Not for me because I experience it 24/7 no matter what. Even doing sports everyday and being engaged with a lot of things doesn't fix the disorder immediately. It decreased slowly
i sometimes can’t tell my memories and dreams apart. I can’t tell if i’m sleeping or awake and the amount of deja vus i’m having is a painful lot. I forget things i said or thought seconds after doing so and it’s so scary because i DONT KNOW what it is.
Saame cuz one time i was talking to my sister about all the dumb stuff we used to do as kids and i told her about this one time when i did this and that and bla bla bla it was just a memory i had but then she told me that she didn't remember that and she told me that it (the 'memory') probably never happened because if it did she would have remembered it (she's older than me) and it was just a dream or smth and it really messed me up that day cause i was thinking (how many of my other memories and fake? How can i tell which is real and which isn't ?)
Also i can't remember half my childhood in the first placeso i was really sad bc i thought i wasted my whole childhood :/
Srry if there is any typos of if this text is too long or if it dosn't make sense bc i was typing this at the speed of light
@srisra_br9o9 Omg yes!!! this is what happens to me too… I can’t even process the dreams I have half the time I can’t differentiate memories, thoughts, and feelings are so paralyzed… faint! I can’t remember my childhood, let along remember what I even said.. Sometimes I feel like I have no control of my emotions like if I blurt something absurd out i’m like shoot ! I can’t remember it feels like to feel whole again… personality is everywhere ! the self is disrupted foreal!
@Burger McBurger Yes! yes! yes! You can’t even feel yourself dreaming ? let alone sleep….? when your sleeping it’s like your dead? … when your awake your partially dead??? hmmmm only someone with this would understand me
@Melia Reddick me too, im still trying to figure out if i have it. i mean i think i just have bouts of dpdr, mostly when im very very very anxious. im usually very very very anxious though so its hard to tell when im severely anxious because im so used to be anxious if that makes sense.
I have never felt so connected to anyone in my life, this was scary to me how accurate this is to my life right now. I feel you girl, thank you for this
That description at 2:50 actually sounds more typical of a hypotensive episode, lying outside in the warm sun then standing up and walking, the visual symptoms are typical of postural hypotension, very common in younger people.
Holy crap I've been dealing with this my entire life I literally cried as a child begging my mom to wake me up and I told people I didn't feel real and it never went away I still deal with it to this day
SAME I started feeling like this often when i was seven, not all the time but more often than one who doesnt experience such things or dissociate in just stressful situations. It hasnt stopped since then and i just now found out what it could be.
i remember telling a therapist 3 years ago when i was 15 that if still had dpdr by the time i was 18 then id kill myself.. i still have dpdr but im still here i guess lol
I thought it was just me, I didn't know this is even exit, i thought it just in my mind, this is even hard to explain to someone, I having this since i was 14 years old and now I am 29, this is get worse when i am afraid. is there any medicine for this ?
@Supun Praneeth do u feel like ur just gonna wake up one day? In a hospital and they say u hv memory loss or something? ? I ACTUALLY THOUGHT IT WAS JUST ME
@Niecey Weesey I experienced this for 6 months straight and it was so scary. I got to the point where I'd convinced myself I was dead and everyone around me was fake and lying to me. I'm so sorry you've been experiencing it for so long 💔
@Niecey Weesey - I have had it since 11 and now I am 15... It makes me super scared and wondering if it will ever go away... I am really sorry, I know how you feel, and I hope one day we will get better soon.
I've been going through it for a week now. It feels like I'm in a 2d dream and being in a bright room make it look more surreal and fake. Its making me depressed and sad. I want it to piss off
Hey guys I saw many replies . Only way you can escape this is just forget it. Go 1 week straight in your daily activities without even thinking about it for a single second. Go for a thing that will give you the most happiness. You will get out!
I experience derealization since ever. I remember when I was like maybe 3/5 sitting on the bed and just... world not being real. Firstly I didn't really care, I was a kindergardener. But once when I was kinda older I had very strong derealization for few days. For a kid who doesn't know what ia happening it's at least terrifying. Will I be like this forever? I told my mum about it although I don't think I said correctly what I was experience because It's hard to explain. She said it's because I ate too much sweets lol. I just assumed that everyone experience this almost all the time, but I'm the one who make this a big deal etc. Few months ago I just had a random thought to search my symptoms. Then I learned about dpdr (even though I don't really experience dp part). It's so weird and bizarre that it's something a lot of people struggle with. But I almost ever see poeple who have it since early childhood without any trauma.
@Lily Stultz at 19 years old and exactly when I entered to university I’ve been struggling since that time I’m 21 years now i’ts really hard living with that all the time I still haven’t figured yet the cause but my psychiatrist says I have depression
@Lily Stultz I have taken (Seroplex 10 mg) and (lysanxia 10mg) antidepressants for a while with a little bit of walking beside the sea to relax but nothing has changed That’s why I’m confused
Allan Sk2022-03-11 21:57:05 (edited 2022-03-11 21:58:38 )
I have had dpdr since I was 16 now I'm 23 for me it started with overthinking after 4 month of experiencing a horrible trauma I then started developing Dpdr from nowhere it has made my life worse and useless no girlfriend no career just feeling helpless.
@raslen barred Me too I have done the same thing but nothing seem to change I sometimes feel like I'm just a dead walking body it's really a frustrating condition
I feel like when I district myself like tv or useing my phone keeps me from thinking about it. I find that the more you think about it the worse it gets, because once you forget about it you feel better but as soon as you remember it gets horrible and it's hard to get back to forgetting it
Same i think that life is a dream most of the time, but when i watch yt on my phone or play games or watch tv i forget that i was thinking about it..But when i just zome out i remember it (If ya'll know what i am trying to say) So if anyone of you guys think that life is a dream or anything like that, that is okay to think about it useally most ppl think about it and that is normal. U might cry about it or get stressed out about it or get kinda mad.. But that is okay!
@xBun Bunx Hi! I hope you're doing well. You are right, it's ok to feel angry or sad or a little bit annoyed but feeling disconnect. But if it is interfering with you daily life, you should definitely see a mental health professional! It can be scary, and often it is a learning process; but is defensively worth it since we are taking about health, one of the most important things we have. Just like if we had a tummy ache that was recurrent and annoying we will go to the doctor to find out how to take care of it, we should do that with our minds. It is not "exaggerating" or "unimportant", it's your mind and you deserve getting guidance to make sure it's healthy, just like everything else.
Happened to me a few months ago. I see things that I'm sure I've seen before. Like really strong, terrifying deja vu and feelings of dread or impending doom. I remember sobbing into my dad's shoulder when I thought everything around me was scripted and fake. It's hard to describe in words. It's getting easier to push past as time goes on but I feel like I'm in constant danger now. Love that.
- ShipAndSaltPhanatic - you’re not alone, I had a very bad high and still went on to do it again, and I’ve been very paranoid now like super paranoid. I’ve never feared death before now I do.
KATXNAP I recommend the book overcoming depersonalization disorder by Fugen Neziroglu and Katherine Donnelly, they actually mention that one of the causes of chronic DP/DR could potentially be drugs... it could help to figure out things! Good luck!
This is why I’ve never smoked. Wanted to try it in the past but always had mental health difficulties so never risked it. Seems pointless now, got dpdr anyways
used to have it in hs but got over it, smoked for the first time a day or so after new years and had to get on a plane the next day and its been kinda...hovering around ever since. definitely doesnt help being stuck in my house all the time now :/
omg i can't believe there are other people who went through this stuff i'm so glad i'm not the only one. i had this bad trip on nye but i didn't really think much of it and at first it didn't affect me long term but this quarantine must have triggered something in me cause i've been living with that feeling for two weeks now and i don't know what to do
@Anamaria Mocanu Hey Ana, heads up, its hard to deal with it in the beginning, which was for me too with panic and stuff, but settle down, the more you fight it, the more it is triggered and hard for you to deal with (i know you dont want to feel like this) but you will have to accept it in order for you to really work on it to go away in peace.
@woRm on sTring yeah since teens brains aren’t fully developed even young adults our brain takes the weed as trauma and detaches us which is what derealization is we most likely wouldn’t get that if we were older and consumed thc /weed
it doesn’t happen a lot but sometimes i just stare for like a minute and i’m like “is this real?” like i could be staring at a family member or smth and disassociate idk it’s kinda hard to explain
Charné Dee yeah it’s weird. there’s like a disconnect and it kinda feels like looking at life through thick glass for me at least. it doesn’t happen to me a lot, but i feel sorry for people who have it chronically. it’s no way to live
@Meredith the same with me I often get it when I sleep too much or too little or my dreams are very vivid but either way its very unusual and unsettling because id feel like is this my life or am I imagining it all
@S1N1ST3R Derealization is a dis-enlightenment experience that is simply a lac of energy. You have to bring electricity/light back. Deep breathing will give you that electricity back and so the clarity in your perception of life.
It’s hard to imagine living like this all the time. I only had this during panic attacks, the first time I had no idea what a panic attack was. I kept having to remind myself that what was happening was happening NOW...that I wasn’t remembering it. I kept saying to myself, “Is this happening now? Am I here now?” It was very scary and very weird. It feels like you’ve been drugged which is exactly what I thought happened.
it's awful, it's fucking terrible, had it 5 years now non stop and ive basically lost me teenage years to it, my whole teenage years are a blur and i want to die all the time yikes
@katie h Yep same I am like:Ok this is probs a dream all i need to do is jump of a roof and i'll wake up :) But damn then i think like:Oh shit what is this isn't a dream (If u know what i am trying to say rn)
GOD YES the thing of seeing things like they're a memory and in the moment you remember that it's happening NOW it's like wait what????? That happens to me a fucking lot of times everyday.
Disassociation/derealisation is the brains way of pulling you away from trauma !!!! I feel you so much, dodie. I’m sorry you go through this on a daily, but one day you are going to be a new woman where this is so much less of a reality and you will experience things with the vividity you did as a teenager, but it will be so much better because you will be a grown up woman who has known pain and will appreciate the experiences so much more !!! LOVE YOU STAY STRONG!
At work I often find myself thinking "is this real? I'm actually here?" Then I start panicking when I realize I'm there and I get so overwhelmed to where I want to cry.
I recommend the Anxiety Ninjas videos. I was like this for over a year and it was horrible. I’ve watched his videos on it and slowly felt better about what I was going through and now I’m free from it, I sometimes get my little moments here and there but they don’t bother me, feeling normal again is 100% possible. :)
From my bad experience with it, I found that making it “who I was” or paying attention to it all the time and just simply ruminating on it made it worse and just struck more anxiety in me. So I’m not downing her ways or anything like that because maybe it helps her, but honestly for me personally, I found that it wasn’t the best idea to be writing about it and making it a big part of who I was because it wasn’t, I just stopped calling myself a sufferer. Once you understand what DPDR is, you’ll understand why circling your life around it like it’s something that’s not gonna end is a bad idea. DPDR is there as a defence mechanism to help you through traumatic experiences which is why you hear some people say they felt out of body or that they don’t remember a certain event for example major pain like an animal attack, it helps you not focus on the pain but instead “the weird feeling”. So with that basic understanding of it, I was able to steer into trying to feel like myself again.
I know it doesn’t sound the easiest, but it’s simple. I thought I needed all the medication, all the weird treatments, all the nights of hospitalization when all I really needed was the education and support. I hope y’all get through it because I can assure you that it isn’t forever :) Although it isn’t just as easy as watching videos, that’s what I’m making it seem like lol, it does take time and effort to help yourself get through it, not gonna lie it took me a while but it was all worth it in the end. HERES A TIP- Surround yourself with your friends and good vibes even when you feel like you don’t have the energy, trust me when I was around my friends, their good energy made me feel better especially when I had really bad days, never stay home and sulk the whole time!
Hei I don't know if you will ever read this but you really helped me a lot with this comment. I went over to Anxiety Ninjas channel and now I feel so much better to know that it's a coping mechanism and there's a way out. Thank you so much for recommending him!
I had this for three years and really thought I would kill myself if it continued any longer. You explained this perfectly ❤️ I wish you had posted this when I first had it as there was only a wiki page on it and self-help forums so I really believed nothing was real. I did get depression from and did not do as well during exams. If you're suffering from, I know it seems like dp is all there is right now but there is a way out. I overcame it without therapy or any help but it is a process that took a while. All I remember is that one day I decided not to focus on it at all and try to divert my mind on to many different things. Recovery in it self probably took me about a year but I'm glad it's over. I don't even remember exactly what it felt like, only that I was miserable with it. Please keep going, look to the future, depersonalisation is not permanent it's a state you need to get out of by relaxing and overcoming anxieties. You can do this alone, with friends or a therapist. Good luck ❤️
@Brandon Carr I does feel like it will last forever and every moment is like eternity but it won't last and when you get better life feels amazing again. Reach out for help if you can, it must be harder to deal with stuck at home in a pandemic
i was scrolling through the comments looking for mine from three years ago. when i found yours i did a double take because what you wrote sounds so damn similar to my own experience and the advice i’ve been giving people! it’s so strange. but this is not my old comment 😂 nonetheless i’m very happy you got out of it.
E. Nall2017-12-14 02:02:45 (edited 2017-12-14 23:08:51 )
Thank you for talking about this! I don’t experience derealisation, however, it helps me understand it a lot better. I appreciate you talking about mental illness’ since it helps people who experience these types of things
I just want to say thank you for sharing this with us. I fell exactly like you for 4 years now and I could never explain to myself or to the others what I was going through but now, thanks to you (and to my girlfriend that finds you) I can finally name this black beast that ruined my life for so long. I feel almost every sensations that you described in the book and I immediatly start crying and I'm crying right now while I'm writing this and I don't know why but i guess is for because I don't feel alone anymore. Thank you so much and
I hope with all my heart that you can get better as soon as possible
i remember 4 years back when i was 16, watching your videos, i couldnt imagine what it was like going through depersonalization and it was the first i have heard of this condition. eventually my mental health gotten worse to the point i actually developed depersonalization, and i was trying to remember who it was who i found the condition from. i have finally found you and i have got to say it really sucks to deal with this condition. it feels like im high without the high and it really makes me panic. i hope it has gotten well for you too <3
This is great! I feel like it’s super helpful to have more people talk about DP/DR. I went through it for about a year and it was a waking nightmare, but my life is also immeasurably better for it. It forced me to develop a philosophy that I can strongly identify with, and it gave me perspective on life and its various challenges.
For you, or anyone reading, these are things that helped me, personally:
Exercise Meditation Counseling/Therapy Healthy Diet (I also strongly avoided sugar, but I’m not sure if that actually helped) Helping other people with their problems and intently listening to them! (This is the biggest one)
Anyway, I hope you make it through this, because it is definitely possible. And believe me, I absolutely felt like I was going to be stuck with it forever.
i come back to this every once and awhile, cause i found this a few years ago when i was feeling this way and ever since then i haven’t felt so alone in this. thank you so much for making this apart of your platform. while i haven’t been able to see a professional, i’ve been able to speak to my parents about this which is a huge step for me. thank you so so much.
I notice people with depersonalization/derealization have a thing. For dodie, it's looking in the mirror and not recognizing herself. For me, it's staring at my hand and realising this isn't my hand. So i wrote something that describes it.
You stare at the back of your hand. You see the cracks in your skin, the crevices, the spiderweb of ridges. They've allways been there. It is your hand, after all. But this time it's different. The cracks are deep and dark enough to fall into. The crevices create baren river beds, branching across the rest of your hand. It seems dry and brittle. Like it could crumble at any moment. You hunt down a bottle of lotion, but nothing changes. Now it shimmers. The light catches it, and your hand seems a lot bigger than your hand should be. Is this really your hand? Someone has turned the sharpness up, a little too much. But there is no picture. There is no camera. There is simply a hand that you do not recognize, and something like panic making its slow way up your chest, using your ribs like the rungs of a ladder. You stare at the hand until it is no longer a hand; it is something dark and terrifying. It is a physical representation of your own crumbling psyche. You shove it into your pocket, anywhere, just as long as it is out of sight. One day you'll look at it again. And maybe that day you'll recognize your own hand. It is your hand, after all.
thehydrangea andtherose I get the exact same thing, it always starts with the hand and the more I look at it the more foreign and scary it looks, then it generally progresses to the rest of my body which then just feels completely disconnected to my brain. Scary stuff
i actually have both, i mean it's not really that bad, it's just the moments of confusion, of "wait... this is me? i'm a person" it's really bizarre, stay strong though! did you go to any specialist btw?
I do that thing too, but with my legs. It’s weird, like if I’m sitting and I look at my legs I’m like “woah those are attached to my body. like those are my legs”. I experience the mirror thing that dodie was explaining also though.
when i actually have dp instead of dissociatiing i don't recognize myself in the mirror either, but its more of an "why does that person look so scared/angry/sad?" when i see a mirror, an my face never moves so i dont think about the mirror mirroring me, since it doesnt move
I have these exact feelings, although they are only for small spans of time. I can not imagine how strong someone would have to be to get through this as a constant feeling. All this basically just to say, you are stronger than you know, and you can do this
thehydrangea andtherose that happened to me during class, and I had a panic attack. I was taking a math test at the time, being a straight A student. And I got a D. You explained it so well! I hope we can both figure this out!! Xoxo
thehydrangea andtherose I’m not entirely sure I have derealisation or not but this does make sense to me. I often do this thing where I look at stuff I’ve written for uni or otherwise and it bothers me that I can’t remember writing it and I feel like past me doesn’t exist and it’s super weird and debilitating
That sounds exactly like what I sometimes experience, where suddenly I look at my hands and I feel like I'm playing a game and that's just my character's hand, and then I feel like my whole body is not mine... It's super weird, like looking through someone else's eyes kinda...
i have the exact same thing. i don't know or understand what it is. it drives me insane and sometimes it's not just my hand, sometimes it's the features of my face, or the hairs on my arm, or the cracks of my chapped lips. it makes me feel uncomfortable, ugly, something i don't want to feel. this happens a lot but most of the time i look normal, then at other times, i look like an alien
I'm really sorry to hear, that does sounds horrible :---( I don't know anything about this but condition but i was thinking maybe getting into Buddhism & spirituality could help, because i have the same feelings sometimes, but experience it as really positive.YES having a body is so weird and i love to think i'm not my body. I'll give a try to explain, i hope it makes sense hahah (this little text won't help you obviously, but if you interested, there are tons of books or even youtube video's!)
If you state that your body is yours, what about the air you breath? Is it not 'you' anymore as soon as you breathe it out? What about 'your' skin of your hand that changes constantly? Where can you draw the line really? Everything changes constantly and because of that we can say there are no permanent 'borders' between things. You can even go further and ask: Where would your mind be without a world around you? You wouldn't be able to think. In some way you are everything around you. You are the people you interact with, the people who make or sell you food, the people who give you love, you are nature, the stars, the sun etc. etc. etc. because without all of this you wouldn't be alive. All of it forms 'you'!
i haven’t been diagnosed with depersonalization/derealization but this does happen to me!! for me it’s my legs, i always would look at my legs as a kid and say “these are my legs! i don’t believe it but these are my legs” (my friends all thought it was weird and laughed at me). i can sit and stare at my legs for lengthy periods of time and just be so confused that they are mine and they are attached to my body. it’s weird.
thehydrangea andtherose something like this happened to me once. It was the freakiest shit ever. I walked past the mirror and kinda got freaked out and then I started at MY face but saw it in a different way that I've ever done before. I started in the mirror for like 10 minutes just absolutely fascinated at it. Don't think it's anything serious cuz I had been awake for quite some time and my daily rhythm was screwed to shit
I feel such a sense of familiarity with Dodie's story of forgetting and spacing out all of the time, for example:
Everything before a couple of months ago is fuzzy, like someone else recalled these things to me and I'm remembering there stories instead of my own, the other day my brother told me a story of how I once got a drink from somewhere at one of his football matches and that I was with I friend. He asked me where I had gotten the drink from and I had no idea what he was talking about. Apparently, I was with my friend, I have no idea who this person is.
I am also well known for leaving my phone as well as other objects I commonly use, I usually don't remember where I put these things, nor do I remember where I was in that moment that I had the lost thing.
So I've been dubbed irresponsible with my own things...
Whether, a mental disorder or not, I don't know, I just have this feeling that something is not quite right with me, like I'm missing something that people around me have.
But even still, I honestly doubt that these feelings are real. Any Advice?
My thing is that it's like controlling a body through a computer screen on a controller. When I'm not dissociating, I'm properly immersed, present, and can control myself fluidly and promptly; like a normal person. When I am dissociating, it's like the controls have become loose, the screen fuzzy, and sometimes even as if I'm tied to the opposite wall with bungee so that, in order to do something as simple as raising my arm, it takes a tremendous amount of effort.
This is really well written. I don't think I have depersonalization or derealization, but sometimes I feel this exact thing. It doesn't happen often, only sometimes when Im stressed or havent slept much, and this just describes that so much
thehydrangea andtherose hey if you are interested in good literature in this topic, Sartre's "Nausea" describes exactly this sensation with the hand and all
I have to like pointedly convince myself every single time that it's my hand, and that all of my body parts are mine it's so frustrating and makes me feel like I'm insane...
I don't know if I have this but would suddenly stopping and thinking "Wait, I'm this one? That can't be right." (by this one I mean myself) be a "thing".
i had a strange thing happen to me today where i was looking down at my hand and it looked alien like like i am in some random body it’s hard to explain but several time’s a day i swear i look different or my body changes through out the day ? i feel like i’m living in a movie and i’m the main character
Oh my god that is exactly how I feel And I feel the face All of a sudden I’ll just be like “wait. These aren’t my hands. This isn’t my face. I’m not who I’m supposed to be. Who am I?”
I don't know what this is, but it mixes with my anxiety, and I constantly feel as if in in a coma, and my whole life is a dream in that coma, and everything I say and do is being monitored and watched, and that I have no free will and my whole life is just a pre made out dream and I have never typed this or talked about it and I thought I was going crazy I really wish I could know if this is normal, or if I'm fake Oh shit now I'm beginning to believe my mind
Honestly, I’m going through the same thing and feel like I can’t convince myself that this is real life, even after waking up from a dream in the morning. Just know that we’re worrying that we are starting to believe it, like we are starting to go insane but we definitely are not.
Yeah I've had this since i was a child. I don't remember a time where I wasn't floating. It gets worse when my anxiety disorder acts up so I currently can't focus my eyes correctly. It is incredibly frustrating.
Ever since I was 16 I've been feeling this on and off, sometimes super strong episodes. I am 23 now. Here are my triggers/symptoms... Triggers: bright lights, hangovers(DP is so severe during these), lack of sleep. Symptoms: weak, jelly- like legs, feeling like I'll pass out, the need for constant deep breaths, and in general, I just feel disconnected. It feels like my consciousness is 50% there when if should be 100%. Also important to note, I am an extremely happy person; I am in college full time planning to become a lawyer. I have a girlfriend, I love sports, etc. It is literally just this issue that is bothering me so much, nothing else! It seems like it never goes fully away.
i was diagnosed with this about two or three years ago because i had just lost my sister to suicide and i blamed myself for it and our situations are similar in the way we experience it. as for your suggestions for helping with it, i think i might try the tmsing as well as taking that vitamin as i haven't done those yet. also thank you for posting about this because i am glad that i am not alone!
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TIPS: - i like to remind myself that im present by always keeping a journal with me and reading all the notes my friends have written to me and most of the time it does the job. - every so often i get up and do some streched. - also, have someone hug you or touch you in an uplifting way! - of course, always try to think positively!
hoshijoo people using my name in conversations and touching my shoulder is so helpful! Also warm things like hot showers and steamy soup. The same with really cold things like ice water. Doesn't fix it totally but it makes the world a little brighter! Thanks for the tips!
I'm so sorry about your sister. Weirdly enough, I started dissociating after I also lost my sister to complications due to a suicide attempt (also two years ago) -- it can feel very isolating and scary. But you're right, you're not alone. <3
What helps me is focusing on sensation (Five things you can see, four things you can hear, three things you can smell, etc etc). I also listen to music to help ground me better by focusing on the lyrics, or a specific instrument in the song. Putting your hands under warm water or sticking an ice cube in your mouth may also help.
When dodie talked about it... it's weird because I felt so many of these things before like sometimes my vision used to go black (and thinking back to it it was when I was really stressed out also) I remember one time I looked in the mirror and it didn't look like myself... like I knew I was looking at me but I didn't recognized myself like something was off and I can't explain why. And I 100% remember like last year and 2 years ago I felt like I wasn't thinking correctly like I didn't feel grounded at all. I forgot about everything and if became hard to think correctly? I really don't know how to explain not thinking correctly. It's like my brain wasn't organizing experiences and thoughts correctly. Idk I'm not saying I have this condition because it doesn't happen to be a lot but I remember experiencing some of these things before
+Rashida Roberta Bint Robert Pierce walking living nightmare just now sort of unreal ...but guess this is way it feels .its just not normal state to be in I'm grieving and heartbroken and removed from reality at same time
+Rashida Roberta Bint Robert Pierce But I used to get feelings of being not quite in reality when a child and it teens and twenties ,Excuse my spelling mistakes and other mistakes please
I had this condition last year, it felt overwhelming with fear like I feel like everything I see doesn't feel real or my surroundings feels unreal. That was really my horrible month of my life.
i’ve watched this video so many times and always recommend it to people because of how you describe it. it brings a sense of comfort knowing it not a lone even if it feels like it
Coconut .*. Grease I have this feeling often where it’s like I’m watching a video of my life, like I’m disconnected from it and am like in the back of my head.
I appreciate your openness and honesty regarding this topic. Mental illnesses outside of depression and anxiety are rarely talked about in detail and there is still so much stigma around it. I really appreciate this video.
MinistressForMagic same here. I’ve never heard of this condition before, so it’s great to learn about it from someone who can explain what it feels like to them.
MinistressForMagic same, I have depression and ADHD and YouTube and Reddit have been way more helpful than my doctors and therapist. We need more research on all of this.
Then you clearly do not even know about depression and anxiety. It is very common to have derealization with those disorders. It's basically a symptom of those disorders.
isn't derealization caused by anxiety and depression? it is hard for many people to describe the symptoms they feel. and it is scary to tell others as fear that they might not be understood and they don't realize that many many many others feel the same
xoxXOXO l Also, depression and anxiety are unfortunetaly "so" represented that they end up being wildly misunderstood still, like people having an image of panic attacks in class from movies whereas for me it's much more like feeling like drowning and forgetting something hugely important at ALL times...
I remember when I was around 8 years old and I looked at my mom and said, "are you real? is this real?" and she got scared I was showing signs of early onset psychosis, but I was just going through derealization. It's so difficult to socialize during it because I feel like an alien masquerading as a human in an ill fitting skin suit. Everything feels like almost like a stimulation. It's not as jarring/scary as it was for me when I was a kid, but I think it's mostly because it's become my "normal".
I've had derealization happen to me 3 times in my life when my depression had peaked. it happened to me in the most inconvenient moments, during class. It's terrifying.
To everyone reading the comments. Feeling spacey (brain fog) is a VERY common thing and most people will experience it at some point in their life. It is when it occurs for an extended amount of time (EX: months, years) and interferes with your daily life and relationships that it becomes a disorder. There is so much self-diagnosing these days that everyone seems to all have clinical depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, and an anxiety disorder. Please don't add this one to the list. It is hard enough for this one to be understood and taken seriously. Just trust me when I tell you that every single person in the comments does not have DP/DR disorder...
tanye west i’m glad i found this comment bc i have like 10-20 minute episodes of brain fog like every couple days or so and i felt like it wasn’t this chronic disorder but i can relate to how it’s described bc i have these episodes every so often. i was trying to see if people have what i have and i know this isn’t quite the same. thank u for confirming that this disorder is chronic
@Emily Sikora Experiencing a symptom of something does not mean you have it. It's like if everyone who experienced a headache thought they had brain cancer. Brain fog is one of the major symptoms of this disorder. Brain fog itself is so common that most of the population will experience it. Does that mean everyone has this chronic disorder? No. But people will still self diagnose. It seems to be the same for every other mental disorder too.
I was looking for the one comment that didn't self diagnose. It's very frustrating to see people, who really don't know what this disorder, try and say they have it because they've felt one minor symptom. That's like every single comment.
So true! Brain fog or spacing out isnt the same. Dpdr is much more intense like feeling extremely high. Visual distortions, a feeling of extreme isolation, feeling like you are forgetting everything you know... and its terrifying. I have had it 3 months and its been the worst time of my life.
@The Blanket Fort Cohort I get how you feel.. Just wondering.. Are you in therapy for it? Cuz I actually am and it's working really well! It's called EMDR therapy. And I highly recommend it. Wish you luck! ❤
Eh The reason why self diagnosis might seem common in this moment section is because it's likely that these people specifically wondered the same thing and looked it up, had it been a normal event, they could've brushed it off. Self diagnosis isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Because perhaps these people now feel understood and too are glad that it has a name.
It's hard for a person to be told these things after you deny that nothing is wrong even tho you know something is right. I was told by people that I have anxiety.. but I still hate using the words even tho the doctors told me I have it.. it is annoying when people self diagnose.. cuz it's hard as a person with anxiety to even say that's what you have..
Hehe. Just by seeing the title I knew every comment would be "I have this") I've seen it before. This girl explained it pretty well though, that the feeling might be familiar, but not to jump to conclusions..
I don't think self-diagnosis is bad per se though, much like medical diagnosis is not guaranteed to be accurate, especially in psychiatry. That being said you need a lot of information to be able to attempt or question a diagnosis. And essentially what matters is the solution, not the label.
It seems like everyone has depression and anxiety these days because a lot of the population does. There has been numerous studies stating that this day and age majority of the population has mental disorders, and derelistaion is the third most common mental illness in the world so. Everyone is self diagnosing because sometimes doctors dont know what you're dealing with. You know your body better than anyone else
Thank you. As someone who's been diagnosed by medical professionals with generalized anxiety disorder, depression, autism spectrum disorder (with the expected sensory processing disorder too), have had one doctor say he suspects PTSD (no diagnosis however so I don't just say I have it without first clarifying that it's only been suspected), as well as a few physical things like chronic acid reflux, it infuriates me when people are a little sad and call themselves depressed or get a bit nervous and say they have anxiety... Like damn people you're allowed to watch videos like this because it looks interesting (like me)
Honestly. A lot of people experience derealization and such without it being a disorder and just a brain’s reaction to high stress. But the difference is that it goes away. I know I’ve experienced it when my anxiety has gotten too high and I physically can’t handle it. But once I’m out of the situation, I’m good. But I know I don’t have DP/DR disorder.
Emmy F No one in the comments has this disorder? Are you sure? People that have been diagnosed with something or are about to, tend to look up information on the internet. They’ll read and watch everything there is to find.
Imagine you're someone who has experienced these symptoms, but you come across this comment and think "Yeah, that's right, I probably don't have this," and then going years undiagnosed, during which time it gets worse and worse. Everyone in the comments section doesn't have this condition, but unanimously deciding that everyone who questions whether or not they might have it is deluding themselves is a bit of a stretch. P.S. depression and mental illness is more widespread than you think, and people aren't getting help because they keep convincing themselves that there's nothing wrong.
I personally don't think I have a dp/dr disorder but I definitely do experience it as a result of trauma. what's frustrating to me is that it's less likely that I have regular ptsd and that it's probably more likely c-ptsd but c-ptsd isn't even in the dsm-v so there's not a lot of ways it can be treated :/
also just because it interferes with daily life for over a month it doesn't mean its a dissociative disorder, it just means you have a symptom that over half of the disorders in the DSM share. also depending on location many people do have anxiety/depression. the rate is really high because our world is going to shit.
Actually I have been searching for what this is since 2011. Once it happened to me it never stopped. I havent ever woke and was cleared headed since my first episode. I thought it was medical like I was lacking a vitamins or maybe I cracked my nick or back and hurt my spine or had a stroke. Hearing you guys talk about has given me some hope. I even went to the Mayo clinic in Rochester. I have some other health issues but no one has ever told me about this one. I need to learn more.
Jamie Cragle ~ Hi!! Yes, videos about it are very helpful especially when you don’t know what going on. And some of the best help comes from those who have recovered from it. Many people do recover! DP/DR is often your brain trying to protect you from trauma/anxiety. But of course, it doesn’t feel like that and it’s very scary. The best thing you can do is distract yourself and know that there is hope and that you don’t need to worry. It’ll make it worse. Lol! Also, taking a B-complex vitamin and D doesn’t hurt. lol! I’m editing this to add that my original comment was meant for those who have felt the feeling before but only every once in a while. Bc that is a normal feeling. It’s when it’s all the time then it turns into a disorder. And people get confused then think they have it an panic and never get properly diagnosed. It’s kind of like how everyone seems to think they have clinical depression now. What happens when someone thinks they have something and actually don’t, they hurt the people who do have it because they don’t actually understand. And I know DP/DR disorder is rare. So when every comment is someone stating they have it. It gets concerning.
Just because even you DO have a disorder, its not mandatory to be diagnosed. I get it, for some people it makes them relieved when there diagnosed, but make sure you want to be diagnosed for yourself, not other people.(basically not because you want attention)
thank u for this cause it makes it rlly hard for ppl who are diagnosed/figuring out their diagnosis to feel recognized and validated for their struggles.
I have autism which i have been diagnosed with as well as anxiety and DR/DP which goes with my PTSD as well. Its odd how some mental disorders carry other ones and so forth. However people self diagnosing i dont mind it as long as they plan on getting checked out asap to be sure and not go around saying that. But DP/DR is so little in my list of disorders i barley remember it because its just my life, sure it makes me super vulnerable and not able to enjoy family moments or remember things but its sometimes comforting.
@Pagan Athiest ~ hey! Thanks for the comment! I wanted to add to what you said. I feel like over-normalizing and making mental disorders trendy is what’s really hurting mental health in the social media world. I’m watching as mental disorders are being misunderstood and over self-diagnosed. Which makes each mental illness appear less serious and extremely common.
i have it but yeah, i agree. it's perfectly acceptable if you really can't get a diagnosis but are properly educated and aren't just claiming mental illnesses because you feel like it. but yeah, otherwise self diagnosing is so awful and really damaging and offensive.
@M Mellette Emmy F said in the starting comment: “Just trust me when I tell you that every single person in the comments does not have DP/DR disorder...” That means ‘no one in the comments’. So what did I say wrong?
I totally get what you're saying, but you shouldn't shame everyone who's self diagnosed, derealization is not so common and some therapists can't diagnose it also not everyone has access to a therapist, so if the person takes the issue seriously and actually is feeling like this continuously(and has done proper research) then self diagnosis isn't a bad thing
i feel weirdly disconnected from both myself and my surroundings and it's been happening for a month but i don't feel anything like dodie described herself feeling ? idk what this is but like sometimes i realize im supposed to be here and it feels weird because i don't feel like im here ? is this depersonalization ? it doesn't affect me doing things, the only difference i've seen so far is that time is speeding by like so fast that it's not letting me do things ?
@summer If it started after taking a certain drug--stop using that drug or any other hallucinogenic drug. If it still persists I would suggest looking you some grounding meditation techniques and giving them a try. Best of luck to you.
@rightattheend you do have depersonalization/derealization, i hope you do get better! ive been having this disorder for 3 years but still in this state
legit me, but i makes me panic a lot cos like i feel like my family n friends are just something my brain has created and no one is real and i’m just here.
I have a history of derealizing during times of heightened anxiety. It's so, so, so so so scary. I can't imagine feeling like that all the time. It's worse than the anxiety itself, i feel like I'm the only person in the whole world that's real, everything and everyone else is fuzzy and two dimensional. I'm so fortunate that this isn't a constant thing for me.
I burst into tears watching this I had no idea other people felt like this. Thank you for making this video it is incredibly validating to know I’m not alone
I started crying as well. I’ve been sick for the past 5 years (it all started after a bad car wreck and PTSD) but the foggy/spacey/dreamy feeling has been more present this past year. I’ve been to so many doctors, had counseling (for awhile), gone to my psychiatrist, had eyes checked, gone to neurologist and had testing done, trying to sort things out yet somehow, other things kept popping up. I never thought that the dreamy feeling I was experiencing was valid, or that I was actually feeling it. ‘Maybe it was just a bad day, a bad week, a bad month,’ I kept telling myself. But it wasn’t. What I’m feeling is valid and real, even if everything else feels unreal. And watching this incredible video proved that. I found such an immense sense of comfort and of calmness after watching this video. I told my mom and we’re going to schedule an appointment with my counselor, to sort everything out, and then hopefully begin finding the best kind of treatment for me. None of us are alone in this fight that we call life (I’m felling very poetic at the moment lol muh bad) and we can all find comfort with the incredible (and definitely real) people around us. Hope that you’re doing better, after finally knowing that you are definitely NOT alone💗💗
This is very interesting actually. I read Dodie's book and I found the whole thing amazing. But I did find the concept of this interesting but difficult to comprehend. This sounds like a really difficult struggle. I really send hope to anyone going through this.
don't worry we're all real, other people notice you so we are all real, we just have either some problems we can extinguish forever. I wish mental illnesses did not exist. :/. Maybe we have went through a bad experience l ike the person above said, and our brain wants to protect us by thinking it's not real. So in order to get out of it I'm guessing we have to either change our lifestyle a little or meditate or find a therapist. I'm no specialist, i'm just a 15 year old with the same problem. Just my recommendation, i'm going to try it sometime. Anyone know any good hobbies I can start doing? (I'm a boy by the way)
Yes! Constantly I have to remind myself that the things around me are not actually distorted and that I'm not actually in a nightmare. It's exhausting and draining.
i know u posted this comment a while ago but for me when i’m felling ‘fuzzy’ i always have to remind myself where i am and that this is real. i know it is real but it never feels it
yeah, I've had it for a few years and some months ago I had to go to the doctors bc I was afraid I was gonna hurt myself... + i sometimes can forget days, like I can get up on Wednesday and I just can't remember Monday and Tuesday. like they are completely gone. It's enjoying, and it effekts school a lot.
i don’t but it’s weird bcs i do get the bright/fuzzy thing she was talking about...like when you’re outside and it’s really bright then you come inside and for like a second or two you can’t really see...for me it’s like purple and black fuzz in front of my vision. it’s really weird and not sure if I should be worried about it. never really was concerned about it so idk if it is normal or not. also you guys should read the Bible just saying if u aren’t Christians bcs it will help you. we will all get new bodies when He returns!
@HungryBurger619 yes I did, it eventually began fading away the more I accepted it. After handling my anxiety attacks and not fighting it, my mind later adjusted to reality :)
Wow. Now I remember what my therapist said I had. Thank you. This whole time I kept thinking the word she used was dementia. Since becoming an adult I’ve learned what that word meant and realized I was clearly remembering very wrong. I was diagnosed as a young teen in middle school and Never really understood why my therapist diagnosed me with this until now. Thank you! 🤗
When i was about 10 I started to have these weird sensations that made me feel like if everything isn't reality. Id look at people around me and they'd seem so normal while im over here feeling anxious that im in a body thats going through experiences. At 21 (!!!) An epiphany came to me that I feel that way because I AM alive and moving through time in my own body. I am a soul. And literally never had those odd anxiety episodes anymore
This is literally my first time hearing about this, but I absolutely feel this way all the time, for years... I don't know how to see a psychiatrist though.
You probably won’t see this but I just wanted to say that in music class, we have to write about our favorite artist and I chose you. You have been such an inspiration that even when you are in your lowest low you can make it out. Thank you
im experiencing derealization since 2 years now. And this is exactly that, high lights are very triggering for me, I feel like I’m ALWAYS TIRED, I forget everything, looking straight at people make their faces looks very weird. Its like i was seeing a movie in front of my eyes. And the voice I heard coming naturally from my body isnt really the person thinking. (This is really not like skizophrenia, i don’t hear voices at all^^, its just like when we are dreaming yeah) I feel like I’m high ALL THE TIME. Feel like I just hit a huge blunt and I’m not getting back from my trip lol. It’s very VERY hard for me. I can’t take things as they are, i have a cool life but this thing is destroying everything. Its funny because I use the word floating too! It describe it so much I got an appointment to see a psychiatrist in December,but I’m afraid it will stay all my life.... I saw that comment of someone saying if it have an impact on our lives than it become a disorder. I can’t do things properly, every time I hang out with friends to parties or something I feel really uncomfortable. Because of all the lights, all the people... Nobody see it because I look ok, but in my head it’s so foggy and unclear Im always tired, I can’t remember anything... I had a very important family meeting and derea HIT SO HARD. I was nearly going to faint. SO please if you are experiencing that, go see someone. A professional, or talk to your parents if you are young I never did those in 2 years and today this is a problem for my everyday life. (Sorry if any mistakes, im not from an English speaking country) Anybody experiencing that too?
Hi! I surely hope you're better. Please remember that it is a process, but that you are definitely not alone!!! You deserve health and happiness, and you will get there. Just be sure to listen to yourself and don't give up!
@francesca francesca Hello! Thank you for your answer. We are 1 year ago from that comment, I saw a psychologist, I’m feeling much better. I’m no longer experiencing déréalisation anymore ! So to everyone who is experiencing that right now, please don’t loose hope.
It’s gotten worse for me the past years, it came to a point where i also think about killing myself everyday. I’ve lost contact with every friend i ever knew and don’t have any motivation to do anything. It’s hard for me to socialize and blend in with every other person. I feel extreme tiredness after trying to socialize at all. I have an appointment at the hospital soon for this tiredness because i’ve had it for years but i feel like it has more to do with mentality than physically because i’ve done so many blood tests and i take alot of vitamins and iron medication but it just doesn’t work, i feel so dizzy and weak all the time and it just keeps getting worse. I’m so glad i watched this video or else I wouldn’t have known. Everything matches SO perfectly i’m sure that i have it. I don’t even feel things anymore. I hate changes because my brain hardly progresses new things. I used to go to 2 different psychologists but i gave up because i just had a hard time talking, telling my experiences and remembering things. Do u recommend me to go to a psychologist again? And how did they help u? I’m literally just 17 years old and my teen years have gone to waste because of this, i hope to get a reply from u
I went through the same thing a few years ago and it was the scariest time of my life. Funny enough, I didn't even know what it was until I googled "if feels like I'm dreaming all the time." It felt like I was looking through foggy glass and nothing felt vivid, I felt like I couldn't appreciate my surroundings and it caused severe panic attacks. I remember thinking "how am I going to function like a normal adult with this?"
The worst part was that no one understood, so thank you for making this video and bringing awareness to derealization.
My derealization did eventually get better, and it isn't constant anymore. However I do fall back into episodes every once and awhile... But being able to put a name to it, and understand that I'm not in any danger from it, really really helps with coping.
Hey are you better now? I’ve been derealzing and it’s causing me to stop eating and become sick from the anxiety.I was perfectly okay before, it was really sudden and I think my existential thoughts had caused it.Help?
I've literally never been able to describe these feelings out loud and while not going to self diagnose myself, these all sound like familiar aspects of my daily life.
I understand exactly how you feel. I stayed up 2 nights in a row for an exam once and my friends treated me to some alcohol and I wound up in that state. I was absolutely terrified because I thought it was chronic but it went away after I sobered up.
To all the people self-diagnosing in the comments:
Personally, it’s not too annoying for me when people hear about my dpdr and say “oh I get this and that too”, because I’ve learned over the past year that nobody is 100% okay in the head, because nothing defines ‘100% okay’. We’ve all got little tics and things that just aren’t right. I’m not okay, though, with the glorification of these symptoms and them being used as a personality trait to try and make oneself more of a three-dimensional character, which seems to happen all too often recently.
My advice for people who want to find out what’s up with them (if there is anything actually wrong) is to write down a list of symptoms you’ve been experiencing and bring them to a professional, not WebMD and not a toxic forum, because young people are now collecting mental illnesses from the DSMV like shiny Pokémon cards and that’s not good for the statistics, and it’s certainly not good for the people actually suffering from these illnesses thinking that maybe it’s normal/developmental when it’s not.
dontlookatluke exactly my point! everyone has ’something’. i do not mean to trivialize anyone’s experiences, but just because you sometimes have a hard time concentrating doesn’t mean you have adhd, you sometimes being sad and hating life doesn’t neccessarily mean you’re depressed, having emotions all over the place doesn’t equal borderline. the tip about writing down your symptoms and then going to a professional is great!
I've actually self-disgnosed drd because all the symptoms i have match all the symptoms of the disorder, but I take it? seriously? (i have been meaning to speak with a professional, dw) do people really diagnose themselves with disorders because they think its unique or something?? thats,,, p fucked up???
Hauyne yeah people do, i think its mostly in online communities where a lot of people who actually have the disorders tend to congregate and your average joe steps in, exaggerates their own experience to -- quite ironically -- fit into the group of oddballs. this could also be due to toxic spaces like some dark corners of tumblr poking fun at "neurotypical people" because they ~apparently~ are very insensitive in everything that they do and everything is ableist. i personally see no real point in self dx-ing, because in saying that you have something that has not been analyzed by a professional you could also be doing something counterproductive because the mind is quite complex, but then again it can be a great sense of comfort for fellows in dark places. i relate with you on that, although i don't claim to have the disorder because it does not really benefit me, i do associate with terms that are used to describe it because what i go through fills that mold pretty well.
and also most everyone experiences dp/dr at some point in their life and that is very normal it does not mean that you have the disorder. it is only a problem when it takes over your life and disrupts you from doing your daily activities
I hate when people glorify mental illness. it's way deeper than being edgy and just sad or scared
10 likes
Alex Volkov2018-01-15 20:38:10 (edited 2018-01-15 20:40:00 )
Yeah, scrolling down and hearing some people say "omg I feel like this too, I didn't know I had this mental illness" just makes me sad. A lot of feelings associated with mental illness can occur naturally in everybody, and usually do at some point. But an actual mental illness is completely different. For me (trigger warning here) I felt like my life was ruined when I developed this disorder - for 2 years I woke up everyday wondering if today is the day I kill myself. I had to drop out of school for a year because my paranoia was too bad for me to even go out in public during the day. I felt no happiness, no relief, nothing good at all and lost all emotional memories, it was a life of constant fear, like hell on earth itself - the people who suffer from this disorder, know something is wrong with them. It's not something you just read about and go "omg I had no idea, guess I'm mentally ill". No, you'll know it if you actually get it.
Alex Volkov I’m sorry you had to go through that. Although suicidal ideation isn’t a direct symptom, it can stem from the depression usually caused by dp/dr. God knows how many times I’ve accidentally tried to self harm while thinking I was dreaming to ‘wake up’. Hope you’re on the road to recovery and good luck!
queen jeski Somehow this comment made me so angry I started laughing.
How are we to know how much is normal if it's all we've ever known? I didn't know I had bpd because everybody around me downplayed my symptoms. Nobody ever got me tested for autism, or ADD, or depression, or stress, or anxiety..
Everyone gets so angry about so called self-diagnosis. If I had never found information online, I wouldn't have brought up my symptoms to my doctor because MY SYMPTOMS ARE NORMAL TO ME.
So when you sit there and say "just because this, doesn't mean that", you aren't helping. It just makes the people who might actually need that diagnosis doubtful of themselves and how they feel. Comments like yours are what suppressed me and made me suppress myself for years.
dontlookatluke what happened to your older videos? they definately have changed which I did not see coming lol I can see why now that I'm finding you here. which is sort of funny/cool.
dontlookatluke Thank you for this comment! This particular video is giving me a thought that maybe I should talk to my doctor, because this sounds familiar to how messed up I’ve felt over the past since forever ago. (I’m not to say those with mental illness are messed up, I just feel like my brain is broken sometimes) I do also hate how people romanticize because no mental illness is fun to deal with...
Victoria Kitten ye, looking at your symptoms is okay, but it isnt alright to tell everybody you have, for example, ptsd. yes, you might have the symptoms but that doesn't mean that you have the syndrome or whatever. talk to a proffesional and take your time on trying to understand it, not telling everybody about it just to get sympathic looks. im sorry if this is offensive to anyone, but you shouln't feel targeted if you haven't done anything like this.
dontlookatluke I've been doing a lot of research and gone on reliable sources. I match all of the symptoms, so I think it's fine to self diagnose. It's the only way I can describe how I'm feeling. I'm going to a therapist soon, but finding a name for it beforehand is not a bad thing
self diagnosing is more of a comfort thing honestly. its easier to cope with what your feeling if you can name it and learn about the symptoms. its about being able to relate. some people cant afford therapy either.
I find this very interesting. Growing up I didn’t really feel this way, I was very attached to the world. Only a couple of times did I ever have similar experiences growing up. When I would contemplate birth and death I would get the feeling of peace in a way, not of ending sorrow but of knowing that what I was was beyond this temporary life and that I would still exist beyond death. This happened only around 10 or so times going in to my high school years. Also, another instance was a memory, and it is as real as any memory I’ll ever have. A memory of me flying, over my hometown, I think, the buildings were a bit blurry. I could only see and I had no thoughts. It seemed I was flying very slow, kind of like in slow motion. These were my only instances of anything similar that you have talked about in this video which occurred while I was growing up. Now, after studying and meditating upon different processes, concepts, and knowledge, I know that what you are speaking of is the only reality. You are not the mind, nor the body, nor the intellect. You are the unchanging consciousness in which you observe everything. You observe the waking state, the dream state, and deep sleep. Everything arises and falls in you, the world is in you, you are the world, and you are one with everything. The real illusion is what you call reality. Even in dreaming, it is but an illusion. Who you are is real. And so, everything which enters and goes from your consciousness is just like everything that enters and goes in your dream. It is you. This is called advaita Vedanta. Non-dual spirituality. And gaining this knowledge I used the instances growing up to help me know the non-dual nature of existence. You will always exist. You are existence itself, pure consciousness. What I find interesting is that you are immersed in the true reality without knowledge, and so think of it as illusion. I am immersed with knowledge, and observe it as alone real. I highly recommend learning the teachings of advaita Vedanta as I think this can help you immensely. It will help you deal with the illusoriness of the world. Swami vivekenanda, swami sarvapriyananda, and Arsha Bodha are all great places to learn on YouTube. I wish you luck.
I went through this when I was 18 for a brief period of time when things in my family started going south. My doctor said my brain was trying to protect me but it happened so fast and was so scary, I remember sitting my mom down and telling her I wouldn't be able to live life in this state and I would kill myself if I didn't get better. My mom is an alcoholic and my parents were at the beginning of their divorce when this happened so things were often ugly at home. I worked at a drugstore and my older coworkers were sharing some of their drunk stories when it hit me. All of a sudden my hands looked fake, my voice sounded like I was listening to it through an answering machine, I couldn't put names to faces.... It was terrifying. I felt like I was in a dream and couldn't tell if I was awake or would wake up soon. I eventually got on anxiety medication and luckily for me I was grounded in reality again. I remember feeling hopeless, scared, suicidal, confused. I remember saying "I wouldnt wish this on my worst enemy".
I'm 25 and while I have other mental health conditions, I was lifted from the haze. I feel real. I'm not sure what pulled me out, but I know it's possible. If you are reading this and need someone to talk to I am here for you.
So ive been thinking that life is a dream for almost a year or so..And i just can't get over it.. I told my mom my dad but they can't do anything about it they sometimes just stare at me like I'm crazy...So pls help me get over this its a horrible feeling...My friend had this too she tried to help but it didn't work... Sometimes i just wanna kill myself bc of it... Please help me :( And actually sometimes i would cry hard bc of this whole fucking thing! ....If anyone knows how to cure this pls say so it would mean so much to me♥.. Thank you :)..♥
I was getting a feeling of altered reality, (very dreamlike when I was getting vertigo frequently). I also disassociate because of PTSD. Glad you got a diagnosis hun.
Pepromene I think they're confusing it with just being human... I day dream a lot and prefer to be in my head than in reality but doesn't everyone? It doesn't mean you're special or have a mental illness. Anyone who thinks they have this should go and see a mental health doctor so they can confirm it and receive any help they need instead of writing a few paragraphs in the YouTube comments. By no means am I stating that there's nothing 'wrong' with them but there's a fine line between the average human mind and mental illness.
Well, she did say it's a common symptom of things like depression (which is rather common), and since this video has almost 400.000 views, 40.000 likes and 4000 comments so far, that gives you somewhere around 1-10% of viewers having that symptom (if you assume every commenter does). Doesn't sound too unlikely to me, especially considering she does talk about mental health in many of her videos and is likely attracting an audience that appreciates that .
Halcyonacoustic not really, you’d think a large percentage of her fans would just want to watch the video no matter the title. Plus, it had only been up for a short while when I commented so it would surprise me if all these comments have come from people who aren’t subscribed to dodie and are here purely for this subject.
Agreed, especially as derealisation/depersonalisation is often a symptom alongside anxiety disorders. It's rarer to have it persist for years, but the 'surreal' feeling itself is not at all unusual in small phases for most people who are already suffering with another mental health problem.
there's almost 500k views and about 5k comments. i would assume people who have experienced this such as myself and know what it is would be attracted to this video and leave a comment to connect with other people who have too. it's a strange feeling many don't talk about or understand, it's nice to have your experiences validated. (:
I don’t expect people who don’t feel this way would take the time to leave a comment about how they don’t relate, you know what I mean? It might just be that
LaVonne West a lot of people want to relate or have some kind of illness. Yes it sounds wrong, and it kinda is, but there sure are some people that for example don’t have a nice life. Getting compliments and motivation from people is wanted and attention is appreciated. I’m not calling out anybody, but i’m just saying that even i was once like that.
now i’m scared because i think i have it i’ve had these symptoms for a couple years now and i never knew what it was i always thought it was just anxiety but the description fits perfectly to me now idk if i’m just lying to myself 😭
People would be googling to see what they might have. Her viewers for this specific video would be different than a regular video. People who don't relate wouldn't comment. People who do would and would enjoy finding people like them and therefore reach out more.
I experienced this often during the time that my son was having a severe regression in development and my grandmother was dying. I have also had this occasionally during times of conflict like in school when being bullied etc. It is precipitated by extreme stress. I feel physical activity helps some. For what ever reason I have not experienced it recently.
I was left alone a lot as a child and i distinctly remember that feeling of floating out of yourself. I would swing between being convinced that i wasn't real and being convinced that i was actually insane. Being around others is important!
I have the same issues... I see so many people do also now and it makes me feel relief. I’ve been on anti depressants and anxiety medications, tranquilizers and therapy. It is that feeling of everything moving faster in pace and you are trying to focus, but that feeling of disconnect. Thank you for this video. I see it was posted a couple years ago, but you have made me feel more self aware and that I am not crazy. When I see my therapist, I now know what I can reference.
Thank you for describing derealisation in such a mature way, that really helped me, as someone who does not experience derealisation (but does suffer from depression and social anxiety), understand what it is like to experience derealisation. Thank you dodie.
I've tried explaining to my friends that when I am in a bad spot, I can't tell the difference between dreams and reality. Theres a whole year I barely remember except for small parts. No one understands it when I talk about it but this makes it make more sense to me. Maybe this is what's going on :)
I feel like Ive lost my whole perception of time like I don’t remember when things took place anymore and the days just get jumbled together and fly by. Like I was never even a part of them and these aren’t even my memories
It must be really weird and tiring to have derealization all the time! I only feel this on anxiety attacks including sometimes depersonalization but all the time! you're so brave 💝 thank you for sharing it
im so glad you have this which reads to me that it is not a condition, but a blessing. I can understand how this world has a hard time to understand it that they just call it "condition".
Wow, Hi I’m fourteen, and yesterday I went to a therapist for the first time because of derealization. Being in school, you need to constantly stay focused and on task. Yet class would go by in a blur, it was like there were white clouds over my vision and sound was muffled. And after class, my friends would ask what was wrong, I would be sitting in my seat with a distorted face not looking at anything just staring forward. I looked confused by they would say, whilst in reality I was trying to wipe away the clouds blocking away my vision. I felt as though I was going insane. Already depressed I felt defeated, left alone in the world. I have started to self harm, as I fell only deeper into depression because of the stress mental illness brings upon us. Yet as I went to a therapist yesterday and I found out I’m not alone. It was so funny to see this video pop up on my feed after all this happened. I haven’t tried any treatment yet, but I hope so soon. I’m seen as an annoyance to teachers as when they ask me to read or answer a question I take at least 30 seconds to snap out of my state. And though it seems like not much time, 30 seconds is enough to get you some bullying. I’m seen as a freak and a weirdo, and I’m scared to talk about it. Yet watching this video, I felt as though I was talking to a friend! You are such an inspiring beautiful person, and I hope you realize that! Xoxo Mollie from Seattle P.S If anyone else does read this, if you are feeling this way reach out to a trusted teacher! My old teacher from 7th grade (Ms. Weed) yes weed.. She is absolutely amazing and sweet. I told her about how I felt, and it really kickstarted my journey to getting better!
Hope all goes well! I am also considered an annoyance to my teachers, like I will ask a question and they yell at me for not paying attention but I was, I feel like I just blank out as if there's a tiny hole of my memory from something someone just said or showed is missing, and its hard to focus on classwork, (and that means late assignments ick) and it makes me feel better to see someone my age going through something similar, (oml I suck at writing)
Same, it's just so hard when you have to deal with this at school. I've once forced myself to focus on what the teacher is saying but it felt so blurry but no one knew. I'll try to tell my mom so she can get me a therapist. Hope to recover, hope you do too <3
Thank you for sharing! I can’t relate that much besides the depression but I think you’re a very strong person and wish you the best of luck on the road to recovery!
AsLovely thx for commenting! Trust me I tried, my school counselors suck! But good advice to anyone else who is struggling with the same issue I have!! Xoxo
John Laurens same here! I asked like three questions in math class yesterday and my teacher had apparently already answered all of them! It’s so stressful when that happens because now everyone thinks you’re stupid but really you just have a condition! I hope you can find some help too!! It’s so amazing, I didn’t think anyone was going to read my comment but all of these are so reassuring! Xoxo Mollie
Same. I don’t have derealisation but I always find it so hard to concentrate on work. I have to read it over and over before It clicks. Especially if it’s a big piece of writing. I’m not dumb but I think some people think I’m dumb because i find it hard to take things in.
I could not have put my feelings into any better words than the way you just did. I had my first doctors appointment last week and I’m so glad I went. My mum has been asking me about going since July last year, so I made the decision to say yes. Please please please, know that you aren’t alone in feeling like this. Reach out to me any time you’d like, seems like we feel the same so if you need someone to talk to I understand how you’re feeling. -Liv, The UK x
Mollie O. I hope therapy continues to help you down the line! It won't be easy, but believe in yourself as much as you can, because we all believe in you!
And something I've found helpful, if you're struggling with self worth and allowing yourself to be helped ((like me)), is imagining that you are one of your friends. This may sound confusing, but I'll try to explain as best as I can. Separate your mind 'you' and your visual/physical 'you'. Your mind you is the one who thinks about everything and is the actual you that you feel ((I guess kind of like your soul being)). Imagine that you are looking at your visual self, as if they were your best friend. Your best friend is struggling with so many things and needs so much love and support right now. But they don't love them self enough to get help, or continue with the help they're already getting. You would obviously want to help them even more, right? Well then, help them. That best friend is you, and you are your best friend. You need so much support from yourself and you need to allow yourself to give that support. I hope that makes any kind of sense ;; if not, feel free to ask me to explain again and I'll gladly find a better way of explaining it! Being kind to yourself is so tough, but accepting the fact that you do deserve love and support is the first step to getting better. Accepting that fact is one of the most difficult things in the world ((at least for me)), but it'll be so worth it once you get there.
Thanks for reading if you did :) ((I realise now that this was directed at you, but also a big message for myself bc I'm still not in a healthy position yet haha,, but we can work through this together!!))
I went to a therapist today because of my depression, dr/dp, eating disorder and panic attacs and like you I’m very young (15) so yay for us hopefully we’ll get better soon
Clara Elisabeth here’s to getting better! I’m 15 too, it really sucks that the average sort of age for people suffering with mental health issues is so young now
Mollie O. SAME I'm 16 the worst thing is when a teacher says something about that people can't interact with each other and I'm like "me right now" or that we're such a good class(group, then i think "not me") On Tuesday teacher said "if someone answers that question gets a five(mark)" after about 20 sec I answered correctly gave me a high five(and I thought the whole time, till the end of the lesson " I will finally get a good mark at geography" and then i went to his table and asked "so i will get this five?" and he answered "i already gave you" after 5 seconds i finally understood. People from school think I'm stupid and lazy not that It's a health condition. I've been taking Asentra(non-addictive antidepressant) 50mg for a month. On Monday I went to a normal psychiatrist for the first time( then one month ago it was a hospital psychiatry visit bc i got a referral to a hospital but there was no place for me but this psychiatrist was so kind and lovely even though my apathic and anhedonic behaviour, that visit was for free) and I didn't like it even my mom said that she's not good. She even asked my mom in front of me am i always talking(mumbling) like that. She asked me where I go to school and she told she was going to the same one and then she said "It's not a school that would make you depressed" xd oh i'm sorry the thought that everyone thinks I'm stupid is depressive in school lol and for this and for increasing my Asentra dose to 100mg my mom had to pay ;( Lately I was thinking a lot that It might be a some other disease(not a thyroid or diabetes bc i've already had the blood test and everything was ok) but once about one year ago i fell of a horse and when i was being transported to a hospital with a helicopter I got a convulsions attack(it was the worst feeling in my life even worse than what i'm getting through now) my heart was pounding about to 200 per minute and i couldn't do anything about that)when we landed medical lifeguards asked me if i had epilepsy i said i didn't think so i hadn't had anything like that before when i barely went to the bathroom i felt dizziness looking into a mirror and then my head leaned to this mirror and my mom caught me before i fell( she said it was like that) i don't remember this moment bc i passed out. What i remember is that felt like dreaming about white(idk xd) And from that accident when i got more stressed or i thought about something else on clases i was getting derealised. My dad and grandma has depression. I was so stressed all day today at school because i had physics tests. of course i studied yesterday and everything but today all the knowledge just disappeared. When i feel normal(recently never) I'm making video edits, reading and watching tv series but i don't want to do any of that and if I'm trying I don't enjoy it. Of course I'm always tired, have digestive problems(i lost 3 kg), headaches, i can't get a comfortable sleep, in general everything hurts. Tomorrow our school is going to the cinema, but i'm probably not bc what if i get dizzy and pass out trying to concentrate on Star Wars XD And i don't have a counselor or psychologist at school but my parents are trying to find me another psychiatrist It's so good to know that I'm not alone. Wish me luck in finding a knew psychiatrist <3 I hope all of you will feel better <3 ps i was writing this for almost three hours XD sorry for bad english but you know XD
mythical. Hey! So happy so many people going through the same thing are commenting over here! I’m sorry about your situation about therapy, my first initial response is it’s not always going to click at first. Look around not everyone finds a good counselor on the first try! Or, what I did, was find a therapist who specializes in your age group. They understand so much better and get how your feeling. I know it’s hard, trust me! But force yourself to not give up and keep looking, because once you find a good one you will feel so much better! I promise! At least now you know you aren’t alone, and you aren’t going insane! Lots of love!! Xoxo
I was always an anxious kid. My DR/DP started when I had too much wine at prom night when I was 16 😆 Something must have switched off in my brain and everything became numb and dreamlike. 10 years later I've realised that the best way is to just live your best life regardless. DP & DR is your brain trying to protect itself, treat it like it's not a problem and use those numb feelings to your advantage. Overthinking it will trigger the underlying anxiety which was, most likely, already present before DR. I really struggle with memory and concentration as a result of the disorder, this is always at it's worst when I'm tired; make sure you sleep well and stick to routine. We're all in this together and I'm so glad there's a big online community for this now. Take care of yourself and keep sharing your experiences, you're not alone!
the way you described this is really helpful. I always thought that something is wrong with me that I'm not really present at the scene, even though I'm standing there with my friends, even if I'm there, I'm still missing from the scene.
Thank you for this video! It helped me a lot. I am diagnosed with this condition since 2 years but have it since 5 I guess. At first I thought I was going crazy bc I experience it also all the time. Terrifying.
But we are not alone and we will find a way out! :) or into reality however
basically the last 4 years of my life feel blurry, i can't remember the feeling of being present in our dinner last week, it feels like everything is 2D and I struggle a lot with spacial thinking, which leads me to me being super anxious and scared about driving
I had just found out about this the other day when I watched your video. I can't say that I suffer from this since I have not been diagnosed but I definitely relate to what you are going through. For the longest time I struggled with remembering things and I felt like the real me died and I was a clone of myself trying to carry on from where I last left off. I struggled with knowing who I was and I felt so alone, like I didn't even have myself which was quite difficult. Every now and again I don't feel like I am me and I have to force myself to be grounded and realize what is going on. Although that part has improved as time has gone on I still struggle with understanding that I am in reality and that every decision I make has an impact on my life. I have fallen incredibly behind on my schoolwork and I often find myself doing a "side quest" instead of what I actually need to do. It is hard for it to click in that I can't waste my days away doing nothing if I have goals of being somebody. I also am always daydreaming and its so vivid that I can't always differentiate my relationships with people in my head versus real life.
It makes it so difficult to learn anything or create anything! I feel nothing 95% of the time and just floating through life. Mine doesn't feel like a dream but like my life is a movie happening through my eyes.
@Megan Cassimatis I wish you good luck on your journey through life.
This is a pretty awful handicap but we just have to hope it can be treated one day!
It's probably really common to be misdiagnosed as depressed, many can't comprehend the emptiness we feel. No happiness, but no sadness either, true limbo.
It's thought to be caused by extreme emotional stress, and you can randomly "come back" at any time. 🤞
i sometimes get these moments where i am like "um what am i doing what is happening" and then just going back to normal. or sometimes i just dont feel anything and come back. that hasnt happened in a while but when it does, it shakes me up😂
I fell the same to like I'm in a movie and sometimes I would think something like "what's next " or I would be somewhere and 3 days after I would fell like I had done it yesterday.
What you’re describing is exactly what true reality is. All of you that experience this means you’re actually closer to your soul self than the rest of us who are firmly planted in the material world. You should delve in to the spirituality of it all and realize that you’re not grounded here, but you are in touch with the higher realms and this truly is just a dream or a movie. I would give anything to be able to experience this truth. I know it’s a dream of being in a movie or a play where I’m looking through my eyes as a projector, but I don’t experience it that way. I only know it intellectually. If any of you decide to start meditating, you’ll probably be downloaded amazing spiritual gifts since you’re much closer to source. Channeling, Clairvoyance, Clairaudience, Clairesentience. Etc
B. Wolfe if this is true why can’t I hold a job? Why do I have panic attacks a lot? Why do I hate being looked at? Why am I terrified that everything is going to go haywire in this “dream”? Like I’m going to just completely lose it. ): I really don’t like the feeling of not being grounded. It’s scary.
"my life is a movie happening through my eyes" that's literally how i've tried to explain it as well! I'm so glad i'm not the only one. I've tried many ways of explaining it to myself and I've found that it's sometimes like looking at a painting. When I look at something beautiful like a sunset, i can see that it's there but i don't feel like I'm a part of it. It's like I see every color on its own but not the sunset as a whole piece and I can't take it in and process what it is I'm seeing. It's just there and i can't really enjoy it
Everything feels like a dream constantly for me too. I actually “woke up” from it randomly one night. I woke up and I was 9 years old again. Suddenly my entire environment fell out of context, I recognized the items that occupied it- but none of it felt like mine. I sat up in bed and was inundated by all of the information that I was suddenly processing over the last 11 years. I was so tired I passed out again. I “fell asleep” and when I woke up again I felt like I’ve been in a dream again since then. It was like a taste of what it was like to be alive again and it makes me feel really really sad. I don’t know what triggered re-realization for me but I want to figure it out
I didn't know there was an actual diagnosis for this! I've been having a really rough time disassociating and it's affecting everything so horribly! I'm gonna talk to my doctor about this, thank you!!!
I have been feeling this way more and more often and I'm starting to get concerned. I've had a really bad depressive episode for the past couple of months so that could be the reason + quarantine. It feels like when I go out in public, mostly in large places with a lot of lights/people (the mall), I feel like I can't look around. Like yes, I can phisically see, but it's like everything is blurry and confusing and I don't remember any of it later. It's not clear and vivid, it's like I'm dreaming. And then I feel extremely tired and drained and need to rest as soon as I get home. If you're reading this and you have a Derealisation diagnosis, could you share in the comments if you had similar experiences and if you think I should see a doctor?
Hi lovely, just stumbled upon your channel.Thank you for talking about this, I feel so much less lonely watching your videos. <3 I've struggled with BPD for... as long as I can remember and one of my most problematic symptoms is dissociation. I've noticed, however, in the past four years since finding out I was pregnant with my daughter that it is getting progressively worse to the point that I'm now, pretty much, in some dissociated state about 70-80% of my days. I feel like a house and someone is going around shutting the lights off one by one and honestly, I'm terrified. I feel like I'm floating above myself all the time and my world gets less and less vivid. My perinatal mental health nurse wanted to refer me to a neurologist at one point because she wasn't convinced it was possible with a BPD diagnosis. I'm really starting to wonder if chronic dissociation can happen as a result of untreated BPD? I took meds for a while but if anything I think it made it worse, they tried me on different anti-psychotics (aripiprazole, quetiapine and carbamazepine) and my psychiatrist was/is reluctant to keep me under the BPD umbrella but wouldn't refer me for an ASD assessment and never, ever mentioned DPRD/DPDR to me ever so here's my first ever introduction to those terms. Sorry, this has been an essay... but... yeah, basically, thank you. I think I need to chase this up with my CMHT. xxx
This video was very helpful for me and I realised I had this my whole life! I am now diagnosed and working with a therapist to feel better. Thanks a lot, really thank you!
I cried the first time I stumbled across this video because I had never heard my exact feelings and sensations put into words so perfectly and it was bizarre because I wasn't even looking for anything related to this or to mental health at all on youtube but it still somehow came up in my recommended videos. Since discovering this over two years ago I've not only discovered my love for Dodie and her music but I too have started my journey to hopefully beating this thing. I've started therapy (twice) once with a therapist who was not a good fit and again recently with a new therapist who I have a better feeling about. She specializes in EMDR therapy which I've heard can help and I'm excited to try. And although I still struggle with all of it I'm hopeful, and this is just my long-winded way of saying thank you thank you thank you for making this.
Hey dodie, if net neutrality ends up being repealed in the US, I just wanted to say how much you’ve helped me this past year. It breaks my heart when I think of not ever getting to listen to your music or watch your videos in the same way ever again. Your videos and songs have kept me afloat when I felt like drowning, and I don’t know where I’d be if it weren’t for you. Thank you so much, you’ve helped me feel again. You’ve helped me figure myself out and made me laugh and cry in the best ways. If by any chance you see this, and if net neutrality ceases to be, goodbye.
Rebecca Ogden I'm so sorry..but I don't think this is the end. People are so outraged at this that I don't think it'll last long. But maybe not. And I hope that maybe you'll be able to watch her still, it mostly depends on your internet provider..
Ok y’all when I wrote this i didn’t understand it as well as i Do now, I was scared and I was basically basing my feelings off of rumors. I get it now, and I’m not trying to come across as passive aggressive or anything, but please stop bringing it up, I would really appreciate it. Thank you
this was made 2 years ago but i came back to the comments again. a year before this video was made i was diagnosed with derealisation. my friend's phone showed this notification because she is a big fan of your music and videos..i was so happy when i read the notification. most people think i'm crazy when i describe how it feels to them, but knowing other people experience the same things makes me feel better about it. we will get through this! i feel like this comment section is a safe space for me to read other people's stories and how it effects them. you are not alone.
Wow thank you for sharing this! I have never related to a video this much before. I don't know how long I've had this but it feels like I've had it my whole life because time doesn't make sense and I don't know anything other than this feeling (if that makes sense). I also thought it was normal at first.
Thanks for sharing this, because after I went through a series of very stressful events, I started to struggle with derealization constantly. I miss how it felt when I didn’t feel this way, but seeing your video gives me hope.
Its been happening to me for about 2 years now. Ever since i moved into high school and i never knew why but ive just found out that its a genuine thing that other people have and im so releived that i know what it is
oh boy I'm getting a bit teary-eyed and I don't wanna self diagnose, but I've been feeling this for as long as I can remember. It's so relieving to hear that what I might be experiencing is something that is real and shared. I've asked so many people including friends and family, and I've never been able to understand why other people are so normal. I'm almost crying now and I just wanna say thank you so much for putting this information out there.
Elise Beaufeaux, I completely relate to this. I had no idea this was an actual mental diagnosis until my friend sent me this video and explained it. I’ve also felt like this sense, well forever, and I can’t remember a time when I didn’t. I am only a teen and I don’t know how to tell my parents in a way they will understand or seek help. But I’m glad I am not the only one who has felt the same way!
Same dude. At fourth grade I always feel like I was drifting and everything seemed like a film. My teacher always called me out for this. He was the best though, made my elementary days lighter.
Loved your comment. Thanks for sharing ♡ I have felt so alone and maybe it's not what I have but it's at least getting me a step closer to more answers (I have Bipolar, Panic Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder) Anyway. I got teary eyed too
Will.J I wouldn’t recommend that to people with this issue at all. LSD made my sensations a LOT scarier. One bad thing happens with LSD and you tend to spiral.
Same imma bout to tell my mother and have a convo for the 2nd time cause my mother thought I was just looking for problems the first time . But now I have more stuff to present and I'm also more confident then 8 months ago so wooo.
Im feeling the same, I always thought that maybe it was in my head and I pushed it away but as soon as she said that she needed eye test cause she didn't know what it was I broke down
I watched this video when it came out and I was so far into depersonalisation that I didn’t get it but now that I have a diagnosis it hits so different.
Omg! I can't tell you how better, fresher I'm feeling after finding a name for the weirdest feeling I've been having since I know myself. Thank you for making this video and to let me know that I'm not the only one. My whole life (the way I've been living so far with this dreamy feeling) makes sense now. Much love ❤
i just got diagnosed with dpdr literally like two days ago and it feels SO GOOD to know that I’m not going crazy or whatever, but that it’s a Real Thing and that I’m not just making it up. i started having severe symptoms in the spring so it all went quite quickly thanks to some lovely friends that recognised what i was going through when i tried to explain my experiences and encouraged me to seek help. and it’s really great to know that other people feel this way as well. thank you!
And you make dreams for others to get lost in. I look forward to hearing more and more of your music, seeing more and more of your delightful videos, and just generally seeing where you take your art.
I never even considered that others might experience this too. Thank you so much for making a video to share your experience. I always thought my brain was just naturally psychedelic, all the time. I have experienced depersonalization intermittently as well, though it has happened less as I've grown older. You channel it into your creativity beautifully, and your Monster with Pomplamoose is simply perfect. Thank you.
This freaked me out watching this and I realize this used to occasionally happen to me when I was in late middle school/ early high school. It was rarely in stressful times but would just randomly happen when I was on a walk, working out, in class on a trampoline, etc. It would only last a few seconds to a few minutes but left me feeling exhausted and confused for hours afterwards.
This is interesting to me bc I’ve been feeling this weird perspective whenever I’m in social situations & I could never explain it. It might be this. The way should she explained it at around 4.40 is similar to how I feel it, it’s like your playing a first person game but for your real life body, where you kinda have control or like movies portraying first person
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Lianne De Graaf2017-12-14 11:07:28 (edited 2017-12-14 21:58:36 )
I have autism, and severe PTSD. I'm also going blind from a eye disease. Because of Dodie, I found out that my floaty fake-ish feeling wasn't normal. So thank you Dodie 🌻♥
I was diagnosed with DPDR a few months ago and I didn’t know you had it until now! I’ve loved your music for sooo long and you’re videos make me feel good. I’m so glad I’m not alone
I feel you, I get dissociation when my panic disorder acts up, usually before or after a panic attack episode. For me it lasts hours and usually goes away once I get invested in doing something and my mind becomes too occupied to deal with whatever was triggering my illness. I had what you described, derealization, for a week after I had a drug induced panic attack and had to get put on medication to control it because the panics wouldn’t stop for an entire week. Everything became darker, I felt distant from the world and myself, I was numb everywhere, things I did or said felt as if I was observing myself do it instead of being involved in that action. Scary times, scary scary times
I just found out that I might have this from my psychiatrist and this video really helped me understand this on a more personal level. Thanks so much for that!
had derealisation for 3-4 years and now i can say im at least 80% recovered so dont ya worry guys, its not forever and it's there to help you and not harm you, after the period of derealisation is over you will feel everything so strong you will kinda miss being numbed out sometimes haha jk, but yeah i promise you , you WILL feel again
@Lana same with me. I now have it rarely. It kinda stopped with me when I got out of depression.. I don't know if it's linked but with me it looked that it was linked to my depression
Took me about 4 years to recover from derealization. It started with smoking weed once and it was the worst at the beginning, where I could rarely live a life and getting better over time with first times feeling normal for several hours after about half a year. The first few weeks to months I felt derealization every single second I was awake since the moment I was high on weed. As of today I'm fully healed for about 4 years. I recovered by living on and not smoking weed ever again for sure. It took time and many many backlashes, but you can totally recover.
@Lebdrbeb Bdjdjddb Not necessarily what I want but I experience emotional decrease with my derealization because I can be happy for example but no too happy or I can be scared but not too scared
I have ptsd after the sudden loss of several family members including my mother. I get dissociative episodes every now and then and ive never heard anyone else talk about it. So thank you for sharing your story. It helps me a LOT.
Is it weird it just happened few times...It isn't always happening, just few times a year but then I really feel like I am dreaming and I can't explain to people that
I'm scared to think I'm still dreaming or I'm in a coma and I'll wake up in the next 2 years but I never do it so scary to me do I have this rare condition
So you feel this way 24/7? Mine just popped up after a bad experience with weed. I mean, I had it a few times already here and there before but it would only lasts a few seconds and now it’s all the time and I’m terrified :( How do you deal with it? How do you avoid panicking and going about living your life as your normally would despite none of it feeling real?
Simon Bar Jesus Is this what cured you? I’m so desperate to feel like myself again but I’m starting to feel like it will never go away despite only having it for not even a week but it’s 24/7
I'm glad I found something on this because I have a close enough answer for me to accept it. I always thought I was alone on this because everyone else around me never had it.
@bingbong I've had it for the past 5 months and I was recovering and enjoying life but for the past few days it as gotten worse like I cany concerned on my daughter and feel as if I'm having cutting episodes of it .. its so damn scary and I got over it before just trying my best to get over it now
@Violet Honey mine too was just like small episodes now it's the entire day.. it's getting so hard to cope with... it's so scary and overwhelming.. I was recovering and all of a sudden this happened again.. when I travel I feel as if I'm all lost and then when I come to my senses I get overwhelmed
I have this too well i have autism and ptsd so it comes in the package. Very very odd but honestly im glad i have it. Sometimes it can be very soothing to just space out from the world but it also makes you quite vulnerable to bad people. I feel you girl ♡
I watched this video so many times. It's kind of scary to think that I might have dissociated before. But nothing else will describe this feeling I have in my brain. I feel foggy all the time. doesn't matter what I eat, sleep, or do. I can feel happy but that fog is still there. Sometimes at it's worse. It causes me anxiety attacks because of how badly I feel so "Out of it" scared that I might be going crazy. I don't see weird visions but I only have this feeling in my brain this disconnected feeling.
When I try to tell people they think I am being dramatic and makes me feel like I'm overacting... am I?
I just want to understand what my brain is making me feel. This disconnecting in my brain as if a wire has been unplugged. I'm taking anti-depression meds rn to see if I can feel better. Not sure if it's really doing anything but I can wait. it's been 3years since this started.
Oh my goodness. Dodie. This is nuts! As soon as i read the title i freaked out, because i constantly feel this way, especially when I’m in a new place. I always tell my friends “I always feel like my life is a dream” and they tell me I’m crazy and that it will go away and it’s nothing to be depressed about. Thank you for making reality feel a bit more real for me.💗 Edit: listening to the part in your book about watching a movie made me remember the first time i felt this way. I haven’t thought of this since it happened. I was 10 and on my class trip to Disney World. One we arrived, nothing felt real, but i was still aware. We went on the Finding Nemo ride, and became entangled in the beauty of the ride. The characters were right there, like i could almost reach my small hand out and touch them. Once we got off, i was in a daze. My body was doing what it was supposed to do. Stick with the group while we walked around visiting the different attractions, laugh with my friends. But my brain felt like mush. I was watching a first person movie, and i was the uncontrollable main character.
EXACTLY but weirdly it wasn't a new place for me ... I went to 6 flags with my best friends and it didn't feel like anything was real and my brain didn't wanna work. I tried to hold onto my friend to ground myself and the cold handlebars but it didn't work... I felt like that for a long time maybe an hour or so
It is incredible to me to watch this again after 3 years. I remember watching this, in tears, when it first came out because It put a name on how I felt a large percentage of the time. Three years later and A LOT of therapy and I RARELY feel this way. The world around me seems more sure and firm. I used to ask my husband daily, “Is this real? Are you real? Are we dreaming?” I now can’t remember the last time I asked him that. It is possible to get better, even when it feels so impossible at times. Of course, I still have moments of confusion and insecurity about reality, but I have trained my brain, as my therapist taught me, to stop believing the doubts! So when a thought comes in of “is this real?”, I tell myself forcefully and with conviction that YES. It is real. Because experience has taught me that I never question reality in my dreams. So if I am questioning, it must be REAL LIFE. Progress is possible, people!
Ahhh I needed this , over the last year my dissociation got really bad, yesterday instead of concreting in class I stared blurrly at a bottle -_- my vision changes to more of a total blurriness I can't stop like my glasses prescription had gone wayyyy up, idk if it's like that for others too ... Anyways It helps alot knowing you're not alone ♥️
how i explain my depersonalization is like, you know how when you say a word over and over again and it starts to just sound like nonsense? that's very very similar to how i feel when i look in the mirror. the longer i look in the mirror, the more unsettled i become with the fact that this random, weird looking stranger knows all my thoughts and feelings and memories. and the longer i look at myself in the mirror, the more everything else around me starts to become fuzzy and distorted and wrong. and eventually i just become very numb and blank and sad and lost. it's similar to trying to run in a dream: you become lightheaded and confused and it feels like you're stuck at the bottom of the ocean with weights around your ankles. anyway, hope this helped anyone who was wondering what it felt like :)
OMG! i felt like this for about a week and it got so bad and i almost passed out so my mom brought me to the er, i went to a paediatrician and they gave me a really strong anxiety medication but my mom is too scared for me to take it because her cousin killed himself well he was on it and i’m only 13 😌❤️
I think I’m kind of the opposite. I feel like I’m noticing everything. Every sound, every laugh, every eye that looks my way. I feel as if everyone is staring at me all the time. But they’re not. But it feels like they are, like every pair of eyes in the room is staring me down and analyzing me, trying to figure out me, the “quiet girl”. When cars drive past me on my walk to school my heart starts pounding and I look down. When people talk to me I suddenly have nothing to say, even though I practice in my head every night conversations I can have with people. My mind goes blank around people. I feel like ice, when the sun, the sunniness of everyone trying to talk to me and being kind hits me, I melt. I try to hide, and I want to escape and be alone with only the company of myself. I love to draw, but in class, I just can’t. I’m so uncomfortable around people and it makes me sad. I don’t want to be so uncomfortable around people. I don’t want my heartbeat running faster than my body can keep up with and my palms sweaty all the time. I don’t want to start crying in front of the class and begging my teacher if I can present my project or presentation after class privately. I want to be able to talk to people. I don’t know why I’m this way, but I just am. I’ve created different personalities for all of my friends and family and people I know that I talk to, and none of them are really me. Yet when I’m alone I’m suddenly bubbly and comfortable and I feel as if I talked to someone that moment I would be fine. But it never works out that way. I’ve gotten better, I really have, but it brings me down. People think it’s my decision to be quiet, but it’s not. I want to be able to speak to people comfortably without my throat being tight and squeezed and some voice in my brain that isn’t even really me telling me what to say. I have social anxiety disorder. The acronym for my mental disorder is SAD. SAD. It makes sense, because I do feel sad, I do. But I don’t really even understand my own feelings, so whenever I’m feeling sad, or angry, or depressed I tend to bottle it up. I don’t have anyone to talk to my feelings about, and it just feels awkward and uncomfortable to do so. So, here I am, typing out my feelings online in hopes that I will feel, even a little bit better.
Im so sorry that you have to feel that way 24/7. That must suck. But look, your still here? Youre strong!! Please take care of yourself and I hope you get over this problem. You seem like a pretty chill person, such a shame you of all people have to go through this. Im here for you 💚💙💚 xx
fuck this is m e. would you say you have scopophobia? because i experience anxiety in almost the same way you do and i feel like that's a more specific descriptor than SAD which feels a little too general (honestly i'm just a mess at self-diagnosis which is a pain because i have no clue where to start when i think about getting therapy).
I can relate to this. I haven’t been diagnosed with SAD but with PTSD. In my experience, I really struggle with keeping up the different personalities to different people. When I feel great it’s most oftenly because every part goes “well” I can act that I’m happy and I almost feel like it. But it’s like a bubble and I want to reach for it but when I do it will pop. As soon as the acting out the personalities goes wrong, I stop searching for contact. I feel like I’ve failed (again) and sometimes even that I might not be worth living. Living like this is so hard because I wish I could be myself. The truth is I don’t really know who I am anymore and If that would be socially accepted. Anyway feel free to react to this and I would love to talk to someone who feels this way. We gotta remind ourselves that we are not alone although it feel like is <3
the more you talk to people, the more practise you get just interacting with other humans, the better it gets in the long run. even if at first it feels awful and you get anxious and stressed out and worry about what everyone thinks of you, the more you just do it, the more that stressed feeling will reduce. that's in my experience anyway. you did say in your comment that you've gotten better. hold onto that. it might not always be a smooth ride, and you will need breaks in between the getting better where you just feel like you can't do it any more. but keep going and it really will get easier with practise. x
Yellow Paint wow. You just described what I feel so well. I do almost all of these things but I could never put it into words, and you just described it so accurately.
When I'm in a store, I feel like everyones eyes are on me, looking at what I'm buying and analysing every move I make. I feel very nervous when I have to talk to the person at the cash register. After I say bye, I'll walk out of the store and go back to my bike. About 30 seconds into my walk, I'll notice that I'm walking very fast and I try to slow down, but something tells me I should run, but I don't know what I should be running from. My head is down, avoiding everyone's eyes, hoping that no one is looking at me and wishing that I could just disappear. I take a couple of deep breaths, realize my shoulders and arms are tensed up, my fingers are clenced in fists. I try to relax but I subconciously tense up moments later anyways. I get on my bike and cycle as fast as I possisbly can, the voice in my head still panicking and telling me I have to go. Run away from everyone. When I get home, I'll release a breath I didn't know I had been holding and I'll wonder why I just did all the things I did.
This is just one of the countless things I do. People tell me to "get over it!" over it and "just talk to people!" But it doensn't work like that. I don't want to be like this. I want it to stop. But I don't know how.
(Sorry for my terrible english and changing the tense I write in alot, it's just hard to describe)
Yellow Paint I think I feel the same thing or can relate back to it? usually when I have really bad derealization, the room becomes incredibly bright and people’s voices are incredibly loud. You know that feeling when you can “hear silence”. That hummm when a room goes quite, that becomes incredibly loud! Anything someone does seems amplified. I’m not sure if this is what happens to you but I would ask your doctor about derealization, perhaps you have what I and many other people have! I hope you feel better xoxo
I definitely had a period of my life when I felt this way for about 2 years, and obviously it's hard to compare situations but I had the same thing where I thought everyone was looking at me and judging what I wore and noticing the tiniest details of everything about me. I have since come out of that period, but now I feel almost as if I've gone too far the other way, as I think I have periods of derealisation now. I'm really hoping that at some point soon I can find the balance of noticing everything and noticing nothing, and I'm sure that I will, because I've found out that it is possible to change you're mindset. I don't know how easy it will be, but I'm determined to try.
i think this definitely has to do more with social anxiety. i was never really diagnosed with the disorder since my parents are too religious and think every little mental illness is “demons” and “the devil” and things like that, but i have my own experiences. i used to be quite normal until i started noticing little things about myself, such as the way i would walk or speak, and became super self-conscious. i felt like i wasn’t normal. i stopped eating at lunch because i am a messy eater and i didn’t want to embarrass myself. i became a nervous wreck when people would come and talk to me. i felt very wrong. i had changed myself so much to seem normal that i was no longer normal, which is what i realized recently. so what did i do? i pushed myself a little bit. now that i’m in high school more people are approaching me at all corners and i’ve become comfortable with that. i started with the simple “hello” when someone would approach me. every day i set a goal for myself to push myself out of the social anxiety, and right now i feel like i’m in a good state. although there is still part of me that is always anxious, i am no longer the nervous and shy girl i used to be.
I also feel like this and I have been diagnosed with anxiety and depression and am taking anti depressants. I was told by a therapist that my anxiety is mainly social because I can't deal with most social interactions and even sometimes just going outside is a struggle. I know how hard it is even though the whole world don't see it and think you're fine but just the fact that we get up every day and carry on despite simple day to day things being so much harder for us means we're strong and we both can get through this. Chin up, you're not alone ❤️
I think the first part about noticing every detail could be sensory overload which is a side effect of social anxiety, not sure if that's what you have but it might be good to look into it? You're a strong person for being able to deal with it! I hope you don't have to deal with it forever xxx
wootaloo doopsie I don't know that much about it but it's when you hear things and they're too loud and you notice small things and they frustrate you easily
@toto oona I went to the pyschiatrist and started taking medication. My life changed completely, I'm so grateful to my psychiatrist. He is awesome and he has helped me so much through the whole process. That's why I'm such a huge supporter of medication.
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Clara Morey2020-01-10 19:59:18 (edited 2020-01-10 20:00:28 )
I had this, super intensely 2 years ago. It was so so scary and lasted for about a year, It still comes back when I'm very stressed
so I recently had a traumatic stress experience and think I’ve developed derealization. I constantly feel like I’m dreaming...like nothings real. It’s carry’s on in my dreams. It’s a dream inside a dream inside a dream situation, so I never know when I’m actually awake which leads to a lot of stress in the mornings. The rest of the day feels almost the same as before the incident, but somethings just off. Hard to take in everything. When I think about it too hard I do into a panic attack. When I don’t think about it, it’s almost like I can forget, but like dodie said, I feel like I constantly have to ground myself. - which even before was a hard thing for me to do. It is very scary. I’ve spent the last couple days just mourning what I have lost. idk this is just all so new to me and I remembered I had watched this video awhile back...The first time I watched it, it didn’t much sense to me..but now I’m wishing it made less.
Dodie I struggle with mental health, and in a psych ward when I first listened to your song secret for the mad, and it really helped me. I really appreciate you and I love you thank you for everything you’re an inspiration to me and many others ❤️
i’m honestly so happy i’ve been feeling this way for the past year as it gradually gets worse and it used to happen bad and rarely but now it’s every moment i haven’t felt normal in months actually and i thought i was alone
I never ever considered other people could have this. I thought I was going crazy. I read a comment below that perfectly described my own experience. Feeling a kind of invincibility and not caring as much as usual since the world doesn't really feel real until you "wake up". Like you're watching someone live their/your life through a window. The first few times were extremely disorientating when I woke up. It's gotten less disorientating the more times it has happened.
I keep reading comments that actually relate to what I’m dealing with and I’ve never been able to find someone dealing with the same thing as me. I feel the same way
Echo Nov (I’m not sure if I have the same thing because mines a little weaker) I have a thing where I feel almost like I’m looking at life in 3rd person, but my senses are fine, I just feel dizzy and disoriented..
I’m so sorry… Mines never went away too.. I literally don’t know how to feel feels like I have to find my personality… this can’t be normal experiencing this constantly 24/7 for 11 yrs
11 years? I’m so sorry to hear that. It sounds like a living hell. I’ve been stuck like this for 2 months and I’m already tired. Have you managed to get better since you posted this?
Sophia Wilson your even on no views videos of her sure I'm sharing that I also watch them but your just impressive I even start to think you to is recommending videos you've commented on I'll see you as top to second comment even though you will have at most 10 likes XD
Wow my dreams always feel so weird that I’m tense and stressed and anxious for like an hour after waking up so I can’t imagine feeling the way I do in my dreams all the time I’m so sorry. If I felt that way while being awake I wouldn’t know how to live so good on you for having such a positive attitude about it. I hope you find something that helps soon.
I can’t thank you enough for making this. When I clicked your video, I was hopeful but doubtful that you’d be talking about what I’ve been experiencing. Halfway through, I burst into tears. I’ve been feeling so scared and alone this past year, because no one I talk to seems to understand it. I’m an organized, motivated, extroverted person and when these derealization spells hit, it’s like I’m PRETENDING to be all of those things. Doing ordinary tasks is overwhelming. Conversations are like climbing a mountain. And my memory is completely shot- short term and long term. Again, thank you so much for talking about this. I feel better already just knowing I’m not alone. And to anyone else feeling this way, remember to take a moment to breathe and be kind to yourself ❤️
I started crying too, I'm not sure I have depersonalization, but it seems close. I try to keep conversations alive to feel grounded or I completely lose track of time and get lost in thought, or even just blank for a bit. I really hope nothing is wrong with me and that this is normal teenager stuff.
alyciadweeb exactly, and time goes by so quickly it’s like you’re already living in the past. You look back at the day and don’t remember doing half the things you did
I am the same way!! Extroverted and motivated. At first I thought the disosiation was very interesting, just once in a while, but then it started to worry me after a few weeks of it being constant. I lost my motivation, things stopped mattering. I still cared but couldn't bring myself to do anything, and nothing felt real, no consiquenses or gains.
alyciadweeb I thought I was the only one. I thought I had depression, but then I watched this video and I was sooo relieved at how she explained each of the symptoms and it fits me.
I understand you because the symptoms you listed in this comment are what I feel sometimes! It just hurts to speak sometimes also, like not physically, but it’s hard for some reason, idk it’s hard to explain. But thanks for this comment and you’re not alone 💙
I sufferd from this a few years. Never found a real treatment. I think its because its something you have to figure out on your own. Sounds really weird. But my cure was: going to school and get a regular side job. I worked as a waitress and once I started really living in the moment it slowly went away. Also: accept it. It's going to stay with you for a while but it will go away. The best thing is: don't be scared of it. Learn how to live and take control. But this all takes time. Remember: what I'm feeling is fine. Its here, it will be for a while and i'm fine with it. i know, easier said then done. But trying to fight it, is not going to make things better. The sooner you'll accept and embrace, the sooner you won't notice it anymoreTry to distract yourself when feeling down. Tell someone about it and try to stay of meds as much as you can. I gave myself 5 calming pils and I wasn't allowed to get more pills than 5 in a year. Just by knowing i'm able to take a pill, I already calmed down and thought: I have to save one in case is DO need it. 1 year later and I have only used one. I got my DPDR by taking to much spacecake and panicking about it. I stayed of drugs and alcohol for 6 month's and that went great ( I have never been a big drugs user but I liked to smoke a J sometimes). I came back to my self and really living a normal life got me through it all. Having something intense to do for the day made me live in the moment. I did not have time to think about my situation, and that's how i started to trust myself again. Give yourself time to heal and don't give in to it. It's not reality, you will be fine.
@Vengeful Polititron Sad to hear. I'm back on this path actually. Sad to see my own feedback and did not listen to it myself. But I'm learning again, to not go over my own boundaries. To not read about it everyday and get to therapie is something that is helping me right now! I'm half a year further now.
It's so refreshing to have someone talking about this, I have never had anyone who truly understands what I am describing. This open dialogue has encouraged me to talk to my mom and get help. Thank you for all of this positive conversation!
i've felt as u do for 2 years after a long period of stress with college, between the years 2017 to 2019. I got over that with hipnosis, this year, wich i strongly recommend to all the people with some mental issue
Since the last time I got high (over 3 months ago) I've felt exactly like this. I've been going to doctors and getting blood tests to see what's wrong and they have all said its stress/depression/anxiety. But I'm always a stress-free and happy person and nothing traumatic has happened in my life. This video perfectly describes what I've been feeling cause its so hard to put into words. Thanks Dodie! X
Hello, I know this video is quite old now but I have been dealing with derelization for months now, I havnt been able to figure out what exactly is the reason my brain is reacting to trauma in this way and what that trauma may be but it’s been really hard on me recently. I didn’t know what it was for a long while until recently when I came out to my parents about what has been driving me crazy and my dad showed me an article that explained everything I have been feeling and I guess it is what I have. I have episodes everyday. Some are slight and others get really bad because it just doesn’t feel right and I get so scared that I will never feel the same again. I’ve watched many videos and what you explained here worries me that I might have the long term effects rather than short. Because ive noticed nothing change. My head gets so foggy and hard to focus so much when I have these episodes that my memory has been really really bad. I do things and don’t remember doing them at all without someone reminding me I did it. If you asked me what I did yesterday I could not tell you without thinking super hard. And if I remember my timeline is messed up so I would question if it was yesterday or not. When I try thinking it hurts my head because my mind is so blank and foggy and gross feeling. And I thought I needed glasses when this all started happening too. I didn’t understand what it was and just ignored it. I still believe that maybe a type of glasses could help but maybe that isn’t the case? I also havnt found a cope for it. I just wait around till it goes away.
Meditation and chakra healing. This brought me out of having it for over 11 years. These two things will bring down your anxieties/fears and help you find the answers that are within you.
I remember very specifically when I was younger telling my friends that I felt like my life was a dream or a movie. Like I was just watching myself live. I also avoid my reflection because I don't trust it? if that makes sense lol idk
Also this is a different condition but I deal with dream-reality confusion so I have no idea whether I'm awake or dreaming lol. This could be real or not but oh well I'll just ride this ride out =D
I have Maladaptive dreaming, so this video is so relatable. I can't remember stuff, i forget names, i start talking to myself randomly or create scenarios in my head all the time
It's interesting that at 1:44 she feels relieved that it has a name. When, philosophically, the moment a label is introduced, originality is minimized. Dodie, in all her quirkiness, is amazing. To define a quadrant of her personality with an agreed-upon summary does no justice to what her particularly wonderful physiology endows her.
i feel like this sometimes, but i dont think i have the disorder since it happens rarely. but whenever i feel like this i need help, but im too scared and embarrassed to ask my family (more specifically my sister)
Yes, I had the same type of thing. I'd start shouting in public to know I was awake. Let's just say I eventually lost my job and my apartment, because I didn't think I existed in reality, and what I said out loud was not real because I was dreaming. Never let it get to that.
Wtf that happens to me a lot, it happens for about 20 seconds where it feels odd and like its not real but not quite like that, its hard to explain but you explained the perfect example of what i feel when that happens. Its always randomly or a couple minutes after a panic attack, the random times are when im walking or I enter a room or sometimes just when im just sitting down doing nothing, same with the brightness things.
I already have severe adhd and severe anxiety and a bit of ocd and tons of compulsive disorders and now this?! Im going to go flush myself down the toilet now-
There's something I've read somewhere that helps me "come back", or ground myself to reality when I feel like my surroundings aren't real : around you, you should try to find - 5 things you can see - 4 things you can touch (and imagine what the sensation would be) - 3 things you can hear - 2 things you can smell - 1 thing you can taste. This technique helped me a few times, it forces you to be aware of what's really around you.
agh, i feel so alone. literally my whole body sabotages me. i'm aware of the fact that i'm trying to get away from that feeling of disconnection to reality and whenever i try methods to get away from it, the fact that i'm trying to get away from that feeling is stored in the back of my head. i don't know if that makes sense.
This happened to me in classes and caused me to do poorly and I thought I would try so hard to like pay attention but I couldn’t like be present. I just wasn’t there. And this happens sometimes for a week and like it’s so weird, I never could describe it tho I thought I was just not paying attention enough. I would get so mad at myself and overthink. Thank you for this video!
I suffered from this for years after smoking weed one day when I was 18 and having a panic attack. After a long 9-10 years later it has faded so much that I don’t even notice or care about it anymore. I hope you get some peace with your DR
I thought it was exhaustion. I have feelings that I try and explain to my friends but basically I don’t feel like I’m there, as if it is a dream and my friends make fun of it as if I’m lying lmao but I don’t blame them it sounds so surreal. I also thought it was a hearing problem as it really didn’t feel like I was present, and I usually felt quite cold. Thanks for this vid bc it felt like I couldn’t relate to others :)
Dodie, this is describing exactly what I feel! You talking about it convinced me to talk to my therapist about this, and things are getting better :) thank you
so josh dun with you hi I'm just curious how its possible that you contacted your therapist and that things are getting better after watching this video despite it being uploaded only literally a minute ago 😕
Aizaibi Yakin sorry for the confusion! She has talked about this in the past (and also in her book)
2 likes
Jason Farley2020-10-20 05:55:08 (edited 2020-10-20 06:10:52 )
0:14, 4:44 Thank you so very much for posting this!!!!! I've been going thru this for 4 years!!! It's been so scary and traumatizing for me! There's been a lot of confusion and tears and frustration about this for me! 😢😢😢 Its great to know I'm not alone! I've tried alot of different things to fix it! And nothing works! Even antidepressants! Someone suggested to me; try smoking marijuana but, I'm scared of that stuff. Please keep us updated about how you're doing on your next treatment.
You have no idea how happy this video makes me. I was extremely scared that I was going crazy or something when I began experiencing depersonalization and anxiety (including panic attacks) after this extremely stressful even in my life. Depersonalization was just such a scary state to be in. So hazy, feeling like you’re in autopilot. I had been seeing a therapist for depression but just tying to explain my depersonalization was the HARDEST thing ever and you did it so well!
Thank you for making me feel like I’m not alone/ going crazy!
Sometimes I don't know which day it is, then i drive on autopilot to my job when I want to go to the store. I cant remember how I went to sleep, yet I woke up in my bed. The one thing that helps me is watching Dodie! And poetry! I have your book!
a few years ago i went into a haunted house and came out feeling disconnected. eventually it went away and i just brushed it off. a month or so later it happened again and this video helped me realize i’m not insane and after more research i’ve come to the conclusion that it’s probably a severe panic attack for me. there was a period where i was very depressed and anxious and when i looked at people i felt like i didn’t recognize them, like when you look at a picture too long and the person starts to look like a stranger. once in a while i get that floaty feeling like it’s going to happen and i get scared and try to avoid it. i can’t remember the last time it happened but i’m absolutely terrified of it happening again because i know it will someday
I can’t believe one of my favourite artists also suffers with a dissociative disorder. I’m only 20 seconds into the video, and the moment you mentioned derealization I almost cried, because I’ve never been able to relate to anybody in some aspects with my DPDR (depersonalization/derealization disorder). I’ve only started seeing somebody other than my counsellor about it very recently, so it’s as if the stars aligned for this video to be uploaded.
Thank you so much, Dodie. This video means a lot to me and the countless other unspoken sufferers of dissociative disorders.
Edit: I made a short film on my channel earlier this year called Permanent Shadows, in which the main character dissociates from reality a couple of times throughout the course the film. Not a perfect depiction of the symptoms, and not what the film is primarily about but just something I feel is relevant.
I have OCD, anxiety, and a panic disorder and it's so great that Dodie is spreading he message and helping to "normalize" and de-stigmatize mental health and discussions about it
This used to happen to me a lot back in middle elementary to middle school when I would have severe anxiety attacks. I always just thought I was crazy until someone else has told me they experience the same thing
I've experienced something similar twice. Both at parties in my school, the same occasion, it was carnival. I just felt like I was watching a movie and not actually being there. I was grabbing my friends and trying to concentrate on something so this weird thing would go away, which it did, but for maybe a few seconds before I'd feel like I was not physically there. I remember watching my friend run towards someone and I watched her, feeling like she was disappearing frame by frame. I don't know what it was, but it wasn't really pleasant.
i recently went to one of my fav musicans shows in february and cant remember much about it which is extremely sad cause this artist makes me feel grounded and the fact i completely dissociated the night of the show has taken a toll on my mental health cause it was such an amazing experience and i can only just remember that i was there by looking at the videos i took.
when i first watched this video in 2017, i couldnt imagine what this would feel like. then, in 2019 and 2020, i went through some SHIT and met someone who had this condition. i explained to them how i felt and realized i was disassociating for the past year. during quarantine, it allowed me to finally care for myself and i began a spiritual journey. it has helped my disassociation SO MUCH its insane. this just popped up in my feed and i thought how ironic this was. now, in 2020 i am finally helping and understanding myself
I love the fact you’re just getting on with it, not looking for sympathy and making this video purely to educate others and gives tips on how to cope with this😊
I don’t suffer from Depersonalisation or Derealisation but I’m glad you covered this topic to help others 😊💙
I have this condition too! I’m only in my early teens so I can tell it’s not getting older! Dodie, just enjoy life and be superior because we are brits and we have the best accent. Plus we spell coloUr and centRE right (😂)
So I had this for about 4 months ish and I’ve really started to come out of it so here are some tips if your feeling a little lost in your this feeling 1) I always found it much easier to cope when I was happy whilst experiencing this , however happiness comes and goes and you can’t always rely on it. however there is one this that will help you even when you are feeling the lowest of lows and that is..... MEANING. This can be hard for a big reason -life has no inherent meaning, however this gives us the freedom of creating our own so I recommend u draw ur self a lil stick figure of yourself and you write all the things that give you hope and meaning this can be extremely difficult( especially if your inclined to existential dread like moi) but this will get you through rough times by having a reminder that you have meaning and purpose. if you feel lost and meaningless then now is the best time to think about what gives you purpose.
2) ‘living=experiencing’ if you feel really disconnected and spacey just know that that is a state of BEING just as well as joy and hurt and all other feelings you are experiencing therefore you are here and present because of it.
3) you WILL get better! This is really hard to even imagine especially if yours is really bad but if you let it pass and don’t let it overtake you you absolutely will get better. to help me with this I drew a rough graph of my recovery- it has many bumps and many lows but day by day, month by month you will get better. I know because I’ve been there. You can and will overcome this
4) rescue remedy!
5) this is just something that worked personally for me but I found anything science or maths based really good it’s a great distraction and requires lots of focus. In particular biology I found it really grounding- possibly because I’m learning about life.
6) focus on FACTS you are a human that has got a bit to overwhelmed and your brain has decided this is what’s its gonna do for a while. You are experiencing a common coping mechanism your brain uses but your probably thinking about it way to much and it’s the only thing you can think about. It will pass if you simply let it. The coping mechanism was designed to fade away but our “clever” minds decided to ruminate and obsess over this feeling until it becomes controlling. Just experience it when you come out of it you’ll realise how crazy it was to feel like that and how incredibly strong you are
7) write yourself a paragraph to read when it’s really bad this could say things like breathe in and out your just very overwhelmed and this is how your coping, it will pass- For example
8) this is it- this is probably the worst it gets just know that like everything change is inevitable your are coping with dp/dr and living and battling through it. Everyday you chose to live and to breathe is a victory what your dealing with can be an actual nightmare but just know you ( probably) won’t get any worse the only other place to go from here is up ❤️
@HungryBurger619 Thanks for your comment I actually did, I started fully recovering in the new year and I’ve honestly never been more happy to just feel normal. I very rarely get feelings of dissociation now and when I do I kind of have fun with it and I’m not scared about it (which ironically makes the feeling go completely away) so yeah I would say I completely recovered
@Alyssa Eve I’ve been feeling like this for almost 4 months now…….I can see myself doing stuff but it’s as if I’m just moving through the day and doing nothing productive and just finding ways to get over the day🥺🥺🥺please don’t take feeling normal for granted…..I would love to know how it stopped for you because sometimes I just feel like it ain’t gonna be normal again
@Nicholas Chuma yeah I really relate to this! I think the hardest part is remembering that the way you feel now is temporary and you won’t always feel like this horrible dissociated feeling - I know I felt it was going to be never ending but despite that I just kept telling myself and telling myself that at some point I would get better. Time really does heal everything but with dissociation at least for me time moved so SLOW and I know that doesn’t help in recovery. When you do recover I promise that you won’t take it for granted- at least I definitely don’t, you’ll see things in a whole new light and you’ll really appreciate feeling normal. For now I’d recommend to just keep living your life as much as possible and don’t limit yourself because of it, I promise it’ll only make it worse when you get into that mindset. I wish u all the best in your recovery, and from one dissociated person to another; you can do this and it will pass <3
@Nicholas Chuma also from an actually recovery point of view, you just have to keep moving, if your dissociation was caused by stress or trauma then it’s worth seeing a therapist or councillor about that, but if it’s drug induced or somewhat random then do your best to find healthy distractions, I promise it’ll help. Dissociation thrives off of anxiety the more worried you get by it, the more you manically research it the worse it’ll get. I was OBSESSED by my dissociation. I would look up so much about it and It became an identity of sorts. I know it’s incredibly hard but try and avoid this. I found writing down a list that describes who I am completely separate from dissociation. Eg if your artistic or clever etc- find an identity and a grounding point that isn’t dissociation. Honestly the best thing I did is just tell myself to move on and get over it, as harsh as that can seem. I’d laugh at myself when I’d dissociate and remind myself that it was just me being silly and overwhelmed and I’d be fine soon, and this is what actually made me recover. I can’t emphasise it enough , recovery is about letting go and continuing to live your life in spite of how out of it you can feel.
I hope that makes sense feel free to ask more questions!!
@Alyssa Eve your comments means the world to me🥺🥺tired of people just liking my post…..honestly I know that I’ll never take “feeling normal and in the moment” for granted again because all I just pray for every night is a chance to just be myself again and do all those things I know I should’ve done but didn’t want to do👌👌it gives hope knowing that it’ll all be normal again….so right now I’m going on a school trip but it just feels like I’m a passenger😩😩😩
@Alyssa Eve I don’t know if my is caused by stress all what but it’s the first time I’ve felt something like it and it get bad because I’m a reserved person and don’t talk or share about my emotions with anyone,that being said I’ve just been feeling like this and all the people around me don’t even know and sometimes I take pictures of myself and to my surprise I don’t look like anyone who’s feeling that way😬😬😆
Hey. I can really recommend doing bodyscans. It's the one thing that's really starting to help me with my derealisation. When you first uploaded this video 2 years ago I stumbled across it and that was the first time I really heard someone else talk about something that strongly reminded me of what I myself was experiencing and it kind of was a great relief and the starting point of my ongoing journey of getting to know myself better. Been in therapy now for 1 and a half years and started doing bodyscans about two months ago. There are hundreds of videos on You Tube an once you get used to it you can also just do them yourself without a video. Basically what you're doing is focusing on one body part at a time and trying to feel what's really there. There is a form of therapy that only focuses on bodyscans - you are doing 30 to 45 minutes of bodyscans every day for 8 weeks or so - and according to my therapist it helps people with all different kinds of issues to an astonishing extend. I was a bit sceptical at first but after I've done a bodyscan each and every day for the last two months I can really say that it is helping me. It takes some days in the beginning to notice a change but after 3 weeks or so I could already see a big difference from when I started. Helps me being more inside my body and less inside my brain. Handling emotional situations with emotions instead of my head trying to make sense of it and shutting the emotions out. I also find it more easy to be in the moment instead of either thinking about the future or the past. I feel like that was exactly what's keeping me from experiencing my life as real. I've also come to the realisation recently that maybe my habit of waiting for the future where I'll enter my "real" life again is what's keeping me from getting there. Because my real life is happening right now at the spot where I'm at. And the future is in the future. Well, that comment is a little bit all over the place. Just wanted to share what has helped me - especially the thing with the body scans. I'm actually quite surprised how something like that can have such a positive impact and actually change something. Through therapy I learned to better cope with my derealisation but felt like I never actually got to the core of the problem. With the bodyscans I finallyfeel like it's possible that I'll live without derealisation at some point. But you do need to be consistant for it to really work though. If at all possible do it every day for at least 8 weeks. Hope someone finds this helpful. You're not alone!
I remember way back when I watched this I was very well, disbelieving, I didn't think this was real until around this year and last year I started having derealization disassociating alot, blacking out in places became a thing and staying in a constant blur and forgetting things right after doing them, even if it was consistant hours of talking to a friend in the phone will leave me every time. I learned it was a symptom of ptsd, Something they wanted to diagnose me with before but I kept denying my traumas were traumas. Until now I realized I started negatively affecting my actual daily task, including school. Which the strength of the disassociating increased with new challenges as I moved and started a new school for the 5th time. I think what I'm trying to say in this comment is this is alot for me to take in realizing this is what I've dealt with this whole time and thought what your saying wasn't real. It is real, and it's alot, sometimes scary. Thank you for explaining your situation for everyone to be educated. In the end I had to learn the hard way, but it's nice to know I'm not alone.
Currently undergoing therapy, but I've been going through DP/DR for almost two months now, and it is one of the worst things I have ever experienced. I remember in the first week I would almost be brought to tears because nothing around me felt real. Another time I felt like I could see through a table, like it didn't exist or it was invisible, but of course thay wasn't actually the case.
I suffer from anxiety and depression alongside it, constant fatigue washing over me. I can collect energy to get me through a few hours, then I want to lay down. It's a very helpless feeling when you're in public, because you can't escape. I don't have many visual distortions in reality, like the world tilting or things becoming darker, but I get easily sensitive to light, and things feel farther or closer than they are.
It really does suck, and even when I get out of severe episodes, it always seems to linger in the back of my head and make it heavy. Even if some of my experiences are different, it is still so comforting to have people who feel this way too. I don't feel as crazy. Thank you Dodie for giving me a space to talk about this. ❤
I almost got chills when you said something about Christmas lights. I first had an "episode" of depersonalization and derealization at a Christmas lights show when I was only TEN years old. I felt like I was going insane. I took me so long to find out I wasn't alone, but I've never connected to any of the symptoms people had mentioned until this video. Thank you so SO much. This video has, and I really mean it, changed my life.
This is how I feel right now during this quarantine and on top of that I feel all over the place with a baby and dealing with a business that I help manage and take my mom to work everyday I feel all over the place it feels like I’m not here anymore. But I have to keep pushing 🙇🏻♀️
This happens to me- and I never knew what it was. I always thought it was just me. I described it as seeing the world from a third person point of view, like a movie, or a dream. It doesn't seem real.
Same here! Its been getting worse the past couple weeks for me and I thought it might be depression or epilepsy but im glad that im not going blind or anything
Michelle Ponce I think I might have mild derealization, i often start fantasising I'm somewhere, and then all my senses go away and I'm there, like a daydream but also not, and also some things she describes, like sometimes everything getting darker or brighter and never taking information in from when it happens
A few years ago I have personalization and derealization for months and when it first started happening I remember I got home and was just crying to my grandma about how my eyes weren’t working and it was the scariest thing ever And I actually discovered one of my friends has had this sense she remembers so that was nice I don’t get derealization almost ever anymore and I get depersonalization sometimes but if I destruct myself with something I will forget about it and it just goes away But when it first happened i was just in bed trying to distract my mind for months not really about to do anything then I got my first job and it started to go away but that first year was just scary
I’m still a student at school and I’ve always felt the same in like class for example but I just only thought it was me until I stumbled across this video, now I know it’s a real thing I feel so relieved
I've been having similar problems. I thought I was getting some sort of dementia at the age of 20, had problems remembering a lot of things with an IQ of 160, forgot where I was, wondered who I was, I don't know if this could be the cause. My family seems connected to a lot of disorders and genetic dysfunctions, so this wouldn't suprise me. But anyway, self diagnosing is a dangerous practice. I'd go see a doctor if you experience problems like these, only that way you can get treatment if that's actually the case.
im so glad millions of people have this (not saying its a good thing) im just saiyng im glad im not alone and that i was nt the only one feeling like this or going through this badp roblem i think its mostly from stress so they said its a "defense mechanism" to keep you from that stress, or otherwise you would be devastated by that stress, my mom told me
So this video made me think about similar experiences i have. Sometimes i lay down in bed or on the floor for no apparent reason, mostly while listening to music bc i always do that, after some time i kind of "wake up", i dont know how much time has passed (sometimes it was a few hours, sometimes 30 min), everything feels unreal and as if i just wasnt there, but when i look through the songs that were played while i was in that state i clearly remember hearing it. Next one, i look in the mirror and i know that the person i'm looking at is me, but somehow they dont look like me, it feels like they are just blankly staring at me and i cant believe that i could ever look so lifeless. I walk away from the mirror and most of the time when i come back it looks like me again and i can recognise the face as my own.
Our story is same/ had depression due to this and then I found name :) now everytime my anxiety triggers I get into this state like lost n head is gone crazy / weird symptoms :/
God and writing always helps me when I get down. You are an excellent writer! When you are feeling this way, I recommend that you keep describing it through your writing. It will not only help with your anxiety, but it will also create an amazing work of art. I used to have HORRIBLE and vivid nightmares. However, I started to use them to my advantage by creating horror stories based on my dreams. It really helped me cope with the terror, and I actually started looking forward to having nightmares because my stories were so cool! Lol! So, in conclusion: I recommend that you use it to stimulate your creativity, but at the same time, you should always pray to God for guidance and clarity. I will pray for you as well!! 🙏
I had a few depersonalisation experiences when I had panic attacks. I had no idea what it was which made it really frightening. Sat around afterwards not knowing if it had gone or still lingering, was only ever brief so I can't imagine how it must be for people that suffer with it. Yeah the brain can do some strange things.
i remember watching this at the time and thinking 'wow that must suck' and coming back to it now, after doing a LOT of research and finally reaching out to my GP, i'm pretty sure i have it. i was right, it does suck!!! i've not felt real for months!!!
If you are suffering from a mental health problem, DON'T GIVE UP ON TREATMENT! Treatment is very personal, so it can take time to find what works for you. Hang in there! Don't give up! You are a strong, valid human being.
Wow never knew this had a name. I recognize this for some parts in my life. The worst thing experienced was loosing understanding of language for a short time. For me it is stress related.
For me, the disconnect makes me feel like I'm in my own world, and in my world all the people look scary. I feel like they're robots or puppets being controlled, and everything they're doing is programmed. One time I met eyes with my mother and I couldnt look at her because she seemed so foreign and scary. It was like I couldn't recognize her.
the first time i ever felt this i was in grade 3 in a swimming class with my pe teacher yelling at me. i have C-PTSD and my main trigger is sound. my therapist described it being the easier route for my brain to take rather than going into a panic so it makes me disconnect from reality. i've never been scared of it but it negatively impacts my memory in my classes at school and definitely my focus. i often still have a panic attack after these episodes so :/
I’ve felt this way for 2 years, and it is just my new normal now. The only way i can tell i still have it is my memory issues and how my feelings feel strange, i can be crying my eyes out; yet not feel sad at the same time.
Can I just say: your videos on this have been so, so helpful to me. I've had depersonalisation for years but I never understood what it was until you started making videos about it. I just assumed it was an anxiety thing. But it was so scary feeling like I couldn't focus my eyes on things, and I couldn't remember things, and feeling like nothing was real, and having no idea why. It helped and comforted me so much to learn what it was and to know there are other people that have this too, and I'm not just weird. Thank you, dodie xx
Christy Anne Jones Hi sorry if this is kinda out of the blue but I was wondering if you've found anything that helps make it any better? I have a pretty severe case of it and relate to everything you mentioned - so yeah was wondering if there was any way out..?
I'm so sorry you're suffering with it. To be honest, I don't really know what helps.The only real thing I've found is removing myself from the situation; I think I'm much more likely to experience it when something is really stressing me out so I try to find some space by myself, stop, breath for a little bit and focus deeply on things that are concrete (like the way my hand feels when it's resting on my arm, or something small like that) and wait for it to pass. Otherwise, I find that my anxiety makes it worse. So I just try to keep my anxiety in check by doing meditation (I use the free sessions from the HeadSpace app) and sleeping enough. I wish I could be more helpful. Best of luck xx
I feel like I've definitely experienced some of these things to a lesser level in my life and I also sometimes feel like (as I put it) like I'm behind a glass wall. Like, I'm not sure its quite the condition that is derealisation because it doesn't entirely match up with what you are saying but there's something. To be honest it may just be because I have anxiety, and that's what I've always thought it was, and I still think it is, but it is interesting to think could be something separate
Do you guys experience sometimes when whatever is happening, that you feeling it like remembering a memory? like it's not happening atm, but in the past and you're remembering it. and then you realize it's actually happening NOW and it's a really weird and scary feeling. like it's ACTUALLY *HAPPENING*, AT THE MOMENT it's something that i just can't warp my mind aroung
yea i feel like that sometimes too because i zone out all the time my mind is always in a different place but when i snap out of it i freak out "oh sh*t i'mactually here i have to do something" so you're not alone i think!!
awareness around this is becoming super good!, ive discovered you a week ago by your songs and now i see that you have the same issue that ive had for a year now.. after smoking weed, which didnt go that well.
sucks that weed triggered it and by reading the comments, it triggers this "illness" alot.. but well, life goes on, even if its hard and specially the beginning of it was so terryfing.. its like, your whole world which you lived in for 23 years is turned upside down on an instant, its scary and hard to deal with.. also you are more turned inwards instead of outwards in terms of your "focus", like having more connection to your Soul and whats going on. hard to describe..
the feeling of unrealness, of depersonilisation.. people suddenly feeling distant, unreal, not familiar, like not emotionally connected to them, umm.. hard to deal with in the family and stuff
Imagine waking up and every color you knew is non-existand anymore and there is new colors instead of the old ones you knew, kinda like that :-)
life goes on and we´ve learned alot from that ! :-)
Is it possible to experience this in small amounts? Because I feel like I definitely experience these symptoms but in small bouts — like a few hours or less on random days — and usually connected to some sort of stress or anxiety.
when i start to float away i tend to think about my future self. i’m going to the 12th grade this year and this entire summer my thoughts have been on my future. My anxiety was really bad this summer but i’m not going to allow that to get to me. i’m happy that i was able to learn about this. i’m hoping to get help real soon
I have had this since I was 6 and I used to cry about it all the time. I was always terrified that everything wasn't real or it was a dream. It got worse when my mom died when I was 8. I am now 15 and still haven't been properly diagnosed. But I dont need a doctor to tell me I dissociate because I know I do. You dont really need a diagnosis when you never feel real😕
Pls like this so she’ll see it!! It could really help her!! Dodie i really hope you‘ll read this because i‘ve been suffering from exactly this for a few years and have finally figured out what it was and how to „treat“ it! And the thing is: this constant brain fog and feeling of drunkness 24/7 is not a mental condition per se, but a way of your body not being able to function properly due to health condition! I mean clearly i don’t know your life and the mental health aspects could be part of it too. But my mental health problems like depression or this depersonalization went away completely since i’ve been working on healing the ‚physical’ things. The first things i was diagnosed with was severe Vitamine D deficiency... reading up on it, the symptoms include brain fog and depression and ever since ive been substituting it its been so so much better! The next big thing, that really really made the difference was finding out i have Histamine Intolerance!! Histamine is the Protein in your body that is responsible for allergic reaction, but a lot of foods contain it as well. When you have Histamine intolerance your body can‘t digest and get rid of the excess histamine from food and it builds up in your body, causing all kinds of problems like: itchy eyes and skin, a runny nose, headaches and : a lot of mental issues. an excess of histamine can block the serotonin receptors in your brain, causing depression and depersonalization! figuring out my diet and these problems were directly connected to my mental health and what ive been going through was a long journey but i have been free of both ever since i‘ve adapted to a histamine free diet. i really suggest you give it a try for 2-3 weeks ( maybe even longer) and see how you feel! it will seem very limiting at first ( it is ngl) but i‘d rather have a limited diet than live in a dream 24/7. there are some good resources out there for histamine free eating ( the histamine free chef for example). so i suggest you read up on it! i am almost 100% sure this is whats causing your problems too... oh and btw, for me my problems with this have also started when i left puberty at around 17 or 18. a lot of people start to develop histamine intolerance at that age because of the hormonal shifting. i really hope you‘ll 1) see this and 2) read up on it and give it a try .... i usually never write comments on videos but i wanted to share what ive learned over the past couple of years
also if anyone else thats going through this has any questions or needs some advice please feel free to ask me. seeing all those people here that have been feeling exactly like i have for years is quite overwhelming. i always thought i was alone with this and never talked to anyone about this. the times that i did, people didnt understand. i really hope i can maybe help some people with what ive learned so far
Because I have never experienced or known anyone with Dodie's condition, I'm not going to confirm that it works for that, but I do agree that things like depression and constant tiredness can be very possibly due to Vitamin D deficiency. For months my mom just laid in bed, sleeping until late in the afternoon, had very low motivation, and was severely depressed. My dad didn't know how to treat it at first, and I didn't know about it, so it carried on. Then, about two months ago, she went for a general checkup at the doctor, who took blood samples. Everything was completely normal and healthy, until they got to the Vitamin D part. Ideally, a regular person's Vitamin D level should be about 20-50 (20 being very low, but still sort of in the safe zone). My mom's was 7. The thing is that my family isn't so keen on going out in the sun a lot if we can help it, which is bad on its own (we found that my dad and I are Vitamin D deficient as well). Sun definitely helps, and you are required to get full sun for about 10-20 minutes in the afternoon (the darker your skin, the longer you must stay in the sun). Food isn't a good enough source for the vitamin, so it's either sun or a supplement. My mom and dad are taking Vitamin D3 supplements once a week, and we all can see the improvements. My mom has finally gotten a regular sleeping pattern and her depression has improved tremendously. I'm not in any way saying that the cause of depression is definitely and always a Vitamin D deficiency, but it is worth checking out your physical health just in case. After all, that awfully cheesy saying of, "A healthy body makes a healthy mind," is actually quite often true.
Adding on to this, any number of sleep disorders may also be the cause of the fatigue and depression you're talking about. I have narcolepsy, and the 5 years of my life in which I went undiagnosed are a complete blur. I actually clicked on this video because "I feel like I'm dreaming all the time" really resonates with me considering that time and when I get tired even now: often times nothing feels quite real, and for some people, hallucinations can be quite serious. I can relate to your mom: months just lying in bed, sleeping until late in the afternoon on the weekends and through all my classes during school, no motivation, severely depressed. I wish I had the following to make my own PSA, as it's estimated that 75% of people with narcolepsy don't know that they have it. Hoping someone who needs to see this does...
This could be true in some cases, but traumatic events often cause depersonalization derealization disorder. I've had it for 5 years and see a therapist for it. Stress and trauma trigger episodes of dpd. A big percentage of Americans will experience 1-2 episodes in there life time statistically and this disorder is rather common. Mental health and physical health go hand in hand but that does not mean depersonalization is only caused by physical disorders.
I’ve had it since I was about 11 years old and it really does suck. I don’t talk to anyone about it in my life because up until this point I didn’t know how to describe it without sounding like a total lunatic. The only words I could think of to describe it were “I feel like everything isn’t real” even though I KNOW it’s real because when I was younger everything appeared much more vivid and alive, instead of this view of dullness that I see things in right now. I operate and move sort of like a robot...I have this cycle and I just keep following this pattern over and over again...everyday, as if I work in some factory. It’s really depressing, but I just ignore and deal with it because I don’t know what I can do to solve it or “cure” it. Seriously, I miss the days where I could enjoy the times where me and my family gathered together for the holidays, and the joy/sensation you get from opening a present.
Paige R yes i know! and that‘s why i said that i don‘t know her personal backstory and that personal traumatic events can definitely play into it too or be the cause! i can‘t really speak on that part because i‘ve never experienced something like that myself. but since i went through the same things dodie and many others here are and describing and i‘ve found a way of how to stop it/ the cause of it for me i thought i‘d share it. your body is more complicated than you think and more often than not mental problems are symptoms of your body not being able to function properly in a way. i‘ve always wondered how depression starts.. it felt so weird to me that my body would just randomly stop producing enough serotonin without a cause (cause thats how it is for a lot of people) but its not that your body just randomy stops it, its probably that it can‘t do it ... look up any vitamin / nutrient deficiency and one of the symptoms is depression. we think our body is able to handle a lot and eat fries everyday of the week for a month(been there) and think were fine because physically our body still functions but its the mental health that suffers first in my experience. anyways i feel it would help alot of people to get their blood checked and try to eat histamine free as an experiment to see how they feel, because a lot of people have it without ever knowing this intolerance even exists.
Well, they are definitely tied into each other. Changing the diet and physical things might be a really good kickstarter to the brain. In fact, the brain, depression, and trauma ARE part of the body. Though people go through temporary derealization episodes without having those other physical problems (sufferers of PTSD probably know this feeling, even for short periods), it isn't a bad idea to try it (though it's possible Dodie's already looked into it).
this is the most important thing i have ever read in my entire life. Thank you so frigging much. This explains so much. I was diagnosed with a vitamin d deficiency around age 16/17 as well, but i think its very possible that this is another situation i might be dealing with and can totally help me.
marie claire I would like to add that you guys should make sure that you’re not ODing on supplements either, because I’m (not diagnosed, but I definitely don’t feel like the “average” person, so I generalize and say I’m) depressed, and my dad was once explaining the vitamins in our cupboard at our house, and said that if I’m feeling quite down for a week or two, to take a tablet of vitamin D3 a day and I’ll feel better. I decided to give it a try and it wasn’t working, so I doubled the dose, then found that according to the Internet, I was ODing on it. This may or may not have caused some long term inconveniences for myself, so just in case, check with your doc or be careful when you’re trying new things :) good luck to you all
Funny thing is, I was replying earlier about how I felt like this too, but taking vitamin D did actually help. I still don't feel like my life isn't my own, and that it's completely directionless, but things feel less floaty and surreal when I'm taking those supplements or if I'm getting outside which is harder to do in the winter.
if anyone still reads this, i wanted to add on to my comment, because since i wrote this i changed some things up that made a huge difference. when i wrote this comment first i was still occasionally getting these disassociation days for no apperent reason, and i couldnt find a reason why. so thats when i started taking the vitamin d thing really really seriously. i started taking about 15.000 I.E of vitamin d a day because with the 5000 i was taking before the levels in my blood were still too low (only went from 12 to 19) . and , very importanly!! started supplementing magnesium, calcium and vitamin k which is the one thing that has finally stopped me from having those relapse kind of days. magnesium for example gets used up by the body when converting the supplement form of vitamin d to the one the body can use. thats also the reason some people suddenly get extra tired when taking vitamin d supplements, because they actually get a magnesium defficiancy or further the one they already have.same goes for calcium and vitamin k which are important to other processes in the body, but its quite a lot to explain. if you wanna give this a try i suggest you read up on it. i never thought that these defficiancies could have such a massive effect on my body and my mental health, but somehow they do. i've been so so so much happier and feel healthier and more energetic. i actually have this excitement about life back that i thought i just lost while growing up. i hope some people still read this comment and that i can help other that feel this way ! oh another important change i made is taking probiotics. 75% of your immune system lies in your gut, and if it isnt healthy, all the processes in you body suffer under it. its another really big topic that needs your own research if youre interested but it does make a big difference. ok thats it byeee
I was diagnosed with depersonalization when I was younger but because of how bad it got when I was out of therapy if somehow got to the point I forgot I had it, so when I went back to therapy, it still came as a shock to me.
heyo i've had this for seven years! how do i not be afraid of it? i get anxious from the derealization and then the anxiety gives me MORE derealization and it's just a never-ending shitstorm
Hey I came across your Video awhile ago when I was researching for myself. As you can imagine I'm feeling mostly the same and felt relieved when I heard I'm not alone. I went to my therapist and talked about how I felt so that he could make a diagnosis but instead he made me take an ADHD test. Turns out I have ADD. After that I got prescribed a few different stuff for ADD to test out, and Vyvanse. Vyvanse was the last medication I tried out. The first day I tried it out I was in that "dreamy" state you described.. and after a while it was gone. I had derealisation for 2 years now and the last 6 months I had it every day. The day I took Vyvanse was the first day in 6 Months I wasn't asking myself "Am I awake?" or "Am I present?". So I went online and searched for some studies on Amphetamines and Derealisation/Depersonalisation. And yeah there are some that say that it is helping against these conditions. I don't know if you want to ask any of your doctors about it or try it our or anything. But I felt obligated to tell you this since it is definatly something that could help.
(Sorry for my bad english I'm from Germany - In Germany Vyvanse is called Elvanse but in the US it should be called Vyvanse)
I had several days in my whole life like what you've described, but it all fade away thankfully. I actually shudder when I think what would be if this state comes back.
Hello!! Little late to this video, but I’ve been experiencing derealization almost constantly since July 2021, and I can confidently say it’s the worst thing I’ve ever experienced. It took forever to actually figure out what the root cause was, I’m 20 now and was diagnosed with depression and anxiety at around 14. It was only a few days ago that I got diagnosed with ADHD, and it seems that much of my mental struggles, specifically the derealization, have stemmed from that. I began taking a low dose or concerta a few days ago, and I’ve already noticed a difference in my levels of depression, anxiety, and Ive only been experiencing the derealization when the medication wears off. I’m still in the early stages of treatment, but I had no idea that I had ADHD until a psychiatrist examined me. According to my psychiatrist, ADHD and DPDR can be connected because the brain gets overwhelmed by anxiety and an inability to fully grasp the environment and what’s going on, and can cause the brain to shut down. Hopefully this helps someone, it sucks and I wouldn’t wish this upon anybody, but you’re not alone :)
I think I might have derealisation. I always feel like I'm dreaming. I feel like I'm living my life in a third person point of view. Like I am playing a character in a video game. I don't feel like I'm there, or anywhere. I space out A LOT and my vision is really blurry. It might just need glasses or I might not. I feel like this the most when my anxiety is the worst because of pressure. If anyone has any advice or tips or anything feel free to share.
I'm not sure if I 100% have it but when I'm feeling like that I ignore it and either the feeling goes away or it becomes more natural. For me that feeling doesn't last that long (unless I'm under constant stress)
I don’t know if this will help you, but it helped me so I’m going to share it. My psychiatrist told me that it’s a natural defense mechanism against anxiety and that there is nothing wrong with me. Knowing that has helped me to calm down when it happens, and it now that I am not scared of derealization it happens way less often and doesn’t last nearly as long. And when it does happen I know that it’s because of my anxiety and while there is nothing I can do about the derealization there are lots of coping strategies I can use for reducing my anxiety.
Saame. Especially since it's finals season, it's gotten worse for me. I'm so sorry you feel this way. I talked about it very briefly with my therapist and this didn't work for me, but it might help you: try naming the things around you. like for example I see my laptop and the christmas lights outside my window. I can feel the keyboard keys under my fingers, and the soft feeling of my blanket. Does that make sense? Kind of like you're placing yourself inside of your surroundings, grounding yourself. idk, i'm sorry if that doesn't work, but i really hope you find something that makes you feel better!! if you do happen to find something, please share it with me lol
Galexis I totally get that... I have it a lot when I'm anxious or depressed or lonely. Basically, whenever I'm more sensitive to things around me and my emotions are more extreme (mostly on the negative end of the spectrum), I tend to get that way. I totally get the third person video game character thing... That's a good way to put it
Galexis That is EXACTLY how I feel. I don't have any really helpful tips, but here are some: 1. Don't harm yourself. Iv'e felt like this since I was 8. I used to punch and bite myself to prove myself the world around me exist, that I exist, because I feel pain. NEVER DO THAT. IT'S UNHELPFUL. 2. Ignore it. Don't think about it. I really need to ditch from my phone more- I like being absorbed into the internet. This way I don't feel it that much. I do know now that books are sooo much better for this. Get absorbed in tons of books, not at the same time though, because it's really confusing☺. 3. Don't overeat. Do sports. I go climbing twice a week, it really helps. When you work out the body feels..more. sweaty, hot, sometimes sore from the practice . It's a good thing to do anyways.
I’ve had moments like derealisation but only when I was experiencing severe withdrawal from an antidepressant that wasn’t doing me any good at all
For a whole month I got progressively worse and genuinely thought that there was another me inside my head that was evil and was the manifestation of all my negative traits I had horrible moments where I thought I could “feel” her emerging from my mind like a snake and telling me things that made my question why I was born
It was Avery stressful month and I am so grateful to my boyfriend who let me just get through it and let me cry and have my meltdowns when I needed There are people who don’t understand though unfortunately but just remember that it’s not your problem
I’m now off of anti depressants and never want to turn back, it’s a horrible experience
I’ve had around like three experiences like this and I felt weirded out because I had no idea about what was going on but i did some research and I feel better now thet I’ve watched your video
i was like that when i was a child, then one day all of a sudden i like, snapped back in to reality, and now listening to this it might've been due to the trauma i went through as a child-early teens, or maybe not and it may happen to everyone during their child hood
This might be something you've already tried, so I apologize for the unsolicited advice, but I have this and I have been taking Seroquel and it has done wonders for me! I believe it is the antihalucinogen properties it has that fixes most of this for me. I was worried at first that it wouldn't help a lot because I wasn't seeing things that weren't there and a lot of the problem was more about how I perceived the outside world rather than what I'm actually seeing in front of me but it's worked really well so far! It hasn't gotten rid of my depression or anything, but it stopped my derealization for the most part and now the world doesn't look fake and disturbing anymore lol
I actually found out about derealisation/depersonalisation because of this video last year. It made me cry because I always thought I was just going crazy
Its good to know that you're not the only one going through something. Well I've been depersonalized and derealized for 10 years now. Mine was due to trauma, a lot of crazy stuff happened in my family when I was a kid even till now, it really messed me up. Everything feels like a dream, objects around me are wider and flat and seem farther away from me. I get panic attacks like occasionally. I'm also aggressive towards people even though I don't wanna be. Sometimes I come back to reality, and then I get really scared and start screaming and crying involuntarily cos even though it looks real I'm just so used to seeing everything distorted and then i revert back to the dream state. Also I tend to laugh alot, also find it very hard to focus. I find it really hard to make proper eye contact with people. It's just really crazy.
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That Dude2019-08-21 22:29:20 (edited 2019-08-21 22:32:13 )
I have this! I got it from going through a trauma. first signs for me time just felt like eternity then gradually got worse as I was thinking what's happening to me. the more i panicked about it the worse it got and I'd stay in that place for months. My way to get out of it, is medication and to not even think about it. It's much harder done than said. But you're defo not going insane if you tell your self that. Just go with it and accept that it there.
To me when it's really bad it feels excactely as if I'm stuck in a video game. It feels as if I'm this tiny person stuck in the back of my mind, looking through eyes that aren't mine, trying to control this body that isn't mine, and talk to friends that I haven't made. I don't feel like me at all, and I honestly don't feel anything beside constant panick. It feels like I'm stuck in a different dimension than everyone else, as if I'm the only person in the world. Everything looks 2D and there are way to many sounds and colors, that all seem so distant and unreal yet way way too much to take in. My sense of time and place is so fucked up, and my memory gets so bad, and I just feel like I've gone absolutely mad. I have no control over my body, i am so overly concious of every single movement I make, and i don't feel capable of feeling anything but distress. I just fucking want to go back to the real world, and I want my actual self to come back.
berNII-SAN awwwwwww stay strong and keep on fighting u will break free one day soon just dont give up even tho its soooo bloody hard but always remember its ur body its ur mind and its ur life even if it doesn't feel that way now thier still URS and u will feel the way u used to!!! Stay strong ur not alone!!! Gl xxx
SAME. I feel like I'm a tiny person operating a robot inside the robot's head. (I think there was a Fairly Odd Parents episode like that... and a Doctor Who one? It's a pretty common TV trope I think.) Like my mind and body are disconnected or fake or something. I also am just acutely aware of my own existence, yet at the same time paranoid that nothing is really as it seems and I'll wake up from a dream at any moment. It causes me a lot of anxiety as well. I don't really relate to Dodie's descriptions of her symptoms but I can't think of what else it would be besides derealization or depersonalization.
this is very much how my dissociation is. When I'm well, it's like the controls are responsive and smooth so that I'm well immersed and there's no issue, but as I start to dissociate, the controls get loose and the screen fuzzy, and, when I'm reeeeally dissociated, it's like I'm tied to the opposite wall with bungee so that even something as simple as raising "my"/the character's arm takes a tremendous amount of effort
When I feel the most disassociated and spacey, I feel like a first person game, like I’m looking intently at a computer screen, I’m so immersed that I’m not paying attention to what’s going on around me and I can’t look away to come back to ‘reality’
Right! It’s like you recognise you have control of your body but the body seems almost foreign? Like it isn’t yours? I describe this to my friends as it feeling like being in VR/simulation game. Almost as if you’re controlling a body that isn’t yours.
I thought I was the only one who felt this. It feels like my eyes are disconnected and I can't focus on what people say. It isn't constant and I'm sorry that yours is
berNII-SAN I MADE ANOTHER COMMENT AND I SAW YOUR COMMENT DESCRIBING IT AS A VIDEO GAME AND OMG THAT’S LIKE AN EXPERIENCE I GET SOMETIMES WOW O.o
I’m gonna copy a little bit of what i commented here too so you can see what i said about the video game thing and compare if you want >\\<
“It got to the point where my face was grinning, but in my head i was somewhere else. It felt like my mind was disjointed from my body, like my brain and my soul were sitting back from the windows of my eyes, staring out through them at the situation in front of me. Like I was pressing buttons on a controller and watching through a TV screen. It felt unreal and it didn’t feel like it was my life at that moment.”
But i’ve not diagnosed or anything and this thing only happens very rarely, usually in high-pressure, serious situations. So idk pwq
I went through most of my life in a state of being constantly, high stressed (still feel it sometimes). Slowly I noticed myself... Not being myself... I couldn't remember what had happened 3 seconds ago, or much of my childhood, or anything in between. I couldn't have a conversation because I would get lost in my words/mind and forget what was going on and start to panic. I couldn't remember names of close friends. I guess it was my brain cooping with the chronic stress? So much of what you said was relatable. I started going to EMDR therapy about a year ago and I have seen probably a 75% improvement in all of my symptoms. I was scared to try it but I am so grateful that I did.
I always described it as being like my eyes were too far away, like i was perceiving the world through my own eyes and ears but my consciousness was settled way at the back of the inside of my head and all the information had to travel a long way to get to me. Like my eyes couldnt open wide enough and my ears couldnt listen hard enough and i was receiving everything in this slow mo delay
This is really comforting to me Most of the time I feel like I’m not actually living, I can’t remember where I went on vacation, I forget memories that I should remember (I went for skydiving once and I can’t remember anything), my thoughts get really messy and I can’t recognize myself anymore, and I’ve had multiple episodes where I had to stop myself in the middle of the road to do a reality check because my whole body felt numb Up until now I thought it was because of my depression, but I just realized that maybe it’s something more than that Thank you for bringing this up, I’m going to do more research about it and hopefully I can help myself now
Woah, I had to pause the video because it hits so close to home Oo I've been struggling with depression for almost three years, and one of the numerous things that helped diagnose me with depression was this impression of not be present in life. I eventually got better and stopped medication, but the "emptiness" and disconnection is still here. I tell myself I will fully recover and get my emotions back, but now I'm scared it will last longer :'( at least I'm not crazy, but it's tough living and missing out in great sensations and feelings :(
I’m glad I found you. I’ve been dealing with this for years now. When I try explaining this feeling to people no one gets it. I have an appointment to see a therapist tomorrow and I hope this is something they’ve heard of. To be honest I don’t know if I should bring depersonalization/derealization up, because I don’t want them to think I’m trying to self diagnose myself. Anyways if anyone has suggestions on how to cope, please leave a comment below! Also great video 👍
I have been feeling this since like may of this year and I never knew what it was, I always pushed it to the back of my mind and it has affected me, I don't want to self diagnose myself but I know that's something is going on inside my head, im forgetting things easily and I genuinely though that I may have some sort of memory loss, I honestly want to cry, as soon as I get back to school I'm gonna go to my school psychologist and ask her about this. Edit: I've sometimes wondered if I'm dead and just reliving everything again cause I also feel like I have no control of my actions and that my story is already written and that i can't change it. I don't know if I really have this I really hope I don't, but at the same time I kind of wish I do because that means that I know what is wrong with me and that I'm not going crazy. I haven't cared about school as much as I did before I feel like I don't have enough time or that time is passing too fast I really hope this can go away because I want to feel alive again. I also sometimes feel like I'm not feeling anything, I don't know how to explain it but it's like I feel happy but deep inside me I don't feel anything, I feel like that's why I felt like I don't feel anything and I said that maybe if I fall in love again it would go away but after I started feeling this way I felt like I don't actually have crushed on people anymore, not like I used to at least, whatever I have whether it's this or something else I really don't wish it on anyone
when you mentioned about feeling drunk but with out the fun part it hit home, i tried explaining to myself how ive been feeling these past few weeks and those were the exact words I used :(
It's not real, someone is impersonating Dodie to post spam (or scam or attack) links. Happens to most big youtubers, sadly. Always be suspicious and assume a fake identity. Never click the link. If you want to verify someone's youtube identity, click on the avatar and check it is the right person. At least on PC, the uploading user has their name highlighted in all their comments.
I notice when I get really really stressed sometimes I’ll slip into these moments where nothing around me feels real.... I always described to everyone as me being lightheaded or dizzy... as I’ve gotten older it’s gotten worse to where it makes my stomach hurt and gives me this feeling of anxiety... when it happens it can happen in like a small amount where I can work my way through it or a big amount where I have to sit there and just deal with it... it sucks honestly and idk if it’s derealization because my vision doesn’t go dim or anything but my eyes do this weird focus thing
I had this exact feeling when I was 8-10 years old. Around the same time when I developed severe anxiety. I would often wake up in a daze and freak myself out with questions of “am I real? Is this actually happening?” I remember my biggest disassociation happening at a family member’s wedding, and it was terrifying to experience.
@VoldiOldie Artichokie Your comment helps me so much, I have this kind of problems for more than one year now. I suffer from anxiety and kind of depression. I don't feel it all the time but it happens sometimes. Taking medicine is hard to me and it's also hard to find a therapist i feel "good" with. I'm going abroad soon, so i have to take the plane... I was really happy and excited about going abroad but lately I feel really anxious because of the plane and I have derealisation and depersonalisation almost all the time, I also can't sleep, that makes things worse + winter which is like THE WORSE PERIOD for people suffering from anxiety, depression and stuff.. Your comment give me hope, I hope it'll get better and this condition will stop soon, i hope the same for all people suffering from any mental disorder and health condition, things will get better ! i'ts so hard to stay focus and enjoy my life when i always feel that the world around me seems to be not real, that i'm dreaming and all... Btw, my English is probably not that good, i'm not a native speaker. Cheer up and thanks again <3
i have a combination of derealization and depersonalization and i just had another panic attack last night because of it, it happens quite often and it scares the shit out of me, thanks for helping me feel like i'm not alone
I came down with this or something similar in 2011. This is the first time I have found anything that comes close to what I'm feeling 24 hrs a day, 7days a week, 365 days a year. I describe it as I'm dreaming all day long. I would like to know if there are any proven treatment for this. I dont recall being so stressed out to cause this to happen. I mean I worked and came home. Trying to explain this to people has always been hard. I have several other conditions as well but after 6 or more MRI's and seeing that I had several brain lesions I guess I thought that the lesions is what caused this. I had severe Vitiman D deficiency and was several fatigued. It paralyzed the left side of my body. That drs thought maybe I had a stroke however there were no signs. I would be ok medically if I didnt have this going on as well.
I always feel a disconnection from myself and picture myself from an outside view constantly like I'm watching myself on T.V. or something. Either that or completely phased out like everything goes by without my control. I don't if that's derealization or depersonalization but that's just something I notice.
i have this symptom as part of my ptsd.. it's very difficult for my brain to process trauma so she spaces out a lot, soon i'll be starting therapy and getting an assistance dog for the ptsd though so that should be good :)
😢 I get this after panic attacks and it's the scariest thing ever. I couldn't even imagine being that way all the time. You are so strong and brave Dodie. I know you'd rather be cured than an inspiration but I hope that helps a little bit🌞 🎶I promise you it will all make sense again🎶
ahh i've heard about that! it's a sort of safety net after experiencing so much anxiety. remember it's your brain trying to protect you. and thank u friend <333
I’ve been aware of this condition for some time now. I believe the singer of The Counting Crows (Color Blind *song* Long December *song*) has this. I’ve struggled with anxiety since maybe 8-9 and social anxiety since 6th-7th grade (I moved many times as a youngin- states, not towns) I always perked up while listening to the description of this diagnosis. But, I’ve never felt it was apart of me. I’m very sensitive (in more ways than 1) and I’m not a Dr. runner, hate attention, dislike diagnosing myself... you get it Lol. Anyhow, this video just opened my eyes more than ever on this subject... truly. Great video and cheers to you. Wonderful job.
When I was dyeing my hair I used this dye that had, I don't know what was in it, bleach or peroxide? But it smelled very toxic and chemically. I stayed in the bathroom with that smell for I'm not sure how long. I think i can say an hour but the more I inhaled that toxic chemically smell the more I felt like my brain cells were dying or something. I started to feel not dizzy, but hazy and in a daze and floaty. The more I sat in there dyeing my hair I swear the more I thought I could FEEL my brain dying from inhaling that chemical smell. I tried to set a timer for 30 minutes to keep the hair dye in because I did not want to damage my hair but I accidentally put 30 hours. I guess one hour passed, because it said 29 hours and I only noticed because my brother pointed it out. I could have sworn only about 10 or 20 minutes passed? I definitely fucked my brain up somehow inhaling those fumes or something. Only happened a few days ago, I still feel really fuzzy and weird AND my hair didnt even turn out good, the bleach colors didnt add any color all they did was bleach my hair blond ish and damage it. Whoops I guess? Not saying it is anything relating to this, just sharing my stupidity and possible brain damage from said stupidity
I honestly feel like crying watching this. I have felt these things and I always just thought it was my depression/anxiety. And every time I explained it to someone they look at me weird and say “I’m not eating or sleeping well” or “do some exercise” but even if I do it happens. This is the first time I have felt like I’m not going crazy or the only one that feels this way... thank you so much for this video. This means so much to me...
Holy shit I thought I was the only person that had this, my anxiety got that bad till my head just started going 100 miles n hour and I couldn't even put a sentence together I've been trying to explain to my doc what's up and didn't even know what to say to him and keep getting one prescription after another which only makes me feel worse, just knowing I'm not alone has helped, thank you!
juliepoolie oh my god thats horrible! the counselor at my school said that shed talked to other students with derealization and helps me a lot. dont worry, there are so many people in the comments on this video and just in general that will love you and support you and help you and you are most definitely not insane.
I take a breathe and go "inside" my body and focus on my feet and imagine gently pulling my energy down to my feet and from my feet into roots (it can be any energy source that is grounding) that I imagine to curl and stem and stretch into the earth and when I open my eyes I find I'm more present.
i’ve been having this feeling for a couple years it started where i’d feel like i’m dreaming but at a high level even though i’m still there and my brain would’ve process my environment as 3d but rather as flat like i’m looking at a really defined painting but that would only happen every once in a while. but i constantly felt space and dreamy and like there’s a big black dark part of my brain but it’s cloudy in my head like it’s dark but a white cloud. it’s been a little difficult to feel and have emotions but it’s only gotten the worse recently where i literally don’t have emotion i can tell when i love someone like my parents or my best friend but i can’t say i have a crush on someone or that i love someone romantically because i just truly don’t feel it. some days feel more off than others and i just want to cry but my brain can’t fully process why i want to cry it just feels so hard because i used to feel things vividly and i just don’t anymore the fact i know there’s a change but i can’t help it hurts not physically but just it hurts. if i think about it long enough it goes away for a little while and i don’t remember that this is how i constantly feel but then it all comes back. when it started i thought it was just my vision i got it checked a million times seeing if i needed glasses eventually i did but it only helped my vision it did not reconnect me to the world. i only started talking about it this year to my parents and my closest friends my dad doesn’t believe in mental health but my mom asked my doctor and i’m getting an appointment next month so she can refer me to a therapist. i’m happy that it’s a possibility that it can be helped but it’s only so far away. i want to stop feeling this way it feels so unfair. but i’m also scared that it’ll go away at some point and it’ll freak me out and come back but i’m so used to it now i don’t even know what to do. i can think but only about 67% headaches are weird because it hurts physically but it’s cloudy so it feels like it should be soft like i have a cushion for my brain but it doesn’t work that way if you read this thank you <3 i need all tips possible pls
It happened to me for almost one year after my mom died in a dramatic and painful way. I also thought it is depression, got my eyes checked and stuff, but I couldn’t find any cure. I paused university and went travelling to India, where the symptoms slowly disappeared, because my general stress level from before of dealing with my moms death AND crazy daily university life became better. So I guess that would be my advice, if you know there was a cause that you need time to deal with...give yourself that time. Take a break from other stressful things.... be your own friend and donˋt compare yourself with others, everyone has a different story.... <3
I’m crying right now, I thought I was crazy or something and I felt alone. Thank you for this video, really, I realize I’m not alone and I feel a lot of relief simply knowing this. <3
I am crying too :( , i thought that i am going crazy or that something bad is happening with my brain, nobody really believe me, my friends don't even know what i am talking about when i tell them how bad i feel with this condition... but we are in this together! And we are enough strong to get rid of it. <3
I am also diagnosed with this disorder as well as some others and seriously, I CANNOT tell you how unbelievably grateful I am that you made this video. I’ve never met someone else with this disorder and whenever I explain it to people they tell me how horrible it sounds but they can’t always relate.
Literally everything you described happens to me all the time as well and what’s crazy about it is that I’ve explained it to others in an eerily similar way as you explained it in this video! I am so happy I’m not alone💕I feel so much less “strange” and “weird” now that I see others like you experience exactly what I am.
Lately I’ve been struggling so much with it, it just keeps getting worse and I’m in absolute hell. But I know this video is going to help me cope with it since now I can reassure myself that I’m not the only one and I’m not as weird as I think. Thank you SOOO much again, I hope you are well💕💜
I think I’m stuck in that at the moment. And it’s been like that for a few months now. And it’s scary. I guess I always assume I haven’t been sleeping enough but no matter how much sleep I get, I’m incredibly dissociated.
I have this. Happened when I was 18 and I smoked pot at my graduation party for the first time. Haven't been right since. Living in a dream, a painting.
finally someone who talks about this!!! I've had this experience for the first time after smoking weed when I was younger. And it was such a super super scary experience. Ever since I have been experiencing it on and off when I am really stressed or under a lot of pressure. I always felt like I was going crazy, and my anxiety got only worse. After years of not talking about it, I decided to go to the doctor and psych to talk about it.. But they didn't seem to understand what I was talking about :(. So thank you so much for this video. Makes me feel more comfortable and safe, and knowing that I am not the only one is a really good feeling. / Thank you so much :)
I think I have this as well. I find it really hard to differ reality from dreams sometimes. And it's gonna sound crazy but it genuinely feels like I can see the future lol. Like I either have dreams or make up situations in my head that end up coming true. Like I feel like I might be losing my mind. XD
Same but only the visions. I could dream or have a vision where I gone out and imagine up scenarios, I snap out and forget what was happening in reality and then when what I dreamed/Imagined comes true I remember dreaming/imagining it and I feel wierd. And this sounds wierd and crazy, but sometimes I will look at something but I won't...see it? Like I don't take in what's around me and it freaks me out a little bit. Idk...I think I'm just a little different
If it is originally brought on as a way to deal with stress (I think you said this) my tip is to remind people any kind of stimuli can cause stress. People with hsp can give tips to reduce that kind of stress to better cope with other conditions. WEIGHTED BLANKET is so comforting and helps anchor you to the present. Sunglasses or closing eyes to reduce visual overstimulation. Soft earplugs reduce auditory overstimulation, they also force your attention to stay in the moment to hear what is said, and I think it could improve memory if it helped you to stay in the moment. If I am under a severe amount of stress I know to avoid any place with too much going on and reduce overstimulation.
I have this really bad and have found a therapist has experience of dissociation and is really helping. I had to look around for ages but am now starting to have days without it or at least with it being reduced. Thank you for talking about it dodie, I discovered this wasn't normal and its name because of your openness which has really helped me :)
You go through your normal day, when all of the sudden... everything changes. Nothing fully computes in your head and you feel zoned out. Your brain and body feel like two separate things instead of a full working “machine”.
Or at least that’s my experience with derealization. I talk about it and nobody understands, so to know that there are people like me; it makes all the difference.
SOS Save Our Seas right?! it’s so nice to feel safe in a community like this— even though it might not be an in person conversation, it’s still a convo with a real person who understands the real experience! (Sorry for the long sentence reply- i’m a bit insane lol)
Same! The only person I know who knows this feeling is a friend I have, and we don’t even talk a lot. Whenever I bring it up to my friends they look at me like I’m nuts
Tbh sometimes it is worse than this. You feel disconnected even from your brain, like you are not sure if the thoughts are really yours. If there is even you at all
I mean I’m not gonna say that what I experienced was derealization but there was a time for just one straight month basically I didn’t remember doing anything, that’s not even a good way to describe it like one second I’m thinking oh I’m hungry and the next I’m like downstairs in front of the fridge and I don’t remember telling my body to do that, what I’m trying to say is I lived in a fog for a month hasn’t happened to me since but I remember trying to tell my doctor and all they did was tell me to tell my mom. Hoping it doesn’t happen again because nobody understood what I was talking about
Sometimes you’re at work and your mind decides to sign out off your body, your body keeps working like it’s on auto-pilot, it also responds to communication like an auto-response, and your mind is floating - and everything feels surreal, but kinda feel sensitive also..
I'm 14 I've had it for a year now, it started on Easter of last year. I remember eating candy and then going to church but right when I walked into the church I had a massive headache and started puking. After that it only got worse, it's hard to remember things tho almost like I'm looking at my life through a glass window
Tips!! I’ve learned to realize when its happening. If you can’t yet, you can still try this whenever you want for practice. When I do realize it’s happening, I tend to focus on the air around me. How is it moving? is it windy or still. What does the temperature feel like? is it humid or dry? then i focus on anything else that happens to be touching me. My clothes, my hair, the ground against my feet etc. Usually at this point I can kinda snap out of it. If its still happening, try to heighten your awareness of specific things around you one by one. Hope this helps!
i’ve felt this way for about two years now, although i can’t actually remember how it felt before. my therapist told me it’s just how my brain deals with stress and anxiety, it tries to escape. i call it being zoomed out as that’s what it feels like to me, zoomed out from reality. it feels like my brain is floating away and my body isn’t my body and my life isn’t the life i know. when it gets really bad it feels like my ears are stuffed with cotton, i hear things, but i don’t listen, the information doesn’t register. school is hard lol
i’m still hoping i’ll just snap out of it one day.
I vividly remember a point when I was about 7/8 years old and I was staring into a mirror. I had this feeling that it was the first time I was seeing myself despite having a mirror in my room for years. The body I saw wasn’t me except it moved when I did. Since then I’ve had multiple other occurrences of dp but I more commonly experience the feeling that I’m in a dream and the life I’m living is secondary to a real world and I fear making a mistake in the real world by following my dream life, almost like a true dream and bathrooms. However, one of my most common sensations is being engrossed in a book and looking up, I’m suddenly disoriented and the page gets smaller, the text is minuscule compared to a second ago and there’s no way I was just reading this book. My memory of reading the last few pages before my attention left is blurry but my eyes physically won’t refocus. It feels almost like a flashback instead of an actual experience.
I spent years .. many days, staying daydreaming for Hours and hours... I still have that drealisation when I am stressed even with the low sense of stress
@Della The trigger was boredom from school and mostly anxiety generated by an existantial crisis. I got away with accepting the fact that we live in an absurd wolrd, and taking care of myself (reducing the anxiety and depression mood). Most of the time depersonalisation is caused by anxiety, it's like a protection so if you decrease the stress and the anxiety, it will get better.
I have this during panic attacks. Almost like I’m an observer of myself. For me it goes away after the attack, although it’s always the very last symptom to fade away. Horrible feeling, you’re super brave and strong for living with that constantly. Good luck!
my terapist told me 10 days ago that i have depersonalization too. im kinda freaked out because it sucks and what you say about it makes me so scared because i dont think that mine is too bad yet. i hope it doesnt get worse bc it is already really hard to handle.
isabella I have it too. Don't worry, a tip on how to cope, what I always do is when ever I feel stressed and then go into the dream mode thing, I always squeeze something and say "this is reality, this is reality" over and over
I’m sorry. It sounds like you are going through a really hard time. I don’t want to diminish at all how terrifying this must be. But if it’s any help, one of my psychiatrists told me that it is a natural defense mechanism against anxiety and that there is nothing wrong with me. Knowing that had helped me relax when it happens, and being less anxious about it has helped it happen less often and when it does happen it doesn’t last as long now.
I've had this condition for about 20 years. Its like the lights are on but no one is home at times. I often don't recognise myself and don't feel present. Memories and time are all over the shop. This all sounds exactly what I've been going through. I read somewhere it may be connected to vestibular issues. It also goes hand in hand with some so called disturbances of personality.
Can one have a less prevalent version of this? I often feel like I am the observer and not the interacter. I often loos contact with the meaning of things and words, and have to rebuild them. And I rarely remember happenings with any precision, almost like trying to recall a dream in the morning. Don't think anyone notes my struggles though, I probably have a bunch of coping mechanisms that I'm not even aware of.
It sounds like you are having symptoms of Depersonalization.
Here is a great way to help others understand your symptoms:
Ask them to repeat a word over and over until it losses it’s meaning. It becomes a sound rather than a word.
You separate the meaning that sound has to your brain and it simply becomes sound not a word. The same way foreign languages are just sound to you but words to them.
You remove the association you brain has connected to the sound, hence the name Disassociation.
PS: You are correct in assuming it is a coping mechanism as it helps separate you from your anxiety/trauma etc.
people saying "I kinda feel like ive had this" or "ive had this when I was tired" its not the same thing. Being tired means you lack concentration and awareness, its nothing like depersonalisation, trust me. Im only 30 seconds into the video and wanted to look at comments so before I press play again - DP/DR is like living in a dream, its like youre watching yourself play an actor in the movie, and although you sort of know you're here, it does NOT feel like it, and its impossible to just "shake off". Its the scariest thing ive been though and honestly id rather break both legs and arms than go though it again. I hope anyone going though it currently is having a good and productive day.
How can you be the authority on who has a mental illness and who doesn't? Maybe these people who say they've felt like they've experienced DPD before actually have, seeing as it's a very common disorders/symptoms of a larger disorder. You have no place to judge whether someone does have something or not.
Caius Cassius perhaps some of the people do, but it's like everyone self diagnosing depression. A bad day isn't depression, it's a bad day. That shit FEELS different. DP/DR isn't a maybe, it's not something that's halfway there or something that happens once in a blue moon. It's ongoing. Whenever you're awake it's happening. It's not just something that you turn on and off as people are describing.
Iwanttodie lmao what?? I have a job. I’m an interior designer. Why are you so salty? 😂😂😂 people are hearing her story and relating wth it which is totally fine. Relating and connecting and sharing was the whole goddamn point of this video. You’re response makes sense because you know you’re argument is invalid and you have nothing to throw back at me but an insult. Have a lovely evening sweetie. You’re doing great 👌🏻
Megan Buckland How can you possibly know what another person is feeling though? Do you have some kind of device that allows you to be inside another person’s mind and body? No
Lilyfloss oh yeah, definitely. I certainly don’t have depersonalization 24/7 but I do have it quite often and I’m just thankful that I’m not alone in this and that it’s an actual thing and I’m not going crazy lol
This happens to me when I am in high levels of stress. I usually have to sit down and do some math in my head to come back to reality. It’s like your brain detaches from your mine or something ridiculous.
Dude, I'm so with you. It's a big pet peeve of mine when people sort of... dismiss it?? DP drove me to the literal edge and it really hurts when people don't take these things a bit more seriously. :-(
I'm 14 and I've had this since something traumatic happened when I was little and things trigger me into derealization. It really sucks. I can have it for a couple days weeks or even months.
Megan Buckland I’ve dissociated before during bad depressive episodes, and I freaked out everytime. So I have a little taste of it. She’s very strong for dealing with this.
And adding on to this once it gets deep enough you start to question if you're even alive, maybe you died and this is you as a ghost because that is how unreal you are, i have only struggled with this a short amount of time, maybe a year now, but its like living in constant pain because its so hard to deal with. And people do experience it briefly if they are in a very stressful or anxiety ridden state, because it is a defense mechanism for your brain.
Megan Buckland thank you for recognizing this. I get very bad falshes of exactly what you described (I have been previously diagnosed) and I hate that some people are saying things like "Oh yes sometimes I get this when I am tired but I usually just shake it off and come back to reality." It isn't like that, it is a terrifying experience that you can't just get rid of like that.
Iwanttodie it is a real condition! People can relate! That fact that you come in here and declare that it isn't a real condition is atrocious! It is real and severe and scary and you can't just say that it isn't real! It is a real disorder and the fact that you would come in here and call someone inexperienced and then prove that you are even more inexperienced by saying it isn't a real condition is terrible! This person is obviously experienced and you are unavle to recognize it. They have managed to describe the symptoms perfectly and it would be prpetty hard to do that if it wasn't a real condition and they were inexperienced. You are spreading lies and being horribly mean. It is a real condition that many many people suffer from. Just because you don't have it doesn't mean you can just say it isn't real.
I get this on odd days not when I'm tired but not all the time. it happens at random and its so weird. i do suffer from depression so this might be connected idk but finding out about this made me feel better because i know wtf was going on when nothing felt real/ like i was watching life through a screen everything is oddly crisp like a really HD TV nothing you see or hear feels real or right. also really dark like the contrast is really low or your dreaming cause ya know your dreams are always like darker vignette than real life.
So my friend legit just showed because I told her a story that happened the other day and I watched this and then saw your comment and thought “holy shit. This is exactly what happened to me” this doesn’t happen a lot to me it’s usually when I change houses or when I stay in a hotel. It’s not usually when I’m at my house but when it is it’s extra scary. I honestly feel like you just told my most untold stories in that comment. Seeing this made me feel like I’m not crazy. My mom used to tell me that it was something haunting me or something like that but I never believed that. I always vividly remember these dreams I have before I “wake” up. I don’t remember any dreams at all besides the ones I have before I feel this. In these I always feel like I am flouting above myself and watching myself kinda freak out. I feel like I can hear ever single noise. Oh my god my hands are shaking. I’ve only told like one person this and I honestly thought I was crazy. So I don’t know if it’s really a true true that’s happening but every thing you described happens to me but not every single day. Please tell me I’m not crazy
Avery Richards you aren't. It's your brains way of coping with heightened anxiety. Completely normal and if anything it means your brain is working properly
Annie Ru could you give me empirical support for that beyond a LOT of self diagnosing introspective wet dishcloth teenagers who spend their time playing ukuleles and dreaming of a future where they can be their own whiny media charity case?
Luna Lovegood I think you will find I can very easily say it is not a real condition and the reasons you give for why it is are about as watertight as your spelling and grammar 😎. Something is not a condition on the basis that it is an experience a lot of people can relate to. Taking a hard shit is an experience. I also find it scary and would assert its effects are markedly more severe than feeling a tad spaced out, yet I doubt I would be diagnosed with the condition ‘too much fibre in my diet’. You argue that it would be pretty hard to describe the symptoms perfectly if it wasn’t a real condition, yet I imagine most people could describe the symptoms of being a small glass of orange squash pretty accurately, yet for some reason that’s not a recognised condition? Hmm, strange. As for the idea that because I don’t have it I can’t say it doesn’t exist, that seems like the kind of logic that might lead one to have an imaginary friend in their 30’s, and furthermore, because if you do claim to have derealisation you are part of an infinitesimal minority, I would argue that just because you do have it doesn’t mean you can just say it is real.
Iwanttodie Nice one. For someone making fun of edgy people, you're pretty edgy yourself. When I said nobody cares, I was talking about your lectures about grammar and real education, because you know oh so well how to live life the right way. Yes, my family and friends do love me, and I'm sure yours love you too.
Luna Lovegood thank you for saying this. Some people just think you can shake off mental dissorders like it is nothing. I live with depesstion and anxiety. I also think I may have this when I'm having mental break downs. It is so hard to fear your own mind. Also with this mental disorder it is very hard to come back to reality.
Iwanttodie See, where you've gone wrong is that you understood this as being "a tad spaced out". It's not. Generalising (a mild version of) the feeling of drunkenness or tiredness is not gonna lead you to the right answer. People wouldn't be so afraid of it if that were the case, as I'm sure most know it. Don't you think?
I definitley have this. I never knew the name of it and I try to tell my parents about it but they look at me like im stupid. And they say that I'm so logical and I shouldn't be thinking like this. But its always been like this. feeling out of myself.
SpiceeeMelone I'VE LITERALLY SAID "feeling out of myself" BEFORE I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS I THING!!! AHH! AND THAT DESCRIBES IT SO PERFECTLY! I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL DUDE
lemon waffle whilst I appreciate your effort to locate where I’m going wrong I’m afraid my current understanding is that depersonalisation does not exist at all and is the creation of a demographic of adolescents seeking to feel quasi-unique/scapegoat their failures
Considering Dissociative Disorders are a feature of both the DSM-5 and the ICD-10, including Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder (DSM) or Depersonalization-Derealization Syndrome (ICD), your understanding is clearly very poor.
Me as well, I often shift out when I get excited or something super fun is happening, or when im scared. And even before and during getting a needle. It honestly kind of scares me. I have not visited a doctor or really talked about this subject, I thought everyone experiences this at times, and i find myself asking people "you know that feeling when things seem like a dream" and everyone just nods and I never get in detail with how im actually experiencing things. This doesnt happen to often to me but when it does it makes me scared and feel like i cant control anything im doing.
And im super worried this is going to start happening more often. Saying that most of these comments are explaining how this used to only happen a few times and now it happens on the daily
we have a similar condition! we have a condition called dissociative identity disorder. it’s pretty terrible, but it’s interesting at times. you should look it up.
Having it for a long time like I did the start of this year was awful. I couldn't FEEL things properly, everything was so distorted. No concentration, attention span, hunger signals or memory. Honestly I couldn't tell you what happened Jan-April at all. SO weird. But yeah shorter periods of it are just kinda funny odd. But yeah I guess sometimes its like when your drunk and your like 'I shouldn't be this drunk, I need to stop now' and its unsettling. But you can't really worry in that moment because your 'drunk' and feel so disconnected.
It's not that scary to me it's just like I try really hard to get back in but there's like a wall that I can't get through. Depersonalisation to me is like I'll be thinking and it's like there are two brains and they are trying to connect again. It does suck but after a while you kind of just get used to it.
It can be. I don’t know if you’ve ever done cannabis but to me it feels like when you get really high and you get super anxious and nothing feels real like all of your sensory input is too overpowering and time seems to slow down and you can’t think straight and you get paranoid everybody knows you are high. Only the difference is you can more or less choose when to use cannabis but you don’t have any control over when derealization happens. It’s like your life is a low budget daytime television series on an ultra HD tv.
i've just realised i relate to some of those symptoms, but for me i think it's more related to autism. The senses being too much or not enough is sensory processing disorder, not recognising faces, or faces seeming strange or unfamiliar can be face blindness, which is common in autism. but i don't feel like im dreaming necessarily.
I can seriously relate. I self-diagnosed myself with ‘something weird’ that was happening to my knees. After almost 3 years of seeing different doctors and specialists I was diagnosed with a rare condition. This condition made my knees dislocate at random times for random reasons. For some reason finding out what it was called was very comforting🤷🏻♂️
I have severe patella Alta (4.9 cm left, 3.6 cm right.) I had surgery about 2 months ago to graft a tendon into my left knee to stop it from dislocating, and if it’s successful I’ll have it done to my right knee too
I felt like this for like a month or two after smoking synthetic weed. It scared the shit out of me and I felt like I was never gonna feel myself again. Thankfully I did.
I don’t have vision problems but I frequently feel like my brain is so muddled and that I am not myself. it’s more of a mental feeing than physical I guess. I have such a hard time feeling present EVER. I’m always seeking experiences that make me feel alive and real but I’m too tired to pursue them. idk what to do:/
Accept bordem. There's so much pressure from ourselves to be entertained all the time. What changed things for me is reading 'the suble art of not giving a fu*k' I really recommend that.
I feel the same!!! When I'm with people it's not so apparent to me but when I'm alone I feel like I'm floating around, and everything's a tiny bit out of focus in my brain but I can see everything fine
I feel the same way. I’m diagnosed with anxiety and especially in social situations I can feel myself not present mainly because I’m not mindful everyone points out that I look like I’m in my own world and I guess there’s some truth to that lol
Maybe a weird or misplaced comment, but i've had this for 2 years when I was taking the birth controll pill. I stopped and it went away. Just wanted to let you know that that could also be causing this in case you are taking that.
I know this my seem not connected to it. But get your body checked. I felt the same for a long time. Started taking supplements and stopped drinking coffee and I have way more energy now. Like it's crazy. ! Vitamins & Nutrition are so crucial to your brains ability to function properly. And if you don't get all the vitamins you need then that cab happen.
I’ve always felt very connected in the world until this past year. I’m 20 and I have AVPD (avoidant personality disorder) and it’s gotten extremely bad this year, to the point that the only people I talk to is my immediate family and one of my classmates in college. I had two best friends but I only text them 2-3x a month, if I’m lucky. I’ve always been a maladaptive daydreamer, so that’s not new, but my feelings about life have become so distorted. I feel like the world doesn’t exist anymore. I feel like I’m a robot and everything doesn’t matter. I used to be a huge Christian, and I still want to be, but nothing feels real.
Time doesn’t feel real, my memories don’t feel real, everything feels static. I feel like I’m living in a simulation. Even my life seems so odd. My parents all a sudden have a ton of money and keep splurge buying stuff. I thought I would like this but it all feels fake. My brother ran away from home with his girlfriend and we haven’t talked to him in two months. But for some reason, I don’t even feel anything, even though he was my best friend. I’m going to school for a career but I don’t even feel like I’ll be alive in three years. I just sit in my room and watch more and more videos. I have so many nice and fancy things but it feels so artificial. I have a fancy car, fancy house, fancy phone, fancy clothes, and yet I don’t give a shit. When my family was poor, I always thought these things would make my life better, but they just make my life monotone. And on top of that I don’t even care about human interaction anymore. I feel like everything is pointless
The way you described derealization makes a lot more sense than what the DSM-5 describes it as. I felt that way about a lot of mental symptoms. For example, I recently started getting severe panic attacks (never had them before) and I felt like I was actually dying. My entire body felt like it was on fire and there was an electric shock feeling running up and down my arms. I couldn’t breathe, my heart was beating EXTREMELY fast, and it was triggered by nothing (I wasn’t even stressed that day). It lasted in intervals for 8 hours. I couldn’t get out of bed the entire day and I felt the most weak I had ever been. It took me three months to realize they were panic attacks because I couldn’t find my description of symptoms anywhere. I thought that panic attacks meant that you were scared, had a fast heart rate, and maybe quick breathing, not literally feeling like you’re about to die. The DSM-5 makes panic attacks seem SO much more gentle and different.
What has helped me were Zoloft/Ritalin or Strattera. I do have adhd and depression (dad's and mom's side respectively) though which cause the derealzation bc that combo is just very anxiety inducing.
Meeeee toooooo. As part of my PTSD... Problem is when I 'un'-dissociate I just dissociate in a different way because I feel like my life isn't real (because I don't recognise it lol) This is so relatable...
Describing DP/DR is exactly how you put it, like when you wake up from a nap and feel disoriented and not connected to what time of day it is. I also describe it to people it feels a lot like you're wearing a VR headset...or if you've been day drinking and you sober up in the evening. Hopefully you can understand ONE of these examples!
so basically i sometimes feel like dodie feels.... but not the same . lemme explain. for example when i am sitting in class / random time of the day i suddenly realize that i am in this world i am me , but as of before i felt like i was watching a move thru the point of view of someone else or playing a game and controlling the character and i feel like my bran just flew out of my head................its really weird. if someone experiences this please tell me xD
a_cat_on_top_of_a_cat this sounds like depersonalisation! My experience with this is like watching life through the eyes of someone else with no proper control over what they're doing, even though I know it's actually myself. The way I look + sound doesn't feel right, and my emotions don't seem to be mine, almost like I can't truly experience them. If you look up depersonalisation and any of that seems familar you might want to speak to your doctor!
Same, I also feel that since a kid! I vividly remember when I was 7 or 8 years old, at school, standing in a queue with my classmates and having that episode in such a strong way. I have it really frequently, knowing I'm a person, realizing that I am indeed someone, that I have feelings like everyone has, that I have genes, chromosomes, ascendents, realizing I'm someone who has digitals, that I CAN be recognized in a crowd, that I experience desires, I have a perception -- just like everyone in the world... It makes me feel so weird.
It's so weird realizing I'm living life in first person, I, me, seeing through my eyes, and I'm not doing that in third person, he, him, his life, his desires, it's MY life, like...???? It's so so so weird, the world is like a big simulation and perceiving I am not doing things as seeing "from outside" feels so strange it makes me want to cry
I wish I wasn't a person, I would like to be a transcendental being, no mass, just energy, a "god", if you will. A thing that has no self, just a other-dimension being that controls that body/ego/person that is "I". But when I have that *click* that I'm as real as a rock, everything just feels glitched. A The Sims game that went wrong.
Yup! I relate to that too. I'm a musician and sometimes I'm out playing a gig and think "Oh. I'm a person who plays music and knows how to play instruments. That's...interesting" or something like "I'm a person who is driving a car. It's cool that I'm a person who can drive a car". I've had stronger dissociative episodes, but totally get the abrupt realisations that you described too!
this happens to me a lot, like i dont feel real? and i dont feel like anything else is real either. then ill randomly either realize 'oh shit i exist' or ill see something (like a few months ago it was my friends hair) and itll look so so real and im like, shit, things are real. woah.
this happens to me about maybe once a week for like 3 minutes at a time i find I️t to be extremely uncomfortable and almost have an anxiety attack. I️t used to happen almost once day but now I️t is happening less and less
I can mentally see myself in another part of a room and see me doing actually what im doing. So i would be doing the dishes and i would randomly imagine myself sitting on the counter looking at myself doung the dishes
I have been getting this a lot lately and thought that it was just me who had it and when I talked about it to anyone, they just gave me weirds looks and thought I was crazy lmao so I don’t usually talk about it but this video has helped a lot!
a_cat_on_top_of_a_cat I kind of feel the same way. Especially when someone says my name. I also have moments where I'm like "Am I really alive? What if I'm in a coma? What if I'm dead but I don't know?"
Yes i have this too. It feels like I am normally not really concious but i only realize it in those moments. As if I am just working and reacting to my environment all the time without really bein there.
I have the same feeling sometimes. Just as you I have it in school but they often appear when I am playing videogames. It feels like I am leaving my body and the controller is held by someone elses xD idk it sounds suuuuper crazy.
a_cat_on_top_of_a_cat i get this when im usually tired but not sleepy i just say things i dont think of saying , and move from instinct ,it is so weird and it feels like nothing is real , it feels like my brain is silent but my mouth is talking and my body is moving .
I feel the same way with forgetfulness I can't recall my first 8 yrs of living i'm currently 14 and I can't tap into those memories and when I look at pictures I sometimes not always remember what I was doing like itt feels as if someone else was in my body taking over for that part of my life and it scares me sometimes I have to ask twice maybe three times before understanding what people are trying to tell me to do.
I started feeling like this at the age of four. I just thought it was me just being curious or creating theories about my life. I don't have any other symptoms though.
when i was younger, I referred to it as "feeling the world spinning" because it made the base of my skull "buzz" and I would think "omigosh i am a person and this is by body and I am on a blue spinning ball...." just thoughts like that spinning and spinning and then as quickly as the feelings came, they were gone. I also described it as feeling like my body and my soul were not connected and I was seeing myself in the mirror and my reflection was me and not me all at the same time. I have clear memories of this happening and mostly when I looked in the mirror....bizarre stuff.
that's exactly what happens sometimes to me too!!!! I thought I was crazy hahahaha it's just like that, I feel like I'm watching a movie through my eyes
Woah sorry for being late, but I relate a lot to your comment. Although the thing is, that my case is a bit different. It's like I am just there while somebody is controling my body. I can't focus, I constantly feel like I'm not real. I get dizzy and my head spins alot, which none of this used to happend before. It just started over the summer (is that even possible?). I can't even count how much times I ask myself: "What is wrong with me?". And it makes me so depressed and sad because I feel like I am not who I used to be. My memory got worse and it makes my classes almost impossible to remember. I have no idea what is going on with me. Are there any pills? Is it all in my head? Can I make it stop? If somebody can atleast guess what it could be, please, reply.
+sub so I can get verified and featured on YIAY I do too. It occurs when I suddenly become bored or having too much fun ( I think about what I would do w/o it and blah blah) Don't worry girl. Hang in there.
This is just a thing... this just happens. If you relate to this, it doesn't mean you have depersonalization or derealization necessarily. You might, but this particular example is just simple existentialism. That's just being self-aware which is one of the most human thoughts you can have, seeing as (theoretically), humans' self-awareness is a large part of what sets us apart from other species in the animal kingdom.
Mental disorders are very, very complex things and you really shouldn't self-diagnose. It may make you feel better and make you realize you're not alone, but the truth is that you're never alone. There are almost always other people who have been where you are, and accepting that your experience of life is human, and that you're not strange or abnormal is far more simple yet far more true than the "truths" we tend to stress ourselves to find.
I absolutely encourage everyone to find spaces (like this) online or in person (say, with your friends) where you can talk about what you feel. Use those opportunities to share your experiences and learn from others'. Humans are cool and you're cool so... be you.
Unless you're Hitler. Don't be Hitler. And probably scratch off Mussolini too.
I feel something similar to this sometimes. My eyes do this thing where randomly everything looks sharper and more vivid and I get this feeling like I have been on autopilot but am not anymore. Everything feels and looks weird and I become hyper aware of everything around me. Each time it happens is usually at night, when I am tired, or when I am having high amounts of anxiety or a panic attack. They only last for a few minutes and to get them to go away I distract myself or close my eyes and shake my head. It’s a weird feeling.
I get this and when I have derealization I feel as if I am watching myself through a screen or like a friend is telling me a story about my own life if that makes sense. I begin to panic and then I fall deeper into the hole
sub so I can get verified and get featured on YIAY i feel the same, and sometimes when i stare at someone’s face, i suddenly realize that their face looks like a stranger to me, when i really look at them. But at the same time, inknow it’s them, like- i can’t explain it with words. I love how everyone has weird shit like this, i love knowing that there is at least one person out there who feels the same towards things as i do. Your experience is very similar to mine
i COMPLETELY relate to the game one. like it feels like you are watching things happen and not controlling or feeling any of it. i feel like i am just zoomed out. i can talk, laugh, be sad, but i feel like the negative emotions are much more realistic than how the positive ones feel. do you have any tips on what to do to ground yourself?
I get that for little bits, it feels like I'm transitioning from the past to the future. I also find it when I am at a disco and it has a flashing white light
Nuraili De Paepe2018-11-05 20:09:08 (edited 2018-11-05 20:10:56 )
I have that too, it isn't overwhelming or anything... I KNOW what is happening but I don't REALISE it if you get what I mean. My life feels like a movie all the time
But it's just lightly and I don't think I actually have depersonalisation or anything but Yeah I can kinda Relate
To everyone that has posted here: Do not diagnoze yuorself. Contact a professional for a diagnoze. The odds you are totally wrong with a self diagnoze is huge.
I have that too. But I‘ve had a hard time explaining it ever since I first experienced it. It’s such a weird „is that really me? Am I living or dreaming?“ situation. And to someone who hasn’t had it, it’s soooo hard to explain.
I was diagnosed with derealisation yesterday and maybe it has something to do with it. We‘ll see.
thats exactly what’s been happing to me through my life rn I’m doing something and suddenly I just blank out wonder if this its actually happening, is life even real. it’s so weird but then it just stops after a couple of minutes
Dude you're going through an awakening of consciousness. or a spiritual awakening. Everyone can do it but society and social media manipulates and distracts from the subject. Seeing life from all perspectives, that includes astral where your consciousness developed imagery(this is what you explained), not just in the physical plane of life. Physical scenes includes sight , hearing, scent, ect that developed simply for survival purposes. Though you have to be careful because this way of thought brings about obsessive thinking and anxiety ..... meditation helps with the overwhelming feeling...
Sometimes I look at my husband, as if I'm seeing him for the first time and it dawns on me, really "sinks" in that he's my husband and I've known him for 8 years. It's happened with family members too, like my mom and siblings and friends. It's really disturbing. Luckily, my husband is very supportive about my dp/dr and constantly tells me that our relationship feels like "50 first dates" with me. I feel guilty because I forget so much, so often. We joke because I tell him we're living the retelling of our love story through him, like in the movie, "The Notebook"
I feel like that too...but not all the time, just random times, like I feel light headed and everything goes all blurry and I can't hear properly and I feel like I'm not really in my own body anymore, it lasts like 5 minutes for me but sometimes it can last a whole day
I used to have it since around 6 and I thought that I was always about to pass out but didn’t feel sleepy enough, just slightly almost dizzy like and it felt hard to talk when I’m in the state.
I have this but main prob for me is the Altered Size in Vision. If I stare at a object for long it will feel like it is getting closer and further from me. It's weird and hard to explain. That feeling comes especially while trying to sleep....
Woaaah the descriptions were so good. During one really stressful final exam week, I experienced a bout of depersonalization that lasted a few hours. Thankfully, I managed to google my symptoms and discover what I was experiencing and why it was happening. I think that helped me come out of it (on top of the stressors being gone). It was a horrifying experience, and I can't imagine having it chronically. You are so so lovely, Dodie. Stay strong <3
Thanks so much. I feel like this all the time. I have no advice. I have no idea at all how to deal with it. When I just try to press though I get migraines. I can't figure out when to take a break because I'm too messed up and when to just power through.
I suffer from depersonalisation and derealisation through trauma (ptds). Some days it's much harder, it ends in binge-eating, little triggers are enough... Always teacher / professors told me, I would be overly "dreamy", but actually I suffer from it and can't really do much about it.
I don’t have derealization disorder but god I remember the times I’ve felt like that. I have severe anxiety so it usually happened in moments where the anxiety was so high that my brain physically couldn’t take it and just disassociated. (A lot of times it would happen at large functions such as parties and I’d just sit down staring in front of me, squeezing my eyes shut and opening them again trying to get that feeling away and my vision back to normal.)
It sucks having it for a short while. I can’t imagine every day :(
Only got it when two friend groups of mine that never met before, meet. But every single time i feel really disconnected then. Exactly the way you described it.
I have the same condition. I only just realized this, this year at some point. It's so nice to have people talk about the exact same thing you go through. For 22 years i thought that this was life. I also thought it was just my depression as well. It's interesting how late people find out things about themselves. I feel like everything is rendering to slow. Almost as if what is happening now has already happened, and I'm seeing a replay of it. Also i love your music! I wish i could write songs like you. I feel like it would help me out a lot mentally. Thank you for existing and bringing your art to this world.
i relate heavily to the mirror thing. ive stood in front of the mirror just staring and being confused af about how i am real and also just looking at my hands and feeling as if they dont belong to me
I have this constantly from being raised by an extremely narcissistic mother and didn't actually know that it wasn't normal until my senior year in high school when i found friends i actually trust telling things too and they told me that my experience is indeed "weird af" as they put is
I ALWAYS explain it as feeling like I'm dreaming all the time. I've never heard anyone else say it feels like they're dreaming. This was in my recommended and I've never clicked a video so fast because this is so accurate. It's the scariest thing I've ever experienced and do experience everyday. I'm sorry you've had to suffer. It's frustrating.
NessyGames i started experiencing the feeling of “not existing” or not feeling myself in the moment ever since i was around 8 years old, i’m 15 now. But it doesn’t happen all the time, it has been getting better over time. But when i do feel that way i look at my hands and i just feel like i’m a ghost or something. My mom after a few years began being concerned about it and we called the doctor and i told them what my “symptoms” were and I’m not sure if she mention this condition along with anxiety. But is it a similar feeling?
Yes, mostly it feels like my emotions are dulled down. I don't feel real, I feel like I'm in a dream, everything including my memories is a bit of a blur, and I feel numb quite a lot. Everyone experiences things differently. It happens after being through something traumatic/multiple traumatic things and then your brain detaches and tries to protect you by essentially making you numb.
I connected with this video so much as well. Mine comes and goes. And the severity differs as well but when I’m not feeling there I literally can’t get out of bed. It messes with my mind so much! The only thing that helps me is when I get ultra focused on something in a quiet space( so like a YouTube video in the car or something) or sleeping. It sucks though I can’t even look in the mirror without this overwhelming feeling of that not being me. I had an episode I guess you can call it back a few years ago and I couldn’t stop crying. I went to my doctor and he told me I had allergies!! Now none of my family believes me and they think that I am a hypochondriac. But I have felt what you are feeling I know there isn’t something right with me but I feel like nobody will ever take me seriously.
can't believe I just found out about this and I really wish I could have found it sooner. just wanted to say that you're really brave and that I admire you so much for never giving up and being open to different treatment options even though they may not work. I don't think I have this disorder because again, it's only a disorder when it's maladaptive (meaning it interferes with daily life and being able to function like a normal human) but I have experienced several "dissociative episodes" as a result of my traumas. boy do I have a lot of those. hopefully I'll get to a point where I can one day finally be brave enough to get help outside of my licensed professional counselor and start seeing a therapist/trauma specialist.
I’m glad it was from something I took and not a traumatic event. I feel like I have a better chance at recovering. I’ve been like this since February 13 of 2018 and everyone once in a while I feel almost normal. I’m getting there I’m trying so hard I messed myself up. I regret it every day of my life.
You could be suffering from narcolepsy if you're chronically fatigued. That's much more likely than the condition which has been described in this video.
Alright, no offence to anyone but I don’t need strangers on the internet telling me what I do or do not/might or might not have. I’m currently seeking actual professional medical help.
did u have a feelin of haziness and could not focus? like u had too much benadryl? That may be a side effect of some meds or related to pms - i believe its called brain fog
The reasons why you constantly feel this way are uncountable so I do suggest you to talk to a professional about it. In my case, I recently found out it was caused by depression.
Self-diagnosing seems to be a common thing under Dodies videos. Hence all of the thumbs ups on this comment who probably do not have the condition but now believe to have it just because they are often tired. Same with depression. No idea what they are talking about but listen to Dodie talking about it and think that because they are sad or gloomy from time to time, they are depressed. Get an actual diagnosis before posting 'me too! Me too!' comments, please.
Pretty late to this video, but yeah I'll share my story. In these recent years I just havent been seeing the world the same. I've had issues hearing people, and I just zone out without realizing. My hearing was fine long story short, yet I still struggle with "hearing" people. When I go to my locker, and put in the combo, I dont even see my hands as my own and everything gets foggy. Another time, I was bringing a binder back to the back of a room and just completely went to another world, I cant describe it so well. Some part of me believes that maybe I do have depersonalization/derealization, but then again maybe I dont.
hi there!!! im someone whos professionally diagnosed with dpdr at 14! its a struggle and its honestly horrible to deal with, please dont self dx with it. when youre traumatised as a child, dissociation and such is more prominent and i never realized how horrible it was until this age. ive dissociated for months on end, and its happened everyday. dpdr can be an asshole to deal with! everything shes explained is exactly what ive dealt with, and yes, you can be diagnosed with this sort of thing that young. nothing feels real at all, itll occur everyday that everything around you doesnt look real and it feels as if youre watching a video or playing a role as a protagonist in a game, if its easier for anyone to understand like that. nothings really helped with my dpdr, and its...something. therapy helps a lot with this sort of thing, and ive had dpdr episodes in the worst situations. you really, as she said, learn to live with it. it can be scary, very scary. i hope others are dealing with it as best as they can as well!
if anyone is reading this and still suffering, there is a way out of this, I promise. I highly recommend purchasing the DP manual which is about £35 and has helped me ENORMOUSLY in coping with this condition, and alleviating the symptoms. It's a pdf book as well as an audiobook and I seriously think it's the best way to get out of the disorder. Good luck x
i was diagnosed 5 months ago with dissociative disorder and derealisation and stumbling upon this video was a blessing. started crying immidiately for some fucking reason. ty for uploading this helped a lot knowing im not alone and so are many others
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MARS Official2017-12-14 00:37:32 (edited 2017-12-14 00:37:44 )
Sometimes I feel as if I can’t grasp myself. As if I’m watching a stranger live her life and she very rarely asks me what she should do next. Living in a theatre watching my life go by has been my reality ever since I can remember. Sometimes time stops and suddenly everything is too sharp and real. These are my peeks into reality, and they are quite frightening. Being spaced out isn’t so bad, it’s actually helped me through a lot, given I can’t fully experience some emotions. Dodie, you’ve helped me see that I’m not alone. I’ll always and forever be genuinely in love with you. ❤️
It's Just Kayla I understand, I often feel lile i'm floating anf that i'm not really here. I'm just watching a young teen ponder about life and death. Constantly spaced out and forgets things within a minute...
Damn you summed up my feeling perfectly. It really is like I’m watching some random person live their life and all of the people around me aren’t real. Describing it as time suddenly stops is so real to me and it’s like everything is honed in on only me. Sometimes it feels like I can see myself walking from a distant point of view too.
It's Just Kayla Same!! You articulated this so well. I feel like this 24/7 and my peeks into reality are so, so stark, and vivid, but sometimes so unspeakably painful.
i started having derealisation not so long ago, but i found some things that help me sometimes. first of all, i just roll with it like its a badtrip - you can't control it, you just wait until it goes away, because eventually it goes away every time (for people who don't have it chronically). second, i try not to concentrate on it, cause anxiety just makes if worse and do stuff that grounds me: people help a lot - hugging, touching; tiktok and just concentration on one not deep thing maybe somebody finds it helpful
I struggled with this for about a year and had no idea what it was called and that other people dealt with it until now. I felt like I was going crazy and that at any point I could take a step and fall into a void. It's a scary feeling.
I find when I get super depressed and watch tv shows to escape reality I get super attached to the characters and when I return to reality I feel so empty because that world was so much better.
In middle school I suffered a lot from depersonalization and it got to bad I was actually hospitalized for two weeks because of basically a mental breakdown. I didn't know what was wrong with me and freaked the fuck out. Now I only get episodes maybe once a month and I've learned to cope with it. It's super scary going through life, not knowing what is wrong with you, or even how to describe it to doctors because you just don't know how. But once you're diagnosed, it's like a big weight that flies off of you, and you know that's the first step to getting better.
Hey uh, I have a a few questions. I am in middle school (grade 7) and I have experienced this since 5th grade but I managed to get rid of it for a couple of months. Every day is basically a living hell for me because I feel as if I am a spectator. Anyway, did you take medications for DPD/DRD? Right now I am currently undergoing the Child & Youth Mental Health Services and they recommended I join the anxiety groups. In conclusion, I feel so hopeless right now. I feel as if I'm never going to get cured. I just really want to get better so maybe if you could please go into detail about your journey to recovery?
Veronica J can I ask you something? I’m in high school and have been dealing with this for around 5 years, Nothing works for me, I have no idea how to wake up, no pressure of course but how did you learn to cope?
I really struggled with this disorder and even more as i kept growing up it just kept getting worse where i was becoming schizophrenic bc i was just dealing with more personal stress and trauma and my disorder was getting in the way of my day to day life, but thankfully its calm down dramatically i dont stare at my hands and freak out i dont look at furniture and think theyre 3D stickers i can just grab, i dont wanna sound cheesy but my cure was my bf, i have bad abandonment issues since a child and thats where my derealization disorder started and worsened but he really helped filled in the gaps of trauma and i have wayy less episodes but i still cant hear and understand what their saying just try to understand their interactions or what theyre trying to tell me, every so often i struggle to socially function, and cant see as she described, forget often immediately without wanting to, unintentionally scramble up my words and the way i talk, and fog up making my movements and the way i do things difficult on myself
About 2 years ago i started to feel scared like a chill up my spine. Suddenly i felt dizzy and the noises around me made my head hurt. Everything suddenly looked different from before at this point i was about to cry. Since i was in school i asked my teacher if i could go to the nurses office once i went i explained to the nurse what i felt she looked at me funny called my parents and since then they believe it was some sort of spirit or that i was just stressed out so i'm happy to see that i'm not alone.
I believe I've been dealing with this although I'm not diagnosed. Two years ago I went through severe emotional and physical trauma and was hospitalized numerous times for multiple reasons. When everything was returning to normal, something felt off. The more I focused on it the more frightened I became. Everything feels surreal. I find myself in a way at times convincing myself that none of this is real and that I'm in a nightmare. I'm still trying to find ways to cope with it. Anyway it's comforting to know now that I'm not alone.
ANYONE ONE ELSE FEEL LIKE THIS : too derealised to talk to your therapist. I walk in and simultaneously faded out of my own body and yet im sitting there and saying im in pain, expressing all that's happened in recent weeks but looking at them, they look bored and annoyed and i realise that all this time my mouth wasnt moving. When it finally does move i end up muttering 'im fine' but they know im not, they just dont know what they can do to help as i cant say it. If ur having this problem, take a notepad in with with and write down ur thoughts as u think them before they run out of ur mind. What u could also do is write a list of feelings in a notepad and when in therapy, point to whichever one ur experiencing - once u start the conversation, it becomes easier to hold on to reality. If something really painful or sensitive comes up remember - u r as real as u want to be and so is the room ur in, the world u r in and the mind u OWN. U arent a slave to it, u just have to learn how to be good roommates :) hope this helps someone. Love to u all❤💜💙
Janai P thank you so much, this is great advice. I haven’t had a ton of problems talking to my therapist, in fact I’m saying more than I ever have, but even then there are a million thought that spring up that never leave my head. It helps a ton to think of your mind as a roommate and not a window you look through, to think of the world as just as real as you are, I really really appreciated this comment. Thank you again.
This is exactly how I feel, also sitting in a bright as hell room trying to concentrate on the therapist is so hard, I hate one on one convos sometimes because I just get so spaced out and become unfocused and then when it's my turn to reply i'm like "whaaat?".
That is hard. At the end of the day they are there for you and want to help they just don't understand. Try and explain as much as you can. I know how frustrating it is. My parents never used to understand and have said and done things over the years that have made my situation worse but its just because they don't understand it. I think you can agree its not the easiest thing to understand even when you are going through it and it is s*** ! Ultimately you can get help with or without them onboard but having family and friends that are close to you understand is honestly more helpful that it might feel. Since the age of like 7 I remember being socially anxious since age 10/11 I felt like there was something wrong with me and from age 12 I wanted therapy. At age 18 I meet my best friends who really understand me. I am now 22 and I have this year finally made a breakthrough with my family helping them understand me abit more. They don't know everything that I have dealt with but they understand a lot more and living under their roof it makes day to day a load easier than it has been. I still haven't had therapy but I have been learning a lot about myself and my feelings and reading and watching videos and researching more about mental health it has helped me understand myself and others more. I am planning next year to get help because as good a base as I have now I am not ok I am not "fixed" and I still have horrendous moments or "episodes". I still need help but I am close to allowing myself and having backing to get the help I need and about bloody time! It takes time to get there and its different for different people I'm sure there are people who it takes a lot less time and some it takes forever just be as kind to yourself as you can :) Ultimately you don't need their backing to get help but it does make a difference! I hope you get the help you need - don't give up!
I had not heard of this symptom/problem, I guess my time was spent with the other two you mention. Great explanation, And your positive approach to try treatments and therapies to find what works for you is to be commended. For People suffering Mental health problems it is hard as the problems have an annoying habit of varying from person to person as to what helps beet them. so Do not worry if the first thing you try does not work for you. Just as Doddie has Keep in touch with your GP and by all means try other options but do let your medics know what you are trying. As a long term depressive with major anxiety Trust Me It Does Get Better. Slowly but it does get better. Doddie just found your songs on here and Loving then. Just learning to sing and theres one or two of yours I might have a go at but I will have to transpose it down to my voice. Loved your Santa Time songs in the Minor key making them slightly creepy. Keep singing as it is fun not only for you but all of us Calum x
im so grateful for this video. I feel like no one treats it seriously like ohh its not that bad but BOI!!!! i feel so dissconected from everything, the world feels fuzzy and weird i cant see right ( got my eyes tested and was so spooked when they came out all right - i just couldnt understand why everything is so blurry yet my eyes are healthy), time flies either too fast or two slow, i can't focus on anything and my memory is shit (which caused me so much pain in uni - i had to re-take my tests four times and almost dropped out), it makes you paranoid because you're not always sure if you're dreaming or not, it's horrible okay and made my depression and anxiety disorders so much worse so tganka for speaking up about the issues, lots of love x
I have a condition (well it’s not really a condition) where I can’t tell if my memories is a memory or a dream since my memory isn’t very good and my dreams are too realistic. It’s very disorienting because I never know when I reminisce about something if it even ever happened or did I dream about it. The dreams that I have feel like memories so I have no idea.
Despicable Penguin this happens to me sometimes and will mix up reality and dreams. Like ill just remember something but cant remember if it happened or not and im aware im tripping
Yeah this happens to me too, but I have had a few concussions and head damage in my life so that could be it too. I always feel bad after telling my friends a memory only to be told that it never happened.
Despicable Penguin This happens to me too. Recently I’ve also been wondering if I dissociate or depersonalize. I feel like I have a lot of problems that I didn’t even know were real things
This happens to me a lot and DAMN is annoying. I literally ended one of the best friendship I've ever had because of it. I thought we had gotten into an argument so I gave her the silent treatment the next day. Well turns out the "argument" was a dream and I lost one of the best of friends I could of ever asked her. I would try to make amends but I'm to embarrassed to even try to speak to her.
I have a similar problem, but it's less that my dreams are too realistic and more that my life is too absurd. When I remember something, I feel like it's just a dream I didn't remember, so I pretend not to remember anything so I don't mess up. In reality, I can remember things from several years ago if I feel strongly enough about it, which I usually do.
I don't have problems saying if something really happened but the thing is that it often doesn't FEEL as if it actually happened, as if I had really been there, in that moment, living this experience.
This happens to me so much omg when I was younger I used constantly dreamt that I was going to a random school and the same teachers and kids would be there every dream, I thought it was real and I still have solid memories from it but it was a dream, freaks me out
I feel the same way all the time. I wasn’t aware that it’s a condition, thanks for leaving this comment so I could figure it out. I also experience similar things to Dodie, but not exactly the same. I also tend to forget things moments after they happen, yet remember them at the same time and I feel like I just woke up from a dream.
it’s funny because I use to think this was some sort of ADHD for myself, i came to the fact about 2 months ago that I actually have déréalisation-depersonalization. It is constantly a fear for me because it has gotten into my everyday activities and i’m constantly feeling drunk like you said and my vision and memory always being impaired, kinda feeling like a zombie in your body. I also tried antidepressants (zoloft, xanax, and prozac) those just increased the symptoms I had with this disorder. I’ve also found this is common in people with PTSD, I’m not sure if you have it but it’s constantly a fight for me and to stay away from suicidal thoughts. I hope I can get better from this and not have to deal with it like I experience it now, but anyways that’s my experience with it :). hopefully someone can relate and not feel to alone throughout this.
Dude this happened to me a lot when I was younger and even leading into grade 9, but now I’m in grade 11 and I haven’t had an episode like that in a really long time and it’s so weird having it out of my life. I used to always say “does anyone else feel like things aren’t real, or aren’t really happening” and I thought it was something everyone had at some point in their life, like my mind just disconnected with my body and surroundings and everything happening felt out of my control, it felt like a dream. This is so weird the more I think about it ahhhhhh.
Something that helps during derealization is socializing and engaging in activities around you. It makes you feel grounded and proves that you're really there. I've had a couple of derealization episodes, which were horrible, and that's helped me. Right now I have less of those, so just know that it'll be okay, those feelings are just temporary if you seek and get the help you might need. I sincerely hope you'll find it and wish you all the best with recovery. x
I HAVE TIPS FOR YOU Because I TOTALLY understand this! I actually just got over my depersonalization recently. I too used it as a coping mechanism, but more for anxiety and trauma like situations. The biggest thing for me was not recognizing myself. I would have episodes of depersonalization that would come and go, but I couldn't recognize myself for months. That scared me because I'm supposed to know myself the best, right? Wrong. I would stand in the mirror for an hour making faces and touching my skin. The scariest thing was looking into my eyes and not seeing life there. So all you darling kiddos out there who struggle with this, here's a tip from my doctor that SERIOUSLY helps! Use your five senses and countdown on your fingers like this: 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, one thing you can taste. THIS IS SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN TO HELP it grounds you back to reality and IT WORKS GUYS. It's hard to remember at first, but practice (even when you're present in space and time), it'll become a habit. I HOPE THIS HELPS PEACE THANKS
i've read this advice a lot before but am i the only one who freaks out more when i try it? like i do this countdown and i'm even more scared because i feel that i can't really feel all that i'm listing, like it's very far away from me and and the more i concentrate on reality, the more it feels unreal. It makes my questioning of reality and of my senses just stronger :/ (i don't know if i sound very clear but maybe someone will understand what i'm trying to say and have some more tips ahah? anyway, thanks for your tips, i hope it'll help someone else, have a very good day my friend and i'm so happy for you that you've overcome your depersonalization!)
EDIT: also here are my personal tips, i don't know if i really have derealisation/dissocation but i feel like i'm constantly of the edge of it so here's what i do: -i try really hard to distract my brain of the feeling of dissociation, it's super hard at first because the more you try not think about it, the more you think about it. If I'm with other people, I try to focus on what they're saying, even though it's super hard to concentrate on anything when you're dissociating, but at least i try because focusing on someone else saying is way healthier than listening to the bullshit my brains saying. If I'm on my own, I'll just listen to a podcast, especially one I've already listened to before as it will be something familiar but still i have to focus on what they're saying and it can distract me from dissociation as it goes direct into my ears with my headphones on. -i play music! if you're a musician, that's what works the best for me, as playing an instrument and singing at the same time leaves no space for my brain to think about anything else. Playing the uke has always worked to calm me down and ground me, it's almost a miracle. the only problem is that these (podcasts and music) are short-terms distractions, and it can make things worse as getting distracted from reality can, well, make it even less real, so it gets better for a little time and then it comes back harder. My goal for next year is to create a serious routine, and write down everything i do, i feel that it can helps a lot to keep you grounded, as a routine would help not getting lost in time and the writing helps remembering that what you've just lived was real and helps you not forgetting. And last tip: i just go to sleep as it shuts down my brain for a while. But don't do it during daytime or you'll be completely lost when you wake up. I guess sleep routine is very important but i'm still struggling with it and i'm certainly not the only one ahah. feel free to tell me if you've got some thoughts on this! Be kind to yourself, it'll get better my friends and life will be bright again! Love you all
I went to a therapist and guess what.... I DO HAVE IT! Every time I would go to stores or anywhere really hot or cold I would have an episode. It’s really scary and feels like you’re in a movie, except your the point of view that isn’t on screen. (Camera) I sorta just dealt with it and only have episodes if something scary happened to me prior to the episode. (Someone telling me bad news, falling off of my bike, or even getting really dizzy) I’m a lot better now luckily.
Woah okay. So I have felt like I’m dreaming and just hovering in a weird reality since the age of 5, it started when I first travelled abroad. Never ever have I felt the same since that day. I have even travelled back to that place to see whether I’d be able to untrigger that feeling. (It didn’t work) Of course I have never looked into it medically, I just thought that I was weird and carried on living. Eventually, as I kept on suppressing my mental health, it heavily back fired on me in my late teens (19/20) and I started to have major depressive episodes as mentioned. It got even worse, and after seeking medical attention + counselling, the doctors found an answer to my life long issue and diagnosed me with ADHD. Now, I wonder, is this similar to this? I am not taking any medication for ADHD, so I haven’t had a change in behaviour so I still always feel like I’m dreaming. I always thought that this feeling was due to my ADHD, but could it be perhaps what this lady is talking about?
I don't think I have derealization/depersonalization but this is how I feel: Sometimes I'll be walking around or whatever then all of the sudden I get this weird feeling, I don't know how to explain it. Like I don't feel, real anymore, like, I'm dreaming, and like, I don't exist anymore, I feel like nothing. Then I'll start wondering things like, 'Am I real?' ' Is anything "real" anymore?' But then I'll snap back into reality. Sorry if I'm explaining this weirdly I'm only 12 years old and I don't know what's happening to me... :(
When I was younger those little snap shots of unrealness used to happen to me. Like not a lot or for any certain situation, but just randomly once in a while. It is simply a moment of derealisation/depersonalisation, and its normal for someone to have a moment of it. Around 50% of people say they experience something like it in their life. It might never get to be anything more than that, so you don't need to worry about it right now. One day it COULD progress, but that's not to say it will, and if it did, at least you know what it is and that you're not alone, and there's help out there
+Beef_Cheese_Lettuce That is what Derealization/ depersonalization is like. What I did to help was to try and ignore it and not think about it. Don't try to go into a deep thought about how you feel because that will only make it worse.
Omg' that's exactly how I feel! I'm 14 now. And it first happened to me when I nearly drowned (that was when I was 10) It's not happening regularly but just sometimes like in the bus or in class and i feel like everything gets smaller and smaller and everything you described. It's a really weird feeling and it's good to see I'm not alone!
Hey! Denationalization/derealization are symptoms as well as a disorder. so what you are most likely experiencing is the symptom rather than the disorder. The symptom is very common to have. The disorder is an all the time thing. Hope this helps!
HI omfg i have the exact same thing!!! I literally thought I was the only one but after reading your comment i finally know someone shares the same thing. glad to know im not alonee. have you found anything helpful?
I used to get that a lot as a kid and I can still get it now that I’m 16 if I think about it a lot, I had no other way to explain it other than I didn’t feel real and it goes when you distract yourself, for me personally I haven’t seen anyone like therapy wise or a doctor but through research I know that people who experience it it’s usually due to mental issues such as derealisation or depersonalisation, or bpd
@Hannah Montgomery 〈3 you described it as everything getting smaller I think that sounds more like Alice in wonderland syndrome and you should probably tell an adult if you think it's serious and if you should get a medication
Holy heck that's a thing?? I've had that same feeling for a couple years omg! (I don't think I have it, I'm not going to self diagnose because that's no good also I'm never talking to anyone about it because that's not a thing for me. But if you have feelings like this please talk to someone! It's good for you 💖💖)
Everyone remember that their experiences are valid, and that if you feel like you need help then don’t be afraid to seek it. Take care of yourselves ♥️♥️
Me: Wow I've never heard of this before, it sounds kind of familiar Also me: I wish Kati Morton did a video on this. Youtube: Next up: dodi and Kati talk about Derealization and Depersonalization :)
Sometimes it’s like I zone in but then a few seconds later I zone in again so the first time I zoned in I didn’t really zone in and that’s pretty much how I live my life
I remember watching this and appreciating you opening up but I didn’t relate. Now watching this after moving out on my own I relate to this so hard. So bad at memory and I just expect myself to forget everything, which I usually do. Adhd makes everything so hard to do and when supposed to be happy I just don’t feel it. I spend every happy moment telling myself to enjoy it because it’s going to end soon, and then I don’t even feel happy with that thought in my head. Definitely get thoughts and anxieties stuck in my head. Anyways:) ahaha
Thanks for the video. I smoked up yesterday and I went through some crazy shit. I thought I was going mentally crazy. I smoked and 30seconds later I closed my eyes and opened them back and my brain thought I was asleep however I was awake the whole time and I thought i was dreaming and thought everything was fake/unreal. I never felt like that till the first high I got which was yesterday. I'm okay now however I'm still thinking, what if I'm still asleep now? and all this is just a dream. I'm trying to persuade my self its real lol
I think the closest I've come to explain this is sleep paralysis I think, everything seems so real but distant and I forget everything for a microsecond and the my brain reboots like window vista startup..
this video is so well put-together and really informative, but isn't at all dry or dull at all- good job, dodie! : ) jeez dodie really is just a great human isn't she?
I barely ever comment on YouTube videos. I remember the day that this video came out, and I added it to my Watch Later playlist. I think I didn't want to watch it because I was afraid to admit that what I was feeling was real and a real problem in my life. Back in 2017-2018, I put a lot of stress on myself and I became very paranoid. I'm reading the comments and I'm realizing that I may not have DR/DP, but I definitely felt spaced out and disconnected with my surroundings, and I think freaking out about it kept making it worse. I remember feeling as if I wasn't alive, or as if the world doesn't actually exist. Idk why I'm bothering to write all of this, I'm very glad that I have gotten out of the hole that I was in for almost a year and I'm scared I may fall back into it. I still struggle with feeling like I can't remember certain things, such as recent memories with loved ones. For example, I won't see my boyfriend in real life for a week and I begin to question if he actually exists or not. Crazy stuff. I'm so grateful to have finally watched this 2 and a half years later.
I’ve had this since elementary school and never realized it was a real thing. I used to have it every once and a while and now it’s everyday, it’s almost like living in a vr video game for me like it’s like you’re not actually there, you’re seeing everything but you don’t think you’re there. Everything feels too bright and everywhere I go I have to remind myself i’m alive and pinch myself to make sure i’m here
You explained it so well! I am relieved that other people have this too. I have been thinking on really weird things that is hard to explain and it leads to a lot of confusing which leads to EVEN MORE CONFUSION. Is that also included with the thingy?
it feels like i am watching event that already happened ,like a never ending dull memory that cant be escaped.For some reason when i am with my brother out driving the derealization goes at times ,maybe he grounds me in reality somehow.
not kyra2017-12-14 00:32:04 (edited 2017-12-14 00:32:51 )
this is gonna drown in the sea of comments but you've helped me so much- i found your videos about depression and dp;dr about the same time i started going through it and they helped me identify it and not feel as alone. <3
Is drug-induced derealisation a thing? I’ve been ill since the start of 2020 and I experience all of the things you have spoken about, but only since the illness.
I am on chemotherapy and hydroxychloroquine. It would be nice to know if these medications can cause this or if it is more the stress of the illness.
Sometimes I disconnect from reality but only for a split second and it’s weird. I usually get startled when I snap back into reality because I was only gone for like a split second. It usually seems like it happens when I’m going through a very routine thing and it’s gotten to a point where it feels fake or almost not happening like a filler setting of a dream.
I've always felt like I was just watching a movie, not even a movie about me. I went to my first day of school and a bit later I was turning 58. Strange.
Oh my gosh. I literally get this feeling all the time. It is most common with a combination of light changes and stressful situations. Ex. walking from outside into church triggers it, walking into brightly lit stores, going somewhere I haven’t been in a while, bonfires, etc. It’s so odd and I’ve talked to my parents about it but they don’t take it seriously because they’ve never felt it before, and I don’t know what to do.
I experience the new environment thing and the light thing really really badly. Its so frustrating having to explain to people why I cant stay in certain brightly lit rooms for a long time. No one really seems to take it seriously
Connie the thing with mental illness/any psychological condition really is that most people don’t seem to understand that it is not something you choose to feel, or could just will away, but it’s completely involuntary the same as if you have a muscular condition that makes your shoulder hurt if someone pinches it
When I walk into a Supermarket or shopping centre I need to really adjust to it. I adjust easily in shopping centres which I am very anxious going to and panic when I first walk in but with supermarkets I can't adjust to the light and its happened ever since I got severe anxiety a year ago.
My eyes would sometimes get teary-eyed when I'm in the mall because of the bright light, or even when I go outside our house it seems too bright for my liking. I also easily space out even when I'm talking with my friends (yes in mid convo) and they find it annoying because I sometimes find it hard to regain back my focus and continue what I was sharing.
I had the flu in December, and I felt like this, and then I got better but then it keeps coming back in waves AND with a cold and I feel all strange and dreamy. It’s worrying me but I’m sure it’s fine.
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Daya Pavlova2019-12-29 11:45:39 (edited 2019-12-29 11:46:38 )
My heart goes out to you. It was truly a relief to know one of the people I admire is struggling with something as well. I have my own unique issues, not the same as yours, but it's inspirational to know people who have it worse than me have come to acceptance and still attempt to live normally and follow their dreams. The closest I've experienced to yours is on a day after an all-nighter. That day literally feels like a dream with odd colours and a lightweight, lessened gravity, no-consequences-since-none-of-it-is-real kind of way. Which makes me bolder to do things with no inhibition but also scary as I can't tell right from wrong, sane from dangerous and rude from kind.
I have definitely experienced these symptoms. My diagnoses is schizoaffective disorder but I have experienced few of the more intense positive symptoms. Negative symptoms, and the feeling anhedonia as a result of medication I've experienced a lot, but when I was off medication, I definitely had that feeling that thing around me weren't real. It was really easy to think I was in the matrix or a video game, or to think it was all some Emersonian inspired illusion.
For me I'm clinically diagnosed ADD/ADHD and I've had experiences similar to this. One time when I was younger around 7 my doctor and parents had me try a new ADHD medication at the time. I had an extreme type of reaction to this medication where I experienced derealization; It also screwed up my brain chemistry. This left me as a blank slate in terms of personality and is a cause of episodes of derealization, a couple every month. Just thought I'd share my story since it seems prevalent.
I don’t really think I have this but many times (like Dodie says in the video) I’ve felt like life looks darker than it should be. I was thinking it was depression, but I’m not sad at all! It makes me weird all the time:( pls help me
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eva sux2017-12-14 00:31:30 (edited 2017-12-14 00:31:48 )
this makes me feel so much better. i thought i was alone when i felt like that. im not completely sure if i actually have derealization but it definitely feels like it <3
This sounds like me. But I seem to mask it alot! I always put it down to having fibromyalgia and ptsd. 10 years after diagnosis, I start having a spiritual awakening and trying to figure out what's me, and what's spirit, my higher self or creator? I always feel like I'm falling. . . I get very very confused when I wake up. Like what planet is this?
This is what happen to me when I first got anxiety attack when I was 12. I went to the emergency room because idk what was happening and it went away. After a month or two I had a panic attack and everything seems fine again except for the fact that the world of being unreal never went away. I did research and even went to see a therapist. I try explaining to her that this thing came back and idk how or what to tell her because I know she probably don’t understand since she never experienced it herself... I just stop going to see my therapist after that and try to live my normal life after reading someone comment. They said that they have had this experience for 10 years of their lives and they know is scary but try to get used to it. I try doing that but it’s just made everything worse for me to the points I just give up and try not to care about it too much. Literally I had to touch and feels hot or cold object to see if I am alive because Everytime I open my eyes, Is like a different world. Cartoonish or just more sharpe world
Ive only ever experienced this once. It was horrible, i was just staring at myself in the mirror, not even registering that it was me in the mirror. I felt like i was on autopilot. Experiencing that constantly would be awful
I feel like this since 2014, i even remember the day when i started feeling this way. At first i thought it was because of a brain tumor or something so i went to a clinic and done a MRI, turns out there's nothing wrong. Years later i started feeling worse and went to the doctor and he checked my thyroid, and again everything was fine. This year im finally going to a psychiatrist and maybe antidepressants might help somehow. What is most annoying to me because of this is i feel like time passes so quickly and im missing out a lot in life.
you talking about it has made me feel so much better. you've made me feel like im not just going crazy and that my feelings are valid. thank you so much for that.
I was in a dream state for almost a week straight (was on a holiday far from home) that was the longest I had it. I felt like if was stuck in a dream which causes me panic (I cant look at myself in the mirror when having it because I get scared of myself). Now I have it when something triggers me: severe stress, sadness, panic, talking about it etc. Should I see a proffesional?
I often feel like I’m dreaming, but not in a “I can’t remember aaa” way, but to me my eyes I have open aren’t my eyes, I feel like I have eyes behind 5em I can open and bring me to reality.
As a religious person, I think maybe it’s a spiritual thing, a soul thing?
Also, I can’t distinguish real life or dreams, they merge, I don’t even know if this is real life right now. Just in case it is real life
I'm fine! Actually i dont know but i have some mins of my life where i feel like i'm in a movie and that my self isn't me you know? And in a part of my life i had these memories that are completely useless that just pop up to my head and i can't get them out or think of anything else,I hope your feeling alright!!
I've only had a disassociative episode once when I was 14. There was somewhere between a week and a month that's just... Not there? It's something that's put in a box in my head and I don't pay much mind to it because I've never had an episode since but, it was a scary thing for me.
Obviously I don’t suffer from this to such an extent but I always find when I get very panicky or struggle with my ocd I always feel very spaced out for a day or two. Knowing how uncomfortable this is on a small scale, I can only hope that this gets easier for you. Neve x
I'm often watching everything happening as if I'm watching a YouTube video where I'm not part of it (happened more last year)and sometimes I'll notice that I'm actually part of it XD Oh and my memories are often in third person for some reason idk why lol
Just came across this while searching for 'feeling spaced out' and so much of what you said hits home. Came as shock for someone to explain a lot of what I have been feeling for past 2/3 years now. I went to doctors had my eyes tested and apparently I'm fine, yet I don't feel fine. People's faces freak me out sometimes and I feel like I don't recognize familiar faces, but do at the same time.
I also have a type of dissociation and depression. Today in particular was a very bad day so thankyou for talking about depersonalization and pulling me out of a mental breakdown. I may just be one person but I’m sure many people watching appreciate you. Thankyou so much dodie💛💛
When I stand up, I get really dizzy like I’m about to faint and I lose my vision for a second and then I just take a moment to stand still and then everything is fine again. I know you will feel dizzy after laying down for a long time but I don’t know if anyone else has had to literally jump back into bed before they actually faint. This could be an iron deficiency or something else.
I tend to start spacing out a lot when I'm anxious or depressed, which is a lot seeing as I've had chronic anxiety my entire life. So in case you want some tips, here's a few ways I get back to myself when I'm spacey. first off I try and avoid places with weird lighting, I close my blinds and put on all my warm tones lamps and candles; this makes me feel safer and more personally attached to the place I'm in. Try doing some sort of simple paper craft, I recommend paper crowns since their simple but you could also knit or sometimes I just mend socks, the point is pick something that takes enough focus that you cant disengage, but easy enough that you don't forget the world around you. try talking to someone, I usually pester my little sister, sometimes interacting with other people can help ground you to this reality. Try a hot bath! the warmth of the water will fill up your senses and some soft music can keep you focused so you can come back to yourself in comfort. if all else fails try reassuring yourself that your safe, speak to yourself like you would a best friend "its okay to be here, nothings going to hurt you," "we can process our feelings safely together, you don't have to leave."
This was me about 7 months ago. The way I got rid of this feeling is just don’t think about it. First of all don’t worry you have derealization now get over it your stuck with this feeling. Just do something that gets your mind going. Do a puzzle or play games. Just try to not think about it at all.
I have this, it really makes everything feel kinda useless and scary, but comforting in a bittersweet way? that's how I usually describe it to others, and it really messes up my life. I'm still a teen, and I've had depression for almost forever, which has only recently started getting help.
My mom has these symptoms and she was diagnosed with Lyme Disease. Lyme Disease can cause an out of reality feeling (which she has had for ten years!). Please look into it and I hope this helps. I don't normally "diagnose" people but this sounded so familiar I had to say something.
good comment. also I have Multiple Sclerosis and my vision is affected and I can relate to the way she feels big time. my brain lesion were confirmed on an mri WITH contrast.
Hey I know this was ages ago but I’m really struggling with this right now too. I know I’m not going crazy but it feels like I can’t convince myself that this is real life, although deep down I know it is, and I’m comparing myself to people who are insane which I know I’m not obviously because if I was I wouldn’t be questioning it. I’d be delusional.
when i suffered from anxiety and panic disorder small derealisation phases for example after coming out of a movie as you explained would absolutely trigger that and it sometimes was really horrifying to me. i'm so glad i never had to experience it as a disorder... that's also one reason i never drink alkohol or consume any kind of drugs that would change they way i realize my surroundings (including things like putting in coloured contact lenses that would change my vision for example).
not about the disorder itself but normal derealisation people experience already makes me freak out lol (or at least it had to some degree, i learned to live with my anxiety and panic disorder through therapy and stuff)
Hi, I’m nine and today I experienced something like this. I was at school and came back from lunch I then sat down and it felt like I was sinking into the floor, I got up and it felt like a dream it felt like my actions and words didn’t matter because it was a dream not to mention that if I close my eyes for long enough it feels like I’m shaking i was walking around and I was asking everyone is this a dream? Please tell me if this is the same thing as what you are speaking about then I have no idea what caused it please reply guys with suggestions/tips/what it is
im aware everyone is saying the same thing, but I’ve just gotten so much closure from this. im not saying I do have this... but everytime im anxious or stressed I feel like this. every time. it used to just happen when I was tired, but it happens a lot more now.
Disassociation is quite frankly one of the most horrifying things I’ve ever experienced. I have PTSD, and in high stress situations I’ll have episodes where I depersonalize or derealize, and the only way I’ve ever known how to describe it is that it feels like your astral projecting and yet your still expected to function like you’re inside your body. My episodes can last a few hours, but I can’t imagine how it would feel to have an episode and never be able to come out of it. Props to you for sharing something like this, especially when it’s so difficult to explain to others who’ve never felt it.
Abi Wilson While I can't understand what you are going through just know that others dont have to be able to understand in order to help you. If nobody you know is able to help with this right now just know that sooner or later you will meet someone or someone's who will be able to make you more comfortable and happy. I'm proud of you for getting through your life regardless of the struggle. Because that is true strength. Stay strong :)
For me, my disassociation comes for months at a time. I’m lucky that at least it isn’t all the time and it does vary. When I am in a episode, they are strong. I find it feels like I’m just watching a movie and my body moving isn’t really me. It is terrifying. I find making/hearing noise tends to calm me. Especially with repetitive noises, I.e a heat pump or talking or rain
Whoa I used to feel this around 2008-2009 when I was in 6th grade this was the time I was always left alone at home because my mom has cancer and my dad had to go work somewhere far while my sister parties every night and sometimes doesnt go home
Yep yep yep... For me, it has always been a symptom of a depressive episode. Usually one of the last symptoms to get better too. Last time was the worst because it was my first depressive episode with glasses and somehow, glasses seem to make the derealization much worse?? I was convinced that the prescription was off, because everything looked too sharp and 3D and just not real. But the doctor said it was fine. It's always worse outside, probably because I don't really wear / need my glasses indoors. It got better. I still see weird, but I don't really pay as much attention to it and I don't automatically associate it with "unrealness" anymore.
Part of my Panic disorder is derealization. I had no idea what it was until I came across the movie w/ Matthew Perry called "numb", that is when I first heard the term Derealization (DR) and it was like a light bulb moment. "I now understand what this wacky sensation is". Thankfully mine is only triggered by specific things and does not last too long. Really hot days, lack of water, too much caffeine, panic attacks and not enough sleep. What sucks for me, it used to hit when I am running Summer camps for ASD youth. Heat, stress & caffeine are my summer time triggers. Other moments that are challenging, having it strike in the middle of a conversation. Usually my first thought is impending panic as its closely related to my panic attacks and keeping my cool while the person I am talking to has no idea of the panic I am feeling. What helps me: 1. Calcium Magnesium daily. There is a lot of research in how it helps the brain. For me, lessens the frequency of panic attacks and derealization. 2. Sleep, this can be hard when stressed but a proper sleep cycle helps a lot. 3. staying hydrated, no idea why but when I drink lots of water when derealization hits, I start to feel better. 4. and maybe this is related to #3, connecting w/ my surroundings. I ground myself by dragging my feet to get sensation back into my body, or to help my brain reconnect to my body. Maybe the cold water helps to give sensation? One day my students were walking walking out of a cool building and the heat hit me (40c hot day), the DR hit me like a ton of bricks and I could not catch up to my students. I yelled at them to come back, wow, instant reality check. I was back in my body and fully present. I talked to a friend and he will yell while driving to get back to reality. So yelling for some reason worked. 5. Stay away from caffeine. I think of DR as related to panic disorder so the goal is to stay calm, lower stress, keep my cortisol levels in check and sadly give up on the yummy bean water, I really do love coffee. I stick to tea and go for decaff later in the day. I hope this helps some of you. If anyone needs to connect, I work with people who have Anxiety, autism and ADHD. Feel free to connect if you need someone to talk to about derealization/depersonalization or panic attacks: John@spectruminsights.cawww.spectruminsights.ca
Sadly I’ve had this since I was 16. I’ve come to accept it at this point. I’m 26 and trying to finish college, but as much as it sucks, I don’t remember much of what happens anyway and I figure as long as I’m making progress in this fake reality, then maybe I’ll come back to consciousness someday. Everything around me is there, but it’s not there. I can look at a beautiful flower or another person and see, hear, and touch them, yet something is weird about them. Something is off. I hope they do more research into this.
This often happens to me quite a bit actually. I mean it definitely comes on more when I dream about things whilst listening to songs, which I know may happen with a lot of people, but I often find myself spacing out in regular activities when I’m not listening to music (and have since I was around 12), as well as not having a great attention span and memory. Yet this never seemed to bother me, only the dull headaches that would come on randomly.
I do feel like I am always dreaming but not in a dissociating way. For me , I am still very engage in life but deep inside me, there is always this feeling or sense that life is not as we see or think it is. In my relationship with it , there is no suffering around it. It was not always like that . The knowing of the dream state started when I started meditating and it was gradual and I didn't notice how I got there. I had struggle too because there was often this thought and this feeling that if life is a dream, it must be meaningless. And also feeling alone and not understood. Grounding yourself with meditation practices, sports, singing and all sorts of activity you can be part of is very helpful for embodying yourself more deeply. I think too be embodied fully, we need to be immersed in a transcended view that included both the knowing of the dream and the knowing of the realness of life.
I struggle with dissociation which apparently is connected to my bpd... Can relate to so much of this! I also thought I was loosing my vision at first..
My parents say i have bpd, but i dont really beleive them and ive never been diagnosed, but i recently got drdp from smoking weed and i miss being real. Is drdp linked to bpd
I was in the same boat, and as a man treatment for bpd was hard. But I not feel dissociated anymore, reality is sharp and beautiful thanks to the right medicines (which at this point my doctor is tappering off). never give up
I do too! I dissociate when I'm at a peak with stress, or a low point with my bpd, and sometimes it can be terrifying because when I snap back into reality, I don't really know what's happening.
The first time this happened, I was 5. I was riding home with my mom in a van. I don't remember where we'd gone or anything else in relation to that day. I went to double check that my seatbelt was on, and I realized that there was no way I could know for sure that the seatbelt was real and was truly fastened. This progressed to me wondering if I was really in the van or in my bed and having a dream. And then things spiralled to wondering if I was just a character in someone else's dream. It's never really gotten better, and I find that my reaction to terrible things happening around or to me is first to just watch and think, "Well, that doesn't matter because none of this is real..." even if I'm actively being injured. But I've learned to kick myself and say, "It may not be real, but you have to act like it is, just in case, and DO SOMETHING!" I was also diagnosed with social anxiety disorder and BPD at 16, so I guess I'm not alone in that.
I have cyclothymia which messes with me and I also constantly feel like im not actually alive or im dreaming, and It terrified me for 2 years, I since then have learned to live with it. We're not alone. <3
I was just about to make this exact comment.... I recently learned I have BPD and what dissociation is because I thought I was having blackouts. I feel like I float just above my head and like my body isn't mine/real.... like I'm using a VR headset but sometimes I find out that I actually am the character???? If that makes sense.
yep yep. went to a psych ward twice and diagnosed, told it was severe, took meds but they were more for my mood. dissociation is literal fucking hell because it often leads to panic attacks in public for me.
I get this. Alot of the time I feel like floating to get places. I'll literally be walking and be like how did I get here? I don't remember walking here. If I'm on my electric bike, I'll be confused if I'm actually on my bike or if it's just a dream. This is why I'm scared to learn how to drive, it's not safe.
I had derealization and the whole 9 yards. I remember feeling hopeless last year searching video after video just wanting every thing to end. No one believed Or understood what i was going through not even doctors. I been in your shoes and God sent me to tell you. Everything will be ok, you will be healed. Plz hold on and dont give up. I know your pain! It is scary! But God got you. I never thought i would heal but i healed…If your diet is bad and you dont get enough nutrients plz look into that! Big factor of what cause mine was malnutrition and lacking minerals.. Also idk for sure if candida was the cause but i was taking cold delivered probiotics highy quality..Also exercise is important i would walk around my apartment complex…barely able to walk one lap the first time…because my panic attacks were so bad. If you are lcking nutrient plz be careful with fitness..Also be around love ones it helps so much! I love yall plz dont give up i know the feeling of giving up…but dont your worth more than that!! You can make it out! Also try juicing cucumbers melons apples and stuff high in h3o2. You could be dehydrated. Idk specifically which one is to blame but i focused and those four things. You will be healed I love you dont give up! God put me through it so I could come back and help others! You got this!!
I live alone. I've made a little place for myself. I'm good and sometimes not. I am losing my eye site. I have problems wondering if my reality is a dream. I get confused about what I'm doing. I'm just so excited to see you at Odgen in Denver. I'm flying from Alaska to be there. I try my best to not drink so much but I always LOVE a positive music party. I can't wait ❤
I'm pretty sure I have this, as well as aphantasia. It took me a while to realise 'hm.... That's not normal' I also assumed it was depression and suicidal thoughts, but then I realised oh wait, it's not that ... It's something else..
D E R E A L I Z A T I O N It's been with me so long now, that I find it hard to imagine life without it. I finally got my diagnosis last winter - It's been quite a relief, but finding professional help in it, doesn't seem to be too easy.
I've been trying grounding techniques with my new therapist. They never release me from the fog, but they do generally act as a good measure to see how bad it is in a given day. I've stopped trying to get rid of it, only focussing on minimizing stress - being very aware of my 'state' and for all cost avoiding another depressive episode: 5-HTP has helped me with that too. I fill the rest of the disconnect with philosophy, art and music.
I am diagnosed with chronic DP and often experience DR and I can relate so much to this video. I been working for three years now with different treatments and meds with no luck so far. But, I have learnt how to live and cope with it and still have a life worth living and still keep trying to find a solution. The most effective so far to reducing the intensity of the Dp/Dr is trauma work. Also avoiding very hot humid places and very loud crowded places that make it worst.
It feels dark inside of my head. It really feels like it's only my vision that's affected. My thinking patterns are very normal. I feel like I have no influence on anything around me.
This comment is going to disappear under a lot of others, but I wanted to tell you that I heard your song "in the middle" in a store here in France, I so was so supprised ! But I had a lot of fun singing in public one of your songs, it was so weird ! ^^
mother panda that is super great! You will see, the more you read, the more you practice and the better you will get! And good luck in learning french because it's a quite difficult language, but not impossible (ok bye if I don't stop here I'm gonna write a novel about learning languages)
Desjardins Hanna haha thanks! I’ll keep at it. At least French isn’t that hard compared to Latin, which I also do. And Korean is even harder, but I’m self learning that. Yeah, haha, wish me luck 😅
I’m really sure I don’t have this issue but I actually think I might’ve had a few episodes of something similar during stress in my life. There’s a couple months of my life where my depression and anxiety were extremely severe, I broke my ankle, my parents separated and my mom was committed to a mental ward and basically August 2016 to April 2017 feels like it didn’t happen. I can barely remember anything but staring out car windows and crying after school...
Although I quite frequently have a problem where something just FEELS wrong. Can’t explain what it means but the world and my life feels incorrect, it doesn’t last more than a few weeks at a time but it’s like this feeling of something looming over you but you don’t know what it is and reality is just abnormal... I don’t even know how to describe it but I’ve been told it’s just a symptom of depression.
I also get a weird feeling at night like there’s something blocking my vision even when there’s nothing there and I know I can see but my brain tells me there’s something covering my eyes even though they’re wide open and telling my brain that they can see. I really don’t know anything but it’s weird
So I’ve been having these episodes that kind of sound like what you described as derealisation, but I only have them sometimes. I’d say about once or twice every two weeks? Maybe even way less. I’m not sure if it’s really a kind of derealisation or I just have a big imagination. I mostly had it when I was younger during soccer matches, but that was also only once a week, even though I’m only 13 right now (turning 14 next month), and I think that was about 2 years ago. If someone knows if this is not derealisation and I just have a big imagination, please tell me, or tell me anything really, right now I’m just trying to get more educated on it before saying that I have something close to it. (Except for here then).
Edit: these moments are really short to, and I don’t think they are as bad as actual derealisation.
saying you suffer feom a symptom isnt self diagnosing but saying you have the disorder is. for example, saying you have depersonalization disorder is self diagnosing. saying you struggle with dissociation and depersonalization is listing symptoms. rhese are symptoms of dozens of different disorders, both psychiatric and general physical ones.
@José An why not? dissociation is a symptom of anxiety, depression, every dissociative disorder, every personality disorder, PTSD, ADHD, and like 8 other wholeass catagories in the DSM. dissociation as a phenomenon is something even neurotypical people do under distress. this person said they're not claiming to have this disorder but suffer from the symptom. its no different than describing any other symptom.
@José An theres a big difference between the symptom and the disorder catagory in the DSM. people can have the symptom without having DID, OSDD, DDNOS, or Depersonalization/derealization Disorder. it lasts shorter period of time and is brought on by stress. thats all this person is saying they've experienced.
Definitely feel a disconnect from my surrounds. My first symptom is my back becomes super straight and they become really light. Next, I feel high(but like she said without the fun). Lastly, I feel as if I'm just watching somebody act out things and I'm just watching from their perspective. Haven't gotten rid of this but it started last year when I started smoking weed so that might have to do with this.... Don't do drugs kids
My heart goes out to everyone who does or has gone through this or anything similar. I haven't felt this before I can only imagine how freaky it must feel. And I'm sorry if you didn't want one of those typical pity comments. But I could only imagine how scary this would be so if you can pull yourself out of this say all I can say is wow.
I’ve been struggling with this condition for the last 2 years since I had brain surgery, and it’s the most difficult condition to talk about! People think I’m genuinely crazy when I tell them “I feel like I’m not here”, and it’s so frustrating. I had a horrible experience recently where I was crossing the street; I felt so spaced out that I felt as though I could’ve walked out into the road in front of a car, get hit, and then wake up in bed as though it was all a dream! It freaked me out to such an extent that I ran home, locked the door, jumped into my bed and played animal crossing for 4 hours straight. Apparently my derealisation is purely due to severe sleep deprivation, and that really bothers me. I haven’t slept for nearly two years, and I can guarantee that my dr/dp would cease if I could actually sleep! However, it’s so comforting to know how common this condition is, and I haven’t felt as alone since Dodie started speaking out about it! You’ve no idea how much you’ve helped me with this, Dodie; thanks chuck💛
this is what i get!!!!!!!! i like plan scenarios out in my head but it's like some sort of middle ground between "this isn't going to happen, it's just a scenario in my head" and "this IS going to happen" .. like i KNOW i'm not going to walk into the road when there's cars but i feel like i can kind of ..see it happening bc it doesnt feel like me controlling my body ? and then after i've gotten hit i'll just wake up and my mum will be there telling me it was a dream? sorry this is such a long reply but i've never seen anyone talk about it the same way i feel it :') hoping things get better for you💕💕💕
I hate when I try to explain how I feel to someone and they just look and talk to me like I’m being hysterical or like I’m overreacting. Not too long ago, when I finally was confirmed to have depression and anxiety, my sister talked to me and genuinely tried to help. However, she didn’t understand what depression was. She kept telling me to “just feel happy” and that I “don’t need to try to feel happy, it just happens.” When I explained that it wasn’t that simple, she cried. It hurts to see her that upset, but it also helped to know that she cared so much. I wish that people talked more about mental health.
Special Kay oh god, i got the same exact thing when i was in london just walking around all day and i hadn't slept for 2 days. at the end of the day i got this feeling like i was disconncted to reality, but i never thought it was something many other people experience or something that's even recognised as a condition. obviously, my experience wasn't severe, it stopped after i slept for a few hours and it hasn't occured again yet, but it's interesting to see that apparently, both sleep deprivation and trauma can trigger this kind of derealisation
I had this same thing when I was in ninth grade I felt like the world wasn’t real and I was stuck in a synthetic bubble and that the world was going to end at the end of the year, it was the worst time of my life. The world was gray
I just thought „naw I wished I had watched this video a few years ago back when all my life was about was this scary feeling. Thing is, if I’d have watched this back when derealization and depersonalization were very bad for me, I would have believed that this video is a lie. That it’s something my subconscious has created haha
Omg I've been wondering what is wrong with me all my life and no one would understand my explanation of this I try to snap out of it but I'm still in this dream
Had it strong after school burn out. Was freeking out for little things and feelimg very insecure. Praying really helped though Comming out of it slowly
I can’t believe so many people actually are experiencing this. Really. I first experienced this around 10 or 11 and the feeling was so foreign. I didn’t even know how to describe it and I genuinely thought I was the only person in the world feeling like that. I am 16 now and chronically for over 5 years I have been dealing with derealization and only a few years ago I discovered the name and that others have it. I feel calmer knowing what it is and that I am not alone, but at the same time I am sad many others have to suffer with it. I am pretty much experiencing it day in and day out so I am desensitized to it, but i hate that it is still there and won’t go away. I am so grateful that Dodie has made a video opening up about it because we really do need more awareness of this condition. I hope very much that a treatment is developed soon for it too.
da da thank you so much for responding to me. I have talked to people online about it before and I found that it helped me feel less anxious about it and even lessened my derealization’s intensity, so thank you for giving me the chance to reach out to you and if I ever need to talk I’ll definitely give you a call! 😄
i was diagnosed with derealisation and dispersonalisation, but somethings you say i can't relate to, or to the official symptomps, but still i was diagnosed this way. for me it started with smoking weed, then i had panic attacks and anxiety and after i quit smoking the brain fog started (6years now almost 7)ive almost forgotten how it feels to feel normal and that feeling of feeling alive. but i know that the feeling i have right now is not being alive. i feel different though then you discribed. for example, i can see crystal clear without having the feeling of being drunk or black spots, but still i have a feeling that i cant "really " see, much like the sensation you get when you see while being high (but still crystal clear if that makes sense) i do have alot of emotions but i cant seem to live in the moment, like i never value the moment when im in it, its always 3months orso or longer when i think of it as a memory that i can put the memory togheter with some kind of emotion. its like my grandpa is very old en i love him to death and i do alot of stuff with him, but it feels like i did nothing with him because i wasnt in the moment to enjoy it. also when i see a movie i sometimes cant remember what happened (i didnt space out).also when i think back over the last couple of months, it feels like a blurr and feels like i was gone the whole time (again i know i wasnt because i was there but in some weird way i wasnt) if someone tells me an exact activity that we did, i can remember ofcourse. i also daydream alot, like a lot i think i do that to avoid the pain of my current problems i have in life and that its a weird cooping mechanisme or something. but i know i am real, i dont have the feeling that im not in my body like you guys do, so i dont know exactly what i have even though i was diagnosed with it. i feel so frustrated explaining it because as hard as i try i cant seem to put the feeling in to words, en when i look up the symptoms i cant find i right match, somethings i can relate to some not... does anyone understand me or can relate to me? im feeling alone in this situation and some insights would be nice, sorry for my bad english
you actually scared the living shit out of me two years ago when i just started having dpdr and you said you've been having it for so long and nothing worked
i had a really bad disassociation episode once, after watching a movie. it was a sad movie and i cried a lot. i looked away from my laptop screen and i felt like i wasn’t in my room. i ran into my bathroom, feeling convinced i wasn’t real, and when i looked into the mirror, i didn’t see myself, i saw a stranger.
I started experiencing derealisation some time last year, more on a minor scale. Sometimes it goes away for short periods, but it always comes back. When I went through a really depressive episode, I remember taking my dog for a walk and the whole scenery around me felt superimposed; like it wasn't real and I might as well be in front of a green screen. I'm also not too good at taking in situations (especially now). I work in retail and when customers are coming up to me, asking me questions and shouting at me, I almost feel like I'm hallucinating. It's unexplainable.
I first experienced this 'real but not real' thing a few years ago when I was eating at the dinner table with my family and I got really scared and told my parents. they said I might just need to get more sleep and I did. It went away for a while but sometimes every now and then it creeps up on me
Ohhh, yeah. I had this. It was awful. It was never chronic thankfully but I'd go through episodes like this, while at work or something and it's like you disassociate with reality for a bit and oh boy is it fun to deal with :|
first time i watched this i had no idea what you were feeling or talking about, but after getting extremely high twice i’m starting to experience it a lot when sober and with no real triggers. i’m going to give myself a week and if it doesn’t get better i’m probably going to go seek professional help because so far this sucks
And got episodes of this a couple months back. I was super depressed and my anxiety was awful. I couldn’t function as a normal human being. I was injured for 4 months (I just got back to physical activity 3 weeks ago) and my mental state was deteriorating. I have thyroid problems so I had to go on medication for that, and then came a kinda steroid medication for my injury which triggered the episodes. I felt like I was never really alive and was just floating from the high dosage of medication. After being taken off of them for that reason, I kept having these episodes. My anxiety was just getting worse and worse until I finally got medicated for that. The episodes remained for a couple days as my body adjusted to the burst of medication entered my system and stopped for awhile. I was recently upped on the dosage for my anxiety and I dealt with the readjusting and the derealization episodes for three days or so. I don’t remember much, but it was during thanksgiving and my mom read me old stories from my great grandmother so I didn’t have to be in my own head for awhile. I can say I still get small episodes here and there but I am finally feeling alive and worthy again. If you feel hopeless and scared as I was, just get through. I promise you there is help out there and you will find it. I believe in you and I know you will be okay. Thanks for reading this incredibly long comment and I’m so glad to finally feel like I have a life again.
I often get pissed off when I hear people talk about their mental illnesses because I recognize how much of it I experienced as a child. A freaking child, like UNDER the age of 10. I needed help! I needed help and none of my adults noticed or did anything about it!
Now that I'm an adult and have been diagnosed with ADHD, I'm able to understand brain and take care of myself in a way that prevents all these other mental health issues from affecting me. But as a child, unaddressed ADHD led to anxiety attacks, depression, irrational fears, suicidal thoughts, and apparently, disassociation. I told my parents, teachers, and classmates that I felt like I was dreaming so many times that they got tired of it.
I experienced the mirror thing Dodie is talking about. It was scary. I legitimately wondered if a demon was following me around and scaring me on purpose when I looked in a bathroom mirror. When I was 13 I told a girl that I had no need for drugs or alcohol because my brain sometimes got "high" on it's own. THIS IS NOT NORMAL! WHY DIDN'T MY ADULTS HELP ME ?! I'm honestly lucky I made it to adulthood at all. Now that I'm responsible for myself, I'm proactive about my mental health. As a child, my parents should have been doing that.
While I don’t have a dissociative disorder, i do have frequent dissociation linked to other mental illnesses I struggle with. My psychiatrist recently suggested to me that through constant obsessing and analyzing and checking up on my brain space, even subconsciously, my mind hits the eject button. There’s something so frustrating and absolutely terrifying about feeling alright, maybe a little peeved, maybe a little nervous, but suddenly everything feels distant, your hands don’t look like yours, turning your head feels like there’s lag, like you can’t take everything in before your body has stopped looking at it and has moved onto something else. I’m working on living with it. It’s not comfortable, but I know I’m fortunate enough that it will pass, and it’s all about waiting out these episodes.
Some things I do to ground: -Pull and stretch the hem of my shirt in different ways, feeling how the fabric shifts and stretches under my fingers -Let water drip onto my hands, focus on the feeling of it on my hands, put my hands on my face, focus on the feeling of my hands pressing into my cheeks, and then focus on the water hitting my cheeks -Press a pillow or a stuffed animal or a comfort item into my chest, the sensation is comforting and the comfort item is obviously... comforting
I really want to animate the poem for my project 🤕 But it’s been a year Maybe I’ll compose my own description and I’ll cite this video. Thank you for inspiring me ( well no one is going to see it though)☺️
I hate this feeling so much. I remember during the worst part of my life (when I was going through really bad anxiety) I felt just...wrong. I knew I was alive but I didn’t feel like I was the same person I’ve always been before. When I found out it was due to my anxiety everything made sense and sometimes I do still get these feelings but I’m happy to know that there’s a reason.
D/R D/P is often down to being in a state of anxiety. I was talking to a friend about this and have read about it since as im going through it too. The way ive heard it put is its down to the fight, flight freeze response. Your brain goes into freeze mode and like a parachute, pulls the rip cord on you to pull you out of reality. My friend gave me this analogy. Imagine a gazelle that's been caught by a lion and is now being dragged back to its den. The gazelle, knowing its in an inescapable position goes into a state of derealisation. Its brain spaces out and disconnects from its situation so as to make its impending death as painless and detatched as possible. Its brain pulls the rip cord as it were. Now while your not a gazelle being dragged to its doom our brains have evolved to to have the same hard wired response to anxiety. Finding ways through anxiety can help with the spacey feeling. That being said, its perfectly fine to feel spaced out and 'floating' through it like floating over a wave and letting it pass can help, allowing your mind to observe the feeling (which is like a meditative technique). Grounding can help when it gets bad. Im no expert but its helped me kind of rationalise this
It wasn't exactly like you described it but I was like that for a while when I was around 18,19 and I kinda miss a lot of opportunities because of that. Perhaps trying to do too much out of body travel triggered it, it's like one never reintegrated one's body 100% and that's one reason to stop.
hey everyone! Anyone freaking out and watching this video thinking they are derealized forever and brain damaged, etc, all the stuff I used to think before, I had SEVERE depersonalization and derealizatjon for six years and came out of it :)
You will , I promise.
Treat yourself for OCD and anxiety and you will come back into reality. I promise.
Thanks for teaching me something new, it is quite interesting and im sorry you have that. I do recognize the forgetting everything part (and trying to not forget by taking pictures and writing everything i think down.) I actually dont remember anything under the age of 8. I had derealisation a few times but it was when I was tired and stress
Wimsem - Tekenen & Knutselen your comments are literally all over youtube, I see you all the time while I’m scrolling through the comments 😂 no hate or anything just a remark haha😘 ik ben ook nederlands btw
I don't remember my childhood either, or at least it's very foggy for me. This is a symptom of my BPD, which it may or may not be for you, who knows, but it is called dissociative amnesia. x
I took a 50mg delta 8 edible with my friend exactly a week ago tomorrow (first time doing anything weed related) and now I just can’t zone back in. I kind of feel like I’m still high and no matter what I do, if I sleep or not caffeine, food or not I just stay zoned out. I don’t really forget things as much it just feels like I’m on autopilot.
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Sarah M2019-08-18 20:56:35 (edited 2019-08-18 21:02:43 )
I had this when I was put on Effexor. Floaty, fuzzy, everything was bright like a television on high contrast, and totally numb and emotionless. Breathing felt like I was breathing like Darth Vader, if that makes any sense. I'm surprised that you're able read or comprehend anything... I was not able to. Triple Magnesium, Vitamin D and the keto diet worked to help me get back to somewhat normal. I still suffer depression, but I cannot take SSRIs because they actually make it worse and squish my good feelings too. That's when i tried suicide. No bueno.
the irony of me having to come back to this video after accepting i'd lied to myself for 4 years. the irony of me watching this back when i had started to experience my chronic dpdr for months and thinking at the time, "pfffff imagine having something like this." my symptoms have been the complete opposite to what most people describe, my world became sharp and 3D and unfamiliar. I hate having it. idk how i'll make peace with it. i had it when i was 13 out of nowhere (i wasnt even stressed or anything)
sometimes i would feel like i was just barely sitting on my chair in class and more like im sort of floating. my head would get fuzzy (feels like static) and i would start having difficulty concentrating. it would then feel as though my limbs are numb and i can’t feel them. then, after a few seconds or minutes, it would stop. does that count as derealization or dissociation at all?
I once described my experience with depersonalization/derealization as if my body was ahead of me, miles... and my spirit was behind me, miles... and i simply didn't existed in the present moment
Wow! I want to be your friend! I've had this chronical derealisation form almost 15 years! I also cant remeber the summer when this condition never went away (in my childhood I had experienced it and then it disappeared and thene came back...). Also my memory fails and I am sensitive to those changes in light and I get frustrated for not feeling present. Is there any group i can join? Thanks for making this video, its great not being alone. Hugs from Mexico City!!
Last week i was having crazy anxiety and panic attacks, now i am feeling like that all the time, i can see how thats a espcapism for the stress but how do i turn it off
same, i had the worst panic attack of my life 3 weeks ago and have been in a DPDR state ever since. idk when i‘ll ever feel normal again
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i dont know2020-04-21 08:54:25 (edited 2020-05-16 13:39:53 )
i feel like i'm always in a video game? like when you're controlling the character and the other people are just kind of around you and they're just NPCs and you can kind of hear them but not really and i'm the character and everyone else is just part of the game.
Kshithi Dilip thank u, they told me they couldn't do anything tho and that i just have to "try not to think about it" like what am i supposed to do with that lmao
Derealization can be a really awful feeling. I've got mine in the late August 2021 after a traumatic event. I got invited to a nightclub by my friend who I'm not friends with any more since then. I'm not gonna describe why it has been so bad, but to be brief I got home at around 1:30 a.m., went to use a bathroom and suddenly, I felt like it all has been a dream. I experienced a panic attack due to that feeling. My life has changed, I started researching and found out about derealization. This event has even more inconvenient timing, because I was about to start a very stressful and useless/full of anger final school year on my worth of shit high school, so it made it even worse. But I'm better now, and I hope that when this year finally ends, it will decline.
when i start to feel dissociated it sometimes helps to wash my hands. sounds weird but it sort of brings me back a bit, and the warm water also feels really nice. maybe with a good smelling soap if you have. just a small thing, but it helps me anyway! xx love u dodie, thanks
This is so interesting, because I use scented lotions and hand sanitizers to help me feel something during a depressive episode. Funny how brains work, and how those of us with different issues can find solace in the same things.
So interesting. Warm water makes me feel less alert. I find that drinking cold water, washing my hands in cold water, brushing my teeth with cold water, and even sometimes splashing my face with cold water helps me focus and feel more present.
Oh, though I can't bear cold showers, so I have a hot shower, then end it with about a minute of cold water that then feels refreshing and perks me up. :)
I feel that way too, but with a shower. It's always worse when I wake up, but when I shower it becomes clearer, and my day isn't as foggy as it could be.
I did the third dose of Pfizer this Wednesday, and I felt bad until today: a week after, today I went to my psychologist and she told me it's just a feeling. I'm absolutely sure it's just a feeling, because my brain and my heart went through A LOOOOT of anxiety, tension, feelings of being lost and weak (as I still feel, because this situation in the last days made sleeping impossible for me. Because of this today I'm starting to use chamomiles) depression in recent times. I guess that feeling like this is one of the multiple phases of feeling something new you can't bare with. Much love from Italy, you're a pretty soul 💜🇮🇹
is it normal to get it from time to time? I don't always have this feeling but sometimes for some reason I get that sensation. Usually because I keep waking up (because of sleep paralysis) and then sleeping again immediately several times. I had trouble sleeping today and got a lot of sleep paralysis and it happened again. My brain keeps wondering "was I dreaming or did me eating lunch just now really happened?". Usually it'll take a full day to recover but I just wanna know is it normal to all of the sudden have it and then not have it. You know how people can be depressed (the mental illness) and they can also be depress from time to time. Is derealisation the same?
the first time i watched this i cried tbh. i didnt know this was a thing until this video and i thought i was insane or something. this video is rad and im happy you made it
I know what’s around me and what’s in my surroundings, but I feel super disconnected and it feels like i’m in a dream. It’s like I have no feelings and I have no brain, like i’m some type of robot who’s just living in this misery...
I feel like everything around me is one single layer of particles that i should be able to see thru, like im in a matrix determined by what my eyes can see. Sounds seem distant, as if im hearing them in a half-asleep state or underwater. I feel as if my consciousness is not properly attached to my vessel, but like im just watching from an outside perspective, and it has a life of its own. It does its own thing in a sort of autopilot way. Life feels like a dream I'm supposed to be waking up from soon, or a movie that is reaching its end.
Its crippling, and i wish i could enjoy my life here, instead of just waiting to die, with the hope of waking up.
i just read about this in your book! its awesome that you're talking about your experiences and spreading the word about derealisation. love you dodie!! x
After smoking a lot of weed over a period of 4-5 days (Dam), I had the exact same thing for weeks after I'd stopped. I guess I'm lucky it only lasted about a month or two - but those were undoubtedly the weirdest, foggiest, most dreamlike weeks I've ever had. It felt like I was behind my eyes almost, like 'I' was a tiny person in my head pressing buttons and instructing my body to do things, like a human robot/spaceship. Woke up one morning and it was gone. Had NO CLUE what it was
I have derealization most of the time, but i have moments where i come back into the reality that my life is real and that things matter, I celebrate when i have those short, sometimes hour long moments. But when everything feels unreal i dont really care about anything or anyone. It feels like im just watching everything happen and there are no actual choices to for me make, i feel like im on auto pilot.
I feel like this sometimes. It doesn’t happen that often which means that I probably don’t have a disorder or anything, but it’s very strange. It typically happens when I get very anxious or (for whatever reason) watch conspiracy theory videos? I felt like this a few days ago but now I’m back to feeling “normal” again. It’s odd.
Oh I didn't know this was an actual thing! I get that sometimes but I haven't gotten it like in a year now and I always thought that I was just tired but I guess I wasn't :O
(Just a word of caution on 5-HTP for anyone who is also looking at trying it)
I've personally been using it on and off for quite a while and love it and do find it helps me with depressive symptoms. But if you plan on using it I really recommend doing plenty of research on its interactions and the precautions you need to take while taking it. In the US (and I'd imagine most places) its marketed like a vitamin/ supplement and sold otc in that section of the store, but it can have some fairly nasty side effects over time like any drug.
The big one is to never take it while also taking an antidepressant. That can cause the buildup off too much serotonin in your body which leads to serotonin syndrome. Also 5-HTP over time can lead to some heart valve issues but that's said to be preventable by taking EGCg (usually found in the form of a high quality green tea supplement). The final big thing is that since our brains naturally TRY to find balance with brain chemicals (even if they often fail) supplementing serotonin can throw off and lower levels of dopamine which can also cause depression and mental health issues. Generally taking L-Tyrosine (a precursor to Dopamine) helps with that. Also just cycling on and off of it for periods of time to give your body a break every now and then really helps too.
5-HTP is the precursor to serotonin and L-Tryptophan (different from L-Tyrosine) is the precursor to 5-HTP. L-Tryptophan is a bit safer and doesn't have the same side effects as 5-HTP and I've seen a few people also have success with that.
Above all, do plenty of research and talk to a doctor if you can. Take care of yourself friends. :-)
Catalytic i used to take it for my suicidal thoughts/depressive symptoms and it worked in the very beginning but then made me feel constantly sick usually nauseous so i stopped taking it ://
Thanks for this - I was going to comment along similar lines! Mixing SSRIs with 5-HTP is a serious way to trigger serotonin syndrome....be careful, folks!
Catalytic thanks a lot!! my mom always tries to get me on all kinds of supplements because according to her there's no side effects, but I knew that it's probably not that easy...
Lol it happens with me also...sometime while sleeping I had visions in my mind and when I suddenly woke up at night I feel like I was not sleeping I feel like I was thinking all night .....
Sometimes my episodes are so bad that i feel dead literally i call on others around me to check that my voice is heard and check mirrors and my ID card all the time to assure myself that I actually exist i feel odd looking at myself in pictures and bathing/showering is hell it terrifies me
I definitely get this during my severe anxiety or depressivr episodes and sometimes during an argument or extreme stress. I always put it down to my aspergers. It's like somebody has pulled the plug out of my brain and nothing computes properly. My vision goes, I struggle to speak, my memory switches off and I'm confused, i can't feel anything physically and feel like I'm floating outside of myself. Sometimes I would hallucinate or lose chunks of time. There's full years I don't remember. I always wondered if anyone else got this
You know when you have to give a speech or an interview, maybe you’re at a concert and meeting a celebrity you’ve looked up to all your life. You do it and you see yourself do it, but once it’s over you feel as though you can’t remember what had just happened? You know it happened but it was somewhat fuzzy the whole time because of your nerves and the memory of it seems to far away, so much so you question if it really happened or if it was some sort of strange dream. That is because you dissociated; your brain was too stressed and so it shut down temporarily in order to keep you from panicking or becoming overwhelmed and overstimulated. Well, living with this disorder is that feeling ALL THE TIME.
Hi there like you say that you feel like dreaming all the time, I guess It's derealization disorder. I have been through this scary mental illness since September 2016. Now I have overcome almost 90% of it but I am curious to get 100% recovery. I believe one must activate willpower to do away with stuff like this..... I request all my loving friends be it boys or girls who are down with this bloody illness that there exists no impossibility provided one doesn't give up and continue struggling untill Success is achieved.....
I didn’t know this was a thing and now I know that this is probably what I have. I thought it was just depression and now I know I need to tell my mom about this and I’m incredibly scared.
dodie, thank you. listening to the words roll off your tongue in the very same fashion that i feel so often makes me feel like maybe i’m not completely insane. my only hope is that we spacey dreamers can ground each other some like what you have done for so many by sharing your personal experiences. and maybe, with enough dedication and understanding, we can figure ourselves out together, someday re-enter reality for good together. edit: i went to sleep last night thinking of some of my most intense episodes, and i’d like to use this community to share one. if you’re reading this, maybe you can somehow relate, or else find it interesting. anyways, here goes:
it was the start of the summer before last. my family was going to orlando universal studios for the first time, something i had been looking forward to for a good while. note: traveling to anywhere other than what you’re familiar with usually brings out the worse of derealisation, as much as i absolutely adore going to different and new places; if regular routine life feels unreal, imagine how much stranger it is to suddenly wake up in a blank white hotel room. anyways, the first day there, after spending hours of riding rides and wandering through this themed world, around 4 in the evening, while walking through a crowd of colors and sweaty smiles, everything around me suddenly seems to change dimensions. my vision blurs. and it’s as if i’m purely inside of a film, like i can reach out and touch the people moving around me and nothing would effect me at all, like everything was already set and i was just a background actor. my mind spins as the people around me whirl and i turn to my mom with all that’s left that is me and i tell her somethings going on. i could not think clearly. all i could tell her was that something was happening to me and i so desperately wanted it to stop, but in much more fragmented words. she has to guide me to a bench and has me rest, having my dad fetch some icecream. she asked what was going on, and i couldn’t explain it or tell her. i remain this way for 10 minutes or so, and my parents decide to take me back to the hotel room, assuming that i was dehydrated or something. they are both of the medical field and to this day are sure that’s what it was. after hours of laying on the bed, feeling completely drunk (although i’ve never felt that before, i imagine that’s what it’s like), eventually i gain my senses back and if my eyes and mind were a camera, they were focusing back to normal. this happened all 3 days we were there, around 4 in the evening each time. i drank loads of water after the first day, so i’m positive that it was not dehydration. i don’t know what it was, but it grew increasingly terrifying each time, as if maybe this time i wouldn’t come back. the only thing i can trace it back to is all of the simulation rides that i rode (which is the majority of the rides they have there). similar to how dodie talked about having to take a moment to come back to being in the real world after going to the movies, it’s like i was stuck in the simulation mode. maybe it’s because i wanted so badly to remember these memories that i sunk myself into those moments and experiences riding, and after enough of it, switched into it. but to be honest, i really don’t know what happened there, and i just felt so bad for ruining those evenings for my family. i’m not usually someone who likes to draw attention to myself, but it’s hard not to when derealisation demands it. so, that’s it. someday i plan to do research in psychopathology/social psychology to dig into issues like this that are quite relevant today while such little is known about them. the other day i tied my usually depressing feelings on reality up in a little bow: I come from a dream of a garden growing, a dream that has yet to end. if you made it to the end of this novel, thank you for reading, i hope you’re well. 💛
I don't deal with this often, but when I do it usually comes close to triggering a panic attack. Anyone have some tips for helping calm panic attacks? (Besides grounding, cuz I already do that.)
It's very weird that I happened to just stumble across this video now. I have these kind of feelings a lot, and I notice it especially at my job.
Like my surroundings feel like a dream. And it's odd because I don't experience high stress at my job but it's definitely where I notice it the most.
Maybe because that's when I'm most consumed by my own thoughts? I do a lot of thinking at work whether it's about absolute random-but-connected nonsense or whether I'm doing some critical thinking.. I'm very in my own head at work.. and then I'll kind of take a step out of my thoughts and try to take in my surroundings and everything feels so disengaged.
All the sounds blend together. Almost like if I reached up to my face I would find I was wearing a pair of virtual reality goggles and I could take them off.
Like even though I'm standing and moving around at work, I feel like I'm sitting down and watching myself do it from somewhere else.
This got way too personal but this video definitely hit a personal part of me.
Duuuddeee, reading this was soo eerie!!! It was like reading a passage from my notebook, this is exactly how I feel, damn. I mean my job is moderately chill too, I just work the longest goddamned hours, sometimes I think that interferes too, that disarraying moment in which all the conversations and silverware movements shift into one clusterfuck of aushaushtinktinkaush and I can't tell any sounds apart from each other anymore. Honestly, all I fucking do is work so sometimes I also think I'm living in my mind due to lack of speaking with people, like I'm dealing with customers all the time but it's very automatic and simulated, very superficial living, I guess I can't even say I'm living in my mind as much as it seems that I'm standing beside myself, like I can't be bothered to occupy my own body lol Anyway, this got waaay too personal too. How do you get yourself to snap out of it?
This couldn't be more accurate to how I feel on a regular basis. Especially at work! Feels so good to know that I'm not the only person who gets this, thought I was going crazy at first. This video and the comments have made me feel sooo much better about it!
Sometimes I have to look down at my legs and rally concentrate on every footstep whilst I'm walking to try to convince myself that I am actually walking at that present time.
I have only ever experienced this type of thing while having a paranoia-based Panic Attack from being waaaaaay too high. Or just normally high with an over-whelming, stressful thought added. Or maybe it had nothing to do with being high, but since I have never experienced THAT shit Sober, I will gladly just blame it on being too high.
I can't imagine living life like that all the time. Them handful of "life is a dream" moments are way more scary than the scary "real life" shit I know for a fact happened, because yeah, at least there's comfort in not questioning everything that's happening in "that" moment.
The only Advice normal me now would give the me freaking out in that moment is: in the end, you're the only person that could be in control of it, and therefor you're the only person that can put an end to it.
I have dealt with this for many years. I just shrug it off because I've dealt with it for so long I thought it was normal for years. Sometimes it makes me act weird and I always wonder if people around me notice. When I mentioned my vision symptoms in conjunction with my mental symptoms, my therapist didn't seem to understand and told me to get my eyes checked. I have been having it less and less and antidepressants helped a lot. I take Lexapro and it has changed my life for the better which I never ever thought would happen because everyone around me has said antidepressants never worked for them. Life is by no means perfect, but I am grateful for the improvement. There is hope.
I have a weird thing where I catch myself constantly thinking that I'm the only real person in the world. I understand that this is false, but I catch myself subconsciously thinking "she's acting badly" and stuff like that. It's happening a bit less now.
Every once in a while, I only look at what I call the "surface" of life. Everything beyond a few feet in front of me is blurred and distorted. I feel as though I am floating, and I can't move correctly. I get in the way of people and feel stuck there. It's hard to get back to viewing the world like other people. I get all spacey and everything around me is blurred. I have no idea why it happens, but it's been on my mind for a while and I wanted to express myself. Thanks.
its so good to know i'm not alone on this one, i also feel like that a lot but it usually goes away after i clench my fists a little. i've always wondered what it might be and why i might be feeling like that anyways this sucks that its happening to you but at least you know you're not alone!!(sorry for my english:-))
My name is Jodie- hi dodie! I had derealization for almost a whole year back in 2012 , it’s on and off now but how it’s stopped is ... I don’t know how. It just stopped . It only comes on when I’m stressed or in grocery stores
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Steve Primeau2020-02-21 07:53:26 (edited 2020-02-21 08:08:36 )
You feel like you're watching a movie, but with one minor detail that can be quite unnerving.
You're the main character.
I've had this for as long as I can remember. As a child - not having the articulation skills - I would describe it by saying things like "there are times when I don't know where I am." - which wasn't quite right.
After a series of tests including EEGs, xrays and everything else under the sun, there was no diagnosis.
It wasn't until years later that I learned that I was suffering from a disasociative disorder brought on by extreme anxiety.
After all this time; however, I've learned to cope with it.
Thank you for sharing this with us. For those of us that suffer with this, It's nice to know we're not alone.
@Keira Lane it is. Many well respected philosophers and thinkers have suggested that we are living in a dream or some kind of an illusion. In modern culture, physicists and mathematicians have evolved the idea into what's known as simulation theory and it's often portrayed in media ie The Matrix or Vanilla Sky as an answer to the question of what is reality. There are many people who take the idea quite seriously (myself included). The joke was a reversal of the premise of the video and I was playing with the idea that life actually is a dream. It was a pretty good joke in that context but probably not for everyone.
Just passing by. I would highly recommend consulting someone, mate. One thing about self-diagnosis is that you might be wrong, which is what all the sceptics might reasonably tell you; another thing is that you might be right and thus you gotta go consult a specialist. I also have derealization and I remember thinking that it was all about my eyes, same as you, or that I just didn't get enough sleep. Now, after more than two years of being stuck here, I finally have a therapist and I'm working on this issue. I did try to cope on my own before, but without any guidance, it didn't work and in fact the disorder got worse over those years. So if you think you might have derealization (or any other kind of bullshit!), please try to find a therapist. Stay strong, man! <3
yeah same, my mom says its just allergies but idk since ive taken so much medicine and its been months at least (it started feeling like this last year)
I also agree with Alice Chester, please go get this tested out, as it could be something severe and you will never know till you try find out. Good luck and I hope its not really difficult. Peace and love
it maybe just because im a preteen and i need lots of sleep but i get 9 hours of sleep everyday now and this still happens, although yeah it may be my horrible sleep pattern
so i still go to school and two weeks ago just a few days after my best friend had a panic attack at school i started again to feel like i was not real. I had this before, but this time it was different and a lot stronger. I felt that everything i said and heard and felt was just not real, as if someone had programmed it, like i was a figure in a game and i was placed in this human body and had to follow human rules i don't want to follow. And my friends tried to talk to me and i couldn't answer. It was in the middle of class, i started to panic inside and wasn't able to breathe, almost passed out, and i just wanted to disappear and get away from this human body. It just felt completely wrong to me. It took my best friend half an hour to get me to say something after class.
Most of the time that i am alone i feel like this and i know that if i don't try to distract myself i will become crazy. i am afraid this feeling comes back and that i won't be able to breathe again. Every day i am afraid to sleep, because i'm scared, that i might wake up the next day and will have to follow all this human stuff i can't relate to.
what is even worse, is that if i forget this feeling for a moment the next time i realize i forgot it, it doesn't feel good. It feels like i betrayed myself.
my best friend is the only person i told this until now. i often feel like i need to go to a therapist, but i'm scared to ask my mother. I'm afraid, she'll ask why. I don't want her to know what's going on with my mind, because she has enough stress having to deal with everything else.
I make the best out of my derealisation. Having very muted responses to things happening has made me really good at technical analysis of charts and trading in general, you just observe and stay detached to make out the most likely outcomes based on objectivity. I don't think you should cope with these things because it can get you more stressed and anxious (i know it made me have alot of breakdowns). Much rather find something you like and something where you can use your way of life to get an advantage to perform even better. E.g. strategy games, chart analysis, mentally skipping time from boring tasks and a bunch of things i probably can't think of that are better done when detached from the situation
There's some good shows on netflix that discuss our perception of reality. Abstract The Art of Design is very interesting and i found it extremely reassuring when dealing with feelings of 'what is real / reality'. It's indirectly talking about it and doesnt discuss D/R or D/P but just another perspective on how we percieve the world around us
my best friend didn’t know what was wrong with her because her mum told her that she had something wrong with her but she didn’t know what and now by watching this video with her she now realises that this is her condition. thankyou so much dodie. i love you
me : aaah this just my feeling because of anxiety and panic my brain : "then explain the numbness and less of sensations" me : QUIET PLS my brain : "what if it was all dream and you actually asleep in high-school class" me : SHUT UP I AM 29
Yes, i am also obsessed with being that young again.
I grew up in the ghetto and since I was a kid in high stress situations I would shut out all emotions and see myself almost in 3rd person to deal with the situations. Never knew there are other's like me. We have some fucked up coping mechanisms.
I also struggle with derealisation and depersonalization. This happened to me after the biggest panic attack i've ever had, about 2-3 months ago (happened after I stopped my birth control pill cold turkey). I've been dealing with it ever since. It isn't 24/7 for me, but I have episodes every day. It is so hard, and so scary, it honestly feels like being high all the time or something. But finding videos like yours really helps me realize that i'm not going crazy, that i'm not alone, and that there is hope to come out of this. Because there is! This WILL go away. It is not permanent at all. You just have to figure out how to rewire your thoughts and etc. It will take time, but this isn't forever.
Hey! It happened to me as soon as I stopped birth control as well, it took a few weeks to start but when it did I had a panic attack and then within 20mins I had become trapped in my own spacey head with no way out - it's been over and year and a half now. Hope you feel better soon💗
Wow, this has literally been my situation for the past two months now. I'm relieved to hear your comment! How long did it take you to recover and what did you do? I think mine is getting better slowly but it is still a daily struggle because it's such a confusing disorder.
Over 10 years now sometimes I don't think it'll ever go away :(
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Kat B2021-03-29 03:28:59 (edited 2021-03-29 03:33:04 )
makes me feel like my brain is higher up than its supposed to be? like a floaty feeling and light headed. it feels like my body can't contain itself and its trying to float away! also makes me feel so numb. like everything is so far away and I can't put any effort into anything. most of the time when I look in the mirror I like recognize the person, I know that the face is familiar but it doesn't feel like mine yk
I watched video about awakening(enlightenment).that video scared me and after that I feel like I'm in dream a littbe bit.I don't have any other symptoms tho.I am depressed and was suicidal in the past.So I think I have thing she's talking about
This makes me feel so much better, I don’t feel like this constantly but as soon as at get anxious I feel like I’m watching a movie, like I’m sat in my head and I’m watching life through my eyes, I look around and I can touch things but not feel them properly and when people talk I feel like I’m in a tunnel, thanks for talking about it cause I just kinda thought I was going insane
This happens to me as well sometimes when I talk to people I don’t know -I just completely disconnect from what’s going on and it all kind of feels fake.
I have had this sinds the beginning of 7th grade, but I recently found out it's an actual thing. A couple of days ago I went to a concert and I pinched my self every 5 seconds cause I really wanted to remember it cause I felt like I was watching a movie or something. I don't have or ever had depression or anything like that. But when things get loud and hectic I just get in that dream.
Another way i can explain is: when you call an uber when lying in bed for a long time and you get in the uber or a taxi and mid driving you feel like you are not in the car.
my dissociative episodes make me so uncomfortable, i can’t imagine living like that all the time
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I Freya I2018-02-23 22:30:48 (edited 2018-02-23 22:31:20 )
Oh my gosh you have answered lots my questions! I feel similar sometimes when I feel like I am watching a video if my life kinda like in vr, kinda. It's hard to describe and I don't know if that is exactly what it is so... Yeah. I am also going through times with high levels of stress at the moment so, thank you Dodie!
OMG YES it does feel like vr that’s the perfect way to describe it for me. Idk if I actually have it but I’ve felt a lot of thing Dodie was talking about so i think ima look into it
thegirlwarriør Yeah!!! Sometimes it's like I'm in VR and then I realise I'm not??? It's really confusing. It's like you're in your body but at the same time you're not???
One of the major symptoms of my mental illness is depersonalization and that’s pretty much how I feel a lot. I feel like I’m in a video and everything I do isn’t real and that I’m not real. It’s very weird. It happens more often than t doesn’t.
@Arealis sorry it took me so long to reply but it sometimes feels like you are disconnected from the reality your eyes are showing you but it doesn't quite connect properly if you get what I mean.
Thank you for all the replies and likes, I really wasn't expecting this! I don't know how it is for other people but almost an entire year on from when it started- at times it gets better and I can "see" what is infront if me, other times I feel like I have no emotions. Like I'm just drifting through life
I get this sometimes, normally before a panic attack or when I'm out and about but it's with colours and shapes instead. I'll be walking by a row of houses that I've walked past a million times but this time, the garden walls seem to tall or the colours in the garden are oversaturated and I feel like I'm In a video game. Its a really weird and horrible feeling and it will only stop once I get back into my house so idk if this is a similar thing or not but yeah...
I always pinch myself to make sure I'm still there.. and I feel like one day I'll wake up from a coma or something like dat.. I went to a doctor and told them and they thought I was just faking, or it was my glasses?!???? HELP
It’s almost like I have no impact on the world around me. When I’m driving, walking, working at my job, at the end of the day it feels like I didn’t do any of it
Haha I always get like this before or during exams, it’s so annoying cause I should study but I don’t I just stare at a page and don’t realize that I did it for 2 hours. I started scratching my skin to ground myself in reality but it can’t be the only solution
Jesus, this explains how I feel EXACTLY. The "light" thing, where the shopping centre's lights make you feel derealized and things like that, that's exactly what happens to me. I never hear any other derealized people talking about the light thing and I thought it was just something else. Thank you so much for talking about this.
Abby Marie Let mentally ill people comment on YouTube... are we just supposed to stay silent about how we feel and how this video makes us feel less alone?
I avoid shopping centres and bright, busy places for this reason. I end up with headaches when I’m under bright lights, and it makes everything look even more weird.
i keep telling myself that i’m gonna be ok but i’m not ok it’s getting worse everyday i’m so tired of this i feel exactly how you feel but i haven’t seen a doctor for it. in the past i got diagnosed with anxiety and depression and i thought it was that but maybe i’m wrong
I woke up one morning and I felt off and weird like this. At first it was spinning and nausea and that turned into a weird high feeling or drunk feeling. It making life hard. I’ve had it for a little over a month right now and it’s caused depression and suicidal thoughts. Has anyone else felt this and found a way to get better?
Wow. This explains why my friends called me "crackhead" and "dopey" for 4 months straight ( even though they know i don't do drugs ). I never knew this was a thing - I just thought it was me 😂
wait yo that’s a real thing? when I was in elementary it would feel as if I was like- playing a first person POV game and just watching someone play my life if that makes any sense. Cool to know I wasn’t schizophrenic or something.
I have disassociation due to an abrupt formation of anxiety that, after a short period of time, turned into depression, which created the derealization as a coping mechanism. I’m on antidepressants now, but for some reason those have just made the derealization stronger, even though my depression and anxiety are numbed. The weird part is I actually like being spaced out, and I don’t know if that’s healthy. I actually try to stay spaced out by constantly sleeping, delving into fiction of all kinds, and just staying da fuq away from the real world as much as possible. This has made my memory horrible (I used to have a photographic memory) and sucks out any motivation I could have towards accomplishing stuff for school. Should I let myself stay in this dream state (where I’m happy, but unmotivated and stubborn), or should I try to stay in reality?
Syd Sschoen A little bit of both couldn't suck that bad. Just take baby steps back to reality and when you're in a phase where you're just slightly jutting out of your comfort zone. I feel like that position in life is always the most productive and joyful. Good luck!
From experience I'll say that it is dangerous to make derealisation and just NOTLIFE your confort zone because when their is a important deadline if your anything like me you will either miss it (bc time what's that pff i m just gonna take a nap) or have a rush of anxiety/panic attack. For the rest of the time i find that this unhealthy mecanism works and it sucks bc that is probably why I just wont change since 5years now so... yeah I'm just warning it might become (or not) an issue
edit: I just realise that you said antidepressants numbs out your depressiobmn and anxiety so... maybe it's fine ¿¿¿¿??? or maybe most definitely you should mention this to your doctor 'just in case'
I relate to the feeling that your antidepressants are contributing to derealization. I took antidepressants for a while and they numbed my anxiety and lessened my deep depressive moods, but my derealization was so bad I had to stop taking them.
Sometimes i feel like i am very intertwined with reality and other times i dont. Sometimes im so in tune with things outside of myself i get afraid that i cant handle it so i really try to revert back to feeling “unreal” so i can deal with the task at hand, and get through.
I wouldn’t say that you should make derealization your only view point of your life. If you deal with the real problems you face, your life will turn out to be much more pleasant for you. The way i look at my derealization now is like a superpower that helps me to be able to get through the things that make my life really hard for me, and i use it as a life-handling tool.
Whether you feel real or not, life is happening to you. Times is passing. Days are going by. There is so much beauty around you. When you notice how beautiful life is, you will want to be integrated with the world again. Until then i wish you well.
As you were saying staying in that spaced out place probably isn’t healthy. I hope you try to find a new way to cope such as art, exercise, music, etc. other than coping by falling into your bad mental health. I know it is hard to try to find a new coping skill when you already have one but I can be very helpful. I hope that helped and know that you are valuable.
Syd Sschoen I had a really similar experience to this at the start of the year. Moving home after studying abroad and going back to my old school gave me intense anxiety and I had only started experiencing mild symptoms of anxiety around 6 months before that, so it was a totally new experience for my brain, and it ran me down into my worst depression and had me derealized for about 3 months. Personally I never got on medication, which maybe is a good thing because i was able to come out of the depression and also stop derealizing for the most part when I moved back to England for the summer. I would definitely talk to your doctor about the medication making the derealization worse. It might be good to try different options or different dosages to see if maybe you can stay connected to things while still lessening the depression. If you find you really do feel best with your current medication and the derealization along with it you could switch back then.
Syd Sschoen - I am 61 years old and have found that we all are just kind of fumbling around in the dark most of the time. We focus when we have to and juggle when we must and pretty much make it up as we go along even long after we have retired from the working world. This method of coping works for you for now but you also know that it won't support you latter when life requires more effort to stay focused for longer periods of time. But worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes and for now just keep trying to work it out as best as you can. Dreaming is fine and we need to take time out to do so when we can. But when the need comes to sit up and take notice and begin and complete a task then that is what we will do to the best of our ability. Just know that you are not alone in what you are going through.
I'm no doctor but i think it'd be more beneficial in the long run if you slowly try to ease back into reality. maybe tell your doctor that your struggling with coping with reality and see if there's anybody else you can see. just take baby steps. good luck <3
I have a feeling it’s a side affect of your meds. Before I was taking ADD meds, my bipolar medicine (to help stabilize my moods) made me kinda flatline emotionally. It made me not care about life in the sense of friends and socializing. It doesn’t help that I was alone a lot during that time either. I think you should mention it to your doctor next time you see them. Also talk to them if you think somethings up.
This makes me feel slightly better about having depersonalization/derealization disorder because I didn’t think there were other people that had it
Sometimes I really don’t like it because I don’t really get to experience life It sucks sometimes because I just want to feel but I can’t Like stuff just,,, doesn’t stick I read things over and over and it doesn’t stick I read my medication and it doesn’t click what it is I really try to bring myself back and experience stuff But it makes me feel slightly better knowing that I’m not alone
One thing I've realised with my derealisation is that it's probably the cause of my chronic nail biting. I've always bit my nails so I passed it off as just a bad habit.
But I realised that it got worse after my depressive episode 4 ago (which is what triggered my derealisation). So I suppose its probably my brain's way of trying to subconsciously feel grounded.
At least I have an excuse now why I compulsively chomp away at my fingers.
im not gonna self diagnose but; i have similar issues like dodie’s. in school, sometimes in the middle of doing an assignment, i look around my classroom and i suddenly feel like im lost. physically. i don’t recognize the people around me and such. this never lasts long but still gets me every time. sorta like “where am i?? oh wait- im in math class.”
also, the vision! this happens wayy too much. i feel like my eyes are squinted where in reality, they are wide open. or something like, i’d be wearing my glasses and then suddenly my vision gets blurry and i zone out to where i cant move. im usually aware that its going on as well. its sorta like- sleep paralysis but without the demons and replace the bed with a school desk and you want to wake up but you cant? i snapped out of it when someone talks to me.
i havent told anyone about whats happening when it’s happening. people would ask me “are you okay?” and id just reply with “yeah, i just zoned out.”
Just came back to this video because i just realised i might have some episodes of derealisation when im stressed or something... and im far from not letting it bother me...
derealisation, I feel like my whole life is a movie .. I make actions and i subconsciously expect from people and from life itself to react to me as in the movies .. In matter of fact .. I subconsciously expect from myself to react to people and to life as in the movies .. It's scary realizing that u cannot count on what u think is a good thing to think of .. U cannot count on what u think is a good thing to say .. U cannot count on what u think is good thing to do .. Just because you can see that you are just imitating some movie scene was programmed in ur subcounscious after re-watching it so many time.
I had a "friend" that disassociated for a week. She threw a brand new phone away that her parents gave her IN PERSON and said that she thought they were robots and didnt trust them or anyone. We were at work and she sat there for hours changing in and out of her uniform and I asked her if she knows that this is real and she said no I asked her if she thought she was kn a dream and she said yeah as soon as I told her this was real life she gave me a look of disbelief and did trust like I was a talking nonsense. Then a few days later she attacked me and my husband for absolutely no reason. She couldn't even explain it herself. It was insane. She even thought that there were helicopters (at I'm speak ok ng of there were none at all) and that we were going to be raided. Super scary.
@The Duchess she isn't. She ended up cutting all her hair off and I think that snapped her back to reality because I heard from someone that she regretted it but yeah idk I know she isn't getting help though. Shes too stubborn
@SheSaidHeroin yeah i thought so. I dont study psychology and have never seen or experienced psychosis but I was pretty sure at the time. We aren't in contact anymore because well.... she attacked me and my husband for no reason at all and completely for got she did it and then the days after that were weird. I told her parents she needed help when they came to move her out, they just dismissed me like I was the one that attacked her.
@Acpole_ This is such an overall upsetting situation. I'm sorry you and your husband had to go through that and am glad you are okay. The fact that she didn't remember attacking you only intensifies the possibility of her having a psychotic episode. It obviously isn't your responsibility to take care of her, especially if she is endangering you and it's so awful that her parents didn't believe you. I hope someone else in her life could get her some help, because from what you said in your original comment, she has completely disconnected from reality and can't be blamed for her actions and most likely needs to be hospitalised and on medication for her to be a functioning human again.
@SheSaidHeroin that's exactly what I said to her parents I said that I didnt call the cops because she was not clearly in her right mind and needs proper help. I felt like me calling the cops would have made things so much worse.
That is not DP or DR, when you are in those types of states you are actually aware of reality you just have a sensation that you a fake or a robot or feel unfamiliar with your surroundings or yourself but cognitively you know it’s not true and are in touch with reality this is why it’s so scary.
@Peeress Ma'at smokes weed. She and I tripped together once or twice but that's all I know of. She was usually always home so I knew what she did if she wasnt she was at work. But we also worked together so that was rare. There was very little time that we were apart so if she did any when we weren't together I'd have no idea what it would be.
RoxxyFly oh ok. Well it probably definitely is something not right chemically in her brain. If she gets help and takes it she will be fine. It’s a lot of mental illness help out here that we all have to take advantage of. It’s much needed. I know we are all so thankful you spoke out.
Im absolutely positive I have this in episodes, but my therapist isn’t really listening to me about it and is just saying it’s depression and anxiety :/ what would you say is the best way I can communicate and stress it enough so that they actually help me????
Meet with your doctor and request a meeting with a psychiatrist, they can refer you to one if you have worries about the state of your mental health. If you can’t meet with your doctor for whatever reason, tell your therapist that you would like to see a psychiatrist. they might not agree with you thinking that you have dpdr, but should allow you to see a psychiatrist for diagnosis if you ask. Also I’d recommend finding a new therapist if at all possible, if the one you’re currently seeing isn’t really listening to your concerns then they probably aren’t helping you very much.
Ok, so i'm not sure if this is a thing, let me know if any of you experience this as well. I've been researching DDD for a little now, watching videos and reading articles and whatnot, and I highly relate to almost all of the symptoms. I've pretty much felt like this for a very long time, but i've just been sort of smiling and nodding through it for so long i'd almost forgotten that it wasn't normal. Like, I was a little scared when it got worse during some extra spicy times in my life, but even though I felt like I wasn't real, that nothing was real, I made myself a pledge to be as "kind" and "good" as possible, and somehow after that it wasn't as scary? Like, it doesn't matter if I'm real or not, I just don't want to hurt anyone and I want to be kind even if I don't exist. I mean life still sucked but I felt a bit more tethered to the world, just a bit. I still kind of feel like a story that someone else is telling me, but maybe I can help guide my character?
Anyways, this might just be gibberish, but thanks.
I feel like I might have derealisation, but I’m not sure. If it’s too loud, crowded or if there’s a lot of motions like bright flashing lights, I feel like my brain is disconnected from my body and like I’m dreaming. I can hear sounds if someone for example speaks to me, but it feels like my brain/body isn’t taking in the sound. I don’t feel like this all the time, but when it does, I don’t know how long it’ll last. It’s very hard to explain. I’m not very educated on this topic, but maybe someone in the comments is?
That’s actually very interesting.. I’ve been like that my entire life (I always thought I was weird) but I’m also extremely introverted. I have never been able to explain like that and never brought up to any of my specialists that I see but I have been diagnosed with depersonalization/derealization based on other things. I wonder if this makes people more prone to it or if I’m fact it is underpaying symptom of it. If you find it distressing definitely talk to counselor/therapist about it bc I think I’m going to I tried I couple weeks ago but now that I actually have a way of saying it, it might help!
Honestly, this doesn't sound like depersonalization to me. It sounds more like social anxiety or general anxiety. What you describes here seems like a less intense version of the anxiety attacks that I used to get before I got diagnosed with GAD and started medication/seeing a therapist. Disassociation (that movie-like, out of body feeling), disconnect between sound and your brain, and lights getting brighter are all symptoms of an anxiety attack. Then again, this is just based on what I've been through, and you could be totally different! I hope you can find what is wrong and that you can get help and find solace in who you are. You can still live a fulfilling, happy life, and be mentally ill. Best of luck to you <3
Hanne Thiessen Yeah, I can also get that feeling at the most random of moments. Thank you for the advice, and best wishes to you. You can get the happy life you deserve even if you have any mental health issues :)
I’m pretty sure that derealisation is an effect of anxiety. I get exactly the same thing as you, you described it perfectly. I had anxiety/panic disorder when I was 11, about 3 years ago and this problem began then. I most commonly get it in shops or when I’m with a big crowd. I don’t have anxiety anymore but the derealisation that you described hasn’t gone away. I don’t think that I have social anxiety. I have tried to describe this to my family and friends but they just think I’m tired. But how can I be tired every time I go into a shop or stuff like that, for 3 years. This derealisation happens to me every so often but it’s mostly random. When it happens, I feel like I’m in a lucid dream or that I want to go to sleep, I also feel like I can’t be bothered with moving or speaking or anything.... I hope you get better x
imadrinkingicedcoffee - Yes, that’s exactly how I feel too. I hope you’ll get better too, but always know that it’s okay to get help if you feel like you need to. Best wishes <3
Hermione Granger thank you... to be honest I just though I was being a hypochondriac and I was just tired but it was happening so regularly and the situation was so similar... it feels so weird knowing that other people actually understand and have the same thing as me. Thank you for your lovely message, I hope you recover xx
imadrinkingicedcoffee - I totally agree, it does feel weird to know that there’s people who understand and may actually be experiencing the same things xx <3
If this video describes you don’t let it consume you. Instead, find one concrete thing in your life and hold onto it with all your strength. You’ll make it through 🙂
I feel so disconnected and unreal. It seems like I am just floating on surface... I can’t feel the extent of anything, the seriousness of situation, I have no reaction to anything... I can’t form connections because this has resulted in me having a lot of social anxiety. I don’t even feel connected to my boyfriend or family anymore. I don’t know why this is happening to me.
Oh, Dods. Thank you for this wonderful video. I've been trying to explain this to people in my life and now I have a video to send that makes sense and isn't confusing! Love love LOVE you very much xx
idk if anybody out there can relate in my situation but i have this kind of thing. It all started when I take Magic mushrooms and got highdoze of it. its been a month since my last trip but still i got this kind of dreaming feeling
I've had this come and go too. For me shamanistic healing and other types of healing modalities have really helped (but I get that its not for everyone). In a shamanistic perspective, when we go through trauma we can loose parts of the soul making it harder to stay in the body and feel "whole". Also grounding in nature with gardening and stuff without this manmade matrix world around can help.
When I first watched this video (a couple years ago) I REALLY didn't get it. But I have had a couple of episodes since then and BOY IS IT HARD TO FUNCTION WHEN YOU'RE SPACED OUT
i've had a similar thing since i had a panic attack 2 years ago. i was diagnosed with depersonalization-derealisation disorder not long ago. i've been struggling with depression & suicidal thoughts because of this. when you find a video with someone with a similar mental condition it's so heartwarming. i subbed.
soph I hope everything gets better for you! I also hate to see all these people in the comments self diagnosing themselves with this because it makes them different when there is people truly struggling.
(hi Im only 3-4 years late) I used to feel like this all the time a few years ago and was going through a lot of stuff but it's gradually disappeared. It was always the strongest when I was outside or taking a walk and I couldn't comprehend any steps that I took or anything at all and I was always like pinching myself to keep myself in reality. Only times when I feel disconnected now is when I've sat by my computer for a long time and I go on a walk... But now it usually disappears after a while of walking or just distracting myself... :3 I don't have as much anxiety and I don't have this,, a lot anymore so... yey
For me, derealization feels like there is a thin film between me and what I see in front of me all the time. I've had it for long enough that I've gotten used to it and it doesn't really freak me out. But sometimes, in stressful or overwhelming or overstimulating situations, the thin film will thicken and it's more like there is a wall between me and reality; I am very aware that what's happening in front of me and all around me is real, but I feel so disconnected from it. It's good when I'm in a negative situation that is too stressful for me to mentally handle bc the derealization just kicks in and I feel less stressed. But when I'm at a party or social gathering or a concert and the derealization comes on, it kind of sucks. I want to be present in those moments, but I can't control it. But like Dodie said, you just gotta try and enjoy your life, even if it doesn't feel real.
Things that have helped me deal with derealization: - Don't fight it. Allow it to come when it does and accept that it's happening. Fighting it honestly just makes you feel worse and less in control of your body. When it comes, let it, and work with it rather than trying to shut it off (bc you probably can't). - Mindful meditation helps me feel very present during and for a little bit afterward. I haven't done it for long enough that I can say it's improved my derealization, but I would definitely try it out for yourself. - Journaling helps me recall what I did during the day and clarifies my memory a little bit. - Exercise is GREAT and forces you to be aware of what your body is physically doing and helps ground you (lifting helps me the most). - This ones a lil weird, but I have bad eyesight. However, when I take my glasses off and everything is blurry, everything looks real. It's like the thin film has disappeared and although I can't see anything at all, everything becomes "clearer."
Please feel free to message me! I love talking about this stuff with other people who experience it often/daily like myself!!
Hey you! Yes you, reading this comment. Please eat well, drink something and take your meds because you are beautiful and you need to keep living, even if it feels like the world is against you. ♡
I saw the title and I felt that so much. my mom won't let me go to someone about it tho. she says it's "ados" as in "attention deficit- oooh shiny" 😒 btw I'm not self diagnosing but I know what I experience is super close to what this is and it's scary. I was just writing my experience here
Hello, i really needed to share this since it deeply hurt me when it happened but i really don't know if it's the appropriate feeling, so im sorry if it's off topic or something. Last week i went to my friend's classroom, i saw the teacher of the class and and wanted to talk to him a little. We talked, then i looked around because it all looked very bright to me. I couldn't see my friend and got confused for a second. I turned to the teacher and said "Sir do you know where she is?" and he answered "She's not here." and at that moment i got a feeling like electricity going down from my body. Terrifyingly similar to the same feeling of waking up from falling down. I looked around, couldn't recognize anything. I knew few people from her classroom and i could see them on their desks but couldn't actually... "recognize" them, i'm not sure how to explain what i experienced at that moment. And i just said "Where am i?", realizing i said it out loud later. The teacher looked at me very concerned, i looked at him but couldnt figure out who he is for a second, i then apologized and left the classroom. Do you think this might anything close to daydreaming or maybe derealization? I don't have such physical symptoms as my sight getting darker so often but other things you said sounded similar. I constantly forget things and do them robotically(?). As if life just goes and my body automatically goes with it but my mind is not there. I rarely have a hard time recognizing myself on the mirror but often can't believe it's me and go "Huh, it's weird i'm actually a body." Im so tired of the experience and nobody seems to get it.
I had depersonalization for almost 1 year and still do! It was October 2020 when it started and I was only 10 years old and I feel like I’m dreaming all the time and I just get more and more anxiety thinking that the world isn’t real and I’m not real it’s really getting bad right now and I want to die like WHEN WILL IT END
i think i may have this disorder? for the past couple years i’ve been experiencing these symptoms and i thought it was just anxiety, but when i would search up panic attack symptoms mine weren’t necessarily the same... sometimes i’ll be in class and feel like everything i see is distorted, too big or too small, blurry outline around people, over saturated colours, feeling like i’m not actually living in the present moment, feeling like everyone around me is speaking in an echo/whisper/muffled voices and feeling as if i’m spectating the world in that moment. sometimes this lasts me minutes, hours or i’ve experienced this before for over 2 weeks once. I’m relieved because i finally found what could possibly be my disorder but worried because idk what to do now. anyways yeah hope u enjoyed my rant
I often feel like I'm in autopilot. I don't know if this is something everyone feels as they grow older, or if it's a condition. This causes me to forget about things that people have told me, which affects my relationships, and it causes me to forget to do things, which affects my job. I work in a mine site, and I've forgotten my tag on the board multiple times, which will get me fired (if you have a question about that, I'll answer it in a reply). I set reminders that lose their effectivity over time, so I try to get important things done first, but this isn't always possible.
I never heard of your condition before, but I find this video relatable. Thanks for posting this. I'm on a waiting list for a psychological evaluation, so I should find out if anything's wrong soon, but this made me realize more of what I should talk about when the time comes.
you have changed my life. i honestly cannot thank you enough for how you helped me accept and identify my mental illness and realise that i dont have to feel ashamed...
thank you dodie, from a girl who is slowly healing <3
How about the feeling when you look at someone you’ve known for literal years and see every day and you think “who the fuck are you?” You recognize them obviously and they haven’t changed and they’re not acting strange or out of the normal, but they seem strange to you, like unreal.
Thanks for the video. I smoked up yesterday and I went through some crazy shit. I thought I was going mentally crazy. I smoked and 30seconds later I closed my eyes and opened them back and my brain thought I was asleep however I was awake the whole time and I thought i was dreaming and thought everything was fake/unreal. I never felt like that till the first high I got which was yesterday. I'm okay now however I'm still thinking, what if I'm still asleep now? and all this is just a dream. I'm trying to persuade my self its real lol
I used a spinning toy on my Johnson, for the first time.. which I think made new links in my brain, then I got drunk. and I was very stressed cause I just maybe tore something in my leg at work, don't wanna get fired, and the part you won't believe....
life as we know it, is over within a year or so, and the world is ending. (I know this because I've studied philosophy Science History theology... I know God is real and the truth about real life and who is controlling the show and the secret evil going on)
so I guess I finally snapped under the stress of it all, plus mind altering stuff like seckstoy experience, cumming chemicals in the brain, plus alcohol, and stress.
I have this feeling- except the vision thing- for like 2 weeks and i felt it before, but like not all the time. I don't know wether it's that, but i really dont like it. Maybe it's caused by stress or something like that.
for me, my vision just gets really blurry. the lights don't change, but it feels like when you're so relaxed that your vision defocuses and you have to concentrate to make everything sharp again, except that it takes way more effort (if i can get it at all). i will say that cold is a grounding tool that works really well for me. when i'm feeling extra foggy or i especially need to be present, i sit somewhere cold/against a cold surface or eat/drink something cold. that really helps me.
This is the first video I've seen on someone explaining it really well! I also have derealization disorder an it's been a long road of thinking that I'm alone!
Poor me i first got it when i was 9 we were hiking in the mountains and I thought it was just blood pressure but i’m 17 now and it still here with panic attacks disorder too i hope one day i’ll get better and live my life just like everyone else sometime I would cry myself to sleep praying to god only for one day i would feel normal for just one day
Oh no~ I always feel very unreal Like the first time it happened was on the trampoline I started panicking and was like where am I am I real what is- and my "friends" were like what???
OMG!! Okay thank you so much for making this video because apparently I have this too, it is good to know what it is because I have been really confused at what is happening and I don’t talk to people about it because I feel like I’ll sound insane.. I’m glad I am not the only one.
Sopie B. I get that. I was never able to explain what was happening to me untilnI saw one of her videos. Now I can show this to my friends and tell them: that's what's happening to me. Stay strong, you'll fimd your way to deal with it :)
I really feel like young people (like in their teens) need to have a clear education on what is and isn’t normal. I had severe anxiety and ADHD growing up but I didn’t know what those things looked like because nobody told me, so I just suffered for years. On the flip side of that, I thought I had depression when I was in my teens because of tumblr (thanks tumblr) when it turns out I was just going through puberty and puberty sucks. Now I’m fully educated on anxiety, depression, and ADHD, but that’s only because I had to do a fuck ton of research and trial and error with doctors on my own. Anyway, now I have actual depression so lol.
I suffer with this and it's horrible. I'm young and haven't told my family or anyone yet but I use cold water as a way of coping because it helps for a while. I used to suffer with night terrors which is like sleep paralysis but reverse and like dpdr. It started for me after I got heat stroke and basically had a panic attack and that feeling went and came back and now it just constantly stays with me
I've had this for a couple of years. It scares me because if I don't remember my own life, even the things that happened the day before, it's like I'm dead even before my physical body stops functioning. It's like I can't live my own life. I wish feelings and memories were as clear as when I was a child, I wish I could see things in focus, I wish I could feel as sharply. I hate living in a dream.
I have moments when I look in a mirror and I’m just convinced that’s not me. Like dead on ‘oh god what that’s a different face now’. I don’t have this condition, just that one last symptom you described, so its horrifying to hear people who feel like that all the time. Stay strong, guys. The world needs you ♥️
joschcline Not necessarily. I've had this feeling as well but it's very rare and it only lasts for a few seconds max, so I don't think in this case it's actual depersonalization, more like mini dissociative episodes.
Has happened to me since I was a kid. Looking directly at myself in the mirror always brings on a very distressed feeling of not knowing myself. Very strange.
Same happens to me. I'll look in the mirror and just stare, like it's not really me. It's so weird. Weed doesn't help when I'm in my paranoia depersonalization mode.
you know those first person movies ? it feels like you're watching one of those in your brain, only you're the main character and the movie is your life and you feel locked into your weird cloudy brain space.
thank you so much for making this in such a positive way! it is so nice to have somebody talking about mental health without all of the taboo and shame that normally comes along with it. i am in no way saying that mental health should be glorified, but seeing somebody so positive in such a hard time is really refreshing. good job dodie <3
one time when i was having a really really bad episode and i saw myself in the mirror and like what she wrote, i was getting freaked out then i like got into this weird trance like thing where i was just standing there staring at myself in the mirror banging on the mirror with my fists and theres still marks there looking back im honestly scared, can any one relate?
Hey! I hope this helps. Don't be afraid it's perfectly normal it happens to me as well. I will avoid mirrors because of the fact that sometimes I'm so familiar but so unfamiliar looking at myself in them. Don't worry I know what you're going through. Try to look at yourself in the mirror and think that this is u and nothing has changed, I hope this helps!
I’ve dealt with this ever since I was a kid. I’m glad you posted this video. I’m in college now, and the feeling gets so intense that Im starting to get heart palpitations now. It’s literally the worst feeling in the world. My whole day feels like a dream, and I have one or multiple panic attacks a day. It’s literally killing me :/
boltoms oh my I am dealing with something very similar! I have tachycardia, heart palpitations, panic attacks and I feel like I'm dreaming a lot. I feel like I'm dying a lot. It's hard. Meditation and yoga has helped me.
it sounds like you are realizing you are a body. the body itself ..as all its senses, is an anchor of familiar patterns. death is the ultimate unfamiliar pattern. so its all related. come to accept that you are going to still be thinking while dying.. whenever that comes. its possible to realize that the brain is not the arm..leg..or the associsted sensations. its an information processing system..pattern matcher. we cling to comfort. but everyone dies. its just a ruder awakening for those who dont see their body and their brain/sense integrator/center of thought in true perspective
no matter how hard things get, one thing that always gets me through the most difficult times in my life is prayer, which ever God you pray to, sometimes when we go through these kind of things, we rlly don’t have to keep it to ourselves and if we aren’t comfortable talking to another person, then please don’t forget God is always there. Prayer heals. Depression, Anxiety or whatever it is that’s bothering you
Folks in the comment section who see this in themselves- Hi! I was freaked out by this too as I've gone through trauma, etc BUT I looked into it and ADHD presents itself differently in "women" (whatever that means to you) and- because of sexism- we are often undiagnosed. I'm not hyperactive as in tapping a lot, I'm usually stuck daydreaming and being a bit spacey. Could be something for some of you to look into. Hope you're all okay ❤ If you have any questions or need help please ask!
Oh my gosh... just sent this to my girlfriend, I've suffered from this for years but was never able to put to words exactly WHAT it felt like. Trying buspar, fingers crossed!
I love how open you are about mental health problems. It's so important that we destory the stigma around these subjects and make sure people know that mental health is not a weakness and that we need to talk about it. Thank you for helping me realise that its ok to share your feelings and ask for help.
Thank you for this video.. I don't know why but in my country.. Czech Republic, no one talks about this and I did not know for 5 years what is wrong with me. And my therapist don't Care that much about this and said.. Just do normal stuffs and it will disappear.. It does not work
when i was at school... my friend recorded me on her laptop every time this thing happened to me. I would Stare- Blank stare at anything, I would stop blinking, stop moving, stop thinking- it was like my brain froze i wouldn’t remember it unless someone showed me and it’s not like i was zoning out or anything i wouldn’t talk, wouldn’t blink, wounldnt move, my pupils dilated themselves sometimes (i can make my pupils smaller and bigger on command) and i would basically have a complete stop in time and when i do remember them i could move around and everything would be frozen then i would randomly snap back to my seat. The longest recorded of me doing this was 11 minutes and 41 seconds in music class.. i “zoned” on the board. I don’t know what it is but i basically do a whole freeze.
Your description is very relatable, Trying to explain to someone That staring at the ceiling for an hour Is more interesting than actually starting that one video game my mouse has been hovering over for the last 45 minutes. Which I played for 3 hours straight the day before, Forgetting that I was going to get breakfast. People usually understand one half, But not the other. Being demotivated to do something fun Is not only weird, it's also a sign That you will not finish what you've started Unless you are forced to do so. Since the idea of finishing it one day Is euphoric, while actually doing so Is an absolute bore and a letdown.
This happes to me, too, but it's not always when I'm stressed, it just happens sometimes, and often around people, but not always. Is it normal? Should I see someone about it?
This is kind of similar to what happens to me, and even though I do have anxiety it doesn't always happen when I'm anxious. Although lately, I've been feeling like it doesn't really go away that much anymore, which seems a bit concerning to me if I'm being honest...
I feel like the severity of it varies from case to case. It seems that a lot of people experience this sort of thing, but it isn't bad enough to seek professional help. If it begins to take a negative toll on your daily life, I recommend that you reach out to someone you trust and discuss whether or not treatment is necessary. (but regardless of severity, i think everyone who is able should attend a therapy session every once in a while. your brain deserves checkups too!)
I remember watching this years ago, vaguely relating, but not thinking much of it. If I felt like that I'd obviously notice. I didn't notice because I feel like this ALL the time. I've got DID. fml.
I am not one to self diagnose as it affects me when people self diagnose for conditions I have. But I do actually experience this It feels like I’m not actually there and I didn’t realise it was an actual thing that happened to people just thought I was weird
I’ve had it for over a decade (not in one stretch but it would last for hours when it would pop up, and would happen frequently enough to notice). Oddly, the thing that has mostly resolved it is a 9-5 job. I think it was because high school, college, and part-time jobs all have inconsistent schedules and some of our brains probably have trouble processing that. Whereas having structure helps make sense of the world. I also have a short attention span which is probably another factor. I’m interested to know how consistent that is with people.
Stress and probably a lack of sleep likely contribute as well. But the job was the major differing factor. I didn’t get any better sleep after the job, so that wasn’t a factor in it improving. Although I did go to bed at the same time consistently, but I was still only getting 6 hours of sleep or less, and going to bed after midnight. And while stress can and trigger it, I’ve been relaxed before the job and it would still happen frequently.
It still happens on occasion even with a job, but it’s a *drastic* improvement. As an example, it wasn’t until 2 months into the job that I realized “wait, I can’t even remember last time I derealized/depersonalized”. I haven’t had that long of a stretch since, but it still pales in comparison.
So if you’re experiencing this, I suggest (if you can) making a consistent schedule (daily or weekly) and that might help reduce it.
I feel as though I sometimes, very rarely though, experience this. It usually hits me at a certain time, in a certain space. I am unsure if this is it though, but the way you’re explaining it makes me wonder. You’re an incredible person dodie, thank you, so much.
I've had this since I was aproximattely 8 years old and as a I child I thought my life was a dream and that in reality I was a patient in a coma and I had to wake up, this idea tormented me terribly, I used to cry a lot and didn't tell my parents because I thought they would lie to me to keep me in the dream. 19 years later and I still have that feeling of being in a dream (some years the sensation disappeared luckily) but this year I realised its derealization and naming it and knowing that a lot of people has it helped me a lot. But honestly sometimes I feel like the only way out would be to kill myself because then I would know if I was right and because the sensation is so horrible that I can't think of anything else in the moment. It reminds me a lot of that scene in Inception where (SPOILER ALERT) Cobb's wife Mal is so certain she is in a dream that commits suicide. Anyway THANK YOU A LOT for this video, it really helped me.
i go through episodes of depersonalization and i’ve never talked about it with anyone but i kinda just want to put it into words: it feels like you are the narrator of your own life, seeing yourself as a completely separate character in a film. the scariest part is when it doesn’t go away and you almost exit your body (if you have ever played gta it looks exactly like that 3rd person view in my experience) and sometimes it lasts a long time and it feels like you are a trapped observer in your own body but it also doesn’t feel like your body of that makes sense? probably one of my worst fears is i will permanently be stuck in that state never being fully in touch ever again. can anyone relate?
When I get very very anxious I disassociate and it feels like I’m dreaming, but it’s not all the time. I’m assuming that’s what derealization is like, but all the time?
IVE HAD THIS!!! I'm not in it 24/7 but it feels very sickening and dizzy-like you said, "floating". It happens a lot when I'm at school (walking down the halls mainly). Nothing feels real, or it feels unbelievable where you Are, strange to think that anything is real or unbelievable that I'm even alive. Kind of cool but at the same time I often feel like sobbing? At least I'm not the only one.
I go through this all the time Dodie!! Thank you so much for sharing. :)
What happens to me is that I will look in the mirror or am all alone, "realize" I am a person, and realize that I am me. I will often repeat my name to myself and I feel a sort of detachment from it. Then I get this weird out of body experience where I do not recognize myself.
Usually what helps me is stepping away from the mirror or stopping where I am, closing my eyes, taking a deep breath (or a couple!), and reminding myself that it's in my head and I am overthinking. Just reminding myself that it is okay that I am going through it, but I can get myself out. It's difficult, but over time I have gotten better at it. <3
This is a good video and all but implying that derealizing never ends is so damaging. First of all people can have an episode that last minutes or hours or days or weeks or months or years or a life time. Chances are your dissociative episode will seize eventually. Second, dissociative episodes range in severity! Zoning out or day dreaming is a mild form of derealization, and leaving your body is way more intense, it's not always 100% surreal. And finally... everyone, everyone, EVERYONE!!! Experiences some form of dissociation in their life time, for some it's just more persistant than others. It's not hopeless guys!
ur mom right. I had pretty bad disassociation/depersonalization in my teens and early adulthood (from severe trauma). It happened less as I got older, and by my late 30’s it didn’t happen anymore. So there’s hope!
@arlothedino yeah and most mental disorders are like that tbh. Like everyone gets depressed and feels anxiety at some point in their life but if it's interfering with your everyday life, it's time to get help. I'm just saying we need to stop talking about mental things like this in a way that excludes people experiencing it casually. Dissociating, like being anxious, are all part of the human experience.
For me personally, I had talk therapy and it helped a great deal. My disassociation was a fight or flight response (except my brain would do the “flying”) anytime I felt severe anxiety. It got to where it happened pretty often because I never dealt with some deep childhood issues. It took the loss of my baby at birth to send me to therapy... But at therapy all I could talk about was my crappy abusive childhood. I got stronger and as I got older I stopped disassociating. Now I live life in the moment. Sounds cheesy but you actually can overcome this .
Thank you for saying that. I deal with this issue and for her to go and say it’s chronic and constant without expressing that this is her personal experience and derealization is not one size fits all. And not everyone experiences this the same. It’s so damaging that she claims it’s just chronic when that word does not appear ANYWHERE within the definition of derealization. I believe her story but if I happened to watch this during an episode when I first started experiencing this, I would’ve been terrified and would’ve thought this was a chronic disorder that would never stop when that is just not true.😑
In her defense, there was a time in my 20’s where I thought it wouldn’t ever end. And I’m not going to lie, I’m not sure I wanted it to, because for me, depersonalization was almost like instant, natural Xanax. It wasn’t until I realized what my brain was doing, and dealt with those underlying issues that made me depersonalize, that I figured out “feeling” was far better than not feeling.
@J Kennimer i understand that but you shouldn't make a video if you're uniformed. The claim that it's never going to end is super misleading and yes, even terrifying to think about if you don't know better. She needed to include a disclaimer, like this is my personal experience and yours could be wildy different.
ur mom right, but it’s YouTube hon.. She’s not a medical professional and most of what we have on YouTube is personal experience. Just take everything with a grain of salt until you see an ACTUAL mental health professional.
Yeah like sometimes I have out of body experiences where I feel like I’m floating and watching myself. Like there’s two screens overlapping each other in my vision, like I can see my first person view and my third person view. It’s really strange and I told my best friend about it, and she is kinda weirded out by it but understands it.
I also experience derealization almost 100% of the time. How do I know? Because I remember what experiencing the world felt like, and also because I'll have very very rare episodes in which the world feels real again. I do think it has to do with light. I've found that wearing sunglasses makes me feel more comfortable or that sort of assuages the stimuli that gives me anxiety. I even got eye surgery thinking this would solve my problem with perception. It didn't. It's all in the brain and every day I have to deal with it, making me feel stupid because my memory is not great and also because I'm always doubting myself because of my perception. It's fucked and it does cause depression.
It's been bad these past couple of days because I've been binge drinking. It's like I have slight tunnel vision on time of "dreamlike" vision. And everyday all day I feel like I'm reliving my days over. It's like my days are repeating. Different things are happening but I feel like they've already happened. Am I tripping?
it makes school awful. I struggle with it occasionally which makes my teachers think sometimes I'm just being lazy, but im not. I haven't found a therapist that even knows what it is because I don't have enough money for a trauma specialist. although it all sucks I found a friend who goes through it too and I've almost finished school
I didn’t watch the video, but if you feel as if you’re in a disassociated state, aside from trauma as a cause this absolutely can mean you simply have toxic mold in your body from living or working in a mold environment. Be aware it isn’t visible in many building cases. There are tests you can get done to confirm and then you’re in for a year or two of detoxing. Dr. Jessica Peatross has an Instagram and website full of further information. Good luck. 👍🏼
Oh my god, I have that too. I got diagnosed recently, and I can't help myself at all. It's not floating or dreaming, for me its more like nothing is real. I've had it for a while. It sounds more like you have Depersonalization, because that's what causes that grey blurry dream like vision. Aw boy. We in a boat together.
I have felt this way ever sense i went through some stress and moved out of state, I was trying to explain it to my dad today but I couldn’t think of how. I was about to go to bed as I saw the title of this video and I freaked out because I thought I was the only one.
Angelina Thompson see, record your hand and say "this is how I feel everyday" and just go around and grab things etc. "Nothing feels real. It feels like the screen you're watching on, is how my life is. There's a screen between reality. "
Same But i believe i can start feeling presence through practice - stopping thoughts and concentrate on outside world and what your body feels about it
Chloe Renee I feel you so much I thought I was he only one because it’s been happening for years and it’s like no one was there for me because no one knows how it really feels. When I try to explain to someone, I start panicking because it’s extremely hard to.
This is super late but wanted to share that you were the only person who has ever been able to describe this before I went to therapy and I felt so seen. Thank you so much for sharing!
And guys dont forget derealisation/depersonalisation is also a symptom of anxiety and depression so keep that in mind most people who cure said depression and anxiety this symptom goes with it.
I have had this since I was 12 years old. I'm 22 now. I never knew what it was until I researched it and stumbled upon the name. I went to a therapist at 16 and was officially diagnosed with it. It's common for people with anxiety.
i feel like my life is a video game and i'm playing it, i'm talking to people, eating, sleeping, but i don't feel like i'm there, i don't feel like i'm in the video game if that makes sense- i don't wanna self diagnose but do you think this is it?
As someone who had it really bad for 5 years and had no sense of self and felt stuck in a parallel world and felt no emotions and felt like they had no connection to anyone or anything and just wanted to end it all so many times but now is starting to be on the other side of it, I want to give some hope to everyone that it does get better. It's tough don't get me wrong, I still struggle with it on a daily basis and that's after being in therapy for a year and working out my triggers, but with the right support and people around you and the willingness to work on yourself, I can promise you that you will get through this, and taking back your mind and feeling back in reality is just round the corner. And yes, it is hard and takes a lot of effort and it is a very unsettling experience, but just the gradual feeling of starting to have your emotions and your memories and sense of self back and finding out about yourself and your life in general makes it all 2000% worth it once you get there. So please keep plugging away at it and you will reap the rewards; and if you do ever feel lonely or depressed or dissociated don't be afraid to reach out to someone. You are not alone.
It made me feel like couldn't trust my eyes I couldn't trust my thoughts I couldn't do anything and it really made me awful it was there for like 5 days I could function normally but not like fully I guess and yeah it's like Ur drunk I'm really sorry u have to go through this Ur not alone buddy
I didn't realize I was experiencing this until there was a moment where I wasn't... It was the most random moment, I had used the toilet (yeah, it was a VERY odd moment) and stood to wash my hands when I realized how bright the whole room was and I could see every corner of my vision (???) and the mirror looked so clear. I just stood there for the longest time at my washroom sink, basking in this feeling that I hadn't felt since childhood.
Leigh Anne Ely no idea. It was totally random and went away after a few minutes and now I am completely aware of the yucky milk dreamy trapped feeling.
I have small scars up and down my arms and legs, from me digging my fingernails into my skin, trying to ground myself in where I am, trying to convince myself that the world around me is real and not a hallucination.
I've had it for as long as I can remember and until recently I mainly associated it with my anxiety and fear of humiliation. I've also associated it with my Maladaptive Daydreaming since I spend so much time in my own mental escape, so coming back to reality can leave me feeling disjointed and out of place, and can make me feel like the lines between my mentality and reality are blurred.
It's aaaaaawfuuullll to feel like your dreaming!!! Once I got high and felt like everything was a dream and I had a mental breakdown because I felt I lose control of what was happening!!! It was the worst feeling ever!! Like the worst, I cried a lot and recorded everything to make sure I wasn't dreaming, cause my fear was that in reality I was passed out and was dreaming that I was awake and in control, it was in a place that I didn't know every single one so I didn't know what would happen to me if I was actually passed out. Again, worst feeling ever
let go, no one is in control. our egos are all illusions. The universe (god) is the only thing in control, we are all part of the spontaneous unfolding of life and consciousness. heaven is on the other side of all fears of the ego. let goooooooooooooooooooooo
bruh last time I was high the same thing happened to me I felt like I was disconnnected from my consciousness somehow..I described it as "being in the past like 2 seconds ago and snapping back to the now on and off" idk how to describe it but it for sure was the scariest thing ever
Yeah, it’s pretty common for people with severe anxiety to have panic attacks on weed. Happened to me every time, and took me a while to learn I couldn’t do it anymore..
I felt the same too while I was high...I was shooked everyone was "fine" and even scared of me. Is that panic disorder, anxiety attacks or disrealisation? I sometimes loose motivation and feel disconected like i was dizzy but i thought it was normal or becase i havent eat. Help
Valerie if your heart is racing and your chest feels tight, it’s a panic attack. Derealization is essentially the “flight” part of fight or flight, or your brain deploying its proverbial “airbag” in response to stress panic or trauma. I suppose you could experience derealization while high, however I think the THC in weed does some of this in your brain on its own.
I’m much older than most of the commenters here... The ONLY time I’ve felt completely comfortable smoking weed is when it’s very high quality and I’m smoking it with a highly trusted friend who is NOT going to mess with me or freak out while high. That’s the only time it’s enjoyable and fun.
@Ally i dont usually reply to comments but i had to reply to yours bc holy shit dude i know exactly what youre talking about the first time i ever experienced a bad trip i described it to my friend as though i felt like i was living in the past and every few seconds i would snap back to the present without any recollection of what i was doing or what i was talking about i also told her that i felt like i was switching between dimensions it was the scariest fucking thing ever
Mandy, I had something very similar happen to me. I was able to come out of it with time and meditation but it was one of the most terrifying times in my life. I hope you are doing better. Thank you for sharing your experience.
That’s crazy, I literally just commented on this video saying the same thing and saw your comment. I took an edible one time and I felt like that for a whole week or two after
Getting high and losing connection with reality are completely different. it’s kinda silly if you think about it. I have dissociation and derealization every day and I have came back from an episode and I’m in a random place I’ve never been before, I “blacked out” and walked around for hours spouting nonsense or being completely quite for 2 hours. Getting high is not really that similar to this.
This happened to me the very first time I got high and it sucked! I kept yelling at my bf saying things like "I'm high as FUCK right now am I going to FUCKING DIE???" And I was just shouting at him a lot bc i was so scared but it also felt like I wasn't controlling what i was saying, like i was in a dream. I felt bad bc I've never yelled at him before and we've never had a fight or anything, but kuckily he was very sweet and tried his best to calm me down. And the PHYSICAL feeling of it was bad too. Like my body was lagging and my brain was trying to get it to move faster than it could.
Can this be cured somehow? I severely felt like this for four years at one point in my life, where it was hard to recognize friends, I could never tell if I was awake or not, all my dreams felt like they lasted 50 years, my head always felt empty, I was always lightheaded and dizzy, I forgot all the time, I was really miserable and everything I said was emotional, I could barely eat, I could barely sleep... I honestly felt trapped. But now I don't feel that way anymore. I think I had some form of insomnia, so maybe that was it... but maybe I had this too?
Sometimes I also zone out for a really long time.. oh and that vision impaired thing, I can relate to that... all my dreams are extremely vivid and feel real... idk am I just paranoid??
Feeling like this makes it really hard to talk to people for me. I can’t look them in the eye. I never know what to say because I’m so involved in the aspect of feeling out of my body. I can never focus in on anything for that long. Everything definitely seems kind of cloudy and a blur. Like when they say feel foggy. Think about actually trying to see through a light fog and not being able to focus on a single object. Through conversation all I can really say without it being really hard is yeah. Online it’s so much easier because you can read out what you just said. It takes a while. when you lose your train of thought you can pick up right where you left off. In high school I wasn’t like this at all. I was very talkative, well spoken and quick thinking. Had tons of friends. Now it’s really just me and I’ve lost touch with a lot of people just because I can’t quickly process a thought. It’s less exhausting than working really hard on trying to piece together what they’re saying. It’s pretty difficult to talk to a therapist about these things because once I come for the appointment I completely blank on what I wanted to talk about. Or even remember/described an experience I had without having to write it out beforehand.
DUDE THIS IS ME. I FREAKED OUT WHEN THIS STARTED AND ITS NEVER GONE AWAY. I'VE HAD IT FOR SO LONG. I ALSO THOUGHT IT WAS DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY. WHICH PROBABLY MAKES IT WORSE. ITS NICE TO KNOW SOMEONE ELSE HAS IT
i rmeme trying to explain to my parents and they thought i was crazy. I never realised what it was and it make me feel so horrible. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't eat. i was so stressed and worried because to the point because i thought i was dying. it caused so much depression and anxiety. i struggle to drive because of it as it feels like I'm not doing anything.
nothing will affect me however everything is real.
its been 5 years now and its gone worse ever since. ive just not worried as much about it.
Uzzum i know the feeling. I'm glad you could put it on the backburner. the damn thing made me believe i had lost my mind and my grip on reality to the point that I was questioning if anything in happening in my life was real or if I was asleep somewhere unable to wake up. needless to say, that thought ran my life for a while. i would eat sleep and breathe that question every second of every day. not a great way to live through life. luckily I've made it out of that nightmare. hopefully you will too someday. things got better when I began eating and drinking healthy, exercising and not over sleeping or getting very little sleep. it could have just been a coincidence that I improved after I changed my life style but you never know. maybe give it a try. what's the worst that can happen? if you do give it a chance just know that improvement didmt happen over night for me. it took a month and a half to see a small improvement. after 6 months it was completely gone. just keep at it. I wish you the best
It feels like someone turned the contrast up, turned on slow motion with additional motion blur and made the pixel response time of my eyes so bad that everything looked like a blur. As well as deja vu. During the episode I would feel like I’m looking through vr at a video game with a full body simulation suit that doesn’t work very well
I spend most of my time feeling like I'm slightly tipsy, like, slightly dizzy and fuzzy... Is it like that?
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Roope Rautava2022-05-01 20:48:04 (edited 2022-05-01 21:03:19 )
The sense of dark murkiness and derealization came on again a few weeks ago. It's like everything was made of frames that kept slipping away constantly. Nothing to grasp, nothing to focus on. Everything just kept slipping by in a slight blur or a slight confusion without anything specific to be confused about. Anyway, there has been a noticing that there was some kind of a resistance or a sense of disturbance to the apparent state of affairs. When there is an apparent letting go or just relaxing into what has not seemed acceptable there seems to be a kind of an "opening" and ease. Even blissfulness. But there still is no one separate experiencing the "suchness of things". No head narrative about depersonalization or derealization either. Just life. Body moving, occasional thoughts, the ordinary seems wondrous and there seems to be a kind of a freedom to everything. The sense of self that seemed to have the problem with derealization or even with depersonalization is absent. That seems like a self-contradiction but that's how it seems. It's almost like depersonalization without the person that could be depersonalized. So there is no problem. Just what is appearing to be happening. There is no problem with it, and life (walking in nature etc.) seems wonderful a lot of the time. And I do know about bipolar disorder and manic phases where everything seems wonderful but this is not it. It's a kind of a quiet contentment or okayness and doesn't have the extreme swings from joy to deep depression... I mean a state of low energy can appear, and it can look like depression but it doesn't come with the depression-thoughts and there is the okayness in the background at the same time. So the okayness is not dependent on any particular state that might be appearing.
Oh, btw. Derealization can also be caused by a problem with the spine. If I remember correctly it can be due to the vagus nerve touching the inner wall of the spine, which it shouldn't be. A chiropractor might be able to fix it if that is the case.
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Alex Volkov2018-01-15 20:29:19 (edited 2018-01-15 20:32:10 )
That's interesting, I have this disorder but my development of it was quite different from yours. I got a super intensive chronic version of this disorder when I was 17, triggered by a panic attack. It literally send me into a nightmare version of this world, I lost my emotions, people's faces and presence became distorted, my vision started to glitch out, I started developing intense paranoia, the world around me kind of went into this strange-Lynch-type-slowmotion-movie mode and it was terrifying. I never knew from one second to the next how my perception would begin to mess with me, so I lived in constant fear. The only way I can describe it is that moment in a dream when you suddenly realize something is off but you can't figure out if you're dreaming or not, and this anxiety creeps in and you know it's about to turn into a nightmate - for me it was like being stuck in that off-putting dream moment 24/7 everyday endlessly with no relief. I lived like this for 2 years before it began to get better. I find it interesting that yours seemed to 'creep in' more subtly, from your symtoms it sounds like it might be a slightly milder form than what I had. Anyway, best of luck with getting better!
Oh my god I have been waiting so long to hear someone share an experience this similar to mine. Just before I turned 16, I had a panic attack that felt like someone had pulled my plug from the mains, and knocked me right out of the world. For about a week it was this incredibly awful feeling of not being conscious for half of the time, and then suddenly being conscious and panicking about what had happened - like I was asleep, dreaming, and then would wake up, but be standing in my bedroom, knowing I'd been physically conscious the whole time, and freaking out about it. I couldn't do anything for the whole week but lay in bed and cry, as it was just on a loop - I couldn't break the cycle, and I thought I'd be stuck forever. Lucky it improved, and moved more into what Dodie described, where I just felt a more permanent but less frightening sense of the world not being real. I couldn't really feel any sensation against my skin at all for months. It's been over a year now and I finally feel more grounded and real. I could really have done with knowing other people had similar experiences back then, so thank you for sharing!
Alex Volkov2018-02-16 13:44:54 (edited 2018-02-16 13:46:07 )
It's not considered a psychosis by definition as during a psychosis a person cannot distinigsh between what reality is and what isn't. I thought I had developed a psychosis at first, but when I researched it I realized I didn't fit the definition. While my world-perception turned nightmarish, I was fully aware of 'reality', I just couldn't percieve it anymore.
When you develop an extreme version of Derealization/Depersonalization that is chronic, it can very much feel like a psychosis, feel like you're losing it, because it wears down your brain and the constant anxiety and visual distortions feed paranoia. However due to the ability of people with dp/dr to recongize reality (despite the perceptional changes) as well as having little impact on other cognitive functions, the disorder has it's own classification that is seperate from a psychosis.
I just thought it might've been because I've suffered both. I have the permanent 24/7 derealisation and I had some small bouts of psychosis. Derealisation feels more like being stoned and psychosis was experiencing things such as everyone's faces being very uncanny valley and I felt very disturbed all the time in general. I'd look at a towel and notice that it would look like it was rippling... things like that.
But were you aware that it was not real? I don't know how strict the definitions are these days, but usually the difference between these two states that Ive heard is that in derealization you know what is real despite everything suddenly appearing crazy while in a pyschosis you don't know. The symtoms of a psychosis and DR can overlap, but if you remain aware of things then from my knowledge you haven't yet gone to a full on psychosis - sometimes a psychosis may begin with depersonalization/derelization though
Good god. I have a lot of hypnogogic/hypnopompic hallucinations and my episodes can be very much like that but not that intensely for any long period of time.
Mine was set off just as yours was with a panic attack when I was 17. I’ve lived with it for almost 8 years now. It left me severely agoraphobic for the first couple of years. After seeking treatment for my severe anxiety it gradually went away but always lingered, with the use of anti anxiety and anti depressant medication. Now it’s back yet again and the contrast in my vision has been turned way up. I’m looking into TMS as she described here. It’s a scary place to be. I hope you are doing better.
CanabalisticKitten it does. I thought I had gone absolutely insane. The mind is a powerful thing, and as she says in the video after speaking with professionals it’s a relief to hear that you aren’t schizophrenic yet you still live in a terrifying dream world. For some reason your brain thinks that reaction is better than your reality. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
I had it in my teen years and could "switch" it on and off, like "i dont want to hear that" and then i wouldnt be there anymore until it was okay. Sometimes i wish i had it now, because my brain protected me this way. But i'm glad my environment isnt as unstable as it was. I dont know. Does this make any sense? I feel Bad for wishing this.
okay, heres a story of mine. ever since i was 11, i could see colours ( like i consciously realised i could see them, i dont remember if i could see colours before). like i didnt know it was a unique thing to see until i was 15, when i told one of my best friends very casually that "hey, today, akshayas colour was yellow man, it felt good". she freaked out so much, she freaked me out. she was like "what are you talking about" and i told, "hey, u know umm, her colour was nice? maybe she was in her best mood today?" and that was the time i realised that i could see colours, and its just me. that night was terrifying because, i felt alone and pretty much horrified that i perceive the world much differently than others. im 17 now and i still dont know why i see colours around people, but the experience is pretty much overwhelming. for my 10th grade biology project, i did one the condition called "synesthesia". i was able to relate to it pretty much, but i know it wasnt completely it. i didnt tell this to my parents because i know nobody would believe this thing i have. i considered it as a defect in my eye until my other best guy friend came into my life and said "hey, u know about auras right? yea, i think u can see auras" and it is so weird and i refuse to believe such supernatural stuff. i still consider it as a defect but hey, it is a part of me soooo gotta live with it.
and also, umm let me tell about my first crush, because the experience was AMAZING. okay there was this one guy, in our chemistry lab, myself and my friend were doing titrations and he just came out of his class to help us with his friend. his colour was hot pink, and the moment i felt his colour, i honestly became drunk in his colour. like, his pink made me go wrong in my calculations and my readings. i was even mispelling my words! omg, his pink was like intoxicating me. and the more i saw him, the more i was drawn to him and his colour. it lasted for the entire day. then after i woke up, i think i felt really good, hoping to see him and his colour again.
Try telling your brain that your "dream" permissions are too intrusive by becoming a lucid dream master. You could then try to (for example) have a busy person to set a counter app on a tight smart watch with a password. Everytime you fail to be sure, this person has to reset the counter, while you, at night, not wanting to upset this busy person (ppl are nice, she probably wouldnt mind) get lucid dreaming about yourself without the watch in your wrist. And getting used to not having things your way in real life (in contrast to your lucid dreams) might help
I've had 2 episodes of derealization. The first was the worse. When I had it, I didn't know what it was. I was at the movies with my family, and as soon as we walked out of the movie room, everything was off. Nothing felt real. It was raining heavily which didn't help as the rain itself didn't seem real. I was so out of it, i went in to the parking lot and almost got ran over because I didn't think anything of the car. It wasn't real it seemed, so it couldn't hurt me. I went home and napped my way out of it. The best way I could explain it was that I felt that nothing was real, everything seems like a dream, so the next day I googled "I feel like nothing is real" and learned what derealization/depersonalization is. I get into times where I think I'm having an episode again, but it isn't the exact same feeling. I'm just tired/out of it. Please don't self-diagnose and if you truly think you have it, go get yourself checked because it truly is one of the scariest feelings I've experienced
TheDodge I had an episode come over me while I was at work of both derealization and depersonalization at the same time. It lasted for 7 days straight. I couldn’t feel my own body, I wasn’t there. I couldn’t tell where things were, like I couldn’t even gauge how far away my hand was from my face. It felt like I was dreaming and I couldn’t remember where I was. Or how long it’s been from one second to the next. Even if I was standing still it felt like if I wasn’t looking at something, it didn’t existed. It was honestly horrifying. I couldn’t think clear or do simple math at my job. I had a panic attack at work and did go see a doctor. It was insanely frustrating not being able to think, I was so afraid, so afraid that I wouldn’t stop feeling like that. So afraid that if it kept going on at such an intense level I’d eventually kill my self because I couldn’t handle not being able to function like how I knew I should have. I hope I never experience it again.
Something like that happens to me when I'm at parties. I do not understand why, but suddenly the sounds become muffled and I feel I'm not there, as if something were coming off me. Often after this feeling I get a panic attack and it's not nice when you're in a disco, surrounded by people who are having fun. I don't know how to call this feeling, it's not permanent thanks to God, but it's not easy bc this not allow me to have some "normal" fun ugh
one day i was at a roller rink and i was having a lot of fun when suddenly i look up and everything seems kinda dimmed down. i look at my skates and if feels like i shouldn’t have them on. i felt like i was in a dream and tbh was quite excited because i’ve always wanted to lucid dream but i remembered the entire day so i knew it wasn’t the case. i wasn’t even tired so i was so confused. everything just seemed so fake but yeah so raw and real at the same time and i just wanted to wake up. it really is hard to explain but when i saw the title of the video i was thankful i wasn’t just going insane. it hasn’t happened since and it been a couple years so yay?
i’m only 15 and I’ve struggled going to school because of this or even going out in general and i haven’t gone to school for a while , anyone know any suggestions of things that could help x
I didn’t know this existed and don’t know if I had it (don’t wanna self diagnose) but I often have the feeling that I’m not really there. I struggle to talk to people and hold healthy relationships because I am spaced out and don’t remember things. Things just don’t feel real sometimes and I can see it as a way for my brain to cope with ptsd. I know I disassociate a lot and this sounds similar. Anyway. It’s always nice to be able to talk about my mental health even if no one reads this it’s nice to talk about it. Mental health awareness :)
thank you for this, it’s very important and derealisation i feel like is a very underground, not talked about topic when it really needs to be made aware to people. thank you 💕
It's not a separate condition, it's a symptom. Welcome to the magical world of dissociative disorders! Of which there are four: BPD, PTSD&cPTSD, BPD, DPD, and DDNOS. There are fugue-ish states that are similar to dissociative states present in other conditions. For example, untreated AD(H)D and the fatigue surrounding chronic sleep dysfunctions.
I've got derealisation constantly for over 2 years now. Sometimes I get episodes of depersonalisation, which feels like what you described. The mirror moment can become kinda creepy, I know.
I can sympathize. I have a condition called "Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory" or SDAM for short. And long story short, I don't have the full capability to recall or relive past events in my life like most people do. I can't even remember how a person looked like a few minutes after I spoke to them. My whole memory are factual and not visual, like generalized cliff notes of another life. Because of this, it's hard for me to personalize anything in my past. I found out about this sometime in the past 5 years, but I don't know specifically when. The only reason that I'm talking about this is that I recently lost someone I cared about, my best friend from high school. I'm sad that he's gone, but I also have no memories of him to look back on. 21 years of friendship is now lost and I can't even remember his voice. When I try, I get a massive migraine with nothing to gain.
While I don't have this (at least I don't think so), I do find myself zoning out and going floaty and so when I do that I eat frozen fruit. So if anyone wants to try frozen fruit, it's a small method of trying to ground yourself, or at least I have found it helps me :)
For me I'll feel like this for a few days. It's not as bad as what's she's taking about, but I get super bad episodes every so often (it's becoming more often) and then I feel high and I do stupid and reckless things. Or I get panicky and tunnel vision and bad nausea when I look at something close up. I feel like I have to touch something to make sure it's real, but even then I'm not sure. I don't recognize myself in the mirror, and I don't associate with my personality if that makes sense. Right now I feel like I'm watching life but I'm not really there. I feel like I'm zoned out and I can't snap out of it.
Thank you Dodie! There's little to no information online and hearing your experiences is really helping me and inspiring me to get help.
My dreams always feel so real and reality always feels so fake. I don't know what to do about this, but I hardly feel awake or alive really unless I'm asleep and then everything becomes insanely real.
I have narcolepsy and it creates a similar disassociation. I lucid dream every night/nap/sleep attack vividly and remember everything. Before I started treated (all of my youth) I would be asleep for more than half of the entire day. I've since created worlds, timelines, characters. I've induced lucid dream subconcious dives that have rivaled significant mushroom trips. I'm 22 now, before I was self conscious about it, my friends have labeled me the wierd hippy of the group. It was 2019 when I first started treatment and it has opened my eyes to how creative I am and I'm thankful. I wish you well on your journey!!!!
I went through this through my late teens, I went through a phase I couldn’t even leave my house! But over time I gradually challenged myself to get out my shell, Gym really helped and more than anything interacting with people helped me, stay strong... there’s always light at the end ❤️
Are you getting any kind of disability help from the government? It sounds like you might be able to find relief if you take some time off. It sounds like your equilibrium feels off. I definitely feel distant from... things. I took a few months off and I feel a little bit better. Like, just some relief and relaxing. And space to get reacquainted with yourself and recognize who you know you are because you remember feeling how you used to feel.
Definitely don't want to self diagnose but I saw this video a.... While ago?.... Idk when oops... and related to it. After more research and stuff and some depressive episodes and shit I've kept coming back to it. And watching this video again makes me think maybe that's what's going on. I don't feel like I'm really here. I'm "completely out of it". That's the only way I can really describe it. But it's pretty much all the time. The thing is, I'm not under a lot of stress or anything.
I don’t have this all the time, but I never feel quite all the way there. Often it takes me a minute to remember what’s going,on, where I am. Also I often space out for no reason or I realise I haven’t digested anything that is happening around me because I thought I wasn’t really there somehow. I think a lot of it is just normal being a human butwhen I get anxious dissociation goes very nicely with existential OCD. (btw I have been diagnosed with OCD andd dissociation as a symptom of my anxiety by a therapist, but as far as I low I don’t have any full dissociation disorders)
I don’t think I have this disorder, but I most certainly dissociate and experience derealization particularly when I’m super anxious or stressed (had an awful breakdown my sophomore year of college) and the whole looking in the mirror and not knowing who it is is the scariest thing. The vision thing and just being there but not there is too real, and I often think to try and keep myself here which throws me into the verge of panic. It’s totally real, and everyone dissociates every now and again.
you should watch The Science of Sleep it’s directed by Michel Gondry, although your condition is absolutely different the description of it sounded a lot like the plot of this movie
For me it's like I'm watching a movie. Or like looking into my eyes from a third person view but knowing I'm not. It's weird. I also have a tendency to ask myself weird questions like "is this a movie?". Idk. I don't like it. It gets scary looking into my eyes sometimes because they seem so dark and scary and unfamiliar.
Daniel Collins2021-11-10 05:39:02 (edited 2021-11-10 05:39:37 )
My God how do you do this. I’m three years into this and I can’t deal.
I was certain I had a brain tumor, or my eyes were failing, or I had diabetes…. Something. Anything. It’s too overwhelming to be just in my brain.
Some days I wish I’d just die and get it over with. I feel crazy and explaining to anyone else doesn’t make sense to them. I used to be so engaged and present in everything I did. Ive even had several bouts of severe clinical depression, but nothing like the hollowed out feeling of derealization.
this is probably the 5th time ever watching this, its been about a year since i watched it the last time before this. i wouldn't say its gotten better for me but its gotten more manageable, im still writing this with a skewed sense if awareness but im definitely able to function. i'd just like to say i hate this. you related it to alcohol but i feel it as more of the dull sensation of being high. i hate being high because it just brings me back to this place of disconnection.
Oh my GOD! This is what I had!! In high school for a year. I couldn't figure it out, no one could help me, it terrified me, but when it went away it was scarier to me. I became extremely alone and alienated during and I'mmediately after because my family was not supportive at all, and I was afraid my friends wouldn't be either... Although now I feel they probably would have. I barely remember any of half way through 2010 to halfway through 2011. Most is a blur of me trying to stay "awake" or present while feeling like someone else is moving my body in and out Every day. I'd miss conversations that I'd have and find my family strange seeming each morning waking up. I felt like I never woke up and never went to bed...it felt like a constant stream of living...but like...living inside a body I have little control over
I actually benefited from it in a few ways though. Though...I'm not sure I'm completely over it. I can still relive that mental fog if I think about the past
I woke up from a dream and started talking, not really sure why, but after waking up more I realised I was talking nonsense. Really very weird... I feel like I sometimes get this every now and then but certainly not like this and is probably caused by a lack of sleep.
I have a friend who has bipolar & since trying psychedelics has been experiencing some similar issues, as well as occasional hallucinations & psychotic symptoms, & she has found CBD very grounding, stabilizing. I hope it’s helping you too. I don’t know what the standard treatments would be (I feel like SSRIs are over-prescribed as the off-label go-to for a lot of conditions they won’t necessarily help), but if there was an obvious go-to I’m sure you’d already know about it.
It’s really great that you haven’t given up on it, & are pursuing whatever forms of treatment you can. Keep on down that path.
I'm like this often but it's a it's worse at work as, about a year ago, I had a very traumatic experience when a customer cornered me in their vehicle when I put the groceries in the car. If I didnt need and love my job as much as I do, I'd quit but I'm trying to get through it.
I’m so happy to see this video. Mine also started in about 2012.. it’s really nice to see I’m not alone. I spent years panicking about it like you until I finally accepted my life with it.. although I hope it goes away for me and you and anybody else struggling.
I don’t have DR/DP (I don’t feel like things aren’t real) but for the last couple of years, I’ve gotten progressively worse brain fog, poorer and poorer memory, and a dwindling sense of hope. Not sure what to do to fix it and not sure what to call it. Could be connected to an underlying condition other than my (diagnosed) depression. Who knows? It’s really difficult to pinpoint exactly what’s wrong with you sometimes.
My brain disassociates too during stress but it’s not all the time like yours. Sorry you have to deal with it it’s very hard to always be daydreaming and not remembering anything after a long drive, not remembering how you got there.
So that's what it's called! I don't think I have the disorder scince it's not 24/7 but I definitely do experience it on some days, I knew something wasn't right lol
I've experienced depersonalization multiple times, mostly in my late teens.. It's scary as hell feeling like a stranger in your own body... I would tell myself over and over i am a human until it went away. It feels like you are looking at yourself from outside your body. I honestly thought i was going crazy. Now i am super spiritual and believe it's spirit showing me i am a spiritual being in a body. That this is just a vessel.
Courtney Gardam I relate to this so much. When I dissociated a lot, I could also recall my childhood, but everything felt like it didn’t happen to me. Like the memories could have been from reading about it or dreaming about it, but it didn’t directly happen to me.
Courtney Gardam Yes I’ve had this feeling before, for some reason everything gets...more far away? Not like super far away but something is off and you can tell.
Depersonalization or dissociation is soo scary, even if you just experience it once. It happened to me when I got way too drunk and high (on weed, not any other hard drug) at the same time and accidentally crossfaded. I had a whole mental breakdown I’m this hotel because I felt like I was in a literal dream, and that all my friends were dream people, and any second I was going to wake up and realize that they aren’t really my friends and I’m all alone. It was terrifying. My vision tunneled, I couldn’t stop crying, I felt like I was sitting in the back of my head and watching a movie as I walked around. 10 minutes felt like an hour, and I also thought I felt my friends feelings. It was so scary.
Sarah Barr yes! I have Depersonalization disorder chronically and it’s really frustrating that my memories don’t feel like mine. With all the other symptoms.. but the memories it’s such a weird thing, like they didn’t happen to me although cognitively I know they did.
Sooo, I had what you described wrt the vision (being triggered by patterns and lights) and feeling drunk, and not able to retain information. When this initially happened, the doctors thought I was having a stroke. I had all the symptoms. After months of testing for causes, it was deemed as “Complicated Migraine Syndrome” meaning that apparently I get migraine attacks with all these symptoms without having any pain.I have to stop what I’m doing and lay down and close my eyes because I start to panic due to not being able to see anything (at its worst only outlines and shades- or half a face, the other half is then geometric lines and patterns). I’ve been treated with anitripaline to try to combat this which seems to be helping. I’ve had this for the past 6 years. If I still manage to get sudden onset of symptoms I take razotriptin which kicks in with in 20mins.
I dissociate a lot but idk if this is what I have, I’m looking for more things to try and explain how I feel because I cannot afford therapy, though I’m not self diagnosing, just trying to see what I’m feeling is happening to others as well because it’s hard to believe others feel the same ?
It's like I know I'm here but it doesn't feel that way, my thoughts scare me sometimes like- living is all about feeling right? That's what being human is about, but I feel nothing except for when I'm doing stuff like daydream, read, watch shows or play video games, all the escapism. I don't wanna turn into a shut in or something
AWESOMELY WONDERFUL. My sister has this (along with chronic back, knees, hips, and headache pain) and she describes it as " feeling like I'm asleep when I'm awake, and feeling like I'm awake when I'm asleep" and seems stuck somewhere between all the time. And then, she has lots of anxiety - but we're not really sure if that's a symptom of her condition, or a side effect of the medications, or simply 'real' anxiety because of how stressful living with chronic chronic derealization is for her. THANK YOU for your open, honest discussion of this. You rock. <3
I feel for you and everyone else who face such and not only you guys have to deal with that you also try and explain to people around you of how it feels and it real and you are not just being nut and crazy (please don't mind me) , I can not truly relate to what you are going through but its weird for me too, I am an artist so my job is actually to observe, but I guess I have been observing too much hence the unnecessary voices up my head and some times bugs in the sky more like vague hallucinations, sometimes I make sure I have done a task but then I realize I have just been thinking about it in my brain.... no idea what this call now,,, I think I am crazy..
I tend to disassociate whenever I don’t want to be somewhere. It’s as if I don’t want to be that person sitting there. I just want to fly away and be someone else for a minute.
I got this after smoking laced marijuana (I didn’t know it was laced at the time) I knew something was wrong when I could see the sound waves coming out of the dogs mouth when it was barking. I flashed through time, there are pockets I still don’t remember what happened. I remember waking up outside in the snow, then flashing again and I was driving home, I saw my own death. Flashed again and I was in my bed, in the dark questioning everything. I then had my first full on panic attack, thought I was having a heart attack so I woke my parents up and they took me to the ER where they said to just try to relax, gave me Valium and sent me home. The Valium turned me into a zombie, more pockets of time I don’t remember. I still felt like something was seriously wrong with my perception of time and reality, I reflected on everything I thought I knew, I tried to apply logic to it. I came to the conclusion that the laced marijuana was essentially a key to get back stage of the show of life. It got me behind the curtain and I saw all the gears and ropes and pullies, the lights the props, all the things that keep our mind busy from seeing the truth. None of it is real. We will never be able to grasp any of it. It’s all flimsy shallow and fake, but it’s a lot easier to just pretend it’s real and go along with it because otherwise you’re going to feel like an alien and you won’t be able to tell anyone about it without them thinking you’re crazy. And you can’t blame them because it’s impossible to know until you’ve been behind the curtain. I was DEEP in it for a solid 3 months. My brain and everything I thought I knew was ripped to shreds and though the panic aspect of it has calmed down quite a bit, I still think about what I experienced every day. This happened 16 years ago. Once you cross that line you can’t go back to the life you left behind, at least not fully.
Sounds like a form of dissociation to me. Depersonalisation and derealisation are often associated with dissociation (they all fall under the same umbrella and are experienced on a spectrum, some experience more severe symptoms others not quite as severe). Most commonly the result of childhood trauma or adverse childhood experiences such as: physical, emotional/psychological or sexual abuse, physical or emotional neglect, close family member with mental illness or substance abuse (especially if parent), incarcerated parent, divorce, or presence of domestic violence in home. Narcissistic parenting can also result in PTSD symptoms.
Many people downplay the effect early experiences have or are reluctant to label such experiences as adverse, abusive even. Also, missing blocks of memory from childhood often indicates traumatic experiences. Therapies that are trauma informed that include talk therapy, CBT, DBT, group support and grieving losses, including disenfranchised losses, all help to process trauma/adverse early experiences and rewire the brain. Takes time, patience, loads of work and tears, not linear, but works.
hhhh i think i have this. I wouldn't know though, i guess. but i think i experienced this today. it was after my science exam, at lunch. everyone seemed really far away and i couldn't hear them properly, or myself even. i just felt so anxious and stressed, just constantly worrying about what i i think i got wrong in the exam. i could barely stand up afterwards and i felt like i wasn't really there. i had an overwhelming sense that i was about to cry and my vision was fuzzy at the edges. and i know it really doesnt matter-just some dumb exam that i wont even remember in a years time, but still. i felt so, so far away from everyone. it was really bizarre.
I've always been obsessed with drowning myself in warm, cuddly visions that would dance around my classroom. Sometimes my focus leaves the teacher and my mind trickles into a fun action movie. I will find myself in a jungle or a movie scene or sometimes see someone aching in sorrow as I rush over to help them. It's nice to dream but sometimes I get so lost that I find myself not even being able to differentiate my real life to daydreaming. :// Love the video Dodie! 💓
This sounds like Maladaptive Daydreaming! Don't think it's considered a medical condition (yet), but it is fairly common and very real. I'm not sure if this is the same thing, but I once spent at least a year in a similar situation. I'd say that 90-95% of my consciousness was occupied by an imaginary world. It was vivid and felt so real. Images from this constant daydream began to invade the real world around me, and it was distorting/blocking my view of reality. It took a long time to even notice what was happening, and even longer to drag myself out of it. Letting go of it was honestly painful, as I had actually become attached to the characters I had created. Even now, several years later, I still catch myself slipping back into it.
To me it sounds like psychosis (hallucinations). If you really can’t distinguish real life from your visions, and it affecties you, you could go talk to a counselor. I am not diagnosing you at all, I do not have a mental Health degree in any way.
Depending on how real they are it could be any combination of things. ADD/ADHD, DP, visual hallucinations. Not to scare you. If it’s not harmful than don’t get too stressed just talk to you someone or your doctor if your worried don’t be afraid to ask someone for help.
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That Fangirl2017-12-14 11:29:18 (edited 2017-12-14 11:39:15 )
Jessica OMG ME. To me it's also like I can't properly live in "reality". My brain goes off to places and scenarios and people I've never met, or characters of books and I watch them unfold, have a new life. This helps a lot in certain cases bc I write, but then I feel like the rest of my life is nor very real. Like it's in a dimmer light or I'm just waiting for something else. Idk. My brain hurts now hahah
I don't know whats hapenning to me right now. I nearly got hit by a car on my way from school today and ever since I got home I just, I don't feel like I actually survived. Every time I hear an ambulance(which is often since I live on the same street as a hospital) my heart drops because I feel like I'm kind of in that ambulance in some way and that my mom will soon get a phone call about my death any minute. Can someone tell me what's wrong with me?
Dodie. Seriously thank you so much. This is what I've had since I was a kid & you described it so perfectly. I'm actually tearing up because you've made me feel so much better. Thank you.
I just feel like I cannot tell the difference between dreaming and reality anymore. I can’t even tell if I am in a dream or reality right now! I tell my mother about these things but she just says, “Oh I do too” like Mom I need your helpppppppp
Hi doddle - I have had this since I was 15, and I'm in my 50s now. Hope one day there is a cure. Thanks for making this important video, because knowing there are people out there does help. The way you describe your condition is exactly as mine. It's still weird hearing people talk about it since I had this before the Internet and doctors I saw never really understood it. So I lived for a couple of decades thinking I was some freak of nature, and it was very isolating. Diagnosis does help. Hopefully a cure is next because let's face it we have accepted we may have to live with it but we'd rather see normally again.
hi! um im 13,, i really relate with what your saying,, i feel like this all the time,, i was wondering if teenagers can have this or is it just adults??
So I struggle with this too and I’m so glad that you’re addressing this because this means so much to me. I never feel like anything is real anymore since I got overwhelmed with depression really badly, I got bullied and starting cutting luckily I don’t anymore but it got to the point where I couldn’t take it. But then we moved things got better but it’s never gone away there is still something horrible there and depressing to the point where it doesn’t feel real anymore. So thank you for all you’ve done! Xx
Someone please give me tips, I absolutely can't take it- my derealization has been a murder and depersonalization happens too much. Idk how to deal with this :/
I remember being very young (somewhere around grade 3/4) and going outside to play, and feeling like the world was just a little out of reach. Like it wasn’t quite there. I remember asking my friends at the time if they ever had days where they felt like they were dreaming even though they’re awake. They all said no, and I was left feeling like the black sheep. But I’ve always had days like that. Sometimes, it’ll be a result of stress or spending too much time in the internet world (both of which definitely contribute to making days like that more common), but sometimes it’ll happen just out of the blue. It’s not so intense that I lose vision (though things do get a bit... distorted sometimes), but it definitely sucks while it’s happening, not being able to acknowledge that the world around me is touchable and real. But, unlike when I was so young and asking my friends, I am comforted to know that this is something that many people experience. Since Dodie put out one of her other videos distinguishing the difference between derealization and depersonalization, I realized that must be what to call this thing I feel sometimes. I’ve been finding my own tricks to ground myself, but now if they don’t work, I can just accept that I’m dissociating, and continue on without berating myself for it. Thank you so so so much for sharing, Dodie, it really does make a difference.
first of all , english is not my first language so please ignore all the mistakes !
since more than 2 years i have been suffering from derealisation and depersonalisation. sometimes when i am really bussy i forget about it and life seems to be normal. but as soon as i remember it , i feel it again. most of the time its like being in trance and stuck in your own head. sometimes i suffer from bad headache because i am always tying to get myself out of my head - i cant describe it logically - sorry! however the hardest for me is that i cant get away from analysing my feelings and thoughts. i am constantly in self-observation and it seperates me more and more from my surrounding. i have already achieved the step of acceptance but now its really hard again and i dont know what to do... i am afraid i'll never be really here again...
I don’t think i have derealization but childhood for me had feelings and a wholesome vibe and now I usually feel neutral, sorta? Immersed in whats going on, or kinda sad. I dunnu, it may just be me being nostalgic.
It should be mentioned you don't start dissociate and have a real dissociative disorder just out of the blue. It's often connected to trauma, depression/anxiety or medications/drugs. I've had a lot of derealisation and depersonalisation episodes, the longest lasting for a week straight, the shorter for a few hours before I get back in my body. For me a medication started it and then it just kept coming as soon as my mind was overloaded, usually in social situation, like a coping mechanism. I have bipolar disorder and was in a really bad state, and it made perfect sense at the time my brain did this dissociation to "help" me cope. It's so much better now that my depresson is better, my brain has recovered some endurance and I'm off that medication. But if you have no problems whatsoever in your life and feel these symptoms relate to you, it's probably nothing to worry about. You always have a reason to dissociate, otherwise the brain wouldn't use this weird coping machanism.
i might have derealization and depersonalization because both things that happen in them happen to me quite often and i’ve wondered why i do this i’ve googled it and i’ve told my therapist about them and she has said that i for surly have depersonalization but i haven’t really got around to talking about derealization and i should tell her about it
this damn disease has been with me for 2 and a half years. used 10 different medications, saw 5 doctors, yet nothing has changed. feels like my brain is about to die. idk what to do, sorry for my bed england
Fuck, I've been feeling like this for past 6-7 days. When i see someone, i know who they are but it doesn’t feel like before. I Don't feel hungry or full like i used to. My body doesn’t feel like it used to, i don't understand if I'm tired or energetic. It seem so confusing 😢😢
In a nutshell I'm saying it feels like I've been on autopilot since I'm 13 I'm now 16 and I'm still on autopilot and its really shitty. I always feel like I cant genuinely enjoy something because in my mind it's just like this isn't reality.
When I was young, I just thought everyone experienced this disconnection! But then as I got older, I finally realized and was told that I suffer derealization, which both lifted a weight off my shoulders, but put one back in place. I’m not sure how to make the episodes less bad for myself yet, but connecting with other people who experience the same thing has really helped out!
Don't do anti-depressants. They are super risky and can cause serious harm. I know someone who lost their mind due to Anti-depressants so please do not become like them...
Can ppl like this so dodie sees it!! I’m wanting to use a clip from this video in the background of one of my songs about dissociation but I want to be sure that’s okay with dodie :)
I agree like i will be talking to my best friends who I know know me and who I’m incredibly close to but it will feel as though I don’t know hen or shouldn’t know them and I keep trying to look at their face in a different way to try and get myself to recognise them but it’s as if they’re a stranger
I am not sure if anyone is here to read this but I found something that helps after I have struggled with it for a long time.
Imagine that this life WAS real, for example, you are actually at death bed right now and suddenly, you time warp to the random day of your life.... And you are here now, suddenly able to live life again. Trivial things start to look charming, and nostalgic, and even the encounter to rude people makes you think "aw, yeah these things happen too". You don't feel so hurt because everything makes you feel warm, the existence of yourself makes you feel warm, and your short comings and weakness are kinda adorable.
Practice this every occasion you remember, and the life feels so much more real.
sometimes i feel like i am too aware sometimes of the world. like a lot of the time my mind just goes “oh wtf your real, he’s real,she’s real,.wtf is this. why are his lips moving. he’s speaking a completely made up language”
I see a lot of people in the comments concerned about this dream like feeling. Most people seem to be describing symptoms of derealization.
The feeling of watching your life through a camera, a wall of glass between you and the world, that you are in a simulation, dreaming etc.
If these symptoms are chronic and effecting you quality of life, you should consider seeing a psychiatrist as it may be possible you have a dissociative disorder. ( I do not recommend self diagnosis)
Though some people do not fit any of these categories. This is called an Unspecified Dissociative disorder
These symptoms are often caused by
- Trauma
- Marijuana ( Psychoactive drugs in general )
- Psychosis
- Other
And even no Identifiable cause.
These disorders do not have a cure and there are no specific medications for these disorders. However the causes of these disorders may be treatable. Things such as a anti-anxiety and antidepressants. The most beneficial treatment will likely be therapy.
The good news is that this disorder can and often will resolve its self with time. There are absolutely people who have been struggling with these disorders for years or even decades but seeking treatment can vastly improve your prognosis and some recover faster than others. Even if these symptoms persist, they become much less problematic as you acclimate to them. There is absolutely hope for you.
Please check out these links to read up on these problems. I think you will find great comfort to know that these problems have a name and that you are not going crazy. There are a lot of people out there also going through this hell. You are not alone.
what a coincidence that this video came in one of my most suicidal weeks of the year - thank you for the video dodie, i'll try to keep in mind what you said but its still hard to really believe in (its not you, its my lack of faith), christmas/new year is a shitty time for me anyway so yeah, i'm glad you're feeling better
Louisa Rhodes i know it might not feel like it right now, but I promise it’ll get better Love :) you’ve got so much ahead of you yet, I hope you feel better x
You’ve got this! Take it one day at a time, or just one hour at the time, and it will get better, I promise you❤️
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Big Tasty2020-09-04 02:13:49 (edited 2020-09-04 02:17:50 )
I kinda feel like this a lot as well, is it also like when you look at something and you move your arm and you see your arm and you don’t see your arm as you normally see your arm, it’s hard to explain.
I have the vision thing to, it’s like when there’s a black spot in the middle of your eye and if you try to look at it and it kind of disappears but it’s still there, it’s weird but I’ve never heard anyone talk about it before.
Not to self diagnose but I’m pretty sure I have this has anyone else had the feeling when your visions and seeing sometimes mix up and one is super slow and the other is extra fast and your just there like (slow motion) “i didn’t agree to this 😰”
my derealization when i feel it like my eyes can’t focus one thing and everything is slightly blurry and i feel as if i’m in a movie and the people around me are fake! my depersonalization is like i look in the mirror and i’m like that’s me? my face looks funny, how does it even exist, like that’s not me! also kinda feel 3rd person mode where, i’m liking sitting in the back of my head and i’m just doing what i have to do
This sounds so much like me. Not 24/7, but a lot of the time. But no therapist ever guessed something like this. So there must be something else, that makes me feel like a thin cloth is seperating me from reality ...
I usually have my 'episodes' of derealisation in very busy areas, before an anxiety migraine, when stressed or around flashing lights. I've been told that due to my anxiety disorder this is one of the side effects and it is how my body copes with stress. I couldn't imagine living with it daily like you do and for that I admire your strength and how brilliant you are. You're doing so incredibly well to say that you're suffering with this illness daily, it's empowering due to the fact that I cannot stand my episodes and usually find a place to sleep for the episode to pass. You're doing so well and you're so incredibly inspiring, I really do look up to you!
Same 😢 I felt it last month for a week and it was extreme I didn’t really understand how depersonalization can happen with depression as a symptom until I had the episode last month and saw this video, I mentioned to my doctor and because he doesn’t speak English he didn’t quite get what I was talking about and he just said that what I am feeling is from anxiety too
I feel like reality isn't as solid as we think it is. Our life is a blink of an eye compared to the span of the universe, we're here and then gone, and almost half our life is spent unconscious/dreaming. Where we go after, nobody knows. I feel like this 'condition' is pretty common seen as though the world pretty much could be a dream and we have no way of knowing any better.
I have to much lucid dreams and inside the dream is realy like this symptoms that you discribe. In one night about 3 years ago I wake up from one of those dreams but I was still felling all those symptoms. I tought that I was still dreaming and just carry on with the day but I was never waking up. This goes for about 2 days and I go to sleep and wake up again but this time more normal and not felling like a dream. It wasn’t painful, wasn’t stressful in fact it wasn’t nothin for 2 days. I just can’t imagine what is like this for I don’t know many years..
Lena Schneider2017-12-14 09:04:28 (edited 2017-12-14 09:07:46 )
The comparison to being drunk without the fun is on point. I also suffer from really bad anxiety and derealization at times. The way I deal with both is not to focus on it and distract yourself. Train your brain to go around those troubling thoughts. Trust me it helps. At some times its harder to do than others but for me it works. Stay strong guys.. You are not alone 💗
I don't have this problem but I only have dreams that take place in daily life. I feel like I get up go to school then work and I'm almost always in bed before I wake up.
For me is not that bad, i mean at first i was so panicked but i would explain it as i lost taste with reality in sense that i dont experience things how i used to anymore, i could remember me from before, there were types of smells, sensations, nostalgia but i wouldn’t realize that i had it until i lost it
I've found that journaling, though I don't do it enough helps me with my derealisation. It helps with retaining a memory as well and making me more present in the moment. Also trying to not think about how what it used to feel like helps, like what my mentality was like when I was a kid. Its good to have something to compare it to and not loose sight of regaining that feeling, but disconnecting with that idea every now and again helps me :)
Depersonalization and/or derealization can happen to anyone under a certain amount of stress or anxiety. Chronic DP/DR is when it happens to you constantly without having to be caused by a momentary state of stress
I feel like im dreaming like i’m floating time colors feel dull like people talk bad it feels like sound is underwater it’s not everyday but at least twice a month is really bad like a full day some days are just a little bits of time missing
People will think this is “cool” or “trippy” it’s horrifying. I won’t be able to tell if it’s real or not and I’ve done weird or off things. Some days are worse than others but it’s a really scary thing and all you can do is surround yourself with people and make distractions. But even that gets hate because it makes you depressed and then it just makes everything a million times worth. It’s so miserable. Before it happened to me I was outgoing and could talk to anyone about anything I was never shy. Then when it started I forgot how to talk to people and how to be normal. I was always goofy and nothing was funny to me anymore I just wanted to wake up. It’s not “cool” it’s not “trippy” anyone going through this is SUFFERING.
It honestly sounds horrible. I can barely deal with waking up after a long nap, makes me feel groggy and as if I'm not present, so to think about dealing with that all the time sounds like such a struggle.
y’all ever get hit with a giant wave of “whoa holy shit like i’m a person i guess and nobody knows what they are doing and it’s taken millions and billions of years for things to happen and for me to get here and that’s crazy. also this is all weird and bullshit and i cannot believe it’s real” y’all ever feel like that?? or similar???
i just cant snap out of the dream been trying for a year. drank alcohol passed out woke up and been here eversince before this ive had massive anxiety daily guess my brain just is done with me stressing and closed it self. been to doctors they cant find anything im just fuckd up
Ok so somewhere here I commented that i dont feel good it was actually really bad I COULDNT RECOGNIZE MYSELF IN THE GODDAMN MIRROR beacuse It didnt felt like the real me like my reflection wasnt real And I cried all day about it that my eyes were red Fucking.red. My parents didnt understood me and eventually they just forgot about it So school started at first it was hard to concentrate bc of the thought of me dreaming but I got used to it School started giving more work and I didnt had time to think about it,and so here am I with my record of not thinking about it which is 48 hours(amazing right) and when I think about it it's like a moment or two and it doesnt effect my life like before Never give up and some day you will find light in the tunnel 👍
Sydney Day2017-12-14 19:37:30 (edited 2017-12-14 19:38:13 )
yessss. and I don’t know about you- but the moments when I do finally feel plugged into reality, and out of the dream-like state, it feels scary. like I’ll remind myself often that “this isn’t a dream, this is real”. And every once in a while, it clicks and I feel reality, and it scares the shit out of me it’s so real. That’s why getting ‘better’ is so hard. It’s scary. Anyways, we’ll keep trying. Thanks for sharing, love. ❤️
i thought i was the only one lol. sometimes i even convince myself i don't want to feel real bc of how scary it feels. i hope u feel better and i'm sorry u experience this too 💖💝
I get this and I don’t know if it’s this or not. It’s really scary especially in school, I’m 16 years old. And i just hope it gets better. And how do u get diagnosed?
as crazy as it sounds, watching this makes me feel like im not crazy. like even though its a mental illness, the way she is able to explain it so well... ive never felt so understood before. ive never been able to describe what its like very well, but i feel like you just described everything ive experienced better than i ever could
NOT GONNA lie ever since I ate too much acid I have this thing where randomly for untold amounts of time I question if I'm real or alive or dead and if this entire life isn't some cosmic joke at my expense. It's pretty torturous. Get a huge adrenaline spike and other weird symptoms.
I suffer DPDR since I was 7 I would tell my cousin to smack me in the face to wake up but she refuse so I do it to myself but I still keep asking her if I was dreaming when I was kid she was annoyed this happeneds for like a month. But now I'm 12 my dpdr kicks in just sometimes I don't know but when my dpdr kicks in I would ignore and say something I'm my mind "everything is real" loop and would draw or read to calm my dpdr then when I forgot about my dpdr I was okay. My dpdr kicks in when I'm bored or stress lol
Dodie me too. I got diagnosed with this earlier this year, and along with anxiety, it affects me. Honestly, the first time I realized that something was wrong was when I was playing a game. It was a colouring game and my brain just felt so fuzzy like... I guess that's how I could explain it.. I just wasn't able to notice I guess what I was doing, everything looked wrong and I was so confused that I dropped my phone in the middle of class and looked up at my classmates staring at me, I was so confused and my eyes were wrong and I hadn't even known that my teacher was talking to me... I was so confused I couldn't speak and that was fun. But I got to go to the nurses office and drink some juice so that's fun stuff
Grounding exercises can help a bit. For me personally it works while I'm focusing but as soon as it's over I'm back into being switched off.
My psychologist gave me the 5,4,3,2,1 exercise. Many people know it with taste at 1, but taste is hard to pin down if you haven't eaten something recently, don't have something to snack on or especially when my senses are dulled by depersonalisation. This version of it is;
5 things you can see
4 things you can feel
3 things you can hear
2 things you can smell
1 good thing about yourself
That last one is really difficult for a reason. It's okay if your one good thing is that 'I woke up this morning' or 'I am trying to ground myself, it might not be working but that's okay'
Like Dodie said, spiky rough surfaces can help, touch is really grounding so someone rubbing your arm or back helps a lot because it reminds you that you do have a body that other people can see, feel, it's real and it takes up space. You need to be careful with spiky surfaces to bring you back though because I don't feel things as well when I'm depersonalising, so I can end up hurting myself without realising it because it didn't hurt at the time.
I also haven't found anything that helps me, but I'm lucky that I have good days and bad days. I'm slowly getting more good days, and I hope if you're reading this you'll get more and more good days too :)
I have a question ....idk if this is common or what but I start to feel like...my soul is not in my body or something like that and I feel really light . Like...yesterday I was just sitting in my table staring the wall and I hear my friend asking stuff , I hear them but their voice soon fainted away and i feel like I can’t speak at all . When I turn around I don’t even realize that I’ve turn around or anything like that . This evening I was doing a presentation and I was talking in front of everyone , then I feel like I can drop onto the ground at anytime , I feel like I wasn’t even talking and later when I went to my sit a few second later I literally forgot that I’ve done it .
If you can help me please reply it means a lot! I’m sorry if there’s any grammar error I’m not really good at English ..
Has anyone had this through alcohol abuse.? My doctor has said I have derealisation because I have abused alcohol for the day 5 years 😫 someone help 😕 I’m so scared
My name is Patrick, Im 18 currently born on 10th of October, everything i am going to share in this comment with you is very private and remained unknown by everyone in my everyday normal environment, in other words nobody knows about this and i would be hella embarassed if anyone around me, (or anyone who knows me IRL) knew. Also please excuse any grammar mistakes as my native language is not english: All this started when I was about 11. I have been suffering from this since 2013 or 2014 cannot remember exactly, and that would make 6 - 7 years today. I actually do not know why this happened to me as I am pretty dang sure I did not get this from weed. The funny thing is that I can actually recall how it all started. (Now of course, not every single detail, but the situation in general.) It was during lunchtime about 12 to 14 (2) o clock and I was watching a video on my phone in my room. The fun fact is that I can even recall the youtuber I was watching at that particular moment, and it was a youtuber named "PopularMMOs" who was a minecraft youtuber at that time, I do not know if he still does minecraft but that is besides my point. Like I said I am not quite sure why or how it happened, I was just watching a video and it seemed like all of a sudden a intense rush of unreality came to me, I felt confused and being the child I was back then I had no clue what that feeling was supposed to mean or signalize but it wasnt pleasant. It was like a simple click of a button. For example the switch you push when you want to turn the light on in a room, you push it and boom the light turns on almost in the same moment.
It happened just like that. One second I was a happy child enjoying his life and not worrying about anything and literally, and I REALLY MEAN LITERALLY the next second for some reason it hit me and I was there. Trapped in this altered state of mind. The 11 year old innocent me at that time had no clue what had just happened and what its going to turn into. Yes I did feel weird but it was not so bad back then when it all started, so I did not tell anyone about it. It has been nearly 7 years to this day, and I still did not tell anyone about it from my family, not even from my friends, basically noone knows that this is how ive been living my life for the past 7 years. Sometimes I feel like a secret agent living a "two faced" life, ya know like in those movies. I do not want to scare anyone, the following is just my experience, and I strongly believe it is individual. Over time, the feeling just became worse and worse and I kept on disconnecting and detaching from the reality, from myself and from "common senses" as time passed progressively. Actually as time goes by I dare to say that Im actually losing my mind and sanity. For the entire 7 years I havent seen a psychiatrist, and my illness is "untreated", and it is my fault, so now I have to face the consequences of my actions.
So this is a message to yall: No matter what the others say (because ive seen people who say that it does fade away after a certain amount of time.) never repeat the same mistake as me, and tell your parents or your family and start visiting a psychiatrist and go with a psychotherapy. Even if it is individual and does fade away for some people over time, come on, use your common sense, do you think that leaving a mental illness without treatment will make it better? Damn no, it will just get worse and worse over time and ultimately youll either lose sanity or the illness will force you itself to visit a doctor. But anyway, it all started with just weird feelings of "unreality" to which I didnt really respond as the illness was in an so called "Early state" where I was feeling unreal, but still was connected strongly enough to the real world which resulted in the symptoms not being so severe. Over time I felt more and more unreal and more symptoms started to kick in, I started having panic and anxiety attacks, existentional crisis, disorganised thoughts, unability to think clearly or make rational decisions, social anxiety, even hormonal problems (i sweat like a pig and no im not overweight.), the weird feeling that your everyday normal environment and people you meet everyday (even family members) suddelny feel unfamiliar to you, extra sensitivity to light, hypochondria (i tend to think i have a heart attack every time i have a panic attack and the fact that it is scientifically proven that people who suffer from anxiety are more likey to have a heart attack doesnt help this at all.), weird tics and delusions , heavily altered perception of time (for example events that happened several hours ago might feel like theyve happened months ago.) and the list goes on. For example, the school system in my country is a bit different and you go to the elementary school for 9 years, and those 9 years are divided into two "degrees".
!YOUTUBE WILL NOT ALLOW ME TO POST SUCH A LONG COMMENT AND I WANT TO SHARE MY ENTIRE STORY WITH ANYONE WHO CARES SO KEEP READING IN MY REPLY IF YOU CARE!
The first one is from the first year to the fourth year and the second one is from the fifth year to the nineth year, after that you leave to high school. I used to have a very hot biology/chemistry teacher who I had a massive crush on (and she also happened to be my main teacher), so my ill mind created a delusion in which the school I visited was an "police station", where she would be the chief, (major rank) and I would be a captain ( a rank under her). I would give ranks to all my classmates and act submissive around the teacher because in my dumb mentally ill mind she was the chief of our class, the principal was a general BTW. I started watching a comedy series TV show which main purpose was to make fun of cops and policemen called "Profesionáli", in translation "Professionals" and I would watch that over and over again in the online TV archive of the television ( this has nothing to do with what im trying to say but incase anyone is interested here is a link to the site, if youre english speaking or any other language except slovak speaking you wont understand a thing but the main drawing there are policemen so that should be enough as proof, here it is: https://videoportal.joj.sk/profesionali ), pretending that the school I visit is just like that and trying to somehow make totally absurd connections and straight up serious DELUSIONS between the tv show and my school I visted (not to mention the fact that i literally created some type of weird "tics" or "rituals" which I would perform every single time and day before watching the show like making weird ass sounds in sync with the intro song of the TV show, hitting my leg or clapping to somehow clear the bad mental stuff or "karma" off of me because I did not want to watch it with a soiled mind. Was 12 when started doing this. Once again EXTREMELY INSANELY hard to describe to others as this was a pure and very strong psychological delusion ive created in my mentally ill mind, so completely okay if you dont understand.
This has stuck to me and I still do these tics to this very day just not so intense and i perform them in my mind which once again puts stress onto it, there is actually much more to it in depth but im not going to describe it because a, i actually cant, it is indescribable with just words, youd have to BECOME ME for one day to understand, there is no way of explaining it accurately to another person with words trust me i know what im talking about and b, i already sound like a crazy ass fu*king mentally ill creep who should be locked in a cage in a mental hospital under some strong drugs and antipsychotics. and worst of all, i used to think that all of this was perfectly normal and nothing was wrong with me.), just to feel good about myself to some extent despite the fact that the logic thinking that has remained in my head was telling me that this is all bs my mind is just making up. This is INSANELY hard to describe with words, and even harder to describe to a person who has not experienced such delusions and feelings before, and to those people I might sound like a crazy ass fu*king lunatic and I completely understand that, in fact that is what I am. Im not kidding this is how bad it was with me, no matter how absurd this sounds it is the truth but luckily I somehow managed to get rid of that delusion after i left my primary school in the second year of high school.
(Not to mention the fact that I was literally taking a walk every single day just so I could go around the building that teacher of mine lived in, in a secret hope that I would catch her being outside or walking to her car just so that I could look at her or maybe say "Hello" to her if lucky enough. My massive crush on her had something to do with it im certain. This is exactly the point, this illness is capable of disconnecting you from the real world SO MUCH that youll literally begin to form a new "reality" inside your ill head, where everything makes perfect sense and even if it doesnt, youll still convince yourself that it does which is very dangerous because thats exactly where you start to become delusional and completely off reality, and also this is why the stuff I just wrote will never make sense to a mentally healthy person and Ill sound like a total freak and a mentally wrecked weirdo.
Once again, in my personal opinion this all is my fault and couldve been prevented if I didnt leave this untreated and actually told someone about it, so once again PLEASE NEVER REPEAT THIS MISTAKE IVE DONE, AND TRY TO LEARN FROM IT. Sometimes I wonder if I have schyzophrenia because it also includes a feeling of unreality and disorganised thoughts as sympthoms and DP DR can sometimes be a accompanying factor of schyzophrenia or a other more serious mental illness, but as far as I know I dont hallucinate. Anyway, despite the fact that if you suffer from this for long enough, you can get used to this shitty everyday feeling, I still feel like it is becoming too much for me to handle by myself as I am still not under treatment and I am currently in the state of considering a psychiatrist and a therapy. This mental illness can take many years of your life and destroy a part of your personaliy, traits and hobbies if you let it do so you know? That is why it is best to start treating it while it is in its early stage to prevent more damage. I would not recommend doing any drugs, not even weed while suffering from this condition because after I smoked 2 joints with my friend (yes i was stupid enough to do it, and no it didnt trigger this thing, because it happened 4 months ago.) I was totally mentally wrecked and it made me flip out to the point that I was literally unable to talk to anyone for the next 3 days.
Now yeah, it might be individual for everyone but i dont think you want to risk this shxt, amirite? This thing can truly turn your everyday normal life into living hell if you allow it. You want to take a break? That is cute sweetie :3, such thing does not exist here, once you have it youre stuck with this feeling 24/7 to the point that youll literally start to look forward to going to sleep (of course assuming the illness isnt preventing you from falling asleep due to the racing thoughts and the constant disconnected feeling) because it is the only time it isnt so intense, and your actual dreams start to feel more real to you than the actual reality which can serve as another mental flipout. Ive literally reached the point where id masturbate 3 to 4 times daily just to make the pleasure of orgasm (mostly dopamine) numb the feeling of detachment for at least those god damn 10 seconds it lasted. It was not because I was horny anymore. In some cases it can lead to alcoholism or drug abuse because the sufferer is desperate to get at least a small and light "break" and "escape" from this living hell. Ah man, sometimes I sit down and wonder, "Damn how does it feel to be normal?" I actually cannot remember how it feels to preceive reality as reality, and not as this. To anyone going through this dont give in to the illness, seek help. And to all the mentally healthy fellas out there, be happy and VALUE your mental health because not everyone is so lucky and there are people out there who would literally sacrifice anything just to get rid of their mental illness and live a normal life once again. Just like eminem sings in his "godzilla" track: "Im beginning to feel like im mentally ill im atilla kill or be killed im a killer..."
It is hard to describe this to a person who has not experienced such feelings ever before. I wouldnt wish this upon my worst enemy, its more than a mental illness, it can be constant 24/7 psychosis if severe enough which becomes a true terror if mixed up with another mental illness. But it actually amazes me, what the human brain is capable of. Your mind is a very powerful tool if used properly, unfortunately it can suck if something goes wrong inside of it. Nevertheless, Im not giving up on my life goals and Im not letting this thing ruin the only life I have because pitying yourself aint gonna change much, if youre still reading, then thank you for taking your time to ready my "story", and to anyone who is going through this for more than 15 or 20 or even more years I salute you, youre a veteran. :]
@Patrik Hi patrick, Wow 7 years thats a long time. i'm 16 and i'm also very certain that i have this illness, i have been looking for answers for 1 year and 4-5 months since it all started and i think i'm finally close to getting my answer. so where to begin? it all started on the 20th sebtember 2019, the school year just started and everything was going fairly well. then on that morning i woke up feeling like i slept very light and with a strange light headed feeling, i still felt connected to the world and my senses weren't numb, it just felt like being a little drunk. then the next few days/weeks i slept very light and i was doing research and i was convinced i had Fatal Insomnia( a degenerate brain condition that stops you from sleeping and eventually leads to death) i was very anxious about this and had a lot of anxiety and everyone was thinking that im just a hypochondriac. Eventually i got a sleep study done wich proved that nothing was wrong and because of that proof i slept fairly decent again afterwards. But i still felt the lightheaded/foggy feeling in my head wich i hoped would go away once my sleeping went back to normal. but it stayed, live just went on as normal and i tried to not think about it and ignore it. then covid came and schools closed. it was a relief i had a lot less stress and went outside a lot to go longboarding and do photography, i also started astronomy and astrophotography wich now is my greatest passion and it gives me a distraction from my mental problems. but my fog is still there and it hasen't gone away ever since 20 sebtember 2019, it progressed from being a lightheaded feeling to a foggy feeling and now its a disconnected feeling. i can still do all the things in life i did before and act normal to other people but i dont feel fine. my mind is in a constant dreamy disconnected state, i can best explain it like being lost in a heavy daydream but the only diffference is that you cant shake yourself out of that daydream and feel clear and vivid again. this feeling has progressed worse and worse and it is 24/7 while you cant see anything weird on the outside. i've talked to some friends about it and 1 teacher and they are supportive but i dont say a lot to my parents they think im just imagining it all in my head and that im just a hypochondriac. i sincerely hope this feeling will end once and my mind will feel clear and vivid again and that i can expierence reality as reality once again.
But seriously guys, you are fucking awesome. You go through so much and are still standing strong. It will get better, I promise. I know it's hard, but you don't lose anything by having faith dude.
Because I'm often sat in class surrounding by people who I haven't talked to and im playing with my pen or I'm anxiously just going over my work in pen and it feels like I can't see clearly and like the more I think the more I sink deeper and lower inside my chair not physically not mentally but just....It just feels like it and I only stop it unless I snap back to "reality"
Don’t be concerned. If you are concerned go see someone and get a bit more information about it. It’s nothing to be worried about, it’s ok. I don’t experience it but I know you’re not alone. It’s ok 👍😊
You should not, a lot of people experience this condition, it is due to anxiety and sometimes because of a lack of sleep! I felt this today, i was outside, it was horrible. Yesterday, before goind to sleep, i had an anxiety attack. It is due to overthinking, your brain practically just tries to protect you of your overthinking...
@Cosmo Boss Try to stop being so hard with yourself... honestly, you deserve better... stop overthinking and be more positive about life, you deserve it 💓
We feel this, but ! No need to panic, this is totally reversible, you’ll be Chillen man I promise, fight the fucking FIGHT ! Much love friend hope you get well soon !
I’ve read a bit about it for the last hour and it seems as if almost 50% of the world population has experienced the symptoms of this disorder some time in their lifetime , but only 1-2% have been actually diagnosed. Sure, a lot of people can have it without even knowing it exists, but it’s apparently totally normal to experience once or twice. But if you keep experiencing this time after time you may wanna go see a doctor. But it’s not dangerous in any way and it can’t harm you unless it leads to depression and cause suicidal thoughts (of course). Maybe you want to go look up a therapist to talk to if you want someone to share your thoughts with. I wish you the best of luck!
Don’t be concerned, you’re safe, weirdly enough it’s trying to protect you and I know it’s uncomfortable, but it’s reversible and you can get out of it, all you need is info
I have this same condition and sometimes it gets better and sometimes it gets worse it’s not nice when it gets worse I’m just 16 but everything just feels so blurry and empty when I have those episodes I recently had one that got worse due to me breaking up with my girlfriend and after about a 3 months of blurryness I am just getting back into my life and I’m just slowly starting to be more conscious again
I’m 61 and have been depressed all my life. I got married, had kids and hated it. Got divorced at 40 and never found love. Always wanted to be a musician, but marriage ruined that. Conclusion. Never live your life for others. Live for you. If you find true love, take it. I had someone that I should have been with. But got married to another. When I got divorced I looked for the other one, but she had just died of cancer. I now take loads of meds. It’s ruined my life and constantly think of ending it. Don’t be me, find happiness and if you’re unhappy in a relationship. Move on. I’d happily discuss life with anyone.
I've also noticed that i can get derealisation when I don't sleep enough and combined with all the stress it gets soooo bad. So make sure you sleep enough (And eat enough )
hey I feel the same way. I was never formally diagnosed but I know what it feels like. And it rlly does make you feel suicidal, sometimes it’s like the only thing on your mind, but hey you got this 🥺 I can’t tell you it will get better or worse but it will become what you make of it. Whether that be good or bad, you decide. (Rather make it good lol) but hang in there! ❤️
@Sadderdaze thank u❤️ i’m really trying not to give up but it’s so hard.. my psychiatrist told me i just have to accept it. but it feels like i can’t. i don’t want this to be permanent. what makes me keep going is the hope that i will feel normal again one day. i don’t have much hope but i don’t want to “just accept” my DPDR cause it’s the worst thing ever. i can deal with my anxiety and all the other issues i have but the derealization makes me feel dead and alone even tho i’m not alone. how can anyone just accept those feelings?😞
@Della girl I understand you entirely! But your doctor is right, the first step of getting to a better place and feeling better is to accept and acknowledge those feelings. Once you accept it, you have somewhat control over it. And over time you get full control back. I know it’s literally so scary especially when it’s real bad. I mean when you don’t feel real it’s hard to control your emotions and naturally your mind goes to panic. And tbh I’m going through it right at this moment. And I haven’t exactly found one specific thing I use to cope with it. But I have accepted it. And trust me it has gotten better. It’s not as bad as it used to be and I’m able to somewhat enjoy life again. But here are just some small things I used to really help me in those hard times. ASMR, reading, talking to someone you haven’t talked to in a while, watching comedy’s, drinking tea with no caffeine cause caffeine just makes it worse😭, writing/journaling, trying out new outfits, cleaning even if it’s just a small area, working out, making yourself a nice meal, simply watching the sky, literally hugging a tree 😂, try getting some indoor plants that you could take care of, also try starting a morning routine if you don’t already have one in order, dancing by yourself (this is the best helper) , decorate your room, meditate, try yoga, probably won’t be able to go out too much because of the pandemic but maybe try going shopping for yourself, have a skincare day for yourself, go for a run, and I can’t rlly think of too much more rn but if I do I’ll get back to you with them lol. But yeah just doing simple human things make you feel real again. And it’s because it’s the simplest things that your mind begins to process everything around you easier, and soon enough you start understanding life again, and eventually you start to feel the real-ness. I hope this helped 🥺 and I really hope you feel better, just know your not in this alone at all! ❤️❤️✨
@Sadderdaze i’ve never been worse mentally and it feels like nothing helps. even when i force myself to do stuff i obsess over my derealization and feel like a zombie. but maybe i should continue doing normal stuff and it might get better that way.. i’m just so exhausted😭 the only thing that makes me feel a little better is anti anxiety medication which i have to stop using cause i’m scared i’ll get addicted and that it’s gonna make everything even worse. i hope u feel better too, maybe get professional help. i’m gonna start doing CBT even tho i don’t have high hopes..but it’s worth a try cause i don’t wanna depend on medication
@Della I completely agree about the medication thing. I was always afraid to get formally diagnosed and be put on pills that I would eventually become dependent on. And addiction kinda runs in my family and I know myself to get addicted to things quite easily so medication was never an option for me. And I get you on the zombie like feeling. But having a routine and something to always do really helps. Keeps you grounded and makes you feel normal again. And I’m not too familiar with cbt, but hey I say try it all because you never know what could work for you. Just hang in there, it’s gonna take a while to feel normal again but trust me when I say you will feel normal again and you’ll be able to enjoy life and all it has to offer. I promise. You just have to keep pushing. ❤️
@Sadderdaze it’s really hard to believe that i’ll feel normal again when i have never felt this way in my life. i did struggle with anxiety and depression before but this feels like something else it’s so much more intense. i also have weird physical symptoms like tingles in my brain and other body parts which i never had before. when i have a panic attack i get suicidal that is why i have to take medication so that i won’t do anything to myself. i’m trying so hard to control my anxiety but it feels almost impossible. i have to learn how to do that which is what you learn when you do CBT. there’s nothing i want more than to feel at ease and normal again and words like yours give me a little hope thank u ❤️
@Della I’m glad I could give u a lil glimpse of hope! Hang in there! And know ur never battling it alone. and if u ever need some more advice or ur feeling lost just reply to my comment again anytime! ☺️ ❤️✨
shit. uh. i uh. this happens sometimes. to me. but it always goes away after a little bit. it feels like you're all floaty and lightheaded but not, yeah? every sense is heightened, but at the same time they're all dampened. it's odd, isn't it?
I don't know what’s wrong with me. I can see everything and I can move and talk and laugh. I just will often times find myself zooming out of a conversation, or whatever moment im in, to look at it from a bigger perspective. Then I look at whatever my hands are doing, and I move them, but it doesn't feel like i'm moving them or in control of the movement. It's not like I’m looking at myself in 3rd person, it's more of like my surroundings becoming completely dream like. Everything looks the same, the colors don't become more or less vivid, just all of a sudden I feel very far away from everything around me. I feel detached. Kind of like I’m day dreaming/in a constant daze. I will then try to scratch my arm or hand, or move my hand to rub my face or eyes. I do this to try and mentally ground myself, and attach my mentality to this body I'm supposedly in control of. Nothing ends up working. Nothing ever brings me back down to reality until I find another distraction. The worst thing is, I don't know if this happens because I obsess over it and become all hypochondriac, or if my brain is playing games with my vision and perspective. I probably sound crazy but idk what to do. I feel so dazed and confused at all of this uncertainty and it’s really fucking frustrating bc there’s nothing I can do. I feel ultimately useless.
I have a similar thing. It kind of makes me think i'm going crazy. Its like I just zoom out like you said but it feels like "my consciousness" falling backwards, down, deep into my brain/body. I just continue doing whatever I'm doing, but I feel oddly disconnected. I can look at my hands and think they are a lot weirder looking than I remember them to be. I tend to avoid mirrors for the same reason. I know I'm looking at myself, but it feels off and that makes me float away too. I get thoughts like "is this real?" "is anything real?" "What am I?" "how can I know anyone/anything is real?". It all started a few months ago, one day it was just there, and the same day a got an anxiety attack (which is completely new to me) and since then I've felt this way. (i'm making this into a separate comment too)
crystal gem Its just really strange because I can distract myself from it by reading or watching youtube or smth. I’ve learned a lot about mental illness and I have noticed that it’s something you can’t distract your brain from feeling. It makes me wonder if I even have a mental illness at all.
I’m late as heck, but it’s practically depersonalization. It’s fairly common with anxiety, and the best thing that you can do if ground yourself. 5 things your feel, hear, smell, taste, etc. it really helps!
I've experienced kinda the same sensation as you, and it was because of anxiety issues but I didn't know at the time so i became very paranoid and scared which only worsened my disassociation. The best thing you can do I think is contact a professional and find out which treatment is best for you. Mine was therapy and also meds. But it's different for everyone. Remember that what you're going through is happening for a reason, and you're not crazy (trust me, there's been times where i was convinced i was), you're just recieving symptoms from something bigger that's happened to you in your life. When you start to accept and come to peace with that, and with your mental issues right now, you will find yourself feeling better, bit by bit.❤ there are many people that feel like you and we are not alone!
I feel the exact same way. For the longest time I couldn’t describe what I was feeling, but the descriptions in your comment match what’s going on in my head exactly. And it’s so frustrating because I know I can be in the moment more but nothing I do helps pull me back down to earth.
this happened to me since last week i’ve told my parents about it and they just brush it off. i don’t know what is wrong with me. am i dying? idk i feel like shit rn but also relieved that orher people also felt like how i feel rn.
Omg I'm late as hell but I'm so glad to see I'm not the only person feeling this. For me, it started the year I nearly drowned. Since then I sometimes feel like I'm dreaming or like I'm in coma. I thought it was gone for a year bur then it just hit me when I was standing in the bus amd I was so scared because I never thought of it for nearly a year. I couldn't really descrip it so I didn't finde anything on the internet and it was freakin me out. Your description is really helpful. Thanks a lot!
I actually feel the same way. I keep looking stuff up about it but nothing described exactly how I feel until I saw your comment. I'm in middle school and I have that same feeling you do. I think it's getting really bad though. I think I sort of had it my whole life but it was a lot better when I was little but now nothing I feel like is real. I constantly ask myself in my head "woah did I do that it doesn't feel like it". I think it's gotten to the point where it even affects my walking and I feel sort of dizzy and I don't walk orally anymore
@agnes that's the exact way I felt the first time I had a mini anxiety attack before mine got bad was I was doing fine then got really spooked by something and I fell off and was detached and now I have to avoid mirrors during them cuz it kinda feels likeim not looking at myself
I was like that for a long time, ended up in psychiatric hospitals, psychiatrists, counsellors, medications etc. Would suddenly feel I was suddenly someone else. Convinced my pupils were growing and shrinking, felt I was disconnected from people around me, bendy walls, jelly legs, reeling sensations, panics. I gave up with getting help and read Claire Weeks and applied it for the first time and started a new journey 24 years ago and it is no longer an issue. I rarely find anyone interested in this!! I had brain/inner ear/heart/blood etc. tests first. All clear. Had various people give theories but.... After a summer in bed thinking I was never going to ever get out of it.... I read Claire Weeks and. . have had 24 years of amazing rich life, and issues with things not being real are not an issue now. Like you say, sometimes I get reeling head but... Well,... Read Claire Weeks, she says it better than me
Ps .. this is 25yrs ago before a lot of modern terminology came about. A psychiatrist decided I had an 'aura' and prescribed largactyl. I read the side effects and decided that on top of valium, atevan and sleeping pills (which just made feel disconnected in a different way and gave me fainting spells of low blood pressure)... that I needed something else... went to the library and got Claire Weeks book .. and I found freedom from it all
For me I call it dissociation. I get it from my ptsd and it prevents me from being fully present. I don’t have memory loss like what you described. I know whats going on its just like I’m in a weird fluttery state and things don’t feel real
I also feel that i am always floating. This is really depressing. Huhu i am really going to talk with someone after corona. I hate this feeling i cant understand anything anymore.
I also suffer from depersonalization... and I have to say, it's something you can't fully comprehend unless you've dealt with it yourself... it's like you're constantly stuck in a 2 dimensional world, and you feel disconnected from your own body. Not every day is as intense as others, but certain situation trigger the major anxiety and that 'weird' feeling that comes with depersonalization... like sudden change or a traumatic event.. or even basic stressful situations can make me feel extra out of it. I had this condition since I was 15 and it hasn't left me since... it's not NEARLY as bad as it used to be, but it's still there. I just learned to live with it and not let it bother me 24/7.
Nani Corday 100% agreed. I am 15 now and I have derealisation for a long time now and today I experienced depersonalization for the first time. At the beginning I wasn’t sure if it was it but later it got so much worse. I think I had a panic attack while this because it was so scary or maybe it is just like that. I don’t know yet and I hope I won’t find out myself. I still feel like not me but it’s not that intense now. I’m afraid that it won’t leave me. If not I think I’m gonna go to a doctor. With derealisation it was bad but I could live with it but this is so much worse.
Kinga depersonalization is worst. ive had some episodes, occurs after emotion trauma. rly rly baaaad. usually i gave adhd/dissociating/anxiety, mild ocd etc, but depersonalization episodes were baaaad.
ME TOO! I sometimes get weird experiences like this, as well as uncontrollable laughter, whenever i’m in a high-stress or very serious situation. I made another comment about it too. I wonder if it’s connected.. pwq
Anyone else just feel absolutely nothing.....like I’m in this state of nothing while feeling nothing and just floating through life. Watching it pass by not doing anything about it. Idk just so weird to feel nothing and be nothing all the time.
Don't mind me. Just trying to figure out that why living feels off sometimes, like my soul would want to flee but can't I'm atm having stressful time so it can be that or something else. I really want to do research about this but when i want to ask about it i'm afraid that others call me crazy. It feels like this: My mind sometimes drifts off but then i realize it and return. Second thing, i feel like living in stimulation even when i know that i am real. And third: It feels like that i don't achieve anything and i feel a little bit useless bc idk what to do with my life. I know what i like but i don't know what my job would be. And that stresses me out
This doesn't happen all the time but sometimes life is just blurry. Like i would live inside a bubble
one time i smoked a year ago and my eyes have never been the same it gives me anxiety everyday and i dont know what to do im suoer scared and im tired of it ive tried medicine i just dont know what to do
Luckily (thank god) I don’t suffer from this. I’ve figured when I’m under high stress levels I begin to disassociate quite a bit. For the past couple days, my mind just hasn’t been working right. It’s not exactly like dreaming- it’s more like waking up. Being shoved into reality, everything’s so real, but like an altered version of reality. This caused me to freak out, which causes frequent panic attacks. Not a very fun thing, but this has only been happening recently (past 5 days or so). Like I mentioned before, I’ve been really heckin stressed lately, so I’m assuming this whole weird brain thing is a result of that. I can’t imagine living the way I do, except magnified by like 10x, and ALL THE TIME. Dear dodie, and all you lil adorable beans suffering from something like this, you guys are amazing. To be able to handle this is so brave, and takes a really strong person to do so. GOOD JOB!:)
//rant// i hate it so much. i've only just realized what it actually is after many years of just saying that i have constant brain fog or that everything's just "fuzzy" all the time. it's been so long since i've been present without trying. i'm so tired of it.
sometimes i feel like im fake and made up and everything else is real, but the rest of the time, i feel like everything else is fake, and like im floating through nothingness, which causes issues because i struggle to remember that my actions will affect other people and their feelings, or my surroundings.
I do these things called reality checks, sometimes just to make sure I’m really, and the things that I do actually take affect, I’ll do weird things. Sometimes I’ll yell really loud, to make sure people can see me, but the worse one is when I scratch myself till I see blood, because I would need to make sure i was not a robot. Luckily I don’t scratch anymore, and I’ve token up doing other things like throwing a pen at the wall, or drawing really hard on paper.
I do these too! I think one that might be less harmful for you is holding your breath and trying to inhale and exhale. Like, hold your breath, plug your nose, try to breathe anyway. If you're dreaming, you'll be able to breathe through it, because your body doesn't stop breathing no matter what you do in a dream. It's how I make sure I'm actually awake because a lot of the time I can't tell the difference.
You should just look at a digital clock (if you wear an Apple watch or something similar this works well). If you look at it in a dream, look away, and look back the numbers tend to change. A lot less subtle than yelling in public and less harmful than scratching yourself.
Dissociation is also something people who are self diagnosing around here should look into (not judging as it's sometimes all you can do, but I'd recommend not OVER diagnosing?). I'm not a great person to share on either but like Dodie mentioned at the beginning what she struggles with is a chronic version of that... If that makes sense?
I’m so glad that you’re talking about this! I’ve had this condition since early 2018, and I haven’t heard anyone else talk about derealization, and I’m so happy you’re bringing this subject to light.
Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream. You're not crazy. Reality is not real, it's a frequency. - spoken by someone who has tried 5 grams of mushrooms
Anthony Priamo yeah, with DP I experience something similar. Like, even when I see myself in the mirror or look down at my hands it’s like cognitively I know it’s me but I don’t feel like me. Even with my own memories like I don’t feel they belong to me... do you feel floaty as well?
Its like when I hug myself its like hugging a stranger. My mind and body also feel like different people. Its like I'm observing the world from outside looking in. I don't know if I have depersonalization or not though.
I'm so scared because I feel like I have this. It used to only happen rarely, but lately I've noticed that it's happening more often than not, and it's frightening the crap out of me. I'm a person who thrives to live in the moment and take in my surroundings (Carpe diem and all that) but I find it almost impossible to do that now and it's messing up my life. I feel so detached from reality, my friends, my family, from work, everything. Idk what to do
when my anxiety gets bad ( my anxiety is all about death) I keep thinking what if this is a dream but then I find things around me I can touch,smell,taste etc . It helps keep me present
i know you may not see this, but i think it's even a slights possibility i may have this or an beginning to have depersonalization. i feel disconnected when i look in a mirror, like i don't really look like that. my past feels like it was someone else i knew, but i know everything about it. i feel like everything and nothing are happening all at once. i don't know if this is depersonalization, a weird feeling, or another lovely mental disorder but if anyone has answers i'd love some help :<
@Collin Mintz ive watched her im a big fan however i never do any of the symptoms of DID like switching personaliyts (god sorry for my bad spelling my eyes are bad today) its mode like i can see through their eyes for a min or too.
I have this issue a lot actually. not constantly, but a lot. to a point where sometimes I cant say anything and I cant think and all I can manage to let out is a few mumbles and I'm not sure of what I was thinking was said out loud or of it was just in my head. and then my vision blurs and it feels like I'm not there, just drifting. I hate it. but it usually only occurs during my depressive episodes
I'm Autistic, and this not being able to determine time correctly is definitely a thing, as a child I always asked if I was dreaming or awake, and most times getting into trouble I honestly thought it was a memory, I couldn't differentiate memories and reality at the moment..but I also have sensory issues, like seeing static everywhere. Masking for years definitely make a break down and Cptsd.
I’ve had depersonalization for almost a year now and it’s great hearing I’m not alone and someone else feels exactly like I do though I’m sorry you have to go through this. I hope things work out for you and anyone else experiencing this
When this video came out I only watched the half of it and then turned it off. Now 4 years later i'm experiencing something similar 😂😂😂 So i guess it's time to save some money for a therapist...........
Hey doodle, maybe you try this. When you close your eyes theres a feeling of still looking, and than try to close that looking eyes and open just your Eyelids.
doddleoddle awh! i had a period of it but have felt it a lot less recently. i’m so sorry that you are still struggling with dp/dr. i hope that it will eventually go away for you, and i have read up on all the articles you did about it and how you’ve been spreading awareness. i hope knowing that you’re making a HUGE difference to sufferers (past & present) and you help others overcome their struggles makes you feel better. i really hope you recover but at the end of the day, it is what it is and i’m sure you’ve learnt to appreciate life for how it is. love your videos and thank you ❤️
Well yall there is nothing wrong with you. In my humble opinion, it's not a 'disorder' at all. It's a part of you trying to wake you up, shake you up and get you back on the right path. The physical world is not what it seems. There is much more beyond it, where all of our true selves lie. So don't fret, all will be revealed one day and this world will be a thing of the past :D . Learn where you can and keep moving forward, dont worry about feeling a way you think you're 'suppose' to feel. Think. DIFFERENT. find. Truth.
I had an episode of this the day after I tried weed for the first time. I had a panic attack while high so, that was definately the cause. It really sucked. I felt like I was watching a movie more than being alive. It was so hard to function. I'm glad you finally have an answer and can work towards getting better!
i have to draw on my hands and look around for clocks mirrors and things i could read just in case coz i literally cannot tell if things are real or not but i aksed my friend for help and they said theres a disorder so i looked up and and im here? imma go to a doctor tho 😳
sol Lll2020-06-22 01:24:47 (edited 2020-06-22 01:27:42 )
sorry my REALLY bad english but i had this thing a whole year, the last year, and now this happen only sometimes, so if u have this too, maybe it's not forever
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Megan J Music ♡2020-08-14 22:13:43 (edited 2020-08-14 22:16:40 )
I have a chronic vestibular illness and derealisation/ depersonalisation have been symptoms of it at times. It’s awful. Brain fog, floating, feeling like I’m looking at life through a window... or virtual reality goggles. Looking at people around the room and feeling like they’re not really there, or like I’m not really a part of life. Feels like my eyes are heavy and they don’t quite look around properly. It does go away eventually. I worked on my stress and anxiety. Mediations, yoga ... etc. Sometimes I notice it still. I mean... vestibular disorders are awful in themselves! But yeah I feel for you!
I don’t have derealisation but I do dissociate a lot and sometimes it feels like I’m watching myself on tv a lot of the time when I dissociate I’m still so I just feel disconnected from the world but when I’m moving it’s like I’m watching someone on tv like I can see I’m moving but I don’t feel like I’m in control or there my first memory of this was when I was in year 5 and everytime I had a race because I used to be a competitive runner and when I got towards the end of a race and could see the finish line my body would just disconnect I wasn’t there anymore I was still running I have no clue how fast I was going because I couldn’t feel any of it it was like when you watch shows and people are running and you see it from the angle of the person who’s running so it looked like I was watching myself on tv through my eyes if that makes any sense and I didn’t realise what it was at the time I told people about it but I just thought that it was me getting in the zone or something but now I’ll just walk round the house dissociate end up putting whatever I had in my hand down somewhere then coming back and not being able to find that thing
I'm a (depressed) maladaptive daydreamer and a lot of the time I also feel like I'm dreaming, but never this bad. To bear this is one of the most difficult things I can imagine and I'm always amazed at how strong you are. When I was reading your book, I was always either crying because I related so much and I was so relieved someone else understood, or I was crying because I couldn't believe you've had to fight demons this horrible.
You are so so precious and incredible and inspiring and imperfectly perfectly openly human.
I've had chronic dpdr for 4 years and its recently been getting worse. It's absolute torture. I tried to end my own life a couple of weeks ago. Your videos calm me down somewhat and its refreshing to hear someone else's POV. Thanks. Xx
i feel like i’m real but everything else around my is fake or a dream. so then i think why is there a point of trying if this really is a dream. then i get kinda depressed i can’t excape this feeling. plus i get anxiety and panic when i can’t excape. i also don’t think of it and it doesn’t happen but when i do think of it, it happens. what do you think this is ?
Its not a medical thing I'm pretty sure, its your soul wandering trying to just leave the physical, grounding doesnt help your vision but it does seem to help your focus and kinda helps your memory
I’ve been wondering if I have this because I feel like this so often, especially when I recall certain accounts or am having a really stressful/anxious time. I’m trying to learn all I can so I can ask my doctor about the things I’m experiencing. I’ve been so terrified of my own body sometimes and I noticed changes in my vision a few months ago. I wish I had seen this then. It would have helped me a lot more than all the panicking I did about it haha. Thanks Dodie!
Thank you so much, I really appreciate you talking about this, not just so I feel less alone with derealisation, I will show my family this so they can understand better. Thankyou.
Sometimes I feel like I can’t understand what people are a Saying even though they are speaking perfect English. I’ve felt a lot like I’m not awake or existing. Like sometimes I’m like I know this is real but I don’t feel real. I’ve been incredibly dizzy and I feel like my hyperactivity and impulsivity no longer are under my control and I keep saying things without meaning them because I just can’t say anything else
Mare Bear2018-09-23 00:11:51 (edited 2018-09-23 00:12:01 )
Sometimes I'm just going about my business, and as if it's in the snap of your fingers, I feel like the world doesn't exist. As if I'm not real, and nobody is real, and nothing has ever been real. I don't know how to describe it. It's like a mini black out, like a full body throb. It doesn't last very long for me, maybe 1 to 6 seconds, and usually only happens once every month or two. I don't know what it is.
That is very similar to what happens to me... like I'm in a dream and want to wake up (I can't of course :p), and I just need to take a second to close my eyes and focus on my... conscience I guess? tell myself I am real. Everything around me is _real_. And well... sometimes I can just brush it off (since I'm getting it more often) but sometimes I can't help but panic really bad Sorry for hijacking your comment... it's just nice that someone feels like me
Only ones I do remember are when I was drunk, for example looking into the mirror, and when I was peeing it felt like I was in a dream and peed my pants but it was irl. Maybe this was just because of alcohol?
Oh my when she started talking about how you feel as though things dont feel real, i had an epiphany of sorts. I've always known that this isn't normal, but i still feel as though, oh my I'm dissociating again, ok ok, i still feel as though my family would judge me and well yeah. Since I've been aware that this isn't normal, I've tried and looked around for somethi g that sounds like what i experience, and as a result I've gotten into how Dissociative Identity Disorder works, but it was definitely not me. After years if constant struggle to put a name to these symptoms and a name to the episodes, I've found something very similar to what I experience: Derealization.
For me, I get these episodes once a month and it's a nightmare, a real living nightmare. I think i may some sub version of this because I've noticed that i am startled awake from a 1 second nap, which led me to investigate sleep disorders( i don't think i have any except perhaps insomnia) and suddely the episode begins. This is also the reason i avoid baps at all costs. I don't like to think, far worse talk about it because it's like taboo for me which is the worst part since i feel as though i can't analyze the episode without most likely losing my mind for a good 10 minutes. So I'm actually afraid I'll get another episode right now because i feel as though its taboo.
So basically,( I'm having a hard time remembering since i repress these memories) i wake up and it really is like the world isn't real. Legit like it always happens around people and so they want to talk to me but I'm really uncomfortable and terrified because my worst episode ever, I was jolted awake from a 1 second nap at dinner and my mother and brother were conversing with me and (here's the worst of it) i genuinely wanted to talk to them to not feel as though I'm not real, i FELT AS THOUGH I DIDN'T KNOW THEM, LIKE I SORT OF KNEW WHO THEY ARE, THEY ARE MY CLOSEST FAMILY BUT NOT FEELING A BOND, THE WAY ONE KNOWS 1+1=2 BUT NOT MAKING SENSE WHY. I thought, "they're your family, why dont you FEEL A BOND," it was horrible. I hid in the bathroom trying to sort myself out and then escaped to my room because i didn't want to feel like i know them but i don't, its the worst thing I've ever experienced mental health wise. I used to wait it out, but now i try to ground myself since that episode, and its been effective. I also try to stay calm and not remember that episode by breathing and telling myself i will be alright. The next step of my journey seems to have begun with the discovery of this video: Reaching A Diagnosis
SOS save our seas Thanks, it's been quite a ride since I can now put a name to those moments where I dissociate and a name to the derealization episodes. It's interesting to see how an article online explains this vs. This video, and how that article failed to sort of thoroughly explain the sensation the way someone who has expirienced it can. Fascinating how having a personal connection to the topic can yield more insightful explanations rather that someone who's only studied it and never felt it.
Please tell me if anyone feels the same . I think i am alone feeling this way. (What i feel is i am not alive it's like i dont exist. When i feel i dont exist it's a sad sigh that i dont care anything. When i am severaly hurt by someone or something i feel even happy by a childish thinking i am not even alive. During middle of gossip and talk i feel like i am not talkin or it's feel unreal. Even sometimes i have to hit myself just to be sure that it's not dream it's reality. When it rains or every phenomena i feel like it's unreal. Everything around me feels it's unreal. Most importantly i feel I AM IN FRONT OF GOD and he is showing me the deeds i did on earth and i am SEEING ALL MY LIFE (even now too commenting) IN A BIG TV. Means i feel i don't exist ) Only pains, hardships,cuts, bruises and love are making me feel Alive. I personally i i don't exist at all and the world around me is fake and WHAT I AM DOING NOW is writing a comment and this too i am seeing myself in a tv (from different dimensions )
I think I might have this too! I had problems in 2012-13 and I was diagnosed with depression anxiety. As mental health progresses overtime,I started spacing out, felt confused, my concentration was really bad like I cant remember what I said 10 seconds ago, felt detached with my surroundings and had a feeling that reality was not reality. Hence I failed my study due lack of concentration/focus. At the moment I try to do some mindfulness meditation as it helps me focus a bit and be more calm. CBT was fairly helpful for me but you have to realise that you need to put effort and create better habits which was so hard for me especially when ur in rock bottom. But thanks for sharing these type of videos as it gave me perspectives , I'm glad I'm not alone either :) xx
not sure if i have this but yeah, i really hate going to places with bright ass lights, especially shopping centers, everything feels all weird around me and i jus feel like everything’s all blurry n im in a dream or something
I wake up every single day so anxious and I can’t even tell if I’m awake or still dreaming. I feel so lost and confused and disoriented with this. It makes my own home feel so unreal and foreign and my head is severely clouded where I just feel like I’m sleep walking. It’s ruined my life so bad. It’s taken every precious moment from me. I can’t relax in my own home cause it doesn’t feel real and feels so off all the time. Going outside is scary cause I can’t tell if I’m actually walking or just dreaming it all. I feel so cut off from reality and don’t even feel apart of it anymore. I’m like on auto pilot all the time. My body moves and I walk etc but I never feel present anymore and it really makes me so depressed and anxious cause I miss being apart of life and life feeling real. I miss my family feeling real. I cry almost everyday cause it’s the scariest most isolating experience of my life. I honestly don’t know how long I can live like this.
You aren’t alone mine started two months ago it sucks I know I’ve been learning to deal with it I’m getting into some counseling and getting medicine sometime this week just to try it because why not. A lot of people recover from this within 1-3 years as I’ve seen that sounds like a long time I know but you have to try and beat the inner demons life faces you with. I’ve wanted to give up a lot but nope I’m still here until it’s my time. I hope you’re feeling a bit better mine is 24/7 though which sucks but we’ll get over it I know we will nothings forever remember that!
Too give in some context, I used to have severe anxiety the past 2-3 years (all through high school basically) the anxiety got so bad that I had to take self teaching courses in order to complete all my high school credits. But this last year (I’m 18 btw) I’ve smoked quite a bit in the summer and I’m time I accidentally mixed weed and a drug call acutane (a drug used for curing acne) together and I didn’t know that if you mixed the two together it would cause depersonalization. Anyways I took it at my friends party and I I experienced the first time ever and I always going literally crazy. I was freaking out go back and forth, screaming, n over all in shock. My friends tried calming me down but how’d no idea what was going on so they just made it worse. Even now I can only get very small intervals of the feeling. It’s very difficult to describe but I’ll try. Basically it feels like the whole universe is playing a joke on you where everyone that you ever knew (including yourself) isn’t real just fragments of your imagination. I’m pretty sure that’s one of the stages of ego death. I currently experience light depersonalization but it used to be very severe to the point where I’d have these Intense melt downs because it was so surreal. I came to the conclusion that the only way to get rid of depersonalization is to embrace it. It can be considered as a cruel curse but in my opinion it can also be a positive. For example I no long have anxiety I can do literally anything I want. I have no fear of being judged of what I say or do. It taught me that I can’t control people’s thoughts and criticisms because of the ego. So please just and embrace and accept it. The harsh reality is that it my never go away and regardless what your opinion is on of depersonalization it most likely will always be there. Also come check out my YouTube I post great content✌️😛
I have no idea if i have it or not but i am very suspicious that i might.
When it hits, its very sudden like a brick wall. One moment you're fine, the next, boom* blown out of reality. Then you suddenly feel like you are just a machine, one which can comprehend factual information. It can see and hear and feel. But it does not feel like you are seeing and hearing and feeling. Ig the closest i can get is like in that movie Avatar where all the humans take on the sensory information of aliens but they know it is not actually them. Idk. Is this dp/dr?
I keep asking myself "where am i where am i what is this place who are these people who am i" even though factually, I know exactly where I am and who is around me
Dissociation with driving...I have no control...feel like I left my body...not like her problem...mine is panic. I love 5htp for depression...but it did not help my panic
hey, does anyone have physical triggers rather than psychological ones? i often get derealisation from strobe lights or when i change the location rapidly and can’t adapt to new lighting etc. it usually makes me feel extremely derealised and it’s a living hell
I have had that and depersonalizations since 13 years old and I am now 24. I used to find it very very scary to the point of suicide but just within the last couple months it’s gotten better or I’m just coping with it better. I can’t tell honestly. things have never looked the same or felt the same since I was a pre teen. Good luck girl! there’s no cure that I know of but it does get easier ❤️
Some things helping helping me right now with dissociating:
A polaroid camera given to me as a gift to take PHYSICAL pictures of me and my friends and stuff to keep for me to have and look back on. Pictures of my past bring me out of that nebulous dissociative feeling. Especially when I don’t want to look at my phone or social media. Listening to music on vinyl or cassette tapes I can see and touch, look at read rather than just listening to Spotify. These are sorta expensive hobbies but you can buy albums at the thrift store for .50-$1. It seems to a little something to make me feel more grounded and it is also a lot of fun to bring an album over a friends house and spend time just listening and talking about the album playing while looking at the artwork. Its a tangible experience you can share.
I dont know if it was derealization but I went thru depression for years and I dont remember anything that happened during those years except a couple of my therapy sessions. Those years feel like a black hole in my brain, like I lost 3 years of my life by not being present mentally. Im good now but often im scared i might fall back in that pit.. i never wanna be not-present ever again
Omg this is me to a T!! Fee drunk all the time and like my body is not connected to me and sends me into panic attacks! It hits me hard while I’m driving and feel like my legs aren’t attached and I constantly remind myself what to do and my vision is always wonky! Please update us if anything works
This happened to me when I was younger and never knew what had happened. This is the first I've heard anyone mention it. It's such a weird sensation and although it's not as intense now it was a very scary thing. It took some years but eventually I do think it went but I have had moments of it since but just put it down to exhaustion. Did not know it was this x
I feel like this a lot when I struggle with anxiety episodes! Thank you for sharing this. I know grounding techniques help a lot when I feel like this but it’s such a scary and odd feeling when it does happen, I can’t imagine what it’s like to experience it constantly. It must be so exhausting. X
I'd be curious to know if most people experience this at some point in their life. It happens to me maybe once a week but only for a couple of minutes at most, and I usually enjoy it, probably because it is so infrequent and I snap out of it so quickly. Thank you for sharing your experience and spreading awareness <3
I get derealization every now and then when I'm stressed out. The best way to treat it in my experience is to practice grounding yourself. And too not think or focus on it. The more you focus in it and pay attention to it, the longer it lasts (because it is caused from anxiety). The longest episode of this I had was about a month.
I remember being dissociated many times, but I couldnt imagine being that way all of the time. I applaud you for dealing with it so well! That's truly amazing
I developed this condition in March of this year and I'm still dealing with it now. Thankfully it's about 75% better now than it was at its worst, but my god was it tough early on. Unfortunately for me seeing my GP was not helpful as they didn't really know what I was talking about. I would very strongly recommend the Depersonalisation Manual by Shaun O'Connor, I would not be doing anywhere as near as well as I am right now if not for it. The good thing is that once you know what DP/DR is you know how to fight it and you stop constantly worrying about it. Anybody can recover from it, just keep on going!
Thank you for sharing this ❤ Last year I was out of school for a little more than a week when it first started and it was so bad. I got tests done, and went to therapy for a while for this same issue. It took me so long to get to where I feel like I'm okay with having it, and how I can tell myself that it's not gonna hurt me and that it's all good. I've learned to find the things that make me feel safe and comfortable. You sharing this has made me feel so much less alone, as well as seeing all the people commenting. Thank you ❤
I get this briefly sometimes, often connected to my anxiety attacks and I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like for you!! I find it quite scary.
This sounds like something I have been dealing with lately, particularly since having my recent baby! I am seeking medical help have a ct scan booked because I've been thinking theres something wrong with my brain! I wonder if this is what I am actually dealing with?!
When I used to have intense anxiety I would have very light symptoms of this. Especially if I would wake up in the middle of the night. I also experience it in crowds but it’s different, I’m not necessarily anxious I just kind of in tune with the thousands of people around me and like my self is a cloud around everyone...it’s kind of blissful actually, makes feel living and attentive toward others.
Pro-tip: It is easier said than done but setting aside a time of day to just STOP THINKING or thinking only beautiful or positive thoughts while also repeating affirmations throughout the day really helped me. It took a year to move from a state that felt like a living hell to feeling pretty chill about almost anything. The key is TIME, and your will thoughts will ROAR at you saying it’s not working or that you are crazy, but you’re not, just keep to it and you’ll see the results. I did and I still use these techniques whenever I feel out of wack.
I had this just before having a panic attack, or during my depression period (with panic attacks). But fortunately it has came back with a treatment of benzoziadepines.
I have had this in episodes since I was in the third grade and a really big emotionally distressing thing happened in my life, it always comes back when I’m ignoring my own needs and am really stressed. Glad to know I’m not alone.
Wow. I did not know that this was a thing other people experienced. I’ve often told my friends during times of stress that I feel “floaty” because I couldn’t find a way to describe it. It doesn’t help that I regularly lucid dream and have out of body experiences as well. Thank you for sharing, and best of luck finding treatment that works!!
I used to have derealization so bad but to be honest the thing that helped me the most was not focusing on it. Whenever I would notice that I'm thinking about it, I would put my attention on something else, something that requires engagement. Exercise like running and socializing helped me out so much. It definitely takes time and effort but I once felt so helpless about this, like no one could understand. But just believe that everything will be okay and don't panic, that will only add onto the problem.
Whoa..I've dissociated in stressful situations too and it's confusing, hard to concentrate, numbing and unsettling. I honestly can't imagine feeling that way all the time. Btw I love your music and now I have yet another reason to admire you. Thank you for sharing 💕
dude wtf this is exactly how i feel i’ve been feeling like there was something wrong with me. i can’t go into a store or outside even without feeling like this. i feel no time at all and am constantly confused
Weed triggered an intense DP/DR for a whole week for me, then it eventually faded away when I stopped smoking, also I felt alcohol helped making me feel grounded and human.
It felt like other people mentioned, that you’re whole life was on a screen, you’re life was a movie, and that I was outside of the movie, inside my head looking out.
Cool for a while but scary asf in the long run glad I’m not alone
I feel like I experience this when I’m talking to someone for awhile and I zone out while staring at them, almost like the sunken place in get out. Is that the same??
i love how people say that dodie romanticizes mental illness when in reality she’s only drawing attention to the fact that these conditions exist. i love her for this reason, i feel very similar and it’s quite comforting to hear an in-depth explanation of someone else’s experience with the same disorder:)
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Kim Dimitri2019-08-10 21:45:04 (edited 2019-08-10 21:45:29 )
My depersonalization/derealization started when I had a really bad trip on acid I’ve been dealing with it now for 2 months I’ll slowly getting better at controlling it
I remember having serious depersonlisation for months during my worst period of anxiety it was just constant and became the norm to me. It still happens every few weeks, and just like you ive learnt to live with it and its apart of who i am. Thank you for the video! When i tried to describe it to my friends none of them believed me. Good to not feel alone!
Waw. I didn't know this was a thing. It kind of sounds like how I feel during my existential crisis moments but to be like that all the time must be bizarre.
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Tyna Kat Roberts2019-08-06 18:51:20 (edited 2019-08-06 18:51:50 )
I think I have it too, everything you're saying is basically my life. I use to think that was my dyslexia
I realized I may have this a few months back & i legit cried because I knew something hasn't been right for years
I've experienced a lot of trauma & am diagnosed with depression, anxiety, fibromyalgia & ptsd - I'm going to see if I can get investigated for derealization because it's getting to much & maybe getting a professional opinion would help
I feel like this when I’m in a panicked state. Sometimes that state last for minutes sometimes it lasts for weeks. It kind of feels like I’m an astronaut in space bouncing(and floating) around. I’ve also had lots of trauma but the first time I felt this state was after I had an edible(I never had one before) then I got it for a year after. It would usually be accompanied by panic attacks though. It came back after trauma but comes and goes. Keeping my anxiety down helps, but it’s hard because I can’t avoid half of my triggers.
I get that all the time, I just feel drunk when it happens. I thought this was normal and because I’m always tired. Had no idea it was an actual condition. The first time it happened, I was scared that I was gonna do something embarrassing because I kept talking nonsense but I can kinda control myself now.
Damn my eyesight lowkey just came back just hearing this I just thought I was going blind from past blacklight exposure where I put a blacklight to my eye but then this made me realize I went through a lot in 2017 and that’s really when it started
Sometimes it gets so strong I have cold sweats and have to bring my hand to my face to cover vision. While this is happening I also repeat to myself over and over "I'm not being sucked out of this reality", "just keep walking don't stop it'll pass". Locking myself in the toilet doing some mindfulness works sometimes. It's a very scary condition to have and it does feel like your losing your shit. I hope they find some way of making less intense.
I often experience depersonalisation due to my high levels of anxiety because of my panic disorder from times it will be stronger than others the thing I can't get over yet is when you realize you been gone for a whole day,week ._.
I just came across this video. I always wonder why I can't remember high stressful or depressing moments of my life. I only remember bits of pieces like it happened to someone else. I struggle to follow through with goals cause large amount of stress will put me back in auto-pilot. I call it "zombie mode"
I've had that when I had panic episodes. Everytime I would have a crises, I would feel like I was dreaming for a while. Medication cut that off though.
This happened to me a few times as a child I remember one time I was walking with my cousin and her friend to the milk bar and then all of a sudden I blacked out for a few seconds while walking and I had no idea where I was or what was happening I didn't fall to the ground or anything it happened while I was walking.. I asked my cousin what just happened where were we what was going on and she looked at me as if I was insane I think she thought I was making it up. And then I had this floating sensation in my head I felt detached from my body and just felt like I was in a dream I didn't feel real I remember I kept pinching myself to see if I could feel pain or whether I was really existing I was so scared and thought maybe I was dead. This sensation came over me so many times when I was young. I would constantly tell my sister, " I feel like I'm in a dream" and crying my heart out I couldn't rationalize what was going on. Sometimes it would take me days to feel like I was back in reality again. I then got the same sensation as an adult a few times but I haven't had it in a while
Suffering DPD since 2013 after my first panic attack resulted into panic disorder and hypochondria. It can be very hard and exhausting, especially when trying to explain to other what you are feeling (or what you are NOT feeling..).
Emotional trauma & their manifestations are extremely difficult to work thru. Persistence, patience & having faith in your ability to heal are vital. Personally, it has been a dream journal (of my "real' dreams whilst sleeping) that provided me with the guidance & a focal point in waking life. The dreaming you knows more than awake you does... what you think you have forgotten it remembers & any falsities u may be living under will be given clarity..acting on what u learn sometimes means difficult choice but ignoring the message of ur d reams will only further deteriorate you.
I just randomly stumbled onto this video and I somewhat feel like I’m in a dream. All I know is I’m so upset with it, I keep getting told that I will feel better, and nothing is. I’ve been feeling this way for about 3-4 years now and my doctor can’t tell me what’s wrong.
I only feel this way during a panic attack and (rarely) after I suddenly wake up from a nap... It's the worst and I can't imagine dealing with it 24/7.
I have depersonalization, everything you said is how I feel. I did an EMDR treatment back (something really small) in 2017 and that’s when I got diagnosed. During the session I couldn’t find myself in order to ground myself again. I felt lost & couldnt pull back into reality. I consistently feel like I’m not here. I notice the world around me but my body feels lost. I always have to have something in my hands that’s textured. If I have a cut or a scrape, I tend to pick at it because pain is one of the only ways that reminds me that I’m still here.
I’ve noticed this. Sometimes I can get myself to snap out of it but it only lasts for a couple seconds. Or some days I’ll have rested super well. I won’t have a problem at all, my whole day and all my tasks are clear. Those days are so rare but they’re so crystal clear and eye opening.
When I had my first panic attack probably 4 months ago I had no idea what it was. I struggled with some anxiety for about 2 years leading up to it. I was serving in a restaurant and suddenly became very foggy and couldn’t focus, couldn’t read what was on my notepad or take orders normally. I felt like I could pass out and thought I had low blood sugar and needed to eat so I had some bread and a couple glasses of chocolate milk and it subsided after a while. The second time was BAD. It started in the same setting and lasted hours. I had to stop serving my tables and try to calm down, eventually had my bf drive us home and left my car there. A coworker told me about 10 minutes in that she thought I was having a panic attack. This was after I told her I thought there was physically something wrong, that I thought I was dying. She talked me through it and I realized a panic attack must be what it was which was comforting to know but didn’t help much in the moment. Since then I’ve gone back to the restaurant to eat a few times and had an attack every time, and also started getting them at home and my other job. Now I get what seems to be more mild panic attacks throughout the day that last 1-2 hours typically. I can function but it’s like I’m in fight or flight mode. I describe it as feeling high but not in a good way, disconnected from real life. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who feels like sometimes I’m living in a movie or nothing around me is real. It’s scary but I push through it. Thank you for the video
This is exactly how I experience jet lag, I was in a dream like state unable to really process anything for 4 days after a 24hr flight years ago. I get it milder on shorter flights. Luckily it doesn't last though. Does everyone experience this with jet lag?
I feel this way a LOT and it can be so overwhelming.. especially in new situations where you have to remained focused and suddenly feel like you're floating above yourself and have to pretend you didn't just do what you did... I feel better with more rest and less stress, but it happens at random. I'm so sorry that this has been such a difficult journey for you. Best of luck. Also, beautiful writing. <3
I literally have to write notes on my phone screen to remember the things I need to do. Otherwise I'd space out and forget.Sometimes when people talk to me all I hear is murmur. I thought I had shearing problem but the fuzzy head and things happening around me and the next I don't feel like I even did them
This makes sense... I didn't know this was a thing. I have PTSD and anxiety. And I guess my mind didn't want to deal with the flashbacks and memories so it just disconnected.. I remember the exact day it became a thing for me. That was like 5 months ago...
When I'm at work I literally get this do bad, I'm in a corner hanging clothes all day. Sometimes people will walk behind me and I feel like I'm somewhere else and it freaks me out, bright lights and loud noises really get to me also
This video literally made me cry... because it's been 8 months now that I've been dealing with this and I've gone to the dr oover and over, I've gone to a head and neck specialist, and I've gone to my optometrist multiple times because I've been dealing with this thing that I just haven't been able to describe...and I've described it just like that many times "it's like being drunk without actually being drunk" and I've even been told I have vertigo because of that. But watching this video and hearing you describe exactly what I've been going through just blew my mind.... thank you.
I understand you, the sensation it's like being separate of the body but in the body at the same time. Feeling the things but no emotionally. Well I have OSDD and feel like that but adding the feeling of the posesion of the others alters.
I completely understand, it happens often and almost every one of my friends and my parents have heard me say at least once that I feel like I’m looking at things but not actually seeing anything, or that my vision is blurred and when i look in other directions it’s like my brain lags and it takes longer for my brain to see what my eyes have turned onto. I often feel like I’m not real and one thing my mum notices I do is I always look down at my hands and use them as a checkpoint to see if I’m real or that I’m really alive. It’s terrifying honestly and sends me into anxiety attacks that have me almost passing out. I don’t really know what to do at this point. I’m scared I’m not going to get better. I know mine comes from drug related anxiety or dare I say ptsd. I’m coming up to being a year clean and I thought I would be better by now but I’m not. The more anxious I am the more it happens and I’m starting to develop the feeling that the end of the world is about to happen. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.
I experienced it once, my first time ever because I had an intense anxiety last week. It felt like I was floating and it seems I am disconnected to my body. I am so scared and It keeps me thinking that it might happen again but I don't want to. And lastly am I having a DP/DR disorder now or it will be a disorder if this thing might happen frequently or chronically?
Have you checked if you have a vitamin D deficiency? It causes symptoms of depression, anxiety, brain fog, and derealization! It seems very minimal but a such deficiency can cause so many cognitive issues because it’s also a hormone! Hope you feel better soon my love <3
I got diagnosed with depersonalization/derealization disorder about a year ago. It's so important that people like you talk openly about this struggle. I usually don't tell people about my diagnosis because it is so obscure and difficult to comprehend. Even though many people may not understand the true feeling of disassossiating it is very validating to hear an influencer talk so openly about it.
Wow, this is great, have you ever thought of teaching yourself wakeful dreaming and developing the eye of awareness. I would look into sunyata, and studies of the 9 yanas. It sounds like your just fighting your next step into evolution
My best friend had depersonalization. She passed away when 4 years ago on a tragic accident.. and i miss her very very much. She was my best friend through the first two years of highschool and we had crushes on each other which was very bitter sweet as well. We hung out every chance we could get and our imaginations and personalities connected perfectly. I experienced her having a very terrible episode one day after school and she didn’t know where she was or who anyone was, we walked her home and she was at home but it wasn’t familiar enough to her. I also recall a sleepover i had with her well before that, where we were both very silent and depresive and didn’t speak to eachother much. It was a bit scary but looking back, i think she was having a small episode and i was just in it there with her. -much love <3
This may be more common apparently. I'm almost crying, because I feel everyday is a struggle to really be in the moment. I have to really try when I speak, and sometimes I get caught up mid-sentence. I know I went to college, but it's like a dream I dont remember much of it and I only graduated 2 yrs ago. I can't really differentiate between the things that have really happened and the things that I've dreamed or thought and I have no real grasp of time. It's hard to tell the difference between 5 minutes and 30 minutes or even an hour. I dissociate when I socialize or when I'm having fun. I went to a water park and got on rides but as soon as they were over it felt like I had been on them yesterday. When i was in college I smoked weed a handful of times and that was about the only times I felt relief and vivid reality even if it was distorted I felt focused in the moment. I've stopped since then, and thought it was just stress or some form of depression but I had never heard of this. Thank you.
i’m a cheerleader. going to basketball games with loud and bright gymnasiums is nothing different than a regular monday for me. last year, one of the last games of the season, we were going over the routine. i started to forget things that we had been working on for months. i was freaking out. it felt like i wasn’t... there? like a dream. i felt like everyone was looking at me. it was like a panic attack, but different than usual. since then i get it all the time. everyone tells me it’s normal. but i know it’s not. it’s good to know that there’s a name for it. thank you.
I just feel weird ever since 1 week ago and I just feel like life isn’t real and it’s a dream, I don’t wanna feel like this anymore. I’m hurting but watching this video gave me a little pick me up to know that life is real and that everything is ok
Hi, thank you for your video. My 21 yr old daughter suffers from depersonaliztion and derealization and was diagnosed her 2nd time in a mental health facility for suicidal ideation. So far she's been in a mental health facility 5 times with the last time being just a month ago. On top.of that she suffers with ocd fears and behaviors and is seeking therapy for all above. What would you say to someone who has an extreme fear of living in a computer simulation. So far we've tried many different ways to help her and they are all just bandaids. Everything from this is God's creation to its a silly fear.. Obviously the latter was very bad.. Haha. Thanks in advance! 😍
Oh, and she has a very high IQ and a lot of life experience so just brushing it off doesn't work. My brother suffered from the exact same thing and back in 1996 they treated this illness with shock therapy and lithium. He ended up having daily seizures and died.
It's just anxiety and OCD making you feel this way
I felt this way for about 8 months a few years ago but then made myself get overwhelmingly busy because it was either that or spiral deeper into depression. After a while I realized that I felt like things were "off" less and less until I finally came to the realization that anything feels strange, even reality, if you constantly keep asking yourself if anything about the subject seems different, or bizarre, or unreal.
I would seriously bet you that you have 4 out of 5 OCD symptoms. You may perhaps have what they call "pure o" OCD which means you only have the obsessive aspect of OCD, i.e. the anxious rumination that you probably experience on a daily basis where you're constantly "checking in" with your thoughts to ask yourself if everything feels normal.
I feel like I'm in a dream everyday and its makes me scared cause it makes me bite myself to see if I'm In a dream but yes there is pain I'm used to pain but sometimes I feel like I'll never wake up LIKE NEVER EVER
i have (i guess had now) derealization so bad to the point where i didn’t even want to leave my house because i was scared of leaving my house = more stimulation which = more of a dreaming feeling and i can confirm that it is the worst and scariest feeling i’ve ever felt in my life. but i actually don’t have it anymore!! i’m not sure what happened or why it stopped happening but i just wanted to comment this to giveother people struggling with it hope. i never thought mine would leave but somehow it did. just stay positive and when you get the feeling try to not panic i know it’s hard but you can just try your best and hope for it to go away.
Welp time to go see a shrink. And here was me thinking I was possibly mildly on the autism spectrum. A lot of the general symptoms are quite similar. Who knows. Could be one or the other, maybe both? Maybe none? 🤷🏼♀️
I need... To go to the doctor. I keep telling my mom (im 18 and live at home)that I feel like I'm dreaming and it is getting harder and harder to remember and I can't really remember specific points of my life. I have depression and my eyes are bad so I just thought it was getting worse. I keep having really realistic dreams that seem as vivid as my life and maybe that could be because my life is feeling more like a dream. Im so scared that this is what it is... How do I go about getting a diagnosis or something? Is there a way to test for it??
Jacquie Reign Doctors vary but usually if you just explain what you're going through as best you can and use examples they'll diagnose you like that. Sometimes they'll print off a quiz sort of thing to aid in that but it really depends. Either way, even without diagnosis from a doc you're always welcome to look up "dissociation therapy techniques " "dissociation healthy coping strategies" and fb support groups for dealing with symptoms whenever! Support groups on Facebook have helped me a lot.
A journal helps me with the memory thing, even when it's irregular and I skip many weeks. Assessing how you've felt, what works, or just what you enjoyed that day. I know it's not something everyone can do for many reasons, it ends up helping me personally
I've been experiencing this for years now, and my doctor says it makes sense... The timeline matches my trauma and such. If anything I've been less foggy because I know what to look for now :)
oh my god ive had this condition for years and i also have extremely vivid dreams!! ist really messing with my brain and i cant grab a clear thought during the day, because sometimes my dreams Keep lingering and idk how to feel about it. its so validating to hear someone else has derealisation AND vivid dreams! until i watched this Video, i thought i was going crazy but for the first time i have hope, it might finally be better one day
Jule Grande oh thank you! I got a few things telling me I was making it up because of the dreams but I'm so surely dreaming that it's hard to even go to sleep... It's unreal how the situations in my deams are so confusing and real that I say all the time that something happened and it never really did... But I'm SO SURE that this vivid memory is a memory... Idk it's hard to make memories now... I'm glad that someone else has those dreams, but I'm sorry that you're experiencing it :(
You said "Is there a test for it?" and I felt like I had to make some points straights, that are so important, and that everyone forget. If it feels like derealization, then go for it. But it's in fact no so important to be sure it is. I can relate to the mom part, because my mom was certain for a really long time that I just couldn't make the difference between being tired and some weird disorder that I was certainly making up in my head. But the fact is; IT'S NOT IMPORTANT. There is something wrong. Yes, it's all in your head. But it doesn't make it less real, and less important to take care. What I mean, is that you just need to see someone, and to tell him what you feel, and if it feel like derealization, tell it because it can help to understand the problem. But everyone feel derealization in different way, and there is no diagnosis, it's just about what you feel. So don't be pre-occupate aboute having "truly" something or not. It can be comforting to be able to put a name on the thing you're experiencing, but that's all. You're not okay; then there is something wrong. If you feel like you need help, get it, really! Don't get obsessed on proving you do have it, just cure your problem ^-^ You don't own anything to anyone, no proof, no paper who tell you are truly bad, just take care of yourself, you have the right to be in pain. ^-^
Sorry for the long message, but I could so relate to you in my own mistakes, and I felt I should give my opinion. Take care, and good luck :)
If you're 18 and maybe going to college soon? They should have psychiatrists there... that's how I was able to start going, since my mom doesn't really think much of my symptoms either
But it’s not like being able to control what you’re dreaming. It’s like a nightmare not being able to recognize people you see on a daily basis, memory issues, and one example was while I was trying to be productive at work my mind just took over and tricked me into thinking I was at my school (a complete different state FL) while working in NY on my summer break. I ended up messing up what I was working on and had to ask my boss to leave- it’s not fun and it’s an actual diagnosis not something to wish for.. so be careful what you wish for- I wouldn’t wish this in anyone
M Baig It is a very common disorder, also many people clicked on it because they can relate to the title. I’m not subscribed to dodie but i clicked on this because i have dpdr as well.
KidsWhoAnimate it’s not that simple you don’t just decide you have a mental illness because you can relate. If you have one you need help and treatment. People that act like that and don’t take mental illness seriously are one of the reasons people that actually have it struggle.
This happens with quite a few things but sometimes when someone who might be a big name or popular comes out about something they're dealing with for example this video on her mental health, it's like a copy thing that starts happening. I can't explain it. It's like a domino effect?? Idek why I'm trying to explain, I'm doing terrible but sometimes someone who has a big voice in a community will become open about something and suddenly, people who are a fan/keeping up with their information suddenly feel exactly the same or they convince themselves that they do without knowing that they are. Pfft, fuck it. Take what you want from that.
M Baig maybe most people in the comments “suddenly have it” because since they also have it they clicked the video to hear what someone else has to say about it
It's effectively a self-selecting sample. People are more likely to say whether or not they have it if they do have it, so even if the majority of viewers don't have it, you are unlikely to see many comments saying "omg I don't have this", presenting a sample representative of the population.
Considering this video has (at the time of commenting) 635000 views, and derealisation has a lifetime prevalence of 5%, potentially 31750 viewers will experience it at least once in their life.
One can't say how many of them have already had it, but it's likely in the thousands. Of these, I'll assume that there will be several dozens of them commenting about how they have it. These comments get up voted as a show of support, and thus, they're the ones you see.
I'm not trying to make myself sound clever here, because this is really very basic statistics. You just ought to understand this kind of thing.
M Baig You’re right many people probably do not have it to the point of a mental illness but most people do have episodes of it so they can relate and they are probably glad to see that it is an actual thing and they’re not insane
Strange story of my disassociation experience. I am a Christian and I went to Easter Camp. It's a big spiritual thing and there are lots of tears. I had an amazing time there and no dreamland feelings. I got back and woke up the next morning and felt off. Then I went to church and had a treasure hunt thing in an orchard and then it really started to hit me hard. I was talking to my friends about it but it didn't sound like my voice. I felt like a fly on the wall and the words came from the mouth of somebody behind me. I felt like this for about two days and it was awful. After having that experience I can just appreciate the strength of you and so many other people that can deal with this most or all of the time. I know that disassociation can be triggered by negative experiences but Easter Camp was the best weekend of my life. Has anybody had disassociation triggered by an overwhelming yet extremely positive experience or know why this happened? xxx
I think it can also happen when you return to normal after being in a totally new situation where everything is awesome (Easter Camp). In a new fun place, you can't be on autopilot because you don't know where things are (unlike when you're in your own home) and the constant social interaction and stimulation distracts your brain. However, when things calm down and you go back to a situation that you're used to, the dropoff in activity and the return of familiarity can seem really unsettling and trigger an episode. Of course, I'm not a doctor or anything, this is just what I've noticed for myself. My dp/dr gets a lot worse whenever I go home from college.
That's really interesting, thank you! I have never had disassociation but that makes a lot of sense along with the fact the I had no idea where I was at Easter Camp, there were just 6,000 teens in a bunch of paddocks. I hope all goes well with your dp/dr xxx
I’ve had this since I was about 10 and now 20 years later, my parents don’t believe me, and say I’m being dramatic. I never got help until I started taking antidepressants. I don’t know if that would help others but it helped me!
idk if this is this or just plain old anxiety and it’s not all the time but i’ll get like weird? like it feels like dreaming but really unsettled and just dissonant and unreal but like i’m like frozen? and like i won’t want to speak of move because it all feels rough(??) like when you stand up and you get a head rush, it’s that but with shivers and weird like pinprick-y feeling like i feel like static television but unsettled and quiet. idk if that makes sense but like i’ve always wondered what it is bc idk if it’s anxiety or what and it’s so hard to explain it’s just this “somethings wrong, nothings real” type of feeling and what you described was kinda similar so it might be like a mild something similar?
It's funny how you used the comparison with going out from a movie because that is also a thing I used to compare when I get derealisation episodes. It's like the movie became your reality and now you have to adjust back to real life and remember YOUR real life again but your brain is stuck on the movie for some time and you cannot exactly grasp at the world around you yet. Sometimes it even triggers dissociative episodes for me (which is sad bc I love going to the movies). Anyway I'm happy I have someone to relate to, and not feel completely alone in it as not many people know about it.
emotional repression fucking sucks. When I first started developing depression, I felt numb and blank. Now after exactly a year, I don't feel anything. I can't tell you the last time I cried. Maybe may/June, I dunno. Depression has a lot to do with it. My mental health started affecting when I was physically unable to cry/produce tears. This has caused tremendous amount of stress and anxiety in my life. I feel dull. I feel empty. I don't know what to do about it.
isle of flightless me too. and that’s okay. I’m not gonna pry too much because I don’t think that’s fair on you but self love is extremely important to get you feeling something. It doesn’t have to be beautiful lush baths or peppermint tea. I find myself sitting in the bottom of the shower with the water running, humming a long to a song. It just brings me to the present and the water acts as white noise and a cheap massage. Not being able to cry is okay, cut yourself some slack. I also find completely small goals is helpful whether that be drinking a glass of water or brushing my hair. It gives you a small smile for a second. And that’s great. I hate to do this but I’m gonna quote dodie here “there will be a day where you say you’re okay and mean it.”
Becca_xx I honestly don't know really what to say except thank you so so much. This is probably one of the best summarizations of self care I've seen. I think a lot of people, especially me, get very overwhelmed with the idea of self care. I think I've been so absorbed in my head that I've forgotten my basic needs. I honestly put that comment out there just to put it out there, not expecting anyone to see it, so for you to reply and give support means a lot to me and I think I needed that wake up call that I'm not alone and there is hope. Thank you
I didn’t know what it was till now oh my god. I have this and I never knew what it was. It doesn’t happen all the time but usually how I feel after a panic attack or even randomly like on 4th of july
i'm so glad i've found someone else that i can look up to who has depersonalization/derealization!! even tho i'm only 14 i've had it for as long as i can remember. i cannot remember anything from the age 10 and earlier because my dad abused me until i was 7 and he passed when i was 8 so i've had trauma lol
I’m here to tell you that i might have the same thing and i should go get tested because i can’t tell time. A year feels like a month ago and a week ago feels like five months ago I don’t remember what I did yesterday or a few minutes ago but I can remember my childhood like it was a few days ago. I feel numb and dream like 24/7 and I can’t tell what is a dream and what isn’t.
I used to get this almost every day when I went to karate. I would have no thoughts and just kind of do everything for the sake of doing it. I'd just suddenly realise that it isn't a dream and I am in a gym surrounded by a bunch of people enjoying themselves while I'm here hoping it'll end soon. It's been happening a lot less since I quit karate but it does sometimes come back if I'm really sad and exhausted so I definitely can't say I have it all the time but I think I know what it's like.
Or maybe, just maybe, there are people who routinely feel like nothing is real, Googled it, and came across this video? Nah, that couldn't possibly be the case (psst I did that, that's why this video turned up in my recommendations-- Google is connected to YouTube)
That sounds very saddening because you’ll never be able to feel real.
While I had been depressed and sometimes even now I can’t associate reality to dreaming which isn’t visibly like a dream but rather mentally you can’t focus on it being reality, you don’t feel alive and even that time has stopped. I always wanted to be a writer but recently I’ve been what I call “creatively decaying” and it helps cause depression. I don’t even have enough experience to what you go through daily which makes you so strong it’s amazing, I hope you continue happily as you are ♥️
This is basically anxiety. The more you think about how you feel, the worse it gets. I had it for eight months straight- eek! I recommend cognitive behavioral therapy to anyone who ever feels this way.
Interesting. I empathize with u. So many people have been coming to a realization that we are in a simulation and our reality is a holographic experience and it is as real as dreaming anyway so if u are experiencing it that way who knows maybe yr more normal than the rest of us.
Wow, this is totally me and then I get even worse anxiety. It sucks, my eyes don’t want to adjust, I’m always exhausted and don’t remember where I am/what I said. Etc I always feel light headed/not present, 😖
i also have derealization. it’s so hard to explain but sometimes i doze of and I stare off at a random thing and everything gets blurry and i kind of hallucinate and i feel like i cant move and then it makes me cry and feel extremely anxious. then it makes me question every thing and if anything is real and it feels like im on an episode of the twilight zone. it happens randomly. then i look in the mirror and it feels like its not really me. and it feels like everything is off and something bad will happen.
i feel like im missing out on so much stuff which is causing me to not want to do anything because like what is the point if im not going to remember it in 2 hours. watching all my friends have fun when i have no idea whats happening is the worse. this condition is making me so so sad i dont know how much longer i can last.
I had little episodes before but I never thought anything of it but I took some pills and had a bad reaction from it and now it’s everyday haha that’s tuff
I have this. When I tell my doctor they he tells me to call back in a few months and that it should subside. How do I get them to take me seriously and help me?
I look this up because I didn't know what the hell was wrong. Yes I have had extreme traumatic episodes in my life being kidnapped being attacked by a grown man as a child, ripped apart by his Doberman with my skin in its teeth. Very very traumatic episodes but I've gotten through it and now it's 30 plus years later and I feel like I'm falling asleep. Not so much like things are changing with my eyes opened up, my eyes close. My eyes briefly closed I think and I have awful dreams, they seem like dreams, obviously they are dreams because when my eyes reopen this is not the situation anymore they are dreams within a blink of an eye it feels like. I think my situation is way different than yours I don't know what to call it I don't know if there is a name for it but from your description it is different. Thank you for your video
me too, but i have Adhd. its cause of it. ive had dissociating and derealization to. derealization felt the worst. but i couldnt tell if its dissociating/adhd. adhd is my official diagnosis tho rn.
I need help ........sometimes during the day I feel like I am re -living a particular moment which has already happened....and I can clearly remember what is going to happen next. This thing happens to me when I least expect it and when it happens my head starts to hurt. Comment if the same is going on with you so that I can assure myself I'm alright.
mX Igor i smoked for 1 year everyday . Then i was drunk on the Next day i woked up with a psychical down . Thought it would be going away . My misstake was to smoke then and since then i feel like smth is wrong .
It makes me not recognise my face and feel nothing for my family.. I just see separate people and titles.. everything they say is expected and I know how I should be but everything feels fake and memories feel like smudged ink on paper.. sometimes I just stop listening to someone by accident and my eyes just go wide. I walk real slow and always tired and just sort off waiting for something.. got a lot of money for where I live as well but I literally spend nothing because nothing entertains me or interests me. I have no social media’s, no one knows I exist. Feel like a hollow shell watching everything from a third perspective
I’m like it now, it’s just 24/7. I just feel like I have no choice so I just carry on and let nature do it’s work
i'm pretty sure it's not the same thing, but i've always tried to describe to people that feeling of staring in the distance where you're focused but not focused. a sleepy but not sleepy feeling. and then something snaps you out of it. but that ZONE that seeing things and not seeing them. it's so nice. also, really good sex. not kidding. same sort of feeling
I have sort of the same problem. Mine is kind of mild tho? I only know that because there was a time when I had a more intense feeling of depersonalization its called? And I felt like I was loosing my mind I felt much more disconnected from everything. I wasnt hallucinating or anything but everything around me just didnt feel real. I went on a raw food diet for a few months and things got much better. Im now eatting "regular" (much more clean but at least one or two cook meals) and im still a little hazy and disconnected, but not as bad as a few years ago. That was really scary.
BTW Mine started around 2012 too. Ill bet a lot of peoples did. Had a dream in February, I think, that we all died in 2012. I dunno, might explain why so many of us feel like were walking around in a dream.
Don’t know if any viewers will be browsing this comment section and this sounds a little crazy but witchcraft has done loads for me to feel more present and grounded in reality. Mostly visualizations and meditation type stuff that connects your energy to the world around you. Also crystals and herbs that stimulate the root chakra and provide clarity are big helpers too, this may not be the demographic for witchy tips but i thought I’d drop them anyways.
I don't know if i have this but i keep spacing out. I sometimes walk around my house while im day dreaming. I can keep walking for a whole day. The veins on my feet are popping out. And my arms and limbs keep spazzing. I pumch myself accidentally sometimes. I don't know what i have.
Ok guys I need help so I kinda feel like I’m dreaming ever since I got out of one of those mirror maze things at like a fair that was like 5 months ago It happens like every day but not all day everyday so anybody know what it could be
Derealisation is at the end of the anxiety spectrum. It is what your brain does to avoid or resist a full blown panic attack. It’s the more passive version of the « fight or flight » response. Your brain needs to dissociate and change the reality of something that is or has (trauma) obviously triggered you too intensely. For me, treating the underlying anxiety has resolved this symptom completely.
Has anyone suggested CBD or Kratom? JK seems like there is one person on every health subject suggesting one or the other. I have DP/DR mine came from tapering off Benzodiazepines. I had the DP/DR really bad for about a year and then it kind of just vanished over the period of a couple weeks. Sadly it has resurfaced recently, I think because of the stress of my taper, as it still gives me a whole host of physical issues. That first year was terrifying and although it has returned, I’m a bit more at ease.
Koko Kouture2019-08-10 23:27:03 (edited 2019-08-10 23:29:49 )
Tbh I know this was a real but when ever I would talk to someone about I the would look at me weird, it got to a point Every time I use the bathroom, gets to silent (in my head) around me, or I get in a good or a bad place in my life I would have to Literally Pinch or slap my leg really hard to see if I would “wake up” and I would oddly catch myself talking to my self or Pre-predict the future but no don’t would be there... and no I’m not going to the doctor for a Diagnosis it doesn’t always effect my life and it’s probably just all in my head.
I don't know why I am just finding this. Or maybe the universe is finally answering my call or maybe I'm dreaming this, I don't even know. But I have had this issue before and doctors didn't even tell me what it was. O.o
Isn’t this just called depression? Because I have this hella bad... I went to Florida last week and it literally feels like it didn’t happen.. when I was there or felt like it wasn’t real? I’ve always known why i was like that; I knew o was in a constant dissociation. Me and my friend Brooke talk about it all the time. It freaks me out so much. For me, I’ve always had this feeling but it’s gotten really bad the past three years
This happened to me when I smoked weed, and I was “stuck” in it for a little while and it comes back. I felt like I was dreaming or in a video game. I was in control of my actions but I didn’t feel like I was, I felt like I was just watching myself preform actions and I had no control
My first bad trip was like that, but I'd never expected it to be that bad. I didn't feel connected to my body at all, I lost myself in time, a minute felt like years, like forever. I thought life wasn't real and that nothing ever was or will be real. (I had a panic attack at the same time so that was fun.) It's really hard to explain if you've never experienced it.
Anne The funny thing is it was just weed for me, but it felt the same way. I know about mental health stuff so I kinda assumed what was going on, I was like: "shit, I'm dissociating big time" but I still wasn't sure if real life was real at all, I had to convince myself that it was because things seemed familiar. As for the panic attack, I knew it was something anxiety related, but I didn't know it was a full on panic attack till the next day. Analyzing things helped me a bit, but I guess it usually makes things worse and makes you dissociate more because you are supposed to "go with the flow". I underestimated my mental health, though. As you said, I was afraid I trapped myself in that state too, I thought I broke myself and was already imagining my life "as a disabled person disconnected from the world", explaining to my parents what happened, going to doctors who'll try to fix me etc. lmao
Jan it happens to me every time u smoke weed, I actually enjoy it it's kinda cool. It's like being split into two half's and living them both at the same time (one half mind one half body)
SoursNoodle same - in HS i used to smoke a lot and whenever i would take a break id still suffer from derealization. Strangely things like opiates make me feel fine, but weed, forget it . Too scary 😂
Weed does this to me. I hate it. I have to find something to distract myself or I start to panic and always believe I may never go back to normal. The idea of you suffering this for years would be my worst nightmare
Hi I am suffering from this for 8 months and I feel the same ? Is there any medication to feel normal again . Please I feel like I’m stuck in a daydream . Help I’ve gotten help already I’m taking busparone but I feel more in a daydream on the medication
Sunny Bay’s Aquarium unfortunately there’s no medication that is made to help with depersonalization. Some people find ssri’s helped but some people say it makes it worse. The best thing for it is taking care of your body and sometimes thing like cognitive behavioral therapy can help. Exercise and eat healthy. Maybe look up Harris Harrington’s how to overcome depersonalization disorder.
It happened because you smoked weed. While cannabis seems to help with anxiety. It normally heightens it as you come down from highs. Also when your high there’s really no telling what your brain could do. 🤦🏾♀️
This also happens to me when I take edibles, but for me, I take it as a blessing. time slows down so much, I'm able to process through so many thoughts and emotions within a short time span it's insane. Like taking a twix break. I dissociate in real life as well, and have since I was a small child so this may have influenced my opinions on it. But it gets so bad it even causes severe body dysmorphia to the point where I feel like my fingers are huge and my body is like, this spaceship. Idk. I just take it in and accept it as my current reality, and know that I picked a good time to go through with it, and I will be fine in the morning when I wake up.
I had a feeling like this when I was 14. I used to smoke alot of weed and one day I just woke up feeling different. like the weed hadn't worn off. im now turning 30, work in an office, have two kids a failed relationship, a beautiful relationship, chased my dream and moved country. ive moved on from trying to feel normal again. I used to be so aware of things, of time, of touch,smell, light. now everything kind of merges into one. everything is indifferent
SoursNoodle I also get that feeling and it often makes me paranoid I'm in the Mendella Effect. Or maybe a better way to phrase it is that I feel aware that I have always existed and the Mandela Effect has happened. I'm suddenly aware that I'm much more than this human body. Kind of a spiritual experience. Has anyone else ever thought of this possible link?
I don't have a disorder like this but I had a similar experience as a side effect from an antidepressant about 4 years back. I had trouble describing it for the longest time so no one took me seriously; my depression had progressively been getting better so my doctor and my mom didn't want to change my medication over what they thought was just "attention issues" (which was a symptom of depression anyway). Except it wasn't really that, it was more like I'd often feel like everything was unreal, like it was a dream, and I couldn't think properly. Sort of like when you're on the edge of lucid dreaming and you're noticing everything is weird and feels off but at the same time you can't really do anything about it. I couldn't read because I'd forget everything almost immediately (I've only started reading again these past few months, starting with easy things like comics and manga) and even playing games was hard because I'd forget what I was trying to accomplish. Sometimes objects (or my hands, feet, etc.) seemed like the wrong size, or very distant despite actually being close, and I had a persistent mental "fog" all the time. Sometimes I could barely move or talk at the worst points. I looked into dissociation on my own time and found out that what I was experiencing was similar. I didn't do anything about it until I was practicing driving with my mom and had to stop suddenly (in an empty parking lot mind you) because I felt like I could barely see or think straight. That was when she started realizing that it wasn't just some run-of-the-mill limited attention span issue. We eventually got me off the medication.
The issue lingered for a while and it's been less than a year that I've felt normal again, although it progressively got better within the same year I went off the medication. But I spent much of high school feeling disconnected and still haven't gotten my driver's license.
Look for a Pranic Healing healer. You are disconnected energetically and it's just a matter of time before something else pops out and you feel sick again, maybe in a different way,maybe the exact same way. It has been going on for years so you need help healing and figuring out yourself. If you need more info,just let me know. Sending you and whoever is in need, love and healing energy. May your soul find peace and be surrounded by other loving souls.
This is kinda like what happens when I get migraines. Like my vision is kinda blind, so on the edges of my vision there's just nothing there. And then I can feel myself doing things like running or talking to people but it's kind of like a simulation and I'm just watching myself from up above. I also can't concentrate as well both because of the pain and because of the simulation thing. So I get super spacy. But possibly the worst thing about migraines is the period of waiting for the pain reliever to kick in. The best way I've found to combat this is the second I have an aura, I call home so I can get picked up (if it's at school). Otherwise, I try to get home as soon as possible. Then, take pain medication and drink some water. I'll go into my room, to take off my pants and bra and lay in my bed with the door locked and the blinds closed so it's completely dark and try to fall asleep. Mostly, I'll sleep for 2-4 hours and be fine. Sometimes I'm nauseous but the pain stuff helps with that. If you have migraines, stay strong! I'm sorry, I know it sucks, but it'll be ok. lol I guess this got kinda off topic and long but idc soz
i have ptsd and dissociation for me has stemmed from abuse endured when i was a kid. i definitely relate to your struggles because even after i was out of that environment for years i had periods of weeks and months where everything felt like a dream and i remember talking to people and going through my days, but feeling that floating feeling you spoke about. after lots of therapy and cbt and medication i have stabilized and learned to cope with my mental illness and the derealization and dissociation has lessened tremendously. i still don’t really remember most of that time in my life, but i’ve learned to cope with it. so, i’m just here to tell you that there is hope for recovery and that i wish you luck on your journey. 💜💕
PLEASE, EVERYBODY READ THIS! Okay, so since so many of us have experienced something along these lines, I’d like to offer a place where everybody can comment to say what HELPED them. Please, if anybody has figured out a way to diminish this or kick it altogether, what was it that helped? Meditation? Journaling? Better sleep? Thank you in advance — I’m sure this will help a lot of people!
For me it was sitting outside in the sun and just breathing and taking lots and lots of hot bubble baths. It helped that my boyfriend was so understanding and he really helped me get through it. My mind was literally consumed with how I felt and the only thing that could help me get past it was time. I could not breathe and it was worse at night and I didn't know why I was having anxiety. I would wake up all throughout the night with panic attacks and jolts running down my body. It was terrifying. I went to the dr and made my mom take me to the ER to have all sorts of test done. I remember when the "dream state" hit me and I kept asking my boyfriend if I was just asleep or if I passed out idk I was so confused. I haven't felt the same since.
For me, and for our host in the video as well, nothing really helps it go away. I have learned to live with it. It took me a long time to come to terms and accept it and embrace it. But what helps me get through it is knowing that it will not last. That I will get moments of clarity. And when I do finally get my rare moments of clarity, omigosh do I make the most of it! I enjoy it and feel grateful for it. Because I know my brain fog will come back soon. Sadly, exercise can exacerbate the symptoms for me . But that is no reason NOT to exercise. I still do it because it's good for your body in the long run. But anything you can do for your mind and body that are healthy and balancing are still important and I would encourage everyone who has this condition to really take care of themselves. If you don't take care of yourself the symptoms only get worse.
I quit smoking weed. I totally tried to distract myself and got lost in life and have FUN . It all eventually went away after months of agony and suicidal thoughts.
What helps me is have an ear bud in one ear (dont wear both cause it triggers it more in fear i wokt hear something) and listen to either music or youtube stories
I had the start of a very small episode once, and I did as many "normal" things as possible..the one thing that brought me back was when I was brushing my teeth. ..
Don't think of yourselves as crazy. I feel that a lot of us feel that something is "wrong" so you begin to panic. I've dealt with this my entire life and didn't even know it was a thing until watching this video, and I didn't begin to feel bad about it until I read comments about people panicking about it, which I see happens alot with people who struggle with personality disorders. And that is a completely valid response, but I feel that if we see it as something being a part of our experiences verses something negative that's happening to us, we'll feel a lot better about it and be able to handle it. That is, if it isn't affecting how you function day to day. I never want to be dismissive anybody's experiences . Speak to someone if you feel that it isn't manageable alone, or overwhelming. I hope you all find what you need for yourselves. Much love.
I had 2 episodes of that and I still don't know the cause of it, even if I am always a bit stressed... What can help me (but I'm not 100% sure) is: meditation and sleep A LOT (I can sleep maybe 12-15 hours a day when I feel derealised)
-getting thyroids checked -getting all the vitamin levels checked - I take vitamin b12 and NIACIN , vitamin d drops and it helped me so much -Yoga , meditation -finding a good homeopathic doctor -reincarnation therapy did miracles with me -talking talking talking - if you go deeper into spirituality and you talk to Shamans they will tell you how special you are and that this “sickness” is a gift it means your third eye is open you see everything in a other vibration . So understand you are not crazy , You don’t have to fit in a “normal” box it’s crazy to be normal .
We are all different and that is good ! There is nothing you have to be scared of you are not alone with this .
I have Derealisation/depersonalisation/anxiety /panic attacks / depression since almost 10 years . And all of this helped me so good and is still helping .
Everyday is different and without the shadow you wouldn’t recognise the light .
On days where my anxiety and depersonalization is bad I will wear long sleeves to work, to me it helps not being able to see my arms and constantly thinking that I'm not real. It isn't a cure but it can help! Hope that makes sense and I don't sound too crazy lol I have yet to really find any successful coping for my derealization, i wISH something as simple as sleeves would help
Raphael Vasconcellos in my case alcohol triggers it, after the occasional night of heavy drinking I’ll spend the whole day (sometimes even two days) feeling “off”, disconnected from reality and feeling like I’m not properly responding to my environment. It usually also comes with a lack of desire to do anything, it’s kind of derealised depression
Exercise, running in particular - worked for me and one more person I know. Also glasses if you need them. Also saying no to anything that makes you feel numb like too much food or sleeping. The less carbs the better.
@L S as long as you're focused on something - chatting, working or watching a movie its not. But if you start feeling lazy and dizzy I'd say take a break asap
The more sleep I got the more these feelings diminished! Also I realised that these feeling are horrible but - they are just feelings. Even though feel unreal and that I'm dying doesn't mean that I am dying.
what helps me is laying down in bed at the end of the day and thinking about everything I did. for example: I think about what I ate where I went how I got to places and small things like that. I do this because personally I will forget what happened by the end of that week almost completely and ill just remember what I did and not how I felt or little details(if I went to the mall with my friends I wouldn't remember what stores or what we did I would just remember that I went) this helped me tremendously stay strong <3
I have had it for 7 months now beginning in may and it was so bad back then but when I started running cross country in august which had workouts and long distance running I can honestly say I have improved so so so much. I know that exercise helps people with depression improve their concentration and memory so I am sure that it has to be connected to dp/dr. I highly recommend exercise :)
I catch myself when im starting to go into a dreamy state. I start thinking about something and I completely zone out and I forget where I am. Ill be staring into space. I have to catch myself as soon as I start thinking and losing awareness of the things actually in front of me or itll be a while before I “wake up”. Usually when someone asks me a question or theres a sudden noise
I adopted a dog, she is my whole world, I credit her to getting me out of my first bout of dp/dr (however has since come back due to stress/anxiety). also I forced myself to get out in the world and do things, taking walks, running, I ran ~10 miles a day and I ate healthier. I became closer with the people around me as they distracted me from those feelings. that all combined helped me.
I just distract myself as soon as I start feeling depersonalization. I’ll start reading something or watch a YouTube video , anything that will stop my brain from over analyzing my surroundings
Sometimes when I have to talk in front of people I won't be able to remember what I did/kinda almost black out and have to ask "did I do good? Did I do it right?"
i really don’t know how to explain what i experience. I just start feeling like my life is going in fast forward and i start panicking and crying and telling my dad somethings wrong but he doesn’t know what to do so he just tells me to try to sleep but that doesn’t work most of the time. i can’t go to sleep when this is happening, i can’t do pretty much anything. and then it suddenly goes away
Hey lovely, telling yourself that it's "just that thought" again can really help (it's helped me heaps), know that derealization is a coping mechanism for your body to deal with anxiety. I've done tons of research on it and your brain thinks you're in a "fight or flight" situation, so it pretty much shuts down in order for you to cope! Also, for me I find that touching things around me and using all of my senses really calms me down. That way you know you're in the world around you, and not just in your head. I know how scary it can be, you can get through this 💗
I've an obscure word for that: zenosyne: a sense that time keeps going faster. And another: adomania: the sense that the future is arriving ahead of schedule.
I’ve had a few episodes of this before and it was scary:( I wasn’t sure what it was and everyone around me was like “it’s ok” and didn’t understand it at all. Thank you for bringing this to us!!😊❤️ also I am not self diagnosing myself I just would like to share because I was nervous when this happened. Stay strong!
I kinda hate the fact that this is not really commonly researched, and especially with kids. I'm currently 13, and I've experiences derealization/deperonalization all my life and I can usually find some sources about it for the general public, but I can't find anything on experiencing it as a kid, and I'd never know how I could deal with it, that isn't in pov of a parent. I never knew what I was feeling had a name and I never had enough trust to tell anyone and my whole life was kinda in isolation.
Just the other day on Friday I felt like I was dreaming while I was wide awake. To explain it, it feels like your floating or not in control over what is going on. Like yeah, I I wanted to pick up a paper...I could, but it didn't feel like I was doing it myself, more like someone was controlling me. A while ago, I felt this For over the span of like a week. I told my mom and everything, but she kept saying "it's going to go away" and it didn't for a while until it just disappeared. Weird right?
I’ve felt like this my whole life, for years doctors thought I just had depression but I knew it was different! I didn’t feel real, my body didn’t feel like my own, and I couldn’t tell the difference between being in a dream and being awake. I found antidepressants helped me be calmer, however nothing has actually helped me feel ‘real’ again. It’s so uplifting knowing other people feel the same! This aspect has helped me so much, knowing I’m not alone 😊
you opened me up to this idea and made me realize that i have it too! i saw this video years ago and ever since the idea has been nagging in the back of my mind, and now i’m diagnosed and being treated! thank you!!
I can relate to this so much. Sometimes I would even ask my friends to give me slap in the face because I felt like my soul was floating somewhere else. Or I would feel like I'm moving in slow motion, couldn't feel my limbs either sometimes.
I definitely feel this at times. Most of the time I blame it on weed that can still be in my body or deficiency in vitamins or minerals. After watching ‘limitless’, I was scared shitless. Watching these types of YouTube videos are really frightening lol.
Thank you so much for helping me realize I’m not the only one! 💖 I have had chronic depression since I was 12 years old due to traumatic experiences and I’ve also had symptoms of what you are describing. My vision has been bad but every time I see and optometrist my vision is “fine”?
Thank you! I think I’ve realised what happened to be after exams now. I was so scared that I was losing my mind and being left behind by everyone because my brain couldn’t keep up with what was going on around me. Thank you for making realise I’m not alone.
Thanks for the tips. I had a major depression for a few years and a few months ago I even tried to commit suicide. In a clinic I got diagnosed with a schizoaffective disorder. I also experience permanent derealisation and it really destroys my feelings. Thanks for raising awareness as I might not have to explain it that much anymore. Good luck with the treatments!
I have a constant undertone of being afraid of everything. I told my mom everything feels unreal like I pressed a reset button and I can't feel things I used to feel. Something feels off all the time, it's, scary. She doesn't believe it's important, it makes me want to die.
Hello! Thank you for sharing your story. When I was 10 years old I was diagnosed with disrealization and depersonalisation. At 11 years old I started to feel very numb also caused by my disrealization and I started to self harm to make myself feel pain. I started to feel really depressed and anxious and nobody understood. I explained it as hard as I possibly could but nobody understands. I did have a very traumatic childhood and maybe that caused it. But disrealization and depersonalisation is the worst thing ever. 😭💔
Wow. Thank you for making this video. I have suspected I have something like derealisation-but-all-the-time for years, but always settled back on dysthymia/Persistent Depressive Disorder and anxiety and social anxiety and ADHD (all without a diagnosis, yeah yeah). Yesterday after a long time in a new situation I was presented with a more familiar experience, and it motivated me to read more about this feeling of being in a constant dream/drunk-lite state. Instead of searching for derealisation and depersonalisation like I usually have done in the past, I searched "autopilot feel like I'm dreaming" and got a result where someone called Suzanne described my experience perfectly. (I'd been put off derealisation as a diagnosis before because it was always so general and the symptoms seemed very specifically related to an 'out of body experience' or 'feeling like you're watching yourself from the outside', which isn't my experience. But this Suzanne person experienced the same disconnectedness that I do.) I messaged my sister because we like to talk about our mental health pretty openly with each other, and she linked me your video after I explained that I'm taking this whole derealisation thing more seriously at last. What I told her reminded her of what you'd said here. And holy crap (as I said to my sister twice) this is it. Wow. So yeah, thank you for describing it so eloquently and giving me a bit of hope that my brain isn't as much of a tapestry of tangled dysfunctions as I thought, and that this might explain things better than all of my previous guesses, without feeling like there's 'something wrong' but 'wronger', if that makes sense. (If not: I mean that whenever I read about other diagnoses I'm like "yeah, like that, but wronger", and that just makes me feel hopeless. Like, if there weren't diagnostic criteria to explain my brain accurately, then what the hell is wrong with me?) So, to see something I experience described so exactly has already helped me feel a little better than I have done for a long while and I'm very grateful. This also explains why I always get a little bit uncomfortable when people talk about mindfulness and being present. :') Sorry for the long comment by the way, this is just a bit of a climactic revelation!
Thank you for the word that describes my dream like safe place at home, but when going out into the madness of the real world, i can't wait to get home to that comfort zone. 💋
This video helped me so much. I first watched it during a mental breakdown caused by symptoms of derealization and it convinced me to get help and speak up and get diagnosed. I'm now getting help and of course it's still hard but it's so much easier knowing that I'm not crazy and other people experience this too. Even now watching this video makes me tear up a bit because I've felt alone with this for so long and someone finally gets it. I'm so grateful for this video :)
Ive just started feeling everything you described last week, its the scariest thing I've ever experienced in my life. I find I get into a mental loop, my anxiety triggers this brain fog and my brain fog triggers my anxiety. I feel like I'm going INSANE I question who I actually am. It was comforting to watch this video and know Im not the only one dealing with this.
Felt this, when certain things trigger me I have these dissociative anxiety attacks that can be really really scary. Now I take medicine and rarely have them.
I’ve experienced something like this once and it was on a school camp and the whole time I felt as if I was in a dream and like no one was real and that it was just me at the camp even though I was surrounded by a bunch of people, I remember we were at breakfast and I was putting my plate away and all of a sudden I completely forgot where I was and everything went sort of black. We also had to watch performances and stuff at the camp and the whole performance night I just felt completely detached from reality and everyone around me, weirdest 3 days of my life
I watched this video about a year ago. Thinking when i was first watching it that it would be awful to live with this. And recently have been having episodes of derealization. And to my former self. You were right this is awful.
why am i only just finding this video?? oh my gosh I’ve been feeling all of those symptoms around six years and I’ve dabbled in the idea of derealisation n I know it exists but I honestly thought I was just losing a part of my brain that I need to actually feel like I’m living. thank u, dodie!!!
I've had times in my life where I've dissociated but I always seem to come back. I think. I've definitely had periods where I feel like I'm dreaming, especially during the night when all the lights are on. I also had a bit of a more scary experience in which I dissociated so far from myself that I couldn't feel any proper emotions and no longer did I recognize myself when I looked in the mirror. It was like seeing a stranger for the first time. I cried a lot during that time. I'm doing better these days I think but I definitely know how it feels
I have the exact same problem. Your going to be fine. I have derealisation as well remember you are always fine. wear sunny’s, look down. and remember your ganna be fine no matter what. I will go away soon i promise you. It will take time to recover but you will. It’s a spiritual awakening
I had a really hard period of derealization after a bad edibles trip, now my feeling of derealization is that it feels like i am always always always high. This has turned me from a very social person to someone who simply can not attend parties as every sound and voice seems to cut through it all and i check out of my body
So I watched this a while ago and I was like wow that’s wild Im so sorry that you experience that but actually the other day had a period of derealization for the first time in my life and I would’ve had no idea what was going on without this video. Because I knew about it I wasn’t so scared or panicky so thanks dodie you’re helping people even a year and a half after this was originally posted
I used to have this for like 3 years straight and eventually it faded off with my coping mechanisms. I still get it randomly now but it goes away. How I always explained it to people is when you go see a movie at the cinema and then 2 hours later you walk out of the dark room into the daylight and you still feel so weird for like 10 minutes or so while you’re readjusting
For anyone that experiences this, since everyone's different, have you noticed any "triggers" for your derealization? I noticed in another comment someone said they feel like it happens when they have fun for some reason? Or is it a specific sound your hear, or smell that you smell? Or is it 24/7 for you? If you've noticed a trend it'll be awesome to discuss
wow. i feel like this sometimes when i am doing something fun like going to a party or dance or amusement park. i never knew how to explain so i always said i felt like i was dreaming and that i feel light headed and weird.
Wow. Brains are crazy. I totally have no idea how that feels, but I am glad that dodie is open and that people are willing to work to find solutions to such crazy difficulties. I wish her and all people struggling with this all the best. You are important, your health matters, don’t let people disregard your needs
I experience this sometimes, I know it isnt to the extreme (and doesnt feel like to the importantce) of others who experience it all the time but it happens when my dissociation triggers are harder to handle and i dont usually let it happen so if it is handleable then i will blink really hard (I can a barely move my body most of the time) or I will let one of my Headmates take over and thats like being entirely dissociated but when its done it also feels calming and you can also only get a few thoughts in every once in a while that part is the most annoying but we can also feel each others feels so that helps
I FEEL LIKE YOU DESCRIBED ALMOST ALL THE TIME AND I NEVER KNEW WHAT IT IS I really think I have it but I'm so afraid to ask for help because my parents don't believe me I have depression and ocd even though I was diagnosed by a professional
This feeling has only happened to me once before. I had just gotten out of a really bad case of influenza, (so bad to the point where I had to be hospitalized for three days straight because my temperature was so high and I wasn't able to eat anything without choking on it or throwing it up. Horrible, Horrible times.) Anyway, when I was released from hospital I spent a few days at home to eat and regain my strength. Everything was normal, and I was able to function properly, but there was just something that was...off. When I spoke it didn't sound like my words, it was like it was echoing from another person's mouth instead of my own. Days passed and I began to feel like I was watching myself from the third person, like all my mind could do was imagine a zoomed out image of me on my bed or watching tv, to the point where I couldn't actually see my life from a first person view (it was still there, but my mind didn't focus on it, all it could focus on was the image of my third person view I had created) I told my mom about it and she said it would go away (she wasn't dismissive, we actually had a long talk about it from what I can remember, but that's what it all led up to because I suppose she had no idea what to say.) Once I was ready I went back into school. I got a lot of hugs and hellos, my teachers all greeted me happily because I was a well-liked student and classmate. But all the communicating felt so...weird. I remembered that when I was at home I had thought that going to school and socializing would get me out of this weird experience, but it just made it worse. This all took place over the course of two weeks I believe, but then one day I woke up and the feeling was gone. I felt rejuvenated and everything felt vivid again. I could see through my own eyes and speak through my own mouth, and nothing was weird of unfamiliar. That happened when I was 9 or 10; I'm now 13 and It hasn't happened since, but sometimes when it's quiet and I'm alone with my thoughts, I think about it and if it had ever happened to anyone else. When I watched this video all I could think about was how similar my experience on those two weeks is to Dodie's experience all the time. This is definitely one of my favorite videos on youtube now :)
I'm glad that I'm not the only one. It happens sometimes and I'm not sure how to make it stop. My family said to lay down, drink water, or some other things that don't work.
I’ve watched this before, but I only realised now I’ve been experiencing that. Shit. I only just got out of depression, and I’ve been wondering what is still wrong.
Make the world Glossier she could have low iron, i do and i have this same condition at random times. she should have her blood tested all she needs to do is eat differently and take some supplements if that’s the case!
I had this conditio for about 6 Months after smoking a Lot of weed. It was the scariest experience I ever had to Go through and it made me depressed as well. It defenetly got a Lot better but it has changed me as a person and sometimes i still get verry anctios for no reason. Cant imagine living like this for multiple years. Stay strong 😘
I had this for about 3 weeks straight. Most horrifying thing I’ve ever experienced. Triggered by a bunch of panic attacks at once and stress, sometimes I worry it will come back after another random panic attack, I absolutely HATED this feeling. I can’t imagine having this forever. Maybe it’s not the same thing I experienced but i can only describe it as feeling like I was in a dream I couldn’t wake up from. I couldn’t focus on anything, was afraid to drive because I couldn’t pay attention, literally felt like I was tipsy exactly like she explained. Wow!
I saw my doctor a while back because I thought I might have narcolepsy... but this seems so much more realistic to how I feel. I’ve been thinking for weeks how I feel so disconnected to what’s going on around me like I’m constantly in a dream... But I didn’t know how to describe it.. my doctor is going to think I’m a crazy self diagnoser 😫
ive has this for a while, but i never knew what it was. thank you, dodie. eg. i was in class today and i just- i just could remember anything that i had just said. thanks again.
okay so write in my note when something happens which feels mentally weird and things like this have been happening for months and i haven’t ever told my therapist about it thinking it wasn’t to big of a deal but now i’m not to sure. i have a therapist for other reasons but i have chronic depression but now i’m thinking this could be another thing to talk about.
I have "brain fog" as a component of chronic fatigue and depression. It is incredibly difficult to describe these afflictions to healthy people. Your description was exceptional and poignant. Very helpful in differentiating the two. ty.
I am 30, working fulltime as a project manager in a digital production company. I probably have a burnout btw, and I think this DP/DR is like a safe modus of my body to cancel out the stimulus that my body can not handle. I only have small episodes on DP/DR, but I had never heard of it before and when I try to explain others they are looking at me as if they see water burning: they don't understand. The DR hits me when I am over stimulated, so it happens for example in the main hall of a train station, but also in a noisy waiting room at the hospital etc. When it overcomes me, my environment gets blurry, as if I am in a bubble and I feel weird. I can still have a conversation with someone, but it takes a huge amount of focus to do so. Also all the emotion get's drawn out of my face, like a pokerface. Precise movements with my hands and fingers become very difficult, so putting in an earring is a huge challenge. It makes me feel out of control of my body, which then leads into anxiety. Until now, it goes away in a couple of hours, followed by a huge drawback the next day where I feel totally exhausted… This video almost has 10k comments at this point and more than 1.5M views. This means so much to me, we are not alone!
I too have this condition and it has improved in the past couple months but now I am weirdly missing the feeling of when it was worse and I do not understand why I miss it.
I feel disconnected from real life a lot of the time, it feels like i'm living inside my head. Sometimes I'm thinking about the future, or when things have been really bad, I've literally created a whole world in my head that I escape to, imagining various scenarios (I've heard this is called maladaptive daydreaming) I don't dissociate when I'm with people, but when I'm alone I go into a dreamworld, hours can pass and it feels like minutes. Also have very debilitating anxiety and have had periods of depression, and often purposely isolate myself sometimes for over a week (easy to do as I work from home) with no real contact with others. I know it's not healthy, but I don't really know where to start or what to call it. Not sure it's the same as this, but perhaps something similar? I so rarely feel present, and it makes it impossible to do things I want to do, and my work suffers greatly due to my daydreaming/ruminating. It feels similar to being in a trance. I also have crazy & super intense dreams every night, often lucid with full range of senses that I can remember vividly when I wake.
Of course I’ve never gone to a doctor or anything for my mental health but I just watched this whole video w my mouth wide open and the more she explained I have experienced everything she talked ab it’s insane. cuz I’ve been struggling since middle/high school trying to figure out why i suddenly felt so different and nothing felt real and lately it’s only gotten worse where I will have a whole conversation w someone but feel like i wasn’t there for it and it wasn’t real. Luckily I turn 18 in 2 months and I can go to a doctor
I remember watching this video when it first came out and thinking how horrible it must be to have this disorder. Now, almost two years later, I have it. Not being able to cope with the enormous amount of stress I've been put under the past couple of years, not to mention my depression, caused me to develop it. This probably sounds very petty and whiny but it just sucks to think about how sad I was for people who had this disorder, and now I'm one of them.
For the last year and a halo I’ve been feeling this same way as you’ve described I’ve been to the doctor over and over and they kept telling me that nothing was rong and it’s been getting worse these last to 2-3 works it freaked me out and I thought I’ve had a tumor and other things and i really don’t know what to do and it scares me very much most of the time because all I won’t is to run my day without any problems with vision and looking like a complete moron for not remembering the basic things like names and appointments please let me know if you find anything that will help this problem
I used to feel like that when I was like 12 or less, now I’m 14 and i think I haven’t felt like that for a really long time, it just stopped happening idk why
It gets even worse for me the more I think about it and gosh, the few times I feel substantial, it just feels SO GOOD, ugh. Dissociation/Deprsonalization-Derealization sucks.
Recently I've felt so out of touch with everything around me. I feel quieter and more isolated, even when I'm at school with friends, I space out and I find it really hard to come back. And for a few moments I forget where I am, what I'm doing and what I was doing, what day it is, what time it is, and why am I there? It gives me a lot of anxiety when I don't know where I am or who I'm with in these situations, so I try the grounding technique and it kind of helps, but I look stupid doing it in front of friends and I can't just say "oh, I think I'm disassociating, lol" Idk what it is. They're little episodes I get but they become more frequent. I'm hoping to talk to a professional soon to help me with this dilemma. Its making me super anxious and kind of depressed due to isolation and hopelessness. This video is helpful. I love you
It only started this year that I started having episodes of derealisation and depersonalization feeling like life is a movie and nothing is really real and it's funny because I think its my first year of not being in chronic depression but I do kinda remember what happens to me because like I said it's like watching a movie and you can always "rewatch" it
I had this when I found out my boyfriend has brain tumor and I guess I didn’t wanted to belive its really happening. I remember everywhere I was I used to slap myself or poke myself bc I thought its a dream. Mostly at the toilet I was scared to pee bc I thought its a dream and if I wake up I’ll pee in reality. But it didn’t least for long :D
i honestly feel like derealization is also the reason behind my social anixety. Like every time i go out and interact with people in groups i cant fully focus on them and constantly think "oh no do i sound high or drunk? im not right? do they know that? oh god what am i doing, what are they even saying?" to the point where i dont want to go out anymore... rip ill fix it one day hopefully
I kind of feel like this sometimes, but I'm not sure it's to a large extent. It takes my eyes a long time to adjust to bright or dim lights, which is why I like my room to stay at a medium amount of light spread evenly across the space. I also forget large details of important events, and when retelling the story I often fill in something random even though I know it's not right, but it's my closest guess. And finally i tend to film and photograph when i hang out with my friends, and part of that is probably my love for film and photography, but some of it is also that i space out often and dont want to forget the best moments of my teen years before I miss them all.
I been feeling like this for the past 4 days. Like a dream I can't wake up from, like and hang over that can't clear up. I dont drink smoke are do drugs and for a second I was wondering if I was drugged? Glad to know I am not alone, I feel disconnected from reality familiar things are strange my memory is fuzzy my thoughts are foggy. I hate it hope it go away soon.
I mainly feel out of my body whenever I’m thinking about it, if I am focused on doing something like basketball or I’m busy doing something I don’t have the feeling, it’s mainly when I’m doing nothing and just thinking about stuff, that’s when the feeling comes over me like my body is just a body that I can control and that I’m not myself
ah yes this was so horrible in middle school for me when i was very depressed. it has basically gone away with the right medication and treatment. i used to have realistic dreams and be confused about whether a dream had actually been a memory of something real, and felt like looking at the world through a pane of glass. but i would like to share that for me it was depression-related and improved immensely as i got that under control. i hope that gives someone hope. Oh and TMS didn't work for my depression! didn't expect you to mention TMS! sure would be nice if it did...
I'm 41. I've had Depersonalization and Derealization since childhood. I shudder remembering how terrified i was as a child. This is a truly awful thing to go through. To STILL go through... Stay strong everyone xxxx
@ibra józef 🇵🇱 Everybody experiences things differently. Yes, the intensity of it lessens dramatically. But I always have the Depersonalization feeling. I try to ignore this the best I can. Otherwise fear feeds fear. Making the Derealization show its face. Sadly sometimes no matter what I do. I have a bad time with both.
i used to / still get this when something bad has happened. the only way i used to connect it with is the feeling of being drunk. it’s very easy to zone out, and it’s very hard to pay attention just like she explained, it literally feels like your dreaming. it’s such an uncomfortable experience.
I have bouts of this, and people really don't understand when I tell them. It happens when I am overwhelmed, especially in crowds or unfamiliar places. Sometimes just randomly
honestly i thought i was going crazy for so long. it’s hard to just completely wake up one morning & not feel like you’re there. it’s been like 3 years now and it still hasn’t left. i wish i could just go back to the way my life used to feel. it’s irritating to feeling so confused all the time . during school it’s difficult to take information in i feel so stupid bc i don’t feel like i’m understanding. i’m just glad i’m not fully alone w this.
I thought this was normal. I’ve gone through what I would describe in the same way kind of thing since like 5-6 grade, I also started having anxiety since then. I thought this was just the world lol. I probs don’t have this just, well yeh. That happens.
Every once in a while I feel like I'm looking at myself from outside my body, and feeling pity for "the person who owns that body", like I'm just a spirit or I have nothing to do w it :-/
I don’t know how to explain this but, Whenever I sleep I always know and feel when Im in a dream, it’s like, I can feel it. And When I wanna wake up I always force myself in my dream to wake up and boom im awake..
yeah there was a distinct switch in my entire being in 8th grade. i became depressed and anxious. i starved myself and self-harmed. all the while, my memory was shot (i had a great memory as a kid) and i couldn’t concentrate bc of the cotton feeling in my brain. i sorta figured out on my own it was depersonalization, but i convinced myself i was just crazy. now i’m in a really bad episode of numbness and depression and i realized that it has been depersonalization this entire time. i just need to get some therapy for it.
I'll be with my boyfriend hanging out and doing normal things and ill feel normal, then when he leaves I feel like I didn't really even experience that. or sometimes ill walk around in a big open place and ill feel like I'm not really here, and I'm detached from my body. my friend experiences it too. I think that the reason this started is because of weed, I tried it once and got really bad anxiety, and during me being high I felt unreal and it never went away, sometimes I think "I'm going to wake up soon." but I never wake up, I never feel real. it is the scariest thing I've ever felt and I hate it. I'm glad that there is a disorder or whatever for it because it gives me some but not all relief, I'm still scared because I know that this feeling may never go away and might just follow me till the end and its very scary.
Occasionally i feel like im high (not drunk), and ill realize maybe mid conversion that what i said is real and that its not a dream, sometimes when im happy or when im with certain people, im wondering if i have this? Ive looked up the symptoms and talked to my sister, but she said it was more anxiety/existential, which doesnt sound too good either. I havent been diagnosed with anything, but i have anxiety and i think i might have depression (mild), and i think i could possibly have this? I also have bad memory, but i dont have the vision thing (i dont think) and honestly i cant even remember the rest of the things she said cuz im writing this after i watched it
I was born with this and it’s only getting worse but to me it’s just a normal thing for me but the one thing I can never get use to is having deja vu ALL the time bc I can’t tell dreams from reality so they mix together
The best way to describe it to people who don't know what you're talking about is: Deja Vu ... the sensation just as you get Deja Vu that everything around you is suddenly surreal, that is depersonalisation/derealisation disorder, except that it's all the time for us...
I'm not sure if it's normal, but since past few years I've been feeling kind of... Weird? I mean, I could be in class for example and it's just like I'm losing my sense of reality. For a moment I have no idea where am I, what is happening and I'm weirdly scared. It's hard to explain, I probably make no sense.
It's the brighest time of the day but everything is so dark and blurry. I can hear but i can't listen i can't feel. A drop of tear could have saved me if i could cry. I wait for the nights to run away from this nonsense that i can't be a part of but somehow i still complain that im not gettin any pleasure from life
I tend to embrace the feeling when it comes. If I don't then it triggers a panic attack feeling as if nothing exists. What I do is imagine my vision as watching a screen and checking that I'm still in control of my hands and fingers. Then I think of things like I'm controlling myself like a video game and try to think of the benefits of it. I then feel like I can do a lot more and have more potential to get things done. If I don't feel like me then I imagine that someone I care about is with me in my own mind helping take my stress or pain. Although I admit if my mental state isn't too positive it isn't always great since to make the best of a situation you have to really imagine it being good. I hope this helps anyone who reads it.
this part of my life is... very stressful. my body feels lighter than air or sometimes heavier than a whale and sometimes i feel like the person in the mirror is constantly changing shape, but it still looks a little like me. all of my memories feel more like things ive seen in a movie rather than things i have experienced. i know i'm not in the moment and i subconsciously pick at my fingers until they bleed
I'm crying i have been avoiding this video for two years now and i cant help but hate my self for it because i think i need to go get myself checked the ironic thing is that when this video came out i started to stop going to the doctors less and less the last time i went to the doctors was last year around December because i had strep throat the reason I'm sharing this is because i just realized if you think you need help or something is wrong SOMETHING PROBABLY IS WRONG i obviously cant self diagnose myself but i think its time we all start taking better care of our selves and start sharing our stories a little more and a little better to help others who don't believe it until they see that this isn't just something happening to them or something everyone is going threw but something they need to look out for (yes there are zero periods haha)
Bruh I have this too, it really sucks. I know how terrible it is, my memory is always awful, and I feel like I'm never myself. I wish you the best in dealing with it ❤️
I don’t think I have this bc I’ve rarely had the vision thing but I feel like I’m not present all the time except for rare moments to the point where I completely zone out or things don’t feel real and when I was very young (like 7ish or maybe 9) I would constantly feel fake and look at my hands and be like “oh my gosh those are mine” and would go into confusing mind episodes where I felt like everything was fake. Also it makes it harder to deal with things because even in moments where I know I’m supposed to have immense feelings I can’t conjure them because I feel so out of it. One of the only things that really helps me is fiction and watching TV and reading because it makes me feel alive. I don’t know why I just poured my heart out to a bunch of strangers on the Internet I’ve just never really talked about it and I’ve always felt crazy. It’s like I go through extreme moments where I feel too much and everything is heightened and then moments where I don’t feel anything at all.
I had it bad when I was in elementary school but it stopped now I'm in high school and its coming back I have found if I smoke or eat a lot of bud/weed and feel vary vary spaced out when I'm not high anymore it doesn't feel as bad and plus its is experience a few times a week try it a few times and see how you feel trust me
Well, here we go. In bigger sutuations, with more people, I'll walk through syrup. Look through a film. Hear everything, smell everything, colors more vibrant. I'll switch from the film syrup to the vibrant colors and hear everything. Its stressful. Anxious.
I found this video by googling why do I feel like that Things you were saying were true but I was not really sure if this is what I have And then you said that you see as you were drunk but you do not feel drunk and after that I knew you were talking about the same I experience
I don’t have this all the time, but I get it in the morning, when I walk places, often when I’m walking around school. It’s often like I’m talking and walking and my body’s moving and I’m just watching behind fog and glass and I know I’m talking kinda, I know stuffs going on, but I have no control of my self and I’m not sure what I’m talking about or how I got here or when this started happening. I have no sense of time, and I have HUGEEEE gaps in memory for years (I’m 16, I can’t remember years 7-9 at school at all, none of year 10). I also have this close friend that I cannot for the life of me remember meeting, or socialising with, or knowing. It’s like I just woke up one day and she was there and my friend. I’m diagnosed with depression and anxiety.
Okay Im not sure if I have this. Idk. It used to happen ALOT at school. But stoped this summer. I would feel exactly as you said . Floating, confused, and It used to scare me, but I learned to tell my self that it is real life and that to keep walking or keep doing what I’m doing. I haven’t experienced this in a while, as I said it only happened at school. Can someone help?
I have a dissociative disorder. Mine is no longer as severe as it was. But I was in an interview last week while the woman was talking I began to have an extreme episode of dissociation and was doing everything I could to ground myself. Therapy really helped by giving me steps to stay present. Feeling the fabric on the chair. Focusing on a smell in the air. Having an awareness that it's happening was half the battle for me. Luckily she didn't notice because it was towards the end of the interview and I got the job.
this is very very late but i feel i need to share this before i forget. since watching this video, i realized as a child ( one of the very few things i can remember ) that i always felt as if i was being controlled in a video game or being in a simulation. and i remember saying things and then immediately not remembering if i said it a second ago or two hours ago. i’ve been experiencing this my entire life. i always thought it was normal. i can barely even remember what i did an hour ago. it’s getting worse. i keep slipping into derealization and slipping back into reality. i don’t understand it
I started feeling like this around the start of winter, so like november I live in Norway so it starts getting dark around then like All the time Only a couple of hours of sunlight a day I thought it was that, and I went through the winter thinking I had seasonal depression I was sure this would go away in the summer, summer makes me happy! It’s always made me happy so why wouldn’t it now I would cry every day during winter, and more and more snow would come, just making me even more depressed I wanted to feel alive again, I wanted to know what was happening all the time I hated having the spacing out things happen And then before I knew it, after the long winter, the snow started melting I was still waiting to feel better Thinking to myself «oh summer hasn’t completely started yet» Suddenly I could wear shorts outside, and it was july. I’m still stuck with this feeling And now after 8 months of it I found this Thank you, I know I’m not alone anymore. It truly felt like that I’m going to go to the doctor and like, figure things out
Ummm well this explains why I can’t remember literally anything and how my eyes are dumb and will not focus half the time and how I don’t recognize myself in mirrors like big oop looks like I have this. Yay more stuff that means my brain is a mess.
I've had depersonalization/derealization since I was 13 years old. I'm 24 now. For the first 7 years I had little panic attacks, felt hopeless, kept counting the years, thinking that "there has been x time since I haven't been truly living"...but the truth is... We keep living, we keep being here even when we feel we aren't. This is a way of existing in the world as well and the more I focused on other things, the easier it became. This is the first time I thought about it in years, because only now I'm realizing I've been feeling like this for 11 years! I do believe I'll feel "real" again at some point, but until then, I just keep living my life the way I can. I've been using the existential angst that this feeling of unreality is giving me to ask questions about Life, the Universe and Everything, and overall I found that what helped me the most was to live from my heart more than from my mind. More love (for people, for myself, for everything) - less fear - less anxiety - more purpose, satisfaction and less stopping in the middle of something to question its reality and then go like aaaaaaa. Thanks a lot for this video, when I first started feeling like this there were just a couple of youtubers talking about this, now it's very encouraging to see more people speaking out and also sending positive messages like you do <3
Ever since I've been at secondary school, I've been feeling like I'm flying through time and I used to look around and take everything in. Now when I go to 90 minutes football match, I can't remember what happened. It's really frustrating.
I'm in year8 and I have decent memory-ish but I'm just so bored! It might've something to do with not having close friends, and not being invited to parties, etc... Sometimes I feel depressed, like, REALLY depressed, maybe it's just puberty being a bitch, I dunno.
Abby Marie That's what my abusive mom said too. She also told me to stop telling anyone I wanted to kill myself because it made her look like a bad mother lol.
If being a teenager includes so much struggle, even just a little, why is it so awful to want help for it? To want to have a better experience?
I hate to be the one who always claims "I have that too!!" But I've gone through something similar. I always thought of it as a symptom of sleep deprivation. I never thought my anxiety could be the cause. I thought the whole vision thing was normal, and it was just a product of my eyes adjusting. The memory, a product of no sleep.
Although the worst, most noticable part was the inability to tell dreams from reality. I've gone from days to a couple weeks at a time where I have to check texts, my camera roll, my diary, my homework binder to figure out what I did and didn't dream. My famous line to my friends has become "Did I tell you about that for real? Or was that a dream?" It's not necessarily that I feel like I'm dreaming, but it's that my dreams feel too real.
I'm not saying I have exactly what she does, but it definitely makes me feel less alone.
I might have this too but I cant say for sure. I have the sysymptoms she is describing. It happened to be about 4 years ago and stopped but has come back about a week ago. Not sure if that is possible with this so I really dont know what it is
@Nickolas G the condition she's talking about seems to be connected to anxiety. So yeah, definitely possible, especially if you've been more stressed, tired, or have just changed your ways to cope
DUDE this is happening to me literally more and more often and its scary because I think I'm going crazy like all my friends bash me for it because it is coming more and more common for me to mix up dreams with reality and I am daydreaming more and more each day and I feel so spaced out sometimes it makes me exhausted I also have anxiety. Have you gotten any help for it? pls reply ahaha I feel so alone in what is happening in my brain I just want an explanation for it
@Ella Marlan It seems to really be affecting your mental health I would suggest bringing it up with your gaurdian because there might be medication or something that could help
I've got dissociation all the time. It's not as bad, but it's constant. It gets really bad in public at stores or restaurants, or with big groups. My memory has been effected by it too. I've been trying to do things like yoga to ground myself and feel my body, but it's hard.
Yo, I have the same problem, I've had it for years, sometimes the feeling has lead me to start having very reoccurring panic attacks which isn't fun ;-; What usually helps me cope with it is watching youtube tbh.. I just find something I can focus on and help me forget about how I feel cause thinking about it is what leads me to have the panic attacks.
I had dp for five years but it turned into anxiety, and I hadn’t it for two whole years. One month ago I had an episode of dp and two days after an episode derealisation for the first time during panic and now I can’t get over it like i’m going crazy . Anyways I have some tips for dr, when you have it basically you feel like everything is a dream, not real, or two dimensional, the vision is kind of blurry, you don’t recognise anything for example people or yourself or objects. Yeah but even if your dreaming you are real. I mean an illusion belong to something real. If illusions are illusions it doesn’t make sense. Illusions are SOMETHING.If you believe you are the only human being I swear I am real (still my doubt btw). Your blurred vision is normal if you have anxiety, or if you don’t spend time outside and other thousands reasons. And if you don’t remember a lot things, it happen even to people without dpdr. If you don’t recognise human remember that is just a feeling(yeah every fucking time I see a person I am triggered)like when you repeat too many times a word, it sounds weird. I Hope everyone will get over this Ps Don’t read forums or shit, it just make you feel like this will last forever and that’s incorrect because When people get rid of dpdr, updating forums is their last problem
This happens when i go on my bike at night like in the day at 7 pm intill 9 pm and then feel like im floating and i can fly but i can never lift off the ground .
okay so i’ve dealt with feelings like what you described a few times in my life they’ve all happened at parties when it’s been loud and there’s been lots of lights and i’ve described it to my family about how everything goes blurry and time skips a little bit and they didn’t understand it and i had no idea what it was but after watching this i think it might be derealisation ?? all of what you described is pretty accurate to what i’m feeling and even though it’s only happened a few times throughout my life (my first time was at a friends party in grade three) i feel a lot better about it knowing that i can put a name to it thank you for being so vocal about it :))))
So.... I have... had these symptoms? I don't want to self diagnose but I feel these symptons strongly when I'm in over stimulating places or in situations I'm not used to that invloves a lot of socializing? And I just kinda consider it me being "too tired" or "stressed" and I know everyone considers it really scary, but I've always felt calmer in this dissociation because I don't have to think about what I say or anything because I'm not fully in control of that and I can just let it happen and then go home and calm down. I always end up thinking "wow I really look like that? Thats not what I looked like earlier" though when I see my reflection though lol ^.^;,; maybe I don't have this thing and I'm just weird because I guess being relaxed in this state isn't really how people have said this state of being is
You aren't alone, I have the same thing and have for three years now, I'm only 14, I've had depression and my severe anxiety is the reason for being like this. I didn't know others had this before you so thankyou.
i assumed she had aspergers its a lot harder to see in women. i could feel the same personality traits as me sometimes watching the videos, it explains how she acts so well and can sing on pitch,
i guess feeling dreamy when there are a lot of people around, kind of tics a box too because you have to read everyone rather than do it naturally, its instantly tiring.
OK I've had this for 2 years and here's some stuff I've learned --- I can't tell if it's placebo or not, but what's really helped me, more than anything, is actually getting allergy shots to treat seasonal allergies and dust and animals. I know that seems like it's a totally different issue, but honestly every time I'm in a dusty place or it's pollen season I start having these exact symptoms - I feel drunk, spaced out, like everything is a dream- and NO other symptoms you'd usually get with allergies. I used to feel this way CONSTANTLY and it made me seriously depressed, which led me to believe my depression was the root cause. I think a lot of people don't realize how your sinuses can affect your mind and alter your mood really drastically, since they're basically wrapped all around your brain. I'm not trying to diagnose anyone's mental illnesses and boil it all down to allergies, just wanted to share my experience and what's helped me because I know how insanely suckular it is to go through this. Everyone is different of course, and I hope you all can find something that works for you :)
I have OCD and generalized anxiety but I've noticed that my migraines caused that feeling. I literally panicked every time I got a migraine in the back of my head. I googled (despite that usually being bad to do & bad for my OCD) and found that was likely related to my allergies. So anytime I get a migraine I take allergy medicine and my disassociation rarely happens now.
Allergies, inner issues, and congested sinuses all exacerbate my feelings of DR. I don't think they cause it, but they definitely make it worse, so you're onto something!
I used to have constantly have episodes of this when I was a teen. It is is really disturbing. At one point, my mother took me to a doctor, but nothing came of this. I had never heard of the term derealization until years later. I realized it's symptoms matched almost exactly the mysterious frightening feelings that I would often experience throughout middle school and high school.
I’m so thankful for this video. For the past few years ive gone through time periods where I thought I was suffering from anxiety or depression but after watching this I’m pretty sure this is what I suffer from. It’s like I’ll be fine for a month and then all of a sudden I’ll experience weeks of blurriness where I everything around me feels surreal like I’m in a fantasy movie
Ross W i used to feel like this all the time and now it comes in waves after a while of feeling okay it's strange right? i'm so thankful dodie opens up about it
Do you have any stomach conditions? Could be something with an underlying cause such as SIBO or a Lyme-type under-the-radar infection.... (I'm not a doctor.)
I had just gone to therapy earlier and I tried to describe just this. I've heard of it, I know what it is but I didn't want to admit or believe it. I had gone through a long episode of depression all summer along with panic attacks from anxiety. I had been hospitalized because of it and it was horrifying. Then after about a month of that extremely long episode. I've been feeling just this. Nothing feels real. I often get dizzy or even "sick" and causes me more anxiousness. I am getting help and I'm thankful for just that. Remember if you ever feel like your surroundings or just everything in general are unreal try a distraction such as a puzzle, journaling, or try a game of solitaire ( just some examples) remember you are loved ♥️
Omg there is a name for it?????? Brb heading back to my doctor 😂 shitttt. I seriously thought I was crazy. I’ve been crying weekly because I thought I was going insane!
Okay but i need a little help. I thought I might have this but Dodie explained it a bit different than how i experience it.
Sometimes i cant focus, no matter how much i try to readjust my eyesight it always feels like im looking at something from a far. The world seems to fast, or too slow, and im going in the opposite speed. That makes me freak out when it happens because i get overwhelmed. My brain cant comprehend certain stuff and i can never focus on one thing without doing it multiple times to try and understand. I also forget easily, and im always out of it. Blanking out, forgetting how much time has passed or what my friend was talking to me about. I often feel unreal, like my hands are made of plastic, or arent my own. It freaks me out so much, but i dont know if its derealization. Can someone help?
I was just exposed to the terms depersonalization and derealization, and this video helped me understand it better (from an emotional standpoint). Thanks.
I have/had that as a symptom with my anxiety. You feel so free when it's not there and so strange when it's there. Hopefully will never have it again 🙏
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kay em2018-04-17 13:25:45 (edited 2018-04-17 13:32:59 )
Rayowag I was thinking this too! I have anxiety and this happens to me. But not constantly. Sometimes in shopping areas. Always cvs! Idk why! Or if I’m done writing a letter, Blog, or song or something.
I'm a maladaptive daydreamer and I also have an insomnia-type-thing that allows me to feel normal when I don't sleep at night but makes me feel light and disconnected when I do sleep.
I suffer from the same condition. I have such a problem with helping people understand it, so I really appreciate someone with an audience bringing light to this issue. It's been just as challenging to get doctors to understand as it is with friends and family, and it has always been a major contributing factor in my depression. Medication has helped, but it's still a journey. Thank you for your openness!
I dont know if this is like the same as this but i could just be sitting there and feeling like im dreaming like im not day dreaming im awake and i could like be talking to someone but i dont feel like its actually happening like im in a dream idk how to explain it its really wierd and it happens all the time does anyone else relate to me?
all of this sounds familiar but I'm not sure... an example of what it feels like; i'll be on a bus and ill look at my surroundings ill tell myself I'm looking at a tree but it won't process that is there and its like my thoughts surround me and that they are the only thing that's happening, I feel as though I'm on autopilot, that I have a subconscious of what I'm doing and ill look normal to everyone else but I will feel out of it and like I'm watching a video or that I'm dreaming it feels its not happening or that I'm observing it from afar, its so weird and hard to describe and idk if its normal or if it's me going insane
Oml Ok I’m not tryna self diagnose but I’ve definitely experienced this (or something similar to it) for at least the past 3 years, sometimes on and off. When I tried explaining it to my old therapist she said I just wasn’t eating enough??? So I started bringing granola bars with me to school but it didn’t stop so I just kinda tried to pretend it wasn’t happening?? Idk but at least I’m not alone in this.
holy shit.. ive felt this way for about three years now and was never able to describe it until you read the stuff in your book. My mind is blown because I've never been able to explain it people.
just saw your instagram post, hope you'll be fine soon. being a dummy for research or for anything is scary (from experience, it's dangerous and stressful). also about the fmri thing, mri tests are loud and annoying lol.
i just thought that’s how your brain worked tbh. i thought that’s how your brain reacts to the eyes. i feel like i have this and ocd, but my parents haven’t taken me to a therapist, and i’m scared.
edit- also i’m not depressed. i have anxiety, specifically social anxiety, but i’m an extrovert??
extroverts can have social anxiety, too. the introvert/extrovert distinction is really all about whether you are energized by social situations (extrovert) or depleted by them (introvert).
I've had that happened to me before once was when I was walking in school I don't recall if I was heading to my next class or lunch but as I was walking I felt like I was dreaming and I would ask myself, "am I really here?" Then I would answer my own question: "you're actually here right now, relax." I think I recently felt that sensation about a week ago tomorrow. It happeneds from time to time. I have anxiety I read on Wikipedia that having anxiety and if you've had pantic attacks in the past plus having low self-esteem is a few of the reasons why that dreamlike sensation manifest itself.
Lmao, don’t want to self diagnose. But the beginning of 7th grade to now (beginning of 8th grade soon) I’ve felt like I’m in a dream/seeing life through a movie screen. The way Dodie describes it is exactly how I feel, and it scares me because I don’t like it. I’ve had multiple break downs and anxiety attacks because I felt like I wasn’t normal or something was wrong with me. But of course, I haven’t even tried to reach out for help because I’m always too anxious to ask/tell my parents. I’ve gotten more depressed because of it and I want help but feel like I don’t deserve it.
You should not take 5HTP while on SSRI's if you still are, it is quite dangerous. I take Vyvanse, there is no reason pharmacologically it should help but I feel like it does keep me more alert and aware in the severest of fuzzy times although I think it makes the logging of memories worse or perhaps my memory-logging has just coincidentally gotten worse. Oddly, if I go off of the Vyvanse for more than a day I experience an episode of hyper-realization where everything feels real and lucid for the first time or like I am waking up from the dream. It is overwhelming...feeling coming back to your hands, clear vision, clear audio, hearing yourself breathing and feeling it...it can be scary and I think that is why my brain keeps me in the dream world. Best wishes to you.
Hey Dodie, I just want to say I really empathize with your situation. I've struggled with it for a long time myself and I still do struggle occasionally. For me, improving my diet improved my condition a ton. I really believe diet is a huge factor in mental illnesses from my personal experience. I know people get annoyed when people talk about how diet affects mental illness, but I don't think it can be emphasized enough. Processed foods have chemicals that fuck with your brain chemistry like crazy, also animal products have hormones that fuck with your brain, and they're very difficult to digest, and the gut is the second brain so if you have crap sitting in your colon it's gonna fuck with your mental health. I follow a whole-foods vegan diet and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you try it too. Best of luck I know it's hard but keep trying you have the right mentality :) <3
I have chronic derealization and it started when I came off of the pill and then got the copper coil (which I believe has poisoned me).
When I eat good, I feel good. I agree that it is to do with diet. What we fuel our bodies with is so crucial to our health. Our gut is the place where all our nutrients (and toxins) are absorbed so it is 100% acceptable to believe this is the case. I have started clean eating - mostly vegan with no grains. And I have been drinking fermented cabbage and honestly the amount of weird stuff my body has been purging is crazy. Our brain, our thoughts and feelings are all just chemicals/chemical reactions and so if the chemicals are off balance in our body due to diet then why would it not affect our brain / mind. I was really skeptical of this protocol but honestly I have been in such a dark place for so long, trying to hard to 'snap out of it'. Many people on this page are talking about their experiences with many different symptoms and how they're being reversed (including anxiety, depression, memory issues, brain fog etc). I'll link it incase anyone would like to look. There are around 50,000 members and many seeing unreal results. It's not for money, it's just information, you have nothing to lose. And I can firmly say it's been helping me and I think this may be my way out of this nightmare
A reaction to chemical makes sense. Diet and exercise does have an impact on brain chemistry. But diet doesn't cause it. I just think a person shouldn't self diagnose because it's tricky. It could be a physical condition, like anemia especially if it's diet related.
Elise M Elise M It's pretty hard to not self diagnose when I have walked into multiple doctors offices and they haven't a clue what I'm on about or how to treat me. When I was 12 I diagnosed myself with anemia and I then found it I was severely anemic and have had it ever since but all doctors do is give me iron supplements for a while and then when I come off of them I become anemic again. There has to be a reason WHY i keep becoming anemic, just like there has to be a reason why I feel so bad mentally. Not saying it is diet, as I said this happened to me after getting the copper coil which has poisoned my body I believe. Doctors refuse to believe this but my nutritional therapist believes this is the case and I have completed tests which prove it, as well as having aluminium poisoning (from vaccinations) and mercury poisoning. I feel like something in our bodies has to be out of tune or off balance for this to occur and it's just about finding what it is for you whether it's hormones or diet - there has to be something. I do not believe I fully 'thought' myself into feeling high / drunk 24/7 - to me that is absurd. I do believe it has been a contributing factor though. I think giving my body the correct nutrients and detoxing any horrible toxic matter will help me and I feel if people already haven't then they should do some research on their physical health as well. The reason I started researching my physical health when this happened to me is because I started feeling tired a lot (even when my blood count was up!), I have become very very sensitive to caffeine when I never was before, I would get headaches and pains in my joints. It's really hard but i'll find a way out and hopefully others will too!x
Breathing Oxyjenn i don't doubt it. my experience with it stopped after i cut out all junk food, ate healthy and started exercising. don't get me wrong it didn't happen over night but after 6 months of keeping up with my new routine. it was completely gone. i saw my first sign of improvement after about a month and a half and then it slowly started getting better and better
Omg,so THAT'S WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME! I literally was crying tears of joy as i watched your video,My condition isn't EXACTLY like yours but it is quite similar.I have trouble forming close bonds with others because i daydream and zone out.And i just don't mean a little bit or from time to time.I daydream A LOT,TOO MUCH IN FACT,too much to the point where it requires FOCUS to focus,and that being in my head is normal.I get overwhelmed in large crowds,as i don't have enough space to walk around and let my mind wander.Sometimes,and please don't laugh at me,i'll go into the bathroom walking around for 45 minutes because i feel like it.No.I FEEL like i NEED too.Just so i can be alone.Not only do i daydream and have attention(I don't focus well,which causes me to have this unintentional desire to procrasinate) problems,I ALWAYS have to be moving.I shift from side to side,position to position when i stand or sit.I'll roll over or change position while laying down.I pace back and forth a lot.If i can't move,i'll become anxious.I also can only remember certain things,and like you said,i'm bad at telling the time without a clock in my face.Did i mention i'll go nuts if i don't listen to any kind of music at least ONCE a day?I tried to tell my parents,here's what they think-
"Stop lying" "Stop making excuses" "Whose fault is that?" "Your doing this to yourself" "There's nothing wrong with you,your just lazy" "Your making stuff up" "Nobody acts like that"(OBVIOUSLY,HELP!)
I hope anybody with mental disablities will fight this war with me,for any one,on any mental illness,so that we can all live in peace as we get help from those who are consider,well,"normal".
FamilyGuy FreakFanatic I can relate the constantly need to be moving thing. When I lived at my parents I would constantly be on the swingset so I could move all I want without being in anyones way and stay in my daydreams for long periods of time.
it feels like being high all the time, without any drugs though. it’s not fun, i desperately want my old reality back. i see the world in a different way now and it sucks, everything around me feels so fake including people. people just seem like robots
I was so shocked to see the title of this video while scrolling through my feed. I feel like I’m dreaming as well. It’s not all the time, like yours, and it’s not depression related. It just randomly happens but what upsets me is that it happens during moments I want to remember. When I’m in this dream like state everything is blurry and I cant remember what happens. It feels like I could get hit by a bus and just laugh it off, I feel so numb, untouchable. I just want to be able to enjoy moments and know that they are actually happening without feeling like I can do anything, because I do really stupid things when I feel like this, I think I’m invincible and I don’t want to harm myself or others because of my silly brain. I told people about this and they just think I’m crazy. And for the people who might reply, saying they’re offended that I’m self diagnosing myself with derealisation, I’m not. I know I don’t have it, but I know that there’s something similar and that gives me comfort.
Panicking Pilots It's okay to self dx if it helps you figure out what's going on, and everyone saying otherwise is just a jerk. 💜 I hope you get the support and comfort you deserve.
Dodie,or anyone else in the comments,I would just love s bit of advice,I'm quite young in terms of being diagnosed with a mental illness so I'm not really sure if its just my stupid,dramatic brain or if I'm really feeling derealisation. I found dodie's channel after researching my symptoms online,which,I know isn't the best idea but what else would I do? And I really do feel like this is it.I nearly constantly feel like I'm not here or their is some of that strange wavy glass or fog separating me and the world around me,I get terrible migraines too and even growing up when I was very small I remember always being a very happy child and always praised by my parents and teachers for my "brilliant memory" that now won't even allow me to remember what I did yesterday.I also feel like I can't just concentrate or just focus on literally anything,whether its writing an essay for school or going to get something from a separate room,I just always get distracted and can't remember what I was doing.This all started after quite a lot of stressful things happened to me all at once and I could just never focus at the task at hand,I was always worring.I also feel like I can't really tell my parents as I don't want to worry them and I'm 99.9% sure they will never of hear of it before and just say something like "your probably just stressed over school" or.. "its because your on your phone too much" its not because they're unsupportive,they just wouldn't understand.I'm sorry if I have bored anyone but this really has helped me,just writing this down in these conments,it feels very positive and supportive here💗so if anyone has any advice,suggestions or tips please share them xxx
Katie Kat any feelings, big or small, that you have are completely valid, regardless of your age! You’re not overreacting. I encourage you to talk to your doctor or a school counselor about your symptoms so you can be referred to and get some help from an expert! That’s their job! This is really really helpful and a quite a few of my friends have done it. And if a doctor ever tells you that you’re over reacting or that you’re too young to see a psychologist/seek treatment, find a new one. They should never write off someone’s feelings or think of them as invalid because of age. Everyone’s mental heath is important. What you’re experiencing may be disassociation or it may be something else. I have add/adhd and some of those symptoms seem familiar! But psychologists know so much about that stuff, so they’re the ones to ask if you would like. Can’t hurt! And if you feel comfortable, know that your parents love you and genuinely would want you to be happy. Letting them know you are struggling should not an inconvenience, because you deserve to find some help! We all do. They would honestly probably be glad you felt as though you could talk to them. Everyone deserves to feel better both mentally and physically, regardless of whether their concerns are big or small. If you had the flu, they would take you to get some treatment, so you could definitely guide them along that path for your mental health. It takes courage to talk about that stuff, especially if your parents don’t know much about mental health, but don’t give up! So, so many others have been in your position. This might sound a bit cheesy but you can do this!! You won’t feel like this forever. Everyone deserves to get help if they would like it and take care of their mental health!
If you ever talk to someone and they write it off because they don’t understand, i’m so sorry. It really sucks, and it’s hard to not take it personally. But you can do it!! don’t let them discourage you! Do your best to remember that they probably mean well and really just don’t understand mental health!:( Know that you know yourself better than anyone else, and you deserve to find help to feel better! You will not be stuck in one place or one state forever, and you will be okay. Out of all the humans on this earth, i can almost guarantee someone, or even many people, around the world are feeling the same way you do! You’re not alone in any big or small thing. One day at a time! You got this 💗
i'm so sorry you don't have someone to tell this about. i started to feel this when i was very young too and thought i was going crazy. your feelings are valid. you know your mind and your feelings better than any other person so trust yourself! for me reading and drawing grounds me and soothes me because i'm touching a physical object and distracting my mind from the paranoid thoughts lol. i hope you find something that grounds u and i hope u get better
Sometimes I randomly start feeling like everything is fake. Like today during dinner, someone started talking and I was looking at them and all of a sudden everything felt fake. Like we're not real and nothing we do is our decision. Maybe we are really just stories aliens tell for fun, or simply maybe there really is a god or a similar being that controls all of us (I'm an atheist). I've had thoughts like that since I can remember, and sometimes they randomly come along with the strange feeling I get with them, or I'm thinking of random stuff and it goes back to those thoughts.
The feeling is harder to describe, I wouldn't say any of this is nearly as bad as described in the video. I guess it could be described as a feeling of being very far away and distant from everything. Obviously not in a physical sense, but yeah. It also feels like things aren't right.
I'm wondering if this is considered the same thing or something else. I guess what I experience could be a lesser version of derealization, but I don't know, and I feel like there are a lot of differences
i just feel like i’m in another persons pov listening to myself, except that the other person is nonexistent, and i just feel like i’ve floated out of my body. nothing is happening
aw crap. i forgot i made this comment and upon researching more the topic of depersonalization i watched this video again and found it. didn't know it was a symptom, and now i'm kinda worried. sometimes i feel like i'm in a stranger's body, i look in the mirror and i don't recognize my face as my own, i talk and i'm almost surprised when i hear what must be my voice. does anyone know what this might be? could it be depersonalization?
something similar has happened to me before but im unsure if that is precisely the same condition. I remember i was heading out of a cinema with a few friends and when we got out i couldn't really see my friends' faces. It's like i knew who everyone was but i didn't. And so i tried several things to get out of this dream i was in, but when my friend started talking to me i suddenly felt ok again. idk. weird.
It certainly could be a similar state of mind. It's actually quite usual to dissociate after a deep movie/book or when you're tired. It's a natural response.
This disorder is the worst thing I've so far dealt with. I have complex PTSD and the fabulous shit that correlates with my disorder, including derealisation disorder. I will literally wake in the middle of the night, sleeping next to my partner and lose my mind. I plummet fast into not recognizing myself whilst I have a shower at 2am, in an effort to rid my mind of unfamiliarity. Who really is the person sleeping next to me and why did they choose a life with me? Who am I, like really? I have this mind and body but what for? Why am I here if I am going to die? Will I die tomorrow? Everything can feel so petty and unnecessary. I'm in a little state now I guess. You lose track of most feelings, as well as goals and aspirations. Want to know the best part? I developed derealisation as a child to cope with childhood trauma. This is all I know. If someone could please assign me a family that will love me as their own, without bias on gene involvement I would forever be grateful. To feel as if I actually belong, I can only imagine how that must feel.
Same it sucks because in my basketball games it’s bright in there and I can barely think while I play and then my coach gets on to me! I hate it so mucch
yeah bright lights, open rooms ( especially empty, crowded rooms just cause my eyes to race nd just extreme anxiety), small talk, walking somewhere, LITERALLY doing anything i just start zoning out and blank and then suddenly im on a whole other video
You wanna know why, it makes you nervous, it’s all controlled by your nervous system and it wants to defend you from this stress, you also keep looking for it meaning you keep asking yourself weather it’s happening or not, I’ve learned that you just have to accept, don’t fight it, it’s not horrible, it’s uncomfortable, you need to understand that accepting makes it a lot easier to deal with and you need to enjoy the feeling and laugh because it releases dopamine which sends signals to your nervous system to say that you are okay and it will go. Just don’t keep checking to see if it’s happening, just live like nothing is wrong because nothing is.
Plannysam That’s a very long run-on sentence you got there, buddy. (If you can’t tell, this is a joke.) Other than that, that’s actually really interesting to think about.
I was diagnosed with this condition when I went to the psych ward last year and I just started my new school. The lights are so damn bright and I just sit there thinking maybe this isn’t real and Im trying to make out what’s around me and what helps me come back is naming my surroundings, like “that’s a book, this is my pencil” I don’t know what else to do for it 🤷♀️
I don’t think I have it as bad, but I think I have an issue with disassociation. I feel like I spend my entire life asleep, sounds and sights don’t process properly, my memory is generally awful (I couldn’t repeat a sentence back to you unless I really concentrated) (but for some reason I remember useless information like hotel wifi passwords), I feel like my field of view is really small and monochrome but I barely notice it because it has pretty much been that way for years now. I struggle to get attached to people or things or important deadlines that my future rides on because they just seem distant. Also, sometimes I just spend about an hour in the small hours of the morning just standing there looking in the bathroom window at a face I don’t know. I know I just sound like a self-diagnosing snowflake and no one cares but it just feels good to get it out there.
Edit: looks like lots of people in the comments are the same, but no solutions. I have an idea for what could be the source of the problem for most people at least, and based off that I have an idea for what could work, but I’m just not in the position to do it.
MEMSUS writing, grounding, find things that are strong in sensation like citrus, sour or soft, acting helps a bit naming things in the room honestly the tips they give you for grounding yourself with anxiety or PTSD about grounding yourself in reality work really well
Another good vitamin is chaste berry (idk if it’s spelled right) and it does a BUNCH for me, Levels moods Evens out menstrual cycles Makes me less sleepy(depression makes me want to sleep all the time) And more so yeah..•~•
I looked it up and it's apparently called chaste berry or monk's pepper, because it's supposed to reduce sexual desire. :p It's also good for cyclical breast tenderness and PMS so you chose the right supplement!
I oftenly space out but when I come back to reallity i forget that I just spaced out so I kind of (when im around friends) wonder "why is everyone ignoring me?" and sometimes I would take like 10-15 seconds to rember my family/ long time friends names or just who they actually are... I would oftenly make up stories in my mind and think they really happend I dont really know what is wrong I oftenly think that everyone has this (and some more) things that happen to them so idk am I ill or just fine
I have the mixing fantasy things with reality, tho I mix dreams with reality too. I don’t think is normal since my parents think is weird. But at least now I know I’m not alone :3 I think we should go to the psychologist...
I'm both a maladaptive daydreamer and I have an insomnia-type-thing that causes me to feel like I'm dreaming basically every day. It's weird, because I feel best on the days that I don't sleep, when I do sleep I feel awfully tired and disconnected the entire day. It's terrible.
I'm the same way with my friends I'll make up some story and it will seem more real than any actual memories... might be why they never stick around haha
I wanna throw up. I know everyone is like happy because they know what's going on but I feel horrible I feel absolutly horrible because I need a CURE I NEED A CURE
I'm 13 and I always feel like I'm floating or unreal like I was at the mall with my friend and I was like "I don't feel alive" or as if I'm not there :/
Okay paige I’m 13 and the same things happen to me. Actually sometimes I get so lost with trying to think and “come back to reality” I won’t realize if I’m walking or sitting or just laying down. I feel hollow and still even if I’m moving. Trying to explain is so hard for people that don’t understand or don’t have it. It happened kinda close to when I first got my depression and then I realized it which I think took part in my anxiety(some small part)
I think you and the others who experience this should get help from a professional so it doesn’t affect you for the worse. Please talk to your parents or school nurse/psychiatrist
Can I just say how weird it feels to discover that another person has a rare condition that affects their life so strongly. I have a serious condition and it has basically ruined my life (chronic fatigue secondary to POTS and HEDS). People think that its all just made up and i'm just pathetic and weak. Just because a condition affects you mentally doesn't mean it isn't real.
Whenever a youtuber comes out about something like this it is always depression or serious anxiety, which I truly believe is awful, it just makes me feel even weirder that nobody is affected by anything unusual.
I have POTS too! sucks ass. and because of it I have been suffering with depersonalization, ocd, anxiety and just feeling stuck in a far away place and super tired with no energy all the freaking time! Its so relieving to hear other people in similar situations, because god does it get lonely and scary, thinking you're the only one that feels this shitty and distant all the time. I really hope it gets better for you.
I've recently started to try 5htp and like you it hasnt helped with my derealisation but i am finding i am sleeping better and seem happier so at least its doing something. I am doing a project with fixers who work with itv about the subject of desociative disorders and as a way of raising awareness, i mentioned that you had been talking about the subject matter on your channel and I believe they have since been in touch with you.
oh i cant believe i forgot to say this but sleeping is really important. i wouldn't want to sleep because i'd dream and the dream would make me dissociate when i woke up but the lack of sleep made me dissociate nd so on djsjd sleeping a good amount and eating healthy food helps A LOT. also getting off my phone and trying to look at the details of where i am helps a lot too. ok now i'm done sorry sjdjsjf
cactuslegs that may be lucid dreaming - like an out of body feelin where u are conscious but sleepin and cant wake up - it happens to me every now and than. Gettin enough sleep and eating healthy actually helps
cactuslegs for me sleep made it worse and worse and worse. it would make my haze deeper, i couldn't even remember if i'd done anything that day. it would erase everything rather than just feel like i was dreaming
I’ve always hated dreaming because when I’d wake up, I’d feel drained from the dream. I’m not sure if this works for anyone else, but I would tell myself before I slept that I didn’t want to dream and I would keep my thoughts on that, and I now “don’t” dream (I don’t remember my dreams when I wake up and don’t feel drained when I awake, I suppose.) I dont dream very often anymore. It’s been quite a few years by now, at least 5, and sometimes I start constantly dreaming again, but I just remind myself before I sleep that I don’t want to dream, and I’m good again. Maybe this will help you guys, and if not, good luck on your travels to feeling a little better
i dont wanna diagnose myself or whatever bcos im very uneducated on this matter but i feel like i might have experienced it a few times? like i remember i was in class and i was fully paying attention and was very active but then suddenly it was just like my brain stopped working? i just lost all thoughts and couldn’t figure out what i was doing but i was aware of what happened and i tried to get my focus back but i couldnt idk and there was another time when i was trying on my clothes and after i looked at myself in the mirror i was like “whoa what” and again i lost all my thoughts
I never knew that this had a name. I’ve always known the feeling, but Ive never known how to describe it or how often others felt it too. Thank you Dodie
On our way back from home from a music festival, my friends and I almost got into a car accident because the tyre blew, we were going 100 in the freeway, basically lost control of the car, almost crashing on the bridge we were driving under.
I found out last night about derealisation and that traumatic events can sometimes cause it. For months I thought I was having a psychotic break.
Finding this video has calmed me down in a way I haven’t been since that day.
Coming off my anti depressants and in result have relapsed incredibly with my derealisation and depersonalisation. Came here to reassure myself that I'm not alone. Feeling better. Thank you so much for this. thank you.
I’m getting treatment for my mental health symptoms in CT and it’s called neuro feedback! It’s not a common practice, but it really helped my sibling drastically. I deal with disassociation with my depression so I’m hoping to see that diminish as I go through the sessions.
Thank you for sharing this! I am diagnosed with schizoeffective disorder (which is bipolar with symptoms of schizophrenia) and always had trouble explaining what I experience. It’s nice to know that I’m not alone, differentiating between what’s real and what isn’t is essential for the treatment process.
Dodie, I thought you might like to know, I wrote a poetry piece about derealization based on you talking about it and your experiences. I'd like to thank you for talking about it a lot because I ended up getting 4th place!
i remember watching this when you first posted it and even when you’d talk about it prior to this video and thinking about how awful it must feel to live with this condition. a couple years on and i’m back, sitting here bawling my eyes out because now, i can (unfortunately) relate to how you’re feeling. i’ll forever be thankful for this video because it made me feel like i’m not alone. i love you dodie and although i haven’t been following you as closely for the last few months, i hope you’re doing well. ♡
Oh Dodie thank you for putting a name to what I am feeling.You or anybody reading this will never understand how much this is.No really like I'm almost crying
Woah, okay, I actually feel this constantly. I never knew there was a name for it. Of course I'm not going to self-diagnose but this is far too accurate to not be it. Guess it's time to talk to a doctor
I keep coming back to this video.. I remember watching it a long time ago (or at least that's what it feels like) and I didn't think much of it; obviously it's a serious thing that a lot of people struggle with, but I hadn't thought much into it at all because I didn't think that it related to me in any way. How wrong I was..
So, my sister struggles with dissociation, how often I'm not sure, but when she started talking with me about how she felt when she was in a state of dissociation struck a chord with me. That felt.. familiar to me. The way she described feeling out of herself, like a bystander from a distance looking at her body doing things. How her body didn't feel like her own, and rather she felt like she wasn't in it. Now, we've had several conversations about that, and I came to the conclusion that I too felt that way sometimes. But I didn't realize thst there are many different ways of dissociating.
Over time, I've noticed how I've felt in new places, or familiar places. I've felt like I'm watching a movie play out, as if I'm not real. The place I am at isn't real, and I'm about to wake up in a bed after a nap. It's only this past week that I noticed this and thought more deeply about it. And that's when I started searching about how I felt; I've always had an abnormally bad memory, as if there are cotton balls blocking the memories from being brought up. And I realized that I've always felt like that. And then I read about depersonalization and derealization, about how they can cause amnesia of sorts. And they're heavily rooted to emotional abuse, or a parent with bad mental health in your childhood. This has made me rethink everything I've ever felt, and why I can't remember most of my childhood. So, here I am worrying that this will last forever and when all of my loved ones die, my mind will think that none of them ever even existed. I don't want to be like this, and I most certainly would never wish this feeling upon anyone. Thankfully I'll see my therapist soon and will definitely bring this up, but in the meantime, I'm left in a whirlwind of overthinking everything in my life..
Thank you for taking the time to apeak about this. Ive been dealing with this since I was a child and no one could ever help me becauae The only way I was ever able to explain it was " everything looks different, like I am still dreaming" and my parents never took me seriously.. Just recently last year I found out there is a name for it and I am not crazy. So I appreciate you. Thank you.
I definitely think that I’ve developed something similar to this. Everybody around me says that I walk around like a zombie, and I don’t have ADHD, but my eyes drift around a lot and I definitely don’t take in as much as I probably should. Just today I noticed a giant clock that took up almost the entire wall in my girlfriend’s house, and she said it’s always been there.
OmG.... its sooo good to know that I havnt been going completely crazy for the past two years
The amount of times I Have to ask/ check whether i’m dreaming or not is insane to the point where I have been using Analog clocks in the house despite how much their sound/ vibration annoys me... but they help me feel safe For anyone wondering why the analog clocks... i was always told that they only exist in real life.... so i’m holding on real tight to that bit of information as I’m someone who has always dreamt and they’ve always been extremely vivid Every lil helps ehh
i also experience episodes of derealisation! for the longest time i labeled them as panic attacks because no one talks about derealising. now, i talk about it in therapy which is really helpful. as far as grounding, i find that water on my hands helps a lot, as well as laying on the floor until the sensation passes
I watched this video back when it came out and thought I slightly could relate but was like, nah. Fast forward to more recently I’ve been feeling EXACTLY THIS WAY! And only last week I remembered this video and thought it might be able to help me. And oh my god Dodie thank you! This really helps, I thought it was just me. Personally it not only sends me into depressive states but has given me incredibly bad existential crisis’s which absolutely sucks. I hope this can put me onto a better path instead of suffering in silence.
And luckily i have a friend who helps me through my existential crisis’s and has also suffered from them and depressive states and has been convincing me to seek help, and after seeing this again I certainly think I will. ❤️❤️❤️
Sometimes I get this nasty feeling in my stomach like something isn’t right and I’ll feel like I’m in a dream because all I can think about is the room I’m in but the room doesn’t look like it’s supposed. Like i know it’s my living room but it doesn’t feel like my living room. And also when I look at people I know that I know them but I feel very disconnected. I have to force myself to go to sleep or else I feel like I might go crazy because the feeling is so weird and I don’t feel like myself. This has only happened about four times in my life but I’m really curious to know if anyone else experiences it or if it’s some kind of condition.
you commented this a lil while ago but this explains what i experience almost perfectly. as far as i know this is what derealization feels like!! can anyone else confirm?
Glad I seen this video, really had a hard time finding much on this disease and I haven't met anybody else with the same issues as me. But after the shit ive been through its no wonder my body does this to protect itself. Although it has made me pretty much emotionless is stressful situations and I cant say I hate it. I actually like that I dont feel real and I like that I can't really feel emotions in bad situations. It really makes my shitty life a lot easier.
I just found this video, never been to this channel before, so hi lol. But I have the exact same thing. I am glad I've found someone who goes through the same thing I do. It really freaks me out and I'm still learning how to cope with it
thank you for telling us! im not sure if this is the same but i once didn't sleep much during a school night and i believe i felt similar? of course it wasn't as serious but i may have experienced it for like a day, woo. but yeah, it isn't fun lol, i wish you the best and hope you find a cure 💕
I used to have this as a child and people used to make fun of me great.
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Gabriel Ferrão2019-04-10 23:43:57 (edited 2019-04-10 23:50:04 )
I feel kind of like that after my father death when i was 10. It feels a little better nowadays. The visual effect of darkness you showed is (almost) pretty accurate. As a teenager I used to feel like nothing was real or like the oppacity of reality was like 10% and while beeing distracted all the time, being stuck inside my own mind all the time. I managed to get over some of this stuff and got more confident about my feelings. I believe a constant dose of natural (yet not very much probable) dopamin and serotonin dose could get our brain to work better and decide to experience 100% of reality. I think the excessive use of screens, phones and computer makes it worse.
I have this every day I first encountered it when I was 12 I told my mother it feels like I’m in a dream and I’m not here now being 21 it’s scary at times cause it feels like your soul is gone and you just want to snap back into reality but can’t 😞
I’ve been diagnosed with anxiety and Depersonalization/derealization and my psychiatrist put me on Zoloft which has severely calmed me down but from time to time I still get episodes of depersonalization where for a while I just can’t function
I was struggling for about 2 years getting the right diagnose. I saw this video and told my psychologist that this seems to hit very close to home. A few months later I get tested on EVERYTHING like my IQ and all that. Turns out I also have derealisation and only very occasionally depersonalisation. Thanks Dodie for helping me getting this diagnose. I’ve been diagnosed for almost a year now and I still haven’t found a medicine or smthn lol but it’s fine at least I know I’m not the only one.
I actually think this is related to our thought patterns. I also have struggled with DR for the past 5 years and usually it's just a sense of unreality for me - almost like my brain cannot fully comprehend reality. But in times where I have felt peace and not been stressed or worried (which sadly is not a lot of the time) it has subsided a little and I feel better. I also find that if I don't get enough sleep it gets way worse. So I guess the more you look after yourself and the more positive you think then it can be bettered :) Also I think the reason why some people have this is probably, in my case anyway, is because of overthinking causing your brain to wear out and feel exhausted so it tries to 'disconnect from reality' in order to fully cope with your circumstances and still yet function relatively well. Lastly I think that some personality types are more susceptible to it and also probably some genetic factors contribute but I fully believe that if your brain can get to this state it can, with the right treatment of yourself, be fully diminished.
wow, i tought i was the only one, who experiences this! but i don't feel like this all the time, just only when i'm super excited/scared/tired. i tought I was going crazy. 😂
I have dissociative episodes something but I couldn't imagine living like that forever. But I'm writing this because I can testify to that "floating" feeling.
Hey dodie, i‘ve listen to most of ur music but I never knew about ur mental health and ur illness. Whatever my cousin does have the same illness and I never understand her what it was like when she had her moments. Thank u for explaining it for all of us. For now we don’t talk anymore she is mad at me. Happend a lot at the last few weeks even because of her mental illness.
To everyone struggling with this: you are not alone. For me, derealization was more of a symptom of depression than a separate problem, and as terrible as it was while it lasted, I'm lucky to be free of both of them now. After years of therapy, the fog slowly lifted. Everything can be as beautiful and vivid as it once was, so never lose hope!
Omg! One time (during a very stressful time in my life) I was eating breakfast, and all of a sudden I felt weird. I felt as though my soul had been taken out of my body. Sounds weird/fake, but that’s how I would explain it. It was such a strange sensation! I felt very tired, and as though I was sleep walking? Is this derealsation? Sp?
I have it too, after smoking weed, and it also caused depression/anxiety in my case. Next day, after the incident: boom, I had it. Never experienced those feelings before. Was barely able to eat, wanted to sleep all day, going to work was impossible, etc etc. Later on, I also couldn't sleep anymore, sometimes a few hours per night. It really sucks.
I've had this on and off for the last 10+ years, it's not constant like yours but very often, especially lately it's been constant and it's so fricken hard to explain it and try to get someone to explain it without saying it's like being tipsy but you're not, seeing through the wrong prescription glasses that are slightly off or something I can't explain it. I only found out the name through my psychiatrist about a month ago so it's nice to have it linked to a diagnosis type thing. Thank you for the video and good luck with your current and future treatments. :)
I’ve defiantly experienced this because of my anxiety, mainly when I start a new job and I have a lot of things to learn and remember and a lot of new people to meet. I’ve been doing internships all year and sometimes it’s so embarrassing because I feel like I just act like an idiot when really I’m just so stressed and anxious I can’t focus. I try not to talk about it much because I just block it out and move on, faking it till I make it.
It happens to me a lot like disconnecting from reality and feeling dizzy sometimes and I put in glasses cause I thought it was this but it wasn’t... I’m not saying I have that condition but I totally know how that feels and that’s why a lot of times I have depression crisis etc
this happened to me once as a small child I was at swimming pool and during the time my vision was a little darker than usual but I didn’t think much of it I thought just had some water in my eyes and all of a sudden i felt like I was falling backwards a bit and I didn’t even notice I had a body and then I thought I was sitting in the movie theatre watching life through my eyes on a screen and I couldn’t snap out of it
I can’t remember much. And when I do it’s something obsessive that I can’t forget. It’s always something negative of course. But I feel like I’m living life behind the invisibility cloak. My friends always got to pull me out of my own head.
I think I may have this too actually Dodie. I do sometimes space out randomly while I’m having a stressful conversation and just randomly while I’m listening to a teacher at school or something. It’s weird, but pretty much all the symptoms of this so idk. Maybe.
Derealization for me usually comes after depersonalization. I feel like I'm not experiencing things myself, just second hand. I stub my toe but I'm not one in pain, this character I'm following is. Eventually everything gets dreamlike if I don't come out of that feeling after a day or so. Derealization hasn't been as bad lately, but in times of stress I still experience depersonalization.
I tried sleep deprivation therapy, but after only one trial I can't say whether it would work for me or not. Was starting to feel okay, but things were said to me that caused a downward spiral. So I feel like events got in the way of what help it could have done.
Also, weird thing, I feel the most connected with reality when enjoying games, movies, or books. When depersonalized, I feel like I'm actually me sitting in that chair playing that game. As soon as the game turns off, I'm back to just sharing the experiences of this person in the chair I was just in.
Idk if this is even similar, but when I feel overwhelmed or overstimulated, my sights always becomes super unfocused and hazy, and things just seem blurred together and off. I’m not sure if that’s something or just nothing, but it’s incredibly frustrating when I want to actually have a fun experience and memories 🙄
That's an interesting coincidence, I had a major panic attack in 2013 and ive been in a derealized/dissociated state ever since. Obviously after almost 6 years it's way more managed than it was in the first 3 years but this is an INCREDIBLY disabling condition and the frustrating part is you can't really fully encompass or wrap your head around the experience to explain it to people Because that in and of itself is part of the problem since it manipulates your perspective. For me it's felt like every day was waking up inside a different ugly painting, it also affects my short term memory and my ability to mentally multitask. Like before I had it I was able to just kind of jump from one priority to the next, but now its like, if I'm focused on something I'm almosy locked in to where I can't pay attention to anything around me. Either way I'm glad I got it somewhat under control to where I'm able to carry out daily functions without stress. Its all about staying busy and making priorities to work on in your life, your brain will catch up to that and sort of build an immunity around what's happening, it's not meant to stay in that state forever.
I'm 14 and I feel like for the past 2-3 years people just write most of the stuff I have off as puberty or "you're just growing up, get over it" and it's so frustrating. Glad I know what it is now
Sometimes I can’t tell the difference between dreaming and real life. Sometimes I’ll be sitting in class and feeling like this is a dream. I deep down know it’s not but I feel the same in dreams. Brains are weird. Dreams are weird. Have a good day.
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Mae Hagelgans2019-03-03 04:21:19 (edited 2019-03-03 04:24:49 )
Derealization makes you incredibly alone. I can be in a room filled with people and feel like I'm by myself. More often than not lately I feel like I'm in this bubble, that isolates me from the rest of the world. I still interact with everyone around me, but it feels like the words that come out of my mouth are meaningless. Sometimes I start thinking about how it's like whatever I say is not of my accord. It just comes out and I don't have control over it. Same with my actions. I just do them, without thinking in my head, then afterwards I start freaking out because I don't understand where the actions came into existence. Sometimes I'll be laying on my bed trying to sleep and I start thinking of the very idea of existence. Am I here? What IS here? And the only thing that stops me from entirely freaking out is holding my hand in front of my face, watching the colors and focus and sharpness of my fingers, reminding myself that there is an image in front of me. I am seeing whatever this is, so its real. Sometimes I have to turn my music up loud through my headphones and tune out the world. But a lot of times, nothing is enough to stop me from getting anxiety. I'm always anxious. My heart is always racing. I shut out people. I've lost all interest and motivation to do anything that used to be important to me.
It's worse over the summer. When the colors are more vivid, I find them overwhelming. I'll be stargazing and the sheer immensity of the stars makes me feel like time has stopped. It's an incredible feeling because I feel above every one else, more connected than those around me. However once the significance of this sets in, my heart goes into overdrive and I just want to cry and scream and wake up from this "dream" that is reality. I can't talk to anyone about this. I feel like it stems off of my atheism. And everyone around me, all my family and literally all my friends except for the one that I have kinda told, are very religious and wouldn't understand. (and would be disappointed, none of them know I don't believe).
I always thought it was just me. I didn't realize this was an actual condition. But more than a condition, it's my perspective of the world. As scary as it is, as isolating as it is, I'm not sure I want it to go away. I feel like it oddly makes me feel incredibly alive while also feeling like being in a dream. It's hard to explain.
Sometimes I can go for periods of time without being bothered. I'll go through the school day and not think about it once. Or I'll spend an evening laughing with friends and it doesn't phase me. But then suddenly it hits. It always does. And I realize I don't remember much from when I was having a carefree time. It's all a haze. My memory is absolutely terrible. I have to sit there and think, "Did I do this?" or "Was that a dream or was it real?" And I'll remark it to a friend/family member and they just laugh about it. In the moment I laugh about it too, but then I start to panic because I should not be feeling this way! And to what extent am I living in a dream? what if existence IS a dream?
It brings a constant, heavy headache. Physical movement is too much. I'm always overthinking everything and it makes my head hurt endlessly.
It's all gotten worse lately. I just want to scream. Cry. Laugh. I just want to feel alive. I feel like I'm trapped, trapped in a mind that is not mine, one step too far from reaching the edge into reality. It's my own living hell. But knowing there's a name to this hell, derealization, is a little more comforting.
Its like sitting back on a couch inside your brain to see your body know exactly what to do like a routine. It feels like a lucid dream or you just watching a blurry movie. Its awful when you have it and you need to snap back into reality to focus on something important, but you just can't and its hard to remember anything (like a dream)
people say that this is a result of stress or trauma, but i've had this for as long as i can remember. i told my friend in 4th grade, but i knew i had it for much longer, like 3 years old. i don't have any other symptoms of trauma and i've had a pretty good childhood, so what could it be?
THANK YOU FOR YOUR VIDEO i think the worst part of derealisation is that people and objects look fake and you cant really explain it to people. And even if you do explain it to people, they cant imagine what it is like having derealisation and how frustrating it can be. Also i stopped comparing it to being drunk/high because its rly making it sound not too bad when it really is sooo scary.. when suddenly everything looks weird and fake and you think you are loosing your mind, running around in a dream you wont wake up from.
my best tips: STOP WATCHING VIDEOS ABOUT IT, STOP TALKING ABOUT IT, STOP THINKING ABOUT IT! i know thats hard especially in the beginning but i trained my brain and its hard work. My Derealisation didn't go away but i can enjoy life again without panikattacks lol. like if ur thinking "omg the sky looks so weird again" instantly replace it with "but its such a beautiful day wow" And for me, the more i accepted my derealisation, the better it was getting. So don't obsess over it, I did that reading hundred articles on how to get rid of it, and believe me it will only make it worse. Also don't isolate yourself, no matter how weird and scary and unreal your environment looks (i isolated myself and every time when I HAD TO leave the house it was SO BAD) instead do the opposite, when you have a day when your vision is really bad, go outside and meet friends and have fun(at the beginning avoid very crowded places, be with people you trust), show your brain that it doesn't have to be afraid and doesn't have to dissociate/ disconnect with the world(but dont force yourself, like if you're getting panic attacks as soon as you walk out of your door, dont go, or maybe only with people you rly trust) . Also i took off my glasses!! my eyes are not too bad so when i take off my glasses i can still se pretty good but everything will get slightly more blurry and it makes me feel better cause if you see less, it will also look less unreal lol.
I have depersonalization, and the thing that has always scared me the most is the fact that I am unable to recognize my eyes. My eyes look different or empty, like the life is gone. I think our consciousness gives our eyes our light and our soul, but when I go through these episodes my consciousness is out of my body so the "light is out." I conjured this thought when I saw a man tripping at a music festival and his "light" was gone, and then I started to take tabs on what people's eyes look like when they are daydreaming, their "lights" are gone too. I have never tripped before so I cannot analyze why their consciousness is somewhere else, but I do have very vivid daydreams so I can give my theory on this. When we daydream our consciousness leaves our present reality and travels to a different reality, such as a memory or a made up fantasy. When this happens our consciousness essentially leaves our present body making our eyes look dead. Since we have never seen this look in our eyes before we are unable to recognize ourselves and freak out, but it is a completely normal look that daydreamers have. I wrote this to kind of provide closure for any individuals struggling with the self-recognition part of it all, which is what used to affect me the most since it made me feel like a stranger was controlling my body, when it is what my subconscious or animal-like state looks like. I am hoping that this has put some of your minds at ease, and of course I do not know if this is facts it's just my own assumptions that I have accepted as true since I have not found any contradictions to this.
It’s so weird, I think I have something similar but not exactly parallel to this. I go into different head spaces and section out my day then just zone out for a while. I’m really not sure what it is
Let me clarify for some people :) . It’s completely normal to have these symptoms form time to time, in stressful situations. it’s not normal to have these symptoms all the time . It’s all very VERY easy to misdiagnose yourself . And confuse these symptoms with something else . Dpdr is very specific .
It's really hard explaining that I have depersonalization to people because they've never experienced it. They don't know what it's like. One time I explained as kind of always being stoned and my friend said "That sounds awesome! I wish I had that!" Like, no. No you don't. It's terrible and just looking in the mirror can send me into disassociation for hours. It's a terrible way to live but no one knows that. And I'm not blaming them, I'm just envious that they'll never have to go through all of this. Yet, I'm stuck here.
This is EXACTLY how I feel when I’m high. Only did it once and never again. I couldn’t remember anything that happened the second before. I couldn’t recognize my own voice, or understand English/the words I was saying even though I was speaking English and my body felt numb and non existent and I had to keep touching sharp/cold things to bring me back to reality.
That is actually a common side effect from weed. It typically only happens the first time. Being stoned is usually nothing like that. I'm not encouraging you to use, just pointing it out
gamer guy I thought it might have been the first time too. Ive tried edibles, blunts, and a dab pen and it happens every single time... 😪 I wish I could just enjoy it like most people 😂
I would stay away from dabs, oils, and edibles at least until you get used to it. Start with a one hitter. Take one hit on occasion. Build up your tolerance. I had a similar problem when I was a teenager. I actually passed out flat on my face. But start by smoking just a hit. Not enough to really feel it. Environment is also a factor. Being with certain people or in certain places can trigger these feelings. Try finding strains that won't provoke anxiety as well. I smoke regularly now and havent had that issue in over 20 years. Hope that helps. Sorry for the paragraph. Lol
i recently had an experience that may have triggered this, not sure if i have this but i had sensory overload and i haven't felt awake since, this happened a week or two ago and nothing feels normal. a lot of the time i feel like i go into auto pilot and i can have conversations and answer questions i didn't even hear, it almost feels like when you go to a movie and when you come out it's pitch black and you have no idea what time it is even though it's just an hour or two after you enters the theatre it could have been a year and it wouldn't have made much of a difference. or when you fall asleep right after school and wake up in the middle of the night and it should be morning but it's not. time just feels wrong and unnatural, sometimes it moves to slow and sometimes it moves too fast and i can never tell where i'm supposed to be because i can't seem to remember if i was going to bed or just waking up. i'm not sure if something caused this or it's been waiting for a time to pop up to say hello, i'm a bit nervous to talk about it but i'm sick of not being able to surface above the water when i'm always so close. if anyone has any advice or knowledge about this i would love to hear it but for now i'm kind of in the dark
Movie Theater: After watching a movie in the theater, I am stuck in Derealization theater mode for a while and it's especially noticeable when I walk out to the parking lot to my car. (I'm happy you mentioned this.)
I used to have severe episodes which would last for hours as a child. Today, the episodes are very mild and very short. I have been trying to find ways to induce this in people who don't have it or at least to depict to them what it's like to experience it. Staring into a large mirror can be a trigger for me because I being to feel as tho I have entered the mirror and and stuck inside it. Hanging upside down can be a trigger because severe episodes cause me to feel upside down as I'm walking down the street. During my Dereal episodes, I lose all time and space and it it the most mentally uncomfortable feeling I could ever imagine. Most every day, I feel as tho I'm dreaming. I don't really know what normal is supposed to feel like or to be perceived as. If it's very mild, I rather enjoy it since it feels like being high. I do not use drugs of any kind except Diphenhydramine occasionally for DR. Alcohol will pull me out of an episode because it relaxes me. However, I do not depend on alcohol, have never had an alcohol problem, and I maintain a very low tolerance to it so that if I really need it, it will work in minutes with only one drink.
Thank you for this video! I've had DR since the age of seven. I am 60 now.
I do not know if you will see this comment but I went Gluten free and cut out almost all sugar and It helps your brain TREMENDOUSLY! Also looking at screens alot throughout the day can cause things to feel off due to eye strain. Just try Gluten free, Cut out sugars and bread. It really does help with the stoumach and brain. God bless you and have a wonderful day :)
I just thought this was normal and how everyone processed things when they get stressed out! I have social anxiety and bipolar depression...I feel like it comes and goes, especially when I’m out in public...so weird
After getting high once I started getting weird instances of depersonalization (similar to derealization) and it’s so scary and off putting
It lasted for a good month and would hit me at random moments. Felt like someone threw me into a video game...? like my eyes were not in my body? Immediately I felt fear and started questioning my existence... I didn’t feel real
I actually have it to, and sometimes, when i'm stressed, it's worse, and I dont remember all of what happened during the moment I was derealised. I hate it.
ImNoxy you need to look into ketamine treatment or even do extensive research on DXM (poor man's ketamine) could save your life from depression/suicide
but what if it isn't there all the time? I just have moments that are either like 5 seconds or 5 minutes long and it seems like each time it comes it stays longer and longer and I'm terrified at some point it will come and stay and never go away again.
That bit with walking out of the cinema and friends not looking right is exactly how it feels aswell
I deal with this 24/7 too and I always feel like i'm in a dream, I feel intoxicated, I don't remember a lot of what happened throughout my day and just looking outside feels bland and not like it used too and spacing out ALL the time. I never live in the moment or see the beauty of the world anymore. I also know exactly how this happened to be as I was in an extremely emotional abusive relationship previously and I know before that I did not ever have a problem with this. I get way more moody then I used too and feel like my life is pointless because of it. Which is sad to say but I truly feel that way a lot.
Forgot to mention that when I ACTUALLY dream I wake up and it feels like that dream actually happened and sometimes it feels so real it becomes a memory of mine that I actually think happened. I have a hard time separating my dreams and my reality.
I can’t afford a mental health professional so i just have to wait to solve this problem but it’s getting worse for me every day I had a breakdown and one day at work my vision had that darkness but it kept getting darker I thought I was gonna pass out. I’ll be fine tho I just have to wait another year or so.
I see clearly but I feel disconnected and feel like everything doesnt matter or if everyone isn't real to me or matter even though I know they are or suppose to matter. .. I sometimes feel dizzy when I move my eye sight but like my vision moves very unbalanced but nothing blurry. Sounds do sound louder to me though.
I lose hours of everyday , its like im on autopilot and ill come back to reality and a solid 40 minutes have passed and i wont remember what i did or even if i was thinking about anything at all. can relate
Mine started with a heart episode caused by a would be diagnosed WPW genetic heart malfunction. I was 9 years old then and ever since that day, my world was never the same. I went to bed that night, traumatized and hoped to wake up normal. Instead, It just stayed like a dream and it was terrifying and still can be today, at 22 years old. Im still getting used to it and I can still remember when things felt normal and human. I feel artificial or like Im living inside a coma persistently.
Dunno if its derealization, but I dont think it’s really that diagnosable. Meds dont work for it either. When I feel a strong bout, all I want to do is close my eyes and sleep it through. Seems like a healthy and active lifestyle is what I needed to break the anxiety to push through the panic I feel when it happens
Whenever I open my eyes after closing them for a few minutes in a car because the sun is too bright, everything has a blueish tint to it and I feel like my head isn't connected to my body. After looking up at the sky for a while, I sit up and feel like I'm floating. My friends who I'd been chatting to the whole time looked different. They looked like a 3d picture. I stand up and feel like I'm dreaming. I don't take in my friends voices or words, just slightly nodding my head. I have bad anxiety and depression. I sometimes feel I'm not real and space out, feeling like I'm in a simulation, and I'm the character that someone else is controlling. Idk. I'm not diagnosed with derealization or depersonalization and I don't even know if I should be. Someone help ;(
DP and DR occur simoltaneously always just sometimes one is worse than the other
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El Frank2019-03-17 06:44:46 (edited 2019-03-17 06:48:02 )
I just can't believe this is real. I thought the same. I thought it would eventually change. I suffer the exact same thing. I feel im dreamig. My family and friend just never understand me and even look at me with those eyes. What i do is to try different things every few weaks so I can feel everithing new and makes me feel focused. As soon as I get used to something, time disappears. I dont know what to do. Thank you very much for this. Im not alone. Im not a ghost u.u. I just, thank you. Time and people use to disappear just in front of my face and I feel lost. Whatever I look, its just long halls and white noise. I feel despair and yet I have to smile to everyone and xontinue going forward, and finally, acting "normal" drains my energy so fast. I just make me wish im in my bed
I have this. I’m only 13 and I really want to tell my parents but I’m scared. I feel like I’m dreaming all the time and I look at my hands and think to myself “am I real? How am I here?” Please help me.
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nG nJ2019-03-19 23:28:13 (edited 2019-03-19 23:30:42 )
I don't know if it's similar but sometimes I feel like the world isn't real and it's more of a game where everyone but me is an npc. I don't tend to focus on that feeling, because it's trippy and philosophical but I've had that for 10 years at least. Or sometimes I look at my mom and think "this is my mother" and it's such a weird feeling as if I were learning that fact at that moment.
Oh my god every time there is any kind of change it’s like my whole life goes blurry and it’s so frustrating and it feels like time passes wrong and sometimes it’s okay but it’s like my metaphorical eyes are blurred and I can’t focus them again.
Seeing this rather late sadly. I'm a 28 year old guy and I've been suffering from this very condition since I was around 13. I was originally diagnosed as simply having severe anxiety and depression. Which are a part of my problem yes, along with paranoia and insomnia but all of these stem from my real problem of derealization/depersonalization. I was never truly diagnosed by a therapist but then again I've only seen a small few and they weren't very good. They were the types to generalize and toss a prescription at you instead of listening and truly trying to figure out what's wrong. I was diagnosed by them to have dependent personality disorder but that was a misdiagnosis. They also tried me on a few drugs and I swore off them after the last time, which resulted in my anxiety and overall symptoms growing worse, oh and lovely gushing nosebleeds. It was left up to me to figure out what was wrong with me, I thought I was honestly going crazy and was going to end up unable to function in real life and be committed. I found the resolve to face my problem head on and begin searching for help. I first began be analyzing my symptoms as they would occur and break them down. This took time and was very hard to do but I managed. After I understood my symptoms it became a process of addressing those symptoms and rationalizing them. I did have certain situations and places that would cause me to fall into a sever anxiety attack and launch me deep into basically a state of shock. The same frightening, alien feeling like you're dying or unable to feel sensations or think clearly. Shock is derealization but most people only experience this through some form of extreme trauma. I would experience this just going to a store or being around a large group of people, as my mental illness grew worse in my teenage years I developed more and more triggers for this heightened sense of depersonalization/shock. It became that even certain smells and volumes of sound would trigger it. I could barely function at all in everyday life when I was 17. My illness had pushed me to drop out of school, I couldn't work or drive, I couldn't even get my license. By 18 I knew I needed to start my journey towards getting better. Exposure therapy was my best step forward. I forced myself to endure the shock and focus on going forward. It took around 3 years to get a solid grip on things. By 21 I had been able to get my license, get a G.E.D. and begin working. It's not easy and I still struggle when I have my bad days. Everyday I still feel this way, I'm always tolerating my depersonalization but I've come to accept it and always focus on analyzing and rationalizing when my mind doesn't seem to comprehend the reality of my everyday life. I will look in the mirror and see myself, I do look strange or off, I don't seem like myself or real but that's ok. I understand that's just my mind lying to me, I understand that I'm ok and nothing's wrong. I ignore it and move on, that's all you can do. It gets better with time and experience.
I always feel like I’m not real. I play basketball and when we run at pratice it gets really bad, I start to feel really light headed and my entire body feels numb and everything sounds weird. So I have to sit out almost every practice and it’s so embarrassing, I get made fun of a lot. My parents and my doctor think it’s a blood pressure problem, so I’m taking medicine for that and it doesn’t do anything. My parents won’t believe when I say that I might have derealisation or depersonalization. Can someone please tell me what’s wrong with me? 😭
i have this!! i see a psychologist and stuff but i have various other mental health problems and it sucks. i only found out the answer to my questions to why i always felt like i was just floating like a week ago when i brought it up in one of my therapy sessions. for me its anxiety related and only when i get super anxious over something, sometimes my brain just decides to do that rather than go into panic mode, which i am somewhat thankful for (because panic attacks suck) but i basically end up completely zoning out in a way. its hard to explain but i know whats going on around me at the time, i just don't remember what anyone's saying, and this can be a huge problem in class, causing me more stress down the line. anyway what i am trying to say is, you are not alone dodie and you are strong for talking about it because i honestly don't know if i'm going to press that "comment" button.
DAMN I HAVE HAD THIS FOR 5 DAYS STRAIGHT AND SKSKSK IT FELT WEIRD AF. IT STARTED ON A FIELD TRIP TO AN ISLAND. I fell asleep on the bus and when I woke up, I felt extremely weird. It felt like I was in a dream. Like I could do anything, nobody was watching. I searched it up and it said that its called derealisation. I kind of like the feeling, but don't. Does that even make sense??
This happens to me occasionally and I really don’t like it, my dad got it when he was younger and so did my uncle. I have it rn and I’m not liking it at all
This is fucking crazy. I‘ve been dealing with this for about probably 8 years or so, i never knew if it was actually something wrong with me or if this is very normal and everyone experiences life like this, i thought maybe its just because i‘ve grown up??? Lol. I‘ve been in therapy for a long time now. Diagnosed with ADHD, taking adderall and all that. I‘ve told my therapist about this problem i had, that everything kinda feels like im in a dream. Like there‘s some sort of filter over everything that makes stuff just kinda... not look real. And that this is the main thing that causes me so much struggle to study and stuff, because i disconnect so easily. Obviously she just told me its because of the adhd, that i drift off easily, because of the lack of motivation for stuff that doesnt seem interesting to me. It was really difficult for me to explain, that i dont think that its because of my adhd. Because every adhd kid i know, has never experienced what i tried to explain to them. They just told me i‘m probably just a really sleepy person and need to have a better sleep pattern and get at least 7hours of sleep a day, etc etc. nobody ever got wtf i was talking about. Not even my therapist. I really started thinking i might go into the direction of getting some psychotic episode or sth, because my thoughts would sometimes mix in with my real life. For example what happens a lot to me lately, is when i greet a random person, i then start to worry that i did not say „hi“ to the person, but actually something really weird like „i love you“ or stuff. Of course i didnt, but my brain makes up weird stuff sometimes, that didnt happen. I really thought i was turning fucking crazy. I‘m not tryna self diagnose right now, because maybe maybe it could be something else, but you‘ve just explained EXACTLY what i feel like all the time. Its like a hit in the face, its crazy that i‘m not the only one. Thank you for making this video, i will show this to my therapist. And also what i‘d like to mention is that you should consider trying out adderall. It really helps with this sensation. I mean, you just kinda feel a little bit more connected to your body and its easier to focus on stuff and makes you feel a little more present, it doesnt fix everything of course. I still feel like i‘m i stuck in this weird kinda liminal space, like i‘m not as much „here“ as other people are. But it helps me out and its pretty cool. Thank you again
I don't know if this is a mental disorder but when I look in the mirror, sometimes I'll feel like my spirit and my body are two separate beings. Like there are two of me. Physical me and Spirit me. Spirit me is my inner thoughts and what controls me, while physical me is what carries out those actions, and the person I am to other people. So when I look in the mirror it's another person because that's not the me in my thought process, like a puppet and the person pulling the strings, except more of a symbiotic relationship... I know it's kinda weird, but sometimes I think about it. I also talk to myself a lot, but I don't know if it's for the same reason.
I totally understand this feeling as someone with derealization and depersonalization, I think it makes absolute sense though, we sort off are two people in a sense (I don't mean multiple personalities), we are our mind and physical being and must work together and treat ourselves with kindness just as we would anyone else around us. We have us, and the manager of us(us and who we would like to be/accomplish), and they need to get along to be productive.
i relate to this so much but what happens to me is it comes at random times. Whether im just sitting in my class and looking at someone presenting and completely forget who they are and they look weird and unfamiliar. Or i’m even with my family at disney and feel for a second that i’m with strangers and not sure where i am. it’s crazy it is so scary. it even happens with the time and days when i get so caught up into a book i forget were i am after or whats going on. I also happens with even forgetting who i am or questioning my existence and panicking because of it. this is the best way i can explain what happens because my brain blacks it out after its done so its hard to explain. thank you for sharing this its nice to know i’m not alone.
I feel like I hover above my head like I am high or I am supper tired and feel like I am on auto pilot I am getting help but the only time I feel normal is when I am high because I have a reason to feel this way . It makes it really hard to stop and I have relapsed over and over again. I really hope I don't feel like this forever
Well idk if I ever had that cuz I don't want to self diagnose myself but I wonder if I might have had it. At the time I thought it was part of antidepressant withdraw symptoms. I stopped taking them on accident my first year of college and ended up not being able to leave my dorm for a whole semester I was so stressed and afraid and it's all a blur to me I would often describe my experience that year like a bad dream or like feeling like I was constantly dreaming all the days seemed to meld together I barely remember anything from that time like I was asleep for a couple of years. IDK if anyone has had anything similar
is there a difference between being like this and being spacey? i’m starting to worry now lol. also isn’t this just kind of similar to being high all the time?
Does anyone else suffering from this have trouble keeping a job? Or is it just me? When I "snap out of it" it makes it near impossible for me to function at work.
For me depersonalization is felling disconnected from the world and my body for example my body would move but my thoughts would not be intached if you know what I mean. Sometimes I try to pinch myself but that doesn’t work..
Derealisation/depersonalisation is insight in the holographic/illusionary nature of reality without having found your true place of perceiving. That is why it is a spiritual issue which has to be treated that way. People having it are right: reality is a kind of dream. It only seems real because we attach to it. But when you have DR/DP you lose your grip on it, which feels awful if you try to get that grip on it. Letting go of gripping is relieving that anxiety and slowly brings you to another kind of perception, in which the world is seen as the mirage that it is, but you yourself as 100% real. And that reality of yourself is so peaceful and fulfilling, that you will begin to lose your desire to hold on to a world which cannot really be held on to anyway, since it is always changing. DR/DP is not a curse. It doesn't have to be.
I had this, it is terrifying but don't let anyone tell you that you can't better because you can. No matter how long you've had it, how bad you are there is hope. I had it really badly for about a year but I'm fully recovered .
I feel like I can never focus. I recently started working and it has been 2 months so far and people are just getting so tired and frustrated with my slowness. I look up at the screen for the orders and my mind goes blank and when I feel pressured I black out and think more about not messing up that I tend to accomplish that even more :/. I’m not a sad kid I love life and every time I’m having fun a wave of depression hits me that we’re all just gonna die and it makes me so sad even though everyone will go through it. I zone out so much that people think I’m never listening and people call me “slow” which I am. Nothing traumatic has ever happened to me as a kid or anything like that, al though I did have my ups and downs but everyone goes through that. I also want to point out that sometimes I tend to focus on what people are seeing (physically wise) because I don’t know what I actually look like. I take picture and film myself but I could never remember what I actually look like and that gives me anxiety. I constantly worry about if I look ugly or just foolish when I get mad so I tend to shut off because it’s like I NEED to know what I look like. Ugh...
Also I forget things so fast... a customer will say something and I turn around and completely forget, and it happens alll the time. My manager is getting so frustrated with me I’m scared it will affect my life :(.
Derealization/Depersonalization sucks so much. Dissociation in general such a simple sounding, yet SUPER complex experience. To me at least, I have schizophrenia and BPD, it’s really cool to see you advocating for something mental health related that isn’t only about depression and anxiety :)
Wow I am the same... :( I am really corious about what this actually is.... And where this comes from.... Cause it's just so strange and makes it so hard to excist... I wish someone would know the anwser for DR/DP....
I’m not a psychologist of any kind, but I thought I would share what works for me. I find derealization treatable through grounding techniques. It’s definitely a process, and it takes a long time to get back to ‘normal’, but the best thing to do is engage with your senses. It can be as simple as just touching the cushion of your couch. Note how it feels, its color, does it press down when you push on it? Base senses are the first step. The next step is: how does it make you feel? Would it be nice to lie down on the couch? Is it soft, does it make you feel comfortable and cozy? If you can’t do this right off the bat, it may be easier if you can remember a time when you did feel the world around you more viscerally. Try to recall that time, maybe even a specific time. A nice summer day where you were sitting in the couch, a cool breeze coming in through the windows, maybe you were enjoying some ice cream, watching a movie. This is just an example. Grounding can work with anything; a cold drink, your fuzzy pet, a spicy taco, your own body. Engage with all of your senses, actively, as much as possible. I recommend looking up grounding and mindfulness techniques. It can take a LOT of effort, especially when you’re feeling so fuzzy headed, but practicing a little bit every day has helped me enjoy life so much more.
I have not been diagnosed with this disorder but my psychotherapist says I definitely have the symptoms. I was just wondering if someone else who feels the same way has differing levels of dps and drs, because some days I feel a bit floaty (almost tipsy) whereas other days I feel like I’ve drunk like 5 bottles of wine, my head hurts, i’m overwhelmed, sometimes it gets so bad I forget where I am. Is this fluctuation normal??? thanks fam x
You might want to try self-empathizing. Maybe you've been sort of like thinking outside of yourself too much if that makes sense... Like maybe try to look in the mirror and be like "Ok this ME" and move your arm or something and consciously think or say "I am moving my arm" maybe. Just a theory. I'm thinking along the lines of grounding exercises. If they seem to work, then maybe do them every day so you get used to it.
You aren’t insane I have it too. You’re just waking up. Reality isn’t real it is a dream, a shared one. Perception friends. Look it up, dive into the truth.
You can't rely on NHS unfortunately. They've failed me time and time again. The attitude towards and the understanding of the mental health is very dated on UK. I have a friend who recommended something. At universities where they study psychology and therapies, they have to volunteer a lot to gain experience and practice different approaches and working with different patients and issues. I've only been to three sessions but I've already gained a lot more than what the 6 months of NHS therapy has given me, which is nothing at all.
Oh no. I think I have this. I've only just realised that it isn't normal. Everything just feels weird and it doesn't feel like I'm actually there. I can remember things but it's all in blurry snippets. I can't describe it .
Yeah... I maybe have this too. One day i felt really weird, i had many thoughts and i felt like.. I wasnt me or like in my body or yeah. I cried a lot and did a little things which i didnt even mean to. It was really scary.. So i guess i have depersonalization. Its not like 24/7 with me but it comes sometimes and goes away i guess. Thanks for making this video and help me to realize it, like when i had the first time those stuff, i remember this video. It helped me a lot! Thanks!^/u/^.. Of course im not 100% sure but im gonna talk about it with my teraphist.
Have your thoughts felt like they weren’t yours? Like random thought come and they don’t feel like they’re in your subconscious voice but instead someone else’s?
@Trap Jimmy Yeah that!.. Like.. I felt like i had many thoughts and every thought were from different person or like.. I dunno.. And i felt really confused because i dunno which thought to listen
Mato Herra I feel the exact same way and it’s been happening recently. I’m scared of going crazy and I actually fear of being schizophrenic and losing control :( recently I’ve felt like this and every thought I have i question is this the start of going mad, also ever sound and stuff I hear I wonder if it’s a hallucination. The derealization depersonalization to me feels like I’m watching through a tv and it sucks cause I wonder if I have somethinf completely different from others. Vision gets blurry, brain is foggy and at night when it’s silent my thoughts just get loud. This is just my experience
@Trap Jimmy Oh... hug Im sorry that you are going through that. You are not alone though!.. I feel like that way too, im scared that i will go crazy too.. Its very scary thought. Yeah.. To me its not (yet) that hard like.. I dont have it so much (it just started) and yeah.. Mhh.. But remember that there is many humans who have these stuff too and understand ya. You are not alone.. Im here for ya❤.. I have phobias too, like i believe that i have fear of being alone like left alone, eremofobia. Like.. None is with me. Im just all alone.
Ok, do you guys ever do something for the first time, so let's say, drank Pepsi for the first time, and when you're drinking it ur like, oh, this is like a new drink you know, it's cool, whatever, and then you think back to that moment, and you think that that's your second time doing it, like you remember already doing it like this happens to me all the time, and everytime I ask people, they don't get what I mean, are they don't have that anything any of that can you please let me know
BIG QUESTION: Is it the same as living like youre looking at a memory? Like as im walking down the street or talking to friends, it weirdly feels like im looking back at a memory. And when Im in class, the lights are always too bright and cause my eyes to struggle sooo bad to focus on the professor, even though I am front row. I am concious that I am not fully concious in a momenttt? I dont know how to explain it but I kind of understand. I dont want to self diagnois, I am just weirdly relating to these symptoms. Im pretty sure its anxiety, but I kinda see where dodie is coming from.
PeaceOfMyMind I feel like I have had something very similar to what you are describing. I’ve definitely had the bright light thing. However, I’m not really sure I can completely relate to you because I did have my eyes checked, but not by a mainstream optometrist. Anyway, he has done a bunch of research on eyes and the way light enters the eye and it has something to do with the cones in my eyes being deformed so he gave me glasses with prisms. They have been around for a really long time, but most regular optometrists don’t prescribe them cuz they think it’s kinda hocus pocos cuz it can help headaches, indigestion, balance, and the doctor has had success with a bunch of autistic kids. I’m not saying this is what you have or need, but to me it is like everything is too bright or I can’t see people’s faces properly and I have a hard time focusing. And sometimes it makes things dark too. I just wonder if some people think they have this disorder just because they see things differently, but I’m pretty sure I don’t because I don’t have the memory loss or stuff. I mean zoning out once in a while cuz I’m in my head is normal, and forgetting stuff that happened years ago like is normal as well. So like I guess I’m just confused how much of all this stuff has to correlate in order for someone to be diagnosed, u know? Idk if any of this made sense lol I’m kinda just rambling at this point
lightmountain No man, this is really good information definetly! To me, it really feels like my eyes are a big problem, so ill see if i can find someone other than the main stream doctor to check my eyes. I think this would really help a lot of people in the comments too! It's just for me, it kinda feels like it goes deeper? I hope not, so ill go to someone who can actually diagnous. I hope everyone else does too! Thanks again for this information!:)
Omg I have the same as you, that it feels like you're the future you looking back at a memory, except it's not a memory, it's you in the present moment. It's a really weird feeling, but I think it is also derealisation, as you feel disconnected to the present moment. When you look back on something, a memory, you're daydreaming and it feels like you're the future you daydreaming, which now thinking about it totally fucks me up, but alright. And the stuff with the lights I have as well.
PeaceOfMyMind derealization is a symptom of anxiety! Dodie is describing a dissociative disorder where the derealization is stand alone, but all the same symptoms can occur in short bouts as symptoms of anxiety or depression!
I don't know if it is the same, but I know that I sometimes have kinda the same things, not focusing, bright light, being less conscious, despite the teacher in front of me and my friends trying to wake me up, but it always mean I'm actually falling mentally asleep, before my body. Does it seem possible ? For me, it obviously come to the depersonalization that making me sleepy, so I doesn't mean you have nothing, but maybe you should also more sleep. :)
I have the same thing maybe because my parnts divorved and made it hard for my brain to get to do things when everythings different. Im 11 and my parents divorced when i was 9 i fell into a sort of deppresion yhen everything came crashing down.😟😞
Oh my god this happens to me too, also when i'm in class light is suddenly to bright for me, my eyes can't focus and everything sounds so far away from me, it scares me so fucking much
Daydreaming in class is normal. This issue is a 24/7 thing. Always dreaming, always unable to feel real. If you aren't 24/7 but have issues focusing in class (& are eating enough since an energy problem like lack of protein can make you lose focus), then consider asking to be screened for ADHD. My best friend has it and seeing someone about it helped her be able to concentrate in school.
Yes, it is kind of like that. It’s like a second ago could of happened a really long time ago. I once walked downstairs and then went upstairs when I realized something wasn’t right. I actually asked my parents if they remembered me being downstairs with them.
i used to deal with this so much, i still do but not as much. i felt like i would blink and then 15 minutes had passed. i don’t remember any of my freshman year because i was so disconnected for the entirety of it. it’s like there is this block of time missing ?? it sucks
Same here always dreaming but not aware of it, after watching this i can relate to this video. But it really help me in positive way, to spark my creativeness.
Someone needs to help me I’m 14 and when I’m on my phone or concentrated on something I’m okay but when I’m in class etc I zone out then I feel like I’m not real and all that. It’s been like this for about a week and it’s so fucking annoying
dodie, have you ever had to deal with unexpected death? i havent and my science teacher just committed suicide. if you have dealt with things like that, can you share about it some time in a video? i love how you explain things and i find your words always comforting. thanks<3 emma
Emma LaRose My best friend was gay and killed himself 4 years ago. No one will ever know for sure why someone decided to commit suicide, the only thing we know for certain is that that person was sick in some way... mentally sick, like depression/anxiety/ptsd ex. Sorry to hear about your Science Teacher, it's a hard and dark thing to go through, but 'tis life. Some people decide when to leave.
My classmate also recently committed suicide (across the road from the labs we use at my college) after a chain of events and we believe he chose that place for its familiarity. It's definitely such a huge shock although not completely unexpected from him. Sorry to hear about you teacher x
She talks very well about it in her book *this was not a paid advertisement*. Honestly, it is very good and anyone can give you advice about it but Dodie writes so eloquently so I'd check it.
i almost didn't watch this video because i have a very serious problem with projecting other's mental health problems onto my own and subconsciously creating mental illnesses in my mind (it's actually how my diagnosed depression started lol), and i was afraid of creating this mental illness for myself. however, i decided to watch it because it's dodie and i love you and honestly i'm so glad i did.
Kenzie Fox hypochondria is a mental health issue itself and can be incredibly difficult to deal with (I would know) I hope you are ok and everything improves for you dear.
Kenzie Fox I have the exact same problem and it does make it really hard to watch movies and tv shows about mental illness. I mainly wanted this video because I’ve been feeling really off for years and I thought maybe I had this, but then comes the trouble of not knowing if I actually do have it or if I’m just projecting and empathizing about it.
We found out a while ago about my déréalisation but for me it seems different. I have the same vision episodes as you during random times but when it becomes very bright I get very bubbly and almost like I’m high xD as you can see I’m trying to see the good side which is comforting g because when my vision gets dark I get panic attacks often. :) maybe someone here can relate
Simmer_Scape I can relate, I get this but maybe in a way that most people experience it...for me, it feels ether really euphoric or really depressing...not sure if this is normal or not?
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ava o donnell2017-12-22 00:57:19 (edited 2017-12-22 01:04:04 )
I had quite terrible derealisation on/off for a while now and I was so down when I felt like I wasn't experiencing your concert in Belfast properly! I felt numb and empty, like time wasn't happening and I was only observing the moment rather than the time that was in reality continuously going and going and going on :( I've been feeling a lot better recently and it's hard to imagine I felt so overwhelmed and hopeless for that long, and I truly hope you feel the liberation of the moment soon dodie! Thank you so much for sharing your emotions in a safe and educational way rather glamourising mental health problems!!! it's truly comforting! (For example: my very real tears of frustration during your performance of Secrets for the Mad)
ava o donnell I’ve had the exact same thing happen to me ,, it happens when I’m around too many people at once and I get this feeling of shock ,, (I don’t know if your familiar with the feeling of shock after something traumatic like a car accident or witnessing something scary ),, but that’s how it feels and I got struck with that feeling in a concert with of course bright lights and loud music I felt unreal ,, I’m glad to know that this is common so I don’t feel so alone :))
stingytv I get that completely! I have felt so much better depression wise but I still get pretty bad panic attacks (but I'm working on it!) I'm happy you reached out it makes me feel less alone (which I know sounds weird because I have friends) sometimes I'm not entirely sure why but I feel like I ament really there, like I'm seeing through my eyes and I can't do anything and I'm just witnessing the moment, people moving and doing things completely set me mad and I just break down, just days ago I was having an episode and I thought I heard my mum crying and I felt fear physically strike and I couldn't move (it was a dog howling) it's annoying how my mind messes with me sometimes and gets to me physically to the extent I get knots and fear stings throughout me irrationally but I truly think I'm getting better :) which I was sceptical of for so long
ava o donnell I’m happy your getting better ,, surround yourself with positive people and find ways to ground yourself back into reality ,, I get it ,, I often scare myself and panic when I feel disconnected but I try to breathe and it sounds weird but I feel stuff around me ,, and I take a break on whatever I’m doing to take the time to try to calm down,, thanks for taking the time to respond but I’m also learning to cope ,, I’m a happy person I just scare myself I hope your able to overcome most aspects of it :)) wish you luck ,,
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AK joao2019-03-20 12:08:03 (edited 2019-03-20 12:09:59 )
Wait,there's a differience between a dream and the real life except you are sleep and feel the dream like a normal life and can't read ?
I don’t have this as a mental heath issue in its own but as a side affect of a blood disorder called anemia, where I haven’t enough iron in my blood so I can’t get enough oxygen around my boy and brain. For me the feeling of always being in a dream is accompanied by sever headaches, exhaustion, leg cramps and lack of concentration. I am getting treatment but my anemia is a lot more severe than most cases which is why it is so prolonged. It’s hard but I am dealing with it. I just wanted to say this Incase anyone here might not know about anemia and it can be a reason for feeling like you’re in a dream.
I've struggled with this feeling since i was young and I was recently diagnosed with anemia. I am a hyper anxious person and my hands go numb during spells but since I've started taking iron it does seem to help with the numbness and anxiety associated with feeling like I'm dreaming. I think the two are definitely linked in a way
My hands go numb too (and cold) and my vision goes black, sometimes for hours, in patches and my equilibrium is completely wobbly. My doctor is reluctant to help me to check if I'm anemic (for what reason I have no idea), but this sounds just like me because I have physical symptoms sometimes.
I just had my blood tested and that's not the case for me! My blood is perfectly fine and I'm experiencing what was described in the video. In addition, Sometimes I would see drastic changes in color (things turning too light, dark or blue-ish, red-ish, gray-ish) and even looking at a clock I would see 5 pm and later on 3 pm, as if I was lucid dreaming.
Holy shit thank you. I just found out I had anemia recently and was wondering why I had these dream-like feelings with horrible memory problems. I bought iron supplements and they really help quite a bit. However, my underlying issue has got to be hypothyroidism because I also have low bp, excessive weight with an inability to get rid of it, and a goiter.
this is a genuine question, not rhetoric and coming from someone who struggles with very similar issues: HOW do you still function? Because I literally just sit in the same spot all day staring at a wall or computer screen and don't get anything done at all.
you have to push yourself to do something. A mantra that my therapist told me (and that i still have to remind myself of every day): 'motivation follows action not the other way around' ie - you can't sit around waiting for the motivation to do something you have to just do it and the motivation to carry on will follow. if you're struggling with disassociation try some grounding techniques or mindfulness breathing exercises :)
Everybody is different too, it doesn't make you any lesser. Like some people with depression are catonic most of the time and some live almost indistinguishable lives from neurotypicals. I've got chronic fatigue and can't deal with walking up stairs while carrying a backpack, but others with that same condition use wheelchairs to get around on flat surfaces.
Sometimes I feel dizzy and my vision is.. weird? I feel like I can’t wake up and I wipe my eyes and I just feel like when I’m in a dream and I just get a weird feeling when in starring at stuff. It’s not constant though. It happened more when I wasn’t eating enough in 7th grade and always skipped lunch ( I won’t get into that stuff ) but now I eat normal and it happens less but it still happens sometimes and idk what’s wrong
I am 14 and when you mentioned the vision thing from your book where everything goes blurry, i thought about when that has happened to me and it has been quite a lot in the past few months. Then i went back and watched the first two points as i wasnt really listening the first time. I dont think they really apply to me but i feel like sometimes i get the first one when i often have a nap when i get back from school or have been woken up by my parents. The cinema one i don think i get 1)as i dont watch films or go the cinema that often 2) because i don’t know what I felt the last time i did. I am only 14 so I have never drunk so i cant say if the final point has happened and i don’t think I have ever experienced that in normal life. I always thought that if i felt like connected with someone’s mental health condition, i was probably forcing myself to. But now that i have seen this video and that you know that you have this and notice when it happens makes me realise that i could have something like this. If anyone has any advice or knows if my observations have any connection to this please let me know as i would really take something from your support. Dodie you are a huge inspiration to me and hundreds of other, please keep on making the wonderful music and posting such educating videos like this one.
hague423 please go to a therapist or school counsellor because it’s quite dangerous to self diagnose as you might not actually have the illness but then convince yourself that you do. On the other hand, if you actually do have if, you need to seek help to treat it as soon as possible! Please see a mental health specialist!
Thank you, I still think that I could be just forcing myself to think this and you have just sparked me to notice that and consider that it am not like some of my role models Also you like BTS as I see a member in your account photo. And are you an AOT fan as I love that too
Dodie I saw that you said you’re going to try CBT, and I would really recommend you try DBT. it’s more of a real world application and coping skills. idk it’s helped me a lot
I disassociate every time I’m with people because I have severe social anxiety, but I have to in order to cope with it, my memory sucks, and never feel happy, however when I’m home alone and I’m relaxed I feel so confident and powerful,like I could do anything.
Can you get it at sudden moments of severe anxiety where it comes all of a sudden and only leaves a couple hours later or is that something else? I have the symptoms dodie has but not continuously or spontaneously through a stressful time. I can’t exactly remember it afterwards
Im 14 and have Derealisation and depersonalisation and tbh I think the only way to escape it would be dying but then I think if I'm not real is dying even real so I'm trapped in this world of my own . I'm not experiencing emotions everything is a blur and I've had this since I was 9
If you feel like you want/need to talk to anybody about this, I am here. I understand. I have no answers, yet knowing that somebody else understands you is somewhat grounding. I don’t know if you relate, but you can almost feel guilty for how stupid you feel, and because no one around you seems to understand, you feel as though it mustn’t be real or relevant.
I have been feeling out of it for a long time. Everything just feels fake, scripted. Everything feels like it was placed just in that exact moment of time just to fuck with me. Everything I say just before the moment after has happened right after, like jinxing or whatever.
Dying? What's the point if I'm only gonna be reborn again? Stuck in this hell forever. I just wanna die. But what if I get reborn into another dimension? Will it be like the stone age? Some weird sci-fi future? I just don't get it. If the things I like now don't exist in some other dimensions then I'm gonna go out and get or do whatever the fuck I want. Hell, this is hell. Just give me what I want! Why won't my dreams come into reality so I can leave this world?
Emotions barely exist within me, at least it feels like it. I only feel aggressive, I'm rarely sad and never really happy. Give me pleasure, happiness. Everything looks blurry. Feels like my eyes are a screen.
Everyone thinks I'm weird, my parents, friends, my classmates thought so too. End it I say. Suffering isn't funny. Haha, really funny, whoever made this world can die.
I do feel ...I just can't explain it it's neither that I feel as if everything is dream nor anything else it's wierd well I am fade up of it it's just ruining everything .even can't explain what do actually is happening to me 😫 .I feel it might have been better to have any another problem even a severe one but at least I could have explained others what actually is the problem with me.
What's the difference between derealization and dissociation? Or is it the same? I've been calling what I get dissociating. Like when my brain doesn't feel like it's attached to my body and nothing I do matters etc. I asked my bf yesterday if my life is the actually like The Truman Show (all made up and everyone's an actor) during a really bad episode.
Natalie Violet Dissociation is the umbrella term and derealization falls under it. I usually use the term dissociation because it's not always only derealization for me, like, sometimes there's depersonalization or other issues I can't place that mess with my sense of attachment to myself & the world around me.
Dissociation is more physical (can't feel arms or legs) and derealization is more mental (don't know what time it is, don't know who someone is, etc).. they tend to overlap, though
Actually, it's different, however it often come together. Derealization is the fact that you don't feel connect to the reality, everything seem too tall, too far, too bright, you don't have the connection you had with the world, it all seem like a dream. That's what she is experiencing all the time. Dissociation is the same thing, but with yourself. Your brain seems to not be attached to your body, the people you're suppose to love doesn't make you anything, you don't recognize ourself in the mirror etc... ^-^
I don't have any merit, that's what said our great lord Internet. To be fair, I don't know a lot about dissociation, so if you have explanation etc, I'd be really interested :)
I have seizures where I can't speak and I feel like I'm dreaming I feel.that way a lot when I am.nkt having seizures and can talk too it's really weird
How do you know if you have the same disorder if the doctors don't believe you?
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Mary Zan2018-02-03 06:35:01 (edited 2018-02-03 06:36:28 )
I know I have issues with this but never thought about the lighting connection? Is this why I'm so particular about lighting and about had a mental breakdown when my stepdad replace the light bulb in my room and it was LED instead of warm and threw me off? Is this why when I'm driving, the same exact places look like different places entirely, depending on whether it's daytime or nighttime?
I relate to that so much. Same for me, expect warm lights are usually one of the triggers to my derealization while LED has calming effect on me. (But if they're too bright such as in mall then they can trigger my derealization as well)
I feel myself falling into weird distorted dreamworld anytime there is low lighting in restaurants or those flourescents striplights, but that might be the autism. I am pretty photosensitive.
+Mary Zan It's weird to hear other people say things like this because that means it's not a common experience people have...I can't do LEDs at all, they make me irritated and hurt my eyes unless I take 800mg of Advil. Low lights make me feel like I'm fading away, like everything is underwater and I might get stuck there with it - I always want to leave and and feel almost high.
On the pleasant side, colorful dispersed lighting makes me feel giddy and really good. I just assumed this was a regular thing for most people and they just put up with LEDs
Same! I have colorful lights in my room that make me feel calm. I can't for the life of me walk into a walmart, I instantly get panicky and uncomfortable. And the low lighting makes me feel like I'm fading away too, that's why I can't be at a restaurant with such low and romantic lighting.
I wasn't feeling well before I watched this video. I actually felt really depressed because if (another) failed attempt at talking w/ my loved ones.
And I still don't feel better after reading that description, BUT, but I'm not giving up yet. Because you're right. There IS hope. (Even if I don't feel it right now, but usually I'm composed enough to trick myself into optimisn)
This "depersonalisation" thing sounds vaguely familiar, I experience a disconnection from my self ALL. THE. TIME.
Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention.
I’m also a trauma victim too so that could easily have something to do with it too, but I know that it never used to be this way. Lighting is a big thing for me, I’ve noticed certain lights will make me feel like I’m drowning by reality. Or sometimes when I’m doing completely normal things like going to the grocery store or going to the park I’ll just feel like I’m completely zoning out, in a fog, or drowning, without even realizing it. I honestly have to stop myself and then I am aware that things don’t feel right. I’m not sure if this is necessarily something that happens to me all the time or not, but I definitely notice when I have “episodes” or it’s more intense for me. Now I smoke CBD oil and it’s helped me a lot in the sense where I can feel more comfortable with my reality, and definitely the anxiety. But it’s still not necessarily the miracle drug.
Alrighty! I also have this I feel like.. (I match all of the properties as such, but anxiety stops me from telling anyone.. metaphorically.) I love all of you here, so I feel as thought I must help you all out with a few tips I have!! I know it's really long but please take the time to read it to help yourself or a friend out <3
1: This one is really good for me, you can do it on your own and it doesn't involve any treatment or medication. All you have to do is look around you and pick out something you can see, smell, hear, feel and taste. Taste is usually hard but if you're eating then try and pick out what ingredients or what you can taste in what you're eating! 2: Fiddle with something. This makes you realise there is something in your hands, and for me often helps to realise things are real. 3: This can be difficult if you are in a lesson or an exam at school (those at school like me) but just have a conversation with someone. Ask a bunch of random questions or just questions about them, people often like to talk about themselves so don't be worried about them judging you! Asking the questions will mean that they answer, so it can help you realise that the person you are talking to is there. 4: This is more for depersonalisation (I cannot spell rip). Basically, just fell down your arms (don't hurt yourself in any way! That may seem like it helps but please don't. I always used to get really extreme with hurting myself to try and stop it all feeling unreal, but you really shouldn't as things can get infected and then people may see (they did for me... Not fun.)) When you feel along your arms, pick out certain things that you can feel such as small bumps, moles etc. Also, look for certain spots and acne that you had when you knew it was yourself. This will prove whether it is you or not! 5: Close your eyes, and think. Think about the things you love, the things you hate and all your friends. Or just don't think about anything. It often helps just to let your brain and eyes to have a minute.
Thanks for reading guys. I hope this helps. As well as these you can also obviously try medication and tell someone and get help for it, but I feel as though there are many out there like me without the courage and with too much anxiety to tell anyone. I love you all, and thanks for reading!! I really really really hope this helps people because I know I'd really need something like this to help me. Know that you are loved and cared for and people are always there. As Dodie says in Secret For The Mad.. "There are a hundred people who will listen to you cry and I get that they don't get it but they love you so much that you won't regret it" (Go check that beautiful song out btw <3) And it is really true. Sometimes it is just amazing to talk to someone, whether they get what you're going through or not. I love all of you beautiful specimens and I hope you all have an amazing day/evening/morning/night!!!! LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH <3
I.. don’t know where to write this but I need to, I need advice... Lately I’m searching a lot about stuff like "i feel like I’m dreaming". i don’t really know if my symptoms are the same as you, i stuggled with depression stress & anxiety but its mostly ok now? i mean except for stress but well life will be life I m sorry my english is not the best I’m very tired right now So I just have this weird episode sometimes where everything like Lights Sounds and Feelings (touch) are emphasized and I zone out a lot, can’t concentrate on conversations (that is so annoying) and sometimes my vision is blurry too for no reason, i have to actually focus my eyes Idk what this is it’s been happening more and more often i think Do you think it Could Be derealization? also ive got these moments where i don’t feel like im me, my body is strange and I don’t feel like myself idk how to explain sorry im so tired
i’ve had this feeling that i’m dreaming for a while now, felt very alone and like something was very wrong with me. thank you, sharing your story has really helped me<3
thank you so much. i’ve been feeling exactly like this since i was 11 (i’m now almost 17) and i never knew what it was until a couple months ago. everything feels almost fake and it makes things hard to fully feel and whatnot.
I literally relate so much,when it happens to me my stupid brain starts saying “oh no! It’s happening again! Let’s start panicking!” And then my panic disorder kicks in so it really sucks but I’m starting to finally get some control over it and that’s good.
I get this feeling sometimes, it used to happen a lot more often before. Now I only get it sometimes. It happened the most in PE class. It was exactly as you described it. Thank you for sharing your story❤
Happy to see someone else who deals with some of the same symptoms i do! when my mind is stressed or fatigued (and if there are certain triggers, like nighttime or an unfamiliar location), i start to fall into a dreamlike state so much so where i’ll actually convince myself i AM dreaming. this then snowballs into anxiety and paranoia. not fun.
I felt this a few times throughout my life. I remember when I went to Disney land for the first time, it felt like I was dreaming (not like a dream) like I was dreaming so I understand what you mean and that would be awful the whole time.
This is an actual thing...I'm not insane...I can't thank you enough for making this video. I legitimately thought I was being silly but I'm definitely going to get this checked out. This is such a relief to actually have a name for this
I went through a very scary bout of this when I was in an abusive relationship. I also noticed it was much much worse when I used to smoke weed, I felt great when I was high but for several days I would feel completely detached from reality even when sober. The movie Numb with Matthew Perry is a good explication of the emotions you go through while experiencing depersonalization. I also learned that I have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and not sure if depersonalization/derealization are related to it but since I had surgery and my meds are on the correct levels I feel a lot more cognitive. My memory is still poor when I’m stressed or internalizing things and I still have pretty bad anxiety but it’s better than before.
I have GAD so i've had some episodes similar to that so i really feel you and i know it must be so unpleasant (i've only had it for a couple of minutes each time) so i hope you have gotten better and you have found your way through it all
i have this and i remember watching it before i got diagnosed with it and I didn't really understand it, until I got diagnosed. I was like "oh wow I have this", but when I watched it I was like "I kind of feel like I have this", but I didn't want to self diagnose myself and now that I have it I can definitely relate with you on a personal level.❤️
I'm so happy you made this video, Im 19 and I just figured the feelings I was having is just part of growing up, losing excitement in everyday Activityies and settling into mundane. I feel like no matter how hard I concentrate I feel disconnected to all convocations, I know how to talk to people and I can hold a conversation but I feel like once it's over I was just on auto pilot, that how I always feel, like auto pilot. The more I notice it the more it freaks me out. I thought it might be me just being tired but after seeing this I feel I'm not alone and that there is a cause and ways to deal. You have helped me intencely.
Dodie I love you so much. I know this is an old video, but I struggle with this daily. I have PTSD and this goes hand and hand with it. It’s so hard to deal with and when you first posted this, I was so relieved. Thank you. It’s shitty, but you have really helped by just putting words to it. Thank you.
Wow. It is very refreshing to know this is a real condition. I remember feeling like this for a whole year in college. I was very stressed and dealing with a lot. I felt like my brain wasnt working and everything felt like a haze. I kept feeling worse and worse because I thought I had some braing disease and I thought I was going crazy. Eventually summer break came and I was able to get the mental rest I needed and eventually started feeling normal again. I can't imagine what it would've been like if it never went away tho. You are very strong and I really admire your determination. I know you'll find the cure someday and hope it'll be soon :)
I don't know if it's something similar but I've also experienced situations like this. I always used to invent stories and kinda live in another world in my mind since I was a child. Like I used to spend a lot of time just laying somewhere and imagining scenarios of a different me in another world. Thanks to depression I became really isolated later and could only deal with real life problems in my parallel world. Now that I'm alright again I often have these situations where I talk to someone or write a text or just go out and then a few minutes later I realize "oh, you just did this in real life. You said that to another person. You made a decision that could influence your future." Or when I'm traveling somewhere I always get kinda lost, like I can't believe that what I'm seeing is real. It's too overwhelming.
I admire you so much! I have had episodes of derealisation and it has become my greatest fear. I feel your pain deep down, and wish so much that you find a way to work through this. However, the fact that you have accepted it is something I admire so much! It shows you are strong, and it makes me think you'll find a way through it. Thank you for sharing this, it's a topic that needs to be talked about more. You're amazing!
It's crazy this video was recommended to me now because today I realized I have the same thing. I have been under immense stress again after a long while and I noticed my vision got blurry. I managed to live for almost a year without it though! Hopefully you'll get rid of it too
I went through a bad case of this my senior year (2017-2018). When I would go to school, it would feel like I wasn't even there. My vision was so cloudy and everything seemed fake. Like I would walk to a class and sit down, and it felt like I never left the previous class. I'm going through it again, but not as bad. It really sucks but it doesn't last forever.
Thank you for sharing this. It might just help someone looking for answers just like you were. Also I just got into your music in the last few months (tardy to the party, I know.) and it's absolutely addicting.
So I often dissociate when I’m alone at night and one of the best thing I found to ground me is listening to 8d audios and having like a comforting smell with me ( like my girlfriends hoodie or something) I don’t have derealisation (I think) only episodes of it when I’m very down so it might not work with everybody but yeah. This is my little part of help to everyone <3
I GET THIS SO MUCH and it usually happens after I hit the peak of my anxiety or stress then it feels like I’m in auto pilot and this is a dream and I hate it so much!
I had it for 3 months solid and stilll get it from time to time depends on how I feel ( unwell/ panicked) even badly lit areas are dreamy! My therapist at the time and anorther mental health person told me it’s when your brain is in such a high level of stress it is protecting you by making things seem unreal. It can go away tho
I had this from ages 10-12. I kept feeling like I would have to monitor myself by scratching my arms to make sure I was still in reality. Since I was so young at the beginning I would even ask other people if I was awake. It feels like you’re absolutely floating out of your own body. I only discovered this past year that it happened to others.
Wow it's like a huge light bulb turned on! Thank you so much for that. I always thought I'm just weirldy tired all the time. I don't know how to describe it but that video helps a lot!
For me it felt like I wasn’t in reality, like shit around me weren’t real. I could sometimes get lost & come back just like that, which is weird. I was so happy to open up this video
Wow I have had these symptoms a lot. It was worse when I was a teen and I have always thought/been told by family that it is depression...
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Maria GoJa music2019-02-19 19:28:02 (edited 2019-02-19 19:38:59 )
I never heard about that before, how is it different from dissociation? Because that’s what I had my entire childhood and as a young adult ... including A LOT of daydreaming, spacing out etc. I could sit with people at the table and „disappear“ for an hour and switch back into the conversation, not having a clue what they were talking about in the meantime. Same happened constantly in school. I really had to force myself to stay present and it was exhausting.
Sometimes as a child I was observing patterns on the wall or shadows for an entire hour and loose myself into them, until they started to become weird, changing their form, some 2D surfaces with patterns started to form into 3D worlds with different layers that moved around me. It felt as if the physical and energetic world merge.
But it changed very much in the last years and almost went away! Now I can switch it on and off if I want to and only in very extreme stress situations it sometimes happens accidentally for moments. But in order to change that, I had to change my entire life, becoming very aware of what is good for me and what not and then to act on that, f.e. by not being in places I don’t really want to be, not joining conversations or parties that didn’t really interest me, not to surround myself with people I feel uncomfortable around and so on.
Most important key to change that was to experience, that I am the one that forms and creates my own reality, makes decisions and acts on them. Acting rather then reacting. In other words: Since I take care of my well-being, it changed tremendously 😊
wow... this video brought me to tears. these feelings have happened to me so many times, and i never knew it had a name or that it was an actual thing. it started for me when i was 15, and whenever i’d be in a stressful or unexpected situation, like during an intense volleyball game, or when i was asked to prom. i could never control it or learn to stop it, and nobody ever could understand what i was talking about when i’d have an episode. it was just like being in a dream and i couldn’t control my movements or my words. i never ever knew this was an actual condition. wow, thank you dodie for opening up about this. you are amazing ❤️ this means so much to me
I’ve been dissociating since the beginning of my freshman year. I’m a junior now. (High school) some people in the comments are saying that they only experience it sometimes, but I feel this way so constantly. I don’t think I’ve had a break. I can’t remember the last time I went a full day without feeling this way. I feel like I’ve wasted my whole high school years away, because I’ve felt so numb. It’s ruined relationships also because I just can’t be in love or feel strong emotions. I can definitely say weed played a role in the way I feel. I’ve always smoked a lot because of the environment I live in. I get pressured into doing it a lot of the time. I get made fun of by saying no, although it makes me feel even more distant from the world and awful. I officially learned to say “No” a couple weeks ago. I hope I can fully recover, because I miss the way being alive feels, and I remember how amazing life was before this horrible dream like state took over my whole life. I will not smoke weed ever again. It only enhances the feeling to the point where I feel like I’m dying. It is definitely more of a mental thing for me. Although it does make everything look more foggy and unreal. I miss the old me, and the way life was. If anyone can relate to this then feel free to talk to me because I have no one to talk to about this. I know no one in real life who has this or experiences it.
I don't think you will ever understand the impact this video has made on me. I have struggled with the exact same feelings for at least 6 years. I can finally go to the doctors and better explain how it feels.!!!!!!!
I’m not going to lie when you brought up piddling with rough and sharp things to keep tethered I felt so relieved that someone else did it. I always have to be holding something or raking my nails over my skin to stay tied down.
Omggg this has been happening a few weeks now and I thought it was because of sleep. I put a dog down yesterday and it got worse, last night I couldn't focus, I felt high, and I couldn't connect with my physical self even though I was sober. Today it happened again but lasted 4 hours. It usually happens at night in the lobby of my dorm and I just feel slow like how a video moves slow while everything and everyone else is functioning normal.
I was young when i started smoking weed (about 13), after i stoped i had derealisiation for a long time. Not like all the time but everytime i listened to music or something really good or really bad happened and sometime just without a reason. Took about one year till it was "gone" (still happens about 2 a year). Every one who has drug induced derealisiation, just keep on thinking positive. :)
I get short spells of derealization/depersonalization when my anxiety or depression (or both) get really bad. Usually it's when I'm doing work of some sort, I'll just stop for a second and realize that I don't feel real, nothing feels real. And I can usually combat it by pacing and using positive self talk/grounding techniques to bring myself back to earth haha. But sometimes it takes some real effort. I've brought this up to previous counselors and they all said that as long as I keep up the positive self talk/grounding when these spells do happen and they aren't happening too often, I should be okay. But it definitely is freaky when you sit down to work and then look at the clock and realize you've kind of lost the last few hours and how did it take this long just to do this one assignment/task?
I can totally relate ! I had that feeling of kinda not being there. Things passed by me. I forgot a lot of things my friends told me. And they sometimes seemed to think I just wasn't listening. I couldn't concentrate properly and had blurry vision quite often. Even noe sometimes I look in the mirror and don't recognize me, even get scared sometimes until I remind myself it's just me. So I try not to look in the mirror on those days. Sometimes things seems weirdly dark and I feel like I'm dreaming. Other times, when there are bright lights I feel dizzy and weird. But I must say it's gotten sooo much better. I stopped drinking coffee and it made like such a difference !! I also stopped chocolate (well not entirely but I try to avoid it) and it really helped. Now I take vitamins regularly and it really helps against the brain fog. Good luck to you. Hope it gets better 💕
I’ve had this exact same condition and it was the worst. I couldn’t cope with the coping and had severe anxiety attacks. Reading the title I hoped you were speaking in the topic and I’m so glad you are, no one really talks about this and I’m glad more awareness is being shown
Huh this clears up alot the experiences I have been having, when every I get overwhelmed my emotions just suddenly just shut off then I start drifting off feel like I'm floating and everything is fuzzy, it sucks because it happens when I have inportant stuff to do
When I was four my father died and my mother was extremely suicidal. I don't remember almost all of my childhood. I would feel like I was a little girl up in heaven looking down on this little girl who was me. I wouldn't feel in my body. It has not happened as much as it used to but it still happens at certain times. I'm not sure if it would be derealization. I just always have tried to look for answers and talk to people about it but many just think I'm lying or it's just my imagination. I just really would like to know if this could be a slight case of derealization.
i have bipolar type II and i never experienced derealization until i started having hypomanic episodes and it's not as intense but it's nice to have it explained bc when i experienced it for the first time i was glad i had seen this video among others bc instead of thinking "oh god what's wrong with me" i thought "ohh so this is what it's like." (given i was still kind of mentally having a freak out bc a lot of other stuff was going on up in the brain!! found out later it hypomania! psychiatrists are awesome guys!!)
I had the same for a couple months last year and I'm glad it haven't happen since then, but when I recurred to a psychiatrist he told me in a really mean way that I only needed to sleep more and it made me feel like people don't really care about others. Also I don't know how it stopped cause I kept sleeping 3-4 hours a day but I guess it's cause I started to worry less about college and more about myself
I want to expand my conversation I had on JBU about the"truer" brain. I can't shake the feeling that these so called disorders are just a brain that might register reality a little bit too well. What you're describing sounds a lot like ego dissolution. People will travel all the way to the rain forest to gulp down a shaman's concoction to experience this transcendental state. You have it with out a pharmacological assist. You are Ayahuasca in a dress! I think it's scary that a delusional brain may be a more happier brain to the extent we get fooled into thinking this is the more accurate brain. What if the brain that has the "disturbances" is the truer brain. In other words, what if it is not hiding stuff from you? It's not protecting you. It could be that your brain is peeking behind a code! Our construction of mental health is ascribed according to how well one gets along in society. That's the metric. No one stops to ask if the given society is worthy of operating in with supreme competence. We forget that there were flourishing members of Nazi society and of American slave holding South. Were they healthy? They certainly fit in. We just assume our societies are models of health because we are too close to them. Impressionist paintings need distance, not a magnifying glass Our societies very rarely go on trial with the exception of mild political tweeking, but the stubborn brain will to the point of treatment plans. What if your brain is putting our form of civilization on trail. Who has the right to hold the gavel?
Don't misunderstand me, happiness is such a worthwhile thing to possess. I chase it secretly with just as much gusto as the next man. I just don't know if we can say that it is an indicator of mental health.
My argument does come apart somewhat with memory loss. Yet, if I were to be persistent, I might argue that supreme mindfulness does not need the best recording of the past as it really does not exist. Only a faint trace to frame the present situation may be needed. Very fascinating!
opposite for me. In dreams I feel like i’m awake even tho I have no control over it. I even sometimes say, “Wow, I can’t read this, I must be dreaming” or just randomly yell in my dream, “I’m dreaming”
I’m glad I’m not the only one. I thought I was going crazy. For me it feels like I’m watching my life from inside my head. Like a really shitty reality tv show.
Just in case this helps anyone here- I suffered with derealization disorder for five years, it absolutely ruined my life at the time, because i didn't know what it was, wasn't taken seriously by the doctor and couldn't explain it to my family or friends. Randomly one day (after searching for about two years) i typed in my symptoms and found a tonne of videos just like this one. From breaking the cycle of anxiety (thinking i'm going crazy, panicking about leaving my comfort zone, having panic attacks in shops because it would suddenly hit me and i felt like i couldn't see) and simply taking this huge baggage off by being able to call it a label and attribute it to emotional stress (as well as physical injuries guys, don't forget!!) about 70% of my problem immediately went. i still felt weird most of the time, but not panicking about it, and exiting the negative thought cycles, not only do i feel better, but I have allowed myself to rest and almost rewire my brain. I can safely say i feel 90% better, with the occasional spout. I would recommend resting as much as possible, making sure there is nothing wrong physically, constantly relaxing your muscles (baths, massages, acupuncture) its just a coping mechanism from your brain, so you have to reset it- relax your body, and rest your mind, these things will go hand in hand.
I suffered with this really badly when I was on anti-psychotics (which I shouldn't have been put on in the first place). It was hella dangerous. It would often feel like I was teleporting around, in that I would go somewhere, but have no recollection of even leaving the house, let alone making any kind of journey. This was most apparent when I had to go pick up my prescription. It was a 5 mile round trip and I would WALK to go get it. I mean...I assume I did, cos I can't drive, I was often home alone cos everyone else was working, and it is the only rational explanation for having my medication randomly appear in my hands and me being on the wrong side of the front door. Things are slightly better now I'm off meds and in counselling, but I can still (remember...or not) how unsettling that feeling of dissociation can be and deeply sympathise. I hope you are able to find something that helps you. I have also taken up art since coming off meds and giving my hands something so potentially complex to focus on has helped ground me in some semblance of "reality."
i have the same since over 10 years now and it is always there, some days even worse than others... it's the best when i am with my boyfriend where i can totally be myself... i am working in a social job with over 50 people per day... and i am 100% acting, everything i do and everytime i approach somebody i act because normally i would sit in my room and be glad to not talk to someome :D also i can't remember stuff... i have to write everything down.. i can watch a movie and after a year i can watch it again with having forgotten everything which was in the movie so it's like a new movie :D also i forget things which had happened years ago and my friends ask me “do you remember when we....?“ i am always like what i haven't been there xD
i think i might have this... sometimes i can't see properly like my eyes just zone out and a lot of my side of conversations go like "what i forgot to listen" like that's genuinely what i've come to saying now not i didn't hear i actually forgot we were talking at all. it's not as severe as your symptoms because i still recognize myself but other people sometimes i get confused
i can’t tell you how much of a breathe of fresh air it is to hear someone talking about this, for years i felt so alone and in the begginings of it i was so depressed, i think the worst part about derealisation is no one will ever know fully when your experiencing it because you become so accustomed to living your life through another set of eyes, for me it took years to learn how to cope with the situations, staying calm and reminding yourself you do exist and you are on a timeline and living in that moment, i never knew derealisation was the third most common after depression and anxiety i wish i had known this when i was 14 because i can’t describe how alone,sad and scared i felt back then-thank you for bringing some light to this and even though i wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy there is a comfort in knowing you really aren’t alone
Sometimes ill just be sitting there completely conscious, and yet ill wonder if im actually alive. I wonder how I can really prove I am. I usually start waving my arms around just to make sure I am actually experiencing something and have some type of control. Shits weird....
soo I never comment on these videos... but I wanted to share something for anyone who is struggling. I went through a traumatic experience last year which gave me ptsd. my childhood was also a big contribution to it as my upbringing I went through some crazy shit haha so it was all connected. the first 2-3 months after the trauma were the scariest months of my life. where I first experienced depersonalisation/derealisation questioning my existence, and some fucked up thoughts lol. but after learning what I was going through I felt a lot more at ease and my healing process really started to take off. its almost been 1 year since the event. and every now and then I get derealisation, but I find what has helped me and reduced this is training my mind not to attach an emotion to it. so when it does happen I will distract myself or treat it as if it were a normal feeling/thought and let it pass on by and accept it. Doing this has slowed it immensely and helped me feel normal again. and my brain is slowly getting rid of this habit and forgetting the feeling. you can and will get better, some people will take a lot longer than others. your brain has learnt this habit and its about learning to re training yourself out of it. meditation is something that should be adopted regularly also. If you're in the hard stages of derealisation, stay very distracted and accept this feeling. you will get better.
Okay. Now I understand all of this. I would always feel numb and whatever that word was (derealization??) whenever i went into haunted houses where there’s flashing lights and smoke machines. My vision would get weird and that’s the only way I could explain it. the only way to tell others how I felt was “I felt like i wasn’t me” and that sounds insane but now I know i’m not alone and that’s very comforting
When I watch other people really understand what someone else is talking about and be able to give such intelligent answers like they know what is going on. Because I never can do this! I can’t follow what they are saying.This feels like a little bit like this
When I was younger I has weird days where I felt like this and like I was dreaming and my mum used to get annoyed because I was begging to go home when we went out
Have you every had something like a blury tunnel vision, while everything slowly goes numb. And waking up from this time to time and thinking you were sleep or some type of dashivu but you were awake the whole time with a plain face and eye just staring ahead and your body is in autopilot.
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Ember D&T2019-02-19 04:19:00 (edited 2019-02-19 04:21:04 )
I experience this alot but i wonder if it's just sleep deprivation/depression/stress. I dissociate alot but don't even realise it or know if I really am or not. Like I'm afraid to even drive because of it.
I know that this is an old video but.. this isn’t a constant state for me but happens when I’m anxious .. like heavily.. I had no idea that it was a thing .. I’m glad I know now.
summer of 2017 some stuff happened and i remember being at a cookout and it was night time and i was in the pool and the moon was full and it was shining on the water and i was just staring at the reflections and i felt like i was actually in a dream and i would stare at the moon and it freaked my sister out and she asked if i was ok and i just started crying randomly and it was very weird. i felt like nothing was real. now i know it was just me coping with whatever happened that summer lol. that was the only experience i’ve ever had though.
I have a condition that makes me feel like I'm watching myself through a screen I can't rll explain it but all I can say is that my eyes feel like there inside my head and when I get it it's hard to show emotion and it's like Im not in in my body like I'm on autopilot
I get This under pressure or when my hearts beating really fast and things are happening fast, it’s like my heart and head is just like, fuck that I’m out of here
I'm really scared now because i feel like i have this, i've been feeling this way for over 2 years and always thought it would go away but it hasn't. And i want to ask for help and stop feeling this way like i'm not living at all but i don't know how.
Do you guys also expirience deja vu very often but in a bit different way? Its sounds weird (ill try to explain as easy as i can) so deja vu - something happened or you dreamed about it and you think it happened again/or dream got real, but after few seconds you cannot bring back the memory or the „proof” that it happened/you dreamed about it, even tho few second ago you were pretty sure about this feeling
I don't know if this can happen temporarily but I was talking to my family and I found out we went to Disney World about four years ago and I wasn't able to fully remember that trip... I know, I was really surprised because it wasn't a long time ago but I can barely remember what happened and I just remember the pool of the hotel, not the room or what happened on that trip, just like an old dream. I don't really suffer of this symptoms often but I can deduct that it happened because I was struggling with coming out... You know coff gayyy lol So my dad didn't take it to well so probably there were really uncomfortable parts of that trip so my brain decided to just make all that experience really blurry and confusing to me hahaha I'm really impressed of how brain can react in really uncommon ways.
I’m afraid I’ll never really feel alive. It makes me wonder if there is any point in living if I feel dead most of the time. I hate this and I hate that I haven’t even been diagnosed with it and no one understands and I’m just done. I’m done.
Try lsd or mushrooms :) I feel like they are a potential real ‘treatment’ you said you were looking for. Derealization has everything to do with your perception of reality, and psychedelics have the chance to change your perception in a profound and deep level that goes beyond understanding. I would be disappointed if anyone reading this were to disregard it in favour of confirmation bias of your own beliefs. Psychedelics allow you to experience something human animal human behaviour does not in a way that can potentially change your life
I don't think I had exactly what you have but when I went on holiday to Spain for a month I had this sense that everything wasn't really real and there was like a lighter tint to everything but I thought it was just the heat when we cane back it didnt really go and I didn't listen to anything said in school. This went on for about 3 years before I became a bit more aware of my surroundings. However I went on holiday when I was about 9. When I went to secondary school I was closed off and dazed for about half a year before I made friends and starting becoming more aware
You're an introvert like me, I had a dream one time like that I thought I was awake but I was literally sleeping. But I would like to sleep next to you, you're pretty
This is an actual codition??? When I was younger and was going through some stuff I sometimes felt like I was dreaming but it was SO extremely uncomfortable. I talked to some of my friends and my mom about it but they thought I was lying
I have chronic Dissociation Syndrome. I've always refused Prozac. I can't stand the idea of being all dressed up and nowhere to go. In my heart, I will go down with this ship unless an anchor presents herself. I can not focus due to being ugly, and too ugly for any anchor (as far as she is concerned). Living in a bell jar is no way to exist.
Man thats depressing to hear lol. I think i may have a little bit of the derealization. I feel very diconnected from things but not depressed? So this explanation would make a lot of sense. Like i cant dance at parties or feel involved with anything. I just constantly feel alienated. The only thing that seems to help me is music and conversing 1on1 or in small groups with people. But that cant be done all the time and i struggle with the vision stuff as well and there doesnt seem to be a fix for that other than just waiting for it to end. I hope you feel better doddle, heres to better times 🥂
Even if it doesn't fix things in the ways you want to talking therapy can help regardless as you get to speak about things and learn coping skills for it. So you could still feel like unreal and dreamy but you will now have skills to deal with it so you can have a normal happy healthy life. I do hope CBT helps fix it but even if it doesn't there's skills you can learn from it that can help you cope and that will give you a significantly better quality of life than you have now so please keep in mind that even if it's not a full sucess it's still able to help and be somewhat sucessful. Also your therapist may work with you for a few weeks and say "I think x therapy might be better for you, I could talk with my colleague who's a x therapist and see if they think it would help and if so you could be transferred to them." So starting therapy regardless of results is ALWAYS a good thing. Good luck.
Sometimes it's like dropping a roll of toilet paper, if the roll of toilet paper was time, and everything unrolls and you don't know what happened to the last four hours all of a sudden. Or you wash your hair twice and brush it three times in one morning because you couldn't remember if you already did that, or if you did it yesterday. I think it can turn you into a placid and vulnerable person sometimes, I'm slow to ever get angry, and possibly feel more at peace with bad things that happen to me, at least compared to other people I know.
i've felt like this since my eating disorder in 2016 fuck
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Brian Li2019-02-27 04:41:33 (edited 2019-02-27 04:41:46 )
That's called daydreaming. I have it too
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Lee Poteat2019-02-20 20:48:11 (edited 2019-02-20 20:48:38 )
Is it normal to have your brain just forget what just happened. Like you just had a conversation with your friend...you blink...bam! That memory is gone. Or when you just kinda sit there....and your mind makes you feel like you are in a videogame or a dream. Like when you realize that you're are just dreaming when you have a nightmare...My brain will be like "you can do anything, there is not consequences!". Is this common for people
Actually if you’re outside for a long time and go inside usually for everyone they also see black specs but after they go inside but it goes away shortly
I just thought it was normal... Ha... I would always laugh at myself. And try to touch my surroundings, but I could never register if I was dreaming or not. My head floats lol
I get a bit like this but it’s more like I’m in a bubble and I don’t feel real and it’s really hard to connect with people because they feel like they are on another planet lol. It’s just really weird and scary tbh :(
wait shit maybe this is what I've been experiencing? I only feel like this very very rarely in my day to day life, but almost every time I go far outside my routine, like go to a concert or an event or travel to a new city I feel like it's not real? I just feel really disconnected and I struggle to remember things and focus on what's happening and it's so frustrating, but I didn't think it was actually a thing? I usually get pretty stressed out by these situations, so it makes sense.. maybe I should talk to someone. I guess I just thought it was normal.. or I just didn't think too much about it, because I'm so used to it.
i can't remember things very well and when i do it usually feels like it wasn't me doing that or like i was floating in that memory?? it's like i can see the memory clearly but theres a thick black barrier on the outside as if i'm watching from a cinema, and sometimes when i remember things i see my face and my body as if i'm watching from outside my body? another thing is like i just can't remember things like certain people coming over last year or going out to the theme park that one time, my family and friends tell me about it and get confused when i don't remember. can someone help me? is this what she has? when she's talking about it it feels really similar because i feel like i'm living in a simulation or that the people around me aren't real and i'll suddenly get super nervous around them am i just experiencing something different or is it the same or am i just being weird?? please help
Imagine when you die the store manager walks up to you, takes off the headset and asks “so, how was it?”
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Bell Applepen2019-02-20 11:17:41 (edited 2019-02-20 11:19:50 )
This is why I don't drive, I couldn't forgive myself if I spaced out and hurt anyone. I'm hoping for the best with my diet change and eventually I will dive into Quantum Hypnosis to help cure it completely
i don’t have that disorder but i do feel like that in public places like beaches, parties, parks, or anything with a lot of people. it’s so weird and a while after it happens, i might forget everything that has happened
Wait but what if i have it and i just think its normal? Sometimes when i went to swimming pools it was always very steamy there and alot of times i felt like i was dreaming could that just be it being steamy or wut?
Wait but what if i have it and i just think its normal? Sometimes when i went to swimming pools it was always very steamy there and alot of times i felt like i was dreaming could that just be it being steamy or wut?
Wait but what if i have it and i just think its normal? Sometimes when i went to swimming pools it was always very steamy there and alot of times i felt like i was dreaming could that just be it being steamy or wut?
Wait but what if i have it and i just think its normal? Sometimes when i went to swimming pools it was always very steamy there and alot of times i felt like i was dreaming could that just be it being steamy or wut?
Wait but what if i have it and i just think its normal? Sometimes when i went to swimming pools it was always very steamy there and alot of times i felt like i was dreaming could that just be it being steamy or wut?
Wait but what if i have it and i just think its normal? Sometimes when i went to swimming pools it was always very steamy there and alot of times i felt like i was dreaming could that just be it being steamy or wut?
Wait but what if i have it and i just think its normal? Sometimes when i went to swimming pools it was always very steamy there and alot of times i felt like i was dreaming could that just be it being steamy or wut?
Wait but what if i have it and i just think its normal? Sometimes when i went to swimming pools it was always very steamy there and alot of times i felt like i was dreaming could that just be it being steamy or wut?
hi dodie! firstly, this video made me cry because well i’m a very emotional human being and because i am really mad at myself. i’m just gonna rant in this comment so feel free to skip this and go get some water and food. so, i’m axel, i’m 15, 16 in 6 days, and im not diagnosed with anything. but i feel like i should. i’ve been feeling very depressed and suicidal since primary school and getting through life is a really difficult thing for me to do. at first i thought it was just me being in my edgy teen phase, like my friends and family would say, but i knew something wasn’t right. i figured that i was a transgender ftm about 3 years ago but i’ve known it since i discovered what gender was and i thought that was it, that’s why i wasn’t feeling “enough”. but hey it wasn’t it. i wouldn’t call it “depression” because again, i am not diagnosed and i’ve never seen a therapist (i really should but i’m afraid to) but i’m not just sad or anything. it’s not sadness, it’s numbness. it’s not crying and getting frustrated because of your lack of feelings. it’s having too much feelings but they’re so big and overwhelming they become nothing. it’s nothingness with everything at the same time. it’s not wanting to get up, it’s not wanting to wake up. ever. it’s so much more but it’s nothing at the same time. it’s hard to live. i don’t remember exactly what happened or when it happened, maybe i was just overthinking like always, but i remember just a click. simple as that. and then, nothing. even less than i already was. i just spaced out. like that. the weirdest thing was to think about it and be like “it was always there, i don’t remember feeling real. i don’t remember what it felt like”. and i lost connection, i feel like floating but being too heavy to fly. i remember not recognizing my friend and being scared of my own reflection; screaming on the inside with a terrified face on the outside. “i remember” yeah right, like if i could remember stuff. it’s weird. i forget. everything and nothing. mostly everything. when something happens, it takes 0.2 seconds for me to forget and be like “did i just imagine that or did it really happen”. it’s worst with sounds. god the sounds. it’s scary. i don’t feel like i’m there or real either. nothing feels real, even if i try my hardest to grip onto reality, it doesn’t work. the click won’t happen again and i hate it. i hate it because it’s awful to feel like i’m just watching a movie all the time, or dreaming, or just looking at someone else’s life. it’s awful to look at reality like i would look at a video game. it’s scary to think that everything is not real because i’m always so angry and i feel like i could do something bad and just be like “yeah but it’s not real, right?”. but i hate it too because i don’t want to get better. in a way ? i don’t want to feel again because i don’t want to get better. i don’t want to be here, to be alive and to enjoy things that i will lose one day. what’s so important about living and being happy if everything will just die with you or through your journey? i don’t know. i’m lost and mad at myself for thinking that way. god. sorry for ranting that much. if you ever see this, thank you for everything you do and now i know that i’m not alone and will never be. even if you’re not dodie or you don’t experience those things, i still care about you and i will never feel alone. have a good day/night everyone, thank you and sorry again for writing all this stuff aha.
hey happy (early) birthday:) sorry you're going through all of that... maybe check out therapist kati morton if you haven't already? she's got some vids on grounding techniques that might help and a whole bunch of other things. take care<3
I understand why you wouldn't want to get better or feel real again. It is an extremely daunting thing to go back to; but still would be so wonderful, right? I am sure that since you feel like you're watching someone else's life or watching a video game, you'll know what all is possible for this amazing and strong person to achieve. I hope, with all my heart, that you'll realise how many quests you can complete with that amazingly messed up brain of yours. I hope you'll find the push to try out therapy sometime and I'm sure it will work out if you decide to give it your best. May you always have a better day than the bad ones I know you've had. xx
wow, i feel this way all the time and it's so frustrating because i don't know what it is like it's definitely more than just having anxiety and depression. but yeah idk, just know that you're not the only one feeling this way. hopefully we'll both figure it out and all this pain will come to an end. good luck!
Axel.... ying and yang - if nothing matters then EVERYTHING matters. You choose which one you want. Life is absolutely beautiful because it has an end. We are here to experience and enjoy.
Check out Dr Jordan Peterson’s work on finding meaning in your life. His work is incredible.
It actually does sound like depression in a more severe state. When deeply depressed we can feel numb to things, I see it as my mind's way of trying to protect me from feelings that are too painful - hence the simultaneous feelings that there is just too much emotion. There is not "just" depression, depression can be extremely debilitating. In common usage it is probably seen as something milder that everyone experiences at some point but know that that's not the case.
Hey, I don't know if you've heard about this, but LENS Neurofeedback might be an option for you! It's still a new field and isn't recognised by the NHS at the moment, but it's been proven to work better than a placebo for all kinds of things. It can be hard to find a practitioner, but there is a woman called Dr. Tamsin Arnold who works Fridays at The Bath Practice (in Bath). I see her then most weeks and I can testify she is absolutely lovely. She also works in London as well, but I don't know when (sorry). Most of her work is predominantly with children, but if you reach out I'm sure she won't be opposed to working with you.
okay, can someone help me? sometimes, when i start doing something that's really unusual/new/a bit scary for me, i get this split-second sensation in my head that makes me feel like i don't have control over anything, like i'm frozen. it also can happen when i sing to myself (lol) and hit high notes (maybe, not sure). does anyone know what this is?? anyone else experience it??
I think is the same as Deseralization. I don't actually know, but sometimes i have that feeling too like a snap for a second and all the sudden you feel like you're not there, like you're not controlling anything.
Had this for 2 years, ongoing. It feels like nothing is real and i can't connect w anything or anyone. All of my interests are gone and I never feel like myself. I can't enjoy anything, because every second of every day I feel disconnected. I try to talk to people about it and they don't understand. They support my getting better but there's nothing they or I can do about it. I've been trying to practice self-love, and it's helped w depression; I've also been going out more, meeting new people, so my anxiety is better too. But I can't seem to shake this off. It's a constant hell and my panic attacks keep continuing. I just want to feel normal again, I'm so tired because of it.
I forget everything within seconds of doing it, literally I could be talking to someone and then completely space out and forget who they are, who I am, what year it is, or what planet I'm living on. I never realized how wonderful normality was until I experienced dp;dr. It's a living hell.
Dam this hit hard because this sounds exactly the same thoughts I had when I was suffering from the derealizarion/dissociation 4 years ago. I remember thinking it also as a living hell that if I don’t ever get better there is no point living. For me it lasted maybe 6 months, and then it just went away. I know that when you’re in that state it’s hard to ever think positively but it does get better for a lot of people. Second thing, is getting the anxiety/panic attacks under control, I found that really exacerbated my issues. Ik it might sound cliche but mindfulness really helped me... you may realize the feeling of dp/dr actually is very similar to meditation/mindfulness (disconnected state, floating feeling), but what is different is the ANXIETY. For instance using mindfulness techniques I would be able to stop the panic attack and instead focus on things like “weird my hands don’t feel like my own” or “I feel like I’m floating above myself”, but not treat it as a bad thing but as an interesting thing that just passes by. Like a “oh that’s kind of cool, I guess” and over time the symptoms went away... for some it takes longer than others but don’t worry it will pass trust me, but with some changes in thinking about your own thinking and as you said immersing yourself with friends/activities can likely accelerate the process.
@Marlie Tandoc Yes!!! The one good thing about dp;dr is the meditative state and intuition it gives. It's much easier to meditate because you aren't really thinking about much ever. It's like I know things are going to happen before they do and it's helped me become more stable and grounded in myself. It made me realize that certain people and situations make me uncomfotable (and therefore dissociated), and what I need in order to get better. It's not exactly clear yet, but I know I need to repair some damaged parts of myself. I didn't even realize I was so broken and easily triggered by certain things until I started figuring out what dp;dr was and what was causing my panic attacks.
@Marlie Tandoc It's also very comforting seeing so many people w the same problems as me. It makes me feel less alone and I hope more people know that it's normal to have this. It's just a coping mechanism.
derealization just like all mental disorders are spiritual things that need to be dealt with spiritually and the only way to do that is through Jesus Christ he can and will set you free if you allow him to. i struggled with this for like 2 weeks but got over it after some prayer it went away, this was a couple of weeks ago if you want to know more just reply to my comment i will be happy to help.
Me too, had exactly two years, it's so hard to live like this, I wish I can go back to normal, I can't learn how I used to, learning is a passion of mine, and with this mind cloud in my way it's so hard. Smh
This happens to me when Im around more than 2 people at a time, bright lights at night , flashing lights, and other random times. I feel like my brain is shaking, and I also can't focus on one thing. I feel that if I just blink, the feeling will go away, like waking from a dream, but it doesn't work. When you described how you felt, I found thats exactly how I felt. I've told my parents, but they just ignore it when I bring it up ;-;
I know it sounds weird but I makes me happy when other people talk about this/describe it because it helps me know I'm not alone. I feel the same way and my parents are in denial I guess. They think It'll pass or I'm just being weird or something
Abby Marie Not all parents are accepting or helpful when it comes to these things. And you don't need a diagnosis to seek treatment unless your insurance requires it, in which case you get the diagnosis via treatment in the first place.
my best friend is the only person ive told yet, and im so thankful she never gets tired of me asking "am i shaking??" i never am, but it always feels like it...
This sounds extremely familiar and though everything sounds like it could be about me I hope it won't be. I am still in highschool and I have exreme difficulty with remebring anything the teachers have thaught that hour. Though I honestly try and do work hard, my parents seem to think I am just lazy, as my grades are dropping, but I honestly do not remeber the things I have learned about for weeks prior
Mim Montague yep, same. i think you definitely have it, seek treatment if you can whether that's alternative routes or pharmacuetical - whatever works for you ❤
Mim Montague Same. I have already wrote this once but, forgotten what I was gonna say off your comment fully. So, yeah concentration is hard some times. I have NEVER in my entire life felt like I was real or anyone around me are either. And one of the things Dodie said as well relates to me. I see dots of blur sometimes but, never blanking out or anything. Idk.
Neptune .png Yes definitely! My partner and I just stick to "I'm dissociating" rather than describing details so we know where we're at and can be mindful to it. If I think about it too much it triggers it.
Edit: Quick note, I know that Dodies is a lot worse, and this probably only happens because im sick.
I have had something like this happen to me? Not exactly though. The only things that happen to me are these; So often, when im sick, I feel like this. Very rarely it happens when im not sick. Basically what happens is that my memory is not as good, so I might ask a question twice. It feels like my head is super light. I also start talking loudly because everything sounds far away. Now that I write this down I don't think its as normal as I thought before... But it doesn't really change the way I see things, and its not bad either. Whenever that happens i always start mumbling or humming because everything sounds so weird XD
I know being popular youtubers doesn’t mean you’re friends by any means. That being said... Please do a nail painting and face masks with Daniel Howell where you talk about therapy and mental illness kthanks ✌🏻❤️
Juce // i'd love it if people would not bring up dan or phil on every goddamn video on this platform, especially when the video is about something as serious as someone's personal experiences with mentall illnesses
This person brought up Dan because he suffers from mental health problems and has recently spoken out about it. I agree that it would be great to hear about them both discussing what they have been through.
I'm sure they're not some fan that thinks everything revolves around Dan and Phil. I understand that the phandom is pretty much everywhere but this comment wasn't something completely irrelevant
This is very helpful as a young teen with depression and very confusing life style these type of things help a lot I don't think I have derealizartion but I'm might have depersonalization dose anyone know what I'm talking about plzhlp
Try to ask someone for help, it'll make things better. And if they don't believe you or don't take you seriously, try again with someone else until you find someone. Don't be scared, I promise you'll get through this! I send you the best of lucks :)
i have random moments where i feel really dizzy a lot and ill space out of reality and when i come back in my vision is all blurry and i feel like i'm going to faint. there are also times where i can just be sitting somewhere and everything is quiet and dark and makes me feel very nauseous and i don't know how to handle it... is this the same as derealization??
this happens to me too i will just be sitting still and then the room starts to spin and i feel nauseous. i didnt know this could be a part of derealization but maybe it is!
SAME!!! I've been dealing with this since I was in 4th grade and always wrote it off as an anxiety attack but it never fully felt as though it was an anxiety attack. This is all so new to me!
Same! I just ignored it. I just figured I was weird or something. I didn’t even feel particularly anxious during these times either that’s why I didn’t question it.
You should see a specialist and get diagnosticed, and then people will more easily, it can also be something else and all, that's what people might think
@Dynqsty sometimes you just dont have other options than self diagnose, for example if no one is taking you seriosly and you know something is wrong or you are just too scared to go see anyone, or it might cost money and you dont have it
ᴏ ɴ ɪ ʙ ᴜ ᴛ ᴛ self diagnosing can be extremely bad and cause actual mental health problems if you’re wrong. If you can’t go to see someone do not diagnose yourself and stop there. You eventually need to see someone to confirm.
@existential dread What about if person x has been feeling down for years and they are afraid to see anyone or tell anyone. Is it just good still let them tell themself that they are fine? Or that they should not even do any research what would be their problem? I do repeat myself: sometimes its Your kinda only option to understand what the hell is going on, and everyone Who is doing it for attention.. What is so beautiful about being ill? Why the hell you have need to feel so special and just seek attention because of that?
I got it today because I had an anxiety attack while beeing high and I felt like I'm losing control of myself and that I'm going to die now I'm so glad that I found this👀
I’ve been to several doctors and they don’t even know what I’m talking about. They say I’m fine but I tell them IM NOT FINE! I hate it so much because nobody understands. I thought I was the only one that gos through this but then I found this video and I feel a lot more comfortable!
@Funny Fails And Skits I wouldn't worry man it's a thing that happens just try to do things that make you feel again maybe it's a sign of stagnation in your daily life I have those feelings too it's about actually being way more aware than others I imagine you see things that dont catch other people's eyes not that your hallucinating just that you see way more detail than others
I'm sorry but diagnoses are shit anyway, they are only existant because they NAME a problem. They dont discuss how to SOLVE the "problem". They give medications for solutions which I find extremely western and wrong. Pills usually dont work like some people think they do. These arent brain disorders these are conditionings of the mind, which is an entity separate from the brain which is only physical.
Bloody psychiatrists don't even know what it is. Or they pretend they don't know what it is because they haven't found a way to manage it! I feel your pain friend.
Omg yess I have this. Mine was due to me trying out weed for the first time. It was so horrible that my brain was like nope you’re staying like this forever. I was so scared and freaked out because I saw everyone around me differently. The faces I once knew were a lot more scary. I was so terrified that I screamed out “I want to die! I don’t want to feel this anymore! Let me die!” I was taken to the ER and the psychiatrist told me that I have drug induced Derealization. While I was told that my heart sank. I had a million questions. What is that? Can I get rid of it? Can I take some pills to numb it? Can I ever be normal again? I researched a lot as soon as I was sent home. I felt so alone I felt like the people I once knew had changed into other people. I was surrounded by strangers. My mom is my mom. But there was something off. It’s like having an oculus on you at all time. Everything seems so fake and unreal. It’s been a year and I’m used to it now. When I have a panic attack my Derealization spikes up like hell. It’s still so scary but I’m happy that a person I watch a lot has the same issue. :) ❤️
kay Steele I did by just simply ignoring it. If I give it attention I’ll start feeling it even more. I feel it 24/7 but it’s not scary anymore. If I’m watching a movie and I look up and realize I’m not a character in the movie freaks me the fuck out it’s like I was taken to a new world once I look away. It’s been 2 years now and it only gets very bad when I have a panic attack. They gave me Klonopin to ease my anxiety.
yeah its difficult but you need to stay calm and eventually your body will be more comfortable with it and you wont feel it as much, although im still dealing with it, talking to someone can help but you should be cautious because sometimes it may make it feel worse or more frequent because you keep thinking about it and it feels more present because you have to keep bringing it up to talk about. i think ignoring it helps for me, i am glad you seem to be doing better
I'm so sorry that you feel like that all the time. The last time I smoked weed I felt like that, it felt like I was constantly just waking up, having to remember myself that I was stoned, that my anxiety was just because I thought something could go wrong. I felt everything too intensely, and slow, and also had a sensation of being an expectator, like watching a movie, but not being into reality at all. It was certainly a bad experience, and not being able to break out from it sounds horrible, I hope you get out of it some day.
Unknown Bih yeah my experience was exactly like that. At the moment it just feels like I’m watching my life in a movie. It’s just sooo cloudy and dreamlike.
I'm so sorry that really sucks. That happened to me, i got drug induced depersonalization and started getting derealization episodes. it was the worst. turns out i have anxiety, even though some days i feel it more, i train my brain to be more positive when i get scared or anxious. about the dp/dr thing tho, i've tried to ignore it and i dont even feel it anymore. i get slight feeling of it when i think of it, but it helps so much when you distract yourself and try to "get involved" and get "into reality" if that makes sense. im wondering if you smoked after that tho, because i want to, at least for experience, but im scared of that happeneing and doing the whole cycle of getting better (but longer and worse) again. good luck to you, though!!
lore rodriguez I did smoke afterwards and holy shit it was worse I don’t know if it’s just me. My friend had dp and he was fine after a month or so. And he decided to smoke and he was perfectly fine. I stay away from smoking now. I just take hemp pills to calm down when I need to. Makes me mellow out a bit.
It’s horrible. I had it for about three years & I remember the first day I felt normal again. I was sitting in McDonald’s drive thru and I called my mom balling I was so happy. It got to where I couldn’t even smoke weed anymore because it FREAKED ME OUT. Still to this day I can’t smoke weed because it brings the feeling back. Btw it all started after I smoked the fake crap k2 synthetic weed. 🤦🏻♀️ yeah I know I’m stupid. But I was young and peer pressured into trying it. Worst high ever.
Try and NDRI and not an SSRI! NDRI's target your dopamine, not your serotonin. I've been diagnosed with a bad case of double depression, with major depression coming to visit often, and I often feel like I'm dreaming or that I'm not a real person when it gets really rough. SSRI's never, EVER have worked for me. I went on bupropion (Wellbutrin) and it's changed my way of life. 10/10!
Been feeling like this for 9 months I hate it I pray everyday to GOD to make me feel normal again ... this happened because I got laced with PCP it traumatized me my life feels like a dream eversince I hate it I’m always anxious, dizzy , sleepy , heart pounding, short of breathe ... God just take me . Fucklife
oh my GOD what the fuck. i thought everyone had the whole vision thing. sometimes you go inside from a really bright summer day really quick and ur eyes won’t adjust or wtfever but i stg damn near every single time i stand up from sitting or bending or crouching ALL SENSES GO BLACK & NONEXISTENT??????? jfc.
This condition is caused by SSRI's, SNRI, Antipsychotics and Benzodiazepines so if you are taking any of those... The treatment should be to stop before they become worse for you unless you are treating a condition outside of anxiety and depression
I also have this kind of condition but not from the same issues. But from Anemia. When my Anemia strikes i feel like i was dreaming, floating, everything i see is a dream. I wake up still feeling sleepy and hoping that a cold water splash on my face would wake me up. It didn't work. (If you don't know what Anemia is. Anemia is a a lack of hemoglobin in your body. Usually also cause by lack of iron) When my anemia strikes: 1. I feel like i'm floating 2. My vision is blurry 3. My hearing is also kinda like late to digest in 0.5 seconds 4. Very hard to concentrate 5. Always feeling exhausted and tired 6. Slow to understand something 7. When i'm being pinch, the reaction of the pain comes slow..
So yeah, it's really annoying sometimes cause i can't concentrate and i can't do my day like normally since i am so fatigue. It usually up to 3 weeks , even though i already ate like iron foods such as spinach, red meat, beans, etc. But still slow process.
And you, with the condition like that everyday it's amazing. I know it's very hard, but you pull it all very well. 🤗
I hate to self diagnose but I think I may have something similar like sometimes I can’t tell what’s a dream or a memory and sometimes in class I’ll be awake and feel disconnected from myself and it feels like time is going by really fast or slowly and I won’t comprehend anything and when my depressive episodes passed I still didn’t feel right and time is confusing for me I can’t say how long ago I did something or something happened and my vision after going inside is fuzzy and dark even though I can still see and it sometimes lasts a little longer than usual
Some periods of our growth are so confusing that we don’t even recognize that growth is happening. We may feel hostile or hesitant. It would never occur to us, unless we stumbled on a book or a person who explained to us, that we were in fact in the process of change, of actually becoming larger, spiritually, than we were before. Whenever we grow, we tend to feel it, as a young seed must feel the weight and inertia of the earth as it seeks to break out of its shell on its way to becoming a plant. Those long periods when something inside ourselves seems to be waiting, holding its breath, unsure about what the next step should be, eventually become the periods we wait for, for it is in those periods that we realize that we are being prepared for the next phase of our life and that, in all probability, a new level of ourselves is about to be revealed.
Okay i feel like I'm different than other people and that I'm not normal that i just like think of something OVER AND OVER and its so random it just be too random and when i space out not like in dreaming Its just like Im not in the real world or as i say "in the wrong place" this was happening for me from the age 6 or smaller and I want explanation can anybody explain it for me :(
I get really bad derealization and depersonalization when my depression and anxiety get bad. I have a period of two years where it was bad and I only remember a few things from that period in time. It comes and goes but I found it has gotten a lot better after learning proper ways to hope with my emotions and practicing being present. It’s a process but I hope you are able to feel normal again 💛
Dreaming really feels like a nice way to describe it! I am super scared when I start to derealize, it feels more like a nightmare for me. Hoping I can get to a nice dream state!
I learned that I had depersonalization on 2013 and it was the scariest moment of my life. This video is the first time I see someone talk about it on this platform so Thank you so much! I hope we get better eventually :)
hi dodie! i have come back to this video so many times over the years, especially when i feel like there’s no escaping my sucky brain. this video was the first thing that even came close to describing what I had been feeling for months, for years. it made me feel a lot less alone and a “freak” and i’m really grateful for that. thank you 💛
Thank you so much Dodie! your channel was the first time i finally got clarity and felt understood i literally can relate to everything you are saying- omg this feels so relieving!
Thank you for sharing this. I truly hope you find some relief soon. As an astrology student I must say this immediately sounded like a 12th house or Neptune debilitation (the dream state). Amidst your medical research , you might try consulting an astrologer for possible remedial methods as well. Good luck to you!
I went through a really rough point when I was around 15ish, I started to dissociate on occassion but it turned into a full on depression when I felt like nothing mattered and nothing was real. I was able to get through it, and eventually I got on meds (which did help a lot) but I really appreciate this video. I had no idea what was happening to me for most of that entire year, and felt so so very alone, so seeing this is really refreshing. I hope you're able to help someone who was in the same situation feel less alone and get some understanding.
Oh that's so crazy cause I use to feel like dreaming when I was a kid, it was such a bad feeling cause I knew I wasn't, I use to cry a lot in that moments. Now it's really rare, but it feels good to know that I'm not the only one.
I have felt very similar for the last 5 years since my dad passed away. I haven't known how to describe it except it was like my brain exploded and I haven't been the same since.
i’ve been feeling all of this so much since about 2016, and it’s caused me bad anxiety thinking there was always something wrong with me. i try to talk to others about it but no one gets it, which just makes me freak out more. it comes and goes but it’s always there, everyday. everything you described lines up with exactly what i’ve been through, and i’m happy that i’m not the only one. thank you for shedding light on this, i now know i’m not alone. 🖤
I have spent four years going to the opticians convinced there was something wrong with my eyesight. I knew I struggled with depersonalisation and I usually feel like I'm not really here. I didn't realise the vision problems were part of this. Thank you.
This happens whenever I smoke weed (it can last for days after), as well as sometimes for a few days after drinking alcohol. I have bipolar disorder, but I never thought that that had anything to do with it. I always assumed it was a hangover or a weird side effect of marijuana. Thank you for sharing it’s so good to know I’m not the only one this happens to, I’m sorry you have to deal with it all the time.
FINALLY I’ve never come across someone who has this feeling. I’ve felt this for almost 2 years, non stop. I wanna bring this up to my doctor to see if I can confirm this, it may help my depression hopefully
I feel you, I used to be housebound due to having agoraphobia (caused by having panic attacks and derealistion) and I'm now back to working almost full-time :-) I still have some moments of derealistion (sometimes multiple times a day) but I came to accept this way of feeling. It won't hurt you and your thoughts will pass too.
I have these exact symptoms and I legit thought for the last 3-4 years that I was just nightblind and would never be hydrated enough (even though i'm actually drinking a lot most of the time) and thats why I'm feeling foggy and wasn't able to keep most of my memories but that's making SO MUCH SENSE THANK YOU SO MUCH!! <3
Dodie will never know how much this video changed my life. As I first saw it, i started to search for more informations about this condition... and then i realized that I always had it. For many years i thought i was going crazy, that something is really wrong with me... i can't express how much I'm thankfull for this video
I think I have this as a symptom of my depression and when I’m really stressed, life gets extra difficult because of it. It’s so hard for me to feel in control because the passage of time feels warped so I get even more stressed because I worry about missing assignment deadlines or important dates. Three days can pass and I can literally do nothing because it didn’t feel like the days passed. It’s such an uncomfortable feeling 😟
I think I experienced a bit of depersonalisation last year when I felt really depressed. It only happened a couple of times and lasted like a day each time, but it was honestly just so weird. I felt like I was faking my entire personality and I didn’t feel like I was completely there. It made school kinda difficult.
Just found this and this is really great. I have Depersonalisation Disorder through PTSD. Mine isn’t as intense anymore thankfully after seeking and undergoing intense therapy. But every now and again if I am stressed or tired, it’ll come back.
Thank you so much this has been so helpful especially since I have LHON it really confused me but I found this video very helpful. Thank you once again.
Hey I got this this shit too. It's nice to hear someone else talk about having it. It's honestly kind of hard to feel like things are really real sometimes. I go through episodes about once or twice a month. Especially when I get sick. It's really tough to deal with. But being around people I care about helps a lot.
derealization just like all mental disorders are spiritual things that need to be dealt with spiritually and the only way to do that is through Jesus Christ he can and will set you free if you allow him to. i struggled with this for like 2 weeks but got over it after some prayer it went away, this was a couple of weeks ago if you want to know more just reply to my comment i will be happy to help.
i think i have this. it happens rarely, but everything you said explained it to a tee. thank you so much for making this video! i used to call it "real life lag"
Have experienced ongoing dissociation for years. Has kinda been on the back burning as other illness have been taking priority. The floating feeling I especially related to. I also use stem & grounding exercises for to hemp with my Sensory Processing Disorder👁👂
I...I really really feel this. I get these feelings a lot but when I go through periods of major stress my whole life will just feel like a dream, or as if I’m a background character moving through a book or tv show. I didn’t know that it had a name, I thought everyone always felt this way, I’m so relieve do I feel like I might cry right now
This happens to me ALL the time and I was blaming my thyroid!!! Anyone else?
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Miranda K2019-02-01 20:29:04 (edited 2019-02-01 20:30:43 )
I get this too and mine started when I was 8 years old. I went through multiple traumas that year and I've had it ever since. Now that I know what it is its much more manageable and I know what situations usually trigger it. For me, its the sounds of crowds or fluorescent lighting, or large amounts of stress. Getting enough sleep and food usually can help. It feels like you were watching everything in a TV and then everything is REAL.
I use to have anxiety attacks every time I went out into public and I experienced this often. I also have it at school a lot or driving because I am a new driver so it’s a bit scary.
This happens to me every so often (usually when my mind is over stimulated or something triggers my anxiety) but it reminds me of this one time I pulled an all nighter and then went directly to six flags, rode a bunch of roller coasters, and then had like an out of body experience. It literally felt like a dream. I felt like I was floating, everything was a little blurry and fuzzy, and I felt like I was watching everything from outside of my body. This was because I was sleep deprived, obviously but it’s one situation that I can visually and physically remember, all of my other experiences are sort of gone because usually it’s to cope with anxiety and my mind wants to forget the situation...
I didnt even know this was a thing. Thank you for sharing. I can concentrate at all at work, cant hold eyecontact anymore and in many moments i forget if i said my thought out loud or just thought it.. Guess that more an anxiety thing.
Thankful for this video 💕 I’ve had this ever since I experienced my first severe panic attack. I was zoning out really deep into thought, questioning reality and suddenly the lights around me got really bright and my heart started beating so fast I couldn’t see anything and I just felt so weird. I’ve had mostly derealization for the past 2 years now and It’s just weird how it affects you on such a physical note! I’m dizzy all the time now, can’t see properly, memory loss... but anyways it definitely made life harder but it’s getting easier to cope with as well. Stay strong y’all! 💕💕 we’re in this together
derealization just like all mental disorders are spiritual things that need to be dealt with spiritually and the only way to do that is through Jesus Christ he can and will set you free if you allow him to. i struggled with this for like 2 weeks but got over it after some prayer it went away, this was a couple of weeks ago if you want to know more just reply to my comment i will be happy to help.
@V you sure? The truth will set you free but a lie will keep you in bondage. I'll testify of the Lords healing power, but it's your choice if you want to believe or not. I've shown you the cure whether you don't take it or take it is up to you but I'll recommend the latter.
Other than that i hope you get over this have a blessed day.
when my anxiety gets bad ( my anxiety is all about death) I keep thinking what if this is a dream but then I find things around me I can touch,smell,taste etc . It helps keep me present
Yup I have this. It’s no fun when you get to work and forgot how you got there, you feel like you could scream at someone because everything feels like a dream. Talking to people during an episode is almost impossible. I felt awful, it really felt like I wasn’t there and nobody was real. But of course I knew it was...it’s happened 3 times, and I hope it never happens ever again.
I had to deal with derealization for several years after smoking weed ... Glad I came over it, but it was really horrific for a long time and took years to heal. Don't get me wrong, I'm not againsr weed, but for me it's just destroying my brain rapidly. It's a topic about weed that's rarely talked about sadly.
i used to have this ALL THE TIME as a kid. Especially in unfamiliar situations. I still do sometimes and it sucks. I can't imagine what it's like to have it all the time...
I'm glad you haven't given up on treatments, and you are lucky to be able to explore so many different types of treatments. How do you pay for your different therapies though? Are you on disability? Does your family support you? If you work, what challenges does your condition pose to your every day responsibilities? Thank you for bravely sharing your story ❤️
I'm so glad you spoke about this. I get this too and it is really annoying to live with, for me and irritates me all the time. It's good to feel I'm not alone.
thank u youtube recommended..i don’t feel rn and life feels so weird. but my dreams feel so much more real!! like how it used to when i was a kid. this became a part of me after a really bad high where i made myself panic so bad and my anxiety convinced myself i was dying (lol) and since then everything’s been different. sad.
Hi this is something I’ve been struggling with for about 6 months. If anyone has any tips on dealing with paranoia or slight agoraphobia while adjusting to this sensation, please reply!
I have derealization as well. I also have OSDD so it kind of goes together, but my derealization is constant. Just sometimes it’s not as intense as other times.
I have dissociation when I'm in those periods of time where I experience zero anxiety (dissociation probably replaces it). It's not as severe as lasting for hours like depersonalization. It's just like how a panic attack would be. But it happens when I'm entering a place for the first time. Or at the airport. I also have synesthesia so my brain just convinces itself that I'm on LSD or some shit and then I get extreme paranoia that someone poisoned me. They confirmed it's not bipolar disorder. But, luckily, I have a highly effective way of relieving it. Deep pressure therapy. In fact, my doctor contacted my insurance so that I may get a weighted blanket to help me (cuz it affects me the most when I wake up and inhibits my ability to digest things). I personally suggest a weighted blanket to try because it applies sensory information without causing harm (granted the one you get isn't too heavy). I still can't take pills cuz my doctors are waiting until I get my autism testing. My insomnia is a huge factor in it. In fact, I'm pretty sure my insomnia is one of the major reasons why I dissociate. You know, my brain hasn't caught up with the fact that I'm awake so it just gets confused and dissociates.
TW: I dissociate to the point of losing control of my motor skills and actions. It's very scary. One time I overdosed involuntarily after disociating in a moment of high distress, I literally saw myself overdosing but I couldn't control any of it, my body just did it. I feel myself going into dissociation over a period of a week or so and then something will bring on a point of dissociation where I lose control, literally. I had something happen during a disociative episode where I was feeling depersonalized and derealized for about a week, nothing felt real and I felt like I was in a fog, and I wasn't in like the same time zone as everyone else. It brought me into a psychotic state and I heard a lot of scary thoughts while I was also feeling like I wasn't actually alive. Then something traumatic happened and I started seizing but I was conscious and i was and screaming help me, I don't want to die, it hurts. I couldn't control any of it, what I was saying and what my body was doing. I dissociated to the point of having an unconscious flashback and that was my bodies response, my mind was not connected to what my body was doing. My eyesight is all messed up when I'm dissociating. I feel like I'm looking through fog or a filter. Mental health is very complicated. You are not alone.
I usually have episodes of this, like in school when we're going on a trip or something not ordinary, I feels like a dream, it deels like it's not happening, and then the days after is so confusing because we talk about and I kind of realize it actually happened.
A few days ago we had a school trip, we sat on a bus for 2 hours and then we went to a museum, we stood and listened to one of the "museum people" and my head ran through all sorts of things (I had a lot of things on my mind/stress) and I just fainted (I didn't realize it actually happened it felt like I just thought about "what if it happened" and it was so confusing because I tried to just "zone in" again to the museum man who was talking, but I couldn't because it was actually happening) and I came to myself and there I was, actually sitting in a chair by my shocked friends and teacher, confused about what actually happened. I remember the moment I fainted like a dream...
holy fuck i am so happy to find someone else who feels this way because i am constantly in a state of disconnection from reality. the beginning of the video connects so hard because i am constantly snapping and doing little things to try to connect myself with reality. its such a terrifying way to live when I think about it.
Ok so the first time this happend to me was yesterday, nd im 19. At first I thought that i was just high nd now i found this video. Thank you so much for sharing and now i am just trying to learn how to love myself as who i am
I just ran into this video.. and it’s really interesting to me because I was diagnosed with derealization and disassociation a few years back. And I didn’t know there was something wrong because I’ve had it since I was a kid. I don’t remember my childhood from before I was 11ish. And everything from then till now is blurry. So it’s always felt like it was a normal thing, until I decided to go to a physiologist for help with what I believe to be depression (which it is). But I have never thought about how it must be for someone who got once they were older and are able to remember their childhood.
I had this for 7 months and it was the most terrifying time in my life. As soon as I read the title I knew that it was about DR. I’m mostly recovered, but I’ll sometimes have moments where I’m scared my DR has returned but they pass quickly. Anyone who has to deal with this is so strong. It is literally like being stuck in a nightmare, no way to get out, doubting the realness of everything. Keep fighting 💕
I don't have derealisation, but I've always zoned out in lessons, lectures and while reading books. I have autism so I'm wondering if it's connected with that. Or is it something separate? I dunno.🤦🏻♂️😂
Dodie I have been in this state for about the past 6 months and am getting to the point where I don't know if I can handle it much longer. Does yours come and go? Or being chronic does it stay constantly? My dr has called it derealisation/dissociation too
I have ptsd and i feel this way,ive cried 2 years,ive accepted this as my new normal, i know one day it will go away and one day I'll wake up feeling like me again and i can resume my life,everyone please be patient..u will cry but god is with you,you are your only medicine,cherish the light that you have still within you,and regain it back over time.. please live by this if this works for you.❤
I've had something similar, but not really that. it all started when i was depressed, anxious, and smoked a loooot of weed. Everything in my life seemed like it already happened, every movement, every emotion, not just mine but from everyone. Obviously i couldnt know the future, just all that was happening felt like i knew it would happen. Basicly i was having DEJA VU all the time. And in the moments when my depresion or anxiety got worse deja vu would get 10× more real... It was extremley scary. i stopped smoking weed because i thought i fucked my brain up with it, and it didnt go away. i was sober for 2-3 months. I was terrifyed of smoking again because i didnt know what to expect, i thought it would get worse. Then some bad things happened and i said "fuck it" and smoked a joint. Suprisingly, it calmed me down, and then when i started to get my life back in order slowly, noticable changes started and deja vu finally left my head a month later. Terrifying times. Still sometimes from time to time i would get a moment of that old feeling and it would scare me to death.
Im so glad that I'm not the only one who has experienced this. I've had those little dream episodes ever since elementary school, typically whenever something out of the ordinary was happening (like being at school at night because of a winter concert or something). It felt like I was detached from my body, not a true "out of body" experience where you see yourself from above, but as a passenger in my skull that has no control over the words coming out of my mouth. I would dread whenever someone would come and talk to me because I feared my brain on autopilot would say something that didn't make sense (and often times it did). During these dream episodes, I would always try to communicate to others that I was in this dreamlike state and I have a feeling that they didn't truly understand. But typically these episodes would only last for an hour (at least I think so, its hard to keep track of time in this state). I can't imagine what it would feel like to be trapped in that state for a day.
in october i had fainted twice, and after that i feel so sensitive to everything. like in november i had this feeling i was in a dream or a coma (not what u had) and my glasses had really hurt my eyes. but it’s gone away now, the only thing that’s happens is when i’ve been laying down awhile and quickly get up i feel like i’m going to faint but i don’t.
Everyone is saying this exact same thing and I’m just mind blown that there’s an actual disorder for it.... I actually didn’t know everyone didn’t feel like this until recently. I worked in a really fast paced restaurant and a few times a month I’d just like “come to” ? Like all the sudden everything around me was so real and that was the only way to describe it. Almost like everything has been fuzzy and it went crystal clear for a few seconds. I asked my husband if he ever does that and he had no idea what I was talking about... also the visual part. If I’ve worked a long shift, driving home is an ACTUAL nightmare. Sometimes I don’t even remember half the drive home and I’ve always wondered if everyone feels that way driving home and how they aren’t terrified of driving like I am!
oh, my god, I needed this. I thought I was alone on this and I just. thank you so fucking much for talking about this, is all I can say without starting to ramble and getting all sappy.
This is actually how I felt 2016 and 2017 might be because they weren't vey good years for me but I didn't know this was a thing and when you said that your vision gets blurry and showed how it looked like I was just sitting here like that's exactly how I see most things. I'm not going to say I have it because you shouldn't self diagnose but maybe I should look into it more.
Oh my god... I feel like this constantly too but I thought it was something completely different. Maybe I should look into seeing someone about how i'm feeling.
I get this feeling only after traveling by plane. I always have. Even if there is no significant time difference between the countries. And I'm not afraid of flying, I actually enjoy it. For longer flights the aftereffect lasts longer. It can last from a few hours up to 2-3 days. So it might have something to do with the ears/pressure/balance? I do have a minor issue with those. Just saying.
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That Girl2019-01-27 20:24:37 (edited 2019-01-27 20:25:14 )
Thank you!! I just thouht I was going crazy!
One example is that I have to constantly tell my self that im alone in a public bathroom, the door is looked and that im not standling around people who will watch me pee myself, im only going to the bathroom, not the center of peoplemass.. It drives me crazy sometimes, I almost pee myself bc i have to sheck that there really are walls around me and a looked door etc...
I have gone through episodes like that since my father passed away 6 years ago. It doesn't happend all time, but it does when im really anxious or having a pannic attack. Also I have Lost ALL my memories from when I was 9. It was somewhat a weird fact that it was the first time I took a picture with Santa, I was really terrified of him. So I guess my mind wasnt working fine. But I've learned how to deal with my "spaced out" episodes. Learning to meditate, breathing technics AND medication for anxiety.
(Sorry if there was any typos. English is not my first language)
Last year I had serious derealization episodes and periods where I would just be stuck in that state it was fucking terrible after a week of having it regularly I was having panic attacks every single day for about 2 weeks I felt as if my life wasn’t real I was scared everywhere I went nowhere felt safe and nothing was familiar I remember going to booster juice one day and my brain suddenly turned off it was like a video game the lights got a lot brighter and the sounds around me got louder and scary it was like that everywhere I didn’t even bother asking for help because I was so hopeless nothing could take this away i am still recovering now and doing a lot better I’m on antidepressants and taking care of my self this video really helped dodes thank you lots of love
I have really bad social anxiety and have for as long as I can remember but especially for the past year and a half I have been dissociating really bad. So I thought it was really cool to have this in my recommended- I never knew you dealt with derealization! It is so comforting to know those I look up to also experience similar things- or that anyone anywhere can understand-. I have been listening to your music for over a year and fell in love with your music the moment I heard it. I always found your music to be very comforting and relatable.
I also suffer from this and its no fun.. In fact sometimes it can be terrifying and it's really taken the joy out of most of my life for the past 6 months or so. CBT therapy along with EMDR tuned personally to me is helping... CBT to be aware of my thoughts and feelings so that they don't control me and I feel more calm when in control over what's going on in my body and mind. And EMDR because I have a history of trauma that's added up so much that my mind got stuck in the defence state of disconnecting from reality. Recently all of reality feels too much to be connected to but I have to keep pushing through. Drugs didn't help, pills didn't help, having friends and being in person with people I like helps. My therapist helps, and these two types of therapy we chose to do help. CBT focusing on mindfulness, and EMDR for processing the trauma that put me here. Stay strong! for anyone else feeling like this, you're not alone in this at all.
Before I transitioned I felt this too. Not saying that that’s a solution for most people at all, but it was my response to my situation. The whole part about, “was it a minute or an hour since that person said that?” feeling I have felt often. I used to feel like I was in control of my body but only in a very distant and separated way. It made me isolate a lot because any social settings induced anxiety. For me writing about my trauma and reading memoirs about inspirational women who have overcome great feats really helped me to love and believe in myself and that confidence and overcoming trauma was what healed me. I’d say 90% of the time I’m genuinely present nowadays, it’s not like it goes away forever but it’s a lot easier to deal with.
ITS NOT A PLACEBO! I feel the exact same way all of the time and the 5htp has helped me so much w my social anxiety and depression. But ive never understood the word for how I was feeling. Trying to live in the present is one of the only thing that helps me get through the day. Meditation and hypnotherapy has played a big part in my recovery as well ! We are not alone!! Stay strong stay present.
The only thing that helps me when I'm around places where I know lights will be bright (like you mentioned malls etc and feeling 3D) is to wear sunglasses. It sucks. But it has helped.
Thank you so much for talking about this I'm so glade I'm not the only one feeling this way, Iv been feeling like this for about 2 years now and I still feel it, But I don't know if this has anything to do with it but I can't feel my emotions like I can still get angry but I don't acully feel the anger its kinda hard to put it but thats the easiest way I can so, Sorry if you don't understand tecnally I'm emotionless but sometimes say when im dancing I feel a quick jolt of reality but it's only for a split second iv talked to my parents about it but they havnt done anything to help me, I'm kinda use to it now and am learning to live with it even tho I still get a bit frustrated at times I'm getting better i just hope one day I'll feel real agien, I also hope anyone els suffering from this feels real agien one day to. Thanks agien for making this it helps alot.
6 years ago I had severe anxiety i didn't think I was real or the world was real or anything. Felt like I was floating outside of my body it's so hard to explain. Only for about a month until I got some help from professionals and I was fine, I hadn't felt that feeling for 6 years until two weeks ago. I'm stressed ATM and looking in the mirror triggers it but only for a few minutes until I try to snapping myself out of it by calling my friends and family to bring me back down to earth and I hate it so much! I hate that feeling SOOO MUCH it's absolutely horrible and I can't imagine what you go through feeling that way all the time, I really hope your going ok. I do realise this video is old so I'm heading over right now to see your most recent videos and definitely going to buy your book. xx
weird story: I took an edible and felt this way for a whole week. It lead me to a very dark place, I felt like if I killed my self or drove into a car that I would wake up and none of it would be real. I never got a real answer for it and when I tell people they think I’m crazy.
Hi. So I'm not depressed (at the moment) nor am I stressed at all. In fact, I have a pretty good life. I'm almost 14, have been riding horses for the past 4 years and genuinely like school. Recently though, I've noticed that everything seems muddled. I can't tell how much time has passed and I often space out for 3-20 minutes. When I say "space out" I mean it feels like I'm in a haze and my vision is blurry/I can't focus on anything. I'm not sure if this normal for people my age or if it is the after effects of a depressive episode that I had for about 3 years (10-13). Could someone please respond and give me advice? I don't want to go to the doctors for no reason, nor do I want to leave this untreated <3
So, with depersonalization and not feeling like you are real, what does that mean? I mean, I look at myself in the mirror and don't see myself very often, because I am confused on what "I" am. My hair, face and body feel like a child's game where you can mix and match outfits. It's probably linked into my depression and anxiety but I want to know more, to find out how to help myself or someone else who has it.
Had it now 31 1/2 years 24/7, but as you say learned to live with it. Anti depressants didn't help me and to many side effect, but the 5-htp helps the depression mostly unless I start thinking about how I feel I"m missing my life. I have tried so many different things to help with none helping. So I just keeping going on and dealing with life. Helps to know I'm not the only one, even though I hate that anyone has to feel this.
derealization just like all mental disorders are spiritual things that need to be dealt with spiritually and the only way to do that is through Jesus Christ he can and will set you free if you allow him to. i struggled with this for like 2 weeks but got over it after some prayer it went away, this was a couple of weeks ago if you want to know more just reply to my comment i will be happy to help.
@Neos I'm a Christian and do believe Jesus can heal all, I've had prayer several times in groups and from different people I know who love the Lord. Also at enter healing pray groups. I believe there are things I have to learn by going through this. Hate it, but not giving up.
To anyone that feels this way. Please seek help. What you have is an anxiety disorder. Tell your parents or A teacher that you need therapy. Please don't hesitate
i feel like i might have depersonalization? usually i just go about in kind of an automatic way, bu sometimes i have these intense moments of “i am a real person with real feelings and you are a real person” and stuff. its weird.
Ya it feels like a bad high or drunkenness permanently. Or when you just wake up and your groggy half awake but you never wake up. It’s hell but ya it’s our life.
Let's stop calling all this beautiful neurodiversities by that ugly clinical terms and consider ourselves sick and damaged. You have a beautiful and unique brain just like every one else and it is just like it has to be! ♥ Simply enjoy life from your perspective.
Depression and anxiety are talked about so often, but I think Dodie is the only person who I've ever heard talk about derealisation and depersonalisation. Most doctors don't even know what it is. The first time I heard her talk about it I just bawled my eyes out and felt such a strange sense of relief. Derealisation and depersonalisation have become my "normal" state - ie pretty much 24/7 that I often forget I have it and just excuse my strange behaviour as depression and anxiety. It's so exhausting living like this. All I want to do is sleep. It's like living inside a glass box that distorts your perception of the world.
Sometimes, I could be doing something, and then just immediately feel like I’m in a simulation, and nothing/ nobody is real, and it’s really just me that’s real. Then I start to ask my friends (If I’m around them) “You’re real right?” They look at me with the most confused look and say “Yeah?” Then I just stare at something. Also, sometimes, I feel like if I’m just going about my day as usual, I feel like everything is a dream (similar to the simulation thing), and the “real” world is opposite from this world, and I’m just in a big dream, and my “real” Family is trying to wake me up, and if I try to wake up, I can’t, and stay in the big “dream” (I’ve actually tried to wake up from the “Dream” before, of course it failed-)
It’s reassuring to see just how similar we all are with this condition. I’ve had it 100% of every single day since 2012. I had a panic attack for the first time ever and never felt the same since I woke up. I developed full blown panic attack disorder and became extremely depressed. I recovered from panic attacks thru meditation. But still have it. I finally accepted this isn’t going to go away and 99.999% of doctors are total idiots when it comes to this. I’m actually quite happy. Have done many wonderful things in life. But I have the haunting thought that I’d be so much happier if everything felt more real.
derealization just like all mental disorders are spiritual things that need to be dealt with spiritually and the only way to do that is through Jesus Christ he can and will set you free if you allow him to. i struggled with this for like 2 weeks but got over it after some prayer it went away, this was a couple of weeks ago if you want to know more just reply to my comment i will be happy to help.
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Sarah McD2019-02-18 03:31:46 (edited 2019-02-18 03:38:12 )
Yeah no. Happy I’ve never experienced that. That really sucks bro. Have you ever tried Medical Marijuana? I’ve heard really good things about it for Depression. Someone I know really well does it (mostly CBD’s but if it’s really bad THC’s) and if helps them so much with their pain. This have MDD and PTSD- both diagnosed. And I’ve seen a huge difference in them. They also have chronic back problems and it also helps that too. If you ever get the shot to. I would give it a whirl. Good day
It might be the same thing that you’re referring to, but a lot of the time everything feels fake to me. Everything feels unreal and like I’m in a movie. When people talk to me it feels like they’re not real people and they’re like not a real part of my life. Does anyone else get this?
Do you also have crazy existential thoughts? Do you ruminerate about the weirdness of life and us beiing in our bodies? I have severe anxiety from such thoughts and experiense dr/dp from time to time, especially when stressed. But the thoughts scare everything out of me...
I used to have horrible existential thoughts that were caused by my derealisation and they made it terribly worse... it felt like hell. But now even though i still have derealisation, i barely ever get this kind of thoughts. And if i do i can make them easily go away. So please be strong, i promise it'll get better. When you have these existential thoughts, instead focus your mind on something fiddling, think about anything else and you'll eventually train your mind to automatically avoid these thoughts or make them go away quickly
Wait... I thought I was just weird... I went outside in summer and when I went inside I couldn't see. I can't hold in information at work very well and people think I'm not listening, they'll say 10 minutes and when I walk away and it's time... I can't Remeber.
When I wake-up from sleep and I walk around I feel floaty and I can't see well. I thought that my eyesight was terrible, but it's always been said to be fine. I'm 17 and have only realised this could be the answer.
When I was little I always used to day dream and be in my own little world but really It was me not being able to focus. Id think my toys were real. Daydreaming was my childhood thing to cope with school work. Would find conversations hard to even keep up with and have felt isolated. I have all the things she said.
The questioning yourself to feel engaged is me everytime I go outside.
Seee this type of thing. I am quite confused about it because this is what mindfullness and meditation encourages. It encourages you to observe your emotions instead of being your emotions and acting on them straght away, where as if you observe your emotions you can deal with them better, for example. If i feel sad, i will notice that my mind is trying to be sad and i'll observe that sort of like " Hmmm, i'm starting to feel sad now" i'll try and change that by thinking of something happy or doing something that makes me happy or one that happens a lot, I observe when i feel anxitey coming on and i try and stop it from happening before it takes over my body and controls me. I try and take deep breaths and sort of meditate for a second to try and not become so anxcious.
I feel all of this isn't a bad thing and that's how humans should learn to be, we probably get down by it because it's not "Normal" but what is normal. Nothing is "normal" normal doesn't exist.
thanks for the vid. your editing is a bit choppy tho so it was hard to follow at times, perhaps you don’t have to cut the clips so much, just speak freely xo
It has happeded to me too with weed. The last time was 2 hours ago, I was high af and I felt that way, but for me is not all the time. I have felt this with spice/k2 too and it was a lot worst than what I feel with weed and it would last days, I'm happy I got away from spice. srry for my English I don't know if you're getting what I'm trying to say.
One time I had a supppper terrible high where I actually convinced myself that I wanted to kill myself, and I haven’t been the same since. So i def relate to you and i quit smoking a while back but the feeling in my brain hasnt gone away
guys it's actually a side effect of smoking weed. Take out the happy part and it's quite similar. The good thing is, it's only temporarily and you can control it by not smoking. I think some people do experience it for a longer time like you, but it's still most likely a side effect, so you don't need to worry about it being a permanent mental health condition.
I get this aswell, I got so bad to the point that I wouldn't even be high, I would just have one toke and then it would feel like nothing around me was real and I couldn't withstand a conversation. I have since quit as I think it was my brain telling me I shouldn't
Same thing happened to me. I already have this problem but I got high once and it made it 1000x worse for three days straight and then I had an anxiety attack that I wouldn't come back to reality.
It's quite funny... When I used to get high the same dreamlike feeling would stay with me for a week. I couldn't taste my food, my body was numb, nothing felt real. After I stopped smoking that same feeling came back every month and it would last at least 5 days. Now it's something that occurs quite often. Keep in mind.. I stopped smoking when I was 15 and I'm 20 now. The episodes of feeling detached from my body have gotten worse. It literally affects my life everyday. I don't want to blame it on weed, but my episodes occurred when I started smoking. I'm used to them now.
aylin the same thing happened to me! I’ve stopped smoking for around 3 months now but I get this detached numb feeling everyday since then and I associate it with the feeling I got when high. I may go to the doctors because it just gets in the way of everyday life. Everyone said it’s a “ghost high” but they’re meant to only last up to one week.
Genji After I stopped smoking my episodes occurred randomly and I never thought much of it until last year. I started having them fault specially when I drove on the high way. My doctor said that it was a severe panic attack so she prescribed me meds that didn't help. The other episodes that I have we're random, I could be out and about, not stressing or having anxiety and boom, everything was dream like. It's like a natural high. I honestly think weed was what started all this but idk. My doctor said it's because of my depression and anxiety. I just hate when I get those episodes during work or out in public and I feel like I'm high. I don't know how to act, I have to tell whoever is with me to like pinch me and reassure me that I'm real, that it's not a dream. I hope you find a solution for yours since you haven't had them for long. I think fixing mine is too late now. :/
I do something simmilar I look at something random and just think: what is life? Like,I know I'm looking at an item of clothing I never wear, but am I really seeing it? Is this just a simulation or video game? Or am I in a coma and this is just nothing and I wake up in a completely different world-
So basically that goes on for about half an hour until I just forget what I was doing and go back to watching youtube
every once in a while my brain is just like EVERTHYING IS FAKE THIS ISNT HAPPENING THIS IS NOT REAL and then i think of dodie and how she feels this way more often than me and honestly it grounds me back into reality. knowing your situation IS better than someone's can be helpful when i'm in that panicky state btw !!
I don't..... I understand a TiNY bit as I once had a low blood pressure and felt so spaced out and I wasn't able to really take in everything going on. But thankfully I know I am always present in the real world and do not suffer from derealisation
JustTristin I'm literally 23 and was just as mentally ill when I was 11 as I am now. All my doctors, therapists, psychiatrists have validated that self dx can be very helpful and streamline treatment process. They interview you before putting you on meds anyway. But it's just an interview and nothing like the amount of DSM, medical journal readings, extensive documentary watching, support group finding and questions I asked and examined in the process of my own diagnosis. Have you been to med school? Because they hardly spend any time on any given mental illness.
If I had realized it was worth getting help for then because neurotypical =/= default, maybe I wouldn't have attempted suicide when I did. Maybe I would have found support and community and thought I wasn't crazy for thinking I must be crazy. I could have compartmentalized what was happening as not being something inherently wrong with me and rather an affect of mental illness. I still survived, because I managed to run away at 17, and get help, but I didn't have medical access at all before that.
While there definitely can be harm done by people self diagnosing, there is a lot of benefit. Many people who don't have the funds for a doctor can do it themselves and seek treatment that way. For instance, I was able to self diagnose my generalized anxiety disorder before my counselor and doctors diagnosed me with it. It was painfully obvious I had that mental illness. From the diagnosis, I was able to seek treatment. However, not everyone is lucky enough to afford to do that. There are different levels of mental illness, and GAD and depression are quite easy to diagnos as opposed to bipolar disorder or BDD. I wouldn't frown at the people who do self diagnose. There are people who thoroughly go through their research about mental illness before diagnosing themselves. Even then, there are people who do have mental illness but are misdiagnosed by their doctor, so that can leave people to self diagnose. Please don't disparage those who do so.
I'm scared because this happens to me. I scratch my arm because if i don't I'm not there. And I feel like I don't see people well enough. Like there face is there but I can't see any details which freaks me out
Is that what it's called? My dad just said it's because I'm a 'grownup' now and that's how it feels, but sometimes it feels like I can blink away an entire week, and sometimes I fear my real life is a dream and I'm actually really living a nightmare; everytime I feel a random pain, a little part of me fears I'm being tortured somewhere else- I'm just not waking up, and it freaks me out. Thanks for making this. Now I know I'm not quite as crazy as I thought! 😂
Anyone else feel like dumber than usual? Like I feel like I was smart but after like 2-3 months of living in this state I feel like my memory got worse and I feel a lot more dumb
I think you made a decent effort to inform people, however, wasn't very wise considering your young and impressionable audience. I feel like a quick skim through the comment section would suggest that a lot of teens have somehow 'self-diagnosed' now, since watching this. Clarify that this was a diagnosed condition. Point out the misconceptions and similarities to everyday 'stress', so youngsters in stressful times don't get confused and ultimately diagnose themselves with this.
alondra. Actually the title would make these younger self diagnosing people more likely to watch because of the way she worded it, it makes it sound allot different than it is. I personally clicked it because it said that and was curious, it would make sense if the title was the actual name of the illness and not making it seem so attractive ( I didn’t really know what other word to use so I just went with it)
alondra. i’d think it’s more the fans watching it. the actual people diagnosed with it have already someone to talk about? i think only 1k of the views, maybe even less came here because they related to the problem and aren’t fans who just self diagnose. yes, there maybe are some people that relate, but it is unreal that suddenly so many people have this mental illness.
My mum doesn’t believe in anything like that so any time I try and bring it up so she can understand she just dismisses it and it’s only getting worse
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Lena Carey2017-12-15 10:01:37 (edited 2017-12-15 10:06:57 )
This is so troublesome for me, because I relate to a lot of it, but I have so many other mental health issues that these things might honestly be side effects of those instead? For example, I have ADHD, so I have a tendency to not pay attention to things or forget where I am/what I'm doing, as well as just forgetting things in general. My memory is shit. But I feel like it's worse than the average person with ADHD. I also have chronic depression and panic disorder. I feel numb and like I'm not myself for periods of time before feeling better, and a lot of sensory things (i.e. lights being bright/dark, not hearing well, unfamiliar with myself or others, etc) are all symptoms of panic attacks for me. But what I experience is so similar to Dodie that it can't just be my other shit, right? Like technically I'm at the best my life has ever been. But it feels a bit hollow, and things rarely excite me, and sometimes if I'm out with friends there's moments where it's like I've completely gone away and my brain is so dizzy/fuzzy that my friends ask if I'm okay. Help.
Lena Carey if you're already professionally diagnosed, talk to your psychologist / psychiatrist. They may be able to help you parse these experiences and feelings. Because I personally have never experienced derealization, but I have had brain fog days (essentially dissociative episodes), but because I'm already diagnosed with ADHD I can see how a mixture of those symptoms and anxiety could cause me to dissociate briefly. I think it also helps to see if you still have these dissociation problems when you are taking meds. If you do then definitely go talk to your therapist. Because it seems that your symptoms are really impacting your daily life in a way that mine didn't, so don't just do what i did a give yourself an armchair diagnosis, actually go seek help if you can! :)
Your last sentence I can relate to so much wow. I, for periods of time, feel so hollow and even though I should feel something I don't. And time feels so fuzzy that a lot of times I'm not sure how I am feeling.
Lena Carey I relate to this. I have ADHD but also struggle with severe anxiety and bouts of depression, and some dissociative episodes from living with narcissistic abuse/ trauma my whole life. I think a lot of these things are interrelated. I don’t describe to myself as me “having” multiple diagnoses, just experiences with those things that I need to work on. Is there anything that helps you with the brain fog?
Hey, so I was wondering, when you say you've got Chronic Depression, do you mean Dysthymic Disorder/Dysthymia? You can call it either of those three; just checking. Have you been professionally diagnosed with it? I have, and if you have as well, I think you're the first person I've heard/read about who has it too. Even though it really sucks most of the time, it's nice to hear about somebody else I guess. I'm just wondering.
Tatum Cooper I believe DSM 5 now labels that persistent depressive disorder at least in the US. I think you may want to look into the sociological view of mental illness. It views mental illness to be an issue in some ways because society tells us that we mean less to society if we have less than perfect mental health. Personally, I had a very traumatic childhood and lots of mental health issues myself and running in my family. But I avoid saying that I “have” a specific condition aside from my neurodevelopmental condition ADHD because I feel that gives too much power over something that does not define me as a person if that makes sense. But, I can promise you’re not the only person who experiences chronic depression. Also, Reddit mental health communities have been really helpful for me. And if that didn’t answer your question or you have any others please do let me know!
Wow, I got more responses on this than I thought I would. Thank you all so so much. It's so nice to know that other people feel the same way or have similar experiences.
Marcy, I think you're right, I really should mention this to my therapist and psychiatrist. I do feel this way still on meds so maybe I need something different. I definitely have disassociated in the past, but this feels different, it's more omnipresent if you get what I mean?
Julie Smiles, I'm here for you if you need someone to talk to who relates. I feel you <3
greengal111796 I totally think these things being interrelated is true. I know that my depression gets worse when I'm not dealing with my ADHD. For me though, knowing my diagnoses gives me power over them, not the other way around. But everyone is different.
Tatum Cooper Yes, I do have dysthymia! I've been professionally diagnosed! I'm so glad I can be the first person you met who also has this! It sucks a lot knowing that we have more depressive episodes than most, and that we'll have to have treatment our whole lives, but it's manageable. Love u, fellow Chronic depression bud!
Lena Carey just gonna say so many people are misdiagnosised with ADHD not saying you are but I was, I have dyspraxia and DPD (which can stem or worsen from trauma) and alot of people don't know about it so they just pretend it's not real
N. J. Saroff it’s actually really hard to get diagnosed with ADHD because it requires tons of assessments psychologically and neurologically. I urge you to look into the actual diagnostic rates of ADHD as opposed to maybe listening to hearsay stigma since all of us in the mental health community suffer from stigma.
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A M2017-12-25 02:27:31 (edited 2017-12-25 02:30:41 )
Lena Carey it’s best to try and get diagnosed. And as for the ADHD part (I’m only gonna comment on that cause that’s all I have experience with) there isn’t really average ADHD person it’s more of a spectrum from severe to mild. I genuinely can’t say much though considering I’m not going through it and only have a small amount of experience with everything else you said. Hope everything gets better for you!
greengal111796 so my mom is a special needs advocate and my mom who has worked in special needs for over 10 years has to relearn the statistics each year my brother mom and myself have all been misdiagnosed with it and none of us have it I have done the research I have taken the tests
greengal111796 dpdr is something that takes years to diagnose and many people get diagnosed with other similar things such as ptsd or sensory processing disorder (this happened to me) and every treatment failed till I was diagnosed a year ago in the hospital. I know my shit i take psychology classes
I have bad anxiety , derealization and depersonalization and I smoke weed every other day and I mostly smoke Indica but I don’t think the weed is causing me to have anxiety bc when I don’t smoke I still have anxiety
@chiara asmrʚϊɞ i think it caused mine too a few months ago i had a really bad trip in which i experienced intense derealisation and ever since that day its like my eyes have opened and i just cant see the world the same way anymore
idk what to put here I felt the same exact way , I also had a very panicky moment smoking and ever since that night I just couldn’t shake the feeling off, maybe it’s because it felt so scary that it’s hard to just get back to feeling “normal” but yeah I’ve had moments like this now it’s been just a little over a year, it has helped to learn there’s actually a term for it because initially I just thought there was something wrong with me! Hope you feel better
Chiara Mucaj yes me too!!! I feel like smoking was the catalyst for me. I was having a bad trip one day and ever since I randomly feel like this. I hate it to be honest.
+Yung Jojo Yeah, Music thought everyone felt like that. That isn't true though. I remember before I had this condition; I enjoyed and lived life a lot more.
I understand how scary it is to feel like this. Really. It's terrifying. It's the worst thing. You are so brave and so strong. Give yourself credit for this. Acknowledge all that you are doing, even if the world won't. I'm proud of you. Go see your doctor. Or your school counselor. Or find a therapist. Or all of those. Tell them about what you're experiencing and ask about treatments. Go to a doctor and don't stop until they do something to help. Find a way to get treatment. Care for yourself. Sleep. Eat food that's filling. Drink water. Shower. Do anything you possibly can that makes you happy. ANYTHING AT ALL. WHENEVER YOU CAN. read or paint or sing, listen to music, take long baths, or walks. Watch movies and eat desserts. Cry. Cry a lot. Talk to your family and friends. Ask to be reassured that you'll be okay. You will be okay. You will be okay. No matter how much it doesn't feel like it. Your brain is capable of telling you lies that feel like the truth. They are not the truth. Because you ARE a good person. You are worthy and beautiful and incredibly fucking brave. And everything is going to be all right. You will be happy again. I swear to you. Stay alive.
I'm not sure if I have a mental heath condition. I’ve seen multiple people who have tried to help me and no one can. No one knows what’s wrong with me. Being bored feels the same as being happy and if something funny I will laugh and naturally react but I feel nothing inside. Christmas (even though I love it) feels the same as just another day inside. My emotions seem to blend together and the only different one is this heaviness that sometimes fills my brain and chest. It makes me wanna cry and other stuff. I don’t always feel the heaviness though so it's random mainly when I get help or tells someone it goes away and makes me feel like I’m lying and when the help stop it come back like a circle effect. The thing is I can be happy I’m just not feeling it and I now sort of ok with than right now but the heavy feeling gets too strong. If anyone feels this way or knows what it is please tell me I just want to stop it because it makes me feel so pathetic. I haven’t told many people this including my parents because I’m scared they just say it’s normal and I’ll just feel like I can’t handle what everyone else goes through. I had a boyfriend and I knew I felt something for him but I could hardly feel it and it was so difficult to know you love someone and not feel it.
Ibbi Bibbi I FEEL EXACTLY THE SAME. look, wanna talk? I've never been to any professionals but i had help from my friends, and i'm a better place rn :')
I'd recommend asking for help-- it sounds like clinical depression, or at least a major symptom of it, which is anhedonia: a loss of pleasure in things you once found pleasurable. If your parents say it's normal or no big deal, they're wrong, because most people don't feel that way. There are loads of super helpful treatments for depression (or whatever you may have) and I really recommend you try to find help for it!
yes! you’re not pathetic, and not alone. that sounds like symptoms of depression/depressive episodes and you’re absolutely not alone. it can be really hard, especially when people don’t understand so you’re worried you’re overreacting, but i encourage you to talk to a professional! you deserve to find help and feel better, because mental health is just as important and worthy of care as physical health! i sincerely wish you the best, and i hope you find shift soon! you got thisssss
and it’s okay if you don’t feel like this all the time, that doesn’t mean you’re lying! writing down how you feel when you are in that state, if you can, may help you communicate it to others. these feelings aren’t a normal part of growing up-you deserve to feel okay
Nothing feels real, it's hard to concentrate and listen to people talk alot of the time, it's like everything is foggy, like I'm just only awareness and watching my self doing shit. I just want to sleep forever
Sigh......what if I have depression and this? Right now I feel so drunk and sleepy and im hungry but I don't want to get out of bed cause it's too much work....ugh but I'm so hungry....but I'm so tired I wish someone can just spoon feed me instead at the moment.
Wow okay first oIf all I feel sooo sorry and bad for you I’m so sorry you’re going through that bullshit. Also I feel so so proud of you for not giving up that obviously means and obviously proves you are SO damn strong keep on fighting and I promise you that it WILL fuck off forever. I’ve never had it myself personally which I’m extremely grateful for, but unfortunately my brother got both when he was 16 for 3 months and he got it from his stupid dumbass fucking doctor prescribing him something called strattera which is an SNRI which is supposed to “help” Depression & ADHD but since it built up in his system he unfortunately smoked weed as the medication was at its peak and then that’s what triggered DP/DR. So he didn’t wanna live like that it was literally destroying his life. So he had a great idea to taper off the medication, and not smoke weed for a long ass time, and finally when he was off the medication, he was gladly amazingly back to normal and that fucked up disorder disappeared. So here’s my advice for you that could get rid of it for you too. If you’re on ANY antidepressants, SSRIs, SNRIs, or anything like that, slowly taper off them, because those medications usually make DP/DR worse. So if you’re on any of those meds taper off them but very slowly explain to your doctor and pharmacist how you feel, ask them how to get off those meds slowly, stay away from these following drugs, weed, psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, DXM, Salvia, Non-Benzodiazepines (sleeping pills) & Ecstasy. Ask your doctor to prescribe you Klonopin, Valium or Xanax. And ask your doctor to prescribe you an Antipsychotic such as quetiapine, aripiprazole, olanzapine, and risperidone. And if you get prescribed any of those meds make sure you only use them as prescribed and directed by your doctor and pharmacist. If you have any questions about the medications. Ask you doctor or pharmacist, or feel free to reach out to me and I will do my best to help you out even if you need or want someone to talk to please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. My phone number is (289) 698-8137. I know in my heart you will heal. ❤️🙏
Do you feel like your in real life but unconscious mind is taking place over the conscious. I feel like this all the time. Is it something I should take seriously. Its only been growing and it started at when u was 15 yrs and now I m 19. ????
But what is 'real' any way? Maybe that experience of everything and yourself in particular being not real is actually you getting closer to the Truth? Who says that 'this' is real?
Not wanting to be self diagnosing or anything but when i was really depressed and stressed, i felt like i was “drunk” or “high” all the time - i feel much better now. It really affected my grades and i would zone out all the fucking time
It feels like your tired all the time and in a dream People try to talk to you but you keep zoning out because u feel like a “drunk” Does that make sense?
whoopsie doopsie I'm not gonna self diagnosie but it's time to go to a doctorosie
11087 likesReplies (46)
^^^^ do not click that, it's not real
154 likesdoddlevloggle how does this work?
31 likesFallen Poet its not real don't fall for it!!
19 likesWhat happens if you click on it? Asking for a friend
33 likesIt's fake and could steal your information.
32 likesEmma Florez oh okay thanks. I didn't give any information thankfully, I just clicked it out of curiosity. Thanks for letting me know for future reference :) ✨
21 likesyikes•jpg saaaame lmao
4 likesFor a moment I thought this talk of “don’t click the button it’s not real” was all a cruel joke about derealization until I realized people were actually trying to be helpful by calling out spammers. Turns out there are kind people on the internet after all :)
280 likessamesies
4 likesWinter Ups me too
4 likesI’m so confused
21 likesPerfect
0 likesWinter Ups honestly same
1 likeLmao
0 likesHAHAHAA
0 likesCameron McCoy click what?
8 likesI’m so confused
6 likesme fuckin too, my guy
4 likes@Nathan Fulkerson bruh same
3 likes@WillBeckett IsPrettyBoyGoals same
1 like@Saoirse Cameron same it also made whiplash back and forth between panic and numbness 😩 lmao
2 likesWinter Ups No fr though😂😭
1 likeCameron McCoy wait was there a link or are you talking about the like button?
5 likesGonna tell my therapist
0 likesMe too I swear to god
0 likes@Saoirse Cameron what "button" are they talking about though?
5 likesCameron McCoy omg same
0 likeszinnia marcus I think it used to be one of those scam links but it doesn’t say edited so idk?...
1 likezinnia marcus I think it used to be one of those scam links but it doesn’t say edited so idk?...
2 likesKarina Harvey omg that fricking gave me a panic attack reading that
0 likesKarina Harvey omg i thought u meant what Winter Ups said i had a panic attack i read the wrong thing or i was just imagining it 😓
0 likesDaisy Shane A scam bot replied with a link for something probably
4 likessame here
0 likeshad one hit over 3 years ago and that was enough to be one of the scariest moments in my life. things instantly felt off and like i was outside of my body. it definitely took over a year to no longer be aware of this feeling but 3 years after and i can barely notice it anymore. things slowly start to feel like you’re whole again with time
1 like@zinnia
2 likessomeone commented a link to something, saying it was a website about depression, but it was just a virus that effects the data base of the software your on:(((
@emma baNks omg, who would do that?!
1 likeSome things are okay to self diagnose beacuse depersonalization is a such a broad term and most of the time its in other illnesses so it may be good to check yourself out to see why you have depersonlization
1 likeAnyone else waiting for her 2nd comment?
1 like@Bloody Cheerleaders there was a reply that was just spam trying to take your personal info
0 likes@Pumpkin i’m on welfare for being too mentally unwell to work 😼 i also got a cat and named her gordon ramsay and a kfc tattoo 😎
1 like@Winter Ups This is the single best thing I've ever read, Nothing can top this.
0 likesI love your profile picture oml
0 likes@Saoirse Cameron dude that is exactly my thought process lol
0 likes@Saoirse Cameron lol
0 likesPracticing deep breathwork as Wim Hof breathing. It s magical how it does reconnect you in minutes
0 likes@Saoirse Cameron oh thank god 😭
0 likesI always feel like I’m dreaming and it feels like what I’m seeing isn’t real, and sometimes I panic. Can anyone relate?
991 likesReplies (41)
ODS_Cobbtune yeah it happened to me yesterday and it was crazy. i was in the city on a saturday night with thousands of people and there were loud music playing and the lights were flashing and it made me feel dizzy. i felt like i wasn’t in the real world and everything felt like i was dreaming. i have anxiety (diagnosed by a psychiatrist) and i think that is the cause. it makes me feel like nothing matters and everything around me seemed fake. i also started to laugh uncontrollably over not even funny things and i felt like i was high or drunk or something. i’m really worried this feeling won’t go away, i don’t feel like myself after it. i would always feel like this after a party or watching fire works and bright flashing colourful lights. i feel like we both should seek help before this feeling corrupts and affects our daily lives and our relationships with other people.
59 likesI wonder how to stop it because I have the same thing
19 likesSSF Wulf yeah, and sometimes I get lightheaded and it’s really weird
18 likesI'm a hypochondriac, every time I feel like I'm sick I get this
13 likesI had it when I was young and I had many episodes and then it just never came back. But it was terrifying and I’d often feel like I was gunna faint. I remember my teacher yelling at me when I told her I felt like I was going to faint again. I couldn’t help it and often asked ppl around me if I was in a dream. Huh I wonder why that just randomly stopped. I was told it was panic disorder
9 likesI had episodes like that for half a year or something. Absolutely awful, but it disappeared eventually.
5 likesI feel the same way, however sometimes the other way round.
0 likesODS_Cobbtune Yesssss all. The. Time
1 like@janice You most likely don't have the disorder. High-energy experiences and flashing lights, especially that late at night are obviously going to cause some sort of detachment. No need to self diagnose, unless it constantly interferes with your day to day life.
3 likespooping cucumbers omg that happened to me but i felt like no one would understand 🤦🏾♀️ it only happens in busy, loud, crowded places for me
1 likeODS_Cobbtune yes
0 likesTry ozone ivs & check vitamin D levels and iron especially
2 likesIts been happening to me for about 2 years now. Ever since i moved into high school and i never knew why but ive just found out that its a genuine thing that other people have and im so releived that i know what it is
0 likesIt happens to me, thrice a week.
1 likeI also feel same
0 likesYup
0 likesThis is an old comment, but I totally relate! You aren't alone 😊
4 likesYes.
0 likesYes same here
2 likesThis strange feeling hits me like once in a month,and it goes for seconds,but from the last time it hit me... I cant go off the feeling,I guess my lil sister stressed me too much,cus from soon when we are home alone only me and my 7 year old sister,she always fell,she almost fell from the 2nd floor,from the window,she locked herself in the bathroom,and couldn't go out,but she did somehow,and there is lipstick on the door every morning we wake up,it stoped suddenly,i guess that's what makes me feel like im not in real life,I always think what if I cant wake up from my dream,what if my friends and family are waiting for me to wake up?this though always cried me,I need help,someone tell me I'm not dreaming, I'm in real life,im. in. real. life.
Strangely its stronger in the start of the day than the end,when I'm going to bed I still can feel the feeling but it doesn't bother me that much
i think its a jamai vu like, the opposit of deja vu
0 likesYep same here
0 likes@Bozhana Toneva I have the same thing. .
2 likesIt's really fricking not fun...ITS HELL
And u are in real life but ik what u feel like i have the same exact thing. ..Sometime it would make me cry.
And i wonder too what if i can't wake up from the dream? What if my family is waiting for me to wake up? What if i am in a simulation?
What if i am the only preson that exists?
I think about that the most and honestly my life..Is getting boring now that i always think about it...It isn't fun anymore like it used to be....But u are not alone :)..
thats my life, ur not alone
0 likesMe too, when I'm alone it's always like this, and late at night I start having anxity like really anxity because I'm scared that I maybe never be like I was before
1 likedude that is exactly me! i just had a panic attack yesterday because of it! geez isnt it weird to think about how many others in the world can be going through the same as you? it makes me feel kinda wierd like, its kinda crazy to think about.
0 likesOmg I am not the only one
0 likesEvery day.
0 likesPracticing deep breathwork as Wim Hof breathing. It s magical how it does reconnect you in minutes
0 likesSame
0 likesDerealization is a dis-enlightenment experience that is simply a lac of energy. You have to bring electricity/light back. Deep breathing will give you that electricity back and so the clarity in your perception of life.
0 likesYesssssss ☹
0 likesyup
0 likes@sHiGgY-oN-dA-bEaT do you feel like your vision isn’t clear? Or just me
0 likesPls yea i hella relate i'm experiencing this rn and i'm in period of exams which is not good at all
0 likes@janice It's been 6 yrs I'm dealing with this condition it's frustrating thing my life has become completely useless since I got affected by it but I'm trying my best to be free
0 likesEvery day for three years
0 likesYep and my head aches
0 likesYap
0 likesYes I'm having that right now and it's scary
0 likesYes
0 likesyea because i've been feeling like i dont exist ever since like 2020
0 likesif you don't have this, it's not cool or fun. it's a living hell
830 likesReplies (24)
i've had this thought a few times and then i just had an existential crisis
39 likesyeah it's definitely not fun
its horrible, not fun at all
29 likesWelp i think that life is a dream.
33 likesLike i am dead and now I'm in a diferent world if ya'll get it.
Its soo fricking horrible and kinda creepy when u really think about it.Or sometimes i think that i am the only one who is real and all the people around me are fake...
It's a horrible feeling..
So if anyone knows how to stop this PLEASE tell me..
fr, its painful. you wake up everyday hoping you feel real, and you dont
25 likes@Sseashellz yup that's the bad thing
0 likesI had it for 3 days from now after i got mad playing with my smol niece she is 9 months old and cute . I have it when i stay on swings a lot
0 likes@xBun Bunx Talking to a therapist and see what help they suggest and also you may need to talk to more that one psychologist or psychiatrist to find someone who can help you.
0 likesAgreed
0 likesexactly
0 likesi used to think wow that sounds neat id love to disconnect from myself for a while, now ive got it and it’s absolute fucking agony
2 likesit's better than knowing you exist, it's boring knowing you exist
2 likesThe thing is, i cant remember the time i had it. I got full amnesia on two years of my life. Now i know the symptoms and the "beginning" of the feeling. The only time i realy experienced it in therapy Was FRIGHTENING. But it was liberating. It was like "omg i didnt dream this up". Now i try to accept that Stadium because it isnt going away any time. I try to look at it as a friend who tried to protect me, but didnt know how. Still, i'm afraid of it, because i know its Power. But its me- i created this for me, what is there to be afraid of? Its my reality.
1 likeThis person is right, it's like nothing is real and nobody loves you. And even if they do, it seams insanely unreal and useless.
1 like@Gacha Q-Comber!! hey could you help me rq idk if i have it or not, like it feels like im asleep like ill be completely out of it for the whole day. Things seem blurry and hard to comprehend. I forget everything and i feel like im dreaming. Like somedays ill forget what im wearing and have to actually look at what i have on to know. I hope i dont have this but im confused
1 like@Gacha Q-Comber!! like i feel like im going crazy ive been feeling this way going on for about a year now
1 likeMy bf has it...i really don't know how to hell
0 likesTruuuuueee help
0 likes@xBun Bunx are you feeling better now? Have you recovered?
0 likesPracticing deep breathwork as Wim Hof breathing. It s magical how it does reconnect you in minutes
0 likesI don't think I have derealization but I feel bad for people like you who have derealization but sometimes I just don't feel like I'm the only one that is not real I feel like everything and everyone around me is real I always have that feeling it gives me small shivers or goosebumps and then it makes me think how the world was made and why were we here is God actually real or not what is this is a fake world and there was a real world but we have to escape this world to get to the outside world... YOU MAY THINK THAT IM JUST THINKING IT BUT I AM FEELING AND THINKING IT AND SOMETIMES I FORGOT I FEEL THOSE STUFF I ONLY FEEL THOSE WHEN IM BORED SAD OR DULL OR FEEL EMOTIONLESS ALONE AND IT'S HELL
0 likeswell for someone who constantly experiences the dissociation, it starts feeling more comfortable than reality. dissociation makes you avoid stress and dulls your bad emotions.
1 likeit's terrifying, constantly.
1 like@sof Let me hope you don't give on him and leave him alone
1 like@xBun Bunx There's a philosophical school of thought, started by Rene Descartes called Solipsism, explaining one of the things you described. Basically Descartes doubted everything, and the only thing we can objectively know is that we exist. therefore, there is no rational way to prove anyone else exists. To be a perfectly rational person, with everything the human mind is capable of, is to be a solipsist.
0 likesMine kicked in after smoking a lot of weed. Been stuck like this for almost a year
1932 likesReplies (133)
Slime same bro fml
66 likesWeed is fine they said
157 likesHey. Mine was MUCH MUCH worse (disabling) after I tripped a ton of acid. I was stuck like that for 1-3 years but it DID go away. Most hallucinogenic effects like this (and weed is absolutely a hallucinogen) go away, so keep on truckin'.
157 likes@Anonymous I tried weed about a month ago after having a really strong dose and I felt completely numb and like I was in a constant dream and high state. The numbness is gone but everything feels like a dream still. I also get a ton of anxiety and would derealize in school. I'm trying to get Therapy
101 likesSlime SAME. My cousin blew weed right into my face multiple times and now I’m stuck in a dream world. It’s been like this for over a week now
41 likes@Izzy Rose you got high from second hand? Wtf
66 likes@Izzy Rose ahhh. i see. that sucks! pls don't have a panic attack. you're fine, this feeling will subside <3
10 likesSlime Holy shit me too. I “believe” that everything is fake or a simulation except me. Ig you can say that i pretend that i’m talking to people even though i believe they’re fake. Just like now
36 likesIts happening to me right now am i ever gonna be ok again?
18 likesjuliette dufresne life has been pretty much hell since then. i took me several months to even get close to “used to it”. since then, i forget about it, but it really sucks when i remember
15 likes@juliette dufresne you will. It might take a while, bit just try to ignore it the best you can.
6 likesSame I used to feel like this as a kid but only for a little bit then it’d go away. Then I became a huge stoner and a couple acid trips later I haven’t been able to feel connected or awake for a couple months now
14 likes@Izzy Rose (not how drugs work)
13 likesSameee
1 likeIzzy Rose I don’t think it works like that-
14 likesBIGGEST fear whenever i get high
8 likesI thought about that but I don't wanna believe it...? I've done weed before but the last time idk, it was okay. But the next day I felt like a dream or that I was still high... I want it to stop it's giving me anxiety
11 likesI smoked massive amounts of weed and wax from 14-17. I suffered from derialization for a long time after, but after a bit over a year it went away. You're almost there, it isn't forever even though it feels like it is :)
34 likes@VudoGaming exact same thing for me! the best and first thing you have to do is to stop doing so much drugs lmfao
0 likes@Madelyn Wintrick I did at stop at 17, that's why it went away aha
0 likes@Madelyn Wintrick stop at*
0 likes@Madelyn Wintrick okay, maybe I'm not over all the brain damage just yet 💀 lmao
0 likesME TOO
0 likesSlime that’s the biggest anti drug pda since the 90’s
1 like@How_may_I_offend_ you everyone reacts differently. You couldn't tell me a negative thing about weed back then neither, and I suffered cause of my ignorance. No one's saying it should be illegal, I think it should be 100% legal. I just think people should be smart about it and know there ARE risk involved. I know more people that did experience derealization from weed then people that didn't and that says something. Should be considered a common side effect
9 likesVudoGaming I was just saying drugs have risks, and that is one of them. I don’t know why you worded it like you were angry with me, it seems like we are agreeing
0 likes@How_may_I_offend_ you I thought you meant that derealization from weed is 90's anti drug propaganda, didn't know you were agreeing my bad. Either way I didn't try to word it like I was angry probably just came off that way aha sorry about that
0 likesthe same happened to me
0 likesjuliette dufresne i smoked every day for a year. i started having dissociative episodes while i was stoned, but then it began happening when i was sober. then it was all the time. i felt like someone was controlling me like a video game character... it was the first time i've ever actually wanted to die. it was horrible. first things first, STOP smoking. it might be hard but just stop. talk to a doctor so that they know you're dealing with it, give it a few months, and see what happens. if it doesn't get better, gets worse or if you feel suicidal get HELP. mine improved after about four months after i stopped smoking, now it only happens occasionally. good luck!
12 likes@Rachel Burry it'll go away completely eventually btw :) that shit really does suck. Took about a year and I was completely back to normal, no episodes or anything.
16 likesThis is happening to me. I smoked up yesterday and it was really bad, it's gone a little bit better today however I'm still thinking about yesterday and what if I'm asleep right now and I never woke up from yesterday.
3 likes@Rachel Burry . I smoked up yesterday and I went through some crazy shit. I thought I was going mentally crazy. I smoked and 30seconds later I closed my eyes and opened them back and my brain thought I was asleep however I was awake the whole time and I thought i was dreaming and thought everything was fake/unreal. I never felt like that till the first high I got which was yesterday. I'm okay now however I'm still thinking, what if I'm still asleep now? and all this is just a dream. I'm trying to persuade my self its real lol
6 likes@Rachel Burry marijuana brought out alot of bipolar and schizophrenic behavior in me, would get manic, paranoid etc this was even when I wasn't high, just in between smoking I'd still be like that but the brain is pretty good at reaching baseline again I strongly believe that you'll be good 🖤
1 likeZaypex i know it's insane. i thought i was gonna have to commit myself to a psych ward lol.
0 likes@Scrazelope same
0 likes@Ahri how've ya been after that? I've gotten used to the feeling
0 likes@Scrazelope same. The first 1 1/2 years i felt very weird. When i tried weed i got into a bad trip that fked my brain. After that i felt derealisation for months, like nothing is real, like i kinda died already or im in coma and just dreaming things. That kinda evolved into anxiety and still derealisation. But im okay most times. It's just worse when my life is stressful. Sorry for my language I'm not a native speaker.
4 likes@Ahri that's Oki. What language do you speak?
0 likes@Scrazelope im from germany from where are u?
0 likes@Ahri I'm from Canada :3
1 like@Scrazelope cool :3
0 likes@Ahri thanks :D do you have discord by any chance? You can add me if ya want
0 likesweeds so bad for you lmfao
0 likes@AgenttyloStudios wdym
0 likesThe same thing happened to me, but I’ve connected to reality again for the most part. I got freaked out at first when I felt that everything was just a dream, but I feel like the more you worry the worse it gets. So I’m at this point where I had to accept that it was happening and I stayed with the “dream-like” feeling and at the same time I was looking for ways in which I could become more attuned to reality. here’s what I did/do: whenever I start to get anxious about a thought I like to acknowledge that thought and then ask myself “is it true a 100%?” “If it was true what would be so bad about it? Then I start to shift the thought into more perspectives as possible just so I can perceive that it’s just a thought and not actually my reality. Also whenever I get that anxiety bc of whatever mental state I’m in I just sink into the feeling. At first it is UNCOMFORTABLE but then after a while it gets better since you’re not fighting that emotion. I also like to remind myself of today’s date, my name, the settings and everything that makes up “reality”
7 likesIf you can take one step at the time without wanting to rush or wanting to “get better” you will find your way out. I completely understand what you guys are going through and for some this might work and for others it might not, but just know that if you’re incapable of feeling a change in your life you should just surrender to your new lifestyle and find approval for it.
Holy shit
1 likeThis exact thing happened to me. I seeked this video out again after having a few of the symptoms, looking through these comments now I know that I should not have done so much weed, for my first time, I don't think I should do it again because I hate constantly feeling out of control, which I have been ever since.
Thanks for the reassurance that it will go away everyone :-)
I had it for 5 years after taking mushrooms.
1 likeWas the same with me. Ate a weed brownie, had a panic attack as soon as the drug kicked in, the worst trip ever and a hell of derealisation and a constant state of fear and panic for almost half a year. But now, almost two years later, I am fine again, even though I was convinced (and scared to death) I would get psychosis or something like that and never live a normal life again.
6 likesSo to anyone who has it: There's a good chance it will get better if it's drug induced and you don't continue to use the drug.
What helped me the most was actually trying to accept the way I felt. And eventually it works because you don't notice it anymore and a new normal sets is. (That new normal is probably the old normal, your brain was just confused for a time.)
Perma-stoned
2 likesIt happened to me after overdosing on Benedryl and it comes and goes
0 likesJust stop smoking weed I get like this too but if I find the willpower to sober up for a month I feel much better
0 likesIt may help if you let the pipe cool off.
0 likesWeed is a known cause of psychosis. Just sayin'
Been smoking daily for over 20 years now. I call bullshit, unless you had underlying issues that is.
3 likes@Gerald Draper I wouldn't call it bullshit.. I had this Derealisation 3 or 4 times now, they mostly came with stress, when I was sick or when I was in travelling. But they went away in around 5 days or less. The last time was different though. I don't really drink often or much but at a birthday party of my friend I drank pretty much.. The next day I woke up and still felt drunk but I soon realized that I was not drunk anymore and the Derealisation stayed for almost 2 weeks.. It was horrible.
0 likesWhat helped me to get out of this state was going out and trying not to think about it too much. After socialising with a friend, I redecorated my room for half a day and after that the Derealisation was gone.
@Mina Kimbley It's called solipsism. I have that too, and i hate it so much. There's no way to convince yourself that anything is real
5 likes@👁 hell ya it was, because i've been smoking different strains and still experience it.
0 likes@👁 yea not sure why :(
1 likeYeah me too
1 like69th reply
1 likeSame bro
1 like@Gerald Draper I agree. This only happens to people with severe underlying issues. Happened to me too. Went away when I became better.
3 likesBefore I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety I smoked weed and it was the best Highs ever. I was so happy. Now 4 years later now diagnosed with anxiety depression and harm ocd I took ONE edible and had the worst trip of my life and now its 1 day later and I'm having disassociation and feeling horrible. It all depends on your mental state. Weed is not at fault you just need to be careful if you know you have mental illnesses already
5 likesGents, ladies, this effect caused by weed does go away. Was a long term, high quantity user. Obviously everyone is not the same and the time it takes to get back to "normal" will vary. But I agree with other posts saying the same thing, it DOES go away :)
3 likesMine too. I smoked for my first time a few months ago and haven't felt normal since
1 likeSlime yeah same here
1 like@Anonymous this started happening to me after acid it makes so much sense now
3 likes@Izzy Rose Someone naive to weed could have a "stone-over" for several days. I seriously doubt you are stuck like this, please try to remain calm.
3 likesI highly doubt that...
1 likesame :( its so fucking debilitating
1 likeThat’s why I stopped smoking weed it’s been better than when I used to smoke a lot but not the same as how I used to be
2 likesomg same
1 likeThat’s why I’m choosing to stay away from it, I’m 18 and Ive managed to stay away from drugs my entire life so far , even though I feel like weed can be helpful for some, many people who I know use it kind of start changing in a way, it’s all they can talk about doing, it’s the only thing they wanna do and they come to school a wreck because of it, idk how it would effect me so i choose to not do it, period
2 likesSlime me too
0 likesThis happened to me to🤦🏾♂️
0 likesI rolled a joint but messed up one step and ended up creating crystal meth. Now i own a bar front that sells the strongest meth on the east coast. Damn weed
1 likeme too
0 likesSame😭😭😭😭😭
0 likesS. E. Z lol can we create a group chat of us that had a bad acid trip and then couldn’t smoke weed anymore after bc of depersonalization and derealization
2 likesScrazelope lol can we create a group chat of us that had a bad acid trip and then couldn’t smoke weed anymore after bc of depersonalization and derealization
1 likehey, to everyone in this conversation
3 likesIt will all be fine. For me it has been going on for about 3 years with different forms of anxiety including depersonalization which hasn’t gone away but I learned to cope with it. So for me, the time in which I believed my thoughts, believed that life is not real, that my existence is a weird concept, a lie, this time was hell. So hey, just know that things around you are real! Everything is the same it was before you started tripping.
Try not to fight it but to live with it. The only way for it to feel normal again is by not believing this crappy feeling and not giving it attention. Because it really is just your mind. Life can still be fun, keep going:3
Rosie Simpkins Id be so down for that! I don’t know you can message me via Instagram (@milistra) and depends on where the group chat would be opened, I could give you my number there:)
0 likes@Milistra for sure, i'll dm you soon.
0 likesand to everyone else, ive been meaning to come back to this thread but i have been drinking ginseng lemon green tea and taking korean panax ginseng supplements for the last week or so and I believe it's helped me! my anxiety and dissociation feels more managed and i have that feeling of groundedness. to a certain degree i can always perceive myself from the backseat if i wanted to just because my mental plasticity is capable of that now? but its not that the feeling has hold of me. more of a disturbing thing i simply have perspective of. So I urge anyone to try it. I cant afford the expensive ginseng but i want to try it, too. for now the tea and supplements from walmart seem to do something.
wait so you’re telling me that bc it’s been about 8 hours since i hit it, i’ll get derealization thingy?
0 likesthis happened to me too!! it'll get better guys <3
1 likesame
0 likes@Mina Kimbley This comment has honestly brought me so much relief. It's not just me. I literally thought I was the only person who felt this way who wasn't like schizophrenic or something. It's like, I logically know that everything and everyone is real, but i can't seem to accept it. Watching films like inception give me panic attacks, because that's exactly what it feels like when I'm in that state, like it's a simulation, no-one else is real but me. Luckily, my anxiety's gotten better over the years and i don't get this very often anymore, but its so so so horrible to experience.
2 likesIt's a good life lesson that weed can also be a dangerous drug
1 likeI remember I had a really bad trip on weed early last year and ever since then I've just felt like I'm in a dream
0 likesat first it felt so so strong for months and months
but now it's like a dull lull
where I constantly feel like I just woke up from a nap
I really just want this to stop already
I feel like I'm losing part of my life
magma clouds wassup bro I’m high as fuck rn and I still have it I just learned to live with it at this point
0 likesoh my god say sike
0 likesEmely Cruz still feeling it lol I quit again
0 likesYeah me too and for some reason it’s like being high without the giggly feeling if that makes sense💯😭
1 like@Rachel Burry sooo... is it still there?
0 likesPumpkin a little. gets better though 😀
0 likesDoes it ever go away? I need it to stop
0 likesGuys... a little story to think about:
4 likesMy friends and I were smoking some weed and I got a bowl and asked if somebody wanted a hit too.. one girl did, but she hadn't smoked a bowl before so I said (partly joking bc I thought this was a rumor) "oh then maybe don't inhale all of it, I've heard of people puking before because it was too much..." and suddenly she was scared, but still wanted to do it. So she did, and as soon as the smoke hit her lips she stood up and ran to the toilet (she didn't even inhale anything!). And THAT my friends is how strong the brain is... that's placebo etc. If we THINK something can happen, it's MUCH more likely to happen, ESPECIALLY if it's just something mental. So don't smoke weed (or do any drugs) if you are even a tiny bit scared or don't want to, simply because the brain is weird.
Just like you seem to get more side effects of a medicine if you've read them all before.
I've been smoking daily for 7+ years now and I am completely fine, no more derealization than before. It's very much individual.
Same. I used to be able to smoke all the time until one night where I fell into “is this real nothing feels real”. I’ve never felt the same since.
2 likes@Rachel Burry hey just wanted to let you know that’s you’re not alone in what happened to you. I smoked heavily from 23-24 after a series of traumatic life events. It helped at first, until it didn’t. I had such an intense derealization episode that lasted for weeks after I smoked last. I haven’t smoked at all in nearly a year and I still feel that feeling of derealizing creeping up on me. I’m not glad for your situation, but it’s nice to know someone else experienced this same thing.
0 likes@👁 Just because you're okay smoking weed doesn't mean others are. I've had derealisation periods from other drugs, no reason why weed can't cause it as well. Everyone's brain is differently wired so of course it can cause many mental health issues in other people.
0 likes@👁 How is it?! All drugs have the potential to do you harm, anything that alters your mind can alter in it in a negative way. There are plenty people who have had negative experiences from just weed alone.
0 likesIt's a fact that everyone's brain - and different forms of drugs are different. The pharmacology of weed and MDMA would be totally different, but they can both cause derealisation in certain people. None of that takes away from the fact that any drugs can be harmful to people, especially those with underlying mental health issues but it's not a requirement.
If you're going to defend weed & act like it can't harm people then I suggest you actually look up and read up on what the impact of drugs can be. In fact, many people smoke weed for decades with no issues and then one day out of nowhere they may have a panic attack or start experiencing derealisation. The point is mind altering substance = potential to cause problems within the mind.
me too :( how are you now?
0 likesWow man same
0 likesI also got derealisation from smoking laced hash (and I was a regular weed user for years prior). I’ve suffered for about 2 years before I started feeling better (I went to therapy in the meantime). Drug induced DR always wears off when the drug leaves your system. The reason it keeps lingering afterwards is because of high levels of anxiety. Even if you didn’t have an anxiety disorder before, the experience of a bad trip can be perceived as traumatic by our brains which creates PTSD-like symptoms such as anxiety and depression. This is why the feeling doesn’t seem to go away for some of us. But there are ways to end it, if that can reassure anyone, and it is by treating the extremely high levels of anxiety that cause DR. Medicine is very efficient. I’m on xanax for an anxiety disorder I had beforehand and it definitely helps me calm down. Grounding exercices, eye movement therapy, and anything that is used to treat PTSD can be used to relieve the disconnect between the body and the brain. Finally... Not an easy advice, but trust me: ignore it as much as you can. Believe me when I say it plays a huge role in recovery.
1 likeBasically — manage your anxiety and try to ignore the feeling (distracting yourself — or using grounding techniques). Those are difficult things to do but it will immensely help control the situation. It will not last forever.
Now, also keep in mind that experiencing drug induced DR is generally a sign of an underlying condition. People that fall on the schizo spectrum (schizoid, schizotypical, schizophrenia) are vastly more sensible to hallucinogenic drugs that can trigger psychosis. I recommend everybody who experienced a ‘bad trip’ that left them in a debilitating state of derealisation to consult a professional about possible underlying conditions.
With all this said I give my best wishes to everyone in this thread, you are not alone, and what you are experiencing may be extremely unpleasant but there are ways to help it fade. Drugs have not lingered in your body, what you are feeling is the result of anxiety which is, although sometimes difficult, very much manageable. Take care xoxo
@Divinty paw yo don’t feel like u crazy bro l embrace t
1 likeSAME!! i had it for like 2 weeks this summer and then it happened again after i got really really drunk
0 likes@Cliffton L-Vuitton Wassup bro I’m still like this lmaoo
0 likesPermanent high
0 likesIt happened to me, I smoked for first time one month ago, then at the other day in the night I star feeling this way like if everyone it’s real and they have a life but I’m apart of them, but being here, so weird but it goes away by times but then it comes back, sorry my bad English, with this shit it’s kinda difficult to find the right words to explain, my brain it’s like freezer
0 likesStill like this
1 likeYep I have this too one of the reasons why I drink so much now
0 likesMine came from some weed also
0 likesYeahh same it never happened before but then I smoked like 5 gs right there and there then was fucked up as hell then woke up fealt soooo weird i still got it
0 likesOmg are u serious! Me toooo!!! I freaked the heck out and look at me now it like kicked in a few months later for me tho
0 likes@Gerald Draper NFN, but body chemistry can vary greatly from person to person. So to claim that something can't possibly be because you or no one you know has never experienced anything like that is ignorant.
0 likessame
0 likesVudoGaming did u stop smoking to get back to feeling normal, sometimes i feel like smoking grounds me however i do it non stop daily as well and feel like it also makes things worse long term
0 likes@Anonymous yup happens to me after a combination of acid and weed. Sucks ass
0 likes@Scrazelope bro that’s exactly what i feel
0 likes@jojovsld I hope things get better for you. I've pretty much lowered my weed intake to like once a month now. The numbness thing doesn't happen to me anymore but the derealization and feeling like I'm in a dream/nothing is real is still here. Idk if that's ever gonna go away but I've learned to live with it now. Just try your best to not think about it, as hard as that may be, trust me I know. If you're really struggling with it, I'd suggest talking with a councillor or therapist if it's really negatively affecting you. Good luck 👌☺️
0 likesHow are you bro
0 likesPracticing deep breathwork as Wim Hof breathing. It s magical how it does reconnect you in minutes
0 likesIt’s starting to happen to me. I’m going to cut down lol
0 likes@abel Breath deep
0 likesmine was after 14 acid tabs
0 likes@Sai suman Bhuyan i feel rebirth
0 likes@Sai suman Bhuyan I lived 16 years being trapped deeper and deeper in a feeling of unreality, beside myself the depth solidity clarity of life. Only now doing deep breathing (wim hof and dmt breathing) + cold shower the perceive re connection & the clarity of life rising again. It's magical how derealization is very physical in facts
0 likes@Last Stops on the A how are you doing now? Any improvement?
0 likes@Lily Stultz zero improvement I went through another mental health crisis and I’m just living. Doing worse but It’s whatever I have shit to live for I guess
0 likes@Last Stops on the A have you tried anything to help it ?
0 likesThere might be a correlation because I'm a daily toker and had my first manic episode
0 likesI have been stuck like this for 3 years
0 likesAnd I'm 11
0 likes@VudoGaming you give me hope brother, I smoked heavily from 14 to 19, sobered up about 2 months ago and I'm in a constant state of feeling as if I'm in a dream. You saying that it went away after a year gives me a sliver of hope, I hope you're doing well now man.
0 likesI have an exercise I do when it gets really bad. Take a deep breath and Name 5 things you can see, 4 things you can feel, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell and one you can taste. It helps ground you and remind you you are here.
891 likesReplies (21)
Thanks I'll try this
15 likesThat’s what I do as well!
10 likesThat's awesome thank you!I have severe panic attacks because i feel like I'm not grounded in reality.
28 likesI'm always writing song names/titles and one that came to me out of this problem is called "I forgot I was on earth" lol ;D It's best to just have some humor about it and try to force your mind away from the negative thinking into a positive outlet. I've dealt with it for years and it is a struggle. Call it ocd, call it pseudo balber affect, call it derealization or depression, call it what you want it's all just terror. Ppl dont even realize (me included once) that every auto negative thought that the mind has naturally sends electrical impulses to the body yhat tells it how to feel so we to train how talk back to ourselves. We have and will continue to grow in a world full of wounds but fight club must go on. God Bless you all!
5 likesyup, this helps!!
2 likesthank you !!
2 likesMy psychologist gave me this but with one important difference, the taste thing is usually just confusing and its hard to pin something down especially when my senses are dulled by depersonalisation. So it is:
11 likes5 things you can see
4 things you can feel
3 things you can hear
2 things you can smell
1 good thing about yourself
That last one is really difficult for a reason. It's okay if your one good thing is that 'I woke up this morning' or 'I am trying to ground myself, it might not be working but that's okay'
thank you
1 likeI do this as well.
0 likesIt also helps for anxiety attacks
2 likesalso move three body parts :D (this one helps if you're feeling very physically depersonalised or detached from your body)
2 likesthank you for this. i really didn’t know how to FEEL present again. this helped me 10/10.
1 like@Nu- broken.markers Thanks for this, the taste one is always tricky
0 likesi tried but... idk its like TW!!!! my brain its convinced my senses are in another place? idk if that makes sense but... its like my brain its conviced im doing this but in another place and in another way?
1 like@dio bono Same
0 likesReminds me of English class
0 likesYeaaaaa Me Practicing deep breathwork as Wim Hof breathing. It s magical how it does reconnect you in minutes
0 likesgood panic attacks but not chronic depersonalization
0 likes@Rene Dominguez i love that you've written songs as an outlet to express yourself, im trying to do the same here! it really is a good outlet and it helps for me to write about dpdr as well. it's cool finding different ways to explain it and just different ways to explain how you feel in general.
0 likesThis one never works because my dreams are vivid as hell and it feels the same.
0 likesi cant ever get out of this state... suddenly realizing youre real works but its a lot more scary
thank you🥺
0 likesI often feel like I’m observing the world and the people around me as if I’m not physically there, if that makes sense
5080 likesReplies (110)
Omgosh same here!!!
50 likesI feel the same while writing thisss. I pinch myself during school because I want to try and realize that I am awake. I got it around 1 year ago at school and I literally couldn't think straight or just do anything. It was a struggle for me to learn for a while but like I felt very confused most of the time. It disappeared for a while then came back during school (I am in school now, started school about 3 days ago now). I realized that bright lights make me really light headed and causes me to be more in a dream, it's confusing and I don't umderstand. I had mental break downs about it during school last year because I really felt that I wasn't alive. My emotions would be crying but my thoughts and eyes are a whole new thing.
122 likesyes !! exactly !!
4 likesPretty sure thats called being an introvert
15 likesThat’s derealisation / depersonalisation I guess , I have it too but don’t want to open up about it to my family and stuff just because I’ve had it as long as I can remember and so I’m learning to just deal with it .
46 likesSo I'm updating this after 2 months ago cause I'm still getting notified about it. I obviously still have it, it's not that bad for now. I don't wanna self diagnose myself because I don't know anything. All I know is that these pieces match up exactly to what I describe. I feel like it stops me from doing things I want to enjoy with like my, "real" emotions.
12 likesIt's honestly very scary and annoying to have. I've tried to search a video up like this 1 year ago and couldn't find anything on it so I gave up on trying. Until 2 months ago I started to feel this way and decided to search on it again, now I'm here. I've told my sister about it in the beginning of when it happened and she told me, "Don't self diagnose yourself", well I'm sorry. I'm not sure on how to tell my parents or my sister convince them how I feel but on the other side I just know they won't believe me so I'll just leave it at that.
I don't think it's something that is bad to hide from your parents, it's more of something that is your concern. I'd suggest to tell your parents to get checked up on it to make sure if you do have it, I'm not too concerned about it at the moment. This video just explains a little bit more to me about what's happening to me. Thanks! For reading, I know it's a lot to read but I hope I gave out some good information on me personally but everyone is different, I just wanted to clear things up.
@Depressed Alien I'm glad that you are coping with it. I've only had it for a while but I learned to deal with it. If it's a big concern to you I suggest you to open up to your family if you want to know everything about it. :)
4 likesYou will understand if you have it, hopefully you don't though. I can actually relate to doing normal school activities but not feeling like I'm awake but more like in a dream effect. I'm not sure how you wandered here if you don't have it but you know, youtube recommends random videos. I really wish I didn't have it (I think I have it, just not sure).
4 likesJohn Formanczyk i thought i was the only one ;-;
2 likes/gamemode spectator
5 likesThat makes sense. I feel that way too
0 likesMe too
0 likesYepp. Same
0 likesIm school i was going insane. Just closing my eyes and be like: OMG OMG OMG. like i was about to wake up from a coma or something
2 likesYeesss
0 likesTry meditating and concentrating very deeply on this feeling. You will find that you are one with everything and that you are the world. Advaita Vedanta tells us that the real you is not physical and not an object. It is the pure conscious observer that observes all the senses, the mind, and the intellect. The one who observes deep sleep, the dream state, and the waken state, is really who you are. Everything is in you, the conscious observer. When this feeling happens realize that you are that. It is ignorance to think that you are the mind, body, or intellect. You must identify yourself with the unchanging, not the temporary illusion of “reality”. Imagine like in a dream. What is everyone/everything that is in your dream? It is you. Similarly, once you see that everything is in you and that you are the world, you will see the non-dual existence bliss as the only reality. I recommend looking up swami vivekenanda or Arsha Bodha. The dispassion or indifference to the world you may feel is common to one who is ready to begin asking the big questions. Who am I?
4 likesYes I have the same feeling like im floating and sometimes like my soul wants to leave my body and I just shake my head and I feel like I’m going back again ..
2 likesIt’s called dissociating ive had it
1 likeI think its a common thing since a lot of us felt this ways
0 likesSame
0 likesThats called a psychosis
1 likeMe too! Weird example but I sometimes feel like I'm watching a movie or episode from a TV show and people around me are actors. Don't know it's just really weird :0
1 likeThat happened to me 2 like while I was walking or learning and suddenly I felt like I didn't belong to this world and I couldn't believe I was right there sitting ,learning and even existing in this world as a human lol😅Idk what's that and I have never talked abt it to anyone
1 likeit happens to me sometimes
0 likesI feel like that it's kinda scary being there but not there.. fighting to stay at the front of my mind... seeing people there but it's not like your there..?
0 likesSame here my dude
0 likesSame
0 likesLike an out of body experience? Sometimes I feel like that too. I remember one time I was at a dance practice one time and we were dancing outside on the grass. I was trying to watch my dance instructor, but I suddenly felt as if I wasn’t in my body. I looked up at the sky and felt that the world was a big and I was just a small portion of it and it was like my head left my shoulders. It was super weird but also kind of humbling.
0 likesI feel that way too
0 likesLast time i had it, it was an ear infection. Fucking weird how that felt but went away with medicine.
0 likesMy ears are okay
Could be many things... autism perhaps. That’s how I feel at times. Also I have a gluten sensitivity and used to always have de realisation until I stopped eating it.
0 likesI feel like they're not real but IAM the main character playing a game like me a simulation
1 likeI've had existential crises
0 likesFrom taking a shower,
So I totally get where you're coming from
John Formanczyk omg same
0 likesJohn Formanczyk same
0 likesOmg same
1 likeFr I’m always felling like dis, feels like I’m watching a movie
1 likeSame I also sometimes just forget everything I could be having a conversation with someone and I’ll just forget everything
0 likesYes same here
0 likesOMFG YES
0 likesMe too, just in random spurts that don’t last for very long and I still don’t understand exactly what it is because it doesn’t sound like what she described in the video.
0 likesyeah me too
0 likesYeah I know what you mean :(
0 likesWow so thankful for people speaking out on this.💡😮
1 likeJohn Formanczyk Same!!
0 likesOmg yes
0 likesSame here bruh I’m 17 with this shit
0 likesEXACTLY! I feel like me, and who I am, and who ‘the body’ is are 2 completely different people. It’s like being trapped inside a jar, but the jar moves and talks, and does things that you sometimes don’t even realize, while your just.... there.
0 likesMe as well and it is called depersonalization
0 likesSame. Like it’s a movie and I’m watching it trough someone’s eyes. I normally snap out of it when something “wakes me up”. Like jumping in a cold pool at 3 am lol
0 likesthis might seem silly but this comment made me cry cause of how i relate
0 likesYea me too
0 likesThat happens to me sometimes
0 likesI feel the same
0 likessame
0 likesme 2
0 likesI think that is dissasociating
0 likesPink Aesthetic same ! i started to fail all my classes and at first i thought it was add, but i got diagnosed with dp. Thanks for sharing 🥺💗 proud of you
0 likesexactly me
1 likeSaamee. We need to talk abt this more.
1 likeSo you feel like you're in 3rd person?
3 likesOmg same here that’s why I’m watching this!!!
0 likesPink Aesthetic omg same but I just had it today and in a school day so I don’t think I have it what do you think??
0 likesI agree
0 likesYes same here
0 likesThis strange feeling hits me like once in a month,and it goes for seconds,but from the last time it hit me... I cant go off the feeling,I guess my lil sister stressed me too much,cus from soon when we are home alone only me and my 7 year old sister,she always fell,she almost fell from the 2nd floor,from the window,she locked herself in the bathroom,and couldn't go out,but she did somehow,and there is lipstick on the door every morning we wake up,it stoped suddenly,i guess that's what makes me feel like im not in real life,I always think what if I cant wake up from my dream,what if my friends and family are waiting for me to wake up?this though always cried me,I need help,someone tell me I'm not dreaming, I'm in real life,im. in. real. life.
Strangely its stronger in the start of the day than the end,when I'm going to bed I still can feel the feeling but it doesn't bother me that much
Yeah, it like everything around is just a show
0 likesYeah!
0 likesWow that's interesting to have so many people in common. It's weird that I always find someone describe a feeling perfectly which I've been through but didn't notice
0 likesYES! I tried explaining this to my friend. For myself I usually describe it as I'm almost in a different realm and I am an outsider observing everyone else's reality. Physically I'm there (obviously), but mentally I'm somewhere else and time can get confusing. Also I'm not saying I am diagnosed with either of these, this is just a feeling I get a lot and honestly it distracts me and disrupts my everyday life which is especially hard when I'm at work.
1 likegabysmarigold yeah i feel like that sometimes as well
0 likesHOLY SH-
2 likesSAMEE
AND WHEN J TRT EXPLAIN TO OTHER PEOPLE NOONE UNDSRSTANDSSS
Me too. I used to describe it to people like being on heavy doses of antihistamines all the time. Things are dampened and there’s some barrier between me and everything else. Also, I tend to assume people won’t remember me or know what I look/sound like because I don’t know what I look/sound like... because I’m not really real as far as my brain knows. And moments where I really see or hear the world around me are shocking and overwhelming.
0 likesI think that is normal
0 likesI'm pretty sure this is called dissociation mate. And I get it, I've had trouble with it in my most stressful years
0 likesit’s called having an out-of-body experience. i get them daily.
0 likesCan we start a group chat? I can’t afford any doctors or therapist right now but I believe this is why I’m feeling the way I feel. I’m trying not to think about but I see why people give up. We can’t afford help or resources on top of fighting our internal battles. I’ve been through a lot and I didn’t acknowledge that. I just want to feel alive again.
2 likesI often feel as though I'm just waking up from a dream, or just returning to "reality", even though I've objectively been awake for several hours.
1 likeshelby payne i feel the same way too. i think we should start a group chat
0 likes@bingbong I've felt it all my life and what helped was knowing I'm seeing life through my eyes and nobody else's, and that I'm real. My mom is very spiritual and says we are a soul in a body. It does get better <3
1 likeYessssss same bro
0 likes@Duda Gomes no
1 like@bingbong - So you don't have it anymore ?
0 likesLike you're watching a movie.
1 like@Ley Av dp/Dr related to ear infection?
0 likes@Ambati Karthik Yes, we have something in the ear related to the balance and vertigo, when there is an infection we feel like vertigo it's similar to the dissociation feeling
0 likes@Ley Av ok thanks 4 the info . This might also b 1 of da reason .I'll luk at it :)
1 likeDoes your vision cause you to feel like you're in a dream state and can't concentrate on anything? That's what I feel, but doctors say that my eyesight is perfect and they don't know what to do.
0 likesI experience literally the exact same thing all the time!
0 likesOh yea for sure. And then when somebody talks to me I’m so startled like “GASP you can see me!!!!!?”
0 likesME TOO
0 likesSAME
0 likesI have felt like this before I think when I am very depressed and/or anxious
0 likesThat's how I feel during deppressive episodes, like I'm sespectator in my own life. I don't always like what I'm seeing
0 likesI've had derealization for fifteen years.
0 likesIt happens all because of black magic and respect and pray God to make your enemy's far from u and do believe in yourself and universe
0 likesActually this happens to all but some of they think it real and some of them don't care it's nothing big problem just believe in yourself don't make the black magic divert your mind
0 likesPracticing deep breathwork as Wim Hof breathing. It s magical how it does reconnect you in minutes
0 likessame it’s kind of like vr tbh
0 likes@Brielle Jade Yea we don't have body in VR. That's why i love doing very cold shower to help re embodiment (and "Wim Hof" deep breathing practice too )
0 likesThanks God I think I'm only one I discussed my doctor's and. They laught on me. By the way reading all comments
0 likes@HAKUNA MATATA Breathwork as " Wim Hof " and " Holotrpic " breathwork will help you dissipate that cloudy disconnection : ). Just do it 3 week, you will see already the result
0 likesOh it all makes perfect sense. in fact, I feel like that every waking and sleep part of living
0 likes@epidemia2016 That is exactly what I deal with I sometimes feel like I'm walking like a robot as if I'm not the one
0 likes@Ley Av Please can you explain to me more about what medicine did use to make it go away?
0 likes@Aaliyah That's me exactly 💯
0 likesI thought I'm the only one dealing with this illiness glad I'm not alone it's really a frustrating condition
0 likesSame here thought I was crazy
0 likes@Duda Gomes Are you sure?
0 likes@Yoan Cold showers dont help
0 likesMe too man, me too
0 likesWhen you forget about it you lose the feeling but then you remember it and it comes back
299 likesReplies (12)
Exactly
5 likesnah not for me
2 likesnot for me
3 likesTHIS COMMENT RIGHT HERE. This is me, everyday
3 likesYep
0 likesI might be on day 1 of this.
0 likesIt’s so scary, I will be doing something normal then check in on myself and start worrying that I’m in a dream.
4 likes@Emily Reeve same happens to me all the time 😭
0 likesim 14 and this is exactly how it is for me
1 likeNope.
0 likesIt almost never left me for 22 years now. Remembering or not didn't make any difference. There are just a lot of different cases.
That's what exactly I go through
0 likesNot for me because I experience it 24/7 no matter what. Even doing sports everyday and being engaged with a lot of things doesn't fix the disorder immediately. It decreased slowly
0 likesi sometimes can’t tell my memories and dreams apart. I can’t tell if i’m sleeping or awake and the amount of deja vus i’m having is a painful lot. I forget things i said or thought seconds after doing so and it’s so scary because i DONT KNOW what it is.
145 likesReplies (8)
Saame cuz one time i was talking to my sister about all the dumb stuff we used to do as kids and i told her about this one time when i did this and that and bla bla bla it was just a memory i had but then she told me that she didn't remember that and she told me that it (the 'memory') probably never happened because if it did she would have remembered it (she's older than me) and it was just a dream or smth and it really messed me up that day cause i was thinking (how many of my other memories and fake? How can i tell which is real and which isn't ?)
6 likesAlso i can't remember half my childhood in the first placeso i was really sad bc i thought i wasted my whole childhood :/
Srry if there is any typos of if this text is too long or if it dosn't make sense bc i was typing this at the speed of light
Practicing deep breathwork as Wim Hof breathing. It s magical how it does reconnect you in minutes
3 likes@srisra_br9o9 Omg yes!!! this is what happens to me too… I can’t even process the dreams I have half the time I can’t differentiate memories, thoughts, and feelings are so paralyzed… faint! I can’t remember my childhood, let along remember what I even said.. Sometimes I feel like I have no control of my emotions like if I blurt something absurd out i’m like shoot ! I can’t remember it feels like to feel whole again… personality is everywhere ! the self is disrupted foreal!
1 like@Burger McBurger Yes! yes! yes! You can’t even feel yourself dreaming ? let alone sleep….? when your sleeping it’s like your dead? … when your awake your partially dead??? hmmmm only someone with this would understand me
1 like@Yoan i am so bad at wim hof method, always makes me feel so light-headed and it's just hard for me to do but it is really cool though!
0 likes@xcxbetteroffxcx__Not easy but good at the end : )
1 likeSame, but idk if I have it
1 like@Melia Reddick me too, im still trying to figure out if i have it. i mean i think i just have bouts of dpdr, mostly when im very very very anxious. im usually very very very anxious though so its hard to tell when im severely anxious because im so used to be anxious if that makes sense.
0 likesI have never felt so connected to anyone in my life, this was scary to me how accurate this is to my life right now. I feel you girl, thank you for this
181 likesReplies (1)
That description at 2:50 actually sounds more typical of a hypotensive episode, lying outside in the warm sun then standing up and walking, the visual symptoms are typical of postural hypotension, very common in younger people.
1 likeHoly crap I've been dealing with this my entire life I literally cried as a child begging my mom to wake me up and I told people I didn't feel real and it never went away I still deal with it to this day
160 likesReplies (10)
Same..Its a horible feeling...
0 likesI literally told my mom this too. Like nothing around me seems real. Like I see it, but I’m not seeing it. It’s weird.
4 likes@Jason dont say that please
8 likesPracticing deep breathwork as Wim Hof breathing. It s magical how it does reconnect you in minutes
0 likes@Noelle dude 🤣🤣🤣💔, they don’t know how painful this thing is
0 likesI’ve dealt with this and it’s terrible I’m so sorry you experience this I hope it improves for you :////
0 likes@Yoan Thank you so much :) I appreciate that
0 likes@Yoan Thank you so much :) I appreciate that
0 likesHave you ever felt real?
0 likesSAME I started feeling like this often when i was seven, not all the time but more often than one who doesnt experience such things or dissociate in just stressful situations. It hasnt stopped since then and i just now found out what it could be.
0 likesI'm so thankful that derealization is getting more attention. Its TERRIFYING.
2151 likesReplies (40)
Had it since i was 9 and im 25 now. NON STOP 😭 sometimes i think im dead or in a coma and one day i will wake up
83 likesThere's no treatment in my country..
9 likes:/
2 likesi remember telling a therapist 3 years ago when i was 15 that if still had dpdr by the time i was 18 then id kill myself.. i still have dpdr but im still here i guess lol
7 likesI thought it was just me, I didn't know this is even exit, i thought it just in my mind, this is even hard to explain to someone, I having this since i was 14 years old and now I am 29, this is get worse when i am afraid. is there any medicine for this ?
13 likes@Supun Praneeth They say that there isnt but antipsychotics help me TREMENDOUSLY
9 likes@Supun Praneeth do u feel like ur just gonna wake up one day? In a hospital and they say u hv memory loss or something? ? I ACTUALLY THOUGHT IT WAS JUST ME
8 likes@Niecey Weesey I experienced this for 6 months straight and it was so scary. I got to the point where I'd convinced myself I was dead and everyone around me was fake and lying to me. I'm so sorry you've been experiencing it for so long 💔
11 likes@Cici Grenylo aww that's sweet. It's okay, used to it now!
2 likesright! it sucks, and so few people are educated about it
1 like@Cici Grenylo - How did you get out of it ? I have been experiencing since I was 11.
1 like@Niecey Weesey - I have had it since 11 and now I am 15... It makes me super scared and wondering if it will ever go away... I am really sorry, I know how you feel, and I hope one day we will get better soon.
3 likes@Niecey Weesey That's how I feel right now. Honestly, I don't think your real, I'm sorry
1 likeI've been going through it for a week now. It feels like I'm in a 2d dream and being in a bright room make it look more surreal and fake. Its making me depressed and sad. I want it to piss off
6 likesits getting attention due to marsjuana being legalized. It can induce this. and yes its scary I've had it for a month
2 likesDid you recover?
1 like@HungryBurger619 Not completely but i am doing so much better than i was. :) Grounding exercises and medication has helped me soooo much!
3 likes@Mike Welch I know right!?
1 like@Jill Golden I feel like everything is a dream! Any tips or stuff your doing?
1 likeHey guys I saw many replies .
4 likesOnly way you can escape this is just forget it. Go 1 week straight in your daily activities without even thinking about it for a single second. Go for a thing that will give you the most happiness. You will get out!
Ive had it for 6 years and im still going
1 likeFuck yeah I feel like I'm dead lol
1 like@Niecey Weesey I got it around 9 and I'm 33.
0 likes@Patriots Corner It's not legal here
0 likesI can’t understand anything
1 likeI can’t study ( focus)
Everyday when I wake up i stare around my room like what is going on
I experience derealization since ever. I remember when I was like maybe 3/5 sitting on the bed and just... world not being real. Firstly I didn't really care, I was a kindergardener. But once when I was kinda older I had very strong derealization for few days. For a kid who doesn't know what ia happening it's at least terrifying. Will I be like this forever? I told my mum about it although I don't think I said correctly what I was experience because It's hard to explain. She said it's because I ate too much sweets lol. I just assumed that everyone experience this almost all the time, but I'm the one who make this a big deal etc. Few months ago I just had a random thought to search my symptoms. Then I learned about dpdr (even though I don't really experience dp part). It's so weird and bizarre that it's something a lot of people struggle with. But I almost ever see poeple who have it since early childhood without any trauma.
1 likePracticing deep breathwork as Wim Hof breathing. It s magical how it does reconnect you in minutes
1 likehave had this feeling for a year
0 likes@Jill Golden how are you doing now?
0 likes@raslen barred what caused yours and what age did it start ?
0 likes@Lily Stultz at 19 years old and exactly when I entered to university I’ve been struggling since that time I’m 21 years now i’ts really hard living with that all the time I still haven’t figured yet the cause but my psychiatrist says I have depression
0 likes@raslen barred have you tried anything to fix it ?
0 likes@Alex F the hardest part is how to explain what you really feel
0 likesHow are you now ? And what kinds of medicine you take?
@Lily Stultz I have taken (Seroplex 10 mg) and (lysanxia 10mg) antidepressants for a while with a little bit of walking beside the sea to relax but nothing has changed
0 likesThat’s why I’m confused
@raslen barred Nothing really changed. Accept I'm more anxious I was than before. I don't take any medicine.
0 likes@raslen barred Have you watched jordan hardgrave on YouTube ?
0 likes@Lily Stultz no who is this guy?
0 likes@Lily Stultz ohh thanks 🙏
0 likesI have had dpdr since I was 16 now I'm 23 for me it started with overthinking after 4 month of experiencing a horrible trauma I then started developing Dpdr from nowhere it has made my life worse and useless no girlfriend no career just feeling helpless.
0 likes@raslen barred Me too I have done the same thing but nothing seem to change I sometimes feel like I'm just a dead walking body it's really a frustrating condition
1 likeI feel like when I district myself like tv or useing my phone keeps me from thinking about it. I find that the more you think about it the worse it gets, because once you forget about it you feel better but as soon as you remember it gets horrible and it's hard to get back to forgetting it
282 likesReplies (8)
Yes same! Omg
1 likeRôll Løøse Same! I’ve had this for 20 years on and off and the only thing that works is accepting it and distracting myself!
9 likesDefinitely can relate
0 likesSame i think that life is a dream most of the time, but when i watch yt on my phone or play games or watch tv i forget that i was thinking about it..But when i just zome out i remember it (If ya'll know what i am trying to say)
7 likesSo if anyone of you guys think that life is a dream or anything like that, that is okay to think about it useally most ppl think about it and that is normal.
U might cry about it or get stressed out about it or get kinda mad..
But that is okay!
Sorry for my grammar qwq
@xBun Bunx Hi! I hope you're doing well. You are right, it's ok to feel angry or sad or a little bit annoyed but feeling disconnect. But if it is interfering with you daily life, you should definitely see a mental health professional! It can be scary, and often it is a learning process; but is defensively worth it since we are taking about health, one of the most important things we have.
1 likeJust like if we had a tummy ache that was recurrent and annoying we will go to the doctor to find out how to take care of it, we should do that with our minds. It is not "exaggerating" or "unimportant", it's your mind and you deserve getting guidance to make sure it's healthy, just like everything else.
That's it, have a great day!
How are you now
0 likesSame
0 likesYESSS!!!!
0 likesI got a really bad high once and I felt like this ever since .
340 likesReplies (26)
same here
13 likesWas it from smoking before your brain has developed, or does that just happen?
11 likessame, started on new years now we almost a year in, love that for me
5 likesDude, saaaaaame. Did it get better tho?
2 likesHappened to me a few months ago. I see things that I'm sure I've seen before. Like really strong, terrifying deja vu and feelings of dread or impending doom. I remember sobbing into my dad's shoulder when I thought everything around me was scripted and fake. It's hard to describe in words. It's getting easier to push past as time goes on but I feel like I'm in constant danger now. Love that.
31 likes- ShipAndSaltPhanatic - you’re not alone, I had a very bad high and still went on to do it again, and I’ve been very paranoid now like super paranoid. I’ve never feared death before now I do.
8 likesThe first time I got drunk I took ten shots and didn't throw up. I woke up drunk and as I came down my eyes turned my life into a movie.
4 likesSame, it only happens once in a while but it started after weed
4 likesThis happened to me, I kept smoking and eventually about 2 years later it went away. It really does suck, but having good grounding techniques help.
2 likesKATXNAP I recommend the book overcoming depersonalization disorder by Fugen Neziroglu and Katherine Donnelly, they actually mention that one of the causes of chronic DP/DR could potentially be drugs... it could help to figure out things! Good luck!
2 likesIt's called being ghost faded
0 likesThis is why I’ve never smoked. Wanted to try it in the past but always had mental health difficulties so never risked it. Seems pointless now, got dpdr anyways
4 likesOmg ur like the same as me. Omg I smoked a blunt once like a 6 months ago and I still feel the weirdness to this day😭😭😭😭
1 likeused to have it in hs but got over it, smoked for the first time a day or so after new years and had to get on a plane the next day and its been kinda...hovering around ever since. definitely doesnt help being stuck in my house all the time now :/
2 likesYES ME TOO OH MY GOD
1 likeNotnap same here,, had a really terrifying trip on weed and I’m pretty sure it traumatised my brain
1 likeomg i can't believe there are other people who went through this stuff i'm so glad i'm not the only one. i had this bad trip on nye but i didn't really think much of it and at first it didn't affect me long term but this quarantine must have triggered something in me cause i've been living with that feeling for two weeks now and i don't know what to do
7 likes@Anamaria Mocanu Hey Ana, heads up, its hard to deal with it in the beginning, which was for me too with panic and stuff, but settle down, the more you fight it, the more it is triggered and hard for you to deal with (i know you dont want to feel like this) but you will have to accept it in order for you to really work on it to go away in peace.
3 likesMe too. Been feeling like this for 5 years now..
0 likesWeed or psychedelics can cause derealization
0 likes@woRm on sTring yeah since teens brains aren’t fully developed even young adults our brain takes the weed as trauma and detaches us which is what derealization is we most likely wouldn’t get that if we were older and consumed thc /weed
1 likeUpdate please? 😅
0 likesFor me its always been there a little bit...But a bad high made it worse.
0 likesSame
0 likes@Omar Capaso THIS!
0 likessameeeee i think im stuck high
0 likesit doesn’t happen a lot but sometimes i just stare for like a minute and i’m like “is this real?” like i could be staring at a family member or smth and disassociate idk it’s kinda hard to explain
466 likesReplies (24)
Meredith I kinda feel like that sometime
6 likesYea same
0 likesSame I was on a field trip today and it happend
0 likesthat’s nowhere near what this is
36 likesBillie Vanderpol i didn’t say it was the same thing? i just thought it was kinda similar
4 likesThat’s normal...
5 likesYea sometime
0 likesthats me everyday almost
0 likesYeah it sucks I guess we have to keep pushing foward
0 likesSame
0 likessame, I kinda like it tho
0 likesYeah I do that all the time too, that’s pretty normal I think
0 likessame
0 likesMy heart jumped at this comment because I say those words too after staring or noticing something slightly off about reality
3 likesCharné Dee yeah it’s weird. there’s like a disconnect and it kinda feels like looking at life through thick glass for me at least. it doesn’t happen to me a lot, but i feel sorry for people who have it chronically. it’s no way to live
3 likes@Meredith the same with me I often get it when I sleep too much or too little or my dreams are very vivid but either way its very unusual and unsettling because id feel like is this my life or am I imagining it all
2 likessameee
0 likesI'm pretty sure that's called 'sonder'
0 likes@MeredithOh thank you for informing me. I've never experienced derealization so I cant speak for you or anyone lol.
0 likes@ky you’re welcome. it’s pretty scary so i hope you never experience it😬
0 likesI would say "I have a family?" Or sometimes stare at my dog "Wow we have a dog" and we got that dog 9 years ago
1 likePracticing deep breathwork as Wim Hof breathing. It s magical how it does reconnect you in minutes
0 likesSame, I would walk and look around and ask my sister if I'm dreaming or not
0 likes@S1N1ST3R Derealization is a dis-enlightenment experience that is simply a lac of energy. You have to bring electricity/light back. Deep breathing will give you that electricity back and so the clarity in your perception of life.
0 likesIt’s hard to imagine living like this all the time. I only had this during panic attacks, the first time I had no idea what a panic attack was. I kept having to remind myself that what was happening was happening NOW...that I wasn’t remembering it. I kept saying to myself, “Is this happening now? Am I here now?” It was very scary and very weird. It feels like you’ve been drugged which is exactly what I thought happened.
188 likesReplies (6)
sign543 dude I love your profile picture
1 likei cant relate sorry :(
0 likesit's awful, it's fucking terrible, had it 5 years now non stop and ive basically lost me teenage years to it, my whole teenage years are a blur and i want to die all the time yikes
4 likes@katie h Yep same I am like:Ok this is probs a dream all i need to do is jump of a roof and i'll wake up :)
3 likesBut damn then i think like:Oh shit what is this isn't a dream (If u know what i am trying to say rn)
I have this it’s a fricking living hell.
0 likesGOD YES the thing of seeing things like they're a memory and in the moment you remember that it's happening NOW it's like wait what????? That happens to me a fucking lot of times everyday.
1 likeDisassociation/derealisation is the brains way of pulling you away from trauma !!!! I feel you so much, dodie. I’m sorry you go through this on a daily, but one day you are going to be a new woman where this is so much less of a reality and you will experience things with the vividity you did as a teenager, but it will be so much better because you will be a grown up woman who has known pain and will appreciate the experiences so much more !!! LOVE YOU STAY STRONG!
424 likesReplies (3)
Dana Taylor ❤️
2 likesThis makes me feel confident. Thanks, even if you were talking to Dodie 😂💗
6 likesDana Taylor at least we're not alone
2 likesAt work I often find myself thinking "is this real? I'm actually here?" Then I start panicking when I realize I'm there and I get so overwhelmed to where I want to cry.
109 likesReplies (7)
Same it's really scary😭
2 likesyes yes yes it’s absolutely fucking terrifying
2 likesOmg yes
0 likesYep.
0 likesPracticing deep breathwork as Wim Hof breathing. It s magical how it does reconnect you in minutes
0 likesSame I hate the feelings
0 likesI have had the same thing for over 7 yrs now it's really traumatizing condition by now I feel like I'm a dead walking body 😭
0 likesI recommend the Anxiety Ninjas videos. I was like this for over a year and it was horrible. I’ve watched his videos on it and slowly felt better about what I was going through and now I’m free from it, I sometimes get my little moments here and there but they don’t bother me, feeling normal again is 100% possible. :)
29 likesFrom my bad experience with it, I found that making it “who I was” or paying attention to it all the time and just simply ruminating on it made it worse and just struck more anxiety in me. So I’m not downing her ways or anything like that because maybe it helps her, but honestly for me personally, I found that it wasn’t the best idea to be writing about it and making it a big part of who I was because it wasn’t, I just stopped calling myself a sufferer. Once you understand what DPDR is, you’ll understand why circling your life around it like it’s something that’s not gonna end is a bad idea.
DPDR is there as a defence mechanism to help you through traumatic experiences which is why you hear some people say they felt out of body or that they don’t remember a certain event for example major pain like an animal attack, it helps you not focus on the pain but instead “the weird feeling”. So with that basic understanding of it, I was able to steer into trying to feel like myself again.
I know it doesn’t sound the easiest, but it’s simple. I thought I needed all the medication, all the weird treatments, all the nights of hospitalization when all I really needed was the education and support. I hope y’all get through it because I can assure you that it isn’t forever :)
Although it isn’t just as easy as watching videos, that’s what I’m making it seem like lol, it does take time and effort to help yourself get through it, not gonna lie it took me a while but it was all worth it in the end.
HERES A TIP- Surround yourself with your friends and good vibes even when you feel like you don’t have the energy, trust me when I was around my friends, their good energy made me feel better especially when I had really bad days, never stay home and sulk the whole time!
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Thanks!
1 likeHei I don't know if you will ever read this but you really helped me a lot with this comment. I went over to Anxiety Ninjas channel and now I feel so much better to know that it's a coping mechanism and there's a way out. Thank you so much for recommending him!
1 like@Kaisla Aurora 🤍🤍🤍 an update, I’m now 20 and I’ve never felt better.
2 likesthank you for your comment!
1 like@Emma Hello Emma, I was wondering if u had taken any vitamins to help with they dp?
0 likes@Antonia Mukiibi Nope, nothin. I’d like to think they would’ve helped though. I was supposed to take antidepressants, but I never took them.
0 likesI had this for three years and really thought I would kill myself if it continued any longer. You explained this perfectly ❤️ I wish you had posted this when I first had it as there was only a wiki page on it and self-help forums so I really believed nothing was real. I did get depression from and did not do as well during exams. If you're suffering from, I know it seems like dp is all there is right now but there is a way out. I overcame it without therapy or any help but it is a process that took a while. All I remember is that one day I decided not to focus on it at all and try to divert my mind on to many different things. Recovery in it self probably took me about a year but I'm glad it's over. I don't even remember exactly what it felt like, only that I was miserable with it. Please keep going, look to the future, depersonalisation is not permanent it's a state you need to get out of by relaxing and overcoming anxieties. You can do this alone, with friends or a therapist. Good luck ❤️
54 likesReplies (8)
Thank you so much for this comment, I’ve been dealing with it for nearly a month now and I’ve been so worried about it being a permanent thing
5 likes@Brandon Carr I does feel like it will last forever and every moment is like eternity but it won't last and when you get better life feels amazing again. Reach out for help if you can, it must be harder to deal with stuck at home in a pandemic
5 likesi was scrolling through the comments looking for mine from three years ago. when i found yours i did a double take because what you wrote sounds so damn similar to my own experience and the advice i’ve been giving people!
3 likesit’s so strange.
but this is not my old comment 😂 nonetheless i’m very happy you got out of it.
@Plume Blue that is strange 😂 maybe I'll come across yours too someday - and thanks, you too! (if you've overcome it)
2 likesMe too, homie.
0 likesPracticing deep breathwork as Wim Hof breathing. It s magical how it does reconnect you in minutes
0 likes@Yoan I will try it
0 likesIt’s normal to feel a sense of disorientation? Like all the surroundings aren’t familiar ? I’m feeling this right now I’m so scared.
0 likesthis made me feel so much less alone. thank you.
17 likesThank you for talking about this! I don’t experience derealisation, however, it helps me understand it a lot better. I appreciate you talking about mental illness’ since it helps people who experience these types of things
2015 likesReplies (6)
Emma N. ARMY
1 likeBiased Hello : )
1 likeOMFG ARMYYYYYYYYY
1 likeImaari Hii
0 likesLucky
1 likeDid you recover
0 likesI just want to say thank you for sharing this with us. I fell exactly like you for 4 years now and I could never explain to myself or to the others what I was going through but now, thanks to you (and to my girlfriend that finds you) I can finally name this black beast that ruined my life for so long. I feel almost every sensations that you described in the book and I immediatly start crying and I'm crying right now while I'm writing this and I don't know why but i guess is for because I don't feel alone anymore. Thank you so much and
7 likesI hope with all my heart that you can get better as soon as possible
i remember 4 years back when i was 16, watching your videos, i couldnt imagine what it was like going through depersonalization and it was the first i have heard of this condition. eventually my mental health gotten worse to the point i actually developed depersonalization, and i was trying to remember who it was who i found the condition from. i have finally found you and i have got to say it really sucks to deal with this condition. it feels like im high without the high and it really makes me panic. i hope it has gotten well for you too <3
2 likesThis is great! I feel like it’s super helpful to have more people talk about DP/DR. I went through it for about a year and it was a waking nightmare, but my life is also immeasurably better for it. It forced me to develop a philosophy that I can strongly identify with, and it gave me perspective on life and its various challenges.
5 likesFor you, or anyone reading, these are things that helped me, personally:
Exercise
Meditation
Counseling/Therapy
Healthy Diet (I also strongly avoided sugar, but I’m not sure if that actually helped)
Helping other people with their problems and intently listening to them! (This is the biggest one)
Anyway, I hope you make it through this, because it is definitely possible. And believe me, I absolutely felt like I was going to be stuck with it forever.
i come back to this every once and awhile, cause i found this a few years ago when i was feeling this way and ever since then i haven’t felt so alone in this. thank you so much for making this apart of your platform. while i haven’t been able to see a professional, i’ve been able to speak to my parents about this which is a huge step for me. thank you so so much.
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Practicing deep breathwork as Wim Hof breathing. It s magical how it does reconnect you in minutes
0 likesI notice people with depersonalization/derealization have a thing. For dodie, it's looking in the mirror and not recognizing herself. For me, it's staring at my hand and realising this isn't my hand. So i wrote something that describes it.
1022 likesYou stare at the back of your hand. You see the cracks in your skin, the crevices, the spiderweb of ridges. They've allways been there. It is your hand, after all.
But this time it's different. The cracks are deep and dark enough to fall into. The crevices create baren river beds, branching across the rest of your hand. It seems dry and brittle. Like it could crumble at any moment.
You hunt down a bottle of lotion, but nothing changes.
Now it shimmers. The light catches it, and your hand seems a lot bigger than your hand should be.
Is this really your hand?
Someone has turned the sharpness up, a little too much. But there is no picture. There is no camera. There is simply a hand that you do not recognize, and something like panic making its slow way up your chest, using your ribs like the rungs of a ladder.
You stare at the hand until it is no longer a hand; it is something dark and terrifying. It is a physical representation of your own crumbling psyche. You shove it into your pocket, anywhere, just as long as it is out of sight.
One day you'll look at it again. And maybe that day you'll recognize your own hand.
It is your hand, after all.
Replies (36)
thehydrangea andtherose I get the exact same thing, it always starts with the hand and the more I look at it the more foreign and scary it looks, then it generally progresses to the rest of my body which then just feels completely disconnected to my brain. Scary stuff
29 likesthehydrangea andtherose it hurts to read how you go through that, I'm speechless.
23 likesi actually have both, i mean it's not really that bad, it's just the moments of confusion, of "wait... this is me? i'm a person" it's really bizarre, stay strong though! did you go to any specialist btw?
11 likesI have that thing with hand too and also I always feel like I'm just memory already in the past..
8 likesI do that thing too, but with my legs. It’s weird, like if I’m sitting and I look at my legs I’m like “woah those are attached to my body. like those are my legs”. I experience the mirror thing that dodie was explaining also though.
8 likeswhen i actually have dp instead of dissociatiing i don't recognize myself in the mirror either, but its more of an "why does that person look so scared/angry/sad?" when i see a mirror, an my face never moves so i dont think about the mirror mirroring me, since it doesnt move
4 likesthehydrangea andtherose that's honestly beautiful
5 likesI have these exact feelings, although they are only for small spans of time. I can not imagine how strong someone would have to be to get through this as a constant feeling. All this basically just to say, you are stronger than you know, and you can do this
5 likesthehydrangea andtherose that happened to me during class, and I had a panic attack. I was taking a math test at the time, being a straight A student. And I got a D. You explained it so well! I hope we can both figure this out!! Xoxo
3 likesthehydrangea andtherose I’m not entirely sure I have derealisation or not but this does make sense to me. I often do this thing where I look at stuff I’ve written for uni or otherwise and it bothers me that I can’t remember writing it and I feel like past me doesn’t exist and it’s super weird and debilitating
5 likesThat sounds exactly like what I sometimes experience, where suddenly I look at my hands and I feel like I'm playing a game and that's just my character's hand, and then I feel like my whole body is not mine... It's super weird, like looking through someone else's eyes kinda...
7 likesYour writing is absolutely gorgeous and so full of feeling. I’m sorry that you go through this though
5 likesthehydrangea andtherose
4 likesi'd start staring at the floor trying to remember the situation i'm in. it sort of feels like i'm not in my body.
i relate to this so much
3 likesi have the exact same thing. i don't know or understand what it is. it drives me insane and sometimes it's not just my hand, sometimes it's the features of my face, or the hairs on my arm, or the cracks of my chapped lips. it makes me feel uncomfortable, ugly, something i don't want to feel. this happens a lot but most of the time i look normal, then at other times, i look like an alien
2 likesI'm really sorry to hear, that does sounds horrible :---( I don't know anything about this but condition but i was thinking maybe getting into Buddhism & spirituality could help, because i have the same feelings sometimes, but experience it as really positive.YES having a body is so weird and i love to think i'm not my body. I'll give a try to explain, i hope it makes sense hahah (this little text won't help you obviously, but if you interested, there are tons of books or even youtube video's!)
3 likesIf you state that your body is yours, what about the air you breath? Is it not 'you' anymore as soon as you breathe it out? What about 'your' skin of your hand that changes constantly? Where can you draw the line really? Everything changes constantly and because of that we can say there are no permanent 'borders' between things. You can even go further and ask: Where would your mind be without a world around you? You wouldn't be able to think. In some way you are everything around you. You are the people you interact with, the people who make or sell you food, the people who give you love, you are nature, the stars, the sun etc. etc. etc. because without all of this you wouldn't be alive. All of it forms 'you'!
thehydrangea andtherose this is beautiful
1 likei haven’t been diagnosed with depersonalization/derealization but this does happen to me!! for me it’s my legs, i always would look at my legs as a kid and say “these are my legs! i don’t believe it but these are my legs” (my friends all thought it was weird and laughed at me). i can sit and stare at my legs for lengthy periods of time and just be so confused that they are mine and they are attached to my body. it’s weird.
3 likesthehydrangea andtherose something like this happened to me once. It was the freakiest shit ever. I walked past the mirror and kinda got freaked out and then I started at MY face but saw it in a different way that I've ever done before. I started in the mirror for like 10 minutes just absolutely fascinated at it. Don't think it's anything serious cuz I had been awake for quite some time and my daily rhythm was screwed to shit
2 likesI feel such a sense of familiarity with Dodie's story of forgetting and spacing out all of the time, for example:
1 likeEverything before a couple of months ago is fuzzy, like someone else recalled these things to me and I'm remembering there stories instead of my own, the other day my brother told me a story of how I once got a drink from somewhere at one of his football matches and that I was with I friend. He asked me where I had gotten the drink from and I had no idea what he was talking about. Apparently, I was with my friend, I have no idea who this person is.
I am also well known for leaving my phone as well as other objects I commonly use, I usually don't remember where I put these things, nor do I remember where I was in that moment that I had the lost thing.
So I've been dubbed irresponsible with my own things...
Whether, a mental disorder or not, I don't know, I just have this feeling that something is not quite right with me, like I'm missing something that people around me have.
But even still, I honestly doubt that these feelings are real.
Any Advice?
My thing is that it's like controlling a body through a computer screen on a controller. When I'm not dissociating, I'm properly immersed, present, and can control myself fluidly and promptly; like a normal person. When I am dissociating, it's like the controls have become loose, the screen fuzzy, and sometimes even as if I'm tied to the opposite wall with bungee so that, in order to do something as simple as raising my arm, it takes a tremendous amount of effort.
1 likeThis is really well written. I don't think I have depersonalization or derealization, but sometimes I feel this exact thing. It doesn't happen often, only sometimes when Im stressed or havent slept much, and this just describes that so much
1 likeOmg I relate so hard
1 likeSame :( that's all I can say.
1 likeYou have a wonderful writing skill
1 likeThank god it’s not just me
1 likethehydrangea andtherose hey if you are interested in good literature in this topic, Sartre's "Nausea" describes exactly this sensation with the hand and all
1 likeI have to like pointedly convince myself every single time that it's my hand, and that all of my body parts are mine it's so frustrating and makes me feel like I'm insane...
1 likeI don't know if I have this but would suddenly stopping and thinking "Wait, I'm this one? That can't be right." (by this one I mean myself) be a "thing".
1 likei agree completely. spirituality and meditation have helped me so much.
1 likei had a strange thing happen to me today where i was looking down at my hand and it looked alien like like i am in some random body it’s hard to explain but several time’s a day i swear i look different or my body changes through out the day ? i feel like i’m living in a movie and i’m the main character
1 likeI have literally never related to a poem more in my entire life
1 likethis is really good writing. describes the disorder really well.
1 likeOh my god that is exactly how I feel
1 likeAnd I feel the face
All of a sudden I’ll just be like “wait. These aren’t my hands. This isn’t my face. I’m not who I’m supposed to be. Who am I?”
i get the mirror thing so often i really fucking hope theres some fix
1 likeJeez, your good at this.
0 likesSeriously I’m so overwhelmed I felt so alone and it’s rlly hard to cope with this condition. Thank you for this topic
6 likesI don't know what this is, but it mixes with my anxiety, and I constantly feel as if in in a coma, and my whole life is a dream in that coma, and everything I say and do is being monitored and watched, and that I have no free will and my whole life is just a pre made out dream and I have never typed this or talked about it and I thought I was going crazy
182 likesI really wish I could know if this is normal, or if I'm fake
Oh shit now I'm beginning to believe my mind
Replies (8)
how is it now?
0 likes@Skol Yeah please some update, you good ?
1 likeHey are you ok? It’s alright, i feel the same
1 likelmao thanks for ur concern I'm fucked up brain wise don't worry lol
0 likesI'm pretty sure it's just paranoia
0 likesWow. This has always been the way I described it to people. I said that if someone whispered 'You're in a coma' into my ear, it wouldn't surprise me 😆
5 likesHonestly, I’m going through the same thing and feel like I can’t convince myself that this is real life, even after waking up from a dream in the morning. Just know that we’re worrying that we are starting to believe it, like we are starting to go insane but we definitely are not.
0 likesPracticing deep breathwork as Wim Hof breathing. It s magical how it does reconnect you in minutes
0 likesYeah I've had this since i was a child. I don't remember a time where I wasn't floating. It gets worse when my anxiety disorder acts up so I currently can't focus my eyes correctly. It is incredibly frustrating.
10 likesReplies (1)
Dude I’m telling you it triggers anxiety
0 likesEver since I was 16 I've been feeling this on and off, sometimes super strong episodes. I am 23 now. Here are my triggers/symptoms...
1 likeTriggers: bright lights, hangovers(DP is so severe during these), lack of sleep.
Symptoms: weak, jelly- like legs, feeling like I'll pass out, the need for constant deep breaths, and in general, I just feel disconnected. It feels like my consciousness is 50% there when if should be 100%. Also important to note, I am an extremely happy person; I am in college full time planning to become a lawyer. I have a girlfriend, I love sports, etc. It is literally just this issue that is bothering me so much, nothing else! It seems like it never goes fully away.
i was diagnosed with this about two or three years ago because i had just lost my sister to suicide and i blamed myself for it and our situations are similar in the way we experience it. as for your suggestions for helping with it, i think i might try the tmsing as well as taking that vitamin as i haven't done those yet. also thank you for posting about this because i am glad that i am not alone!
539 likes-
TIPS:
- i like to remind myself that im present by always keeping a journal with me and reading all the notes my friends have written to me and most of the time it does the job.
- every so often i get up and do some streched.
- also, have someone hug you or touch you in an uplifting way!
- of course, always try to think positively!
Replies (9)
hoshijoo I’m so sorry thank you
3 likeshoshijoo people using my name in conversations and touching my shoulder is so helpful! Also warm things like hot showers and steamy soup. The same with really cold things like ice water. Doesn't fix it totally but it makes the world a little brighter! Thanks for the tips!
5 likeshoshijoo :( ♡
1 likeI'm so sorry about your sister. Weirdly enough, I started dissociating after I also lost my sister to complications due to a suicide attempt (also two years ago) -- it can feel very isolating and scary. But you're right, you're not alone. <3
1 likeWhat helps me is focusing on sensation (Five things you can see, four things you can hear, three things you can smell, etc etc). I also listen to music to help ground me better by focusing on the lyrics, or a specific instrument in the song. Putting your hands under warm water or sticking an ice cube in your mouth may also help.
When dodie talked about it... it's weird because I felt so many of these things before like sometimes my vision used to go black (and thinking back to it it was when I was really stressed out also) I remember one time I looked in the mirror and it didn't look like myself... like I knew I was looking at me but I didn't recognized myself like something was off and I can't explain why. And I 100% remember like last year and 2 years ago I felt like I wasn't thinking correctly like I didn't feel grounded at all. I forgot about everything and if became hard to think correctly? I really don't know how to explain not thinking correctly. It's like my brain wasn't organizing experiences and thoughts correctly. Idk I'm not saying I have this condition because it doesn't happen to be a lot but I remember experiencing some of these things before
2 likesI just lost my son to subside a week an two days ago I'm in kind or
0 likes+Rashida Roberta Bint Robert Pierce walking living nightmare just now sort of unreal ...but guess this is way it feels .its just not normal state to be in I'm grieving and heartbroken and removed from reality at same time
0 likes+Rashida Roberta Bint Robert Pierce I meant to say suiside
0 likes+Rashida Roberta Bint Robert Pierce But I used to get feelings of being not quite in reality when a child and it teens and twenties ,Excuse my spelling mistakes and other mistakes please
0 likesI had this condition last year, it felt overwhelming with fear like I feel like everything I see doesn't feel real or my surroundings feels unreal. That was really my horrible month of my life.
3 likesI never realized there were more people that experienced this it’s good to know I’m not the only one
9 likesi’ve watched this video so many times and always recommend it to people because of how you describe it. it brings a sense of comfort knowing it not a lone even if it feels like it
3 likesThis happened to me once
52 likesAnd it was TERRIFYING
Replies (4)
Coconut .*. Grease I have this feeling often where it’s like I’m watching a video of my life, like I’m disconnected from it and am like in the back of my head.
5 likesTry having it 24/7 :(
0 likesdid it go away on its own or did you figure out a way to control it?
0 likesI had when i play with my 9 yo niece coz she moves her head like 👈👉👈👉👈👉 and i do the same maybe thats why it is happening lol
0 likesI appreciate your openness and honesty regarding this topic. Mental illnesses outside of depression and anxiety are rarely talked about in detail and there is still so much stigma around it. I really appreciate this video.
4062 likesReplies (5)
MinistressForMagic same here. I’ve never heard of this condition before, so it’s great to learn about it from someone who can explain what it feels like to them.
11 likesMinistressForMagic same, I have depression and ADHD and YouTube and Reddit have been way more helpful than my doctors and therapist. We need more research on all of this.
7 likesThen you clearly do not even know about depression and anxiety. It is very common to have derealization with those disorders. It's basically a symptom of those disorders.
4 likesisn't derealization caused by anxiety and depression?
0 likesit is hard for many people to describe the symptoms they feel. and it is scary to tell others as fear that they might not be understood and they don't realize that many many many others feel the same
xoxXOXO l Also, depression and anxiety are unfortunetaly "so" represented that they end up being wildly misunderstood still, like people having an image of panic attacks in class from movies whereas for me it's much more like feeling like drowning and forgetting something hugely important at ALL times...
1 likeI'd buy a video version of the book where you read the whole thing aloud. That was a fantastically emotive reading.
7 likesI remember when I was around 8 years old and I looked at my mom and said, "are you real? is this real?" and she got scared I was showing signs of early onset psychosis, but I was just going through derealization. It's so difficult to socialize during it because I feel like an alien masquerading as a human in an ill fitting skin suit. Everything feels like almost like a stimulation. It's not as jarring/scary as it was for me when I was a kid, but I think it's mostly because it's become my "normal".
3 likesthank you for saying this and speaking out. i feel seen and represented. this matter, you matter. sending you love.
2 likesI've had derealization happen to me 3 times in my life when my depression had peaked. it happened to me in the most inconvenient moments, during class. It's terrifying.
0 likesTo everyone reading the comments. Feeling spacey (brain fog) is a VERY common thing and most people will experience it at some point in their life. It is when it occurs for an extended amount of time (EX: months, years) and interferes with your daily life and relationships that it becomes a disorder. There is so much self-diagnosing these days that everyone seems to all have clinical depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, and an anxiety disorder. Please don't add this one to the list. It is hard enough for this one to be understood and taken seriously.
2606 likesJust trust me when I tell you that every single person in the comments does not have DP/DR disorder...
Replies (65)
Emmy F thank you!
15 likesexcatly!
7 likesAshwaghanda cured mine!!! I ran out two weeks ago tho so it’s back lol but
3 likestanye west i’m glad i found this comment bc i have like 10-20 minute episodes of brain fog like every couple days or so and i felt like it wasn’t this chronic disorder but i can relate to how it’s described bc i have these episodes every so often. i was trying to see if people have what i have and i know this isn’t quite the same. thank u for confirming that this disorder is chronic
14 likesI agree on this. I have it as a part of my PTSD so when someone's like "oh I get that." But they don't sleep till 3am and stare at screens all day...
25 likesIf you're thinking about ashwaganda, make sure you don't mix it with the wrong meds
3 likesEmmy F I mean or it could be more common than you realize? Jeez
5 likes@Emily Sikora Experiencing a symptom of something does not mean you have it. It's like if everyone who experienced a headache thought they had brain cancer.
29 likesBrain fog is one of the major symptoms of this disorder. Brain fog itself is so common that most of the population will experience it. Does that mean everyone has this chronic disorder? No. But people will still self diagnose. It seems to be the same for every other mental disorder too.
I was looking for the one comment that didn't self diagnose. It's very frustrating to see people, who really don't know what this disorder, try and say they have it because they've felt one minor symptom. That's like every single comment.
18 likesSo true! Brain fog or spacing out isnt the same. Dpdr is much more intense like feeling extremely high. Visual distortions, a feeling of extreme isolation, feeling like you are forgetting everything you know... and its terrifying. I have had it 3 months and its been the worst time of my life.
6 likes@The Blanket Fort Cohort I get how you feel.. Just wondering.. Are you in therapy for it? Cuz I actually am and it's working really well! It's called EMDR therapy. And I highly recommend it. Wish you luck! ❤
1 likeEh
20 likesThe reason why self diagnosis might seem common in this moment section is because it's likely that these people specifically wondered the same thing and looked it up, had it been a normal event, they could've brushed it off. Self diagnosis isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Because perhaps these people now feel understood and too are glad that it has a name.
@Strawberry milk tae read my response above
0 likes@Emmy F I don't think the YouTuber only mentioned brain fog... ō_o
2 likesI am experiencing some symptoms, but I doubt I have it.
1 likeIt's hard for a person to be told these things after you deny that nothing is wrong even tho you know something is right. I was told by people that I have anxiety.. but I still hate using the words even tho the doctors told me I have it.. it is annoying when people self diagnose.. cuz it's hard as a person with anxiety to even say that's what you have..
5 likesSo what? People aren't allowed to question now?
2 likesHehe. Just by seeing the title I knew every comment would be "I have this")
3 likesI've seen it before. This girl explained it pretty well though, that the feeling might be familiar, but not to jump to conclusions..
I don't think self-diagnosis is bad per se though, much like medical diagnosis is not guaranteed to be accurate, especially in psychiatry. That being said you need a lot of information to be able to attempt or question a diagnosis. And essentially what matters is the solution, not the label.
4 likesA lot of people commenting on these videos are very young as well
5 likesHannie Mae i have mine got almost a year
0 likesIt seems like everyone has depression and anxiety these days because a lot of the population does. There has been numerous studies stating that this day and age majority of the population has mental disorders, and derelistaion is the third most common mental illness in the world so. Everyone is self diagnosing because sometimes doctors dont know what you're dealing with. You know your body better than anyone else
2 likesThis needs to be the top liked comment
1 likeThank you. As someone who's been diagnosed by medical professionals with generalized anxiety disorder, depression, autism spectrum disorder (with the expected sensory processing disorder too), have had one doctor say he suspects PTSD (no diagnosis however so I don't just say I have it without first clarifying that it's only been suspected), as well as a few physical things like chronic acid reflux, it infuriates me when people are a little sad and call themselves depressed or get a bit nervous and say they have anxiety... Like damn people you're allowed to watch videos like this because it looks interesting (like me)
4 likesHonestly. A lot of people experience derealization and such without it being a disorder and just a brain’s reaction to high stress. But the difference is that it goes away. I know I’ve experienced it when my anxiety has gotten too high and I physically can’t handle it. But once I’m out of the situation, I’m good. But I know I don’t have DP/DR disorder.
4 likesEmmy F
3 likesNo one in the comments has this disorder? Are you sure?
People that have been diagnosed with something or are about to, tend to look up information on the internet. They’ll read and watch everything there is to find.
cagedheat3 is it constantly or just in episodes? Because mine is constant and has been every minute of the day for three days now!
0 likesImagine you're someone who has experienced these symptoms, but you come across this comment and think "Yeah, that's right, I probably don't have this," and then going years undiagnosed, during which time it gets worse and worse. Everyone in the comments section doesn't have this condition, but unanimously deciding that everyone who questions whether or not they might have it is deluding themselves is a bit of a stretch. P.S. depression and mental illness is more widespread than you think, and people aren't getting help because they keep convincing themselves that there's nothing wrong.
12 likesManuel Olivas has it got better overtime? I smoke k2 and got it too please reply !
0 likesI personally don't think I have a dp/dr disorder but I definitely do experience it as a result of trauma. what's frustrating to me is that it's less likely that I have regular ptsd and that it's probably more likely c-ptsd but c-ptsd isn't even in the dsm-v so there's not a lot of ways it can be treated :/
2 likesalso just because it interferes with daily life for over a month it doesn't mean its a dissociative disorder, it just means you have a symptom that over half of the disorders in the DSM share. also depending on location many people do have anxiety/depression. the rate is really high because our world is going to shit.
2 likesActually I have been searching for what this is since 2011. Once it happened to me it never stopped. I havent ever woke and was cleared headed since my first episode. I thought it was medical like I was lacking a vitamins or maybe I cracked my nick or back and hurt my spine or had a stroke. Hearing you guys talk about has given me some hope. I even went to the Mayo clinic in Rochester. I have some other health issues but no one has ever told me about this one. I need to learn more.
4 likes@Hannah Meadus what is that?
0 likesJamie Cragle ~ Hi!! Yes, videos about it are very helpful especially when you don’t know what going on. And some of the best help comes from those who have recovered from it. Many people do recover! DP/DR is often your brain trying to protect you from trauma/anxiety. But of course, it doesn’t feel like that and it’s very scary. The best thing you can do is distract yourself and know that there is hope and that you don’t need to worry. It’ll make it worse. Lol! Also, taking a B-complex vitamin and D doesn’t hurt. lol!
0 likesI’m editing this to add that my original comment was meant for those who have felt the feeling before but only every once in a while. Bc that is a normal feeling. It’s when it’s all the time then it turns into a disorder. And people get confused then think they have it an panic and never get properly diagnosed. It’s kind of like how everyone seems to think they have clinical depression now. What happens when someone thinks they have something and actually don’t, they hurt the people who do have it because they don’t actually understand. And I know DP/DR disorder is rare. So when every comment is someone stating they have it. It gets concerning.
For example, anxiety. Every. Single. Person will experiance some sort of anxiety attack in there life, it doesn't mean its a disorder
2 likesJust because even you DO have a disorder, its not mandatory to be diagnosed. I get it, for some people it makes them relieved when there diagnosed, but make sure you want to be diagnosed for yourself, not other people.(basically not because you want attention)
0 likeshow can I cure it?
0 likesHad this over a year an am struggling feel like if I die it’ll be back to normal it’s weird
0 likesWhat about if you have had it your whole life?
0 likesAre you able to experience it for a few minutes? If so I might have had this happen to me. Thanks for the information btw.
0 likesMmmmm
0 likesthank u for this cause it makes it rlly hard for ppl who are diagnosed/figuring out their diagnosis to feel recognized and validated for their struggles.
0 likesI have autism which i have been diagnosed with as well as anxiety and DR/DP which goes with my PTSD as well. Its odd how some mental disorders carry other ones and so forth. However people self diagnosing i dont mind it as long as they plan on getting checked out asap to be sure and not go around saying that. But DP/DR is so little in my list of disorders i barley remember it because its just my life, sure it makes me super vulnerable and not able to enjoy family moments or remember things but its sometimes comforting.
0 likesagreed, however this kind of mindset is exactly what brings the lack of concern for mental health.
2 likes@Pagan Athiest ~ hey! Thanks for the comment! I wanted to add to what you said. I feel like over-normalizing and making mental disorders trendy is what’s really hurting mental health in the social media world. I’m watching as mental disorders are being misunderstood and over self-diagnosed. Which makes each mental illness appear less serious and extremely common.
1 like@Emmy F that makes sense, thank you for elaborating and helping me have a better understanding of what you were trying to say
1 likei have it but yeah, i agree. it's perfectly acceptable if you really can't get a diagnosis but are properly educated and aren't just claiming mental illnesses because you feel like it. but yeah, otherwise self diagnosing is so awful and really damaging and offensive.
0 likes@Brinta they said not everybody in the comments. Not no one.
0 likes@M Mellette
0 likesEmmy F said in the starting comment:
“Just trust me when I tell you that every single person in the comments does not have DP/DR disorder...”
That means ‘no one in the comments’. So what did I say wrong?
@Brinta that means not everyone in the comments.
0 likes@M Mellette
0 likesEvery single person does not have -> everybody... not -> not anybody -> nobody (in the comments)
Is English not your first language?
I totally get what you're saying, but you shouldn't shame everyone who's self diagnosed, derealization is not so common and some therapists can't diagnose it also not everyone has access to a therapist, so if the person takes the issue seriously and actually is feeling like this continuously(and has done proper research) then self diagnosis isn't a bad thing
0 likes@Brinta that’s not how that works, but OK buddy. Pop off
0 likesSame for ADD/ADHD.
0 likes@M Mellette
0 likesI was wrong. I now finally understand the expression.
@Brinta 😂it’s ok
0 likesSo true!! thank u so much
0 likesi feel weirdly disconnected from both myself and my surroundings and it's been happening for a month but i don't feel anything like dodie described herself feeling ? idk what this is but like sometimes i realize im supposed to be here and it feels weird because i don't feel like im here ? is this depersonalization ? it doesn't affect me doing things, the only difference i've seen so far is that time is speeding by like so fast that it's not letting me do things ?
1 like@summer If it started after taking a certain drug--stop using that drug or any other hallucinogenic drug. If it still persists I would suggest looking you some grounding meditation techniques and giving them a try. Best of luck to you.
1 like@Kimarie Sings ty! i havent been exposed to any substances that are in fact addictive
0 likes@rightattheend do you feel like youre in a dream or disconnected ?
0 likes@summer yeah i feel weirdly disconnected from everything even myself like everyone else is there and im supposed to be there too but im just not ????
0 likes@rightattheend you do have depersonalization/derealization, i hope you do get better! ive been having this disorder for 3 years but still in this state
0 likes@summer i hope you get better too
1 likeI don't self-diagnose myself, but I know I experience derealization pretty much my whole life.
0 likeslegit me, but i makes me panic a lot cos like i feel like my family n friends are just something my brain has created and no one is real and i’m just here.
106 likesReplies (11)
deathfu same!!! I feel like nothing is real and just a figment of my imagination
10 likesSame. It actually fucks me up.
4 likesRight. Scary shit
0 likessame! the solipsism has been strong recently
0 likesYou just described me exactly. Oh my god
0 likesI've had mine for a week now and it was triggered from a video I watched on YouTube about solipsism. What a bad idea that was
0 likesPracticing deep breathwork as Wim Hof breathing. It s magical how it does reconnect you in minutes
0 likes@Mike Welch how are you doing now?
0 likes@Lily Stultz I'm doing fine now thanks
1 like@Mike Welch how long did you have dpdr ?
0 likes@Lily Stultz about a week
0 likesI’m proud of you ma’am <3
1 likeI have a history of derealizing during times of heightened anxiety. It's so, so, so so so scary. I can't imagine feeling like that all the time. It's worse than the anxiety itself, i feel like I'm the only person in the whole world that's real, everything and everyone else is fuzzy and two dimensional. I'm so fortunate that this isn't a constant thing for me.
4 likesoh my god this is exactly what i’ve been going through i can’t believe other people are going through this too
0 likesI burst into tears watching this I had no idea other people felt like this. Thank you for making this video it is incredibly validating to know I’m not alone
700 likesReplies (9)
Nicole Winters Same here.
0 likesMe too :D
0 likesMe too :)❤️
0 likesI started crying as well. I’ve been sick for the past 5 years (it all started after a bad car wreck and PTSD) but the foggy/spacey/dreamy feeling has been more present this past year. I’ve been to so many doctors, had counseling (for awhile), gone to my psychiatrist, had eyes checked, gone to neurologist and had testing done, trying to sort things out yet somehow, other things kept popping up. I never thought that the dreamy feeling I was experiencing was valid, or that I was actually feeling it. ‘Maybe it was just a bad day, a bad week, a bad month,’ I kept telling myself. But it wasn’t. What I’m feeling is valid and real, even if everything else feels unreal. And watching this incredible video proved that. I found such an immense sense of comfort and of calmness after watching this video. I told my mom and we’re going to schedule an appointment with my counselor, to sort everything out, and then hopefully begin finding the best kind of treatment for me.
3 likesNone of us are alone in this fight that we call life (I’m felling very poetic at the moment lol muh bad) and we can all find comfort with the incredible (and definitely real) people around us. Hope that you’re doing better, after finally knowing that you are definitely NOT alone💗💗
Me too
0 likesNicole Winters I cried too. I've felt like this almost my whole life and thought I was alone
2 likesOmg me too
0 likesNicole Winters SAME
0 likesNicole Winters IKR SAME
1 likeThank you for talking about it ❤️i thought I'm the only one feeling this , it is kinda terrible but yeah we keep moving on 🤧
0 likesThis is very interesting actually. I read Dodie's book and I found the whole thing amazing. But I did find the concept of this interesting but difficult to comprehend. This sounds like a really difficult struggle. I really send hope to anyone going through this.
1 likeI watched this before i realized i had this and derealization is terrifying, but its comforting to know you're not completely alone on that
1 likeIts now come to a point where i can sense when im going to derealize and thankfully pretending to pull myself back into my body has been helping
Oh wow, thank you so much for sharing this, it must have taken so much courage. Huge props to you and massive respect.
0 likesDoes anyone ever have to be constantly telling them selves it's not a dream and it's reality?
2259 likesReplies (42)
Francisco Vergara yessssss it’s so scary cause I afraid I’m actually asleep and I my life is just a dream
119 likesYour okay! U are in reality just keep telling yourself self that your mind doesn't take over your life!!
44 likesYes
2 likesI thought I was just high but yesh
12 likesI never knew it had it name. I just thought ok I'm just having an episode. I'd always called it a disassociative episode.
14 likesSometimes I have lucid dreams and I wake up and I’m like I’m awake right. Gets me every time 🙄
8 likesdon't worry we're all real, other people notice you so we are all real, we just have either some problems we can extinguish forever. I wish mental illnesses did not exist. :/. Maybe we have went through a bad experience l ike the person above said, and our brain wants to protect us by thinking it's not real. So in order to get out of it I'm guessing we have to either change our lifestyle a little or meditate or find a therapist. I'm no specialist, i'm just a 15 year old with the same problem. Just my recommendation, i'm going to try it sometime. Anyone know any good hobbies I can start doing? (I'm a boy by the way)
14 likesAll the time. Nothing ever really makes sense and I start to think of everything strangely. I know how you feel and you are not alone ❤️
3 likesLyle same age I got that illness, you’re going to be in for a bumpy ride in life I’m 19 now. I play video games to forget it
1 likeVoldiOldie Artichokie what happened
0 likesYes and when I do that I feel more anxiety
1 likeyes!!!
1 likewow..
0 likesYes! Constantly I have to remind myself that the things around me are not actually distorted and that I'm not actually in a nightmare. It's exhausting and draining.
1 likeMe wow
0 likesI just accept it as a dream, which allows my mind to calm down and come back to reality
1 likeI feel like I'm in a dream I'm starting to lose my mind
1 likei know u posted this comment a while ago but for me when i’m felling ‘fuzzy’ i always have to remind myself where i am and that this is real. i know it is real but it never feels it
2 likesOH MY GOD YES OH MY GOD
1 likeIf by dream you mean nightmare then fuck yeah!
1 liketo-fall-upwards so did you end up going gluten free or just taking enzymes? Sorry just trying to understand
1 likeYeah
0 likesYes it’s very scary
0 likesFrancisco Vergara constantly.
0 likesYeah I had that on the first day of school....
0 likesOnly when I'm stoned...
0 likesOmg yes
0 likesyeah, I've had it for a few years and some months ago I had to go to the doctors bc I was afraid I was gonna hurt myself... + i sometimes can forget days, like I can get up on Wednesday and I just can't remember Monday and Tuesday. like they are completely gone. It's enjoying, and it effekts school a lot.
2 likesi don’t but it’s weird bcs i do get the bright/fuzzy thing she was talking about...like when you’re outside and it’s really bright then you come inside and for like a second or two you can’t really see...for me it’s like purple and black fuzz in front of my vision. it’s really weird and not sure if I should be worried about it. never really was concerned about it so idk if it is normal or not. also you guys should read the Bible just saying if u aren’t Christians bcs it will help you. we will all get new bodies when He returns!
1 likeFrancisco Vergara Meeeeeeeee!!!!!!!😥😥😥
0 likesyes and it's so frustrating
0 likesDave Trips and sticks same
0 likesFrancisco Vergara me all the time
0 likesYes
0 likesMore often than not lately it seems at times. Like, I feel like I'm losing myself. But I do have support so I try to stay as positive as possible
0 likesWhen I was a kid I used to cry over the Idea that my parents were a dream
0 likesYeah
0 likesYes, I can never tell if I'm awake
0 likesDid you recover
0 likes@L S did you recover
0 likes@Victor did you recover
0 likes@HungryBurger619 yes I did, it eventually began fading away the more I accepted it. After handling my anxiety attacks and not fighting it, my mind later adjusted to reality :)
1 likeWow. Now I remember what my therapist said I had. Thank you. This whole time I kept thinking the word she used was dementia. Since becoming an adult I’ve learned what that word meant and realized I was clearly remembering very wrong. I was diagnosed as a young teen in middle school and Never really understood why my therapist diagnosed me with this until now. Thank you! 🤗
0 likesWhen i was about 10 I started to have these weird sensations that made me feel like if everything isn't reality. Id look at people around me and they'd seem so normal while im over here feeling anxious that im in a body thats going through experiences.
13 likesAt 21 (!!!) An epiphany came to me that I feel that way because I AM alive and moving through time in my own body. I am a soul. And literally never had those odd anxiety episodes anymore
Practicing deep breathwork as Wim Hof breathing. It s magical how it does reconnect you in minutes
2 likesThis is literally my first time hearing about this, but I absolutely feel this way all the time, for years... I don't know how to see a psychiatrist though.
0 likesYou probably won’t see this but I just wanted to say that in music class, we have to write about our favorite artist and I chose you. You have been such an inspiration that even when you are in your lowest low you can make it out. Thank you
495 likesReplies (4)
Luise H this is so cute, I hope Dodie sees it
16 likesJust to make you feel better lots of YouTubers have secret accounts just to read the comments so you have hope of her seeing this
1 likeSame with me!! I had to do a 5 page project on dodie with a discography, biography, introduction and a bunch of other stuff.
1 likeI did a website for ict on dodie
0 likesim experiencing derealization since 2 years now. And this is exactly that, high lights are very triggering for me, I feel like I’m ALWAYS TIRED, I forget everything, looking straight at people make their faces looks very weird. Its like i was seeing a movie in front of my eyes. And the voice I heard coming naturally from my body isnt really the person thinking. (This is really not like skizophrenia, i don’t hear voices at all^^, its just like when we are dreaming yeah) I feel like I’m high ALL THE TIME. Feel like I just hit a huge blunt and I’m not getting back from my trip lol. It’s very VERY hard for me. I can’t take things as they are, i have a cool life but this thing is destroying everything. Its funny because I use the word floating too! It describe it so much
12 likesI got an appointment to see a psychiatrist in December,but I’m afraid it will stay all my life....
I saw that comment of someone saying if it have an impact on our lives than it become a disorder. I can’t do things properly, every time I hang out with friends to parties or something I feel really uncomfortable. Because of all the lights, all the people... Nobody see it because I look ok, but in my head it’s so foggy and unclear
Im always tired, I can’t remember anything...
I had a very important family meeting and derea HIT SO HARD. I was nearly going to faint. SO please if you are experiencing that, go see someone. A professional, or talk to your parents if you are young
I never did those in 2 years and today this is a problem for my everyday life.
(Sorry if any mistakes, im not from an English speaking country)
Anybody experiencing that too?
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Hi! I surely hope you're better. Please remember that it is a process, but that you are definitely not alone!!! You deserve health and happiness, and you will get there. Just be sure to listen to yourself and don't give up!
0 likes@francesca francesca Hello!
1 likeThank you for your answer.
We are 1 year ago from that comment, I saw a psychologist, I’m feeling much better. I’m no longer experiencing déréalisation anymore !
So to everyone who is experiencing that right now, please don’t loose hope.
It’s gotten worse for me the past years, it came to a point where i also think about killing myself everyday. I’ve lost contact with every friend i ever knew and don’t have any motivation to do anything. It’s hard for me to socialize and blend in with every other person. I feel extreme tiredness after trying to socialize at all. I have an appointment at the hospital soon for this tiredness because i’ve had it for years but i feel like it has more to do with mentality than physically because i’ve done so many blood tests and i take alot of vitamins and iron medication but it just doesn’t work, i feel so dizzy and weak all the time and it just keeps getting worse. I’m so glad i watched this video or else I wouldn’t have known. Everything matches SO perfectly i’m sure that i have it. I don’t even feel things anymore. I hate changes because my brain hardly progresses new things. I used to go to 2 different psychologists but i gave up because i just had a hard time talking, telling my experiences and remembering things. Do u recommend me to go to a psychologist again? And how did they help u? I’m literally just 17 years old and my teen years have gone to waste because of this, i hope to get a reply from u
0 likesI went through the same thing a few years ago and it was the scariest time of my life. Funny enough, I didn't even know what it was until I googled "if feels like I'm dreaming all the time." It felt like I was looking through foggy glass and nothing felt vivid, I felt like I couldn't appreciate my surroundings and it caused severe panic attacks. I remember thinking "how am I going to function like a normal adult with this?"
4 likesThe worst part was that no one understood, so thank you for making this video and bringing awareness to derealization.
My derealization did eventually get better, and it isn't constant anymore. However I do fall back into episodes every once and awhile... But being able to put a name to it, and understand that I'm not in any danger from it, really really helps with coping.
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Hey are you better now? I’ve been derealzing and it’s causing me to stop eating and become sick from the anxiety.I was perfectly okay before, it was really sudden and I think my existential thoughts had caused it.Help?
0 likesI've literally never been able to describe these feelings out loud and while not going to self diagnose myself, these all sound like familiar aspects of my daily life.
0 likesI understand exactly how you feel. I stayed up 2 nights in a row for an exam once and my friends treated me to some alcohol and I wound up in that state. I was absolutely terrified because I thought it was chronic but it went away after I sobered up.
2 likesTo all the people self-diagnosing in the comments:
679 likesPersonally, it’s not too annoying for me when people hear about my dpdr and say “oh I get this and that too”, because I’ve learned over the past year that nobody is 100% okay in the head, because nothing defines ‘100% okay’. We’ve all got little tics and things that just aren’t right.
I’m not okay, though, with the glorification of these symptoms and them being used as a personality trait to try and make oneself more of a three-dimensional character, which seems to happen all too often recently.
My advice for people who want to find out what’s up with them (if there is anything actually wrong) is to write down a list of symptoms you’ve been experiencing and bring them to a professional, not WebMD and not a toxic forum, because young people are now collecting mental illnesses from the DSMV like shiny Pokémon cards and that’s not good for the statistics, and it’s certainly not good for the people actually suffering from these illnesses thinking that maybe it’s normal/developmental when it’s not.
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dontlookatluke exactly my point! everyone has ’something’. i do not mean to trivialize anyone’s experiences, but just because you sometimes have a hard time concentrating doesn’t mean you have adhd, you sometimes being sad and hating life doesn’t neccessarily mean you’re depressed, having emotions all over the place doesn’t equal borderline. the tip about writing down your symptoms and then going to a professional is great!
21 likesThis comment deserves 1000000 likes
12 likesWhy doesn't this have more likes
8 likescouldnt say it better myself! thank you!
5 likesI've actually self-disgnosed drd because all the symptoms i have match all the symptoms of the disorder, but I take it? seriously? (i have been meaning to speak with a professional, dw)
9 likesdo people really diagnose themselves with disorders because they think its unique or something?? thats,,, p fucked up???
Woooooow this is everything I wanted to say. THANK YOU for being so honest!
3 likesHauyne
6 likesyeah people do, i think its mostly in online communities where a lot of people who actually have the disorders tend to congregate and your average joe steps in, exaggerates their own experience to -- quite ironically -- fit into the group of oddballs. this could also be due to toxic spaces like some dark corners of tumblr poking fun at "neurotypical people" because they ~apparently~ are very insensitive in everything that they do and everything is ableist.
i personally see no real point in self dx-ing, because in saying that you have something that has not been analyzed by a professional you could also be doing something counterproductive because the mind is quite complex, but then again it can be a great sense of comfort for fellows in dark places. i relate with you on that, although i don't claim to have the disorder because it does not really benefit me, i do associate with terms that are used to describe it because what i go through fills that mold pretty well.
and also most everyone experiences dp/dr at some point in their life and that is very normal it does not mean that you have the disorder. it is only a problem when it takes over your life and disrupts you from doing your daily activities
7 likesI hate when people glorify mental illness. it's way deeper than being edgy and just sad or scared
10 likesYeah, scrolling down and hearing some people say "omg I feel like this too, I didn't know I had this mental illness" just makes me sad. A lot of feelings associated with mental illness can occur naturally in everybody, and usually do at some point. But an actual mental illness is completely different. For me (trigger warning here) I felt like my life was ruined when I developed this disorder - for 2 years I woke up everyday wondering if today is the day I kill myself. I had to drop out of school for a year because my paranoia was too bad for me to even go out in public during the day. I felt no happiness, no relief, nothing good at all and lost all emotional memories, it was a life of constant fear, like hell on earth itself - the people who suffer from this disorder, know something is wrong with them. It's not something you just read about and go "omg I had no idea, guess I'm mentally ill". No, you'll know it if you actually get it.
5 likesAlex Volkov
1 likeI’m sorry you had to go through that. Although suicidal ideation isn’t a direct symptom, it can stem from the depression usually caused by dp/dr. God knows how many times I’ve accidentally tried to self harm while thinking I was dreaming to ‘wake up’. Hope you’re on the road to recovery and good luck!
dontlookatluke. Is it bad that I said I experience episodes such as these which are part of my DIAGNOSED PTSD, Depression, and Anxiety.
2 likesqueen jeski Somehow this comment made me so angry I started laughing.
6 likesHow are we to know how much is normal if it's all we've ever known? I didn't know I had bpd because everybody around me downplayed my symptoms. Nobody ever got me tested for autism, or ADD, or depression, or stress, or anxiety..
Everyone gets so angry about so called self-diagnosis.
If I had never found information online, I wouldn't have brought up my symptoms to my doctor because MY SYMPTOMS ARE NORMAL TO ME.
So when you sit there and say "just because this, doesn't mean that", you aren't helping. It just makes the people who might actually need that diagnosis doubtful of themselves and how they feel. Comments like yours are what suppressed me and made me suppress myself for years.
dontlookatluke what happened to your older videos? they definately have changed which I did not see coming lol I can see why now that I'm finding you here. which is sort of funny/cool.
1 likedontlookatluke Thank you for this comment!
2 likesThis particular video is giving me a thought that maybe I should talk to my doctor, because this sounds familiar to how messed up I’ve felt over the past since forever ago. (I’m not to say those with mental illness are messed up, I just feel like my brain is broken sometimes)
I do also hate how people romanticize because no mental illness is fun to deal with...
dontlookatluke or...maybe they actually have it or think they might but have not yet been diagnosed..? Lol come on man fr
1 like!!
0 likesYour last two sentences contradict each other.
0 likesa problem is not everyone can get professional help & depending on race & gender it's harder to get diagnosed properly
1 likedontlookatluke lol
0 likesVictoria Kitten ye, looking at your symptoms is okay, but it isnt alright to tell everybody you have, for example, ptsd. yes, you might have the symptoms but that doesn't mean that you have the syndrome or whatever. talk to a proffesional and take your time on trying to understand it, not telling everybody about it just to get sympathic looks. im sorry if this is offensive to anyone, but you shouln't feel targeted if you haven't done anything like this.
0 likesdontlookatluke I've been doing a lot of research and gone on reliable sources. I match all of the symptoms, so I think it's fine to self diagnose. It's the only way I can describe how I'm feeling. I'm going to a therapist soon, but finding a name for it beforehand is not a bad thing
0 likesself diagnosing is more of a comfort thing honestly. its easier to cope with what your feeling if you can name it and learn about the symptoms. its about being able to relate. some people cant afford therapy either.
1 likei come back to this video often to just cry and feel less alone in my feelings of dissociation. thank you for making this, i really appreciate it
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Dilpreet I’m also Punjabi and it is very painful to live like this.
0 likesI find this very interesting. Growing up I didn’t really feel this way, I was very attached to the world. Only a couple of times did I ever have similar experiences growing up. When I would contemplate birth and death I would get the feeling of peace in a way, not of ending sorrow but of knowing that what I was was beyond this temporary life and that I would still exist beyond death. This happened only around 10 or so times going in to my high school years. Also, another instance was a memory, and it is as real as any memory I’ll ever have. A memory of me flying, over my hometown, I think, the buildings were a bit blurry. I could only see and I had no thoughts. It seemed I was flying very slow, kind of like in slow motion.
2 likesThese were my only instances of anything similar that you have talked about in this video which occurred while I was growing up. Now, after studying and meditating upon different processes, concepts, and knowledge, I know that what you are speaking of is the only reality. You are not the mind, nor the body, nor the intellect. You are the unchanging consciousness in which you observe everything. You observe the waking state, the dream state, and deep sleep. Everything arises and falls in you, the world is in you, you are the world, and you are one with everything. The real illusion is what you call reality. Even in dreaming, it is but an illusion. Who you are is real. And so, everything which enters and goes from your consciousness is just like everything that enters and goes in your dream. It is you. This is called advaita Vedanta. Non-dual spirituality. And gaining this knowledge I used the instances growing up to help me know the non-dual nature of existence. You will always exist. You are existence itself, pure consciousness. What I find interesting is that you are immersed in the true reality without knowledge, and so think of it as illusion. I am immersed with knowledge, and observe it as alone real. I highly recommend learning the teachings of advaita Vedanta as I think this can help you immensely. It will help you deal with the illusoriness of the world. Swami vivekenanda, swami sarvapriyananda, and Arsha Bodha are all great places to learn on YouTube. I wish you luck.
I went through this when I was 18 for a brief period of time when things in my family started going south. My doctor said my brain was trying to protect me but it happened so fast and was so scary, I remember sitting my mom down and telling her I wouldn't be able to live life in this state and I would kill myself if I didn't get better.
24 likesMy mom is an alcoholic and my parents were at the beginning of their divorce when this happened so things were often ugly at home. I worked at a drugstore and my older coworkers were sharing some of their drunk stories when it hit me. All of a sudden my hands looked fake, my voice sounded like I was listening to it through an answering machine, I couldn't put names to faces.... It was terrifying. I felt like I was in a dream and couldn't tell if I was awake or would wake up soon. I eventually got on anxiety medication and luckily for me I was grounded in reality again. I remember feeling hopeless, scared, suicidal, confused. I remember saying "I wouldnt wish this on my worst enemy".
I'm 25 and while I have other mental health conditions, I was lifted from the haze. I feel real. I'm not sure what pulled me out, but I know it's possible. If you are reading this and need someone to talk to I am here for you.
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stephanie weller stephani what medication did you take to help you?
0 likesI’m pretty much going through the same thing right now
1 like@Lydia Kurtz hang in there love
0 likesSo ive been thinking that life is a dream for almost a year or so..And i just can't get over it..
0 likesI told my mom my dad but they can't do anything about it they sometimes just stare at me like I'm crazy...So pls help me get over this its a horrible feeling...My friend had this too she tried to help but it didn't work...
Sometimes i just wanna kill myself bc of it...
Please help me :(
And actually sometimes i would cry hard bc of this whole fucking thing!
....If anyone knows how to cure this pls say so it would mean so much to me♥..
Thank you :)..♥
Hi I'm a mother of three and pregnant I'm scared I won't come out of this what can I do?
0 likesI was getting a feeling of altered reality, (very dreamlike when I was getting vertigo frequently). I also disassociate because of PTSD. Glad you got a diagnosis hun.
0 likesThe fact that nearly everyone in the comments seems to have this condition is quite concerning.
820 likesReplies (15)
Pepromene I think they're confusing it with just being human... I day dream a lot and prefer to be in my head than in reality but doesn't everyone? It doesn't mean you're special or have a mental illness. Anyone who thinks they have this should go and see a mental health doctor so they can confirm it and receive any help they need instead of writing a few paragraphs in the YouTube comments. By no means am I stating that there's nothing 'wrong' with them but there's a fine line between the average human mind and mental illness.
202 likesBarnum effect. Seeing things and making yourself believe they apply to you. Kinda like reading horoscopes. Or being a hypochondriac
143 likesWell, she did say it's a common symptom of things like depression (which is rather common), and since this video has almost 400.000 views, 40.000 likes and 4000 comments so far, that gives you somewhere around 1-10% of viewers having that symptom (if you assume every commenter does). Doesn't sound too unlikely to me, especially considering she does talk about mental health in many of her videos and is likely attracting an audience that appreciates that .
86 likesHalcyonacoustic not really, you’d think a large percentage of her fans would just want to watch the video no matter the title. Plus, it had only been up for a short while when I commented so it would surprise me if all these comments have come from people who aren’t subscribed to dodie and are here purely for this subject.
11 likesYh I don’t have it I’m just constantly tired cos I don’t look after my self 😂
2 likesAgreed, especially as derealisation/depersonalisation is often a symptom alongside anxiety disorders. It's rarer to have it persist for years, but the 'surreal' feeling itself is not at all unusual in small phases for most people who are already suffering with another mental health problem.
16 likeswell this video probably attracted a bunch of people who experience/d the same or similar situations
2 likesthere's almost 500k views and about 5k comments. i would assume people who have experienced this such as myself and know what it is would be attracted to this video and leave a comment to connect with other people who have too. it's a strange feeling many don't talk about or understand, it's nice to have your experiences validated. (:
2 likesI don’t expect people who don’t feel this way would take the time to leave a comment about how they don’t relate, you know what I mean? It might just be that
3 likesLaVonne West a lot of people want to relate or have some kind of illness. Yes it sounds wrong, and it kinda is, but there sure are some people that for example don’t have a nice life. Getting compliments and motivation from people is wanted and attention is appreciated. I’m not calling out anybody, but i’m just saying that even i was once like that.
3 likesPepromene they don’t necessarily have the condition but that may have experience it in times of stress and anxiety and depression.
0 likescharlie no you're confused. This condition is completely different from just daydreaming. Please do your research before making insensitive remarks.
0 likesnow i’m scared because i think i have it i’ve had these symptoms for a couple years now and i never knew what it was i always thought it was just anxiety but the description fits perfectly to me now idk if i’m just lying to myself 😭
0 likesThey majority only think they do because they are trying to be sympathetic and want to comment.
0 likesPeople would be googling to see what they might have. Her viewers for this specific video would be different than a regular video. People who don't relate wouldn't comment. People who do would and would enjoy finding people like them and therefore reach out more.
0 likesI experienced this often during the time that my son was having a severe regression in development and my grandmother was dying. I have also had this occasionally during times of conflict like in school when being bullied etc. It is precipitated by extreme stress. I feel physical activity helps some. For what ever reason I have not experienced it recently.
1 likeI never knew this existed but I'm so proud of you and you're amazing 🤗
1 likeI was left alone a lot as a child and i distinctly remember that feeling of floating out of yourself. I would swing between being convinced that i wasn't real and being convinced that i was actually insane. Being around others is important!
0 likesI have the same issues... I see so many people do also now and it makes me feel relief. I’ve been on anti depressants and anxiety medications, tranquilizers and therapy. It is that feeling of everything moving faster in pace and you are trying to focus, but that feeling of disconnect. Thank you for this video. I see it was posted a couple years ago, but you have made me feel more self aware and that I am not crazy. When I see my therapist, I now know what I can reference.
3 likesThank you for describing derealisation in such a mature way, that really helped me, as someone who does not experience derealisation (but does suffer from depression and social anxiety), understand what it is like to experience derealisation. Thank you dodie.
357 likesReplies (1)
I also suffer from depression and social anxiety but I have slight feelings of derealisation and Dodie described it so well xx
5 likesI've tried explaining to my friends that when I am in a bad spot, I can't tell the difference between dreams and reality. Theres a whole year I barely remember except for small parts. No one understands it when I talk about it but this makes it make more sense to me. Maybe this is what's going on :)
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I feel like Ive lost my whole perception of time like I don’t remember when things took place anymore and the days just get jumbled together and fly by. Like I was never even a part of them and these aren’t even my memories
0 likesIt must be really weird and tiring to have derealization all the time! I only feel this on anxiety attacks including sometimes depersonalization but all the time! you're so brave 💝 thank you for sharing it
0 likesi feel like i’m dreaming and it’s giving me an anxiety attack.
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lucky
0 likes@cosmic jessica seriously?
0 likes@cordelia yes
0 likes@cosmic jessica why?
0 likes@cordelia why not? life is so boring, and i wanna know what one feels like
0 likes@cosmic jessica If it gives someone anxiety attack it's not that cool is it?
0 likesPracticing deep breathwork as Wim Hof breathing. It s magical how it does reconnect you in minutes
0 likesim so glad you have this which reads to me that it is not a condition, but a blessing. I can understand how this world has a hard time to understand it that they just call it "condition".
1 likeWow,
318 likesHi I’m fourteen, and yesterday I went to a therapist for the first time because of derealization. Being in school, you need to constantly stay focused and on task. Yet class would go by in a blur, it was like there were white clouds over my vision and sound was muffled. And after class, my friends would ask what was wrong, I would be sitting in my seat with a distorted face not looking at anything just staring forward. I looked confused by they would say, whilst in reality I was trying to wipe away the clouds blocking away my vision. I felt as though I was going insane. Already depressed I felt defeated, left alone in the world. I have started to self harm, as I fell only deeper into depression because of the stress mental illness brings upon us. Yet as I went to a therapist yesterday and I found out I’m not alone. It was so funny to see this video pop up on my feed after all this happened. I haven’t tried any treatment yet, but I hope so soon. I’m seen as an annoyance to teachers as when they ask me to read or answer a question I take at least 30 seconds to snap out of my state. And though it seems like not much time, 30 seconds is enough to get you some bullying. I’m seen as a freak and a weirdo, and I’m scared to talk about it. Yet watching this video, I felt as though I was talking to a friend! You are such an inspiring beautiful person, and I hope you realize that! Xoxo Mollie from Seattle
P.S
If anyone else does read this, if you are feeling this way reach out to a trusted teacher! My old teacher from 7th grade (Ms. Weed) yes weed.. She is absolutely amazing and sweet. I told her about how I felt, and it really kickstarted my journey to getting better!
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Hope all goes well! I am also considered an annoyance to my teachers, like I will ask a question and they yell at me for not paying attention but I was, I feel like I just blank out as if there's a tiny hole of my memory from something someone just said or showed is missing, and its hard to focus on classwork, (and that means late assignments ick) and it makes me feel better to see someone my age going through something similar, (oml I suck at writing)
6 likes+
2 likesSame, it's just so hard when you have to deal with this at school. I've once forced myself to focus on what the teacher is saying but it felt so blurry but no one knew. I'll try to tell my mom so she can get me a therapist. Hope to recover, hope you do too <3
6 likesI hope that therapy can help you! Thanks for sharing your story, I know it will help somebody too scared to reach out xx
5 likesThank you for sharing! I can’t relate that much besides the depression but I think you’re a very strong person and wish you the best of luck on the road to recovery!
3 likesI’m going through the exact same thing right now, and I’m even fourteen too. You’re not alone <3
4 likesHold on try and get therapy though your your school or doctor x
3 likesAsLovely thx for commenting! Trust me I tried, my school counselors suck! But good advice to anyone else who is struggling with the same issue I have!! Xoxo
4 likesJohn Laurens same here! I asked like three questions in math class yesterday and my teacher had apparently already answered all of them! It’s so stressful when that happens because now everyone thinks you’re stupid but really you just have a condition! I hope you can find some help too!! It’s so amazing, I didn’t think anyone was going to read my comment but all of these are so reassuring! Xoxo Mollie
3 likesSame. I don’t have derealisation but I always find it so hard to concentrate on work. I have to read it over and over before It clicks. Especially if it’s a big piece of writing. I’m not dumb but I think some people think I’m dumb because i find it hard to take things in.
1 likeI could not have put my feelings into any better words than the way you just did. I had my first doctors appointment last week and I’m so glad I went. My mum has been asking me about going since July last year, so I made the decision to say yes. Please please please, know that you aren’t alone in feeling like this. Reach out to me any time you’d like, seems like we feel the same so if you need someone to talk to I understand how you’re feeling.
2 likes-Liv, The UK x
Mollie O. I hope therapy continues to help you down the line! It won't be easy, but believe in yourself as much as you can, because we all believe in you!
1 likeAnd something I've found helpful, if you're struggling with self worth and allowing yourself to be helped ((like me)), is imagining that you are one of your friends. This may sound confusing, but I'll try to explain as best as I can.
Separate your mind 'you' and your visual/physical 'you'. Your mind you is the one who thinks about everything and is the actual you that you feel ((I guess kind of like your soul being)). Imagine that you are looking at your visual self, as if they were your best friend. Your best friend is struggling with so many things and needs so much love and support right now. But they don't love them self enough to get help, or continue with the help they're already getting. You would obviously want to help them even more, right? Well then, help them. That best friend is you, and you are your best friend. You need so much support from yourself and you need to allow yourself to give that support.
I hope that makes any kind of sense ;; if not, feel free to ask me to explain again and I'll gladly find a better way of explaining it!
Being kind to yourself is so tough, but accepting the fact that you do deserve love and support is the first step to getting better. Accepting that fact is one of the most difficult things in the world ((at least for me)), but it'll be so worth it once you get there.
Thanks for reading if you did :)
((I realise now that this was directed at you, but also a big message for myself bc I'm still not in a healthy position yet haha,, but we can work through this together!!))
I went to a therapist today because of my depression, dr/dp, eating disorder and panic attacs and like you I’m very young (15) so yay for us hopefully we’ll get better soon
1 likeClara Elisabeth here’s to getting better! I’m 15 too, it really sucks that the average sort of age for people suffering with mental health issues is so young now
1 likeMollie O. SAME I'm 16
1 likethe worst thing is when a teacher says something about that people can't interact with each other and I'm like "me right now" or that we're such a good class(group, then i think "not me")
On Tuesday teacher said "if someone answers that question gets a five(mark)"
after about 20 sec I answered correctly gave me a high five(and I thought the whole time, till the end of the lesson " I will finally get a good mark at geography" and then i went to his table and asked "so i will get this five?" and he answered "i already gave you" after 5 seconds i finally understood. People from school think I'm stupid and lazy not that It's a health condition. I've been taking Asentra(non-addictive antidepressant) 50mg for a month. On Monday I went to a normal psychiatrist for the first time( then one month ago it was a hospital psychiatry visit bc i got a referral to a hospital but there was no place for me but this psychiatrist was so kind and lovely even though my apathic and anhedonic behaviour, that visit was for free) and I didn't like it even my mom said that she's not good. She even asked my mom in front of me am i always talking(mumbling) like that. She asked me where I go to school and she told she was going to the same one and then she said "It's not a school that would make you depressed" xd oh i'm sorry the thought that everyone thinks I'm stupid is depressive in school lol and for this and for increasing my Asentra dose to 100mg my mom had to pay ;(
Lately I was thinking a lot that It might be a some other disease(not a thyroid or diabetes bc i've already had the blood test and everything was ok) but once about one year ago i fell of a horse and when i was being transported to a hospital with a helicopter I got a convulsions attack(it was the worst feeling in my life even worse than what i'm getting through now) my heart was pounding about to 200 per minute and i couldn't do anything about that)when we landed medical lifeguards asked me if i had epilepsy i said i didn't think so i hadn't had anything like that before when i barely went to the bathroom i felt dizziness looking into a mirror and then my head leaned to this mirror and my mom caught me before i fell( she said it was like that) i don't remember this moment bc i passed out. What i remember is that felt like dreaming about white(idk xd)
And from that accident when i got more stressed or i thought about something else on clases i was getting derealised.
My dad and grandma has depression.
I was so stressed all day today at school because i had physics tests. of course i studied yesterday and everything but today all the knowledge just disappeared.
When i feel normal(recently never) I'm making video edits, reading and watching tv series but i don't want to do any of that and if I'm trying I don't enjoy it.
Of course I'm always tired, have digestive problems(i lost 3 kg), headaches, i can't get a comfortable sleep, in general everything hurts.
Tomorrow our school is going to the cinema, but i'm probably not bc what if i get dizzy and pass out trying to concentrate on Star Wars XD
And i don't have a counselor or psychologist at school but my parents are trying to find me another psychiatrist
It's so good to know that I'm not alone. Wish me luck in finding a knew psychiatrist <3
I hope all of you will feel better <3
ps i was writing this for almost three hours XD
sorry for bad english but you know XD
ps2 I don't have any trusted teachers bc It's my first year at this school but I will consider going to my old one :/
1 likemythical. Hey! So happy so many people going through the same thing are commenting over here! I’m sorry about your situation about therapy, my first initial response is it’s not always going to click at first. Look around not everyone finds a good counselor on the first try! Or, what I did, was find a therapist who specializes in your age group. They understand so much better and get how your feeling. I know it’s hard, trust me! But force yourself to not give up and keep looking, because once you find a good one you will feel so much better! I promise! At least now you know you aren’t alone, and you aren’t going insane! Lots of love!! Xoxo
2 likesMollie O. Thanks 💓
1 likeOh my goodness.... this hit hard, it's so accurate to how I've been feeling this past year.
0 likesI was always an anxious kid. My DR/DP started when I had too much wine at prom night when I was 16 😆 Something must have switched off in my brain and everything became numb and dreamlike. 10 years later I've realised that the best way is to just live your best life regardless. DP & DR is your brain trying to protect itself, treat it like it's not a problem and use those numb feelings to your advantage. Overthinking it will trigger the underlying anxiety which was, most likely, already present before DR. I really struggle with memory and concentration as a result of the disorder, this is always at it's worst when I'm tired; make sure you sleep well and stick to routine. We're all in this together and I'm so glad there's a big online community for this now. Take care of yourself and keep sharing your experiences, you're not alone!
1 likethe way you described this is really helpful.
3 likesI always thought that something is wrong with me
that I'm not really present at the scene,
even though I'm standing there with my friends,
even if I'm there, I'm still missing from the scene.
thank you.
I always feel so weird...like I feel like I’m dreaming and waves of the feeling hits me after I think it’s going away...I can’t describe it
1 likeI immediately clicked on this because finally someone feels the same way.
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me too!
3 likesme too.. me too. it's terrifying for me
1 likeI experience this all the time, for about 3 weeks every month consistently
1 likeThank you for this video! It helped me a lot. I am diagnosed with this condition since 2 years but have it since 5 I guess. At first I thought I was going crazy bc I experience it also all the time. Terrifying.
0 likesBut we are not alone and we will find a way out! :) or into reality however
basically the last 4 years of my life feel blurry, i can't remember the feeling of being present in our dinner last week, it feels like everything is 2D and I struggle a lot with spacial thinking, which leads me to me being super anxious and scared about driving
8 likesReplies (1)
This is exactly how I feel. I never feel present and my family doesn’t understand why I hate driving so much.
0 likesYou’re not alone! I’ve had depersonalization for 11 years. :(
0 likesI had just found out about this the other day when I watched your video. I can't say that I suffer from this since I have not been diagnosed but I definitely relate to what you are going through. For the longest time I struggled with remembering things and I felt like the real me died and I was a clone of myself trying to carry on from where I last left off. I struggled with knowing who I was and I felt so alone, like I didn't even have myself which was quite difficult. Every now and again I don't feel like I am me and I have to force myself to be grounded and realize what is going on. Although that part has improved as time has gone on I still struggle with understanding that I am in reality and that every decision I make has an impact on my life. I have fallen incredibly behind on my schoolwork and I often find myself doing a "side quest" instead of what I actually need to do. It is hard for it to click in that I can't waste my days away doing nothing if I have goals of being somebody. I also am always daydreaming and its so vivid that I can't always differentiate my relationships with people in my head versus real life.
0 likesIt makes it so difficult to learn anything or create anything! I feel nothing 95% of the time and just floating through life. Mine doesn't feel like a dream but like my life is a movie happening through my eyes.
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i feel the same-- i've never been able to completely explain it, but "life is a movie happening through my eyes" is really accurate to me as well
58 likes@Megan Cassimatis I wish you good luck on your journey through life.
16 likesThis is a pretty awful handicap but we just have to hope it can be treated one day!
It's probably really common to be misdiagnosed as depressed, many can't comprehend the emptiness we feel. No happiness, but no sadness either, true limbo.
It's thought to be caused by extreme emotional stress, and you can randomly "come back" at any time. 🤞
lauren and having exams. 😔
1 likeme too
0 likesi sometimes get these moments where i am like "um what am i doing what is happening" and then just going back to normal. or sometimes i just dont feel anything and come back. that hasnt happened in a while but when it does, it shakes me up😂
9 likeslauren same. This sucks.
0 likesSame
0 likesI fell the same to like I'm in a movie and sometimes I would think something like "what's next " or I would be somewhere and 3 days after I would fell like I had done it yesterday.
1 likelauren me too
0 likesOr ur in a video game
1 likeSame
0 likes@Alexandra You don't find goals, you create them. Nuanced, sure, but perspective matters.
1 likelauren i am currently shook about how much this connects with me
3 likesWhat you’re describing is exactly what true reality is. All of you that experience this means you’re actually closer to your soul self than the rest of us who are firmly planted in the material world. You should delve in to the spirituality of it all and realize that you’re not grounded here, but you are in touch with the higher realms and this truly is just a dream or a movie. I would give anything to be able to experience this truth. I know it’s a dream of being in a movie or a play where I’m looking through my eyes as a projector, but I don’t experience it that way. I only know it intellectually. If any of you decide to start meditating, you’ll probably be downloaded amazing spiritual gifts since you’re much closer to source. Channeling, Clairvoyance, Clairaudience, Clairesentience. Etc
5 likesSame here....jizz...
0 likesB. Wolfe if this is true why can’t I hold a job? Why do I have panic attacks a lot? Why do I hate being looked at? Why am I terrified that everything is going to go haywire in this “dream”? Like I’m going to just completely lose it. ): I really don’t like the feeling of not being grounded. It’s scary.
1 likeSame but what I do is just idk tbh
0 likes@Abbie D sometimes it's like I needa replay this momment or i wanna screenshot this
1 like@StrawberrySunset yeah I fell like that a lot but it is really annoying I wish I could get rid of it
0 likes@Abbie D At least we arent alone!
1 like@StrawberrySunset yeah 😼😺
0 likes@Mi Sh and B. Wolfe I feel you guys are spot on
0 likes@Simon Bar Jesus I think you have it too. 😂
0 likesLike a disinteresting movie
0 likesRight I feel like my brain is in another world but I can like talk and reply to people
1 like"my life is a movie happening through my eyes" that's literally how i've tried to explain it as well! I'm so glad i'm not the only one. I've tried many ways of explaining it to myself and I've found that it's sometimes like looking at a painting. When I look at something beautiful like a sunset, i can see that it's there but i don't feel like I'm a part of it. It's like I see every color on its own but not the sunset as a whole piece and I can't take it in and process what it is I'm seeing. It's just there and i can't really enjoy it
0 likesSame I feel like that
0 likes@S R
0 likesI have two of those things except mental problems,
I hope.
Everything feels like a dream constantly for me too. I actually “woke up” from it randomly one night. I woke up and I was 9 years old again. Suddenly my entire environment fell out of context, I recognized the items that occupied it- but none of it felt like mine. I sat up in bed and was inundated by all of the information that I was suddenly processing over the last 11 years. I was so tired I passed out again. I “fell asleep” and when I woke up again I felt like I’ve been in a dream again since then. It was like a taste of what it was like to be alive again and it makes me feel really really sad. I don’t know what triggered re-realization for me but I want to figure it out
0 likesI didn't know there was an actual diagnosis for this! I've been having a really rough time disassociating and it's affecting everything so horribly! I'm gonna talk to my doctor about this, thank you!!!
0 likesI have been feeling this way more and more often and I'm starting to get concerned. I've had a really bad depressive episode for the past couple of months so that could be the reason + quarantine. It feels like when I go out in public, mostly in large places with a lot of lights/people (the mall), I feel like I can't look around. Like yes, I can phisically see, but it's like everything is blurry and confusing and I don't remember any of it later. It's not clear and vivid, it's like I'm dreaming. And then I feel extremely tired and drained and need to rest as soon as I get home. If you're reading this and you have a Derealisation diagnosis, could you share in the comments if you had similar experiences and if you think I should see a doctor?
1 likeHi lovely, just stumbled upon your channel.Thank you for talking about this, I feel so much less lonely watching your videos. <3 I've struggled with BPD for... as long as I can remember and one of my most problematic symptoms is dissociation. I've noticed, however, in the past four years since finding out I was pregnant with my daughter that it is getting progressively worse to the point that I'm now, pretty much, in some dissociated state about 70-80% of my days. I feel like a house and someone is going around shutting the lights off one by one and honestly, I'm terrified. I feel like I'm floating above myself all the time and my world gets less and less vivid. My perinatal mental health nurse wanted to refer me to a neurologist at one point because she wasn't convinced it was possible with a BPD diagnosis. I'm really starting to wonder if chronic dissociation can happen as a result of untreated BPD? I took meds for a while but if anything I think it made it worse, they tried me on different anti-psychotics (aripiprazole, quetiapine and carbamazepine) and my psychiatrist was/is reluctant to keep me under the BPD umbrella but wouldn't refer me for an ASD assessment and never, ever mentioned DPRD/DPDR to me ever so here's my first ever introduction to those terms. Sorry, this has been an essay... but... yeah, basically, thank you. I think I need to chase this up with my CMHT. xxx
0 likesThis video was very helpful for me and I realised I had this my whole life! I am now diagnosed and working with a therapist to feel better. Thanks a lot, really thank you!
0 likesI came across this feeling lately and had panick attacks associated. Thank you for this video, I wanna seek help. I feel less alone.
0 likesI’ve wrote poems about these feelings for what feels like ever and just now finding this video has somehow made everything clear.
0 likesI cried the first time I stumbled across this video because I had never heard my exact feelings and sensations put into words so perfectly and it was bizarre because I wasn't even looking for anything related to this or to mental health at all on youtube but it still somehow came up in my recommended videos. Since discovering this over two years ago I've not only discovered my love for Dodie and her music but I too have started my journey to hopefully beating this thing. I've started therapy (twice) once with a therapist who was not a good fit and again recently with a new therapist who I have a better feeling about. She specializes in EMDR therapy which I've heard can help and I'm excited to try. And although I still struggle with all of it I'm hopeful, and this is just my long-winded way of saying thank you thank you thank you for making this.
1 likeHey dodie, if net neutrality ends up being repealed in the US, I just wanted to say how much you’ve helped me this past year. It breaks my heart when I think of not ever getting to listen to your music or watch your videos in the same way ever again. Your videos and songs have kept me afloat when I felt like drowning, and I don’t know where I’d be if it weren’t for you. Thank you so much, you’ve helped me feel again. You’ve helped me figure myself out and made me laugh and cry in the best ways. If by any chance you see this, and if net neutrality ceases to be, goodbye.
140 likesReplies (6)
Rebecca Ogden
9 likesI'm so sorry..but I don't think this is the end. People are so outraged at this that I don't think it'll last long. But maybe not. And I hope that maybe you'll be able to watch her still, it mostly depends on your internet provider..
You will still be able to access video just for a bigger price
3 likesHopefully congress will see how upsetting and negatively impactful it will be to people... especially those who can't afford to pay for everything
5 likesdo you actually know what net neutrality is?? it sucks that it's being repealed, but you can still access the internet lol
1 likeAshley Kane it's for a higher price though bro
0 likesOk y’all when I wrote this i didn’t understand it as well as i Do now, I was scared and I was basically basing my feelings off of rumors. I get it now, and I’m not trying to come across as passive aggressive or anything, but please stop bringing it up, I would really appreciate it. Thank you
1 likethis was made 2 years ago but i came back to the comments again. a year before this video was made i was diagnosed with derealisation. my friend's phone showed this notification because she is a big fan of your music and videos..i was so happy when i read the notification. most people think i'm crazy when i describe how it feels to them, but knowing other people experience the same things makes me feel better about it. we will get through this! i feel like this comment section is a safe space for me to read other people's stories and how it effects them. you are not alone.
2 likesWow thank you for sharing this! I have never related to a video this much before. I don't know how long I've had this but it feels like I've had it my whole life because time doesn't make sense and I don't know anything other than this feeling (if that makes sense). I also thought it was normal at first.
0 likesThanks for sharing this, because after I went through a series of very stressful events, I started to struggle with derealization constantly. I miss how it felt when I didn’t feel this way, but seeing your video gives me hope.
0 likesIts been happening to me for about 2 years now. Ever since i moved into high school and i never knew why but ive just found out that its a genuine thing that other people have and im so releived that i know what it is
3 likesReplies (1)
How are you doing now?
0 likesoh boy I'm getting a bit teary-eyed and I don't wanna self diagnose, but I've been feeling this for as long as I can remember. It's so relieving to hear that what I might be experiencing is something that is real and shared. I've asked so many people including friends and family, and I've never been able to understand why other people are so normal. I'm almost crying now and I just wanna say thank you so much for putting this information out there.
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Elise Beaufeaux, I completely relate to this. I had no idea this was an actual mental diagnosis until my friend sent me this video and explained it. I’ve also felt like this sense, well forever, and I can’t remember a time when I didn’t. I am only a teen and I don’t know how to tell my parents in a way they will understand or seek help. But I’m glad I am not the only one who has felt the same way!
20 likesSame dude. At fourth grade I always feel like I was drifting and everything seemed like a film. My teacher always called me out for this. He was the best though, made my elementary days lighter.
4 likesHave u recovered
1 likesame!
2 likesHope you're better now.
1 likeI wonder if she has wet dreams of my profile picture 😏
0 likesLoved your comment. Thanks for sharing ♡ I have felt so alone and maybe it's not what I have but it's at least getting me a step closer to more answers (I have Bipolar, Panic Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder) Anyway. I got teary eyed too
0 likesWill.J I wouldn’t recommend that to people with this issue at all. LSD made my sensations a LOT scarier. One bad thing happens with LSD and you tend to spiral.
0 likesSame imma bout to tell my mother and have a convo for the 2nd time cause my mother thought I was just looking for problems the first time . But now I have more stuff to present and I'm also more confident then 8 months ago so wooo.
0 likesElise Beaufeaux I feel the exact same way you have no idea. I’m practically crying and it makes me so happy knowing I’m not the only one
0 likesYes I know
0 likesIm feeling the same, I always thought that maybe it was in my head and I pushed it away but as soon as she said that she needed eye test cause she didn't know what it was I broke down
2 likesI watched this video when it came out and I was so far into depersonalisation that I didn’t get it but now that I have a diagnosis it hits so different.
0 likesOmg! I can't tell you how better, fresher I'm feeling after finding a name for the weirdest feeling I've been having since I know myself. Thank you for making this video and to let me know that I'm not the only one. My whole life (the way I've been living so far with this dreamy feeling) makes sense now.
0 likesMuch love ❤
i just got diagnosed with dpdr literally like two days ago and it feels SO GOOD to know that I’m not going crazy or whatever, but that it’s a Real Thing and that I’m not just making it up. i started having severe symptoms in the spring so it all went quite quickly thanks to some lovely friends that recognised what i was going through when i tried to explain my experiences and encouraged me to seek help. and it’s really great to know that other people feel this way as well. thank you!
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If you don’t mind….do they give pills or something
0 likesderealisation hits me most when i have my psychotic episodes & honestly it helps me understand why i barely remember my episodes
2 likesAnd you make dreams for others to get lost in. I look forward to hearing more and more of your music, seeing more and more of your delightful videos, and just generally seeing where you take your art.
0 likesI never even considered that others might experience this too. Thank you so much for making a video to share your experience. I always thought my brain was just naturally psychedelic, all the time. I have experienced depersonalization intermittently as well, though it has happened less as I've grown older. You channel it into your creativity beautifully, and your Monster with Pomplamoose is simply perfect. Thank you.
0 likesThis freaked me out watching this and I realize this used to occasionally happen to me when I was in late middle school/ early high school. It was rarely in stressful times but would just randomly happen when I was on a walk, working out, in class on a trampoline, etc. It would only last a few seconds to a few minutes but left me feeling exhausted and confused for hours afterwards.
0 likesThis is interesting to me bc I’ve been feeling this weird perspective whenever I’m in social situations & I could never explain it. It might be this. The way should she explained it at around 4.40 is similar to how I feel it, it’s like your playing a first person game but for your real life body, where you kinda have control or like movies portraying first person
0 likesI have autism, and severe PTSD. I'm also going blind from a eye disease. Because of Dodie, I found out that my floaty fake-ish feeling wasn't normal. So thank you Dodie 🌻♥
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Lianne De Graaf sending my love to you 💕✨
5 likesbig boyyy getting abused by your dad will do that to ya
4 likesLianne De Graaf aww, I’m sorry! I have depression and anxiety. We’ll get through, buddy!
2 likesLianne De Graaf AuTiSmO
0 likesMussolini Mozart I really really really like your profile pic
1 likeMussolini Mozart not funny
0 likesMy son has autism and I do as well and I also have severe PTSD.
0 likesI was diagnosed with DPDR a few months ago and I didn’t know you had it until now! I’ve loved your music for sooo long and you’re videos make me feel good. I’m so glad I’m not alone
0 likesI feel you, I get dissociation when my panic disorder acts up, usually before or after a panic attack episode. For me it lasts hours and usually goes away once I get invested in doing something and my mind becomes too occupied to deal with whatever was triggering my illness.
0 likesI had what you described, derealization, for a week after I had a drug induced panic attack and had to get put on medication to control it because the panics wouldn’t stop for an entire week. Everything became darker, I felt distant from the world and myself, I was numb everywhere, things I did or said felt as if I was observing myself do it instead of being involved in that action. Scary times, scary scary times
I just found out that I might have this from my psychiatrist and this video really helped me understand this on a more personal level. Thanks so much for that!
0 likesThank you thank you for giving me words for this! No one had ever understood what I was trying to explain
0 likeshad derealisation for 3-4 years and now i can say im at least 80% recovered so dont ya worry guys, its not forever and it's there to help you and not harm you, after the period of derealisation is over you will feel everything so strong you will kinda miss being numbed out sometimes haha jk, but yeah i promise you , you WILL feel again
301 likesReplies (12)
How did you get out?
3 likesThank you so much, all I want is too feel sadness again
5 likes@Lebdrbeb Bdjdjddb yeah me too. seems crazy to others when you tell them that you miss feeling sadness but without sadness nothing really matters.
14 likesHowd you recover please help
4 likes@Lana same with me. I now have it rarely. It kinda stopped with me when I got out of depression.. I don't know if it's linked but with me it looked that it was linked to my depression
4 likesbitchplease1928 promise?
0 likes8 years
0 likesTook me about 4 years to recover from derealization. It started with smoking weed once and it was the worst at the beginning, where I could rarely live a life and getting better over time with first times feeling normal for several hours after about half a year. The first few weeks to months I felt derealization every single second I was awake since the moment I was high on weed. As of today I'm fully healed for about 4 years. I recovered by living on and not smoking weed ever again for sure. It took time and many many backlashes, but you can totally recover.
4 likesthank you!
0 likesJohannes Gehrling same, for me lsd triggered it, when they say to not use drugs, you really should listen to them
0 likes@Lebdrbeb Bdjdjddb Not necessarily what I want but I experience emotional decrease with my derealization because I can be happy for example but no too happy or I can be scared but not too scared
0 likes@the Rain Mine isn't based on drugs so I cant relate
0 likesit is incredibly exciting to see someone with so much influence talk about dp/dr! thank you so much for sharing your experience :)))
0 likesI have ptsd after the sudden loss of several family members including my mother. I get dissociative episodes every now and then and ive never heard anyone else talk about it. So thank you for sharing your story. It helps me a LOT.
0 likesI'm so happy I found a video about this. I have this and it's such a crazy thing to deal with, and so scary when you first find out.
0 likesI've been dealing with this ever since 2013 and making music is the only way I have to cope with it.
1 likewhen i read the title i was like YEAH FINALLY IM NOT THE ONLY ONE
2904 likesReplies (33)
chaexic Me too
3 likesYASSS
1 likeMe too
2 likeslegit, shits so hard to explain .
15 likesWoeful Warlock sameee my friends think im crazy lol
2 likesI have this condition too I’m young and it popped up randomly and I trying to get treatment
9 likeschaexic same
0 likesME TO!
1 likeSo that means we're not dreaming!
7 likesMe too
0 likesWoeful Warlock honestly I always try and explain it to ppl but no one would understand
7 likesSame..
0 likesfuck,same
0 likesSame
0 likesIs it weird it just happened few times...It isn't always happening, just few times a year but then I really feel like I am dreaming and I can't explain to people that
4 likesI'm scared to think I'm still dreaming or I'm in a coma and I'll wake up in the next 2 years but I never do it so scary to me do I have this rare condition
2 likesSo you feel this way 24/7? Mine just popped up after a bad experience with weed. I mean, I had it a few times already here and there before but it would only lasts a few seconds and now it’s all the time and I’m terrified :( How do you deal with it? How do you avoid panicking and going about living your life as your normally would despite none of it feeling real?
1 likeSimon Bar Jesus Is this what cured you? I’m so desperate to feel like myself again but I’m starting to feel like it will never go away despite only having it for not even a week but it’s 24/7
0 likesSame I feel like I’m going in circles 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 I freak out about every 2min 🤯🤯
0 likesMe too
0 likeschaexic I’m literally crying cause I just went through this like 5 mins ago
0 likesDamm same same
0 likeschaexic SAME
0 likesYeah fax
0 likesHelp Me I hate this😫😭😭😭
0 likesI'm glad I found something on this because I have a close enough answer for me to accept it. I always thought I was alone on this because everyone else around me never had it.
0 likesMe too
0 likes@bingbong I've had it for the past 5 months and I was recovering and enjoying life but for the past few days it as gotten worse like I cany concerned on my daughter and feel as if I'm having cutting episodes of it .. its so damn scary and I got over it before just trying my best to get over it now
0 likes@Violet Honey mine too was just like small episodes now it's the entire day.. it's getting so hard to cope with... it's so scary and overwhelming.. I was recovering and all of a sudden this happened again.. when I travel I feel as if I'm all lost and then when I come to my senses I get overwhelmed
0 likesAmethyst Reves did it go? I’m literally having the exact same experience as you right now got it from weed too lol
0 likeschaexic yo ME TOO 😳
0 likesMe too
1 likeme too
0 likesI have this too well i have autism and ptsd so it comes in the package. Very very odd but honestly im glad i have it. Sometimes it can be very soothing to just space out from the world but it also makes you quite vulnerable to bad people. I feel you girl ♡
1 likeI never knew anyone else went through these sorts of things like I do.. Thankyou so much from the bottom of my heart for helping me so much
0 likesI've had this for 11 years now.
0 likesAfter the 1st year I got used to it and it's just a part of me now.
I'm 100% happy and to be honest, I don't think I could handle it going away, it's who I am and it's what i'm used to.
I watched this video so many times. It's kind of scary to think that I might have dissociated before. But nothing else will describe this feeling I have in my brain. I feel foggy all the time. doesn't matter what I eat, sleep, or do. I can feel happy but that fog is still there. Sometimes at it's worse. It causes me anxiety attacks because of how badly I feel so "Out of it" scared that I might be going crazy. I don't see weird visions but I only have this feeling in my brain this disconnected feeling.
1 likeWhen I try to tell people they think I am being dramatic and makes me feel like I'm overacting... am I?
I just want to understand what my brain is making me feel. This disconnecting in my brain as if a wire has been unplugged. I'm taking anti-depression meds rn to see if I can feel better. Not sure if it's really doing anything but I can wait. it's been 3years since this started.
Oh my goodness.
70 likesDodie.
This is nuts!
As soon as i read the title i freaked out, because i constantly feel this way, especially when I’m in a new place. I always tell my friends “I always feel like my life is a dream” and they tell me I’m crazy and that it will go away and it’s nothing to be depressed about.
Thank you for making reality feel a bit more real for me.💗
Edit: listening to the part in your book about watching a movie made me remember the first time i felt this way. I haven’t thought of this since it happened.
I was 10 and on my class trip to Disney World. One we arrived, nothing felt real, but i was still aware. We went on the Finding Nemo ride, and became entangled in the beauty of the ride. The characters were right there, like i could almost reach my small hand out and touch them. Once we got off, i was in a daze. My body was doing what it was supposed to do. Stick with the group while we walked around visiting the different attractions, laugh with my friends. But my brain felt like mush. I was watching a first person movie, and i was the uncontrollable main character.
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<333
7 likesThis may sound kinda weird but I really like the way you write. Anyways, I hope you feel better soon!
1 likeEXACTLY but weirdly it wasn't a new place for me ... I went to 6 flags with my best friends and it didn't feel like anything was real and my brain didn't wanna work. I tried to hold onto my friend to ground myself and the cold handlebars but it didn't work... I felt like that for a long time maybe an hour or so
1 likeMaria Winchester
2 likesThank you so much! You are so kind :)
I got this for about 3 years after getting extremely stonned. Never touched weed ever again
34 likesReplies (2)
Did you return to your average self ?
0 likesi will never smoke again, EVER
2 likesI can relate so well with the "I thought it was part of growing-up"-part. I thought growing up meant: you feel less.
0 likesI have never ever in my life felt the same like you do or told in this video. Never. Thank you a lot.
0 likesIt is incredible to me to watch this again after 3 years. I remember watching this, in tears, when it first came out because It put a name on how I felt a large percentage of the time. Three years later and A LOT of therapy and I RARELY feel this way. The world around me seems more sure and firm. I used to ask my husband daily, “Is this real? Are you real? Are we dreaming?” I now can’t remember the last time I asked him that. It is possible to get better, even when it feels so impossible at times. Of course, I still have moments of confusion and insecurity about reality, but I have trained my brain, as my therapist taught me, to stop believing the doubts! So when a thought comes in of “is this real?”, I tell myself forcefully and with conviction that YES. It is real. Because experience has taught me that I never question reality in my dreams. So if I am questioning, it must be REAL LIFE. Progress is possible, people!
0 likesAhhh I needed this , over the last year my dissociation got really bad, yesterday instead of concreting in class I stared blurrly at a bottle -_-
1 likemy vision changes to more of a total blurriness I can't stop like my glasses prescription had gone wayyyy up, idk if it's like that for others too ...
Anyways It helps alot knowing you're not alone ♥️
I feel spoken to. For the longest time, I've felt like you were dreaming, too 🤯
3 likeshow i explain my depersonalization is like, you know how when you say a word over and over again and it starts to just sound like nonsense? that's very very similar to how i feel when i look in the mirror. the longer i look in the mirror, the more unsettled i become with the fact that this random, weird looking stranger knows all my thoughts and feelings and memories. and the longer i look at myself in the mirror, the more everything else around me starts to become fuzzy and distorted and wrong. and eventually i just become very numb and blank and sad and lost. it's similar to trying to run in a dream: you become lightheaded and confused and it feels like you're stuck at the bottom of the ocean with weights around your ankles. anyway, hope this helped anyone who was wondering what it felt like :)
8 likesOMG! i felt like this for about a week and it got so bad and i almost passed out so my mom brought me to the er, i went to a paediatrician and they gave me a really strong anxiety medication but my mom is too scared for me to take it because her cousin killed himself well he was on it and i’m only 13 😌❤️
1 likeI think I’m kind of the opposite. I feel like I’m noticing everything. Every sound, every laugh, every eye that looks my way. I feel as if everyone is staring at me all the time. But they’re not. But it feels like they are, like every pair of eyes in the room is staring me down and analyzing me, trying to figure out me, the “quiet girl”. When cars drive past me on my walk to school my heart starts pounding and I look down. When people talk to me I suddenly have nothing to say, even though I practice in my head every night conversations I can have with people. My mind goes blank around people. I feel like ice, when the sun, the sunniness of everyone trying to talk to me and being kind hits me, I melt. I try to hide, and I want to escape and be alone with only the company of myself. I love to draw, but in class, I just can’t. I’m so uncomfortable around people and it makes me sad. I don’t want to be so uncomfortable around people. I don’t want my heartbeat running faster than my body can keep up with and my palms sweaty all the time. I don’t want to start crying in front of the class and begging my teacher if I can present my project or presentation after class privately. I want to be able to talk to people. I don’t know why I’m this way, but I just am. I’ve created different personalities for all of my friends and family and people I know that I talk to, and none of them are really me. Yet when I’m alone I’m suddenly bubbly and comfortable and I feel as if I talked to someone that moment I would be fine. But it never works out that way. I’ve gotten better, I really have, but it brings me down. People think it’s my decision to be quiet, but it’s not. I want to be able to speak to people comfortably without my throat being tight and squeezed and some voice in my brain that isn’t even really me telling me what to say. I have social anxiety disorder. The acronym for my mental disorder is SAD. SAD. It makes sense, because I do feel sad, I do. But I don’t really even understand my own feelings, so whenever I’m feeling sad, or angry, or depressed I tend to bottle it up. I don’t have anyone to talk to my feelings about, and it just feels awkward and uncomfortable to do so. So, here I am, typing out my feelings online in hopes that I will feel, even a little bit better.
263 likesReplies (26)
I think that's related to social anxiety, and im really sorry you feel that way alot of the time.
32 likesIm so sorry that you have to feel that way 24/7. That must suck. But look, your still here? Youre strong!! Please take care of yourself and I hope you get over this problem. You seem like a pretty chill person, such a shame you of all people have to go through this. Im here for you 💚💙💚 xx
10 likesWow I feel the same. It sucks not being able to completely be yourself all the time :l
8 likesfuck this is m e. would you say you have scopophobia? because i experience anxiety in almost the same way you do and i feel like that's a more specific descriptor than SAD which feels a little too general (honestly i'm just a mess at self-diagnosis which is a pain because i have no clue where to start when i think about getting therapy).
5 likesI can relate to this. I haven’t been diagnosed with SAD but with PTSD. In my experience, I really struggle with keeping up the different personalities to different people. When I feel great it’s most oftenly because every part goes “well” I can act that I’m happy and I almost feel like it. But it’s like a bubble and I want to reach for it but when I do it will pop. As soon as the acting out the personalities goes wrong, I stop searching for contact. I feel like I’ve failed (again) and sometimes even that I might not be worth living. Living like this is so hard because I wish I could be myself. The truth is I don’t really know who I am anymore and If that would be socially accepted.
4 likesAnyway feel free to react to this and I would love to talk to someone who feels this way. We gotta remind ourselves that we are not alone although it feel like is <3
i related to some of what you said, i want you to know that you are most definitely not alone and to keep going to reach good- wherever that may be!
5 likesit will work out, it really will! because you're right Toto oona, we are not alone!
3 likesYellow Paint You might have avoidance personality disorder. I do.
1 likethe more you talk to people, the more practise you get just interacting with other humans, the better it gets in the long run. even if at first it feels awful and you get anxious and stressed out and worry about what everyone thinks of you, the more you just do it, the more that stressed feeling will reduce. that's in my experience anyway. you did say in your comment that you've gotten better. hold onto that. it might not always be a smooth ride, and you will need breaks in between the getting better where you just feel like you can't do it any more. but keep going and it really will get easier with practise. x
1 likeYellow Paint wow. You just described what I feel so well. I do almost all of these things but I could never put it into words, and you just described it so accurately.
4 likesWhen I'm in a store, I feel like everyones eyes are on me, looking at what I'm buying and analysing every move I make. I feel very nervous when I have to talk to the person at the cash register. After I say bye, I'll walk out of the store and go back to my bike. About 30 seconds into my walk, I'll notice that I'm walking very fast and I try to slow down, but something tells me I should run, but I don't know what I should be running from. My head is down, avoiding everyone's eyes, hoping that no one is looking at me and wishing that I could just disappear. I take a couple of deep breaths, realize my shoulders and arms are tensed up, my fingers are clenced in fists. I try to relax but I subconciously tense up moments later anyways. I get on my bike and cycle as fast as I possisbly can, the voice in my head still panicking and telling me I have to go. Run away from everyone. When I get home, I'll release a breath I didn't know I had been holding and I'll wonder why I just did all the things I did.
This is just one of the countless things I do. People tell me to "get over it!" over it and "just talk to people!" But it doensn't work like that. I don't want to be like this. I want it to stop. But I don't know how.
(Sorry for my terrible english and changing the tense I write in alot, it's just hard to describe)
this used to be me before i got diagnosed with an anxiety disorder
1 likeYellow Paint I think I feel the same thing or can relate back to it? usually when I have really bad derealization, the room becomes incredibly bright and people’s voices are incredibly loud. You know that feeling when you can “hear silence”. That hummm when a room goes quite, that becomes incredibly loud! Anything someone does seems amplified. I’m not sure if this is what happens to you but I would ask your doctor about derealization, perhaps you have what I and many other people have! I hope you feel better xoxo
3 likesI definitely had a period of my life when I felt this way for about 2 years, and obviously it's hard to compare situations but I had the same thing where I thought everyone was looking at me and judging what I wore and noticing the tiniest details of everything about me. I have since come out of that period, but now I feel almost as if I've gone too far the other way, as I think I have periods of derealisation now. I'm really hoping that at some point soon I can find the balance of noticing everything and noticing nothing, and I'm sure that I will, because I've found out that it is possible to change you're mindset. I don't know how easy it will be, but I'm determined to try.
1 likeYellow Paint I thought it was just me...
1 likei think this definitely has to do more with social anxiety. i was never really diagnosed with the disorder since my parents are too religious and think every little mental illness is “demons” and “the devil” and things like that, but i have my own experiences. i used to be quite normal until i started noticing little things about myself, such as the way i would walk or speak, and became super self-conscious. i felt like i wasn’t normal. i stopped eating at lunch because i am a messy eater and i didn’t want to embarrass myself. i became a nervous wreck when people would come and talk to me. i felt very wrong. i had changed myself so much to seem normal that i was no longer normal, which is what i realized recently. so what did i do? i pushed myself a little bit. now that i’m in high school more people are approaching me at all corners and i’ve become comfortable with that. i started with the simple “hello” when someone would approach me. every day i set a goal for myself to push myself out of the social anxiety, and right now i feel like i’m in a good state. although there is still part of me that is always anxious, i am no longer the nervous and shy girl i used to be.
1 likeI can relate to this completely.
1 likeI also feel like this and I have been diagnosed with anxiety and depression and am taking anti depressants. I was told by a therapist that my anxiety is mainly social because I can't deal with most social interactions and even sometimes just going outside is a struggle. I know how hard it is even though the whole world don't see it and think you're fine but just the fact that we get up every day and carry on despite simple day to day things being so much harder for us means we're strong and we both can get through this. Chin up, you're not alone ❤️
2 likesYellow Paint I’ve never related to something more
1 likeYellow Paint wow that’s exactly how I feel 🤭🤯
1 likeI think the first part about noticing every detail could be sensory overload which is a side effect of social anxiety, not sure if that's what you have but it might be good to look into it? You're a strong person for being able to deal with it! I hope you don't have to deal with it forever xxx
1 likeoh my god, I never thought someone else felt this way. I just thought it was me!!! Thank you so muchfor sharing this
2 likessensory overload?
0 likeswootaloo doopsie I don't know that much about it but it's when you hear things and they're too loud and you notice small things and they frustrate you easily
0 likeswootaloo doopsie its also when you want everything to be quiet and when they're not you get agitated
0 likespili a How are you dealing with it now?
0 likes@toto oona
1 likeI went to the pyschiatrist and started taking medication. My life changed completely, I'm so grateful to my psychiatrist. He is awesome and he has helped me so much through the whole process. That's why I'm such a huge supporter of medication.
I had this, super intensely 2 years ago. It was so so scary and lasted for about a year, It still comes back when I'm very stressed
0 likesso I recently had a traumatic stress experience and think I’ve developed derealization. I constantly feel like I’m dreaming...like nothings real. It’s carry’s on in my dreams. It’s a dream inside a dream inside a dream situation, so I never know when I’m actually awake which leads to a lot of stress in the mornings. The rest of the day feels almost the same as before the incident, but somethings just off. Hard to take in everything. When I think about it too hard I do into a panic attack. When I don’t think about it, it’s almost like I can forget, but like dodie said, I feel like I constantly have to ground myself. - which even before was a hard thing for me to do. It is very scary. I’ve spent the last couple days just mourning what I have lost. idk this is just all so new to me and I remembered I had watched this video awhile back...The first time I watched it, it didn’t much sense to me..but now I’m wishing it made less.
2 likesDodie I struggle with mental health, and in a psych ward when I first listened to your song secret for the mad, and it really helped me. I really appreciate you and I love you thank you for everything you’re an inspiration to me and many others ❤️
0 likesi’m honestly so happy i’ve been feeling this way for the past year as it gradually gets worse and it used to happen bad and rarely but now it’s every moment i haven’t felt normal in months actually and i thought i was alone
0 likesI never ever considered other people could have this. I thought I was going crazy. I read a comment below that perfectly described my own experience. Feeling a kind of invincibility and not caring as much as usual since the world doesn't really feel real until you "wake up". Like you're watching someone live their/your life through a window. The first few times were extremely disorientating when I woke up. It's gotten less disorientating the more times it has happened.
154 likesReplies (6)
I keep reading comments that actually relate to what I’m dealing with and I’ve never been able to find someone dealing with the same thing as me. I feel the same way
2 likesEcho Nov i can relate., except from that i never “wake up from it” which sucks
0 likesI thought i was just crazy tbh
0 likesEcho Nov (I’m not sure if I have the same thing because mines a little weaker) I have a thing where I feel almost like I’m looking at life in 3rd person, but my senses are fine, I just feel dizzy and disoriented..
2 likesEcho Nov same
0 likesDaisy Jay same
0 likesI have it since years too, and it was a really hard and long way to a proper diagnosis. Lots of people with ptsd get it
0 likesthis is very fascinating to me. i genuinely feel for those who deal with this on a regular basis.
0 likesI’m so sorry… Mines never went away too..
4 likesI literally don’t know how to feel feels like I have to find my personality… this can’t be normal experiencing this constantly 24/7 for 11 yrs
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11 years? I’m so sorry to hear that. It sounds like a living hell. I’ve been stuck like this for 2 months and I’m already tired. Have you managed to get better since you posted this?
1 likei’ve been feeling this way for 6 years and it’s very scary sometimes
0 likesOn a side note.....
537 likesDODIE HAS HAD SO MUCH CONTENT LATELY I AM GOING CRAZY! ITS GREATTTTTTT
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Sophia Wilson your all over her comments omg Ive seen you so much its registered XD
6 likesSophia Wilson I KNOW ITS GREAT😍😍😍😍
0 likesChill with the comments, Sophia.
2 likesRuqayyah Qadri I’m sorry I can’t help itttt I love me some dodie😂
1 likeSophia Wilson your even on no views videos of her sure I'm sharing that I also watch them but your just impressive I even start to think you to is recommending videos you've commented on I'll see you as top to second comment even though you will have at most 10 likes XD
0 likesmatt latt I just don’t like to share all that stuff. But I. Am definitely subbed to dodie lol.
0 likesGURL SEE YOU IN EVERY COMMENT SECTIONNN
0 likesWow my dreams always feel so weird that I’m tense and stressed and anxious for like an hour after waking up so I can’t imagine feeling the way I do in my dreams all the time I’m so sorry. If I felt that way while being awake I wouldn’t know how to live so good on you for having such a positive attitude about it. I hope you find something that helps soon.
0 likesOh my goooodddddd.... yes!! My god!! This is accurate. I need to show my mother this because she really doesn't understand that this is how I feel
0 likesI feel like I’m cross eyed most of the time :( kinda really sucks, but I’ve learned to cope
2 likesI experience depersonalization and it's interesting how some of the syptoms interlap
0 likesI can’t thank you enough for making this. When I clicked your video, I was hopeful but doubtful that you’d be talking about what I’ve been experiencing. Halfway through, I burst into tears. I’ve been feeling so scared and alone this past year, because no one I talk to seems to understand it.
678 likesI’m an organized, motivated, extroverted person and when these derealization spells hit, it’s like I’m PRETENDING to be all of those things. Doing ordinary tasks is overwhelming. Conversations are like climbing a mountain. And my memory is completely shot- short term and long term.
Again, thank you so much for talking about this. I feel better already just knowing I’m not alone. And to anyone else feeling this way, remember to take a moment to breathe and be kind to yourself ❤️
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I started crying too, I'm not sure I have depersonalization, but it seems close. I try to keep conversations alive to feel grounded or I completely lose track of time and get lost in thought, or even just blank for a bit. I really hope nothing is wrong with me and that this is normal teenager stuff.
7 likesomg this is literally like reading my own thoughts!
6 likesalyciadweeb oh god I’m so glad I’m not alone holy hell. Peace and love to all of you <3
3 likesalyciadweeb exactly, and time goes by so quickly it’s like you’re already living in the past. You look back at the day and don’t remember doing half the things you did
2 likesI am the same way!! Extroverted and motivated. At first I thought the disosiation was very interesting, just once in a while, but then it started to worry me after a few weeks of it being constant. I lost my motivation, things stopped mattering. I still cared but couldn't bring myself to do anything, and nothing felt real, no consiquenses or gains.
5 likes@Faith G I know what you mean, days blur together, a whole week will go by and I will not even realize it
1 likealyciadweeb I thought I was the only one. I thought I had depression, but then I watched this video and I was sooo relieved at how she explained each of the symptoms and it fits me.
3 likesI understand you because the symptoms you listed in this comment are what I feel sometimes! It just hurts to speak sometimes also, like not physically, but it’s hard for some reason, idk it’s hard to explain. But thanks for this comment and you’re not alone 💙
2 likesthis video literally helped me get diagnosed thank youuuuuuuuuu
0 likesI sufferd from this a few years. Never found a real treatment. I think its because its something you have to figure out on your own. Sounds really weird. But my cure was: going to school and get a regular side job. I worked as a waitress and once I started really living in the moment it slowly went away. Also: accept it. It's going to stay with you for a while but it will go away. The best thing is: don't be scared of it. Learn how to live and take control. But this all takes time. Remember: what I'm feeling is fine. Its here, it will be for a while and i'm fine with it. i know, easier said then done. But trying to fight it, is not going to make things better. The sooner you'll accept and embrace, the sooner you won't notice it anymoreTry to distract yourself when feeling down. Tell someone about it and try to stay of meds as much as you can. I gave myself 5 calming pils and I wasn't allowed to get more pills than 5 in a year. Just by knowing i'm able to take a pill, I already calmed down and thought: I have to save one in case is DO need it. 1 year later and I have only used one.
6 likesI got my DPDR by taking to much spacecake and panicking about it. I stayed of drugs and alcohol for 6 month's and that went great ( I have never been a big drugs user but I liked to smoke a J sometimes). I came back to my self and really living a normal life got me through it all. Having something intense to do for the day made me live in the moment. I did not have time to think about my situation, and that's how i started to trust myself again. Give yourself time to heal and don't give in to it. It's not reality, you will be fine.
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thankyou! this is day 1 for me, not fully sure I have it yet
0 likesbut this helps.
been reading alot.
https://www.carolynspring.com/blog/feeling-unreal-depersonalisation-derealisation-disorder/
@Vengeful Polititron Sad to hear. I'm back on this path actually. Sad to see my own feedback and did not listen to it myself. But I'm learning again, to not go over my own boundaries. To not read about it everyday and get to therapie is something that is helping me right now! I'm half a year further now.
0 likes@Celeste
0 likesI'm damned to hell. I grieve the Holy Spirit through my deliberate sin and now God has turned away from me.
i’ve been diagnosed with depersonalization so i can relate to how you feel
0 likesI’m starting to realize lately by talking to a doctor/therapist that I have had depersonalization and derealization in some form since I was 12
1 likeIt's so refreshing to have someone talking about this, I have never had anyone who truly understands what I am describing. This open dialogue has encouraged me to talk to my mom and get help. Thank you for all of this positive conversation!
37 likesReplies (3)
Emory Brinson me too my dude. I may just send this video to my mom to help me tell her about it
2 likes+Rachel Webster I hope everything works out! Sending good vibes :)
1 likeEmory Brinson awe thank you!!! Same to you fellow spaced out human 😊
1 likei've felt as u do for 2 years after a long period of stress with college, between the years 2017 to 2019. I got over that with hipnosis, this year, wich i strongly recommend to all the people with some mental issue
0 likesSince the last time I got high (over 3 months ago) I've felt exactly like this. I've been going to doctors and getting blood tests to see what's wrong and they have all said its stress/depression/anxiety. But I'm always a stress-free and happy person and nothing traumatic has happened in my life. This video perfectly describes what I've been feeling cause its so hard to put into words. Thanks Dodie! X
1 likeReplies (1)
How are you doing now?
0 likesHello, I know this video is quite old now but I have been dealing with derelization for months now, I havnt been able to figure out what exactly is the reason my brain is reacting to trauma in this way and what that trauma may be but it’s been really hard on me recently. I didn’t know what it was for a long while until recently when I came out to my parents about what has been driving me crazy and my dad showed me an article that explained everything I have been feeling and I guess it is what I have. I have episodes everyday. Some are slight and others get really bad because it just doesn’t feel right and I get so scared that I will never feel the same again. I’ve watched many videos and what you explained here worries me that I might have the long term effects rather than short. Because ive noticed nothing change. My head gets so foggy and hard to focus so much when I have these episodes that my memory has been really really bad. I do things and don’t remember doing them at all without someone reminding me I did it. If you asked me what I did yesterday I could not tell you without thinking super hard. And if I remember my timeline is messed up so I would question if it was yesterday or not. When I try thinking it hurts my head because my mind is so blank and foggy and gross feeling. And I thought I needed glasses when this all started happening too. I didn’t understand what it was and just ignored it. I still believe that maybe a type of glasses could help but maybe that isn’t the case? I also havnt found a cope for it. I just wait around till it goes away.
4 likesReplies (1)
Meditation and chakra healing. This brought me out of having it for over 11 years. These two things will bring down your anxieties/fears and help you find the answers that are within you.
0 likesI remember very specifically when I was younger telling my friends that I felt like my life was a dream or a movie. Like I was just watching myself live. I also avoid my reflection because I don't trust it? if that makes sense lol idk
1 likeAlso this is a different condition but I deal with dream-reality confusion so I have no idea whether I'm awake or dreaming lol. This could be real or not but oh well I'll just ride this ride out =D
I love that dodie reads the book instead of asking people to go get the book and read it for themselves
60 likesI have Maladaptive dreaming, so this video is so relatable. I can't remember stuff, i forget names, i start talking to myself randomly or create scenarios in my head all the time
0 likesIt's interesting that at 1:44 she feels relieved that it has a name. When, philosophically, the moment a label is introduced, originality is minimized. Dodie, in all her quirkiness, is amazing. To define a quadrant of her personality with an agreed-upon summary does no justice to what her particularly wonderful physiology endows her.
0 likesi feel like this sometimes, but i dont think i have the disorder since it happens rarely. but whenever i feel like this i need help, but im too scared and embarrassed to ask my family (more specifically my sister)
3 likesMan its crazy how i thought everyone had this chronically before i knew it was a thing i just had and some others
3 likesYes, I had the same type of thing. I'd start shouting in public to know I was awake. Let's just say I eventually lost my job and my apartment, because I didn't think I existed in reality, and what I said out loud was not real because I was dreaming. Never let it get to that.
0 likesI thought there was something wrong with me for so long thanks you now I’ve figured it out
1 likeWtf that happens to me a lot, it happens for about 20 seconds where it feels odd and like its not real but not quite like that, its hard to explain but you explained the perfect example of what i feel when that happens. Its always randomly or a couple minutes after a panic attack, the random times are when im walking or I enter a room or sometimes just when im just sitting down doing nothing, same with the brightness things.
1 likeI already have severe adhd and severe anxiety and a bit of ocd and tons of compulsive disorders and now this?! Im going to go flush myself down the toilet now-
I had derealization in May for a week and it was the hell. Now I‘m sick and on Vacation and the feeling is here again.
0 likesI hope it stops soon.
There's something I've read somewhere that helps me "come back", or ground myself to reality when I feel like my surroundings aren't real : around you, you should try to find
302 likes- 5 things you can see
- 4 things you can touch (and imagine what the sensation would be)
- 3 things you can hear
- 2 things you can smell
- 1 thing you can taste.
This technique helped me a few times, it forces you to be aware of what's really around you.
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Achlucide same it helps
6 likesyes!! also helps with panic attacks
5 likesthank you
0 likesThank you
0 likesI don't have derealization but when I have felt a panic attack coming on, this has helped me immensely
1 likeAchlucide my therapist told me to do this for my panic attacks and it helps a lot
2 likesI've done this it helps
1 likeagh, i feel so alone. literally my whole body sabotages me. i'm aware of the fact that i'm trying to get away from that feeling of disconnection to reality and whenever i try methods to get away from it, the fact that i'm trying to get away from that feeling is stored in the back of my head. i don't know if that makes sense.
0 likesThis happened to me in classes and caused me to do poorly and I thought I would try so hard to like pay attention but I couldn’t like be present. I just wasn’t there. And this happens sometimes for a week and like it’s so weird, I never could describe it tho I thought I was just not paying attention enough. I would get so mad at myself and overthink. Thank you for this video!
0 likesI suffered from this for years after smoking weed one day when I was 18 and having a panic attack. After a long 9-10 years later it has faded so much that I don’t even notice or care about it anymore. I hope you get some peace with your DR
0 likesAre you okay to drive? I definitely feel this. And I don't trust myself to drive
2 likesI thought it was exhaustion. I have feelings that I try and explain to my friends but basically I don’t feel like I’m there, as if it is a dream and my friends make fun of it as if I’m lying lmao but I don’t blame them it sounds so surreal. I also thought it was a hearing problem as it really didn’t feel like I was present, and I usually felt quite cold. Thanks for this vid bc it felt like I couldn’t relate to others :)
0 likesDodie, this is describing exactly what I feel! You talking about it convinced me to talk to my therapist about this, and things are getting better :) thank you
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so josh dun with you hi I'm just curious how its possible that you contacted your therapist and that things are getting better after watching this video despite it being uploaded only literally a minute ago 😕
0 likesAizaibi Yakin sorry for the confusion! She has talked about this in the past (and also in her book)
2 likes0:14, 4:44 Thank you so very much for posting this!!!!! I've been going thru this for 4 years!!! It's been so scary and traumatizing for me! There's been a lot of confusion and tears and frustration about this for me! 😢😢😢 Its great to know I'm not alone! I've tried alot of different things to fix it! And nothing works! Even antidepressants! Someone suggested to me; try smoking marijuana but, I'm scared of that stuff. Please keep us updated about how you're doing on your next treatment.
0 likesYou have no idea how happy this video makes me. I was extremely scared that I was going crazy or something when I began experiencing depersonalization and anxiety (including panic attacks) after this extremely stressful even in my life. Depersonalization was just such a scary state to be in. So hazy, feeling like you’re in autopilot. I had been seeing a therapist for depression but just tying to explain my depersonalization was the HARDEST thing ever and you did it so well!
0 likesThank you for making me feel like I’m not alone/ going crazy!
Sometimes I don't know which day it is, then i drive on autopilot to my job when I want to go to the store. I cant remember how I went to sleep, yet I woke up in my bed. The one thing that helps me is watching Dodie! And poetry! I have your book!
2 likesa few years ago i went into a haunted house and came out feeling disconnected. eventually it went away and i just brushed it off. a month or so later it happened again and this video helped me realize i’m not insane and after more research i’ve come to the conclusion that it’s probably a severe panic attack for me. there was a period where i was very depressed and anxious and when i looked at people i felt like i didn’t recognize them, like when you look at a picture too long and the person starts to look like a stranger. once in a while i get that floaty feeling like it’s going to happen and i get scared and try to avoid it. i can’t remember the last time it happened but i’m absolutely terrified of it happening again because i know it will someday
1 likeI have been absolutely floored by this video.
419 likesI can’t believe one of my favourite artists also suffers with a dissociative disorder. I’m only 20 seconds into the video, and the moment you mentioned derealization I almost cried, because I’ve never been able to relate to anybody in some aspects with my DPDR (depersonalization/derealization disorder). I’ve only started seeing somebody other than my counsellor about it very recently, so it’s as if the stars aligned for this video to be uploaded.
Thank you so much, Dodie. This video means a lot to me and the countless other unspoken sufferers of dissociative disorders.
Edit: I made a short film on my channel earlier this year called Permanent Shadows, in which the main character dissociates from reality a couple of times throughout the course the film. Not a perfect depiction of the symptoms, and not what the film is primarily about but just something I feel is relevant.
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dontlookatluke I could relate to it too! :'( feels good to know.
2 likesI have OCD, anxiety, and a panic disorder and it's so great that Dodie is spreading he message and helping to "normalize" and de-stigmatize mental health and discussions about it
0 likesThis used to happen to me a lot back in middle elementary to middle school when I would have severe anxiety attacks. I always just thought I was crazy until someone else has told me they experience the same thing
0 likesI've experienced something similar twice. Both at parties in my school, the same occasion, it was carnival.
0 likesI just felt like I was watching a movie and not actually being there. I was grabbing my friends and trying to concentrate on something so this weird thing would go away, which it did, but for maybe a few seconds before I'd feel like I was not physically there. I remember watching my friend run towards someone and I watched her, feeling like she was disappearing frame by frame. I don't know what it was, but it wasn't really pleasant.
i recently went to one of my fav musicans shows in february and cant remember much about it which is extremely sad cause this artist makes me feel grounded and the fact i completely dissociated the night of the show has taken a toll on my mental health cause it was such an amazing experience and i can only just remember that i was there by looking at the videos i took.
0 likeswhen i first watched this video in 2017, i couldnt imagine what this would feel like. then, in 2019 and 2020, i went through some SHIT and met someone who had this condition. i explained to them how i felt and realized i was disassociating for the past year. during quarantine, it allowed me to finally care for myself and i began a spiritual journey. it has helped my disassociation SO MUCH its insane. this just popped up in my feed and i thought how ironic this was. now, in 2020 i am finally helping and understanding myself
0 likesEven though this is a serious issue
16 likesI love the fact you’re just getting on with it, not looking for sympathy and making this video purely to educate others and gives tips on how to cope with this😊
I don’t suffer from Depersonalisation or Derealisation but I’m glad you covered this topic to help others 😊💙
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<3
0 likeswow dodie helping one day at a time. i love you!!!
0 likesI have this condition too! I’m only in my early teens so I can tell it’s not getting older! Dodie, just enjoy life and be superior because we are brits and we have the best accent. Plus we spell coloUr and centRE right (😂)
0 likesSo I had this for about 4 months ish and I’ve really started to come out of it so here are some tips if your feeling a little lost in your this feeling
27 likes1) I always found it much easier to cope when I was happy whilst experiencing this , however happiness comes and goes and you can’t always rely on it. however there is one this that will help you even when you are feeling the lowest of lows and that is..... MEANING. This can be hard for a big reason -life has no inherent meaning, however this gives us the freedom of creating our own so I recommend u draw ur self a lil stick figure of yourself and you write all the things that give you hope and meaning this can be extremely difficult( especially if your inclined to existential dread like moi) but this will get you through rough times by having a reminder that you have meaning and purpose. if you feel lost and meaningless then now is the best time to think about what gives you purpose.
2) ‘living=experiencing’ if you feel really disconnected and spacey just know that that is a state of BEING just as well as joy and hurt and all other feelings you are experiencing therefore you are here and present because of it.
3) you WILL get better! This is really hard to even imagine especially if yours is really bad but if you let it pass and don’t let it overtake you you absolutely will get better. to help me with this I drew a rough graph of my recovery- it has many bumps and many lows but day by day, month by month you will get better. I know because I’ve been there. You can and will overcome this
4) rescue remedy!
5) this is just something that worked personally for me but I found anything science or maths based really good it’s a great distraction and requires lots of focus. In particular biology I found it really grounding- possibly because I’m learning about life.
6) focus on FACTS you are a human that has got a bit to overwhelmed and your brain has decided this is what’s its gonna do for a while. You are experiencing a common coping mechanism your brain uses but your probably thinking about it way to much and it’s the only thing you can think about. It will pass if you simply let it. The coping mechanism was designed to fade away but our “clever” minds decided to ruminate and obsess over this feeling until it becomes controlling. Just experience it when you come out of it you’ll realise how crazy it was to feel like that and how incredibly strong you are
7) write yourself a paragraph to read when it’s really bad this could say things like breathe in and out your just very overwhelmed and this is how your coping, it will pass- For example
8) this is it- this is probably the worst it gets just know that like everything change is inevitable your are coping with dp/dr and living and battling through it. Everyday you chose to live and to breathe is a victory what your dealing with can be an actual nightmare but just know you ( probably) won’t get any worse the only other place to go from here is up ❤️
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Alyssa Eve thank you this helped
1 likeDid you recover
1 like@HungryBurger619
1 likeThanks for your comment I actually did, I started fully recovering in the new year and I’ve honestly never been more happy to just feel normal. I very rarely get feelings of dissociation now and when I do I kind of have fun with it and I’m not scared about it (which ironically makes the feeling go completely away) so yeah I would say I completely recovered
@vip yeah a lot of people find general cognitive things a bit harder, memory can also tie into it too so don’t fret it’s all common symptoms!
0 likesI'll cry when 6 happens😭😭😭😭God help me
1 like@Alyssa Eve I’ve been feeling like this for almost 4 months now…….I can see myself doing stuff but it’s as if I’m just moving through the day and doing nothing productive and just finding ways to get over the day🥺🥺🥺please don’t take feeling normal for granted…..I would love to know how it stopped for you because sometimes I just feel like it ain’t gonna be normal again
1 like@Nicholas Chuma yeah I really relate to this! I think the hardest part is remembering that the way you feel now is temporary and you won’t always feel like this horrible dissociated feeling - I know I felt it was going to be never ending but despite that I just kept telling myself and telling myself that at some point I would get better. Time really does heal everything but with dissociation at least for me time moved so SLOW and I know that doesn’t help in recovery. When you do recover I promise that you won’t take it for granted- at least I definitely don’t, you’ll see things in a whole new light and you’ll really appreciate feeling normal. For now I’d recommend to just keep living your life as much as possible and don’t limit yourself because of it, I promise it’ll only make it worse when you get into that mindset. I wish u all the best in your recovery, and from one dissociated person to another; you can do this and it will pass <3
1 like@Nicholas Chuma also from an actually recovery point of view, you just have to keep moving, if your dissociation was caused by stress or trauma then it’s worth seeing a therapist or councillor about that, but if it’s drug induced or somewhat random then do your best to find healthy distractions, I promise it’ll help. Dissociation thrives off of anxiety the more worried you get by it, the more you manically research it the worse it’ll get. I was OBSESSED by my dissociation. I would look up so much about it and It became an identity of sorts. I know it’s incredibly hard but try and avoid this. I found writing down a list that describes who I am completely separate from dissociation. Eg if your artistic or clever etc- find an identity and a grounding point that isn’t dissociation. Honestly the best thing I did is just tell myself to move on and get over it, as harsh as that can seem. I’d laugh at myself when I’d dissociate and remind myself that it was just me being silly and overwhelmed and I’d be fine soon, and this is what actually made me recover. I can’t emphasise it enough , recovery is about letting go and continuing to live your life in spite of how out of it you can feel.
1 likeI hope that makes sense feel free to ask more questions!!
@Alyssa Eve your comments means the world to me🥺🥺tired of people just liking my post…..honestly I know that I’ll never take “feeling normal and in the moment” for granted again because all I just pray for every night is a chance to just be myself again and do all those things I know I should’ve done but didn’t want to do👌👌it gives hope knowing that it’ll all be normal again….so right now I’m going on a school trip but it just feels like I’m a passenger😩😩😩
0 likes@Alyssa Eve I don’t know if my is caused by stress all what but it’s the first time I’ve felt something like it and it get bad because I’m a reserved person and don’t talk or share about my emotions with anyone,that being said I’ve just been feeling like this and all the people around me don’t even know and sometimes I take pictures of myself and to my surprise I don’t look like anyone who’s feeling that way😬😬😆
0 likesthank you for also rising awareness
0 likesI've missed your honest ass so much, dodes.
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tiffy lol
1 likeHey. I can really recommend doing bodyscans. It's the one thing that's really starting to help me with my derealisation. When you first uploaded this video 2 years ago I stumbled across it and that was the first time I really heard someone else talk about something that strongly reminded me of what I myself was experiencing and it kind of was a great relief and the starting point of my ongoing journey of getting to know myself better. Been in therapy now for 1 and a half years and started doing bodyscans about two months ago. There are hundreds of videos on You Tube an once you get used to it you can also just do them yourself without a video. Basically what you're doing is focusing on one body part at a time and trying to feel what's really there. There is a form of therapy that only focuses on bodyscans - you are doing 30 to 45 minutes of bodyscans every day for 8 weeks or so - and according to my therapist it helps people with all different kinds of issues to an astonishing extend. I was a bit sceptical at first but after I've done a bodyscan each and every day for the last two months I can really say that it is helping me. It takes some days in the beginning to notice a change but after 3 weeks or so I could already see a big difference from when I started. Helps me being more inside my body and less inside my brain. Handling emotional situations with emotions instead of my head trying to make sense of it and shutting the emotions out. I also find it more easy to be in the moment instead of either thinking about the future or the past. I feel like that was exactly what's keeping me from experiencing my life as real. I've also come to the realisation recently that maybe my habit of waiting for the future where I'll enter my "real" life again is what's keeping me from getting there. Because my real life is happening right now at the spot where I'm at. And the future is in the future.
0 likesWell, that comment is a little bit all over the place. Just wanted to share what has helped me - especially the thing with the body scans. I'm actually quite surprised how something like that can have such a positive impact and actually change something. Through therapy I learned to better cope with my derealisation but felt like I never actually got to the core of the problem. With the bodyscans I finallyfeel like it's possible that I'll live without derealisation at some point. But you do need to be consistant for it to really work though. If at all possible do it every day for at least 8 weeks. Hope someone finds this helpful. You're not alone!
oh my gosh dodie thank you so much for making this video
0 likesI remember way back when I watched this I was very well, disbelieving, I didn't think this was real until around this year and last year I started having derealization disassociating alot, blacking out in places became a thing and staying in a constant blur and forgetting things right after doing them, even if it was consistant hours of talking to a friend in the phone will leave me every time. I learned it was a symptom of ptsd, Something they wanted to diagnose me with before but I kept denying my traumas were traumas. Until now I realized I started negatively affecting my actual daily task, including school. Which the strength of the disassociating increased with new challenges as I moved and started a new school for the 5th time. I think what I'm trying to say in this comment is this is alot for me to take in realizing this is what I've dealt with this whole time and thought what your saying wasn't real. It is real, and it's alot, sometimes scary. Thank you for explaining your situation for everyone to be educated. In the end I had to learn the hard way, but it's nice to know I'm not alone.
0 likesCurrently undergoing therapy, but I've been going through DP/DR for almost two months now, and it is one of the worst things I have ever experienced. I remember in the first week I would almost be brought to tears because nothing around me felt real. Another time I felt like I could see through a table, like it didn't exist or it was invisible, but of course thay wasn't actually the case.
1 likeI suffer from anxiety and depression alongside it, constant fatigue washing over me. I can collect energy to get me through a few hours, then I want to lay down. It's a very helpless feeling when you're in public, because you can't escape. I don't have many visual distortions in reality, like the world tilting or things becoming darker, but I get easily sensitive to light, and things feel farther or closer than they are.
It really does suck, and even when I get out of severe episodes, it always seems to linger in the back of my head and make it heavy. Even if some of my experiences are different, it is still so comforting to have people who feel this way too. I don't feel as crazy. Thank you Dodie for giving me a space to talk about this. ❤
I almost got chills when you said something about Christmas lights. I first had an "episode" of depersonalization and derealization at a Christmas lights show when I was only TEN years old. I felt like I was going insane. I took me so long to find out I wasn't alone, but I've never connected to any of the symptoms people had mentioned until this video. Thank you so SO much. This video has, and I really mean it, changed my life.
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I dont think I have this but the Christmas Lights and a few other things I could relate to
0 likesI don't think i have ever related to a comment like i just have.Everything you said resonates with me and I can see many similarities
0 likesI have lived with this for 30 years, thanks for sharing.
0 likesThis is how I feel right now during this quarantine and on top of that I feel all over the place with a baby and dealing with a business that I help manage and take my mom to work everyday I feel all over the place it feels like I’m not here anymore. But I have to keep pushing 🙇🏻♀️
0 likesDamn, I feel you.
0 likesI used to think maybe we really are in a Matrix.
This happens to me- and I never knew what it was. I always thought it was just me. I described it as seeing the world from a third person point of view, like a movie, or a dream. It doesn't seem real.
0 likesI might actually have this so thank you for this. I thought I have been going blind and I was very depressed but this might be my problem. Thank you
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Same here! Its been getting worse the past couple weeks for me and I thought it might be depression or epilepsy but im glad that im not going blind or anything
3 likesSame. I told my parents but they said I was fine. She was describing exactly how I feel
6 likesSolo Potato maybe show them this video? My parents might ne sending me to a counselor to get help
1 likeMichelle Ponce I see you everywhere! Weird to see we share more than just the same last name but also the same taste in videos!
1 likeSunshine Hazza Oof cool! Imma sub lol
2 likesMichelle Ponce lol me too
0 likeswow so everybody has this rare condition now, interesting
19 likesMerlin Brennt i hate it when people self diagnose too
6 likesMerlin Brennt it's the third most common mental health problem, didn't you watch the video? She never called it rare.
14 likesSame this really helps
2 likesMerlin Brennt not rare at all, it’s even a symptom of panic attacks which could also explain why many people have it.
4 likesMe too
0 likesMichelle Ponce I think I might have mild derealization, i often start fantasising I'm somewhere, and then all my senses go away and I'm there, like a daydream but also not, and also some things she describes, like sometimes everything getting darker or brighter and never taking information in from when it happens
1 likeI have social anxiety but my parents think that it's just me being nervous every single day
0 likesA few years ago I have personalization and derealization for months and when it first started happening I remember I got home and was just crying to my grandma about how my eyes weren’t working and it was the scariest thing ever
0 likesAnd I actually discovered one of my friends has had this sense she remembers so that was nice I don’t get derealization almost ever anymore and I get depersonalization sometimes but if I destruct myself with something I will forget about it and it just goes away
But when it first happened i was just in bed trying to distract my mind for months not really about to do anything then I got my first job and it started to go away but that first year was just scary
Well go to a doctor to get a proper diagnoses
3 likesI mean if you think you are going blind , you really need to see someone. A gp.
2 likesI’m still a student at school and I’ve always felt the same in like class for example but I just only thought it was me until I stumbled across this video, now I know it’s a real thing I feel so relieved
0 likesI've been having similar problems. I thought I was getting some sort of dementia at the age of 20, had problems remembering a lot of things with an IQ of 160, forgot where I was, wondered who I was, I don't know if this could be the cause. My family seems connected to a lot of disorders and genetic dysfunctions, so this wouldn't suprise me. But anyway, self diagnosing is a dangerous practice. I'd go see a doctor if you experience problems like these, only that way you can get treatment if that's actually the case.
1 likeMerlin Brennt its not rare, it's the 3rd most common mental disorder after depression and anxiety
1 likeim so glad millions of people have this (not saying its a good thing) im just saiyng im glad im not alone and that i was nt the only one feeling like this or going through this badp roblem i think its mostly from stress so they said its a "defense mechanism" to keep you from that stress, or otherwise you would be devastated by that stress, my mom told me
0 likesSo this video made me think about similar experiences i have.
1 likeSometimes i lay down in bed or on the floor for no apparent reason, mostly while listening to music bc i always do that, after some time i kind of "wake up", i dont know how much time has passed (sometimes it was a few hours, sometimes 30 min), everything feels unreal and as if i just wasnt there, but when i look through the songs that were played while i was in that state i clearly remember hearing it.
Next one, i look in the mirror and i know that the person i'm looking at is me, but somehow they dont look like me, it feels like they are just blankly staring at me and i cant believe that i could ever look so lifeless. I walk away from the mirror and most of the time when i come back it looks like me again and i can recognise the face as my own.
Our story is same/ had depression due to this and then I found name :) now everytime my anxiety triggers I get into this state like lost n head is gone crazy / weird symptoms :/
0 likesthis is the most accurate description of it i’ve ever heard. notbing works for me either and i feel it every second and it makes me really sad too
0 likesGod and writing always helps me when I get down. You are an excellent writer! When you are feeling this way, I recommend that you keep describing it through your writing. It will not only help with your anxiety, but it will also create an amazing work of art. I used to have HORRIBLE and vivid nightmares. However, I started to use them to my advantage by creating horror stories based on my dreams. It really helped me cope with the terror, and I actually started looking forward to having nightmares because my stories were so cool! Lol! So, in conclusion: I recommend that you use it to stimulate your creativity, but at the same time, you should always pray to God for guidance and clarity. I will pray for you as well!! 🙏
0 likesI saw this video a few years back and I stumbled upon it again and I realized I’m not alone. thank you.
1 likeI had a few depersonalisation experiences when I had panic attacks. I had no idea what it was which made it really frightening. Sat around afterwards not knowing if it had gone or still lingering, was only ever brief so I can't imagine how it must be for people that suffer with it. Yeah the brain can do some strange things.
0 likesI watched this video a few years ago and was confused because that was normal for me but I just got diagnosed and everything makes so much more sense.
0 likesi remember watching this at the time and thinking 'wow that must suck' and coming back to it now, after doing a LOT of research and finally reaching out to my GP, i'm pretty sure i have it. i was right, it does suck!!! i've not felt real for months!!!
0 likesIf you are suffering from a mental health problem, DON'T GIVE UP ON TREATMENT! Treatment is very personal, so it can take time to find what works for you. Hang in there! Don't give up! You are a strong, valid human being.
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So true. took me years to find the right type of treatment.
2 likesTreatment might not always work on certain people
1 likeomg it does take time and im already giving up. I feel like, as long as it doesnt affect my life, ill get used to it, hoping that im gonna be fine.
1 likeWow never knew this had a name. I recognize this for some parts in my life. The worst thing experienced was loosing understanding of language for a short time. For me it is stress related.
0 likesFor me, the disconnect makes me feel like I'm in my own world, and in my world all the people look scary. I feel like they're robots or puppets being controlled, and everything they're doing is programmed. One time I met eyes with my mother and I couldnt look at her because she seemed so foreign and scary. It was like I couldn't recognize her.
0 likesthe first time i ever felt this i was in grade 3 in a swimming class with my pe teacher yelling at me. i have C-PTSD and my main trigger is sound. my therapist described it being the easier route for my brain to take rather than going into a panic so it makes me disconnect from reality. i've never been scared of it but it negatively impacts my memory in my classes at school and definitely my focus. i often still have a panic attack after these episodes so :/
0 likesI’ve felt this way for 2 years, and it is just my new normal now. The only way i can tell i still have it is my memory issues and how my feelings feel strange, i can be crying my eyes out; yet not feel sad at the same time.
0 likesCan I just say: your videos on this have been so, so helpful to me. I've had depersonalisation for years but I never understood what it was until you started making videos about it. I just assumed it was an anxiety thing. But it was so scary feeling like I couldn't focus my eyes on things, and I couldn't remember things, and feeling like nothing was real, and having no idea why. It helped and comforted me so much to learn what it was and to know there are other people that have this too, and I'm not just weird. Thank you, dodie xx
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Christy Anne Jones Hi sorry if this is kinda out of the blue but I was wondering if you've found anything that helps make it any better? I have a pretty severe case of it and relate to everything you mentioned - so yeah was wondering if there was any way out..?
1 likeI'm so sorry you're suffering with it. To be honest, I don't really know what helps.The only real thing I've found is removing myself from the situation; I think I'm much more likely to experience it when something is really stressing me out so I try to find some space by myself, stop, breath for a little bit and focus deeply on things that are concrete (like the way my hand feels when it's resting on my arm, or something small like that) and wait for it to pass. Otherwise, I find that my anxiety makes it worse. So I just try to keep my anxiety in check by doing meditation (I use the free sessions from the HeadSpace app) and sleeping enough. I wish I could be more helpful. Best of luck xx
1 likeEvery single day i feel like if im in a dream it makes it alot harder when im at school.
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And sometimes it becomes a nightmare
0 likesI have headaches , mood swings and exhaustion that come with my DP/DR
0 likesAnd Im doing sports but it doesn't help completely but it can slowly decrease it but it would probably take a very long time
0 likesI feel like I've definitely experienced some of these things to a lesser level in my life and I also sometimes feel like (as I put it) like I'm behind a glass wall. Like, I'm not sure its quite the condition that is derealisation because it doesn't entirely match up with what you are saying but there's something. To be honest it may just be because I have anxiety, and that's what I've always thought it was, and I still think it is, but it is interesting to think could be something separate
0 likesDo you guys experience sometimes when whatever is happening, that you feeling it like remembering a memory? like it's not happening atm, but in the past and you're remembering it. and then you realize it's actually happening NOW and it's a really weird and scary feeling. like it's ACTUALLY *HAPPENING*, AT THE MOMENT it's something that i just can't warp my mind aroung
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yea i feel like that sometimes too because i zone out all the time my mind is always in a different place but when i snap out of it i freak out "oh sh*t i'mactually here i have to do something" so you're not alone i think!!
2 likesawareness around this is becoming super good!, ive discovered you a week ago by your songs and now i see that you have the same issue that ive had for a year now.. after smoking weed, which didnt go that well.
0 likessucks that weed triggered it and by reading the comments, it triggers this "illness" alot.. but well, life goes on, even if its hard and specially the beginning of it was so terryfing.. its like, your whole world which you lived in for 23 years is turned upside down on an instant, its scary and hard to deal with.. also you are more turned inwards instead of outwards in terms of your "focus", like having more connection to your Soul and whats going on. hard to describe..
the feeling of unrealness, of depersonilisation.. people suddenly feeling distant, unreal, not familiar, like not emotionally connected to them, umm.. hard to deal with in the family and stuff
Imagine waking up and every color you knew is non-existand anymore and there is new colors instead of the old ones you knew, kinda like that :-)
life goes on and we´ve learned alot from that ! :-)
i needed this. i thought i was going insane but finally seeing someone publicly address it is so comforting & makes me feel less alone.
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Callie Marie same
0 likesIs it possible to experience this in small amounts? Because I feel like I definitely experience these symptoms but in small bouts — like a few hours or less on random days — and usually connected to some sort of stress or anxiety.
1 likeWhen it’s been two years since watching Dodie and you start to feel like Dodie. It’s so exhausting.
0 likeswhen i start to float away i tend to think about my future self. i’m going to the 12th grade this year and this entire summer my thoughts have been on my future. My anxiety was really bad this summer but i’m not going to allow that to get to me. i’m happy that i was able to learn about this. i’m hoping to get help real soon
0 likesI have had this since I was 6 and I used to cry about it all the time. I was always terrified that everything wasn't real or it was a dream. It got worse when my mom died when I was 8. I am now 15 and still haven't been properly diagnosed. But I dont need a doctor to tell me I dissociate because I know I do. You dont really need a diagnosis when you never feel real😕
1 likePls like this so she’ll see it!! It could really help her!!
149 likesDodie i really hope you‘ll read this because i‘ve been suffering from exactly this for a few years and have finally figured out what it was and how to „treat“ it! And the thing is: this constant brain fog and feeling of drunkness 24/7 is not a mental condition per se, but a way of your body not being able to function properly due to health condition! I mean clearly i don’t know your life and the mental health aspects could be part of it too. But my mental health problems like depression or this depersonalization went away completely since i’ve been working on healing the ‚physical’ things. The first things i was diagnosed with was severe Vitamine D deficiency... reading up on it, the symptoms include brain fog and depression and ever since ive been substituting it its been so so much better! The next big thing, that really really made the difference was finding out i have Histamine Intolerance!! Histamine is the Protein in your body that is responsible for allergic reaction, but a lot of foods contain it as well. When you have Histamine intolerance your body can‘t digest and get rid of the excess histamine from food and it builds up in your body, causing all kinds of problems like: itchy eyes and skin, a runny nose, headaches and : a lot of mental issues. an excess of histamine can block the serotonin receptors in your brain, causing depression and depersonalization! figuring out my diet and these problems were directly connected to my mental health and what ive been going through was a long journey but i have been free of both ever since i‘ve adapted to a histamine free diet. i really suggest you give it a try for 2-3 weeks ( maybe even longer) and see how you feel! it will seem very limiting at first ( it is ngl) but i‘d rather have a limited diet than live in a dream 24/7. there are some good resources out there for histamine free eating ( the histamine free chef for example). so i suggest you read up on it! i am almost 100% sure this is whats causing your problems too...
oh and btw, for me my problems with this have also started when i left puberty at around 17 or 18. a lot of people start to develop histamine intolerance at that age because of the hormonal shifting.
i really hope you‘ll 1) see this and 2) read up on it and give it a try .... i usually never write comments on videos but i wanted to share what ive learned over the past couple of years
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also if anyone else thats going through this has any questions or needs some advice please feel free to ask me. seeing all those people here that have been feeling exactly like i have for years is quite overwhelming. i always thought i was alone with this and never talked to anyone about this. the times that i did, people didnt understand. i really hope i can maybe help some people with what ive learned so far
2 likesBecause I have never experienced or known anyone with Dodie's condition, I'm not going to confirm that it works for that, but I do agree that things like depression and constant tiredness can be very possibly due to Vitamin D deficiency. For months my mom just laid in bed, sleeping until late in the afternoon, had very low motivation, and was severely depressed. My dad didn't know how to treat it at first, and I didn't know about it, so it carried on. Then, about two months ago, she went for a general checkup at the doctor, who took blood samples. Everything was completely normal and healthy, until they got to the Vitamin D part. Ideally, a regular person's Vitamin D level should be about 20-50 (20 being very low, but still sort of in the safe zone). My mom's was 7. The thing is that my family isn't so keen on going out in the sun a lot if we can help it, which is bad on its own (we found that my dad and I are Vitamin D deficient as well). Sun definitely helps, and you are required to get full sun for about 10-20 minutes in the afternoon (the darker your skin, the longer you must stay in the sun). Food isn't a good enough source for the vitamin, so it's either sun or a supplement. My mom and dad are taking Vitamin D3 supplements once a week, and we all can see the improvements. My mom has finally gotten a regular sleeping pattern and her depression has improved tremendously. I'm not in any way saying that the cause of depression is definitely and always a Vitamin D deficiency, but it is worth checking out your physical health just in case. After all, that awfully cheesy saying of, "A healthy body makes a healthy mind," is actually quite often true.
5 likesAdding on to this, any number of sleep disorders may also be the cause of the fatigue and depression you're talking about. I have narcolepsy, and the 5 years of my life in which I went undiagnosed are a complete blur. I actually clicked on this video because "I feel like I'm dreaming all the time" really resonates with me considering that time and when I get tired even now: often times nothing feels quite real, and for some people, hallucinations can be quite serious. I can relate to your mom: months just lying in bed, sleeping until late in the afternoon on the weekends and through all my classes during school, no motivation, severely depressed. I wish I had the following to make my own PSA, as it's estimated that 75% of people with narcolepsy don't know that they have it. Hoping someone who needs to see this does...
2 likesThis could be true in some cases, but traumatic events often cause depersonalization derealization disorder. I've had it for 5 years and see a therapist for it. Stress and trauma trigger episodes of dpd. A big percentage of Americans will experience 1-2 episodes in there life time statistically and this disorder is rather common. Mental health and physical health go hand in hand but that does not mean depersonalization is only caused by physical disorders.
3 likesI’ve had it since I was about 11 years old and it really does suck. I don’t talk to anyone about it in my life because up until this point I didn’t know how to describe it without sounding like a total lunatic. The only words I could think of to describe it were “I feel like everything isn’t real” even though I KNOW it’s real because when I was younger everything appeared much more vivid and alive, instead of this view of dullness that I see things in right now. I operate and move sort of like a robot...I have this cycle and I just keep following this pattern over and over again...everyday, as if I work in some factory. It’s really depressing, but I just ignore and deal with it because I don’t know what I can do to solve it or “cure” it. Seriously, I miss the days where I could enjoy the times where me and my family gathered together for the holidays, and the joy/sensation you get from opening a present.
1 likePaige R yes i know! and that‘s why i said that i don‘t know her personal backstory and that personal traumatic events can definitely play into it too or be the cause! i can‘t really speak on that part because i‘ve never experienced something like that myself. but since i went through the same things dodie and many others here are and describing and i‘ve found a way of how to stop it/ the cause of it for me i thought i‘d share it. your body is more complicated than you think and more often than not mental problems are symptoms of your body not being able to function properly in a way. i‘ve always wondered how depression starts.. it felt so weird to me that my body would just randomly stop producing enough serotonin without a cause (cause thats how it is for a lot of people) but its not that your body just randomy stops it, its probably that it can‘t do it ... look up any vitamin / nutrient deficiency and one of the symptoms is depression. we think our body is able to handle a lot and eat fries everyday of the week for a month(been there) and think were fine because physically our body still functions but its the mental health that suffers first in my experience. anyways i feel it would help alot of people to get their blood checked and try to eat histamine free as an experiment to see how they feel, because a lot of people have it without ever knowing this intolerance even exists.
0 likesWell, they are definitely tied into each other. Changing the diet and physical things might be a really good kickstarter to the brain. In fact, the brain, depression, and trauma ARE part of the body. Though people go through temporary derealization episodes without having those other physical problems (sufferers of PTSD probably know this feeling, even for short periods), it isn't a bad idea to try it (though it's possible Dodie's already looked into it).
0 likesthis is the most important thing i have ever read in my entire life. Thank you so frigging much. This explains so much. I was diagnosed with a vitamin d deficiency around age 16/17 as well, but i think its very possible that this is another situation i might be dealing with and can totally help me.
0 likesmarie claire I would like to add that you guys should make sure that you’re not ODing on supplements either, because I’m (not diagnosed, but I definitely don’t feel like the “average” person, so I generalize and say I’m) depressed, and my dad was once explaining the vitamins in our cupboard at our house, and said that if I’m feeling quite down for a week or two, to take a tablet of vitamin D3 a day and I’ll feel better. I decided to give it a try and it wasn’t working, so I doubled the dose, then found that according to the Internet, I was ODing on it. This may or may not have caused some long term inconveniences for myself, so just in case, check with your doc or be careful when you’re trying new things :) good luck to you all
0 likesFunny thing is, I was replying earlier about how I felt like this too, but taking vitamin D did actually help. I still don't feel like my life isn't my own, and that it's completely directionless, but things feel less floaty and surreal when I'm taking those supplements or if I'm getting outside which is harder to do in the winter.
0 likesmarie claire glad you found a way which helps you with the condition!
0 likesif anyone still reads this, i wanted to add on to my comment, because since i wrote this i changed some things up that made a huge difference. when i wrote this comment first i was still occasionally getting these disassociation days for no apperent reason, and i couldnt find a reason why. so thats when i started taking the vitamin d thing really really seriously. i started taking about 15.000 I.E of vitamin d a day because with the 5000 i was taking before the levels in my blood were still too low (only went from 12 to 19) . and , very importanly!! started supplementing magnesium, calcium and vitamin k which is the one thing that has finally stopped me from having those relapse kind of days. magnesium for example gets used up by the body when converting the supplement form of vitamin d to the one the body can use. thats also the reason some people suddenly get extra tired when taking vitamin d supplements, because they actually get a magnesium defficiancy or further the one they already have.same goes for calcium and vitamin k which are important to other processes in the body, but its quite a lot to explain. if you wanna give this a try i suggest you read up on it. i never thought that these defficiancies could have such a massive effect on my body and my mental health, but somehow they do. i've been so so so much happier and feel healthier and more energetic. i actually have this excitement about life back that i thought i just lost while growing up. i hope some people still read this comment and that i can help other that feel this way ! oh another important change i made is taking probiotics. 75% of your immune system lies in your gut, and if it isnt healthy, all the processes in you body suffer under it. its another really big topic that needs your own research if youre interested but it does make a big difference. ok thats it byeee
0 likesThank you so much! all the best.
0 likesDid you ever forget moments in your childhood and simple things like a week ago. I think I may have the same problem. I am always zoned out.
2 likesI was diagnosed with depersonalization when I was younger but because of how bad it got when I was out of therapy if somehow got to the point I forgot I had it, so when I went back to therapy, it still came as a shock to me.
0 likesheyo i've had this for seven years! how do i not be afraid of it? i get anxious from the derealization and then the anxiety gives me MORE derealization and it's just a never-ending shitstorm
0 likesTherapy, trauma therapy/ trauma treatment and grounding is very helpful for depersonalization!
0 likesThank you so much for sharing this. Seriously, this means a lot to me
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To me too. And I CANNOT BELIEVE she had it.
2 likesI’ve had that. It feels awful. I had it after I was anxious non stop
1 likeHey I came across your Video awhile ago when I was researching for myself. As you can imagine I'm feeling mostly the same and felt relieved when I heard I'm not alone.
0 likesI went to my therapist and talked about how I felt so that he could make a diagnosis but instead he made me take an ADHD test. Turns out I have ADD. After that I got prescribed a few different stuff for ADD to test out, and Vyvanse. Vyvanse was the last medication I tried out. The first day I tried it out I was in that "dreamy" state you described.. and after a while it was gone.
I had derealisation for 2 years now and the last 6 months I had it every day. The day I took Vyvanse was the first day in 6 Months I wasn't asking myself "Am I awake?" or "Am I present?".
So I went online and searched for some studies on Amphetamines and Derealisation/Depersonalisation. And yeah there are some that say that it is helping against these conditions.
I don't know if you want to ask any of your doctors about it or try it our or anything. But I felt obligated to tell you this since it is definatly something that could help.
(Sorry for my bad english I'm from Germany - In Germany Vyvanse is called Elvanse but in the US it should be called Vyvanse)
I had several days in my whole life like what you've described, but it all fade away thankfully. I actually shudder when I think what would be if this state comes back.
0 likesHello!! Little late to this video, but I’ve been experiencing derealization almost constantly since July 2021, and I can confidently say it’s the worst thing I’ve ever experienced. It took forever to actually figure out what the root cause was, I’m 20 now and was diagnosed with depression and anxiety at around 14. It was only a few days ago that I got diagnosed with ADHD, and it seems that much of my mental struggles, specifically the derealization, have stemmed from that. I began taking a low dose
0 likesor concerta a few days ago, and I’ve already noticed a difference in my levels of depression, anxiety, and Ive only been experiencing the derealization when the medication wears off. I’m still in the early stages of treatment, but I had no idea that I had ADHD until a psychiatrist examined me. According to my psychiatrist, ADHD and DPDR can be connected because the brain gets overwhelmed by anxiety and an inability to fully grasp the environment and what’s going on, and can cause the brain to shut down. Hopefully this helps someone, it sucks and I wouldn’t wish this upon anybody, but you’re not alone :)
I think I might have derealisation. I always feel like I'm dreaming. I feel like I'm living my life in a third person point of view. Like I am playing a character in a video game. I don't feel like I'm there, or anywhere. I space out A LOT and my vision is really blurry. It might just need glasses or I might not. I feel like this the most when my anxiety is the worst because of pressure. If anyone has any advice or tips or anything feel free to share.
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Galexis you definitely have derealization
2 likesGalexis the best way to deal with it is just dont let it scare you a knowledge that it's there but don't let it consume your thoughts
6 likesYoung Ugly God I try and not think about it but it's almost impossible not to think about it
2 likesI'm not sure if I 100% have it but when I'm feeling like that I ignore it and either the feeling goes away or it becomes more natural. For me that feeling doesn't last that long (unless I'm under constant stress)
2 likesMore natural meaning that I get more used to the feeling kinda...
2 likesthegirlwarriør I kind of ignore it too and I become used to it but it's still feels so weird
1 likeI don’t know if this will help you, but it helped me so I’m going to share it. My psychiatrist told me that it’s a natural defense mechanism against anxiety and that there is nothing wrong with me. Knowing that has helped me to calm down when it happens, and it now that I am not scared of derealization it happens way less often and doesn’t last nearly as long. And when it does happen I know that it’s because of my anxiety and while there is nothing I can do about the derealization there are lots of coping strategies I can use for reducing my anxiety.
5 likesI hope you feel better ❤️🖤
2 likesSaame. Especially since it's finals season, it's gotten worse for me. I'm so sorry you feel this way. I talked about it very briefly with my therapist and this didn't work for me, but it might help you: try naming the things around you. like for example I see my laptop and the christmas lights outside my window. I can feel the keyboard keys under my fingers, and the soft feeling of my blanket. Does that make sense? Kind of like you're placing yourself inside of your surroundings, grounding yourself. idk, i'm sorry if that doesn't work, but i really hope you find something that makes you feel better!! if you do happen to find something, please share it with me lol
2 likesoh my god, you literally described how i feel daily! i never thought of it as derealisation but idk if i want to get diagnosed...
1 likeDodie said that she's written a few tips in the description as well. Maybe go check those out as well?
2 likesGalexis I totally get that... I have it a lot when I'm anxious or depressed or lonely. Basically, whenever I'm more sensitive to things around me and my emotions are more extreme (mostly on the negative end of the spectrum), I tend to get that way. I totally get the third person video game character thing... That's a good way to put it
1 likeGalexis
2 likesThat is EXACTLY how I feel. I don't have any really helpful tips, but here are some:
1. Don't harm yourself. Iv'e felt like this since I was 8. I used to punch and bite myself to prove myself the world around me exist, that I exist, because I feel pain. NEVER DO THAT. IT'S UNHELPFUL.
2. Ignore it. Don't think about it. I really need to ditch from my phone more- I like being absorbed into the internet. This way I don't feel it that much. I do know now that books are sooo much better for this. Get absorbed in tons of books, not at the same time though, because it's really confusing☺.
3. Don't overeat. Do sports. I go climbing twice a week, it really helps. When you work out the body feels..more. sweaty, hot, sometimes sore from the practice . It's a good thing to do anyways.
Sorry, I don't have any more..
I’ve had moments like derealisation but only when I was experiencing severe withdrawal from an antidepressant that wasn’t doing me any good at all
0 likesFor a whole month I got progressively worse and genuinely thought that there was another me inside my head that was evil and was the manifestation of all my negative traits
I had horrible moments where I thought I could “feel” her emerging from my mind like a snake and telling me things that made my question why I was born
It was Avery stressful month and I am so grateful to my boyfriend who let me just get through it and let me cry and have my meltdowns when I needed
There are people who don’t understand though unfortunately but just remember that it’s not your problem
I’m now off of anti depressants and never want to turn back, it’s a horrible experience
I’ve had around like three experiences like this and I felt weirded out because I had no idea about what was going on but i did some research and I feel better now thet I’ve watched your video
3 likesi was like that when i was a child, then one day all of a sudden i like, snapped back in to reality, and now listening to this it might've been due to the trauma i went through as a child-early teens, or maybe not and it may happen to everyone during their child hood
0 likesThis might be something you've already tried, so I apologize for the unsolicited advice, but I have this and I have been taking Seroquel and it has done wonders for me! I believe it is the antihalucinogen properties it has that fixes most of this for me. I was worried at first that it wouldn't help a lot because I wasn't seeing things that weren't there and a lot of the problem was more about how I perceived the outside world rather than what I'm actually seeing in front of me but it's worked really well so far! It hasn't gotten rid of my depression or anything, but it stopped my derealization for the most part and now the world doesn't look fake and disturbing anymore lol
0 likesI’m in tears... i had no idea that other people felt this way too.
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i have been struggling with this as well for almost a year and had no idea what was happening to me... 2 months later but now im in tears too
0 likesI actually found out about derealisation/depersonalisation because of this video last year. It made me cry because I always thought I was just going crazy
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Same, i just found out and i’m in tears. I’m very much relieved to know that i’m not alone
1 likeTHANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO 😭
0 likesIts good to know that you're not the only one going through something. Well I've been depersonalized and derealized for 10 years now. Mine was due to trauma, a lot of crazy stuff happened in my family when I was a kid even till now, it really messed me up. Everything feels like a dream, objects around me are wider and flat and seem farther away from me. I get panic attacks like occasionally. I'm also aggressive towards people even though I don't wanna be. Sometimes I come back to reality, and then I get really scared and start screaming and crying involuntarily cos even though it looks real I'm just so used to seeing everything distorted and then i revert back to the dream state. Also I tend to laugh alot, also find it very hard to focus. I find it really hard to make proper eye contact with people. It's just really crazy.
1 likeI have this! I got it from going through a trauma. first signs for me time just felt like eternity then gradually got worse as I was thinking what's happening to me. the more i panicked about it the worse it got and I'd stay in that place for months. My way to get out of it, is medication and to not even think about it. It's much harder done than said. But you're defo not going insane if you tell your self that. Just go with it and accept that it there.
0 likesTo me when it's really bad it feels excactely as if I'm stuck in a video game. It feels as if I'm this tiny person stuck in the back of my mind, looking through eyes that aren't mine, trying to control this body that isn't mine, and talk to friends that I haven't made.
211 likesI don't feel like me at all, and I honestly don't feel anything beside constant panick. It feels like I'm stuck in a different dimension than everyone else, as if I'm the only person in the world. Everything looks 2D and there are way to many sounds and colors, that all seem so distant and unreal yet way way too much to take in. My sense of time and place is so fucked up, and my memory gets so bad, and I just feel like I've gone absolutely mad. I have no control over my body, i am so overly concious of every single movement I make, and i don't feel capable of feeling anything but distress. I just fucking want to go back to the real world, and I want my actual self to come back.
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berNII-SAN awwwwwww stay strong and keep on fighting u will break free one day soon just dont give up even tho its soooo bloody hard but always remember its ur body its ur mind and its ur life even if it doesn't feel that way now thier still URS and u will feel the way u used to!!! Stay strong ur not alone!!! Gl xxx
1 likeSAME. I feel like I'm a tiny person operating a robot inside the robot's head. (I think there was a Fairly Odd Parents episode like that... and a Doctor Who one? It's a pretty common TV trope I think.) Like my mind and body are disconnected or fake or something. I also am just acutely aware of my own existence, yet at the same time paranoid that nothing is really as it seems and I'll wake up from a dream at any moment. It causes me a lot of anxiety as well. I don't really relate to Dodie's descriptions of her symptoms but I can't think of what else it would be besides derealization or depersonalization.
5 likesEverything you're describing is EXACTLY what I'm feeling and have felt for a while.
6 likesthank you! You've managed to put EXACTLY how I feel into words, something ive never managed to do 💛
2 likesI LEGIT EXPERIENCE THIS TOO OH MY GOODNESS
2 likesthis is very much how my dissociation is. When I'm well, it's like the controls are responsive and smooth so that I'm well immersed and there's no issue, but as I start to dissociate, the controls get loose and the screen fuzzy, and, when I'm reeeeally dissociated, it's like I'm tied to the opposite wall with bungee so that even something as simple as raising "my"/the character's arm takes a tremendous amount of effort
1 likeWhen I feel the most disassociated and spacey, I feel like a first person game, like I’m looking intently at a computer screen, I’m so immersed that I’m not paying attention to what’s going on around me and I can’t look away to come back to ‘reality’
1 likeberNII-SAN i literally allways feel this way 😭😭
1 likeCecily literrally as if the entire World is a screen! like there’s no other place to look
2 likesRight! It’s like you recognise you have control of your body but the body seems almost foreign? Like it isn’t yours? I describe this to my friends as it feeling like being in VR/simulation game. Almost as if you’re controlling a body that isn’t yours.
3 likesme too! thanks for describing it im so bad at describing things
1 likeI thought I was the only one who felt this. It feels like my eyes are disconnected and I can't focus on what people say. It isn't constant and I'm sorry that yours is
4 likesberNII-SAN Yes! I get you!
1 likeweirdly to me it just feels like there is a huge, thick glass panel between myself and reality, like I’m looking through a window at everything.
4 likesberNII-SAN I MADE ANOTHER COMMENT AND I SAW YOUR COMMENT DESCRIBING IT AS A VIDEO GAME AND OMG THAT’S LIKE AN EXPERIENCE I GET SOMETIMES WOW O.o
2 likesI’m gonna copy a little bit of what i commented here too so you can see what i said about the video game thing and compare if you want >\\<
“It got to the point where my face was grinning, but in my head i was somewhere else. It felt like my mind was disjointed from my body, like my brain and my soul were sitting back from the windows of my eyes, staring out through them at the situation in front of me. Like I was pressing buttons on a controller and watching through a TV screen. It felt unreal and it didn’t feel like it was my life at that moment.”
But i’ve not diagnosed or anything and this thing only happens very rarely, usually in high-pressure, serious situations. So idk pwq
tiegan w yess! Exactly
1 likeDana Taylor that's what it's like for me
1 likeI went through most of my life in a state of being constantly, high stressed (still feel it sometimes). Slowly I noticed myself... Not being myself... I couldn't remember what had happened 3 seconds ago, or much of my childhood, or anything in between. I couldn't have a conversation because I would get lost in my words/mind and forget what was going on and start to panic. I couldn't remember names of close friends. I guess it was my brain cooping with the chronic stress? So much of what you said was relatable. I started going to EMDR therapy about a year ago and I have seen probably a 75% improvement in all of my symptoms. I was scared to try it but I am so grateful that I did.
0 likesI wish I could talk to Dodie lmao literally everything she’s saying is right on the spot it’s scary.
0 likesThis is interesting. I didn’t think what i experience at random times in my day has to do with a named condition
0 likesI always described it as being like my eyes were too far away, like i was perceiving the world through my own eyes and ears but my consciousness was settled way at the back of the inside of my head and all the information had to travel a long way to get to me. Like my eyes couldnt open wide enough and my ears couldnt listen hard enough and i was receiving everything in this slow mo delay
0 likesThis is really comforting to me
81 likesMost of the time I feel like I’m not actually living, I can’t remember where I went on vacation, I forget memories that I should remember (I went for skydiving once and I can’t remember anything), my thoughts get really messy and I can’t recognize myself anymore, and I’ve had multiple episodes where I had to stop myself in the middle of the road to do a reality check because my whole body felt numb
Up until now I thought it was because of my depression, but I just realized that maybe it’s something more than that
Thank you for bringing this up, I’m going to do more research about it and hopefully I can help myself now
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oh my god your name is Milena too??? IM NOT ALONE IN THE WORLD?!?
0 likesWoah, I had to pause the video because it hits so close to home Oo I've been struggling with depression for almost three years, and one of the numerous things that helped diagnose me with depression was this impression of not be present in life. I eventually got better and stopped medication, but the "emptiness" and disconnection is still here. I tell myself I will fully recover and get my emotions back, but now I'm scared it will last longer :'( at least I'm not crazy, but it's tough living and missing out in great sensations and feelings :(
0 likesI’m glad I found you. I’ve been dealing with this for years now. When I try explaining this feeling to people no one gets it. I have an appointment to see a therapist tomorrow and I hope this is something they’ve heard of. To be honest I don’t know if I should bring depersonalization/derealization up, because I don’t want them to think I’m trying to self diagnose myself. Anyways if anyone has suggestions on how to cope, please leave a comment below! Also great video 👍
0 likesI have been feeling this since like may of this year and I never knew what it was, I always pushed it to the back of my mind and it has affected me, I don't want to self diagnose myself but I know that's something is going on inside my head, im forgetting things easily and I genuinely though that I may have some sort of memory loss, I honestly want to cry, as soon as I get back to school I'm gonna go to my school psychologist and ask her about this.
1 likeEdit: I've sometimes wondered if I'm dead and just reliving everything again cause I also feel like I have no control of my actions and that my story is already written and that i can't change it.
I don't know if I really have this I really hope I don't, but at the same time I kind of wish I do because that means that I know what is wrong with me and that I'm not going crazy. I haven't cared about school as much as I did before I feel like I don't have enough time or that time is passing too fast I really hope this can go away because I want to feel alive again. I also sometimes feel like I'm not feeling anything, I don't know how to explain it but it's like I feel happy but deep inside me I don't feel anything, I feel like that's why I felt like I don't feel anything and I said that maybe if I fall in love again it would go away but after I started feeling this way I felt like I don't actually have crushed on people anymore, not like I used to at least, whatever I have whether it's this or something else I really don't wish it on anyone
when you mentioned about feeling drunk but with out the fun part it hit home, i tried explaining to myself how ive been feeling these past few weeks and those were the exact words I used :(
0 likesI am so glad you now know what derealisation is now and that you are getting help for it!
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does she still have depersonalization or is it the same thing as derealization?
4 likesedit: oop, she answered it.
Karis Lee they are different.
1 likeOmg. This cannot be real? Is it Dodie?
2 likesIt's not real, someone is impersonating Dodie to post spam (or scam or attack) links. Happens to most big youtubers, sadly.
7 likesAlways be suspicious and assume a fake identity. Never click the link.
If you want to verify someone's youtube identity, click on the avatar and check it is the right person.
At least on PC, the uploading user has their name highlighted in all their comments.
I notice when I get really really stressed sometimes I’ll slip into these moments where nothing around me feels real.... I always described to everyone as me being lightheaded or dizzy... as I’ve gotten older it’s gotten worse to where it makes my stomach hurt and gives me this feeling of anxiety... when it happens it can happen in like a small amount where I can work my way through it or a big amount where I have to sit there and just deal with it... it sucks honestly and idk if it’s derealization because my vision doesn’t go dim or anything but my eyes do this weird focus thing
0 likesI had this exact feeling when I was 8-10 years old. Around the same time when I developed severe anxiety. I would often wake up in a daze and freak myself out with questions of “am I real? Is this actually happening?” I remember my biggest disassociation happening at a family member’s wedding, and it was terrifying to experience.
0 likesI have this. It started last year when i was under a tremendous amount of stress
0 likesThank you so much for sharing this about you.
0 likeswait is this not how people normally experience the world?? i just thought that was how the world was?
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VoldiOldie Artichokie oh shit??? i don't want to feel like this forever wtf do i do
34 likes@VoldiOldie Artichokie Your comment helps me so much, I have this kind of problems for more than one year now. I suffer from anxiety and kind of depression. I don't feel it all the time but it happens sometimes. Taking medicine is hard to me and it's also hard to find a therapist i feel "good" with. I'm going abroad soon, so i have to take the plane... I was really happy and excited about going abroad but lately I feel really anxious because of the plane and I have derealisation and depersonalisation almost all the time, I also can't sleep, that makes things worse + winter which is like THE WORSE PERIOD for people suffering from anxiety, depression and stuff.. Your comment give me hope, I hope it'll get better and this condition will stop soon, i hope the same for all people suffering from any mental disorder and health condition, things will get better ! i'ts so hard to stay focus and enjoy my life when i always feel that the world around me seems to be not real, that i'm dreaming and all... Btw, my English is probably not that good, i'm not a native speaker. Cheer up and thanks again <3
19 likes@VoldiOldie Artichokie k
2 likesi have autism, every day is like a nightmare like you see ALOT of stuff you hear ALOT of stuff its really LOUD and that everyday
17 likesSometimes I have to remind myself what’s going on even if I know what’s going on 😂
10 likesI’m weird lol
I wish
2 likesDeja vu
1 likei have a combination of derealization and depersonalization and i just had another panic attack last night because of it, it happens quite often and it scares the shit out of me, thanks for helping me feel like i'm not alone
0 likesI came down with this or something similar in 2011. This is the first time I have found anything that comes close to what I'm feeling 24 hrs a day, 7days a week, 365 days a year. I describe it as I'm dreaming all day long. I would like to know if there are any proven treatment for this. I dont recall being so stressed out to cause this to happen. I mean I worked and came home. Trying to explain this to people has always been hard. I have several other conditions as well but after 6 or more MRI's and seeing that I had several brain lesions I guess I thought that the lesions is what caused this. I had severe Vitiman D deficiency and was several fatigued. It paralyzed the left side of my body. That drs thought maybe I had a stroke however there were no signs. I would be ok medically if I didnt have this going on as well.
0 likesI always feel a disconnection from myself and picture myself from an outside view constantly like I'm watching myself on T.V. or something. Either that or completely phased out like everything goes by without my control. I don't if that's derealization or depersonalization but that's just something I notice.
0 likesi have this symptom as part of my ptsd.. it's very difficult for my brain to process trauma so she spaces out a lot, soon i'll be starting therapy and getting an assistance dog for the ptsd though so that should be good :)
0 likes😢 I get this after panic attacks and it's the scariest thing ever. I couldn't even imagine being that way all the time.
13 likesYou are so strong and brave Dodie. I know you'd rather be cured than an inspiration but I hope that helps a little bit🌞
🎶I promise you it will all make sense again🎶
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ahh i've heard about that! it's a sort of safety net after experiencing so much anxiety. remember it's your brain trying to protect you.
2 likesand thank u friend <333
I’ve been aware of this condition for some time now. I believe the singer of The Counting Crows (Color Blind *song* Long December *song*) has this. I’ve struggled with anxiety since maybe 8-9 and social anxiety since 6th-7th grade (I moved many times as a youngin- states, not towns) I always perked up while listening to the description of this diagnosis. But, I’ve never felt it was apart of me. I’m very sensitive (in more ways than 1) and I’m not a Dr. runner, hate attention, dislike diagnosing myself... you get it Lol. Anyhow, this video just opened my eyes more than ever on this subject... truly. Great video and cheers to you. Wonderful job.
0 likesWhen I was dyeing my hair I used this dye that had, I don't know what was in it, bleach or peroxide? But it smelled very toxic and chemically. I stayed in the bathroom with that smell for I'm not sure how long. I think i can say an hour but the more I inhaled that toxic chemically smell the more I felt like my brain cells were dying or something. I started to feel not dizzy, but hazy and in a daze and floaty. The more I sat in there dyeing my hair I swear the more I thought I could FEEL my brain dying from inhaling that chemical smell. I tried to set a timer for 30 minutes to keep the hair dye in because I did not want to damage my hair but I accidentally put 30 hours. I guess one hour passed, because it said 29 hours and I only noticed because my brother pointed it out. I could have sworn only about 10 or 20 minutes passed? I definitely fucked my brain up somehow inhaling those fumes or something. Only happened a few days ago, I still feel really fuzzy and weird AND my hair didnt even turn out good, the bleach colors didnt add any color all they did was bleach my hair blond ish and damage it. Whoops I guess? Not saying it is anything relating to this, just sharing my stupidity and possible brain damage from said stupidity
1 likeI honestly feel like crying watching this. I have felt these things and I always just thought it was my depression/anxiety. And every time I explained it to someone they look at me weird and say “I’m not eating or sleeping well” or “do some exercise” but even if I do it happens. This is the first time I have felt like I’m not going crazy or the only one that feels this way... thank you so much for this video. This means so much to me...
0 likesHoly shit I thought I was the only person that had this, my anxiety got that bad till my head just started going 100 miles n hour and I couldn't even put a sentence together I've been trying to explain to my doc what's up and didn't even know what to say to him and keep getting one prescription after another which only makes me feel worse, just knowing I'm not alone has helped, thank you!
0 likesTHIS IS A THING?
150 likesI HAVE THIS TOO
AND I WENT TO THE COUNSELOR AT SCHOOL FOR IT
THIS MAKES ME FEEL 1620348273567128904 TIMES BETTER
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Magical Guinea Pig I went to the school counselor and was called insane so nOpe never again
2 likesInsane bc of the derealization if that wasnt clear lol
2 likesjuliepoolie oh my god thats horrible!
1 likethe counselor at my school said that shed talked to other students with derealization and helps me a lot. dont worry, there are so many people in the comments on this video and just in general that will love you and support you and help you and you are most definitely not insane.
i didn't know what it was called until now, and i get this when i'm really stressed
2 likesjuliepoolie you are not insane, that’s terrible that you were called that! stay strong 💛💛
3 likesYou're all valid af and I hope you get the support you deserve
1 likeI take a breathe and go "inside" my body and focus on my feet and imagine gently pulling my energy down to my feet and from my feet into roots (it can be any energy source that is grounding) that I imagine to curl and stem and stretch into the earth and when I open my eyes I find I'm more present.
0 likeshope this helps someone else!
i’ve been having this feeling for a couple years it started where i’d feel like i’m dreaming but at a high level even though i’m still there and my brain would’ve process my environment as 3d but rather as flat like i’m looking at a really defined painting but that would only happen every once in a while. but i constantly felt space and dreamy and like there’s a big black dark part of my brain but it’s cloudy in my head like it’s dark but a white cloud. it’s been a little difficult to feel and have emotions but it’s only gotten the worse recently where i literally don’t have emotion i can tell when i love someone like my parents or my best friend but i can’t say i have a crush on someone or that i love someone romantically because i just truly don’t feel it. some days feel more off than others and i just want to cry but my brain can’t fully process why i want to cry it just feels so hard because i used to feel things vividly and i just don’t anymore the fact i know there’s a change but i can’t help it hurts not physically but just it hurts. if i think about it long enough it goes away for a little while and i don’t remember that this is how i constantly feel but then it all comes back. when it started i thought it was just my vision i got it checked a million times seeing if i needed glasses eventually i did but it only helped my vision it did not reconnect me to the world. i only started talking about it this year to my parents and my closest friends my dad doesn’t believe in mental health but my mom asked my doctor and i’m getting an appointment next month so she can refer me to a therapist. i’m happy that it’s a possibility that it can be helped but it’s only so far away. i want to stop feeling this way it feels so unfair. but i’m also scared that it’ll go away at some point and it’ll freak me out and come back but i’m so used to it now i don’t even know what to do. i can think but only about 67% headaches are weird because it hurts physically but it’s cloudy so it feels like it should be soft like i have a cushion for my brain but it doesn’t work that way if you read this thank you <3 i need all tips possible pls
0 likesI've had it for a year now, it caused me to have agoraphobia but at least I managed to go to a therapist for the first time last week
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How are you doing now?
0 likesIt happened to me for almost one year after my mom died in a dramatic and painful way. I also thought it is depression, got my eyes checked and stuff, but I couldn’t find any cure. I paused university and went travelling to India, where the symptoms slowly disappeared, because my general stress level from before of dealing with my moms death AND crazy daily university life became better.
0 likesSo I guess that would be my advice, if you know there was a cause that you need time to deal with...give yourself that time. Take a break from other stressful things.... be your own friend and donˋt compare yourself with others, everyone has a different story.... <3
I’m crying right now, I thought I was crazy or something and I felt alone. Thank you for this video, really, I realize I’m not alone and I feel a lot of relief simply knowing this. <3
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I feel you so fricking much
3 likesYou're not alone hey,i hope you feel better. Also surround yourself with the right kind of people, that will not make you feel shitty
2 likesYou and me both. I truly thought I was alone in this
1 likeI am crying too :( , i thought that i am going crazy or that something bad is happening with my brain, nobody really believe me, my friends don't even know what i am talking about when i tell them how bad i feel with this condition... but we are in this together! And we are enough strong to get rid of it. <3
0 likesI am also diagnosed with this disorder as well as some others and seriously, I CANNOT tell you how unbelievably grateful I am that you made this video. I’ve never met someone else with this disorder and whenever I explain it to people they tell me how horrible it sounds but they can’t always relate.
0 likesLiterally everything you described happens to me all the time as well and what’s crazy about it is that I’ve explained it to others in an eerily similar way as you explained it in this video! I am so happy I’m not alone💕I feel so much less “strange” and “weird” now that I see others like you experience exactly what I am.
Lately I’ve been struggling so much with it, it just keeps getting worse and I’m in absolute hell. But I know this video is going to help me cope with it since now I can reassure myself that I’m not the only one and I’m not as weird as I think. Thank you SOOO much again, I hope you are well💕💜
I think I’m stuck in that at the moment. And it’s been like that for a few months now. And it’s scary. I guess I always assume I haven’t been sleeping enough but no matter how much sleep I get, I’m incredibly dissociated.
0 likesI have this. Happened when I was 18 and I smoked pot at my graduation party for the first time. Haven't been right since. Living in a dream, a painting.
0 likesfinally someone who talks about this!!! I've had this experience for the first time after smoking weed when I was younger. And it was such a super super scary experience. Ever since I have been experiencing it on and off when I am really stressed or under a lot of pressure.
0 likesI always felt like I was going crazy, and my anxiety got only worse. After years of not talking about it, I decided to go to the doctor and psych to talk about it.. But they didn't seem to understand what I was talking about :(. So thank you so much for this video.
Makes me feel more comfortable and safe, and knowing that I am not the only one is a really good feeling. /
Thank you so much :)
I think I have this as well. I find it really hard to differ reality from dreams sometimes. And it's gonna sound crazy but it genuinely feels like I can see the future lol. Like I either have dreams or make up situations in my head that end up coming true. Like I feel like I might be losing my mind. XD
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Same but only the visions. I could dream or have a vision where I gone out and imagine up scenarios, I snap out and forget what was happening in reality and then when what I dreamed/Imagined comes true I remember dreaming/imagining it and I feel wierd. And this sounds wierd and crazy, but sometimes I will look at something but I won't...see it? Like I don't take in what's around me and it freaks me out a little bit. Idk...I think I'm just a little different
0 likesto me it literally feels like the “head empty no thoughts” meme. like there’s nothing going on in my brain or around me and everything is still
2 likesIf it is originally brought on as a way to deal with stress (I think you said this) my tip is to remind people any kind of stimuli can cause stress. People with hsp can give tips to reduce that kind of stress to better cope with other conditions. WEIGHTED BLANKET is so comforting and helps anchor you to the present. Sunglasses or closing eyes to reduce visual overstimulation. Soft earplugs reduce auditory overstimulation, they also force your attention to stay in the moment to hear what is said, and I think it could improve memory if it helped you to stay in the moment. If I am under a severe amount of stress I know to avoid any place with too much going on and reduce overstimulation.
1 likeI feel I’ve waited my whole life for reality to kick in...
1 likeI have this really bad and have found a therapist has experience of dissociation and is really helping. I had to look around for ages but am now starting to have days without it or at least with it being reduced.
1 likeThank you for talking about it dodie, I discovered this wasn't normal and its name because of your openness which has really helped me :)
You go through your normal day, when all of the sudden... everything changes. Nothing fully computes in your head and you feel zoned out. Your brain and body feel like two separate things instead of a full working “machine”.
293 likesOr at least that’s my experience with derealization.
I talk about it and nobody understands, so to know that there are people like me; it makes all the difference.
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I feel that a lot too! My best friend is the only one who knows and I plan to tell other friends soon but yeah. It’s really strange.
3 likesSOS Save Our Seas right?! it’s so nice to feel safe in a community like this— even though it might not be an in person conversation, it’s still a convo with a real person who understands the real experience! (Sorry for the long sentence reply- i’m a bit insane lol)
3 likesThis one almost made me teary eyed, thank you so much for describing this so well.
2 likesSame! The only person I know who knows this feeling is a friend I have, and we don’t even talk a lot. Whenever I bring it up to my friends they look at me like I’m nuts
1 likeTbh sometimes it is worse than this. You feel disconnected even from your brain, like you are not sure if the thoughts are really yours. If there is even you at all
3 likesThis is exactly how I feel. I feel so much more comfortable now that I know other people have this same problem!
0 likesАлександър Атанасов This is what i feel sometimes and i fucking alienated to myself when i feel it. Like i feel reincarnated to my own thoughts lol
1 likeI mean I’m not gonna say that what I experienced was derealization but there was a time for just one straight month basically I didn’t remember doing anything, that’s not even a good way to describe it like one second I’m thinking oh I’m hungry and the next I’m like downstairs in front of the fridge and I don’t remember telling my body to do that, what I’m trying to say is I lived in a fog for a month hasn’t happened to me since but I remember trying to tell my doctor and all they did was tell me to tell my mom. Hoping it doesn’t happen again because nobody understood what I was talking about
1 likeSometimes you’re at work and your mind decides to sign out off your body, your body keeps working like it’s on auto-pilot, it also responds to communication like an auto-response, and your mind is floating - and everything feels surreal, but kinda feel sensitive also..
0 likesMind** not brain, your brain is purely a physical organ
0 likesBECAUSE OF YOU I was able to tell my psychiatrist years ago about my dissociating and get help for it
0 likesI feel like this for at least a couple minutes whenever i go to a party. It's not stress or anxiety thats causing it, i just kinda feel like that lol
0 likesI'm 14 I've had it for a year now, it started on Easter of last year. I remember eating candy and then going to church but right when I walked into the church I had a massive headache and started puking. After that it only got worse, it's hard to remember things tho almost like I'm looking at my life through a glass window
0 likesBeing home all day makes it worse for me, but talking with friends/playing video games .. Distractions help 🖤 i have really bad dp/dr too
1 likeTips!!
0 likesI’ve learned to realize when its happening. If you can’t yet, you can still try this whenever you want for practice. When I do realize it’s happening, I tend to focus on the air around me. How is it moving? is it windy or still. What does the temperature feel like? is it humid or dry? then i focus on anything else that happens to be touching me. My clothes, my hair, the ground against my feet etc. Usually at this point I can kinda snap out of it. If its still happening, try to heighten your awareness of specific things around you one by one. Hope this helps!
i’ve felt this way for about two years now, although i can’t actually remember how it felt before. my therapist told me it’s just how my brain deals with stress and anxiety, it tries to escape. i call it being zoomed out as that’s what it feels like to me, zoomed out from reality. it feels like my brain is floating away and my body isn’t my body and my life isn’t the life i know. when it gets really bad it feels like my ears are stuffed with cotton, i hear things, but i don’t listen, the information doesn’t register. school is hard lol
1 likei’m still hoping i’ll just snap out of it one day.
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Did u snap out of it? If yes can you please tell me how
0 likes@esr4 nope still going strong
0 likesi've had almost all of these symptoms for awhile, i just hadn't seen myself different in the mirror.
2 likesself diagnosed not entirely sure.
I feel bad for you and I hope you feel better and find a solution for this . I wish the best for you ! ☺️
0 likesthe background is so lovely (and so are you) <3
2983 likesReplies (5)
Yeah, that lamp, innit?
2 likesRoses are red, violets are blue?
3 likesWait.. Then how do you know that you feel like your dreaming, if you never know what not dreaming is?
0 likesHey Monika Hey Hey hey Monika.
1 likeA little bit of Monika 💖💜💙💛💕💞💓
1 likeI vividly remember a point when I was about 7/8 years old and I was staring into a mirror. I had this feeling that it was the first time I was seeing myself despite having a mirror in my room for years. The body I saw wasn’t me except it moved when I did. Since then I’ve had multiple other occurrences of dp but I more commonly experience the feeling that I’m in a dream and the life I’m living is secondary to a real world and I fear making a mistake in the real world by following my dream life, almost like a true dream and bathrooms. However, one of my most common sensations is being engrossed in a book and looking up, I’m suddenly disoriented and the page gets smaller, the text is minuscule compared to a second ago and there’s no way I was just reading this book. My memory of reading the last few pages before my attention left is blurry but my eyes physically won’t refocus. It feels almost like a flashback instead of an actual experience.
0 likesI spent years .. many days, staying daydreaming for Hours and hours...
0 likesI still have that drealisation when I am stressed even with the low sense of stress
I got that for 8 months and that was a really difficult time.
1 likeLove and positive vibes from France
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what was the trigger and how did it go away?
0 likes@Della The trigger was boredom from school and mostly anxiety generated by an existantial crisis. I got away with accepting the fact that we live in an absurd wolrd, and taking care of myself (reducing the anxiety and depression mood). Most of the time depersonalisation is caused by anxiety, it's like a protection so if you decrease the stress and the anxiety, it will get better.
0 likesI have this during panic attacks. Almost like I’m an observer of myself. For me it goes away after the attack, although it’s always the very last symptom to fade away. Horrible feeling, you’re super brave and strong for living with that constantly. Good luck!
0 likesmy terapist told me 10 days ago that i have depersonalization too. im kinda freaked out because it sucks and what you say about it makes me so scared because i dont think that mine is too bad yet. i hope it doesnt get worse bc it is already really hard to handle.
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isabella I have it too. Don't worry, a tip on how to cope, what I always do is when ever I feel stressed and then go into the dream mode thing, I always squeeze something and say "this is reality, this is reality" over and over
6 likesI've been through that and it got really worse at some point, and I think you can handle it
4 likesstay strong 💛
4 likesNevaeh Carey thank you it means a lot to me! i hope you get better 💛
1 likeJoão Pedro Galindo obrigada!! espero que tu esteja melhor hoje
1 likeCrafts by Creme thank you baby 💛
1 likeCongrats on getting help! I hope you feel better soon :)
0 likesI’m sorry. It sounds like you are going through a really hard time. I don’t want to diminish at all how terrifying this must be. But if it’s any help, one of my psychiatrists told me that it is a natural defense mechanism against anxiety and that there is nothing wrong with me. Knowing that had helped me relax when it happens, and being less anxious about it has helped it happen less often and when it does happen it doesn’t last as long now.
1 likeI've had this condition for about 20 years. Its like the lights are on but no one is home at times. I often don't recognise myself and don't feel present. Memories and time are all over the shop. This all sounds exactly what I've been going through. I read somewhere it may be connected to vestibular issues. It also goes hand in hand with some so called disturbances of personality.
0 likesthe way i describe part of it to my mom is that i feel like i am watching my life happen through a VR screen
0 likesCan one have a less prevalent version of this? I often feel like I am the observer and not the interacter. I often loos contact with the meaning of things and words, and have to rebuild them. And I rarely remember happenings with any precision, almost like trying to recall a dream in the morning. Don't think anyone notes my struggles though, I probably have a bunch of coping mechanisms that I'm not even aware of.
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It sounds like you are having symptoms of Depersonalization.
0 likesHere is a great way to help others understand your symptoms:
Ask them to repeat a word over and over until it losses it’s meaning. It becomes a sound rather than a word.
You separate the meaning that sound has to your brain and it simply becomes sound not a word. The same way foreign languages are just sound to you but words to them.
You remove the association you brain has connected to the sound, hence the name Disassociation.
PS: You are correct in assuming it is a coping mechanism as it helps separate you from your anxiety/trauma etc.
I hope things improve. Good luck
: )
I have this a lot of the time....not always, but I really hope mine doesn’t get worse, cus it’s very scary. You’re very strong, it drives me crazy
0 likespeople saying "I kinda feel like ive had this" or "ive had this when I was tired" its not the same thing. Being tired means you lack concentration and awareness, its nothing like depersonalisation, trust me. Im only 30 seconds into the video and wanted to look at comments so before I press play again - DP/DR is like living in a dream, its like youre watching yourself play an actor in the movie, and although you sort of know you're here, it does NOT feel like it, and its impossible to just "shake off". Its the scariest thing ive been though and honestly id rather break both legs and arms than go though it again. I hope anyone going though it currently is having a good and productive day.
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How can you be the authority on who has a mental illness and who doesn't? Maybe these people who say they've felt like they've experienced DPD before actually have, seeing as it's a very common disorders/symptoms of a larger disorder. You have no place to judge whether someone does have something or not.
16 likesCaius Cassius perhaps some of the people do, but it's like everyone self diagnosing depression. A bad day isn't depression, it's a bad day. That shit FEELS different. DP/DR isn't a maybe, it's not something that's halfway there or something that happens once in a blue moon. It's ongoing. Whenever you're awake it's happening. It's not just something that you turn on and off as people are describing.
25 likesSo what then? No one is aloud to relate?
2 likesIwanttodie lmao what?? I have a job. I’m an interior designer. Why are you so salty? 😂😂😂 people are hearing her story and relating wth it which is totally fine. Relating and connecting and sharing was the whole goddamn point of this video. You’re response makes sense because you know you’re argument is invalid and you have nothing to throw back at me but an insult. Have a lovely evening sweetie. You’re doing great 👌🏻
6 likesThank you so much
1 likeBrooke Thole thank you!!
2 likesMegan Buckland How can you possibly know what another person is feeling though? Do you have some kind of device that allows you to be inside another person’s mind and body? No
6 likesI understand your point, but it is definitely possible to experience moments or short periods of derealisation now and then.
3 likesLilyfloss oh yeah, definitely. I certainly don’t have depersonalization 24/7 but I do have it quite often and I’m just thankful that I’m not alone in this and that it’s an actual thing and I’m not going crazy lol
5 likesThis happens to me when I am in high levels of stress. I usually have to sit down and do some math in my head to come back to reality. It’s like your brain detaches from your mine or something ridiculous.
3 likesDude, I'm so with you. It's a big pet peeve of mine when people sort of... dismiss it?? DP drove me to the literal edge and it really hurts when people don't take these things a bit more seriously. :-(
3 likesI'm 14 and I've had this since something traumatic happened when I was little and things trigger me into derealization. It really sucks. I can have it for a couple days weeks or even months.
2 likesBrooke Thole *you’re. Please see my above comments for a short guide on this
0 likesWild Flower a person who isn’t introspective to the point they feel they have to categorise/label the way they function
0 likesWild Flower also you shouldn’t be using language like that at your age
0 likesthis has happened to me from withdrawals from antidepressants and mood stabilizers
0 likesI think they are just trying to relate.
1 likeMegan Buckland I’ve dissociated before during bad depressive episodes, and I freaked out everytime. So I have a little taste of it. She’s very strong for dealing with this.
0 likesAnd adding on to this once it gets deep enough you start to question if you're even alive, maybe you died and this is you as a ghost because that is how unreal you are, i have only struggled with this a short amount of time, maybe a year now, but its like living in constant pain because its so hard to deal with. And people do experience it briefly if they are in a very stressful or anxiety ridden state, because it is a defense mechanism for your brain.
4 likesMegan Buckland i think im going through this but i dont think so, i think im dreaming rn HAI
1 likeMegan Buckland thank you for recognizing this. I get very bad falshes of exactly what you described (I have been previously diagnosed) and I hate that some people are saying things like "Oh yes sometimes I get this when I am tired but I usually just shake it off and come back to reality." It isn't like that, it is a terrifying experience that you can't just get rid of like that.
0 likesIwanttodie it is a real condition! People can relate! That fact that you come in here and declare that it isn't a real condition is atrocious! It is real and severe and scary and you can't just say that it isn't real! It is a real disorder and the fact that you would come in here and call someone inexperienced and then prove that you are even more inexperienced by saying it isn't a real condition is terrible! This person is obviously experienced and you are unavle to recognize it. They have managed to describe the symptoms perfectly and it would be prpetty hard to do that if it wasn't a real condition and they were inexperienced. You are spreading lies and being horribly mean. It is a real condition that many many people suffer from. Just because you don't have it doesn't mean you can just say it isn't real.
1 likeIwanttodie derealization is a VERY real condition and it affects a LOT of people.
1 likeI get this on odd days not when I'm tired but not all the time. it happens at random and its so weird. i do suffer from depression so this might be connected idk but finding out about this made me feel better because i know wtf was going on when nothing felt real/ like i was watching life through a screen everything is oddly crisp like a really HD TV nothing you see or hear feels real or right. also really dark like the contrast is really low or your dreaming cause ya know your dreams are always like darker vignette than real life.
2 likesSo my friend legit just showed because I told her a story that happened the other day and I watched this and then saw your comment and thought “holy shit. This is exactly what happened to me” this doesn’t happen a lot to me it’s usually when I change houses or when I stay in a hotel. It’s not usually when I’m at my house but when it is it’s extra scary. I honestly feel like you just told my most untold stories in that comment. Seeing this made me feel like I’m not crazy. My mom used to tell me that it was something haunting me or something like that but I never believed that. I always vividly remember these dreams I have before I “wake” up. I don’t remember any dreams at all besides the ones I have before I feel this. In these I always feel like I am flouting above myself and watching myself kinda freak out. I feel like I can hear ever single noise. Oh my god my hands are shaking. I’ve only told like one person this and I honestly thought I was crazy. So I don’t know if it’s really a true true that’s happening but every thing you described happens to me but not every single day. Please tell me I’m not crazy
2 likesAvery Richards you aren't. It's your brains way of coping with heightened anxiety. Completely normal and if anything it means your brain is working properly
1 likeAnnie Ru could you give me empirical support for that beyond a LOT of self diagnosing introspective wet dishcloth teenagers who spend their time playing ukuleles and dreaming of a future where they can be their own whiny media charity case?
0 likesLuna Lovegood I think you will find I can very easily say it is not a real condition and the reasons you give for why it is are about as watertight as your spelling and grammar 😎.
0 likesSomething is not a condition on the basis that it is an experience a lot of people can relate to. Taking a hard shit is an experience. I also find it scary and would assert its effects are markedly more severe than feeling a tad spaced out, yet I doubt I would be diagnosed with the condition ‘too much fibre in my diet’. You argue that it would be pretty hard to describe the symptoms perfectly if it wasn’t a real condition, yet I imagine most people could describe the symptoms of being a small glass of orange squash pretty accurately, yet for some reason that’s not a recognised condition? Hmm, strange. As for the idea that because I don’t have it I can’t say it doesn’t exist, that seems like the kind of logic that might lead one to have an imaginary friend in their 30’s, and furthermore, because if you do claim to have derealisation you are part of an infinitesimal minority, I would argue that just because you do have it doesn’t mean you can just say it is real.
Iwanttodie
1 likeNice one. For someone making fun of edgy people, you're pretty edgy yourself. When I said nobody cares, I was talking about your lectures about grammar and real education, because you know oh so well how to live life the right way. Yes, my family and friends do love me, and I'm sure yours love you too.
McDoucheybag Woah fuck I thought you’d gone
0 likesMegan Buckland I think I may have this. I have a very difficult time telling fantasy from reality. They also mix and it is very hard to unmix them.
0 likesLuna Lovegood thank you for saying this. Some people just think you can shake off mental dissorders like it is nothing. I live with depesstion and anxiety. I also think I may have this when I'm having mental break downs. It is so hard to fear your own mind. Also with this mental disorder it is very hard to come back to reality.
0 likesIwanttodie See, where you've gone wrong is that you understood this as being "a tad spaced out". It's not. Generalising (a mild version of) the feeling of drunkenness or tiredness is not gonna lead you to the right answer. People wouldn't be so afraid of it if that were the case, as I'm sure most know it. Don't you think?
0 likesI definitley have this. I never knew the name of it and I try to tell my parents about it but they look at me like im stupid. And they say that I'm so logical and I shouldn't be thinking like this. But its always been like this. feeling out of myself.
2 likesMegan Buckland YES!!
0 likesWELL THANK YOU CAUSE I THINK I MIGHT HAVE IT AND IT MIGHT BE HAPPENING RIGHT NOW XD HAAheAhehrrrre
0 likesSpiceeeMelone I'VE LITERALLY SAID "feeling out of myself" BEFORE I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS I THING!!! AHH! AND THAT DESCRIBES IT SO PERFECTLY! I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL DUDE
0 likeslemon waffle whilst I appreciate your effort to locate where I’m going wrong I’m afraid my current understanding is that depersonalisation does not exist at all and is the creation of a demographic of adolescents seeking to feel quasi-unique/scapegoat their failures
0 likesI felt like this before
0 likesConsidering Dissociative Disorders are a feature of both the DSM-5 and the ICD-10, including Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder (DSM) or Depersonalization-Derealization Syndrome (ICD), your understanding is clearly very poor.
1 likei DO feel like this. I need to see someone
0 likesomg this happens to me periodically like I just shift in and out of realities :0
2 likesReplies (2)
Me as well, I often shift out when I get excited or something super fun is happening, or when im scared. And even before and during getting a needle. It honestly kind of scares me. I have not visited a doctor or really talked about this subject, I thought everyone experiences this at times, and i find myself asking people "you know that feeling when things seem like a dream" and everyone just nods and I never get in detail with how im actually experiencing things. This doesnt happen to often to me but when it does it makes me scared and feel like i cant control anything im doing.
1 likeAnd im super worried this is going to start happening more often. Saying that most of these comments are explaining how this used to only happen a few times and now it happens on the daily
0 likesI have this. I have been diagnosed a few years ago.
0 likesIts rough. Some things make it worse. Like, too much stimuli at once.
Thats why its hard to go outside sometimes for a extended period of time.
I find night is easier to tolerate.
we have a similar condition! we have a condition called dissociative identity disorder. it’s pretty terrible, but it’s interesting at times. you should look it up.
0 likesThis is me whenever I'm stressed and I'm currently at a point where I am at my worst so woo brain no workies
2 likesI have never had derealisation but it sounds crazy scary!
77 likesReplies (5)
Kyla Gamaro wow
1 likeHaving it for a long time like I did the start of this year was awful. I couldn't FEEL things properly, everything was so distorted. No concentration, attention span, hunger signals or memory. Honestly I couldn't tell you what happened Jan-April at all. SO weird. But yeah shorter periods of it are just kinda funny odd. But yeah I guess sometimes its like when your drunk and your like 'I shouldn't be this drunk, I need to stop now' and its unsettling. But you can't really worry in that moment because your 'drunk' and feel so disconnected.
5 likesIt's not that scary to me it's just like I try really hard to get back in but there's like a wall that I can't get through. Depersonalisation to me is like I'll be thinking and it's like there are two brains and they are trying to connect again. It does suck but after a while you kind of just get used to it.
1 likeIt can be. I don’t know if you’ve ever done cannabis but to me it feels like when you get really high and you get super anxious and nothing feels real like all of your sensory input is too overpowering and time seems to slow down and you can’t think straight and you get paranoid everybody knows you are high. Only the difference is you can more or less choose when to use cannabis but you don’t have any control over when derealization happens. It’s like your life is a low budget daytime television series on an ultra HD tv.
2 likesKamila Jimenez this is exactly how i feel.
1 likei've just realised i relate to some of those symptoms, but for me i think it's more related to autism. The senses being too much or not enough is sensory processing disorder, not recognising faces, or faces seeming strange or unfamiliar can be face blindness, which is common in autism. but i don't feel like im dreaming necessarily.
0 likesI’ve had it for 9 years now. It goes away sometimes, but it happens every day and lasts for hours.
0 likesI can seriously relate.
1 likeI self-diagnosed myself with ‘something weird’ that was happening to my knees. After almost 3 years of seeing different doctors and specialists I was diagnosed with a rare condition. This condition made my knees dislocate at random times for random reasons. For some reason finding out what it was called was very comforting🤷🏻♂️
Replies (3)
This happens to me too!!! Now it happens less but a few years it ws really bad
0 likeswhat is your diagnosis?
0 likesI have severe patella Alta (4.9 cm left, 3.6 cm right.) I had surgery about 2 months ago to graft a tendon into my left knee to stop it from dislocating, and if it’s successful I’ll have it done to my right knee too
0 likesI felt like this for like a month or two after smoking synthetic weed. It scared the shit out of me and I felt like I was never gonna feel myself again. Thankfully I did.
0 likesI don’t have vision problems
400 likesbut I frequently feel like my brain is so muddled and that I am not myself. it’s more of a mental feeing than physical I guess. I have such a hard time feeling present EVER. I’m always seeking experiences that make me feel alive and real but I’m too tired to pursue them. idk what to do:/
Replies (9)
Accept bordem. There's so much pressure from ourselves to be entertained all the time. What changed things for me is reading 'the suble art of not giving a fu*k' I really recommend that.
5 likesI would recommend watching Infinite Waters
1 likeSame!!!!! I never felt that i am existing in the present and i am just floating. And that my body and my brain are two different things.
13 likesIt's so great to not feel alone, thanks for sharing. Exactly what I get
2 likesI feel the same!!! When I'm with people it's not so apparent to me but when I'm alone I feel like I'm floating around, and everything's a tiny bit out of focus in my brain but I can see everything fine
6 likesI feel the same way. I’m diagnosed with anxiety and especially in social situations I can feel myself not present mainly because I’m not mindful everyone points out that I look like I’m in my own world and I guess there’s some truth to that lol
3 likesTest your thyroid!
1 likeMaybe a weird or misplaced comment, but i've had this for 2 years when I was taking the birth controll pill. I stopped and it went away. Just wanted to let you know that that could also be causing this in case you are taking that.
1 likeI know this my seem not connected to it. But get your body checked. I felt the same for a long time. Started taking supplements and stopped drinking coffee and I have way more energy now. Like it's crazy. ! Vitamins & Nutrition are so crucial to your brains ability to function properly. And if you don't get all the vitamins you need then that cab happen.
0 likesI’ve always felt very connected in the world until this past year. I’m 20 and I have AVPD (avoidant personality disorder) and it’s gotten extremely bad this year, to the point that the only people I talk to is my immediate family and one of my classmates in college. I had two best friends but I only text them 2-3x a month, if I’m lucky. I’ve always been a maladaptive daydreamer, so that’s not new, but my feelings about life have become so distorted. I feel like the world doesn’t exist anymore. I feel like I’m a robot and everything doesn’t matter. I used to be a huge Christian, and I still want to be, but nothing feels real.
0 likesTime doesn’t feel real, my memories don’t feel real, everything feels static. I feel like I’m living in a simulation. Even my life seems so odd. My parents all a sudden have a ton of money and keep splurge buying stuff. I thought I would like this but it all feels fake. My brother ran away from home with his girlfriend and we haven’t talked to him in two months. But for some reason, I don’t even feel anything, even though he was my best friend. I’m going to school for a career but I don’t even feel like I’ll be alive in three years. I just sit in my room and watch more and more videos. I have so many nice and fancy things but it feels so artificial. I have a fancy car, fancy house, fancy phone, fancy clothes, and yet I don’t give a shit. When my family was poor, I always thought these things would make my life better, but they just make my life monotone. And on top of that I don’t even care about human interaction anymore. I feel like everything is pointless
The way you described derealization makes a lot more sense than what the DSM-5 describes it as. I felt that way about a lot of mental symptoms. For example, I recently started getting severe panic attacks (never had them before) and I felt like I was actually dying. My entire body felt like it was on fire and there was an electric shock feeling running up and down my arms. I couldn’t breathe, my heart was beating EXTREMELY fast, and it was triggered by nothing (I wasn’t even stressed that day). It lasted in intervals for 8 hours. I couldn’t get out of bed the entire day and I felt the most weak I had ever been. It took me three months to realize they were panic attacks because I couldn’t find my description of symptoms anywhere. I thought that panic attacks meant that you were scared, had a fast heart rate, and maybe quick breathing, not literally feeling like you’re about to die. The DSM-5 makes panic attacks seem SO much more gentle and different.
I have experienced this since I was 10, It was weird and I tried to explain it to my parents.
0 likesWhat has helped me were Zoloft/Ritalin or Strattera. I do have adhd and depression (dad's and mom's side respectively) though which cause the derealzation bc that combo is just very anxiety inducing.
0 likesMeeeee toooooo. As part of my PTSD... Problem is when I 'un'-dissociate I just dissociate in a different way because I feel like my life isn't real (because I don't recognise it lol)
0 likesThis is so relatable...
Is it just me.. or has dodie been uploading A LOT lately??!! It makes me SOOO happy!!
15 likesI forget I’m me sometimes. Then I have a mini existential crisis but hey, I focus better. I’m not really sure exactly how it affects me but yeah.
32 likesReplies (1)
Alina Nechiporenko do you know the name of it?
0 likesdoes anybody experience this when they are tired? I would like to know!
0 likesIt's nice to know I'm not alone ❤
0 likesDescribing DP/DR is exactly how you put it, like when you wake up from a nap and feel disoriented and not connected to what time of day it is.
0 likesI also describe it to people it feels a lot like you're wearing a VR headset...or if you've been day drinking and you sober up in the evening. Hopefully you can understand ONE of these examples!
so basically i sometimes feel like dodie feels.... but not the same . lemme explain. for example when i am sitting in class / random time of the day i suddenly realize that i am in this world i am me , but as of before i felt like i was watching a move thru the point of view of someone else or playing a game and controlling the character and i feel like my bran just flew out of my head................its really weird. if someone experiences this please tell me xD
1222 likesReplies (91)
a_cat_on_top_of_a_cat this sounds like depersonalisation! My experience with this is like watching life through the eyes of someone else with no proper control over what they're doing, even though I know it's actually myself. The way I look + sound doesn't feel right, and my emotions don't seem to be mine, almost like I can't truly experience them.
123 likesIf you look up depersonalisation and any of that seems familar you might want to speak to your doctor!
i get this ALL the time! I didn't realize it had a name and now i do so i feel a lot better about my situation.
55 likesmy heart dropped when I read that it felt like a movie. that’s exactly what I experience everyday and I’m glad I’m not alone
79 likesSame, I also feel that since a kid! I vividly remember when I was 7 or 8 years old, at school, standing in a queue with my classmates and having that episode in such a strong way. I have it really frequently, knowing I'm a person, realizing that I am indeed someone, that I have feelings like everyone has, that I have genes, chromosomes, ascendents, realizing I'm someone who has digitals, that I CAN be recognized in a crowd, that I experience desires, I have a perception -- just like everyone in the world... It makes me feel so weird.
59 likesIt's so weird realizing I'm living life in first person, I, me, seeing through my eyes, and I'm not doing that in third person, he, him, his life, his desires, it's MY life, like...???? It's so so so weird, the world is like a big simulation and perceiving I am not doing things as seeing "from outside" feels so strange it makes me want to cry
51 likesI wish I wasn't a person, I would like to be a transcendental being, no mass, just energy, a "god", if you will. A thing that has no self, just a other-dimension being that controls that body/ego/person that is "I". But when I have that *click* that I'm as real as a rock, everything just feels glitched. A The Sims game that went wrong.
32 likesYup! I relate to that too. I'm a musician and sometimes I'm out playing a gig and think "Oh. I'm a person who plays music and knows how to play instruments. That's...interesting" or something like "I'm a person who is driving a car. It's cool that I'm a person who can drive a car". I've had stronger dissociative episodes, but totally get the abrupt realisations that you described too!
28 likesme too!
4 likesa_cat_on_top_of_a_cat i feel the same exact thing everything she is talking about is happening to me , this is very crazy
1 likeI get this too!
1 likethis happens to me a lot, like i dont feel real? and i dont feel like anything else is real either. then ill randomly either realize 'oh shit i exist' or ill see something (like a few months ago it was my friends hair) and itll look so so real and im like, shit, things are real. woah.
24 likesI have the exact same thing, I’m afraid that nobody will understand me and I don’t know how to tell people and explain it
7 likesI relate to this!!! It always feels like im not exactly controling stuff and then all of a sudden boom im aware that im controlling my body
9 likesthis happens to me about maybe once a week for like 3 minutes at a time i find I️t to be extremely uncomfortable and almost have an anxiety attack. I️t used to happen almost once day but now I️t is happening less and less
6 likesi feel like that when i get high..like ive lived different lives but me as the main person.
0 likesdisassociation
1 likeI get this too... I think mine is an epilepsy type thing.
0 likesCharliee the Cacti yeh i relate too
0 likesCharliee the Cacti i relate to this and dodie :o
0 likesI can mentally see myself in another part of a room and see me doing actually what im doing.
6 likesSo i would be doing the dishes and i would randomly imagine myself sitting on the counter looking at myself doung the dishes
Its so weird XD
I have been getting this a lot lately and thought that it was just me who had it and when I talked about it to anyone, they just gave me weirds looks and thought I was crazy lmao so I don’t usually talk about it but this video has helped a lot!
3 likesa_cat_on_top_of_a_cat I kind of feel the same way. Especially when someone says my name. I also have moments where I'm like "Am I really alive? What if I'm in a coma? What if I'm dead but I don't know?"
0 likesa_cat_on_top_of_a_cat this is another explanation of what she has. I can relate to how this affects you
0 likesYes i have this too. It feels like I am normally not really concious but i only realize it in those moments. As if I am just working and reacting to my environment all the time without really bein there.
7 likesFabian Reschke yeah thats exactlyhow it seems for me
0 likesI have the same feeling sometimes. Just as you I have it in school but they often appear when I am playing videogames. It feels like I am leaving my body and the controller is held by someone elses xD idk it sounds suuuuper crazy.
0 likesi feel this as well. not very often, but when i do, it lasts some time. now i finally know what it’s called!!
0 likesa_cat_on_top_of_a_cat i get this when im usually tired but not sleepy i just say things i dont think of saying , and move from instinct ,it is so weird and it feels like nothing is real , it feels like my brain is silent but my mouth is talking and my body is moving .
3 likesThats because youre a NCP
0 likesThis describes nearly exactly how I feel!
0 likesI get this as well
0 likesI feel the same way with forgetfulness I can't recall my first 8 yrs of living i'm currently 14 and I can't tap into those memories and when I look at pictures I sometimes not always remember what I was doing like itt feels as if someone else was in my body taking over for that part of my life and it scares me sometimes I have to ask twice maybe three times before understanding what people are trying to tell me to do.
2 likesLee Hwyeon might also be solipsism?
0 likesI started feeling like this at the age of four. I just thought it was me just being curious or creating theories about my life. I don't have any other symptoms though.
0 likesLmfao 13 year olds diagnosing themselves
1 likeHappens to me too
0 likeswhen i was younger, I referred to it as "feeling the world spinning" because it made the base of my skull "buzz" and I would think "omigosh i am a person and this is by body and I am on a blue spinning ball...." just thoughts like that spinning and spinning and then as quickly as the feelings came, they were gone. I also described it as feeling like my body and my soul were not connected and I was seeing myself in the mirror and my reflection was me and not me all at the same time. I have clear memories of this happening and mostly when I looked in the mirror....bizarre stuff.
1 likeI had no idea other people felt this way too
1 likesame it seems so werid
0 likesThats a side effect of anxiety
0 likesI do. It's like you're watching through a vr. But for me, I can't feel anything.
1 likeive been there
0 likesSAME!
0 likesThis happens to me all the time I feel like I'm someone else and then something will happen and I'll be like "holy shit this is me"
2 likesthat's exactly what happens sometimes to me too!!!! I thought I was crazy hahahaha it's just like that, I feel like I'm watching a movie through my eyes
0 likesI have the same! It doesn't happen all the time, but it tends to happen when my anxiety spikes, so I feel like it's related to my anxiety disorder.
1 likeYES YES YES SAME!!! I’ve been tying to explain in to everyone but everyone thinks it’s just me exaggerating
1 likeSame for me!
0 likesa_cat_on_top_of_a_cat that’s depersonalization my friend
0 likesa_cat_on_top_of_a_cat I do this sometimes.
0 likesYES! I FEEL THAT!
0 likesI had this when i was little
0 likesIt’s dissociation
0 likesOmg!!!!! I USED TO HAVE THAT ALL THE TIME!!
0 likesMy entire time at school/college right there.
0 likesomg this happens to me all the time !
0 likesOmg i feel the same
0 likesWoah sorry for being late, but I relate a lot to your comment. Although the thing is, that my case is a bit different. It's like I am just there while somebody is controling my body. I can't focus, I constantly feel like I'm not real. I get dizzy and my head spins alot, which none of this used to happend before. It just started over the summer (is that even possible?). I can't even count how much times I ask myself: "What is wrong with me?". And it makes me so depressed and sad because I feel like I am not who I used to be. My memory got worse and it makes my classes almost impossible to remember. I have no idea what is going on with me. Are there any pills? Is it all in my head? Can I make it stop? If somebody can atleast guess what it could be, please, reply.
0 likes+sub so I can get verified and featured on YIAY
0 likesI do too. It occurs when I suddenly become bored or having too much fun ( I think about what I would do w/o it and blah blah) Don't worry girl. Hang in there.
This is just a thing... this just happens. If you relate to this, it doesn't mean you have depersonalization or derealization necessarily. You might, but this particular example is just simple existentialism. That's just being self-aware which is one of the most human thoughts you can have, seeing as (theoretically), humans' self-awareness is a large part of what sets us apart from other species in the animal kingdom.
1 likeMental disorders are very, very complex things and you really shouldn't self-diagnose. It may make you feel better and make you realize you're not alone, but the truth is that you're never alone. There are almost always other people who have been where you are, and accepting that your experience of life is human, and that you're not strange or abnormal is far more simple yet far more true than the "truths" we tend to stress ourselves to find.
I absolutely encourage everyone to find spaces (like this) online or in person (say, with your friends) where you can talk about what you feel. Use those opportunities to share your experiences and learn from others'. Humans are cool and you're cool so... be you.
Unless you're Hitler. Don't be Hitler. And probably scratch off Mussolini too.
I get that! Idk what is is though
0 likesI feel something similar to this sometimes. My eyes do this thing where randomly everything looks sharper and more vivid and I get this feeling like I have been on autopilot but am not anymore. Everything feels and looks weird and I become hyper aware of everything around me. Each time it happens is usually at night, when I am tired, or when I am having high amounts of anxiety or a panic attack. They only last for a few minutes and to get them to go away I distract myself or close my eyes and shake my head. It’s a weird feeling.
1 likeRaining Rainbows yes! It’s like your on autopilot and then you’re not and are super aware.
0 likesI get this and when I have derealization I feel as if I am watching myself through a screen or like a friend is telling me a story about my own life if that makes sense. I begin to panic and then I fall deeper into the hole
1 likeYes! I get this alot
0 likesi feel the same way sometimes
0 likessub so I can get verified and get featured on YIAY i feel the same, and sometimes when i stare at someone’s face, i suddenly realize that their face looks like a stranger to me, when i really look at them. But at the same time, inknow it’s them, like- i can’t explain it with words. I love how everyone has weird shit like this, i love knowing that there is at least one person out there who feels the same towards things as i do. Your experience is very similar to mine
0 likesi COMPLETELY relate to the game one. like it feels like you are watching things happen and not controlling or feeling any of it. i feel like i am just zoomed out. i can talk, laugh, be sad, but i feel like the negative emotions are much more realistic than how the positive ones feel. do you have any tips on what to do to ground yourself?
1 likeYES I GET THAT TOO
0 likesThat's how i feel! I feel like its everyday or every other day so i probably dont have depersonalization but it still sucks
0 likesI get that for little bits, it feels like I'm transitioning from the past to the future. I also find it when I am at a disco and it has a flashing white light
0 likesEveryday
0 likesMetoometooMETOO!!!
0 likesI feel the exact way you feel, don't worry, you're not alone
0 likesI get this....a lot...oOF
0 likesI have that too, it isn't overwhelming or anything... I KNOW what is happening but I don't REALISE it if you get what I mean. My life feels like a movie all the time
0 likesBut it's just lightly and I don't think I actually have depersonalisation or anything but Yeah I can kinda Relate
You might need to look for Sadhguru.
1 likeOmg u literally just described my life
0 likesIt happens to me all the Time no clue what it is but it's as if
0 likesYour someone else ?
Omg yeah!!
0 likesDamn I get it too. But now it's gotten worse and now I'm pretty sure I have dissociation?
0 likesTo everyone that has posted here:
0 likesDo not diagnoze yuorself. Contact a professional for a diagnoze. The odds you are totally wrong with a self diagnoze is huge.
I have that too. But I‘ve had a hard time explaining it ever since I first experienced it. It’s such a weird „is that really me? Am I living or dreaming?“ situation. And to someone who hasn’t had it, it’s soooo hard to explain.
0 likesI was diagnosed with derealisation yesterday and maybe it has something to do with it. We‘ll see.
YES
0 likesthats exactly what’s been happing to me through my life rn I’m doing something and suddenly I just blank out wonder if this its actually happening, is life even real. it’s so weird but then it just stops after a couple of minutes
0 likesThat’s depersonalisation, not derealisation. There’s also disassociative disorder.
1 likeDude you're going through an awakening of consciousness. or a spiritual awakening. Everyone can do it but society and social media manipulates and distracts from the subject. Seeing life from all perspectives, that includes astral where your consciousness developed imagery(this is what you explained), not just in the physical plane of life. Physical scenes includes sight , hearing, scent, ect that developed simply for survival purposes. Though you have to be careful because this way of thought brings about obsessive thinking and anxiety ..... meditation helps with the overwhelming feeling...
0 likesYes yes yes!! But I only get it when I am tired stressed hungry or haven't had enough to drink
0 likesSometimes I look at my husband, as if I'm seeing him for the first time and it dawns on me, really "sinks" in that he's my husband and I've known him for 8 years. It's happened with family members too, like my mom and siblings and friends. It's really disturbing. Luckily, my husband is very supportive about my dp/dr and constantly tells me that our relationship feels like "50 first dates" with me. I feel guilty because I forget so much, so often. We joke because I tell him we're living the retelling of our love story through him, like in the movie, "The Notebook"
0 likessame
0 likesWow, Actually yeah. I just found out that this thing is a disorder today so yey
0 likesI feel like that too...but not all the time, just random times, like I feel light headed and everything goes all blurry and I can't hear properly and I feel like I'm not really in my own body anymore, it lasts like 5 minutes for me but sometimes it can last a whole day
1 likeI used to have it since around 6 and I thought that I was always about to pass out but didn’t feel sleepy enough, just slightly almost dizzy like and it felt hard to talk when I’m in the state.
0 likesthank you for making this video. i’m so glad someone with a big platform like you is speaking out, i have the same condition 🥺💗
2 likesI have this but main prob for me is the Altered Size in Vision. If I stare at a object for long it will feel like it is getting closer and further from me. It's weird and hard to explain. That feeling comes especially while trying to sleep....
1 likeWoaaah the descriptions were so good. During one really stressful final exam week, I experienced a bout of depersonalization that lasted a few hours. Thankfully, I managed to google my symptoms and discover what I was experiencing and why it was happening. I think that helped me come out of it (on top of the stressors being gone). It was a horrifying experience, and I can't imagine having it chronically. You are so so lovely, Dodie. Stay strong <3
80 likesI love your words... so amazing and so bright... Thank you for sharing. Love you
0 likesThanks so much. I feel like this all the time. I have no advice. I have no idea at all how to deal with it. When I just try to press though I get migraines. I can't figure out when to take a break because I'm too messed up and when to just power through.
0 likesI suffer from depersonalisation and derealisation through trauma (ptds). Some days it's much harder, it ends in binge-eating, little triggers are enough... Always teacher / professors told me, I would be overly "dreamy", but actually I suffer from it and can't really do much about it.
0 likesI don’t have derealization disorder but god I remember the times I’ve felt like that. I have severe anxiety so it usually happened in moments where the anxiety was so high that my brain physically couldn’t take it and just disassociated. (A lot of times it would happen at large functions such as parties and I’d just sit down staring in front of me, squeezing my eyes shut and opening them again trying to get that feeling away and my vision back to normal.)
0 likesIt sucks having it for a short while. I can’t imagine every day :(
Only got it when two friend groups of mine that never met before, meet. But every single time i feel really disconnected then. Exactly the way you described it.
0 likesI have the same condition. I only just realized this, this year at some point. It's so nice to have people talk about the exact same thing you go through. For 22 years i thought that this was life. I also thought it was just my depression as well. It's interesting how late people find out things about themselves. I feel like everything is rendering to slow. Almost as if what is happening now has already happened, and I'm seeing a replay of it. Also i love your music! I wish i could write songs like you. I feel like it would help me out a lot mentally. Thank you for existing and bringing your art to this world.
0 likesi relate heavily to the mirror thing. ive stood in front of the mirror just staring and being confused af about how i am real and also just looking at my hands and feeling as if they dont belong to me
0 likesI have this constantly from being raised by an extremely narcissistic mother and didn't actually know that it wasn't normal until my senior year in high school when i found friends i actually trust telling things too and they told me that my experience is indeed "weird af" as they put is
0 likesI ALWAYS explain it as feeling like I'm dreaming all the time. I've never heard anyone else say it feels like they're dreaming. This was in my recommended and I've never clicked a video so fast because this is so accurate. It's the scariest thing I've ever experienced and do experience everyday. I'm sorry you've had to suffer. It's frustrating.
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NessyGames i started experiencing the feeling of “not existing” or not feeling myself in the moment ever since i was around 8 years old, i’m 15 now. But it doesn’t happen all the time, it has been getting better over time. But when i do feel that way i look at my hands and i just feel like i’m a ghost or something. My mom after a few years began being concerned about it and we called the doctor and i told them what my “symptoms” were and I’m not sure if she mention this condition along with anxiety. But is it a similar feeling?
7 likesYes, mostly it feels like my emotions are dulled down. I don't feel real, I feel like I'm in a dream, everything including my memories is a bit of a blur, and I feel numb quite a lot. Everyone experiences things differently. It happens after being through something traumatic/multiple traumatic things and then your brain detaches and tries to protect you by essentially making you numb.
11 likesI connected with this video so much as well. Mine comes and goes. And the severity differs as well but when I’m not feeling there I literally can’t get out of bed. It messes with my mind so much! The only thing that helps me is when I get ultra focused on something in a quiet space( so like a YouTube video in the car or something) or sleeping. It sucks though I can’t even look in the mirror without this overwhelming feeling of that not being me. I had an episode I guess you can call it back a few years ago and I couldn’t stop crying. I went to my doctor and he told me I had allergies!! Now none of my family believes me and they think that I am a hypochondriac. But I have felt what you are feeling I know there isn’t something right with me but I feel like nobody will ever take me seriously.
3 likesI always say that im having an out of body experience like astral projection while im awake
0 likesNessyGames Yeah I haven’t clicked on anything so quickly..
0 likesI relate to this so much
1 likecan't believe I just found out about this and I really wish I could have found it sooner.
0 likesjust wanted to say that you're really brave and that I admire you so much for never giving up and being open to different treatment options even though they may not work. I don't think I have this disorder because again, it's only a disorder when it's maladaptive (meaning it interferes with daily life and being able to function like a normal human) but I have experienced several "dissociative episodes" as a result of my traumas. boy do I have a lot of those. hopefully I'll get to a point where I can one day finally be brave enough to get help outside of my licensed professional counselor and start seeing a therapist/trauma specialist.
sending all my love always<3
This is me. I had to explain to my therapists what derealization was, actually. :(
0 likesI’m glad it was from something I took and not a traumatic event. I feel like I have a better chance at recovering. I’ve been like this since February 13 of 2018 and everyone once in a while I feel almost normal. I’m getting there I’m trying so hard I messed myself up. I regret it every day of my life.
0 likesI didn’t realise this was an actual thing, I thought I was just tired and not really with it.
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she didn't say she did and even if she thinks she does and/or does have it you don't have to be rude about it
45 likesaBEEgail thank you
7 likesYou could be suffering from narcolepsy if you're chronically fatigued. That's much more likely than the condition which has been described in this video.
7 likesAlright, no offence to anyone but I don’t need strangers on the internet telling me what I do or do not/might or might not have. I’m currently seeking actual professional medical help.
25 likesRosie Ferris I hope you figure out what you have and that it doesn't give you much trouble
3 likesRosie Ferris I felt like I was tired so I started taking these iron pills and I realised they didn’t work. And now I found out a few weeks ago
0 likesdid u have a feelin of haziness and could not focus? like u had too much benadryl? That may be a side effect of some meds or related to pms - i believe its called brain fog
0 likesThe reasons why you constantly feel this way are uncountable so I do suggest you to talk to a professional about it. In my case, I recently found out it was caused by depression.
1 likeYou should talk to your doctor and maybe Get a diagnosis
0 likesDeuce Horn they replied to their own comment that they're seeking medical help
2 likesCharlie Kelly who peed in your Cheerios😟
1 likeSelf-diagnosing seems to be a common thing under Dodies videos. Hence all of the thumbs ups on this comment who probably do not have the condition but now believe to have it just because they are often tired.
2 likesSame with depression. No idea what they are talking about but listen to Dodie talking about it and think that because they are sad or gloomy from time to time, they are depressed.
Get an actual diagnosis before posting 'me too! Me too!' comments, please.
partofyourworld can this haziness/ unfocusing thing happen without being on any medication?
0 likes@Rosie Ferris How are you feeling?
0 likesMore progress. Now I'm gonna go hunting for your most recent video on this. Loads of love from here.
0 likesPretty late to this video, but yeah I'll share my story. In these recent years I just havent been seeing the world the same. I've had issues hearing people, and I just zone out without realizing. My hearing was fine long story short, yet I still struggle with "hearing" people. When I go to my locker, and put in the combo, I dont even see my hands as my own and everything gets foggy. Another time, I was bringing a binder back to the back of a room and just completely went to another world, I cant describe it so well. Some part of me believes that maybe I do have depersonalization/derealization, but then again maybe I dont.
0 likesI never heard about it and I am really surprised that it's such a common mental disorder. Time to do a little bit of research! :)
0 likesthis video is the only reason i knew what was going on w me and that i wasn't just crazy. thank you.
0 likeshi there!!! im someone whos professionally diagnosed with dpdr at 14! its a struggle and its honestly horrible to deal with, please dont self dx with it. when youre traumatised as a child, dissociation and such is more prominent and i never realized how horrible it was until this age. ive dissociated for months on end, and its happened everyday. dpdr can be an asshole to deal with! everything shes explained is exactly what ive dealt with, and yes, you can be diagnosed with this sort of thing that young. nothing feels real at all, itll occur everyday that everything around you doesnt look real and it feels as if youre watching a video or playing a role as a protagonist in a game, if its easier for anyone to understand like that. nothings really helped with my dpdr, and its...something. therapy helps a lot with this sort of thing, and ive had dpdr episodes in the worst situations. you really, as she said, learn to live with it. it can be scary, very scary. i hope others are dealing with it as best as they can as well!
0 likesWow. This is really interesting. I’ve never experienced this before
0 likesif anyone is reading this and still suffering, there is a way out of this, I promise. I highly recommend purchasing the DP manual which is about £35 and has helped me ENORMOUSLY in coping with this condition, and alleviating the symptoms. It's a pdf book as well as an audiobook and I seriously think it's the best way to get out of the disorder. Good luck x
0 likesi was diagnosed 5 months ago with dissociative disorder and derealisation and stumbling upon this video was a blessing. started crying immidiately for some fucking reason. ty for uploading this helped a lot knowing im not alone and so are many others
0 likesSometimes I feel as if I can’t grasp myself. As if I’m watching a stranger live her life and she very rarely asks me what she should do next. Living in a theatre watching my life go by has been my reality ever since I can remember. Sometimes time stops and suddenly everything is too sharp and real. These are my peeks into reality, and they are quite frightening. Being spaced out isn’t so bad, it’s actually helped me through a lot, given I can’t fully experience some emotions. Dodie, you’ve helped me see that I’m not alone. I’ll always and forever be genuinely in love with you. ❤️
192 likesReplies (7)
Stay strong 💛
3 likesIt's Just Kayla I understand, I often feel lile i'm floating anf that i'm not really here. I'm just watching a young teen ponder about life and death. Constantly spaced out and forgets things within a minute...
6 likesThat is exactly how I describe it to others! You will get better! Loves 💜💜
1 like❤️❤️❤️
1 likeDamn you summed up my feeling perfectly. It really is like I’m watching some random person live their life and all of the people around me aren’t real. Describing it as time suddenly stops is so real to me and it’s like everything is honed in on only me. Sometimes it feels like I can see myself walking from a distant point of view too.
3 likesIt's Just Kayla Same!! You articulated this so well. I feel like this 24/7 and my peeks into reality are so, so stark, and vivid, but sometimes so unspeakably painful.
1 likeWe are in this together, lovely people ❤️
0 likesi started having derealisation not so long ago, but i found some things that help me sometimes. first of all, i just roll with it like its a badtrip - you can't control it, you just wait until it goes away, because eventually it goes away every time (for people who don't have it chronically). second, i try not to concentrate on it, cause anxiety just makes if worse and do stuff that grounds me: people help a lot - hugging, touching; tiktok and just concentration on one not deep thing
1 likemaybe somebody finds it helpful
I struggled with this for about a year and had no idea what it was called and that other people dealt with it until now. I felt like I was going crazy and that at any point I could take a step and fall into a void. It's a scary feeling.
0 likesi have this too and its so good hear other people talking about
0 likesI find when I get super depressed and watch tv shows to escape reality I get super attached to the characters and when I return to reality I feel so empty because that world was so much better.
0 likesIn middle school I suffered a lot from depersonalization and it got to bad I was actually hospitalized for two weeks because of basically a mental breakdown. I didn't know what was wrong with me and freaked the fuck out. Now I only get episodes maybe once a month and I've learned to cope with it. It's super scary going through life, not knowing what is wrong with you, or even how to describe it to doctors because you just don't know how. But once you're diagnosed, it's like a big weight that flies off of you, and you know that's the first step to getting better.
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Hey uh, I have a a few questions. I am in middle school (grade 7) and I have experienced this since 5th grade but I managed to get rid of it for a couple of months. Every day is basically a living hell for me because I feel as if I am a spectator. Anyway, did you take medications for DPD/DRD? Right now I am currently undergoing the Child & Youth Mental Health Services and they recommended I join the anxiety groups.
1 likeIn conclusion, I feel so hopeless right now. I feel as if I'm never going to get cured. I just really want to get better so maybe if you could please go into detail about your journey to recovery?
Veronica J can I ask you something?
0 likesI’m in high school and have been dealing with this for around 5 years,
Nothing works for me, I have no idea how to wake up, no pressure of course but how did you learn to cope?
nice picture.
0 likesI really struggled with this disorder and even more as i kept growing up it just kept getting worse where i was becoming schizophrenic bc i was just dealing with more personal stress and trauma and my disorder was getting in the way of my day to day life, but thankfully its calm down dramatically i dont stare at my hands and freak out i dont look at furniture and think theyre 3D stickers i can just grab, i dont wanna sound cheesy but my cure was my bf, i have bad abandonment issues since a child and thats where my derealization disorder started and worsened but he really helped filled in the gaps of trauma and i have wayy less episodes but i still cant hear and understand what their saying just try to understand their interactions or what theyre trying to tell me, every so often i struggle to socially function, and cant see as she described, forget often immediately without wanting to, unintentionally scramble up my words and the way i talk, and fog up making my movements and the way i do things difficult on myself
0 likesAbout 2 years ago i started to feel scared like a chill up my spine. Suddenly i felt dizzy and the noises around me made my head hurt. Everything suddenly looked different from before at this point i was about to cry. Since i was in school i asked my teacher if i could go to the nurses office once i went i explained to the nurse what i felt she looked at me funny called my parents and since then they believe it was some sort of spirit or that i was just stressed out so i'm happy to see that i'm not alone.
0 likesI believe I've been dealing with this although I'm not diagnosed. Two years ago I went through severe emotional and physical trauma and was hospitalized numerous times for multiple reasons. When everything was returning to normal, something felt off. The more I focused on it the more frightened I became. Everything feels surreal. I find myself in a way at times convincing myself that none of this is real and that I'm in a nightmare. I'm still trying to find ways to cope with it. Anyway it's comforting to know now that I'm not alone.
0 likesSometimes I feel like the world around me isn’t real even just for a second sometimes.
2 likesANYONE ONE ELSE FEEL LIKE THIS : too derealised to talk to your therapist. I walk in and simultaneously faded out of my own body and yet im sitting there and saying im in pain, expressing all that's happened in recent weeks but looking at them, they look bored and annoyed and i realise that all this time my mouth wasnt moving. When it finally does move i end up muttering 'im fine' but they know im not, they just dont know what they can do to help as i cant say it. If ur having this problem, take a notepad in with with and write down ur thoughts as u think them before they run out of ur mind. What u could also do is write a list of feelings in a notepad and when in therapy, point to whichever one ur experiencing - once u start the conversation, it becomes easier to hold on to reality. If something really painful or sensitive comes up remember - u r as real as u want to be and so is the room ur in, the world u r in and the mind u OWN. U arent a slave to it, u just have to learn how to be good roommates :) hope this helps someone. Love to u all❤💜💙
470 likesReplies (14)
Janai P thank you so much, this is great advice. I haven’t had a ton of problems talking to my therapist, in fact I’m saying more than I ever have, but even then there are a million thought that spring up that never leave my head. It helps a ton to think of your mind as a roommate and not a window you look through, to think of the world as just as real as you are, I really really appreciated this comment. Thank you again.
12 likesAhhhhh thanks for the tips
1 likeJanai P Oh how I wish I had a therapist
4 likesJanai P sameee
1 likeJanai P therapist don't help me 😞
2 likesWhat's stopping you?
2 likesKatie Snigs My parents dismiss my emotions
1 likei have the exact same, thanks for the tips!
1 likeWolfheart- I'm so happy i could help and i appreciate u taking the time to reply cos it really warmed my heart☺☺
0 likesThis is exactly how I feel, also sitting in a bright as hell room trying to concentrate on the therapist is so hard, I hate one on one convos sometimes because I just get so spaced out and become unfocused and then when it's my turn to reply i'm like "whaaat?".
0 likesNah
0 likeslool
0 likesWtf this is so relatable
0 likesThat is hard. At the end of the day they are there for you and want to help they just don't understand. Try and explain as much as you can. I know how frustrating it is. My parents never used to understand and have said and done things over the years that have made my situation worse but its just because they don't understand it. I think you can agree its not the easiest thing to understand even when you are going through it and it is s*** ! Ultimately you can get help with or without them onboard but having family and friends that are close to you understand is honestly more helpful that it might feel.
0 likesSince the age of like 7 I remember being socially anxious since age 10/11 I felt like there was something wrong with me and from age 12 I wanted therapy. At age 18 I meet my best friends who really understand me. I am now 22 and I have this year finally made a breakthrough with my family helping them understand me abit more. They don't know everything that I have dealt with but they understand a lot more and living under their roof it makes day to day a load easier than it has been. I still haven't had therapy but I have been learning a lot about myself and my feelings and reading and watching videos and researching more about mental health it has helped me understand myself and others more. I am planning next year to get help because as good a base as I have now I am not ok I am not "fixed" and I still have horrendous moments or "episodes". I still need help but I am close to allowing myself and having backing to get the help I need and about bloody time! It takes time to get there and its different for different people I'm sure there are people who it takes a lot less time and some it takes forever just be as kind to yourself as you can :)
Ultimately you don't need their backing to get help but it does make a difference! I hope you get the help you need - don't give up!
My therapist told me that I might have this. I would have to talk about it with my psychiatrist next week.
0 likesI had not heard of this symptom/problem, I guess my time was spent with the other two you mention. Great explanation, And your positive approach to try treatments and therapies to find what works for you is to be commended. For People suffering Mental health problems it is hard as the problems have an annoying habit of varying from person to person as to what helps beet them. so Do not worry if the first thing you try does not work for you. Just as Doddie has Keep in touch with your GP and by all means try other options but do let your medics know what you are trying. As a long term depressive with major anxiety Trust Me It Does Get Better. Slowly but it does get better. Doddie just found your songs on here and Loving then. Just learning to sing and theres one or two of yours I might have a go at but I will have to transpose it down to my voice. Loved your Santa Time songs in the Minor key making them slightly creepy. Keep singing as it is fun not only for you but all of us Calum x
0 likesim so grateful for this video. I feel like no one treats it seriously like ohh its not that bad but BOI!!!! i feel so dissconected from everything, the world feels fuzzy and weird i cant see right ( got my eyes tested and was so spooked when they came out all right - i just couldnt understand why everything is so blurry yet my eyes are healthy), time flies either too fast or two slow, i can't focus on anything and my memory is shit (which caused me so much pain in uni - i had to re-take my tests four times and almost dropped out), it makes you paranoid because you're not always sure if you're dreaming or not, it's horrible okay and made my depression and anxiety disorders so much worse so tganka for speaking up about the issues, lots of love x
0 likesFacts Ive been diagnosed since like 2015 and its definitely and uphill battle, appreciate people who can speak on their personal struggles so openly.
0 likesI have a condition (well it’s not really a condition) where I can’t tell if my memories is a memory or a dream since my memory isn’t very good and my dreams are too realistic. It’s very disorienting because I never know when I reminisce about something if it even ever happened or did I dream about it. The dreams that I have feel like memories so I have no idea.
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Despicable Penguin this happens to me sometimes and will mix up reality and dreams. Like ill just remember something but cant remember if it happened or not and im aware im tripping
24 likesGlad you can deal with that. I can’t
3 likesThis happens to me too!
4 likesSAME
1 likeIget this too!
0 likesYeah this happens to me too, but I have had a few concussions and head damage in my life so that could be it too. I always feel bad after telling my friends a memory only to be told that it never happened.
4 likesDespicable Penguin This happens to me too. Recently I’ve also been wondering if I dissociate or depersonalize. I feel like I have a lot of problems that I didn’t even know were real things
0 likesDreams incorporate very real memories of people and feelings so thats probably why
1 likeThis happens to everyone at least once. Some more often than others.
6 likesIts not an condition but just the brain messing up lol
This happens to me a lot and DAMN is annoying. I literally ended one of the best friendship I've ever had because of it. I thought we had gotten into an argument so I gave her the silent treatment the next day. Well turns out the "argument" was a dream and I lost one of the best of friends I could of ever asked her. I would try to make amends but I'm to embarrassed to even try to speak to her.
2 likestoxic emotions
0 likesIt was only one day. Just tell her and you guys can laugh about it together.
Despicable Penguin omg this happens to me
0 likesI think that my be from lucid dreaming too much?
1 likeMe too
0 likesI can relate; u not alone! o/
0 likesI have a similar problem, but it's less that my dreams are too realistic and more that my life is too absurd. When I remember something, I feel like it's just a dream I didn't remember, so I pretend not to remember anything so I don't mess up. In reality, I can remember things from several years ago if I feel strongly enough about it, which I usually do.
0 likesI don't have problems saying if something really happened but the thing is that it often doesn't FEEL as if it actually happened, as if I had really been there, in that moment, living this experience.
2 likesi have this too does anyone know what this is called? (if it has a name)
0 likesI thought that was just me! I do this all the time. Yay! Not alone! :) It still really sucks though sometimes
0 likesDespicable Penguin yessss me too
0 likesThat happens to me
0 likesThis happens to me so much omg when I was younger I used constantly dreamt that I was going to a random school and the same teachers and kids would be there every dream, I thought it was real and I still have solid memories from it but it was a dream, freaks me out
0 likesHad this with winning the lottery
0 likesSAME
0 likesI feel the same way all the time. I wasn’t aware that it’s a condition, thanks for leaving this comment so I could figure it out. I also experience similar things to Dodie, but not exactly the same. I also tend to forget things moments after they happen, yet remember them at the same time and I feel like I just woke up from a dream.
0 likesThat happens to me TOO
0 likes@Aiden Tuck true had that yesterday cant help it tho
0 likesits actually a form of delerium
0 likes@TheArtsyDork been there done that only mine was caused by a mix of depression and meth induced psychosis
0 likesSame
0 likesHOLY FUCKING SHIT I THOUH I WA STHE ONLY ONE HOLY SUFIFDICK
0 likesit’s funny because I use to think this was some sort of ADHD for myself, i came to the fact about 2 months ago that I actually have déréalisation-depersonalization. It is constantly a fear for me because it has gotten into my everyday activities and i’m constantly feeling drunk like you said and my vision and memory always being impaired, kinda feeling like a zombie in your body. I also tried antidepressants (zoloft, xanax, and prozac) those just increased the symptoms I had with this disorder. I’ve also found this is common in people with PTSD, I’m not sure if you have it but it’s constantly a fight for me and to stay away from suicidal thoughts. I hope I can get better from this and not have to deal with it like I experience it now, but anyways that’s my experience with it :). hopefully someone can relate and not feel to alone throughout this.
0 likesDude this happened to me a lot when I was younger and even leading into grade 9, but now I’m in grade 11 and I haven’t had an episode like that in a really long time and it’s so weird having it out of my life. I used to always say “does anyone else feel like things aren’t real, or aren’t really happening” and I thought it was something everyone had at some point in their life, like my mind just disconnected with my body and surroundings and everything happening felt out of my control, it felt like a dream. This is so weird the more I think about it ahhhhhh.
0 likesNot sure if it's the same thing or not, but something like this happens to me. Not continuously, but occasionally, just when I'm doing something.
1 likeSomething that helps during derealization is socializing and engaging in activities around you. It makes you feel grounded and proves that you're really there. I've had a couple of derealization episodes, which were horrible, and that's helped me. Right now I have less of those, so just know that it'll be okay, those feelings are just temporary if you seek and get the help you might need. I sincerely hope you'll find it and wish you all the best with recovery. x
0 likesI HAVE TIPS FOR YOU
8 likesBecause I TOTALLY understand this! I actually just got over my depersonalization recently. I too used it as a coping mechanism, but more for anxiety and trauma like situations. The biggest thing for me was not recognizing myself. I would have episodes of depersonalization that would come and go, but I couldn't recognize myself for months. That scared me because I'm supposed to know myself the best, right? Wrong. I would stand in the mirror for an hour making faces and touching my skin. The scariest thing was looking into my eyes and not seeing life there.
So all you darling kiddos out there who struggle with this, here's a tip from my doctor that SERIOUSLY helps! Use your five senses and countdown on your fingers like this: 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, one thing you can taste. THIS IS SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN TO HELP it grounds you back to reality and IT WORKS GUYS. It's hard to remember at first, but practice (even when you're present in space and time), it'll become a habit.
I HOPE THIS HELPS
PEACE
THANKS
Replies (1)
i've read this advice a lot before but am i the only one who freaks out more when i try it? like i do this countdown and i'm even more scared because i feel that i can't really feel all that i'm listing, like it's very far away from me and and the more i concentrate on reality, the more it feels unreal. It makes my questioning of reality and of my senses just stronger :/ (i don't know if i sound very clear but maybe someone will understand what i'm trying to say and have some more tips ahah? anyway, thanks for your tips, i hope it'll help someone else, have a very good day my friend and i'm so happy for you that you've overcome your depersonalization!)
0 likesEDIT: also here are my personal tips, i don't know if i really have derealisation/dissocation but i feel like i'm constantly of the edge of it so here's what i do:
-i try really hard to distract my brain of the feeling of dissociation, it's super hard at first because the more you try not think about it, the more you think about it. If I'm with other people, I try to focus on what they're saying, even though it's super hard to concentrate on anything when you're dissociating, but at least i try because focusing on someone else saying is way healthier than listening to the bullshit my brains saying. If I'm on my own, I'll just listen to a podcast, especially one I've already listened to before as it will be something familiar but still i have to focus on what they're saying and it can distract me from dissociation as it goes direct into my ears with my headphones on.
-i play music! if you're a musician, that's what works the best for me, as playing an instrument and singing at the same time leaves no space for my brain to think about anything else. Playing the uke has always worked to calm me down and ground me, it's almost a miracle.
the only problem is that these (podcasts and music) are short-terms distractions, and it can make things worse as getting distracted from reality can, well, make it even less real, so it gets better for a little time and then it comes back harder. My goal for next year is to create a serious routine, and write down everything i do, i feel that it can helps a lot to keep you grounded, as a routine would help not getting lost in time and the writing helps remembering that what you've just lived was real and helps you not forgetting.
And last tip: i just go to sleep as it shuts down my brain for a while. But don't do it during daytime or you'll be completely lost when you wake up. I guess sleep routine is very important but i'm still struggling with it and i'm certainly not the only one ahah.
feel free to tell me if you've got some thoughts on this! Be kind to yourself, it'll get better my friends and life will be bright again! Love you all
I might have this too! ever since my huge panic attack at my band concert I haven't felt the same.
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Update- here’s the tea about what I’m up to now.
0 likesI went to a therapist and guess what.... I DO HAVE IT! Every time I would go to stores or anywhere really hot or cold I would have an episode. It’s really scary and feels like you’re in a movie, except your the point of view that isn’t on screen. (Camera) I sorta just dealt with it and only have episodes if something scary happened to me prior to the episode. (Someone telling me bad news, falling off of my bike, or even getting really dizzy) I’m a lot better now luckily.
I feel like I’m just looking at myself while my body is doing thing that I would usually do by myself.
3 likesWoah okay. So I have felt like I’m dreaming and just hovering in a weird reality since the age of 5, it started when I first travelled abroad. Never ever have I felt the same since that day. I have even travelled back to that place to see whether I’d be able to untrigger that feeling. (It didn’t work) Of course I have never looked into it medically, I just thought that I was weird and carried on living. Eventually, as I kept on suppressing my mental health, it heavily back fired on me in my late teens (19/20) and I started to have major depressive episodes as mentioned. It got even worse, and after seeking medical attention + counselling, the doctors found an answer to my life long issue and diagnosed me with ADHD. Now, I wonder, is this similar to this? I am not taking any medication for ADHD, so I haven’t had a change in behaviour so I still always feel like I’m dreaming. I always thought that this feeling was due to my ADHD, but could it be perhaps what this lady is talking about?
0 likesOH my god. I honestly think that this is what I deal with. It’s not CONSTANT but I feel it. I feel your pain.
0 likesI don't think I have derealization/depersonalization but this is how I feel: Sometimes I'll be walking around or whatever then all of the sudden I get this weird feeling, I don't know how to explain it. Like I don't feel, real anymore, like, I'm dreaming, and like, I don't exist anymore, I feel like nothing. Then I'll start wondering things like, 'Am I real?' ' Is anything "real" anymore?' But then I'll snap back into reality. Sorry if I'm explaining this weirdly I'm only 12 years old and I don't know what's happening to me... :(
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Existential crisis?
30 likesThat happens to me, and I’m the same age as you. Just stop thinking about it and it stops
17 likesWhen I was younger those little snap shots of unrealness used to happen to me. Like not a lot or for any certain situation, but just randomly once in a while. It is simply a moment of derealisation/depersonalisation, and its normal for someone to have a moment of it. Around 50% of people say they experience something like it in their life. It might never get to be anything more than that, so you don't need to worry about it right now. One day it COULD progress, but that's not to say it will, and if it did, at least you know what it is and that you're not alone, and there's help out there
35 likesExistential crisis. Everyone has it every now and then. Nothing medically bad or w/e it's just life
3 likes+Beef_Cheese_Lettuce
10 likesThat is what Derealization/ depersonalization is like. What I did to help was to try and ignore it and not think about it. Don't try to go into a deep thought about how you feel because that will only make it worse.
Omg' that's exactly how I feel! I'm 14 now. And it first happened to me when I nearly drowned (that was when I was 10)
11 likesIt's not happening regularly but just sometimes like in the bus or in class and i feel like everything gets smaller and smaller and everything you described.
It's a really weird feeling and it's good to see I'm not alone!
I am Phan trash #1 well sounds like you definitely DO have it :(
1 likeI'm 12 too and I have the same thing
4 likesomgggg i literally get the E X A C T same thing nice to know it's not just me,, and it only lasts for a few seconds too
5 likesThat happens to me
2 likesHey! Denationalization/derealization are symptoms as well as a disorder. so what you are most likely experiencing is the symptom rather than the disorder. The symptom is very common to have. The disorder is an all the time thing. Hope this helps!
6 likesHI omfg i have the exact same thing!!! I literally thought I was the only one but after reading your comment i finally know someone shares the same thing. glad to know im not alonee. have you found anything helpful?
5 likesim 15, this is what happened to me, dont stress about it
3 likesIm also the same age as you and i have also that feeling sometimes. While im writing this i dont feel real and i dont feel like im writing this.
4 likesI used to get that a lot as a kid and I can still get it now that I’m 16 if I think about it a lot, I had no other way to explain it other than I didn’t feel real and it goes when you distract yourself, for me personally I haven’t seen anyone like therapy wise or a doctor but through research I know that people who experience it it’s usually due to mental issues such as derealisation or depersonalisation, or bpd
3 likes@Hannah Montgomery 〈3 you described it as everything getting smaller I think that sounds more like Alice in wonderland syndrome and you should probably tell an adult if you think it's serious and if you should get a medication
3 likesStart with limiting the amount of like
0 likesYa the same do happen with me😫
0 likesHoly heck that's a thing?? I've had that same feeling for a couple years omg! (I don't think I have it, I'm not going to self diagnose because that's no good also I'm never talking to anyone about it because that's not a thing for me. But if you have feelings like this please talk to someone! It's good for you 💖💖)
0 likesThank god I know that other people feel this way and that im not alone
0 likesThis feels kinda similar to what I have which is aspergers syndrome but there are still things that make it different to what you have.
0 likesHope you're doing okay now dodie
0 likesEveryone remember that their experiences are valid, and that if you feel like you need help then don’t be afraid to seek it. Take care of yourselves ♥️♥️
7 likesThe leaving the movies and using the bathroom at a party were 110% accurate. I couldn’t have described DP better myself.
0 likesMe: Wow I've never heard of this before, it sounds kind of familiar
1 likeAlso me: I wish Kati Morton did a video on this.
Youtube: Next up: dodi and Kati talk about Derealization and Depersonalization
:)
Just found out I may have this and I remembered this on it so I came here to find comfort
0 likesSometimes it’s like I zone in but then a few seconds later I zone in again so the first time I zoned in I didn’t really zone in and that’s pretty much how I live my life
1 likeyou’re the only person or thing i can relate to with this and i am soooo grateful
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Lydia Grey Me too! I had no idea this was actually a thing with a name till dodie's video last year!x
3 likesthing?
0 likesRui Chen referring to the video not dodie!
0 likesoh ok
0 likesI remember watching this and appreciating you opening up but I didn’t relate. Now watching this after moving out on my own I relate to this so hard. So bad at memory and I just expect myself to forget everything, which I usually do. Adhd makes everything so hard to do and when supposed to be happy I just don’t feel it. I spend every happy moment telling myself to enjoy it because it’s going to end soon, and then I don’t even feel happy with that thought in my head. Definitely get thoughts and anxieties stuck in my head. Anyways:) ahaha
0 likesThanks for the video. I smoked up yesterday and I went through some crazy shit. I thought I was going mentally crazy. I smoked and 30seconds later I closed my eyes and opened them back and my brain thought I was asleep however I was awake the whole time and I thought i was dreaming and thought everything was fake/unreal. I never felt like that till the first high I got which was yesterday. I'm okay now however I'm still thinking, what if I'm still asleep now? and all this is just a dream. I'm trying to persuade my self its real lol
0 likeswhen she says that the sensation 'never did' go away, she really meant 'hasn't yet'
11 likesI think the closest I've come to explain this is sleep paralysis I think, everything seems so real but distant and I forget everything for a microsecond and the my brain reboots like window vista startup..
0 likesthis video is so well put-together and really informative, but isn't at all dry or dull at all- good job, dodie! : ) jeez dodie really is just a great human isn't she?
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sydney Ikr!
2 likesI barely ever comment on YouTube videos. I remember the day that this video came out, and I added it to my Watch Later playlist. I think I didn't want to watch it because I was afraid to admit that what I was feeling was real and a real problem in my life. Back in 2017-2018, I put a lot of stress on myself and I became very paranoid. I'm reading the comments and I'm realizing that I may not have DR/DP, but I definitely felt spaced out and disconnected with my surroundings, and I think freaking out about it kept making it worse. I remember feeling as if I wasn't alive, or as if the world doesn't actually exist. Idk why I'm bothering to write all of this, I'm very glad that I have gotten out of the hole that I was in for almost a year and I'm scared I may fall back into it. I still struggle with feeling like I can't remember certain things, such as recent memories with loved ones. For example, I won't see my boyfriend in real life for a week and I begin to question if he actually exists or not. Crazy stuff. I'm so grateful to have finally watched this 2 and a half years later.
0 likesOh my god.....I either have this, or its all happening because of my ADD and Dyslexia......I honestly don't know what to think.
1 likeI’ve had this since elementary school and never realized it was a real thing. I used to have it every once and a while and now it’s everyday, it’s almost like living in a vr video game for me like it’s like you’re not actually there, you’re seeing everything but you don’t think you’re there. Everything feels too bright and everywhere I go I have to remind myself i’m alive and pinch myself to make sure i’m here
1 likeYou explained it so well! I am relieved that other people have this too. I have been thinking on really weird things that is hard to explain and it leads to a lot of confusing which leads to EVEN MORE CONFUSION. Is that also included with the thingy?
0 likesive had a really really bad few days (anxiety sucks) and im so glad you posted,,,, its the first time ive smiled in a while :)
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Lauren Ness dodie always makes me feel better, i hope you’re feeling better soon! anxiety is the worst :/
1 likeLauren Ness hope you feel better soon :)
1 likeIt becomes real when you have panic attacks over the feeling, not the other way around.
0 likesit feels like i am watching event that already happened ,like a never ending dull memory that cant be escaped.For some reason when i am with my brother out driving the derealization goes at times ,maybe he grounds me in reality somehow.
1 likeThis happens to me during the spring and summer and it's hell on earth
0 likesThis happens to me when i dont get enough sleep.
1 likethis is gonna drown in the sea of comments but you've helped me so much- i found your videos about depression and dp;dr about the same time i started going through it and they helped me identify it and not feel as alone. <3
11 likesIs drug-induced derealisation a thing?
0 likesI’ve been ill since the start of 2020 and I experience all of the things you have spoken about, but only since the illness.
I am on chemotherapy and hydroxychloroquine. It would be nice to know if these medications can cause this or if it is more the stress of the illness.
This is what I have been trying to explain people...how i feel for past 1 year.
0 likesSometimes I disconnect from reality but only for a split second and it’s weird. I usually get startled when I snap back into reality because I was only gone for like a split second. It usually seems like it happens when I’m going through a very routine thing and it’s gotten to a point where it feels fake or almost not happening like a filler setting of a dream.
0 likesI've always felt like I was just watching a movie, not even a movie about me. I went to my first day of school and a bit later I was turning 58. Strange.
0 likesOh my gosh. I literally get this feeling all the time. It is most common with a combination of light changes and stressful situations. Ex. walking from outside into church triggers it, walking into brightly lit stores, going somewhere I haven’t been in a while, bonfires, etc. It’s so odd and I’ve talked to my parents about it but they don’t take it seriously because they’ve never felt it before, and I don’t know what to do.
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Wow, same here! Thought I was the only one who experience the new environment thing.
19 likesI experience the same exact thing wow
3 likes+CinnamonCrayola
1 likeFind a therapist near you which specialises in depersonalization or derealization.
I experience the new environment thing and the light thing really really badly. Its so frustrating having to explain to people why I cant stay in certain brightly lit rooms for a long time. No one really seems to take it seriously
12 likesConnie the thing with mental illness/any psychological condition really is that most people don’t seem to understand that it is not something you choose to feel, or could just will away, but it’s completely involuntary the same as if you have a muscular condition that makes your shoulder hurt if someone pinches it
3 likesWhen I walk into a Supermarket or shopping centre I need to really adjust to it. I adjust easily in shopping centres which I am very anxious going to and panic when I first walk in but with supermarkets I can't adjust to the light and its happened ever since I got severe anxiety a year ago.
1 likeOmg me too, i am so happy that there are people with the same problem
1 likeThe fucking same oh my gosh, also when my computer´s screen it´s too bright
1 likeI'm scared for the same reason, especially since this isn't as talked about as like depression and anxiety
0 likesMeeee toooo
0 likesMy eyes would sometimes get teary-eyed when I'm in the mall because of the bright light, or even when I go outside our house it seems too bright for my liking. I also easily space out even when I'm talking with my friends (yes in mid convo) and they find it annoying because I sometimes find it hard to regain back my focus and continue what I was sharing.
1 likeYou'll be okay sweetheart!
0 likesI felt that kinda thing last year in class, we were practicing our foundation day dance then i felt spaced out. Almost like a vegnito effect somehow
0 likesHave you’ve had some experience with different kinds of food and breathing exercises? I’m curious 🤗
0 likesLove to you 💗
I had the flu in December, and I felt like this, and then I got better but then it keeps coming back in waves AND with a cold and I feel all strange and dreamy. It’s worrying me but I’m sure it’s fine.
0 likesMy heart goes out to you. It was truly a relief to know one of the people I admire is struggling with something as well. I have my own unique issues, not the same as yours, but it's inspirational to know people who have it worse than me have come to acceptance and still attempt to live normally and follow their dreams. The closest I've experienced to yours is on a day after an all-nighter. That day literally feels like a dream with odd colours and a lightweight, lessened gravity, no-consequences-since-none-of-it-is-real kind of way. Which makes me bolder to do things with no inhibition but also scary as I can't tell right from wrong, sane from dangerous and rude from kind.
0 likesI have definitely experienced these symptoms. My diagnoses is schizoaffective disorder but I have experienced few of the more intense positive symptoms. Negative symptoms, and the feeling anhedonia as a result of medication I've experienced a lot, but when I was off medication, I definitely had that feeling that thing around me weren't real. It was really easy to think I was in the matrix or a video game, or to think it was all some Emersonian inspired illusion.
0 likesFor me I'm clinically diagnosed ADD/ADHD and I've had experiences similar to this. One time when I was younger around 7 my doctor and parents had me try a new ADHD medication at the time. I had an extreme type of reaction to this medication where I experienced derealization; It also screwed up my brain chemistry. This left me as a blank slate in terms of personality and is a cause of episodes of derealization, a couple every month. Just thought I'd share my story since it seems prevalent.
0 likesI don’t really think I have this but many times (like Dodie says in the video) I’ve felt like life looks darker than it should be. I was thinking it was depression, but I’m not sad at all! It makes me weird all the time:( pls help me
0 likesthis makes me feel so much better. i thought i was alone when i felt like that. im not completely sure if i actually have derealization but it definitely feels like it <3
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💛💛💛
1 likeThis sounds like me. But I seem to mask it alot! I always put it down to having fibromyalgia and ptsd. 10 years after diagnosis, I start having a spiritual awakening and trying to figure out what's me, and what's spirit, my higher self or creator? I always feel like I'm falling. . . I get very very confused when I wake up. Like what planet is this?
0 likesThis is what happen to me when I first got anxiety attack when I was 12. I went to the emergency room because idk what was happening and it went away. After a month or two I had a panic attack and everything seems fine again except for the fact that the world of being unreal never went away. I did research and even went to see a therapist. I try explaining to her that this thing came back and idk how or what to tell her because I know she probably don’t understand since she never experienced it herself... I just stop going to see my therapist after that and try to live my normal life after reading someone comment. They said that they have had this experience for 10 years of their lives and they know is scary but try to get used to it. I try doing that but it’s just made everything worse for me to the points I just give up and try not to care about it too much. Literally I had to touch and feels hot or cold object to see if I am alive because Everytime I open my eyes, Is like a different world. Cartoonish or just more sharpe world
0 likesIve only ever experienced this once. It was horrible, i was just staring at myself in the mirror, not even registering that it was me in the mirror. I felt like i was on autopilot. Experiencing that constantly would be awful
1 likeI feel like this since 2014, i even remember the day when i started feeling this way. At first i thought it was because of a brain tumor or something so i went to a clinic and done a MRI, turns out there's nothing wrong. Years later i started feeling worse and went to the doctor and he checked my thyroid, and again everything was fine. This year im finally going to a psychiatrist and maybe antidepressants might help somehow. What is most annoying to me because of this is i feel like time passes so quickly and im missing out a lot in life.
0 likesyou talking about it has made me feel so much better. you've made me feel like im not just going crazy and that my feelings are valid. thank you so much for that.
5 likesI was in a dream state for almost a week straight (was on a holiday far from home) that was the longest I had it. I felt like if was stuck in a dream which causes me panic (I cant look at myself in the mirror when having it because I get scared of myself). Now I have it when something triggers me: severe stress, sadness, panic, talking about it etc. Should I see a proffesional?
0 likesI often feel like I’m dreaming, but not in a “I can’t remember aaa” way, but to me my eyes I have open aren’t my eyes, I feel like I have eyes behind 5em I can open and bring me to reality.
10 likesAs a religious person, I think maybe it’s a spiritual thing, a soul thing?
Also, I can’t distinguish real life or dreams, they merge, I don’t even know if this is real life right now. Just in case it is real life
How are you!
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I'm fine! Actually i dont know but i have some mins of my life where i feel like i'm in a movie and that my self isn't me you know? And in a part of my life i had these memories that are completely useless that just pop up to my head and i can't get them out or think of anything else,I hope your feeling alright!!
0 likesThats exactly how I explain it to people. I feel like my eyes aren't mine and Im somewhere behind them in my head looking out from far away.
0 likesI've only had a disassociative episode once when I was 14. There was somewhere between a week and a month that's just... Not there? It's something that's put in a box in my head and I don't pay much mind to it because I've never had an episode since but, it was a scary thing for me.
0 likesBuying your book. Wonderful, descriptive writing.
0 likesObviously I don’t suffer from this to such an extent but I always find when I get very panicky or struggle with my ocd I always feel very spaced out for a day or two. Knowing how uncomfortable this is on a small scale, I can only hope that this gets easier for you. Neve x
8 likesI'm often watching everything happening as if I'm watching a YouTube video where I'm not part of it (happened more last year)and sometimes I'll notice that I'm actually part of it XD
1 likeOh and my memories are often in third person for some reason idk why lol
Just came across this while searching for 'feeling spaced out' and so much of what you said hits home. Came as shock for someone to explain a lot of what I have been feeling for past 2/3 years now. I went to doctors had my eyes tested and apparently I'm fine, yet I don't feel fine. People's faces freak me out sometimes and I feel like I don't recognize familiar faces, but do at the same time.
0 likesthis vid is honestly so helpful to send to people because dodie explains it so good
0 likesI’m having the same problems when it gets late I feel like I’m disconnected and not responsive, it’s really causing me stress and I hate how I get it
0 likesI also have a type of dissociation and depression. Today in particular was a very bad day so thankyou for talking about depersonalization and pulling me out of a mental breakdown. I may just be one person but I’m sure many people watching appreciate you. Thankyou so much dodie💛💛
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BriBeck 526 stay strong! 💛
1 likeWhen I stand up, I get really dizzy like I’m about to faint and I lose my vision for a second and then I just take a moment to stand still and then everything is fine again. I know you will feel dizzy after laying down for a long time but I don’t know if anyone else has had to literally jump back into bed before they actually faint. This could be an iron deficiency or something else.
0 likesI tend to start spacing out a lot when I'm anxious or depressed, which is a lot seeing as I've had chronic anxiety my entire life. So in case you want some tips, here's a few ways I get back to myself when I'm spacey. first off I try and avoid places with weird lighting, I close my blinds and put on all my warm tones lamps and candles; this makes me feel safer and more personally attached to the place I'm in. Try doing some sort of simple paper craft, I recommend paper crowns since their simple but you could also knit or sometimes I just mend socks, the point is pick something that takes enough focus that you cant disengage, but easy enough that you don't forget the world around you. try talking to someone, I usually pester my little sister, sometimes interacting with other people can help ground you to this reality. Try a hot bath! the warmth of the water will fill up your senses and some soft music can keep you focused so you can come back to yourself in comfort. if all else fails try reassuring yourself that your safe, speak to yourself like you would a best friend "its okay to be here, nothings going to hurt you," "we can process our feelings safely together, you don't have to leave."
0 likesThis was me about 7 months ago. The way I got rid of this feeling is just don’t think about it. First of all don’t worry you have derealization now get over it your stuck with this feeling. Just do something that gets your mind going. Do a puzzle or play games. Just try to not think about it at all.
0 likesI have this, it really makes everything feel kinda useless and scary, but comforting in a bittersweet way? that's how I usually describe it to others, and it really messes up my life. I'm still a teen, and I've had depression for almost forever, which has only recently started getting help.
0 likesMy mom has these symptoms and she was diagnosed with Lyme Disease. Lyme Disease can cause an out of reality feeling (which she has had for ten years!). Please look into it and I hope this helps. I don't normally "diagnose" people but this sounded so familiar I had to say something.
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good comment. also I have Multiple Sclerosis and my vision is affected and I can relate to the way she feels big time. my brain lesion were confirmed on an mri WITH contrast.
4 likesI have this 24/7 and I have Lyme as well!
0 likesHey I know this was ages ago but I’m really struggling with this right now too. I know I’m not going crazy but it feels like I can’t convince myself that this is real life, although deep down I know it is, and I’m comparing myself to people who are insane which I know I’m not obviously because if I was I wouldn’t be questioning it. I’d be delusional.
0 likeswhen i suffered from anxiety and panic disorder small derealisation phases for example after coming out of a movie as you explained would absolutely trigger that and it sometimes was really horrifying to me. i'm so glad i never had to experience it as a disorder... that's also one reason i never drink alkohol or consume any kind of drugs that would change they way i realize my surroundings (including things like putting in coloured contact lenses that would change my vision for example).
0 likesnot about the disorder itself but normal derealisation people experience already makes me freak out lol (or at least it had to some degree, i learned to live with my anxiety and panic disorder through therapy and stuff)
Hi, I’m nine and today I experienced something like this. I was at school and came back from lunch I then sat down and it felt like I was sinking into the floor, I got up and it felt like a dream it felt like my actions and words didn’t matter because it was a dream not to mention that if I close my eyes for long enough it feels like I’m shaking i was walking around and I was asking everyone is this a dream? Please tell me if this is the same thing as what you are speaking about then I have no idea what caused it please reply guys with suggestions/tips/what it is
1 likeim aware everyone is saying the same thing, but I’ve just gotten so much closure from this. im not saying I do have this... but everytime im anxious or stressed I feel like this. every time. it used to just happen when I was tired, but it happens a lot more now.
0 likesDisassociation is quite frankly one of the most horrifying things I’ve ever experienced. I have PTSD, and in high stress situations I’ll have episodes where I depersonalize or derealize, and the only way I’ve ever known how to describe it is that it feels like your astral projecting and yet your still expected to function like you’re inside your body. My episodes can last a few hours, but I can’t imagine how it would feel to have an episode and never be able to come out of it. Props to you for sharing something like this, especially when it’s so difficult to explain to others who’ve never felt it.
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Abi Wilson
0 likesWhile I can't understand what you are going through just know that others dont have to be able to understand in order to help you. If nobody you know is able to help with this right now just know that sooner or later you will meet someone or someone's who will be able to make you more comfortable and happy. I'm proud of you for getting through your life regardless of the struggle. Because that is true strength. Stay strong :)
Abi Wilson Yes! Its exactly like this, Abi.
0 likesFor me, my disassociation comes for months at a time. I’m lucky that at least it isn’t all the time and it does vary. When I am in a episode, they are strong. I find it feels like I’m just watching a movie and my body moving isn’t really me. It is terrifying. I find making/hearing noise tends to calm me. Especially with repetitive noises, I.e a heat pump or talking or rain
0 likesWhoa I used to feel this around 2008-2009 when I was in 6th grade this was the time I was always left alone at home because my mom has cancer and my dad had to go work somewhere far while my sister parties every night and sometimes doesnt go home
0 likesthis is what im going through its like being drunk all the time. thats what i was thinking
0 likesit's nice to have a better way to explaining it to other people that "it's like reading a book all the time"
0 likesYep yep yep... For me, it has always been a symptom of a depressive episode. Usually one of the last symptoms to get better too. Last time was the worst because it was my first depressive episode with glasses and somehow, glasses seem to make the derealization much worse?? I was convinced that the prescription was off, because everything looked too sharp and 3D and just not real. But the doctor said it was fine. It's always worse outside, probably because I don't really wear / need my glasses indoors. It got better. I still see weird, but I don't really pay as much attention to it and I don't automatically associate it with "unrealness" anymore.
0 likesPart of my Panic disorder is derealization. I had no idea what it was until I came across the movie w/ Matthew Perry called "numb", that is when I first heard the term Derealization (DR) and it was like a light bulb moment. "I now understand what this wacky sensation is". Thankfully mine is only triggered by specific things and does not last too long. Really hot days, lack of water, too much caffeine, panic attacks and not enough sleep. What sucks for me, it used to hit when I am running Summer camps for ASD youth. Heat, stress & caffeine are my summer time triggers. Other moments that are challenging, having it strike in the middle of a conversation. Usually my first thought is impending panic as its closely related to my panic attacks and keeping my cool while the person I am talking to has no idea of the panic I am feeling. What helps me: 1. Calcium Magnesium daily. There is a lot of research in how it helps the brain. For me, lessens the frequency of panic attacks and derealization. 2. Sleep, this can be hard when stressed but a proper sleep cycle helps a lot. 3. staying hydrated, no idea why but when I drink lots of water when derealization hits, I start to feel better. 4. and maybe this is related to #3, connecting w/ my surroundings. I ground myself by dragging my feet to get sensation back into my body, or to help my brain reconnect to my body. Maybe the cold water helps to give sensation? One day my students were walking walking out of a cool building and the heat hit me (40c hot day), the DR hit me like a ton of bricks and I could not catch up to my students. I yelled at them to come back, wow, instant reality check. I was back in my body and fully present. I talked to a friend and he will yell while driving to get back to reality. So yelling for some reason worked. 5. Stay away from caffeine. I think of DR as related to panic disorder so the goal is to stay calm, lower stress, keep my cortisol levels in check and sadly give up on the yummy bean water, I really do love coffee. I stick to tea and go for decaff later in the day. I hope this helps some of you. If anyone needs to connect, I work with people who have Anxiety, autism and ADHD. Feel free to connect if you need someone to talk to about derealization/depersonalization or panic attacks: John@spectruminsights.ca www.spectruminsights.ca
0 likesSadly I’ve had this since I was 16. I’ve come to accept it at this point. I’m 26 and trying to finish college, but as much as it sucks, I don’t remember much of what happens anyway and I figure as long as I’m making progress in this fake reality, then maybe I’ll come back to consciousness someday. Everything around me is there, but it’s not there. I can look at a beautiful flower or another person and see, hear, and touch them, yet something is weird about them. Something is off. I hope they do more research into this.
0 likesThis often happens to me quite a bit actually. I mean it definitely comes on more when I dream about things whilst listening to songs, which I know may happen with a lot of people, but I often find myself spacing out in regular activities when I’m not listening to music (and have since I was around 12), as well as not having a great attention span and memory. Yet this never seemed to bother me, only the dull headaches that would come on randomly.
0 likesI do feel like I am always dreaming but not in a dissociating way. For me , I am still very engage in life but deep inside me, there is always this feeling or sense that life is not as we see or think it is. In my relationship with it , there is no suffering around it. It was not always like that . The knowing of the dream state started when I started meditating and it was gradual and I didn't notice how I got there. I had struggle too because there was often this thought and this feeling that if life is a dream, it must be meaningless. And also feeling alone and not understood. Grounding yourself with meditation practices, sports, singing and all sorts of activity you can be part of is very helpful for embodying yourself more deeply. I think too be embodied fully, we need to be immersed in a transcended view that included both the knowing of the dream and the knowing of the realness of life.
0 likesI struggle with dissociation which apparently is connected to my bpd... Can relate to so much of this! I also thought I was loosing my vision at first..
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My parents say i have bpd, but i dont really beleive them and ive never been diagnosed, but i recently got drdp from smoking weed and i miss being real. Is drdp linked to bpd
1 likeI relate to this a lot as well, severe dissociation and BPD itself makes life such a living hell
8 likesSonia DoubleG me too!!
0 likesWhen you have bpd does it sometimes feel like you are someone else? Thats how i feel sometimes and its like an alt ego and i think his name is jf
3 likesJazmine Salazar that’s exactly how I feel with mine ): I’m sorry you can relate
2 likesJazmine Salazar it’s another form of dissociation and it can get pretty bad
3 likesoh ok thank you for letting me know and sorry back to you
1 likeI was in the same boat, and as a man treatment for bpd was hard. But I not feel dissociated anymore, reality is sharp and beautiful thanks to the right medicines (which at this point my doctor is tappering off). never give up
2 likeswhoa okay same boat here
0 likesWhat’s BPD?
0 likesEms The Unicorpse borderline personality disorder, it sucks lmao
0 likesI do too! I dissociate when I'm at a peak with stress, or a low point with my bpd, and sometimes it can be terrifying because when I snap back into reality, I don't really know what's happening.
2 likesIm the same, I fully understand
0 likesThe first time this happened, I was 5. I was riding home with my mom in a van. I don't remember where we'd gone or anything else in relation to that day. I went to double check that my seatbelt was on, and I realized that there was no way I could know for sure that the seatbelt was real and was truly fastened. This progressed to me wondering if I was really in the van or in my bed and having a dream. And then things spiralled to wondering if I was just a character in someone else's dream. It's never really gotten better, and I find that my reaction to terrible things happening around or to me is first to just watch and think, "Well, that doesn't matter because none of this is real..." even if I'm actively being injured. But I've learned to kick myself and say, "It may not be real, but you have to act like it is, just in case, and DO SOMETHING!" I was also diagnosed with social anxiety disorder and BPD at 16, so I guess I'm not alone in that.
1 likeI have cyclothymia which messes with me and I also constantly feel like im not actually alive or im dreaming, and It terrified me for 2 years, I since then have learned to live with it. We're not alone. <3
0 likesSAME THING WITH ME. I had a bad experience with weed, and ever since, i no longer feel real or alive. I disassociate constantly.
1 like@Bryce Walters same dude
0 likesI was just about to make this exact comment.... I recently learned I have BPD and what dissociation is because I thought I was having blackouts. I feel like I float just above my head and like my body isn't mine/real.... like I'm using a VR headset but sometimes I find out that I actually am the character???? If that makes sense.
0 likesyep yep. went to a psych ward twice and diagnosed, told it was severe, took meds but they were more for my mood. dissociation is literal fucking hell because it often leads to panic attacks in public for me.
0 likesI get this. Alot of the time I feel like floating to get places. I'll literally be walking and be like how did I get here? I don't remember walking here. If I'm on my electric bike, I'll be confused if I'm actually on my bike or if it's just a dream. This is why I'm scared to learn how to drive, it's not safe.
0 likesI have the same thing, except it was brought on by drug use. :-( So I have no idea what could combat it.
0 likesI have DPDR too :,) never heard someone else say they had it too
0 likesI had derealization and the whole 9 yards. I remember feeling hopeless last year searching video after video just wanting every thing to end. No one believed Or understood what i was going through not even doctors. I been in your shoes and God sent me to tell you. Everything will be ok, you will be healed. Plz hold on and dont give up. I know your pain! It is scary! But God got you. I never thought i would heal but i healed…If your diet is bad and you dont get enough nutrients plz look into that! Big factor of what cause mine was malnutrition and lacking minerals.. Also idk for sure if candida was the cause but i was taking cold delivered probiotics highy quality..Also exercise is important i would walk around my apartment complex…barely able to walk one lap the first time…because my panic attacks were so bad. If you are lcking nutrient plz be careful with fitness..Also be around love ones it helps so much! I love yall plz dont give up i know the feeling of giving up…but dont your worth more than that!! You can make it out! Also try juicing cucumbers melons apples and stuff high in h3o2. You could be dehydrated. Idk specifically which one is to blame but i focused and those four things. You will be healed I love you dont give up! God put me through it so I could come back and help others! You got this!!
0 likesI love how open you are about your mental Heath and How great you are at describing it😊😊
20 likesI have moments where it feels like I’m almost floating outside my body or I’m dreaming like I’m in a dream.
0 likesI live alone. I've made a little place for myself. I'm good and sometimes not. I am losing my eye site. I have problems wondering if my reality is a dream. I get confused about what I'm doing. I'm just so excited to see you at Odgen in Denver. I'm flying from Alaska to be there. I try my best to not drink so much but I always LOVE a positive music party. I can't wait ❤
0 likesI'm pretty sure I have this, as well as aphantasia. It took me a while to realise 'hm.... That's not normal' I also assumed it was depression and suicidal thoughts, but then I realised oh wait, it's not that ... It's something else..
0 likesD E R E A L I Z A T I O N
0 likesIt's been with me so long now, that I find it hard to imagine life without it.
I finally got my diagnosis last winter - It's been quite a relief, but finding professional
help in it, doesn't seem to be too easy.
I've been trying grounding techniques with my new therapist. They never release me from the fog, but they do generally act as a good measure to see how bad it is in a given day.
I've stopped trying to get rid of it, only focussing on minimizing stress - being very aware of my 'state' and for all cost avoiding another depressive episode: 5-HTP has helped me with that too. I fill the rest of the disconnect with philosophy, art and music.
I have never been through anything like that but I can imagine how crazy it would be.
116 likesI am diagnosed with chronic DP and often experience DR and I can relate so much to this video. I been working for three years now with different treatments and meds with no luck so far. But, I have learnt how to live and cope with it and still have a life worth living and still keep trying to find a solution. The most effective so far to reducing the intensity of the Dp/Dr is trauma work. Also avoiding very hot humid places and very loud crowded places that make it worst.
0 likesIt feels dark inside of my head. It really feels like it's only my vision that's affected. My thinking patterns are very normal. I feel like I have no influence on anything around me.
1 likeI have bipolar, Ik how it feels😞 dissociation is so hard to deal with
0 likesThank you for making this video
0 likesThis comment is going to disappear under a lot of others, but I wanted to tell you that I heard your song "in the middle" in a store here in France, I so was so supprised ! But I had a lot of fun singing in public one of your songs, it was so weird ! ^^
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1 likeCool!
0 likesVraiment??? Mais c’est trop cooool!!
5 likesMais c'est génial!
3 likesTrop cool! Quel magasin?
6 likesOui, c’est trop cool. Et quel magasin? ^^
1 likeWow I would freak out 😂😂
0 likesI don’t speak French but I’m learning at school, and I’m so proud that I’m able to understand these comments 😂
4 likesOh my god that is so cool!!
0 likesmother panda that is super great! You will see, the more you read, the more you practice and the better you will get! And good luck in learning french because it's a quite difficult language, but not impossible (ok bye if I don't stop here I'm gonna write a novel about learning languages)
0 likesDesjardins Hanna haha thanks! I’ll keep at it. At least French isn’t that hard compared to Latin, which I also do. And Korean is even harder, but I’m self learning that. Yeah, haha, wish me luck 😅
1 likeYour comment will
1 likeNever
Get lost.
NEVER
A cachecache et bonobo, j'étais en train de regarder les robes en dansant et en chantant j'étais tellement heureuse !!!
0 likesEsme the Artist Thank you so much, I really thought it would get swarmed :') Well at least I have better hopes that she will read it ! ^^
0 likes+mother panda same here ^w^ mais je peux parler un petit peu de français
0 likesHappens often to me, I think it started like 2 months ago
0 likesThis video is very old but I just got diagnosed with this and it feels scary. This helped so much. Thankyou
0 likesI’m really sure I don’t have this issue but I actually think I might’ve had a few episodes of something similar during stress in my life. There’s a couple months of my life where my depression and anxiety were extremely severe, I broke my ankle, my parents separated and my mom was committed to a mental ward and basically August 2016 to April 2017 feels like it didn’t happen. I can barely remember anything but staring out car windows and crying after school...
0 likesAlthough I quite frequently have a problem where something just FEELS wrong. Can’t explain what it means but the world and my life feels incorrect, it doesn’t last more than a few weeks at a time but it’s like this feeling of something looming over you but you don’t know what it is and reality is just abnormal... I don’t even know how to describe it but I’ve been told it’s just a symptom of depression.
I also get a weird feeling at night like there’s something blocking my vision even when there’s nothing there and I know I can see but my brain tells me there’s something covering my eyes even though they’re wide open and telling my brain that they can see. I really don’t know anything but it’s weird
So I’ve been having these episodes that kind of sound like what you described as derealisation, but I only have them sometimes. I’d say about once or twice every two weeks? Maybe even way less. I’m not sure if it’s really a kind of derealisation or I just have a big imagination. I mostly had it when I was younger during soccer matches, but that was also only once a week, even though I’m only 13 right now (turning 14 next month), and I think that was about 2 years ago. If someone knows if this is not derealisation and I just have a big imagination, please tell me, or tell me anything really, right now I’m just trying to get more educated on it before saying that I have something close to it. (Except for here then).
0 likesEdit: these moments are really short to, and I don’t think they are as bad as actual derealisation.
I kinda hate self diagnosing but I know exactly what you’re saying and how you feel
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saying you suffer feom a symptom isnt self diagnosing but saying you have the disorder is. for example, saying you have depersonalization disorder is self diagnosing. saying you struggle with dissociation and depersonalization is listing symptoms. rhese are symptoms of dozens of different disorders, both psychiatric and general physical ones.
8 likes@José An why not? dissociation is a symptom of anxiety, depression, every dissociative disorder, every personality disorder, PTSD, ADHD, and like 8 other wholeass catagories in the DSM. dissociation as a phenomenon is something even neurotypical people do under distress. this person said they're not claiming to have this disorder but suffer from the symptom. its no different than describing any other symptom.
1 like@José An theres a big difference between the symptom and the disorder catagory in the DSM. people can have the symptom without having DID, OSDD, DDNOS, or Depersonalization/derealization Disorder. it lasts shorter period of time and is brought on by stress. thats all this person is saying they've experienced.
0 likesThat's crazy. I can relate
0 likesi think it stops being a problem once you are self aware about it and try to control it as much as you can.
0 likesDefinitely feel a disconnect from my surrounds. My first symptom is my back becomes super straight and they become really light. Next, I feel high(but like she said without the fun). Lastly, I feel as if I'm just watching somebody act out things and I'm just watching from their perspective. Haven't gotten rid of this but it started last year when I started smoking weed so that might have to do with this.... Don't do drugs kids
0 likesMy heart goes out to everyone who does or has gone through this or anything similar. I haven't felt this before I can only imagine how freaky it must feel. And I'm sorry if you didn't want one of those typical pity comments. But I could only imagine how scary this would be so if you can pull yourself out of this say all I can say is wow.
0 likesI’ve been struggling with this condition for the last 2 years since I had brain surgery, and it’s the most difficult condition to talk about! People think I’m genuinely crazy when I tell them “I feel like I’m not here”, and it’s so frustrating. I had a horrible experience recently where I was crossing the street; I felt so spaced out that I felt as though I could’ve walked out into the road in front of a car, get hit, and then wake up in bed as though it was all a dream! It freaked me out to such an extent that I ran home, locked the door, jumped into my bed and played animal crossing for 4 hours straight. Apparently my derealisation is purely due to severe sleep deprivation, and that really bothers me. I haven’t slept for nearly two years, and I can guarantee that my dr/dp would cease if I could actually sleep! However, it’s so comforting to know how common this condition is, and I haven’t felt as alone since Dodie started speaking out about it! You’ve no idea how much you’ve helped me with this, Dodie; thanks chuck💛
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<333333!!!!
10 likesdoddleoddle 🤗
0 likesthis is what i get!!!!!!!! i like plan scenarios out in my head but it's like some sort of middle ground between "this isn't going to happen, it's just a scenario in my head" and "this IS going to happen" .. like i KNOW i'm not going to walk into the road when there's cars but i feel like i can kind of ..see it happening bc it doesnt feel like me controlling my body ? and then after i've gotten hit i'll just wake up and my mum will be there telling me it was a dream? sorry this is such a long reply but i've never seen anyone talk about it the same way i feel it :') hoping things get better for you💕💕💕
3 likesI got you pretty well, this sensation of "I don't exist, I'm not here", and not being able to explain how I feel sucks really hard
3 likesmads so glad you could relate to my comment! Hope you’re well💗
1 likeI hate when I try to explain how I feel to someone and they just look and talk to me like I’m being hysterical or like I’m overreacting. Not too long ago, when I finally was confirmed to have depression and anxiety, my sister talked to me and genuinely tried to help. However, she didn’t understand what depression was. She kept telling me to “just feel happy” and that I “don’t need to try to feel happy, it just happens.” When I explained that it wasn’t that simple, she cried. It hurts to see her that upset, but it also helped to know that she cared so much. I wish that people talked more about mental health.
4 likesSpecial Kay oh god, i got the same exact thing when i was in london just walking around all day and i hadn't slept for 2 days. at the end of the day i got this feeling like i was disconncted to reality, but i never thought it was something many other people experience or something that's even recognised as a condition. obviously, my experience wasn't severe, it stopped after i slept for a few hours and it hasn't occured again yet, but it's interesting to see that apparently, both sleep deprivation and trauma can trigger this kind of derealisation
1 likeI had this same thing when I was in ninth grade I felt like the world wasn’t real and I was stuck in a synthetic bubble and that the world was going to end at the end of the year, it was the worst time of my life. The world was gray
0 likesI just thought „naw I wished I had watched this video a few years ago back when all my life was about was this scary feeling. Thing is, if I’d have watched this back when derealization and depersonalization were very bad for me, I would have believed that this video is a lie. That it’s something my subconscious has created haha
0 likesOmg I've been wondering what is wrong with me all my life and no one would understand my explanation of this I try to snap out of it but I'm still in this dream
0 likesHad it strong after school burn out. Was freeking out for little things and feelimg very insecure. Praying really helped though
0 likesComming out of it slowly
I can’t believe so many people actually are experiencing this. Really. I first experienced this around 10 or 11 and the feeling was so foreign. I didn’t even know how to describe it and I genuinely thought I was the only person in the world feeling like that. I am 16 now and chronically for over 5 years I have been dealing with derealization and only a few years ago I discovered the name and that others have it. I feel calmer knowing what it is and that I am not alone, but at the same time I am sad many others have to suffer with it. I am pretty much experiencing it day in and day out so I am desensitized to it, but i hate that it is still there and won’t go away. I am so grateful that Dodie has made a video opening up about it because we really do need more awareness of this condition. I hope very much that a treatment is developed soon for it too.
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da da thank you so much for responding to me. I have talked to people online about it before and I found that it helped me feel less anxious about it and even lessened my derealization’s intensity, so thank you for giving me the chance to reach out to you and if I ever need to talk I’ll definitely give you a call! 😄
1 likeKawaii Kat My pleasure! Talk soon :)
1 likeKawaii Kat I have it too
1 likeI have a lot of these symptoms from having chronic migraines with aura :(
0 likesi was diagnosed with derealisation and dispersonalisation, but somethings you say i can't relate to, or to the official symptomps, but still i was diagnosed this way. for me it started with smoking weed, then i had panic attacks and anxiety and after i quit smoking the brain fog started (6years now almost 7)ive almost forgotten how it feels to feel normal and that feeling of feeling alive. but i know that the feeling i have right now is not being alive. i feel different though then you discribed. for example, i can see crystal clear without having the feeling of being drunk or black spots, but still i have a feeling that i cant "really " see, much like the sensation you get when you see while being high (but still crystal clear if that makes sense) i do have alot of emotions but i cant seem to live in the moment, like i never value the moment when im in it, its always 3months orso or longer when i think of it as a memory that i can put the memory togheter with some kind of emotion. its like my grandpa is very old en i love him to death and i do alot of stuff with him, but it feels like i did nothing with him because i wasnt in the moment to enjoy it. also when i see a movie i sometimes cant remember what happened (i didnt space out).also when i think back over the last couple of months, it feels like a blurr and feels like i was gone the whole time (again i know i wasnt because i was there but in some weird way i wasnt) if someone tells me an exact activity that we did, i can remember ofcourse. i also daydream alot, like a lot i think i do that to avoid the pain of my current problems i have in life and that its a weird cooping mechanisme or something. but i know i am real, i dont have the feeling that im not in my body like you guys do, so i dont know exactly what i have even though i was diagnosed with it. i feel so frustrated explaining it because as hard as i try i cant seem to put the feeling in to words, en when i look up the symptoms i cant find i right match, somethings i can relate to some not... does anyone understand me or can relate to me? im feeling alone in this situation and some insights would be nice, sorry for my bad english
1 likeyou actually scared the living shit out of me two years ago when i just started having dpdr and you said you've been having it for so long and nothing worked
0 likesi had a really bad disassociation episode once, after watching a movie. it was a sad movie and i cried a lot. i looked away from my laptop screen and i felt like i wasn’t in my room. i ran into my bathroom, feeling convinced i wasn’t real, and when i looked into the mirror, i didn’t see myself, i saw a stranger.
0 likesI started experiencing derealisation some time last year, more on a minor scale. Sometimes it goes away for short periods, but it always comes back. When I went through a really depressive episode, I remember taking my dog for a walk and the whole scenery around me felt superimposed; like it wasn't real and I might as well be in front of a green screen. I'm also not too good at taking in situations (especially now). I work in retail and when customers are coming up to me, asking me questions and shouting at me, I almost feel like I'm hallucinating. It's unexplainable.
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that's actually so relatable to me, especially the taking in situations things, it's so difficult to explain to others though.
3 likesI first experienced this 'real but not real' thing a few years ago when I was eating at the dinner table with my family and I got really scared and told my parents. they said I might just need to get more sleep and I did. It went away for a while but sometimes every now and then it creeps up on me
1 likeOhhh, yeah. I had this. It was awful. It was never chronic thankfully but I'd go through episodes like this, while at work or something and it's like you disassociate with reality for a bit and oh boy is it fun to deal with :|
0 likesI just really wanna check if I have Maladaptive Daydreaming. It's effects my learning and listening so much...
0 likesI was on a medicine that made me experience derealization. It was horrible. I couldn't imagine living with it constantly.
0 likesfirst time i watched this i had no idea what you were feeling or talking about, but after getting extremely high twice i’m starting to experience it a lot when sober and with no real triggers. i’m going to give myself a week and if it doesn’t get better i’m probably going to go seek professional help because so far this sucks
0 likesAnd got episodes of this a couple months back. I was super depressed and my anxiety was awful. I couldn’t function as a normal human being. I was injured for 4 months (I just got back to physical activity 3 weeks ago) and my mental state was deteriorating. I have thyroid problems so I had to go on medication for that, and then came a kinda steroid medication for my injury which triggered the episodes. I felt like I was never really alive and was just floating from the high dosage of medication. After being taken off of them for that reason, I kept having these episodes. My anxiety was just getting worse and worse until I finally got medicated for that. The episodes remained for a couple days as my body adjusted to the burst of medication entered my system and stopped for awhile. I was recently upped on the dosage for my anxiety and I dealt with the readjusting and the derealization episodes for three days or so. I don’t remember much, but it was during thanksgiving and my mom read me old stories from my great grandmother so I didn’t have to be in my own head for awhile. I can say I still get small episodes here and there but I am finally feeling alive and worthy again. If you feel hopeless and scared as I was, just get through. I promise you there is help out there and you will find it. I believe in you and I know you will be okay. Thanks for reading this incredibly long comment and I’m so glad to finally feel like I have a life again.
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❤️glad your feeling better ❤️
2 likesUpdate: its back. I’m still injured 9 months on and I feel like this all the time again. 😔
1 likeI often get pissed off when I hear people talk about their mental illnesses because I recognize how much of it I experienced as a child. A freaking child, like UNDER the age of 10. I needed help! I needed help and none of my adults noticed or did anything about it!
1 likeNow that I'm an adult and have been diagnosed with ADHD, I'm able to understand brain and take care of myself in a way that prevents all these other mental health issues from affecting me. But as a child, unaddressed ADHD led to anxiety attacks, depression, irrational fears, suicidal thoughts, and apparently, disassociation. I told my parents, teachers, and classmates that I felt like I was dreaming so many times that they got tired of it.
I experienced the mirror thing Dodie is talking about. It was scary. I legitimately wondered if a demon was following me around and scaring me on purpose when I looked in a bathroom mirror.
When I was 13 I told a girl that I had no need for drugs or alcohol because my brain sometimes got "high" on it's own.
THIS IS NOT NORMAL! WHY DIDN'T MY ADULTS HELP ME ?!
I'm honestly lucky I made it to adulthood at all. Now that I'm responsible for myself, I'm proactive about my mental health. As a child, my parents should have been doing that.
While I don’t have a dissociative disorder, i do have frequent dissociation linked to other mental illnesses I struggle with. My psychiatrist recently suggested to me that through constant obsessing and analyzing and checking up on my brain space, even subconsciously, my mind hits the eject button. There’s something so frustrating and absolutely terrifying about feeling alright, maybe a little peeved, maybe a little nervous, but suddenly everything feels distant, your hands don’t look like yours, turning your head feels like there’s lag, like you can’t take everything in before your body has stopped looking at it and has moved onto something else. I’m working on living with it. It’s not comfortable, but I know I’m fortunate enough that it will pass, and it’s all about waiting out these episodes.
0 likesSome things I do to ground:
-Pull and stretch the hem of my shirt in different ways, feeling how the fabric shifts and stretches under my fingers
-Let water drip onto my hands, focus on the feeling of it on my hands, put my hands on my face, focus on the feeling of my hands pressing into my cheeks, and then focus on the water hitting my cheeks
-Press a pillow or a stuffed animal or a comfort item into my chest, the sensation is comforting and the comfort item is obviously... comforting
I hope this could help... literally anyone ♡
I really want to animate the poem for my project 🤕
0 likesBut it’s been a year
Maybe I’ll compose my own description and I’ll cite this video.
Thank you for inspiring me ( well no one is going to see it though)☺️
It feels great knowing I'm not the only one
1 likeI hate this feeling so much. I remember during the worst part of my life (when I was going through really bad anxiety) I felt just...wrong. I knew I was alive but I didn’t feel like I was the same person I’ve always been before. When I found out it was due to my anxiety everything made sense and sometimes I do still get these feelings but I’m happy to know that there’s a reason.
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Himynameiscarly I’m right here with you. All day. Erry day.
0 likesSame thing for me
0 likesD/R D/P is often down to being in a state of anxiety. I was talking to a friend about this and have read about it since as im going through it too. The way ive heard it put is its down to the fight, flight freeze response. Your brain goes into freeze mode and like a parachute, pulls the rip cord on you to pull you out of reality. My friend gave me this analogy. Imagine a gazelle that's been caught by a lion and is now being dragged back to its den. The gazelle, knowing its in an inescapable position goes into a state of derealisation. Its brain spaces out and disconnects from its situation so as to make its impending death as painless and detatched as possible. Its brain pulls the rip cord as it were. Now while your not a gazelle being dragged to its doom our brains have evolved to to have the same hard wired response to anxiety. Finding ways through anxiety can help with the spacey feeling. That being said, its perfectly fine to feel spaced out and 'floating' through it like floating over a wave and letting it pass can help, allowing your mind to observe the feeling (which is like a meditative technique). Grounding can help when it gets bad. Im no expert but its helped me kind of rationalise this
0 likesIt wasn't exactly like you described it but I was like that for a while when I was around 18,19 and I kinda miss a lot of opportunities because of that.
0 likesPerhaps trying to do too much out of body travel triggered it, it's like one never reintegrated one's body 100% and that's one reason to stop.
hey everyone! Anyone freaking out and watching this video thinking they are derealized forever and brain damaged, etc, all the stuff I used to think before, I had SEVERE depersonalization and derealizatjon for six years and came out of it :)
0 likesYou will , I promise.
Treat yourself for OCD and anxiety and you will come back into reality. I promise.
Yup I have this, it's basically you're body in defensive mode, post anxiety and depression. Mine is slowly going away with self care etc.
0 likesThanks for teaching me something new, it is quite interesting and im sorry you have that. I do recognize the forgetting everything part (and trying to not forget by taking pictures and writing everything i think down.) I actually dont remember anything under the age of 8.
877 likesI had derealisation a few times but it was when I was tired and stress
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Wimsem - Tekenen & Knutselen your comments are literally all over youtube, I see you all the time while I’m scrolling through the comments 😂 no hate or anything just a remark haha😘 ik ben ook nederlands btw
2 likesI don't remember my childhood either, or at least it's very foggy for me. This is a symptom of my BPD, which it may or may not be for you, who knows, but it is called dissociative amnesia. x
0 likesI took a 50mg delta 8 edible with my friend exactly a week ago tomorrow (first time doing anything weed related) and now I just can’t zone back in. I kind of feel like I’m still high and no matter what I do, if I sleep or not caffeine, food or not I just stay zoned out. I don’t really forget things as much it just feels like I’m on autopilot.
0 likesI had this when I was put on Effexor. Floaty, fuzzy, everything was bright like a television on high contrast, and totally numb and emotionless. Breathing felt like I was breathing like Darth Vader, if that makes any sense. I'm surprised that you're able read or comprehend anything... I was not able to. Triple Magnesium, Vitamin D and the keto diet worked to help me get back to somewhat normal. I still suffer depression, but I cannot take SSRIs because they actually make it worse and squish my good feelings too. That's when i tried suicide. No bueno.
0 likesthe irony of me having to come back to this video after accepting i'd lied to myself for 4 years. the irony of me watching this back when i had started to experience my chronic dpdr for months and thinking at the time, "pfffff imagine having something like this." my symptoms have been the complete opposite to what most people describe, my world became sharp and 3D and unfamiliar. I hate having it. idk how i'll make peace with it. i had it when i was 13 out of nowhere (i wasnt even stressed or anything)
0 likessometimes i would feel like i was just barely sitting on my chair in class and more like im sort of floating. my head would get fuzzy (feels like static) and i would start having difficulty concentrating. it would then feel as though my limbs are numb and i can’t feel them. then, after a few seconds or minutes, it would stop.
0 likesdoes that count as derealization or dissociation at all?
I once described my experience with depersonalization/derealization as if my body was ahead of me, miles... and my spirit was behind me, miles... and i simply didn't existed in the present moment
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thats exactly how i think of mine! On some days it's closer together and on others the distance seems huge
6 likesWow! I want to be your friend! I've had this chronical derealisation form almost 15 years! I also cant remeber the summer when this condition never went away (in my childhood I had experienced it and then it disappeared and thene came back...). Also my memory fails and I am sensitive to those changes in light and I get frustrated for not feeling present. Is there any group i can join? Thanks for making this video, its great not being alone. Hugs from Mexico City!!
0 likesLast week i was having crazy anxiety and panic attacks, now i am feeling like that all the time, i can see how thats a espcapism for the stress but how do i turn it off
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same, i had the worst panic attack of my life 3 weeks ago and have been in a DPDR state ever since. idk when i‘ll ever feel normal again
0 likesi feel like i'm always in a video game? like when you're controlling the character and the other people are just kind of around you and they're just NPCs and you can kind of hear them but not really and i'm the character and everyone else is just part of the game.
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OH MY GOSH YES
2 likesKshithi Dilip lmao i forgot about this comment, i'm now professionally diagnosed✨
2 likes@i dont know I'm glad you got the help you need 💖💖💖
2 likesKshithi Dilip thank u, they told me they couldn't do anything tho and that i just have to "try not to think about it" like what am i supposed to do with that lmao
4 likes@i dont know ah crap that blows I'm sorry, I hope you find the help you need then 💖 you're not alone and you're so valid 💖
2 likesKshithi Dilip tysm, that really means a lot. hope the best for you too💕💕
2 likes@i dont know Thank you so much 💖💖💖
2 likesI just want to share this to you guys: it’s alright 😄❤️
1 likeI literally explained this to my dad once and he just stared at me like I was crazy
1 like@Allthelovemara im sorry :/ my dad did the same
1 like@i dont know it’s okay and :( I’m so sorry
1 likeDerealization can be a really awful feeling. I've got mine in the late August 2021 after a traumatic event. I got invited to a nightclub by my friend who I'm not friends with any more since then. I'm not gonna describe why it has been so bad, but to be brief I got home at around 1:30 a.m., went to use a bathroom and suddenly, I felt like it all has been a dream. I experienced a panic attack due to that feeling. My life has changed, I started researching and found out about derealization. This event has even more inconvenient timing, because I was about to start a very stressful and useless/full of anger final school year on my worth of shit high school, so it made it even worse. But I'm better now, and I hope that when this year finally ends, it will decline.
0 likeswhen i start to feel dissociated it sometimes helps to wash my hands. sounds weird but it sort of brings me back a bit, and the warm water also feels really nice. maybe with a good smelling soap if you have. just a small thing, but it helps me anyway! xx love u dodie, thanks
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Aw. This is so sweet I love it
22 likesingrid Great tip! From my own experience you're absolutely right. Nice to find the simple things that work!
2 likesI wonder if I can program a certain scent to trigger me to reconnect with the world & then get that flavor soap. 🤔
This is so interesting, because I use scented lotions and hand sanitizers to help me feel something during a depressive episode. Funny how brains work, and how those of us with different issues can find solace in the same things.
3 likesSo interesting. Warm water makes me feel less alert. I find that drinking cold water, washing my hands in cold water, brushing my teeth with cold water, and even sometimes splashing my face with cold water helps me focus and feel more present.
1 likeOh, though I can't bear cold showers, so I have a hot shower, then end it with about a minute of cold water that then feels refreshing and perks me up. :)
1 likeI feel that way too, but with a shower. It's always worse when I wake up, but when I shower it becomes clearer, and my day isn't as foggy as it could be.
2 likesYes! showering helps me, also going outside: if you have a balcony at home or a big window that faces the road, open it and step out.
0 likesI did the third dose of Pfizer this Wednesday, and I felt bad until today: a week after, today I went to my psychologist and she told me it's just a feeling. I'm absolutely sure it's just a feeling, because my brain and my heart went through A LOOOOT of anxiety, tension, feelings of being lost and weak (as I still feel, because this situation in the last days made sleeping impossible for me. Because of this today I'm starting to use chamomiles) depression in recent times. I guess that feeling like this is one of the multiple phases of feeling something new you can't bare with. Much love from Italy, you're a pretty soul 💜🇮🇹
0 likesis it normal to get it from time to time? I don't always have this feeling but sometimes for some reason I get that sensation. Usually because I keep waking up (because of sleep paralysis) and then sleeping again immediately several times. I had trouble sleeping today and got a lot of sleep paralysis and it happened again. My brain keeps wondering "was I dreaming or did me eating lunch just now really happened?". Usually it'll take a full day to recover but I just wanna know is it normal to all of the sudden have it and then not have it. You know how people can be depressed (the mental illness) and they can also be depress from time to time. Is derealisation the same?
0 likesi sometimes feel like this myself and idk. sometimes its relaxing and sometimes its just not that fun. i kinda feel drugged
2 likesMine used to be only temporary (specially while at work) but now I’ve been stucked like this for almost a year.
0 likesthe first time i watched this i cried tbh. i didnt know this was a thing until this video and i thought i was insane or something. this video is rad and im happy you made it
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Boot Snoot same:/
1 likeI know what’s around me and what’s in my surroundings, but I feel super disconnected and it feels like i’m in a dream. It’s like I have no feelings and I have no brain, like i’m some type of robot who’s just living in this misery...
1 likeI have this and clonazepam has helped me a TON when nothing else helps I highly recommend
0 likesI feel like everything around me is one single layer of particles that i should be able to see thru, like im in a matrix determined by what my eyes can see. Sounds seem distant, as if im hearing them in a half-asleep state or underwater. I feel as if my consciousness is not properly attached to my vessel, but like im just watching from an outside perspective, and it has a life of its own. It does its own thing in a sort of autopilot way. Life feels like a dream I'm supposed to be waking up from soon, or a movie that is reaching its end.
0 likesIts crippling, and i wish i could enjoy my life here, instead of just waiting to die, with the hope of waking up.
I’ve had this condition for 6 years and my psychiatrist switched up my meds and it’s making me worse.
0 likesi just read about this in your book! its awesome that you're talking about your experiences and spreading the word about derealisation. love you dodie!! x
6 likesAfter smoking a lot of weed over a period of 4-5 days (Dam), I had the exact same thing for weeks after I'd stopped. I guess I'm lucky it only lasted about a month or two - but those were undoubtedly the weirdest, foggiest, most dreamlike weeks I've ever had. It felt like I was behind my eyes almost, like 'I' was a tiny person in my head pressing buttons and instructing my body to do things, like a human robot/spaceship. Woke up one morning and it was gone. Had NO CLUE what it was
0 likesI have derealization most of the time, but i have moments where i come back into the reality that my life is real and that things matter, I celebrate when i have those short, sometimes hour long moments. But when everything feels unreal i dont really care about anything or anyone. It feels like im just watching everything happen and there are no actual choices to for me make, i feel like im on auto pilot.
0 likesI feel like this sometimes. It doesn’t happen that often which means that I probably don’t have a disorder or anything, but it’s very strange. It typically happens when I get very anxious or (for whatever reason) watch conspiracy theory videos? I felt like this a few days ago but now I’m back to feeling “normal” again. It’s odd.
0 likesOh I didn't know this was an actual thing! I get that sometimes but I haven't gotten it like in a year now and I always thought that I was just tired but I guess I wasn't :O
0 likes(Just a word of caution on 5-HTP for anyone who is also looking at trying it)
76 likesI've personally been using it on and off for quite a while and love it and do find it helps me with depressive symptoms. But if you plan on using it I really recommend doing plenty of research on its interactions and the precautions you need to take while taking it. In the US (and I'd imagine most places) its marketed like a vitamin/ supplement and sold otc in that section of the store, but it can have some fairly nasty side effects over time like any drug.
The big one is to never take it while also taking an antidepressant. That can cause the buildup off too much serotonin in your body which leads to serotonin syndrome. Also 5-HTP over time can lead to some heart valve issues but that's said to be preventable by taking EGCg (usually found in the form of a high quality green tea supplement). The final big thing is that since our brains naturally TRY to find balance with brain chemicals (even if they often fail) supplementing serotonin can throw off and lower levels of dopamine which can also cause depression and mental health issues. Generally taking L-Tyrosine (a precursor to Dopamine) helps with that. Also just cycling on and off of it for periods of time to give your body a break every now and then really helps too.
5-HTP is the precursor to serotonin and L-Tryptophan (different from L-Tyrosine) is the precursor to 5-HTP. L-Tryptophan is a bit safer and doesn't have the same side effects as 5-HTP and I've seen a few people also have success with that.
Above all, do plenty of research and talk to a doctor if you can. Take care of yourself friends. :-)
Edit: formatting stuff
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Catalytic i used to take it for my suicidal thoughts/depressive symptoms and it worked in the very beginning but then made me feel constantly sick usually nauseous so i stopped taking it ://
1 likeThanks for this - I was going to comment along similar lines! Mixing SSRIs with 5-HTP is a serious way to trigger serotonin syndrome....be careful, folks!
3 likesthank you!
1 likeCatalytic thanks a lot!! my mom always tries to get me on all kinds of supplements because according to her there's no side effects, but I knew that it's probably not that easy...
1 likeLol it happens with me also...sometime while sleeping I had visions in my mind and when I suddenly woke up at night I feel like I was not sleeping I feel like I was thinking all night .....
0 likesSometimes my episodes are so bad that i feel dead literally i call on others around me to check that my voice is heard and check mirrors and my ID card all the time to assure myself that I actually exist i feel odd looking at myself in pictures and bathing/showering is hell it terrifies me
1 likeI definitely get this during my severe anxiety or depressivr episodes and sometimes during an argument or extreme stress. I always put it down to my aspergers. It's like somebody has pulled the plug out of my brain and nothing computes properly. My vision goes, I struggle to speak, my memory switches off and I'm confused, i can't feel anything physically and feel like I'm floating outside of myself. Sometimes I would hallucinate or lose chunks of time. There's full years I don't remember. I always wondered if anyone else got this
0 likesYou know when you have to give a speech or an interview, maybe you’re at a concert and meeting a celebrity you’ve looked up to all your life. You do it and you see yourself do it, but once it’s over you feel as though you can’t remember what had just happened? You know it happened but it was somewhat fuzzy the whole time because of your nerves and the memory of it seems to far away, so much so you question if it really happened or if it was some sort of strange dream. That is because you dissociated; your brain was too stressed and so it shut down temporarily in order to keep you from panicking or becoming overwhelmed and overstimulated. Well, living with this disorder is that feeling ALL THE TIME.
0 likesHi there like you say that you feel like dreaming all the time, I guess
0 likesIt's derealization disorder. I have been through this scary mental illness since September 2016. Now I have overcome almost 90% of it but I am curious to get 100% recovery. I believe one must activate willpower to do away with stuff like this..... I request all my loving friends be it boys or girls who are down with this bloody illness that there exists no impossibility provided one doesn't give up and continue struggling untill
Success is achieved.....
I knew I'm the only one dealing with this illiness glad many people are speaking out it's really terrifying condition
0 likesLitterally felt like I was going insane and It scaried the living shit out of me
0 likesI didn’t know this was a thing and now I know that this is probably what I have. I thought it was just depression and now I know I need to tell my mom about this and I’m incredibly scared.
0 likesdodie, thank you. listening to the words roll off your tongue in the very same fashion that i feel so often makes me feel like maybe i’m not completely insane. my only hope is that we spacey dreamers can ground each other some like what you have done for so many by sharing your personal experiences. and maybe, with enough dedication and understanding, we can figure ourselves out together, someday re-enter reality for good together.
46 likesedit:
i went to sleep last night thinking of some of my most intense episodes, and i’d like to use this community to share one. if you’re reading this, maybe you can somehow relate, or else find it interesting. anyways, here goes:
it was the start of the summer before last. my family was going to orlando universal studios for the first time, something i had been looking forward to for a good while. note: traveling to anywhere other than what you’re familiar with usually brings out the worse of derealisation, as much as i absolutely adore going to different and new places; if regular routine life feels unreal, imagine how much stranger it is to suddenly wake up in a blank white hotel room. anyways, the first day there, after spending hours of riding rides and wandering through this themed world, around 4 in the evening, while walking through a crowd of colors and sweaty smiles, everything around me suddenly seems to change dimensions. my vision blurs. and it’s as if i’m purely inside of a film, like i can reach out and touch the people moving around me and nothing would effect me at all, like everything was already set and i was just a background actor. my mind spins as the people around me whirl and i turn to my mom with all that’s left that is me and i tell her somethings going on. i could not think clearly. all i could tell her was that something was happening to me and i so desperately wanted it to stop, but in much more fragmented words. she has to guide me to a bench and has me rest, having my dad fetch some icecream. she asked what was going on, and i couldn’t explain it or tell her. i remain this way for 10 minutes or so, and my parents decide to take me back to the hotel room, assuming that i was dehydrated or something. they are both of the medical field and to this day are sure that’s what it was. after hours of laying on the bed, feeling completely drunk (although i’ve never felt that before, i imagine that’s what it’s like), eventually i gain my senses back and if my eyes and mind were a camera, they were focusing back to normal. this happened all 3 days we were there, around 4 in the evening each time. i drank loads of water after the first day, so i’m positive that it was not dehydration. i don’t know what it was, but it grew increasingly terrifying each time, as if maybe this time i wouldn’t come back. the only thing i can trace it back to is all of the simulation rides that i rode (which is the majority of the rides they have there). similar to how dodie talked about having to take a moment to come back to being in the real world after going to the movies, it’s like i was stuck in the simulation mode. maybe it’s because i wanted so badly to remember these memories that i sunk myself into those moments and experiences riding, and after enough of it, switched into it. but to be honest, i really don’t know what happened there, and i just felt so bad for ruining those evenings for my family. i’m not usually someone who likes to draw attention to myself, but it’s hard not to when derealisation demands it.
so, that’s it. someday i plan to do research in psychopathology/social psychology to dig into issues like this that are quite relevant today while such little is known about them.
the other day i tied my usually depressing feelings on reality up in a little bow: I come from a dream of a garden growing, a dream that has yet to end. if you made it to the end of this novel, thank you for reading, i hope you’re well. 💛
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i found youuuu and im rlly sorry you have to go thru this. i dont have it so i dont understand but anytime u feel it u can talk to meee
1 likeI don't deal with this often, but when I do it usually comes close to triggering a panic attack. Anyone have some tips for helping calm panic attacks? (Besides grounding, cuz I already do that.)
0 likesi used to feel this a few years ago but it came and went
0 likesI have this sometimes... bright lights trigger me more and specially when I sleep very late.
0 likesI feel more depersonalised during the day and more lucid at night, or when I’m drinking.
0 likesIt's very weird that I happened to just stumble across this video now. I have these kind of feelings a lot, and I notice it especially at my job.
184 likesLike my surroundings feel like a dream. And it's odd because I don't experience high stress at my job but it's definitely where I notice it the most.
Maybe because that's when I'm most consumed by my own thoughts? I do a lot of thinking at work whether it's about absolute random-but-connected nonsense or whether I'm doing some critical thinking.. I'm very in my own head at work.. and then I'll kind of take a step out of my thoughts and try to take in my surroundings and everything feels so disengaged.
All the sounds blend together. Almost like if I reached up to my face I would find I was wearing a pair of virtual reality goggles and I could take them off.
Like even though I'm standing and moving around at work, I feel like I'm sitting down and watching myself do it from somewhere else.
This got way too personal but this video definitely hit a personal part of me.
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Duuuddeee, reading this was soo eerie!!! It was like reading a passage from my notebook, this is exactly how I feel, damn. I mean my job is moderately chill too, I just work the longest goddamned hours, sometimes I think that interferes too, that disarraying moment in which all the conversations and silverware movements shift into one clusterfuck of aushaushtinktinkaush and I can't tell any sounds apart from each other anymore. Honestly, all I fucking do is work so sometimes I also think I'm living in my mind due to lack of speaking with people, like I'm dealing with customers all the time but it's very automatic and simulated, very superficial living, I guess I can't even say I'm living in my mind as much as it seems that I'm standing beside myself, like I can't be bothered to occupy my own body lol Anyway, this got waaay too personal too. How do you get yourself to snap out of it?
3 likesThis couldn't be more accurate to how I feel on a regular basis. Especially at work! Feels so good to know that I'm not the only person who gets this, thought I was going crazy at first. This video and the comments have made me feel sooo much better about it!
2 likesSometimes I have to look down at my legs and rally concentrate on every footstep whilst I'm walking to try to convince myself that I am actually walking at that present time.
0 likesI have only ever experienced this type of thing while having a paranoia-based Panic Attack from being waaaaaay too high. Or just normally high with an over-whelming, stressful thought added. Or maybe it had nothing to do with being high, but since I have never experienced THAT shit Sober, I will gladly just blame it on being too high.
0 likesI can't imagine living life like that all the time. Them handful of "life is a dream" moments are way more scary than the scary "real life" shit I know for a fact happened, because yeah, at least there's comfort in not questioning everything that's happening in "that" moment.
The only Advice normal me now would give the me freaking out in that moment is: in the end, you're the only person that could be in control of it, and therefor you're the only person that can put an end to it.
the example with the cinema is so good. I always have to adapt to reality for like 20 minutes after watching a movie there.
0 likesNot knowing how to explain DP is one of the hardest things
1 likeI have dealt with this for many years. I just shrug it off because I've dealt with it for so long I thought it was normal for years. Sometimes it makes me act weird and I always wonder if people around me notice. When I mentioned my vision symptoms in conjunction with my mental symptoms, my therapist didn't seem to understand and told me to get my eyes checked. I have been having it less and less and antidepressants helped a lot. I take Lexapro and it has changed my life for the better which I never ever thought would happen because everyone around me has said antidepressants never worked for them. Life is by no means perfect, but I am grateful for the improvement. There is hope.
0 likesI have a weird thing where I catch myself constantly thinking that I'm the only real person in the world. I understand that this is false, but I catch myself subconsciously thinking "she's acting badly" and stuff like that. It's happening a bit less now.
0 likesEvery once in a while, I only look at what I call the "surface" of life. Everything beyond a few feet in front of me is blurred and distorted. I feel as though I am floating, and I can't move correctly. I get in the way of people and feel stuck there. It's hard to get back to viewing the world like other people. I get all spacey and everything around me is blurred. I have no idea why it happens, but it's been on my mind for a while and I wanted to express myself. Thanks.
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little human it might be dissociation
2 likesodetojay maybe
8 likesIt really only happens when I'm in public (most often during school)
I have the same feelings all the time but especially worse during school,I’m pretty sure it’s disassociation
1 likesharabow it's dissociation not disassociation
0 likesHuh that's exactly what I used to feel when I was younger... at least I think. When I look back it just seems like a dream
5 likesits so good to know i'm not alone on this one, i also feel like that a lot but it usually goes away after i clench my fists a little. i've always wondered what it might be and why i might be feeling like that
1 likeanyways this sucks that its happening to you but at least you know you're not alone!!(sorry for my english:-))
Barbara Chlamtacz I've never consciously tried to get out of it before, thanks for giving me an idea <3
1 likeme too. im so glad it's not just me
1 likelittle human that's called not weaeing your glasses
0 likeslittle human no problem!! let me know if it works!!
1 likeBarbara Chlamtacz I will
0 likesMike Hunt I always wear my glasses
0 likesAnyway you don't even know me why are you assuming things about me?
George Ramsey stop
0 likeslittle human me too
1 likeI remember having this as a child, like when I was really really young. It stopped after I was like 5
0 likesMy name is Jodie- hi dodie! I had derealization for almost a whole year back in 2012 , it’s on and off now but how it’s stopped is ... I don’t know how. It just stopped . It only comes on when I’m stressed or in grocery stores
0 likesYou feel like you're watching a movie, but with one minor detail that can be quite unnerving.
0 likesYou're the main character.
I've had this for as long as I can remember. As a child - not having the articulation skills - I would describe it by saying things like "there are times when I don't know where I am." - which wasn't quite right.
After a series of tests including EEGs, xrays and everything else under the sun, there was no diagnosis.
It wasn't until years later that I learned that I was suffering from a disasociative disorder brought on by extreme anxiety.
After all this time; however, I've learned to cope with it.
Thank you for sharing this with us. For those of us that suffer with this, It's nice to know we're not alone.
I feel like this as well 🤷♂️
1 likeI have this condition where I keep thinking everything is real. It's terrifying.
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Is that a joke? I can't even tell.
0 likes@Keira Lane it is. Many well respected philosophers and thinkers have suggested that we are living in a dream or some kind of an illusion. In modern culture, physicists and mathematicians have evolved the idea into what's known as simulation theory and it's often portrayed in media ie The Matrix or Vanilla Sky as an answer to the question of what is reality. There are many people who take the idea quite seriously (myself included). The joke was a reversal of the premise of the video and I was playing with the idea that life actually is a dream. It was a pretty good joke in that context but probably not for everyone.
1 likeWait.. is this whats been happening to me ? Omg i always thought it was just short term memory and that my eyes are going bad...
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Just passing by. I would highly recommend consulting someone, mate. One thing about self-diagnosis is that you might be wrong, which is what all the sceptics might reasonably tell you; another thing is that you might be right and thus you gotta go consult a specialist. I also have derealization and I remember thinking that it was all about my eyes, same as you, or that I just didn't get enough sleep. Now, after more than two years of being stuck here, I finally have a therapist and I'm working on this issue. I did try to cope on my own before, but without any guidance, it didn't work and in fact the disorder got worse over those years. So if you think you might have derealization (or any other kind of bullshit!), please try to find a therapist. Stay strong, man! <3
65 likessame
1 likeMrBoko1234 yeah I feel the same... idk
1 likeyeah same, my mom says its just allergies but idk since ive taken so much medicine and its been months at least (it started feeling like this last year)
2 likesI also agree with Alice Chester, please go get this tested out, as it could be something severe and you will never know till you try find out. Good luck and I hope its not really difficult. Peace and love
4 likesSo did i
0 likesSame, I thought that is was cause of my irregular sleep...actually its possible that I just need to sleep better
0 likesit maybe just because im a preteen and i need lots of sleep but i get 9 hours of sleep everyday now and this still happens, although yeah it may be my horrible sleep pattern
0 likesI’ve had dr for like 8 months now went through every symptom. Caused by weed:(
1 likeso i still go to school and two weeks ago just a few days after my best friend had a panic attack at school i started again to feel like i was not real. I had this before, but this time it was different and a lot stronger. I felt that everything i said and heard and felt was just not real, as if someone had programmed it, like i was a figure in a game and i was placed in this human body and had to follow human rules i don't want to follow. And my friends tried to talk to me and i couldn't answer. It was in the middle of class, i started to panic inside and wasn't able to breathe, almost passed out, and i just wanted to disappear and get away from this human body. It just felt completely wrong to me. It took my best friend half an hour to get me to say something after class.
0 likesMost of the time that i am alone i feel like this and i know that if i don't try to distract myself i will become crazy. i am afraid this feeling comes back and that i won't be able to breathe again. Every day i am afraid to sleep, because i'm scared, that i might wake up the next day and will have to follow all this human stuff i can't relate to.
what is even worse, is that if i forget this feeling for a moment the next time i realize i forgot it, it doesn't feel good. It feels like i betrayed myself.
my best friend is the only person i told this until now. i often feel like i need to go to a therapist, but i'm scared to ask my mother. I'm afraid, she'll ask why. I don't want her to know what's going on with my mind, because she has enough stress having to deal with everything else.
I make the best out of my derealisation. Having very muted responses to things happening has made me really good at technical analysis of charts and trading in general, you just observe and stay detached to make out the most likely outcomes based on objectivity. I don't think you should cope with these things because it can get you more stressed and anxious (i know it made me have alot of breakdowns). Much rather find something you like and something where you can use your way of life to get an advantage to perform even better. E.g. strategy games, chart analysis, mentally skipping time from boring tasks and a bunch of things i probably can't think of that are better done when detached from the situation
0 likesThere's some good shows on netflix that discuss our perception of reality. Abstract The Art of Design is very interesting and i found it extremely reassuring when dealing with feelings of 'what is real / reality'. It's indirectly talking about it and doesnt discuss D/R or D/P but just another perspective on how we percieve the world around us
0 likesmy best friend didn’t know what was wrong with her because her mum told her that she had something wrong with her but she didn’t know what and now by watching this video with her she now realises that this is her condition. thankyou so much dodie. i love you
30 likesI felt this after smoking weed a few times, it got even worst with my anxiety 😖
0 likesme : aaah this just my feeling because of anxiety and panic
10 likesmy brain : "then explain the numbness and less of sensations"
me : QUIET PLS
my brain : "what if it was all dream and you actually asleep in high-school class"
me : SHUT UP I AM 29
Yes, i am also obsessed with being that young again.
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are you still here??
0 likesI'd like to talk about it... I am lost
This happens to me when I’m in places that I’m not familiar with
1 likeI grew up in the ghetto and since I was a kid in high stress situations I would shut out all emotions and see myself almost in 3rd person to deal with the situations. Never knew there are other's like me. We have some fucked up coping mechanisms.
0 likesI also struggle with derealisation and depersonalization. This happened to me after the biggest panic attack i've ever had, about 2-3 months ago (happened after I stopped my birth control pill cold turkey). I've been dealing with it ever since. It isn't 24/7 for me, but I have episodes every day. It is so hard, and so scary, it honestly feels like being high all the time or something. But finding videos like yours really helps me realize that i'm not going crazy, that i'm not alone, and that there is hope to come out of this. Because there is! This WILL go away. It is not permanent at all. You just have to figure out how to rewire your thoughts and etc. It will take time, but this isn't forever.
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Hey! It happened to me as soon as I stopped birth control as well, it took a few weeks to start but when it did I had a panic attack and then within 20mins I had become trapped in my own spacey head with no way out - it's been over and year and a half now.
1 likeHope you feel better soon💗
z ^^^^^^^
0 likesWow, this has literally been my situation for the past two months now. I'm relieved to hear your comment! How long did it take you to recover and what did you do? I think mine is getting better slowly but it is still a daily struggle because it's such a confusing disorder.
0 likesI have suffered from this for years
1 likeOver 10 years now sometimes I don't think it'll ever go away :(
0 likesmakes me feel like my brain is higher up than its supposed to be? like a floaty feeling and light headed. it feels like my body can't contain itself and its trying to float away! also makes me feel so numb. like everything is so far away and I can't put any effort into anything. most of the time when I look in the mirror I like recognize the person, I know that the face is familiar but it doesn't feel like mine yk
1 likeI watched video about awakening(enlightenment).that video scared me and after that I feel like I'm in dream a littbe bit.I don't have any other symptoms tho.I am depressed and was suicidal in the past.So I think I have thing she's talking about
0 likesThis makes me feel so much better, I don’t feel like this constantly but as soon as at get anxious I feel like I’m watching a movie, like I’m sat in my head and I’m watching life through my eyes, I look around and I can touch things but not feel them properly and when people talk I feel like I’m in a tunnel, thanks for talking about it cause I just kinda thought I was going insane
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This happens to me as well sometimes when I talk to people I don’t know -I just completely disconnect from what’s going on and it all kind of feels fake.
0 likesIz S same though, I get anxious easily and when I do it feels like I’m in a movie or a daydream, like no matter what, I just can’t connect
0 likesIz S plus I get the tunnel thing and the weird feeling when I touch stuff too
0 likesI have had this sinds the beginning of 7th grade, but I recently found out it's an actual thing. A couple of days ago I went to a concert and I pinched my self every 5 seconds cause I really wanted to remember it cause I felt like I was watching a movie or something. I don't have or ever had depression or anything like that. But when things get loud and hectic I just get in that dream.
0 likesAnother way i can explain is: when you call an uber when lying in bed for a long time and you get in the uber or a taxi and mid driving you feel like you are not in the car.
1 likeI really dont know how she seems so optimistic and happy. Dpdr is hellish
0 likesmy dissociative episodes make me so uncomfortable, i can’t imagine living like that all the time
2 likesOh my gosh you have answered lots my questions! I feel similar sometimes when I feel like I am watching a video if my life kinda like in vr, kinda. It's hard to describe and I don't know if that is exactly what it is so... Yeah. I am also going through times with high levels of stress at the moment so, thank you Dodie!
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Freybomb Irvine Omg same
2 likesVR is a good way to describe it. I describe it as permanently looking through a glass wall.
11 likesOMG YES it does feel like vr that’s the perfect way to describe it for me. Idk if I actually have it but I’ve felt a lot of thing Dodie was talking about so i think ima look into it
4 likesthegirlwarriør Yeah!!! Sometimes it's like I'm in VR and then I realise I'm not??? It's really confusing. It's like you're in your body but at the same time you're not???
5 likesyea the vr, true true i was just commenting about that. it's like those 360º videos
4 likesI've also described it as feeling like your in a dream or watching a movie that your in.
1 likeDude...I was searching these questions!!
1 likeFreoybomb Irvine
1 likeFreybomb Irvine you guys have depersonalization
1 likeOne of the major symptoms of my mental illness is depersonalization and that’s pretty much how I feel a lot. I feel like I’m in a video and everything I do isn’t real and that I’m not real. It’s very weird. It happens more often than t doesn’t.
1 likeFreybomb Irvine yess! I understand you !!
1 likei have been feeling like this for a while to the point where i dont really feel anything. i dont get sad or anything im just here
1 likeFreybomb Irvine that’s why YouTube is so addicting
1 likeIs it like you are watching TV or you stand few meters behind a screen when you are actually awake?
1 like@Arealis sorry it took me so long to reply but it sometimes feels like you are disconnected from the reality your eyes are showing you but it doesn't quite connect properly if you get what I mean.
0 likesThank you for all the replies and likes, I really wasn't expecting this! I don't know how it is for other people but almost an entire year on from when it started- at times it gets better and I can "see" what is infront if me, other times I feel like I have no emotions. Like I'm just drifting through life
1 likeI get this sometimes, normally before a panic attack or when I'm out and about but it's with colours and shapes instead. I'll be walking by a row of houses that I've walked past a million times but this time, the garden walls seem to tall or the colours in the garden are oversaturated and I feel like I'm In a video game. Its a really weird and horrible feeling and it will only stop once I get back into my house so idk if this is a similar thing or not but yeah...
0 likesI always pinch myself to make sure I'm still there.. and I feel like one day I'll wake up from a coma or something like dat.. I went to a doctor and told them and they thought I was just faking, or it was my glasses?!????
3 likesHELP
It’s almost like I have no impact on the world around me. When I’m driving, walking, working at my job, at the end of the day it feels like I didn’t do any of it
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yup same
0 likesHaha I always get like this before or
0 likesduring exams, it’s so annoying cause I should study but I don’t I just stare at a page and don’t realize that I did it for 2 hours. I started scratching my skin to ground myself in reality but it can’t be the only solution
Jesus, this explains how I feel EXACTLY. The "light" thing, where the shopping centre's lights make you feel derealized and things like that, that's exactly what happens to me. I never hear any other derealized people talking about the light thing and I thought it was just something else. Thank you so much for talking about this.
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I have been suffering of it since tree years ago.
0 likesWil Page Simpson better to get help than comment about it it’s a actual mental illness you know?
1 likeAbby Marie Let mentally ill people comment on YouTube... are we just supposed to stay silent about how we feel and how this video makes us feel less alone?
3 likesNo, I wasn't trying to get help in the comments. I'll get actual help. Don't comment on something you aren't sure about.
1 likeI avoid shopping centres and bright, busy places for this reason. I end up with headaches when I’m under bright lights, and it makes everything look even more weird.
1 likeYES YES YES that bright lighting in the stores or in schools just makes me feel so unreal and unpleasant
0 likesWil Page Simpson I
0 likesi keep telling myself that i’m gonna be ok but i’m not ok it’s getting worse everyday i’m so tired of this i feel exactly how you feel but i haven’t seen a doctor for it. in the past i got diagnosed with anxiety and depression and i thought it was that but maybe i’m wrong
0 likesI woke up one morning and I felt off and weird like this. At first it was spinning and nausea and that turned into a weird high feeling or drunk feeling. It making life hard. I’ve had it for a little over a month right now and it’s caused depression and suicidal thoughts. Has anyone else felt this and found a way to get better?
0 likesWow. This explains why my friends called me "crackhead" and "dopey" for 4 months straight ( even though they know i don't do drugs ). I never knew this was a thing - I just thought it was me 😂
0 likeswait yo that’s a real thing? when I was in elementary it would feel as if I was like- playing a first person POV game and just watching someone play my life if that makes any sense. Cool to know I wasn’t schizophrenic or something.
0 likesI have disassociation due to an abrupt formation of anxiety that, after a short period of time, turned into depression, which created the derealization as a coping mechanism. I’m on antidepressants now, but for some reason those have just made the derealization stronger, even though my depression and anxiety are numbed. The weird part is I actually like being spaced out, and I don’t know if that’s healthy. I actually try to stay spaced out by constantly sleeping, delving into fiction of all kinds, and just staying da fuq away from the real world as much as possible. This has made my memory horrible (I used to have a photographic memory) and sucks out any motivation I could have towards accomplishing stuff for school. Should I let myself stay in this dream state (where I’m happy, but unmotivated and stubborn), or should I try to stay in reality?
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Syd Sschoen A little bit of both couldn't suck that bad. Just take baby steps back to reality and when you're in a phase where you're just slightly jutting out of your comfort zone. I feel like that position in life is always the most productive and joyful. Good luck!
3 likesFrom experience I'll say that it is dangerous to make derealisation and just NOTLIFE your confort zone because when their is a important deadline if your anything like me you will either miss it (bc time what's that pff i m just gonna take a nap) or have a rush of anxiety/panic attack.
1 likeFor the rest of the time i find that this unhealthy mecanism works and it sucks bc that is probably why I just wont change since 5years now so... yeah I'm just warning it might become (or not) an issue
edit: I just realise that you said antidepressants numbs out your depressiobmn and anxiety so... maybe it's fine ¿¿¿¿??? or maybe most definitely you should mention this to your doctor 'just in case'
0 likesI relate to the feeling that your antidepressants are contributing to derealization. I took antidepressants for a while and they numbed my anxiety and lessened my deep depressive moods, but my derealization was so bad I had to stop taking them.
2 likesSometimes i feel like i am very intertwined with reality and other times i dont. Sometimes im so in tune with things outside of myself i get afraid that i cant handle it so i really try to revert back to feeling “unreal” so i can deal with the task at hand, and get through.
1 likeI wouldn’t say that you should make derealization your only view point of your life. If you deal with the real problems you face, your life will turn out to be much more pleasant for you. The way i look at my derealization now is like a superpower that helps me to be able to get through the things that make my life really hard for me, and i use it as a life-handling tool.
Whether you feel real or not, life is happening to you. Times is passing. Days are going by. There is so much beauty around you. When you notice how beautiful life is, you will want to be integrated with the world again. Until then i wish you well.
As you were saying staying in that spaced out place probably isn’t healthy. I hope you try to find a new way to cope such as art, exercise, music, etc. other than coping by falling into your bad mental health. I know it is hard to try to find a new coping skill when you already have one but I can be very helpful. I hope that helped and know that you are valuable.
1 likeSyd Sschoen I had a really similar experience to this at the start of the year. Moving home after studying abroad and going back to my old school gave me intense anxiety and I had only started experiencing mild symptoms of anxiety around 6 months before that, so it was a totally new experience for my brain, and it ran me down into my worst depression and had me derealized for about 3 months. Personally I never got on medication, which maybe is a good thing because i was able to come out of the depression and also stop derealizing for the most part when I moved back to England for the summer. I would definitely talk to your doctor about the medication making the derealization worse. It might be good to try different options or different dosages to see if maybe you can stay connected to things while still lessening the depression. If you find you really do feel best with your current medication and the derealization along with it you could switch back then.
1 likeSyd Sschoen - I am 61 years old and have found that we all are just kind of fumbling around in the dark most of the time. We focus when we have to and juggle when we must and pretty much make it up as we go along even long after we have retired from the working world. This method of coping works for you for now but you also know that it won't support you latter when life requires more effort to stay focused for longer periods of time. But worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes and for now just keep trying to work it out as best as you can. Dreaming is fine and we need to take time out to do so when we can. But when the need comes to sit up and take notice and begin and complete a task then that is what we will do to the best of our ability. Just know that you are not alone in what you are going through.
0 likesI'm no doctor but i think it'd be more beneficial in the long run if you slowly try to ease back into reality. maybe tell your doctor that your struggling with coping with reality and see if there's anybody else you can see. just take baby steps. good luck <3
0 likesI have a feeling it’s a side affect of your meds. Before I was taking ADD meds, my bipolar medicine (to help stabilize my moods) made me kinda flatline emotionally. It made me not care about life in the sense of friends and socializing. It doesn’t help that I was alone a lot during that time either. I think you should mention it to your doctor next time you see them. Also talk to them if you think somethings up.
0 likesThis makes me feel slightly better about having depersonalization/derealization disorder because I didn’t think there were other people that had it
0 likesSometimes I really don’t like it because I don’t really get to experience life
It sucks sometimes because I just want to feel but I can’t
Like stuff just,,, doesn’t stick
I read things over and over and it doesn’t stick
I read my medication and it doesn’t click what it is
I really try to bring myself back and experience stuff
But it makes me feel slightly better knowing that I’m not alone
One thing I've realised with my derealisation is that it's probably the cause of my chronic nail biting. I've always bit my nails so I passed it off as just a bad habit.
0 likesBut I realised that it got worse after my depressive episode 4 ago (which is what triggered my derealisation). So I suppose its probably my brain's way of trying to subconsciously feel grounded.
At least I have an excuse now why I compulsively chomp away at my fingers.
im not gonna self diagnose but;
1 likei have similar issues like dodie’s. in school, sometimes in the middle of doing an assignment, i look around my classroom and i suddenly feel like im lost. physically. i don’t recognize the people around me and such. this never lasts long but still gets me every time. sorta like “where am i?? oh wait- im in math class.”
also, the vision! this happens wayy too much. i feel like my eyes are squinted where in reality, they are wide open. or something like, i’d be wearing my glasses and then suddenly my vision gets blurry and i zone out to where i cant move. im usually aware that its going on as well. its sorta like- sleep paralysis but without the demons and replace the bed with a school desk and you want to wake up but you cant? i snapped out of it when someone talks to me.
i havent told anyone about whats happening when it’s happening. people would ask me “are you okay?” and id just reply with “yeah, i just zoned out.”
Just came back to this video because i just realised i might have some episodes of derealisation when im stressed or something... and im far from not letting it bother me...
0 likesI feel for anyone whose dealing with this.
76 likesderealisation, I feel like my whole life is a movie .. I make actions and i subconsciously expect from people and from life itself to react to me as in the movies .. In matter of fact .. I subconsciously expect from myself to react to people and to life as in the movies ..
1 likeIt's scary realizing that u cannot count on what u think is a good thing to think of .. U cannot count on what u think is a good thing to say .. U cannot count on what u think is good thing to do .. Just because you can see that you are just imitating some movie scene was programmed in ur subcounscious after re-watching it so many time.
I had a "friend" that disassociated for a week. She threw a brand new phone away that her parents gave her IN PERSON and said that she thought they were robots and didnt trust them or anyone. We were at work and she sat there for hours changing in and out of her uniform and I asked her if she knows that this is real and she said no I asked her if she thought she was kn a dream and she said yeah as soon as I told her this was real life she gave me a look of disbelief and did trust like I was a talking nonsense. Then a few days later she attacked me and my husband for absolutely no reason. She couldn't even explain it herself. It was insane. She even thought that there were helicopters (at I'm speak ok ng of there were none at all) and that we were going to be raided. Super scary.
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This doesnt sound like the same type of disassociation, but more like a breakdown or paranoid delusion :( Is she getting help?
9 likes@The Duchess she isn't. She ended up cutting all her hair off and I think that snapped her back to reality because I heard from someone that she regretted it but yeah idk I know she isn't getting help though. Shes too stubborn
1 likeThat is not depersonalisation, but more like a full blown psychosis. Try and get her help before she hurts herself or someone else.
9 likes@SheSaidHeroin yeah i thought so. I dont study psychology and have never seen or experienced psychosis but I was pretty sure at the time. We aren't in contact anymore because well.... she attacked me and my husband for no reason at all and completely for got she did it and then the days after that were weird. I told her parents she needed help when they came to move her out, they just dismissed me like I was the one that attacked her.
1 like@Acpole_ This is such an overall upsetting situation. I'm sorry you and your husband had to go through that and am glad you are okay. The fact that she didn't remember attacking you only intensifies the possibility of her having a psychotic episode. It obviously isn't your responsibility to take care of her, especially if she is endangering you and it's so awful that her parents didn't believe you. I hope someone else in her life could get her some help, because from what you said in your original comment, she has completely disconnected from reality and can't be blamed for her actions and most likely needs to be hospitalised and on medication for her to be a functioning human again.
2 likes@SheSaidHeroin that's exactly what I said to her parents I said that I didnt call the cops because she was not clearly in her right mind and needs proper help. I felt like me calling the cops would have made things so much worse.
1 likeThat is not DP or DR, when you are in those types of states you are actually aware of reality you just have a sensation that you a fake or a robot or feel unfamiliar with your surroundings or yourself but cognitively you know it’s not true and are in touch with reality this is why it’s so scary.
1 likethats not dissociation. dissociation doesnt also describe paranpid dellusions. where are you? it may be possible to get her forced into treatment
0 likes@Ashen Rose this was almost a year ago. Theres nothing I could do even if i wanted to
0 likes@Ashen Rose insaid this if you read the thread. I even mentioned to her parents that she needed help and the shood me off
0 likesRoxxyFly does she do drugs?
0 likes@Peeress Ma'at smokes weed. She and I tripped together once or twice but that's all I know of. She was usually always home so I knew what she did if she wasnt she was at work. But we also worked together so that was rare. There was very little time that we were apart so if she did any when we weren't together I'd have no idea what it would be.
0 likes@Peeress Ma'at shes also living with her parents again so I doubt that shes even smoking anymore let alone doing ANY drugs
0 likesRoxxyFly oh ok. Well it probably definitely is something not right chemically in her brain. If she gets help and takes it she will be fine. It’s a lot of mental illness help out here that we all have to take advantage of. It’s much needed. I know we are all so thankful you spoke out.
0 likesIm absolutely positive I have this in episodes, but my therapist isn’t really listening to me about it and is just saying it’s depression and anxiety :/ what would you say is the best way I can communicate and stress it enough so that they actually help me????
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Meet with your doctor and request a meeting with a psychiatrist, they can refer you to one if you have worries about the state of your mental health. If you can’t meet with your doctor for whatever reason, tell your therapist that you would like to see a psychiatrist. they might not agree with you thinking that you have dpdr, but should allow you to see a psychiatrist for diagnosis if you ask. Also I’d recommend finding a new therapist if at all possible, if the one you’re currently seeing isn’t really listening to your concerns then they probably aren’t helping you very much.
0 likesOk, so i'm not sure if this is a thing, let me know if any of you experience this as well.
0 likesI've been researching DDD for a little now, watching videos and reading articles and whatnot, and I highly relate to almost all of the symptoms. I've pretty much felt like this for a very long time, but i've just been sort of smiling and nodding through it for so long i'd almost forgotten that it wasn't normal. Like, I was a little scared when it got worse during some extra spicy times in my life, but even though I felt like I wasn't real, that nothing was real, I made myself a pledge to be as "kind" and "good" as possible, and somehow after that it wasn't as scary? Like, it doesn't matter if I'm real or not, I just don't want to hurt anyone and I want to be kind even if I don't exist. I mean life still sucked but I felt a bit more tethered to the world, just a bit. I still kind of feel like a story that someone else is telling me, but maybe I can help guide my character?
Anyways, this might just be gibberish, but thanks.
I feel like I might have derealisation, but I’m not sure. If it’s too loud, crowded or if there’s a lot of motions like bright flashing lights, I feel like my brain is disconnected from my body and like I’m dreaming. I can hear sounds if someone for example speaks to me, but it feels like my brain/body isn’t taking in the sound. I don’t feel like this all the time, but when it does, I don’t know how long it’ll last. It’s very hard to explain. I’m not very educated on this topic, but maybe someone in the comments is?
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That’s actually very interesting.. I’ve been like that my entire life (I always thought I was weird) but I’m also extremely introverted. I have never been able to explain like that and never brought up to any of my specialists that I see but I have been diagnosed with depersonalization/derealization based on other things. I wonder if this makes people more prone to it or if I’m fact it is underpaying symptom of it. If you find it distressing definitely talk to counselor/therapist about it bc I think I’m going to I tried I couple weeks ago but now that I actually have a way of saying it, it might help!
3 likesHonestly, this doesn't sound like depersonalization to me. It sounds more like social anxiety or general anxiety. What you describes here seems like a less intense version of the anxiety attacks that I used to get before I got diagnosed with GAD and started medication/seeing a therapist. Disassociation (that movie-like, out of body feeling), disconnect between sound and your brain, and lights getting brighter are all symptoms of an anxiety attack. Then again, this is just based on what I've been through, and you could be totally different! I hope you can find what is wrong and that you can get help and find solace in who you are. You can still live a fulfilling, happy life, and be mentally ill. Best of luck to you <3
8 likesLena Carey Thank you :) You can also live a long, happy life with any mental illness you may have. Best wishes <3
2 likesBecky Lynne Thank you :)
1 likeHanne Thiessen Yeah, I can also get that feeling at the most random of moments. Thank you for the advice, and best wishes to you. You can get the happy life you deserve even if you have any mental health issues :)
1 likei know exactly what you're talking about. it's hard to explain, but it happens to me quite frequently too.
1 likeI’m pretty sure that derealisation is an effect of anxiety. I get exactly the same thing as you, you described it perfectly. I had anxiety/panic disorder when I was 11, about 3 years ago and this problem began then. I most commonly get it in shops or when I’m with a big crowd. I don’t have anxiety anymore but the derealisation that you described hasn’t gone away. I don’t think that I have social anxiety. I have tried to describe this to my family and friends but they just think I’m tired. But how can I be tired every time I go into a shop or stuff like that, for 3 years. This derealisation happens to me every so often but it’s mostly random. When it happens, I feel like I’m in a lucid dream or that I want to go to sleep, I also feel like I can’t be bothered with moving or speaking or anything.... I hope you get better x
2 likesimadrinkingicedcoffee - Yes, that’s exactly how I feel too. I hope you’ll get better too, but always know that it’s okay to get help if you feel like you need to. Best wishes <3
0 likesHermione Granger thank you... to be honest I just though I was being a hypochondriac and I was just tired but it was happening so regularly and the situation was so similar... it feels so weird knowing that other people actually understand and have the same thing as me. Thank you for your lovely message, I hope you recover xx
1 likeimadrinkingicedcoffee - I totally agree, it does feel weird to know that there’s people who understand and may actually be experiencing the same things xx
0 likes<3
Hermione Granger ❤️
0 likesimadrinkingicedcoffee - ❤️
0 likesHey I dissociate and this sounds exactly like what it is. It can be a symptom of anxiety and other things as well, but it's definitely dissociation.
0 likesIgnatius Okay :) Thank you.
0 likesThis is what happens sometimes if I were in a place that I've been there I feel like I'm sleeping and all of those things are not real
0 likesIf this video describes you don’t let it consume you. Instead, find one concrete thing in your life and hold onto it with all your strength. You’ll make it through 🙂
0 likesI feel so disconnected and unreal. It seems like I am just floating on surface... I can’t feel the extent of anything, the seriousness of situation, I have no reaction to anything... I can’t form connections because this has resulted in me having a lot of social anxiety. I don’t even feel connected to my boyfriend or family anymore. I don’t know why this is happening to me.
0 likesI feel like that when i don’t sleep
15 likesOh, Dods. Thank you for this wonderful video. I've been trying to explain this to people in my life and now I have a video to send that makes sense and isn't confusing! Love love LOVE you very much xx
6 likesidk if anybody out there can relate in my situation but i have this kind of thing. It all started when I take Magic mushrooms and got highdoze of it. its been a month since my last trip but still i got this kind of dreaming feeling
0 likesI've had this come and go too. For me shamanistic healing and other types of healing modalities have really helped (but I get that its not for everyone). In a shamanistic perspective, when we go through trauma we can loose parts of the soul making it harder to stay in the body and feel "whole". Also grounding in nature with gardening and stuff without this manmade matrix world around can help.
0 likesI felt like this today after napping in my hot room when i was tired of homework
0 likesWhen I first watched this video (a couple years ago) I REALLY didn't get it. But I have had a couple of episodes since then and BOY IS IT HARD TO FUNCTION WHEN YOU'RE SPACED OUT
0 likesi've had a similar thing since i had a panic attack 2 years ago. i was diagnosed with depersonalization-derealisation disorder not long ago. i've been struggling with depression & suicidal thoughts because of this. when you find a video with someone with a similar mental condition it's so heartwarming. i subbed.
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soph I hope everything gets better for you! I also hate to see all these people in the comments self diagnosing themselves with this because it makes them different when there is people truly struggling.
2 likesYOU PUT THAT THING INTO WORDS
1 like(hi Im only 3-4 years late)
0 likesI used to feel like this all the time a few years ago and was going through a lot of stuff but it's gradually disappeared. It was always the strongest when I was outside or taking a walk and I couldn't comprehend any steps that I took or anything at all and I was always like pinching myself to keep myself in reality. Only times when I feel disconnected now is when I've sat by my computer for a long time and I go on a walk... But now it usually disappears after a while of walking or just distracting myself... :3
I don't have as much anxiety and I don't have this,, a lot anymore so... yey
I feel like this sometimes but not 24/7
0 likesIt’s usually because of my bad sleeping habits though
For me, derealization feels like there is a thin film between me and what I see in front of me all the time. I've had it for long enough that I've gotten used to it and it doesn't really freak me out. But sometimes, in stressful or overwhelming or overstimulating situations, the thin film will thicken and it's more like there is a wall between me and reality; I am very aware that what's happening in front of me and all around me is real, but I feel so disconnected from it. It's good when I'm in a negative situation that is too stressful for me to mentally handle bc the derealization just kicks in and I feel less stressed. But when I'm at a party or social gathering or a concert and the derealization comes on, it kind of sucks. I want to be present in those moments, but I can't control it. But like Dodie said, you just gotta try and enjoy your life, even if it doesn't feel real.
0 likesThings that have helped me deal with derealization:
- Don't fight it. Allow it to come when it does and accept that it's happening. Fighting it honestly just makes you feel worse and less in control of your body. When it comes, let it, and work with it rather than trying to shut it off (bc you probably can't).
- Mindful meditation helps me feel very present during and for a little bit afterward. I haven't done it for long enough that I can say it's improved my derealization, but I would definitely try it out for yourself.
- Journaling helps me recall what I did during the day and clarifies my memory a little bit.
- Exercise is GREAT and forces you to be aware of what your body is physically doing and helps ground you (lifting helps me the most).
- This ones a lil weird, but I have bad eyesight. However, when I take my glasses off and everything is blurry, everything looks real. It's like the thin film has disappeared and although I can't see anything at all, everything becomes "clearer."
Please feel free to message me! I love talking about this stuff with other people who experience it often/daily like myself!!
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Every time I wake up i expect it to be gone but it's still there and always will be 🙁
0 likesHey you! Yes you, reading this comment. Please eat well, drink something and take your meds because you are beautiful and you need to keep living, even if it feels like the world is against you. ♡
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have you ever said that to someone in real life?
1 likeThis just made my day ❤️
0 likesthank you
0 likesJennifer Park +
0 likesarmand tamzarian Not thoese exact words but something very similar. :)
0 likesI saw the title and I felt that so much. my mom won't let me go to someone about it tho. she says it's "ados" as in "attention deficit- oooh shiny" 😒
0 likesbtw I'm not self diagnosing but I know what I experience is super close to what this is and it's scary. I was just writing my experience here
Hello, i really needed to share this since it deeply hurt me when it happened but i really don't know if it's the appropriate feeling, so im sorry if it's off topic or something. Last week i went to my friend's classroom, i saw the teacher of the class and and wanted to talk to him a little. We talked, then i looked around because it all looked very bright to me. I couldn't see my friend and got confused for a second. I turned to the teacher and said "Sir do you know where she is?" and he answered "She's not here." and at that moment i got a feeling like electricity going down from my body. Terrifyingly similar to the same feeling of waking up from falling down. I looked around, couldn't recognize anything. I knew few people from her classroom and i could see them on their desks but couldn't actually... "recognize" them, i'm not sure how to explain what i experienced at that moment. And i just said "Where am i?", realizing i said it out loud later. The teacher looked at me very concerned, i looked at him but couldnt figure out who he is for a second, i then apologized and left the classroom. Do you think this might anything close to daydreaming or maybe derealization? I don't have such physical symptoms as my sight getting darker so often but other things you said sounded similar. I constantly forget things and do them robotically(?). As if life just goes and my body automatically goes with it but my mind is not there. I rarely have a hard time recognizing myself on the mirror but often can't believe it's me and go "Huh, it's weird i'm actually a body." Im so tired of the experience and nobody seems to get it.
0 likesi try looking around to come to reality but everything starts going in slowmo and it freaks me out and now i’m crying my eyes out.
0 likesWait this isn't normal? Time to go to my neurologist again!
2 likesI had depersonalization for almost 1 year and still do! It was October 2020 when it started and I was only 10 years old and I feel like I’m dreaming all the time and I just get more and more anxiety thinking that the world isn’t real and I’m not real it’s really getting bad right now and I want to die like WHEN WILL IT END
0 likesi think i may have this disorder? for the past couple years i’ve been experiencing these symptoms and i thought it was just anxiety, but when i would search up panic attack symptoms mine weren’t necessarily the same... sometimes i’ll be in class and feel like everything i see is distorted, too big or too small, blurry outline around people, over saturated colours, feeling like i’m not actually living in the present moment, feeling like everyone around me is speaking in an echo/whisper/muffled voices and feeling as if i’m spectating the world in that moment. sometimes this lasts me minutes, hours or i’ve experienced this before for over 2 weeks once. I’m relieved because i finally found what could possibly be my disorder but worried because idk what to do now. anyways yeah hope u enjoyed my rant
0 likesThought this was only me.. thank you for posting.
0 likesI often feel like I'm in autopilot. I don't know if this is something everyone feels as they grow older, or if it's a condition. This causes me to forget about things that people have told me, which affects my relationships, and it causes me to forget to do things, which affects my job. I work in a mine site, and I've forgotten my tag on the board multiple times, which will get me fired (if you have a question about that, I'll answer it in a reply). I set reminders that lose their effectivity over time, so I try to get important things done first, but this isn't always possible.
0 likesI never heard of your condition before, but I find this video relatable. Thanks for posting this. I'm on a waiting list for a psychological evaluation, so I should find out if anything's wrong soon, but this made me realize more of what I should talk about when the time comes.
you have changed my life. i honestly cannot thank you enough for how you helped me accept and identify my mental illness and realise that i dont have to feel ashamed...
5 likesthank you dodie,
from a girl who is slowly healing <3
How about the feeling when you look at someone you’ve known for literal years and see every day and you think “who the fuck are you?” You recognize them obviously and they haven’t changed and they’re not acting strange or out of the normal, but they seem strange to you, like unreal.
0 likesMostly common for people that smokes weed. I’m constantly dreamy
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Thanks for the video. I smoked up yesterday and I went through some crazy shit. I thought I was going mentally crazy. I smoked and 30seconds later I closed my eyes and opened them back and my brain thought I was asleep however I was awake the whole time and I thought i was dreaming and thought everything was fake/unreal. I never felt like that till the first high I got which was yesterday. I'm okay now however I'm still thinking, what if I'm still asleep now? and all this is just a dream. I'm trying to persuade my self its real lol
10 likesor anyone who has depression, anxiety, a personality disorder, ptsd, or a lot of stress
6 likesI used a spinning toy on my Johnson, for the first time.. which I think made new links in my brain, then I got drunk. and I was very stressed cause I just maybe tore something in my leg at work, don't wanna get fired, and the part you won't believe....
0 likeslife as we know it, is over within a year or so, and the world is ending.
(I know this because I've studied philosophy Science History theology... I know God is real and the truth about real life and who is controlling the show and the secret evil going on)
so I guess I finally snapped under the stress of it all, plus mind altering stuff like seckstoy experience, cumming chemicals in the brain, plus alcohol, and stress.
I have this feeling- except the vision thing- for like 2 weeks and i felt it before, but like not all the time. I don't know wether it's that, but i really dont like it. Maybe it's caused by stress or something like that.
0 likesfor me, my vision just gets really blurry. the lights don't change, but it feels like when you're so relaxed that your vision defocuses and you have to concentrate to make everything sharp again, except that it takes way more effort (if i can get it at all). i will say that cold is a grounding tool that works really well for me. when i'm feeling extra foggy or i especially need to be present, i sit somewhere cold/against a cold surface or eat/drink something cold. that really helps me.
0 likesIt's so relieving and it makes me cry knowing that you're going through the same things that I am
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This is the first video I've seen on someone explaining it really well! I also have derealization disorder an it's been a long road of thinking that I'm alone!
1 likeI feel like this all the time, but I've never noticed.
0 likesPoor me i first got it when i was 9 we were hiking in the mountains and I thought it was just blood pressure but i’m 17 now and it still here with panic attacks disorder too i hope one day i’ll get better and live my life just like everyone else sometime I would cry myself to sleep praying to god only for one day i would feel normal for just one day
0 likesOh no~ I always feel very unreal
0 likesLike the first time it happened was on the trampoline I started panicking and was like where am I am I real what is- and my "friends" were like what???
Wait do you go to the doctors if you think you’ve have this? I’ve had this since year 10 so 4 years. But I’ve never been diagnosed🥺
0 likesOMG!! Okay thank you so much for making this video because apparently I have this too, it is good to know what it is because I have been really confused at what is happening and I don’t talk to people about it because I feel like I’ll sound insane.. I’m glad I am not the only one.
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Sopie B. I get that. I was never able to explain what was happening to me untilnI saw one of her videos. Now I can show this to my friends and tell them: that's what's happening to me. Stay strong, you'll fimd your way to deal with it :)
1 likeI really feel like young people (like in their teens) need to have a clear education on what is and isn’t normal. I had severe anxiety and ADHD growing up but I didn’t know what those things looked like because nobody told me, so I just suffered for years. On the flip side of that, I thought I had depression when I was in my teens because of tumblr (thanks tumblr) when it turns out I was just going through puberty and puberty sucks. Now I’m fully educated on anxiety, depression, and ADHD, but that’s only because I had to do a fuck ton of research and trial and error with doctors on my own. Anyway, now I have actual depression so lol.
0 likesI suffer with this and it's horrible. I'm young and haven't told my family or anyone yet but I use cold water as a way of coping because it helps for a while. I used to suffer with night terrors which is like sleep paralysis but reverse and like dpdr. It started for me after I got heat stroke and basically had a panic attack and that feeling went and came back and now it just constantly stays with me
1 likeSleep is very important which I recognised, it doesn’t help to get better but lack of sleep makes it much worse for me.
0 likesI've had this for a couple of years. It scares me because if I don't remember my own life, even the things that happened the day before, it's like I'm dead even before my physical body stops functioning. It's like I can't live my own life. I wish feelings and memories were as clear as when I was a child, I wish I could see things in focus, I wish I could feel as sharply. I hate living in a dream.
0 likesI have moments when I look in a mirror and I’m just convinced that’s not me. Like dead on ‘oh god what that’s a different face now’. I don’t have this condition, just that one last symptom you described, so its horrifying to hear people who feel like that all the time. Stay strong, guys. The world needs you ♥️
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you could be suffering from depersonalization
3 likesjoschcline Not necessarily. I've had this feeling as well but it's very rare and it only lasts for a few seconds max, so I don't think in this case it's actual depersonalization, more like mini dissociative episodes.
1 likeHas happened to me since I was a kid. Looking directly at myself in the mirror always brings on a very distressed feeling of not knowing myself. Very strange.
3 likesSame happens to me. I'll look in the mirror and just stare, like it's not really me. It's so weird. Weed doesn't help when I'm in my paranoia depersonalization mode.
0 likesyou know those first person movies ? it feels like you're watching one of those in your brain, only you're the main character and the movie is your life and you feel locked into your weird cloudy brain space.
0 likesi had this same problem when i was withdrawing from alcohol and xanax
0 likesi didnt know other people went through this. i thought it was just me.
0 likesHey i think i have the same condition.. and honestly all i can say is that im scared and dont know what to do. If you see this message plz DM me 🥺
0 likesthank you so much for making this in such a positive way! it is so nice to have somebody talking about mental health without all of the taboo and shame that normally comes along with it. i am in no way saying that mental health should be glorified, but seeing somebody so positive in such a hard time is really refreshing. good job dodie <3
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You are cute
0 likesWoah. Wait. I feel like this is what I’ve been feeling. I’ve always felt like I’m watching
0 likesone time when i was having a really really bad episode and i saw myself in the mirror and like what she wrote, i was getting freaked out then i like got into this weird trance like thing where i was just standing there staring at myself in the mirror banging on the mirror with my fists and theres still marks there looking back im honestly scared, can any one relate?
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Hey! I hope this helps. Don't be afraid it's perfectly normal it happens to me as well. I will avoid mirrors because of the fact that sometimes I'm so familiar but so unfamiliar looking at myself in them. Don't worry I know what you're going through. Try to look at yourself in the mirror and think that this is u and nothing has changed, I hope this helps!
1 like@avivas_outlaw yes thank you =)
0 likesThis helped me realize I have derealization
0 likes20 years now with DR. No faith will get rid of this one day. Have given up already.
1 likeI’ve dealt with this ever since I was a kid. I’m glad you posted this video. I’m in college now, and the feeling gets so intense that Im starting to get heart palpitations now. It’s literally the worst feeling in the world. My whole day feels like a dream, and I have one or multiple panic attacks a day. It’s literally killing me :/
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boltoms me too.
0 likesboltoms oh my I am dealing with something very similar! I have tachycardia, heart palpitations, panic attacks and I feel like I'm dreaming a lot. I feel like I'm dying a lot. It's hard. Meditation and yoga has helped me.
3 likesit sounds like you are realizing you are a body. the body itself ..as all its senses, is an anchor of familiar patterns. death is the ultimate unfamiliar pattern. so its all related. come to accept that you are going to still be thinking while dying.. whenever that comes. its possible to realize that the brain is not the arm..leg..or the associsted sensations. its an information processing system..pattern matcher. we cling to comfort. but everyone dies. its just a ruder awakening for those who dont see their body and their brain/sense integrator/center of thought in true perspective
1 likeno matter how hard things get, one thing that always gets me through the most difficult times in my life is prayer, which ever God you pray to, sometimes when we go through these kind of things, we rlly don’t have to keep it to ourselves and if we aren’t comfortable talking to another person, then please don’t forget God is always there. Prayer heals. Depression, Anxiety or whatever it is that’s bothering you
1 likeme too. but what if we really are in a dream
0 likesboltoms Im pretty sure its because we have entered the new age starting in 2013
0 likesthe age Aquarius is afoot the time for societal change is now
boltoms Our brains can't deal with this society
0 likesnectarine simulation
0 likesWanna hug u. But introvert problems
0 likesSometimes I feel like my head is a balloon floating high above my body and I’m just there to watch if that makes sense
0 likesI feel like I have both depersonalization and derealization, but I have to be diagnosed to be sure
0 likesFolks in the comment section who see this in themselves- Hi! I was freaked out by this too as I've gone through trauma, etc BUT I looked into it and ADHD presents itself differently in "women" (whatever that means to you) and- because of sexism- we are often undiagnosed. I'm not hyperactive as in tapping a lot, I'm usually stuck daydreaming and being a bit spacey. Could be something for some of you to look into. Hope you're all okay ❤ If you have any questions or need help please ask!
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I have adhd and some type of dissociative disorder. It feels very intensified to say the least
1 likeOh my gosh... just sent this to my girlfriend, I've suffered from this for years but was never able to put to words exactly WHAT it felt like. Trying buspar, fingers crossed!
0 likesI love how open you are about mental health problems. It's so important that we destory the stigma around these subjects and make sure people know that mental health is not a weakness and that we need to talk about it. Thank you for helping me realise that its ok to share your feelings and ask for help.
6 likesThank you for this video.. I don't know why but in my country.. Czech Republic, no one talks about this and I did not know for 5 years what is wrong with me.
0 likesAnd my therapist don't Care that much about this and said.. Just do normal stuffs and it will disappear.. It does not work
Genauso ist es. Ich leide seit fast 18 Jahren daran. Depressionen und Ängste quälen mich auch :(
0 likeswhen i was at school... my friend recorded me on her laptop every time this thing happened to me. I would Stare- Blank stare at anything, I would stop blinking, stop moving, stop thinking- it was like my brain froze i wouldn’t remember it unless someone showed me and it’s not like i was zoning out or anything i wouldn’t talk, wouldn’t blink, wounldnt move, my pupils dilated themselves sometimes (i can make my pupils smaller and bigger on command) and i would basically have a complete stop in time and when i do remember them i could move around and everything would be frozen then i would randomly snap back to my seat. The longest recorded of me doing this was 11 minutes and 41 seconds in music class.. i “zoned” on the board. I don’t know what it is but i basically do a whole freeze.
0 likesYour description is very relatable,
0 likesTrying to explain to someone
That staring at the ceiling for an hour
Is more interesting than actually starting
that one video game my mouse has been hovering over for the last 45 minutes.
Which I played for 3 hours straight the day before,
Forgetting that I was going to get breakfast.
People usually understand one half,
But not the other.
Being demotivated to do something fun
Is not only weird, it's also a sign
That you will not finish what you've started
Unless you are forced to do so.
Since the idea of finishing it one day
Is euphoric, while actually doing so
Is an absolute bore and a letdown.
This happes to me, too, but it's not always when I'm stressed, it just happens sometimes, and often around people, but not always. Is it normal? Should I see someone about it?
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Meli Moocow if it is affecting you negatively, be sure to seek help. Hope you figure it out and feel positive.
3 likesThis is kind of similar to what happens to me, and even though I do have anxiety it doesn't always happen when I'm anxious. Although lately, I've been feeling like it doesn't really go away that much anymore, which seems a bit concerning to me if I'm being honest...
1 likeI feel like the severity of it varies from case to case. It seems that a lot of people experience this sort of thing, but it isn't bad enough to seek professional help. If it begins to take a negative toll on your daily life, I recommend that you reach out to someone you trust and discuss whether or not treatment is necessary.
2 likes(but regardless of severity, i think everyone who is able should attend a therapy session every once in a while. your brain deserves checkups too!)
I remember watching this years ago, vaguely relating, but not thinking much of it. If I felt like that I'd obviously notice. I didn't notice because I feel like this ALL the time. I've got DID. fml.
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@Vengeful Polititron I am God <3
0 likes@Vengeful Polititron What am I deflecting, exactly?
0 likesWait so this is a condition? We've been trying to find out what wrong with me for YEARS
0 likesI am not one to self diagnose as it affects me when people self diagnose for conditions I have. But I do actually experience this It feels like I’m not actually there and I didn’t realise it was an actual thing that happened to people just thought I was weird
0 likesI’ve had it for over a decade (not in one stretch but it would last for hours when it would pop up, and would happen frequently enough to notice). Oddly, the thing that has mostly resolved it is a 9-5 job. I think it was because high school, college, and part-time jobs all have inconsistent schedules and some of our brains probably have trouble processing that. Whereas having structure helps make sense of the world. I also have a short attention span which is probably another factor. I’m interested to know how consistent that is with people.
0 likesStress and probably a lack of sleep likely contribute as well. But the job was the major differing factor. I didn’t get any better sleep after the job, so that wasn’t a factor in it improving. Although I did go to bed at the same time consistently, but I was still only getting 6 hours of sleep or less, and going to bed after midnight. And while stress can and trigger it, I’ve been relaxed before the job and it would still happen frequently.
It still happens on occasion even with a job, but it’s a *drastic* improvement. As an example, it wasn’t until 2 months into the job that I realized “wait, I can’t even remember last time I derealized/depersonalized”. I haven’t had that long of a stretch since, but it still pales in comparison.
So if you’re experiencing this, I suggest (if you can) making a consistent schedule (daily or weekly) and that might help reduce it.
I feel as though I sometimes, very rarely though, experience this. It usually hits me at a certain time, in a certain space. I am unsure if this is it though, but the way you’re explaining it makes me wonder. You’re an incredible person dodie, thank you, so much.
4 likesI've had this since I was aproximattely 8 years old and as a I child I thought my life was a dream and that in reality I was a patient in a coma and I had to wake up, this idea tormented me terribly, I used to cry a lot and didn't tell my parents because I thought they would lie to me to keep me in the dream. 19 years later and I still have that feeling of being in a dream (some years the sensation disappeared luckily) but this year I realised its derealization and naming it and knowing that a lot of people has it helped me a lot. But honestly sometimes I feel like the only way out would be to kill myself because then I would know if I was right and because the sensation is so horrible that I can't think of anything else in the moment. It reminds me a lot of that scene in Inception where (SPOILER ALERT) Cobb's wife Mal is so certain she is in a dream that commits suicide.
0 likesAnyway THANK YOU A LOT for this video, it really helped me.
i go through episodes of depersonalization and i’ve never talked about it with anyone but i kinda just want to put it into words: it feels like you are the narrator of your own life, seeing yourself as a completely separate character in a film. the scariest part is when it doesn’t go away and you almost exit your body (if you have ever played gta it looks exactly like that 3rd person view in my experience) and sometimes it lasts a long time and it feels like you are a trapped observer in your own body but it also doesn’t feel like your body of that makes sense? probably one of my worst fears is i will permanently be stuck in that state never being fully in touch ever again. can anyone relate?
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also one thing that helps me get back to reality is working out for some reason
0 likesWhen I get very very anxious I disassociate and it feels like I’m dreaming, but it’s not all the time. I’m assuming that’s what derealization is like, but all the time?
0 likesIVE HAD THIS!!! I'm not in it 24/7 but it feels very sickening and dizzy-like you said, "floating". It happens a lot when I'm at school (walking down the halls mainly). Nothing feels real, or it feels unbelievable where you Are, strange to think that anything is real or unbelievable that I'm even alive. Kind of cool but at the same time I often feel like sobbing? At least I'm not the only one.
0 likesI go through this all the time Dodie!! Thank you so much for sharing. :)
6 likesWhat happens to me is that I will look in the mirror or am all alone, "realize" I am a person, and realize that I am me. I will often repeat my name to myself and I feel a sort of detachment from it. Then I get this weird out of body experience where I do not recognize myself.
Usually what helps me is stepping away from the mirror or stopping where I am, closing my eyes, taking a deep breath (or a couple!), and reminding myself that it's in my head and I am overthinking. Just reminding myself that it is okay that I am going through it, but I can get myself out. It's difficult, but over time I have gotten better at it. <3
If there is people hear that had this sensations like 24h and find a way out like a real way out, tell me you'r technique please 🙏🏼❤️
0 likesI actually hurt myself because I feel like that all the time and I need to feel pain to know I’m alive
0 likesIf it makes a person energetic and interesting as you don't mess with it too much.
0 likesThis is a good video and all but implying that derealizing never ends is so damaging. First of all people can have an episode that last minutes or hours or days or weeks or months or years or a life time. Chances are your dissociative episode will seize eventually. Second, dissociative episodes range in severity! Zoning out or day dreaming is a mild form of derealization, and leaving your body is way more intense, it's not always 100% surreal. And finally... everyone, everyone, EVERYONE!!! Experiences some form of dissociation in their life time, for some it's just more persistant than others. It's not hopeless guys!
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ur mom right. I had pretty bad disassociation/depersonalization in my teens and early adulthood (from severe trauma). It happened less as I got older, and by my late 30’s it didn’t happen anymore. So there’s hope!
9 likesSo, dissociation in moderation and normal situations is fine. Where it becomes a disorder is when it goes on too long and affects your daily life.
4 likes@arlothedino yeah and most mental disorders are like that tbh. Like everyone gets depressed and feels anxiety at some point in their life but if it's interfering with your everyday life, it's time to get help. I'm just saying we need to stop talking about mental things like this in a way that excludes people experiencing it casually. Dissociating, like being anxious, are all part of the human experience.
3 likes@arlothedino also I'm ace too! Solidarity🖤
1 likeFor me personally, I had talk therapy and it helped a great deal. My disassociation was a fight or flight response (except my brain would do the “flying”) anytime I felt severe anxiety. It got to where it happened pretty often because I never dealt with some deep childhood issues. It took the loss of my baby at birth to send me to therapy... But at therapy all I could talk about was my crappy abusive childhood. I got stronger and as I got older I stopped disassociating. Now I live life in the moment. Sounds cheesy but you actually can overcome this .
1 likeThank you for saying that. I deal with this issue and for her to go and say it’s chronic and constant without expressing that this is her personal experience and derealization is not one size fits all. And not everyone experiences this the same. It’s so damaging that she claims it’s just chronic when that word does not appear ANYWHERE within the definition of derealization. I believe her story but if I happened to watch this during an episode when I first started experiencing this, I would’ve been terrified and would’ve thought this was a chronic disorder that would never stop when that is just not true.😑
2 likesIn her defense, there was a time in my 20’s where I thought it wouldn’t ever end. And I’m not going to lie, I’m not sure I wanted it to, because for me, depersonalization was almost like instant, natural Xanax. It wasn’t until I realized what my brain was doing, and dealt with those underlying issues that made me depersonalize, that I figured out “feeling” was far better than not feeling.
0 likes@J Kennimer i understand that but you shouldn't make a video if you're uniformed. The claim that it's never going to end is super misleading and yes, even terrifying to think about if you don't know better. She needed to include a disclaimer, like this is my personal experience and yours could be wildy different.
0 likesur mom right, but it’s YouTube hon.. She’s not a medical professional and most of what we have on YouTube is personal experience. Just take everything with a grain of salt until you see an ACTUAL mental health professional.
3 likesYea but she said chronic derealization, i mean its kinda in the name, im assuming thats how she got it officially diagnosed?
5 likesYeah like sometimes I have out of body experiences where I feel like I’m floating and watching myself. Like there’s two screens overlapping each other in my vision, like I can see my first person view and my third person view. It’s really strange and I told my best friend about it, and she is kinda weirded out by it but understands it.
0 likesI also experience derealization almost 100% of the time. How do I know? Because I remember what experiencing the world felt like, and also because I'll have very very rare episodes in which the world feels real again. I do think it has to do with light. I've found that wearing sunglasses makes me feel more comfortable or that sort of assuages the stimuli that gives me anxiety. I even got eye surgery thinking this would solve my problem with perception. It didn't. It's all in the brain and every day I have to deal with it, making me feel stupid because my memory is not great and also because I'm always doubting myself because of my perception. It's fucked and it does cause depression.
1 likeI have been derealized and depersonalized since 7 yrs old. I remember the day like it was yesterday...the last day of my life...23 years ago.
0 likesi literally felt like i was not real for 3 and a half months and it was literally the worst time in my life
0 likesImagine having so much time that you can afford to sit around and daydream all day
0 likesi have had dpdr for gods know how long now. it used to be scary but now its just exhausting and sad
0 likesLion's mane mushroom supplements have been very effective for me for DP/DR
0 likesi really love when you put out videos like this because it really brings awareness to certain topics. keep being amazing <3
4 likesIt's been bad these past couple of days because I've been binge drinking. It's like I have slight tunnel vision on time of "dreamlike" vision. And everyday all day I feel like I'm reliving my days over. It's like my days are repeating. Different things are happening but I feel like they've already happened. Am I tripping?
0 likesit makes school awful. I struggle with it occasionally which makes my teachers think sometimes I'm just being lazy, but im not. I haven't found a therapist that even knows what it is because I don't have enough money for a trauma specialist. although it all sucks I found a friend who goes through it too and I've almost finished school
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YOU CAN DO IT GIRL, i know sometimes it gets really hard, but you`ve gone so far. Never stop fighting:)
0 likesI find it uncomfortable how much i relate to this
0 likesI didn’t watch the video, but if you feel as if you’re in a disassociated state, aside from trauma as a cause this absolutely can mean you simply have toxic mold in your body from living or working in a mold environment. Be aware it isn’t visible in many building cases. There are tests you can get done to confirm and then you’re in for a year or two of detoxing. Dr. Jessica Peatross has an Instagram and website full of further information. Good luck. 👍🏼
0 likesOh my god, I have that too. I got diagnosed recently, and I can't help myself at all. It's not floating or dreaming, for me its more like nothing is real. I've had it for a while. It sounds more like you have Depersonalization, because that's what causes that grey blurry dream like vision. Aw boy. We in a boat together.
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same,i just found out what is was last year in December
2 likesI have felt this way ever sense i went through some stress and moved out of state, I was trying to explain it to my dad today but I couldn’t think of how. I was about to go to bed as I saw the title of this video and I freaked out because I thought I was the only one.
3 likesAngelina Thompson see, record your hand and say "this is how I feel everyday" and just go around and grab things etc. "Nothing feels real. It feels like the screen you're watching on, is how my life is. There's a screen between reality. "
9 likescan you have this and depression?
2 likesmelinda biba yes
3 likesfaith ejdhueueye oh no i need be diagnosed
1 likeit is real.. i keep telling myself this so i can at least try to convice myself but actually i just feel that nothing is real..
3 likesSame
0 likesBut i believe i can start feeling presence through practice - stopping thoughts and concentrate on outside world and what your body feels about it
Dude,omg same.
0 likesChloe Renee I feel you so much I thought I was he only one because it’s been happening for years and it’s like no one was there for me because no one knows how it really feels. When I try to explain to someone, I start panicking because it’s extremely hard to.
0 likesYeah I have been feeling like this aswell
0 likesi had it in 2015 till 2017. figured out it was just my mind. start to ignorate and the depersonalization state disappeared completely.
0 likesThis is super late but wanted to share that you were the only person who has ever been able to describe this before I went to therapy and I felt so seen. Thank you so much for sharing!
0 likesAnd guys dont forget derealisation/depersonalisation is also a symptom of anxiety and depression so keep that in mind most people who cure said depression and anxiety this symptom goes with it.
0 likesI have had this since I was 12 years old. I'm 22 now. I never knew what it was until I researched it and stumbled upon the name. I went to a therapist at 16 and was officially diagnosed with it. It's common for people with anxiety.
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Does it ever get better? Mine is non-stop.
2 likesThat explains it then. I have aspergers, depression and anxiety so the sensory processing aspects of my autism are probably amplifying it as well.
0 likesi feel like my life is a video game and i'm playing it, i'm talking to people, eating, sleeping, but i don't feel like i'm there, i don't feel like i'm in the video game if that makes sense- i don't wanna self diagnose but do you think this is it?
0 likesAs someone who had it really bad for 5 years and had no sense of self and felt stuck in a parallel world and felt no emotions and felt like they had no connection to anyone or anything and just wanted to end it all so many times but now is starting to be on the other side of it, I want to give some hope to everyone that it does get better. It's tough don't get me wrong, I still struggle with it on a daily basis and that's after being in therapy for a year and working out my triggers, but with the right support and people around you and the willingness to work on yourself, I can promise you that you will get through this, and taking back your mind and feeling back in reality is just round the corner. And yes, it is hard and takes a lot of effort and it is a very unsettling experience, but just the gradual feeling of starting to have your emotions and your memories and sense of self back and finding out about yourself and your life in general makes it all 2000% worth it once you get there. So please keep plugging away at it and you will reap the rewards; and if you do ever feel lonely or depressed or dissociated don't be afraid to reach out to someone. You are not alone.
0 likesWhen I was six years old my stepmother left me in a doorway with a note saying not wanted.
0 likesIt made me feel like couldn't trust my eyes I couldn't trust my thoughts I couldn't do anything and it really made me awful it was there for like 5 days I could function normally but not like fully I guess and yeah it's like Ur drunk I'm really sorry u have to go through this Ur not alone buddy
0 likesI didn't realize I was experiencing this until there was a moment where I wasn't... It was the most random moment, I had used the toilet (yeah, it was a VERY odd moment) and stood to wash my hands when I realized how bright the whole room was and I could see every corner of my vision (???) and the mirror looked so clear. I just stood there for the longest time at my washroom sink, basking in this feeling that I hadn't felt since childhood.
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Lettura Traverse looking back on that moment... do you think anything caused the clarity or triggered it or helped it?
0 likesUgh I wish I could feel that again!
1 likeLeigh Anne Ely no idea. It was totally random and went away after a few minutes and now I am completely aware of the yucky milk dreamy trapped feeling.
0 likesdoddleoddle I wish I knew the right words to say, the right triggers, idek... I just want that happy awake childhood feeling again
0 likesI have small scars up and down my arms and legs, from me digging my fingernails into my skin, trying to ground myself in where I am, trying to convince myself that the world around me is real and not a hallucination.
0 likesI've had it for as long as I can remember and until recently I mainly associated it with my anxiety and fear of humiliation.
I've also associated it with my Maladaptive Daydreaming since I spend so much time in my own mental escape, so coming back to reality can leave me feeling disjointed and out of place, and can make me feel like the lines between my mentality and reality are blurred.
Thanks for posting this.
0 likesThis video accurately describes how I pay attention in school...
0 likesIt's aaaaaawfuuullll to feel like your dreaming!!! Once I got high and felt like everything was a dream and I had a mental breakdown because I felt I lose control of what was happening!!! It was the worst feeling ever!! Like the worst, I cried a lot and recorded everything to make sure I wasn't dreaming, cause my fear was that in reality I was passed out and was dreaming that I was awake and in control, it was in a place that I didn't know every single one so I didn't know what would happen to me if I was actually passed out. Again, worst feeling ever
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Mandy too i thought i was dead until i watched my video back.. meanwhile i got rid off it and u?
1 likeI had the same thing when I was high on weed the other day.I know what you are saying Its really bad
11 likeslet go, no one is in control. our egos are all illusions. The universe (god) is the only thing in control, we are all part of the spontaneous unfolding of life and consciousness. heaven is on the other side of all fears of the ego. let goooooooooooooooooooooo
5 likesIt only happens to me when I’m high and it’s really freaky
6 likesbruh last time I was high the same thing happened to me I felt like I was disconnnected from my consciousness somehow..I described it as "being in the past like 2 seconds ago and snapping back to the now on and off" idk how to describe it but it for sure was the scariest thing ever
10 likesYeah, it’s pretty common for people with severe anxiety to have panic attacks on weed. Happened to me every time, and took me a while to learn I couldn’t do it anymore..
11 likesI just wanna know what y’all are smoking 🤨
1 likeerika ellis doesn’t matter. From the nastiest schwag to high quality hydro, people with true panic disorder have a hard time with most weed.
7 likesI’ve had it happen on nitrous at the dentist’s office, too. It was awful. It’s supposed to relax you.
1 likeI felt the same too while I was high...I was shooked everyone was "fine" and even scared of me. Is that panic disorder, anxiety attacks or disrealisation? I sometimes loose motivation and feel disconected like i was dizzy but i thought it was normal or becase i havent eat. Help
3 likesValerie if your heart is racing and your chest feels tight, it’s a panic attack. Derealization is essentially the “flight” part of fight or flight, or your brain deploying its proverbial “airbag” in response to stress panic or trauma. I suppose you could experience derealization while high, however I think the THC in weed does some of this in your brain on its own.
1 likeI’m much older than most of the commenters here... The ONLY time I’ve felt completely comfortable smoking weed is when it’s very high quality and I’m smoking it with a highly trusted friend who is NOT going to mess with me or freak out while high. That’s the only time it’s enjoyable and fun.
Don’t smoke in a group... And don’t smoke alone.
@Ally i dont usually reply to comments but i had to reply to yours bc holy shit dude i know exactly what youre talking about the first time i ever experienced a bad trip i described it to my friend as though i felt like i was living in the past and every few seconds i would snap back to the present without any recollection of what i was doing or what i was talking about i also told her that i felt like i was switching between dimensions it was the scariest fucking thing ever
0 likesAm I the only one that likes this feeling ? lol it gave me time to think and relax. idk I guess I just road out the trip.
3 likeslsd
0 likesMandy, I had something very similar happen to me. I was able to come out of it with time and meditation but it was one of the most terrifying times in my life. I hope you are doing better. Thank you for sharing your experience.
0 likesThat’s crazy, I literally just commented on this video saying the same thing and saw your comment. I took an edible one time and I felt like that for a whole week or two after
2 likesGetting high and losing connection with reality are completely different. it’s kinda silly if you think about it. I have dissociation and derealization every day and I have came back from an episode and I’m in a random place I’ve never been before, I “blacked out” and walked around for hours spouting nonsense or being completely quite for 2 hours. Getting high is not really that similar to this.
0 likesThis happened to me the very first time I got high and it sucked! I kept yelling at my bf saying things like "I'm high as FUCK right now am I going to FUCKING DIE???"
0 likesAnd I was just shouting at him a lot bc i was so scared but it also felt like I wasn't controlling what i was saying, like i was in a dream. I felt bad bc I've never yelled at him before and we've never had a fight or anything, but kuckily he was very sweet and tried his best to calm me down.
And the PHYSICAL feeling of it was bad too. Like my body was lagging and my brain was trying to get it to move faster than it could.
@Valerie If it only happens when you're high... Pro tip: stop getting high. Problem solved.
0 likesI say this all the time. It’s all a big 10 year dream.
0 likesCan this be cured somehow? I severely felt like this for four years at one point in my life, where it was hard to recognize friends, I could never tell if I was awake or not, all my dreams felt like they lasted 50 years, my head always felt empty, I was always lightheaded and dizzy, I forgot all the time, I was really miserable and everything I said was emotional, I could barely eat, I could barely sleep... I honestly felt trapped. But now I don't feel that way anymore. I think I had some form of insomnia, so maybe that was it... but maybe I had this too?
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Sometimes I also zone out for a really long time.. oh and that vision impaired thing, I can relate to that... all my dreams are extremely vivid and feel real... idk am I just paranoid??
0 likesFeeling like this makes it really hard to talk to people for me. I can’t look them in the eye. I never know what to say because I’m so involved in the aspect of feeling out of my body. I can never focus in on anything for that long. Everything definitely seems kind of cloudy and a blur. Like when they say feel foggy. Think about actually trying to see through a light fog and not being able to focus on a single object. Through conversation all I can really say without it being really hard is yeah. Online it’s so much easier because you can read out what you just said. It takes a while. when you lose your train of thought you can pick up right where you left off. In high school I wasn’t like this at all. I was very talkative, well spoken and quick thinking. Had tons of friends. Now it’s really just me and I’ve lost touch with a lot of people just because I can’t quickly process a thought. It’s less exhausting than working really hard on trying to piece together what they’re saying. It’s pretty difficult to talk to a therapist about these things because once I come for the appointment I completely blank on what I wanted to talk about. Or even remember/described an experience I had without having to write it out beforehand.
0 likesworse when you have underlying DID - they get really strong in those periods.
0 likesDUDE THIS IS ME. I FREAKED OUT WHEN THIS STARTED AND ITS NEVER GONE AWAY. I'VE HAD IT FOR SO LONG. I ALSO THOUGHT IT WAS DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY. WHICH PROBABLY MAKES IT WORSE. ITS NICE TO KNOW SOMEONE ELSE HAS IT
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Uzzum literally same and I could never explain to anyone
2 likesFlynn Isabella ikr omg i thought i was going crazy 😮
0 likesi rmeme trying to explain to my parents and they thought i was crazy. I never realised what it was and it make me feel so horrible. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't eat. i was so stressed and worried because to the point because i thought i was dying. it caused so much depression and anxiety. i struggle to drive because of it as it feels like I'm not doing anything.
0 likesnothing will affect me however everything is real.
its been 5 years now and its gone worse ever since. ive just not worried as much about it.
Uzzum i know the feeling. I'm glad you could put it on the backburner. the damn thing made me believe i had lost my mind and my grip on reality to the point that I was questioning if anything in happening in my life was real or if I was asleep somewhere unable to wake up. needless to say, that thought ran my life for a while. i would eat sleep and breathe that question every second of every day. not a great way to live through life. luckily I've made it out of that nightmare. hopefully you will too someday. things got better when I began eating and drinking healthy, exercising and not over sleeping or getting very little sleep. it could have just been a coincidence that I improved after I changed my life style but you never know. maybe give it a try. what's the worst that can happen? if you do give it a chance just know that improvement didmt happen over night for me. it took a month and a half to see a small improvement. after 6 months it was completely gone. just keep at it. I wish you the best
1 likeshit i didnt expect to have this many likes. well shit life wont changed. Everything is still the same
0 likesOMG SAME
0 likesi love you guys, I hope we all can get through this
0 likesIF YOU THINK THAT YOU HAVE THIS- GO TO A PROFESSIONAL. YOU CAN NOT SELF DIAGNOSE YOURSELF JUST BECAUSE YOU THINK YOU HAVE SOMETHING
2 likesdefinitely recommend what megan said, you could be lucky and t could be something else
0 likesIt feels like someone turned the contrast up, turned on slow motion with additional motion blur and made the pixel response time of my eyes so bad that everything looked like a blur. As well as deja vu. During the episode I would feel like I’m looking through vr at a video game with a full body simulation suit that doesn’t work very well
0 likesI keep zoning out and crying for comfort.
0 likesI spend most of my time feeling like I'm slightly tipsy, like, slightly dizzy and fuzzy... Is it like that?
0 likesThe sense of dark murkiness and derealization came on again a few weeks ago. It's like everything was made of frames that kept slipping away constantly. Nothing to grasp, nothing to focus on. Everything just kept slipping by in a slight blur or a slight confusion without anything specific to be confused about. Anyway, there has been a noticing that there was some kind of a resistance or a sense of disturbance to the apparent state of affairs. When there is an apparent letting go or just relaxing into what has not seemed acceptable there seems to be a kind of an "opening" and ease. Even blissfulness. But there still is no one separate experiencing the "suchness of things". No head narrative about depersonalization or derealization either. Just life. Body moving, occasional thoughts, the ordinary seems wondrous and there seems to be a kind of a freedom to everything. The sense of self that seemed to have the problem with derealization or even with depersonalization is absent. That seems like a self-contradiction but that's how it seems. It's almost like depersonalization without the person that could be depersonalized. So there is no problem. Just what is appearing to be happening. There is no problem with it, and life (walking in nature etc.) seems wonderful a lot of the time. And I do know about bipolar disorder and manic phases where everything seems wonderful but this is not it. It's a kind of a quiet contentment or okayness and doesn't have the extreme swings from joy to deep depression... I mean a state of low energy can appear, and it can look like depression but it doesn't come with the depression-thoughts and there is the okayness in the background at the same time. So the okayness is not dependent on any particular state that might be appearing.
0 likesOh, btw. Derealization can also be caused by a problem with the spine. If I remember correctly it can be due to the vagus nerve touching the inner wall of the spine, which it shouldn't be. A chiropractor might be able to fix it if that is the case.
That's interesting, I have this disorder but my development of it was quite different from yours. I got a super intensive chronic version of this disorder when I was 17, triggered by a panic attack. It literally send me into a nightmare version of this world, I lost my emotions, people's faces and presence became distorted, my vision started to glitch out, I started developing intense paranoia, the world around me kind of went into this strange-Lynch-type-slowmotion-movie mode and it was terrifying. I never knew from one second to the next how my perception would begin to mess with me, so I lived in constant fear. The only way I can describe it is that moment in a dream when you suddenly realize something is off but you can't figure out if you're dreaming or not, and this anxiety creeps in and you know it's about to turn into a nightmate - for me it was like being stuck in that off-putting dream moment 24/7 everyday endlessly with no relief. I lived like this for 2 years before it began to get better. I find it interesting that yours seemed to 'creep in' more subtly, from your symtoms it sounds like it might be a slightly milder form than what I had. Anyway, best of luck with getting better!
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Oh my god I have been waiting so long to hear someone share an experience this similar to mine. Just before I turned 16, I had a panic attack that felt like someone had pulled my plug from the mains, and knocked me right out of the world. For about a week it was this incredibly awful feeling of not being conscious for half of the time, and then suddenly being conscious and panicking about what had happened - like I was asleep, dreaming, and then would wake up, but be standing in my bedroom, knowing I'd been physically conscious the whole time, and freaking out about it. I couldn't do anything for the whole week but lay in bed and cry, as it was just on a loop - I couldn't break the cycle, and I thought I'd be stuck forever. Lucky it improved, and moved more into what Dodie described, where I just felt a more permanent but less frightening sense of the world not being real. I couldn't really feel any sensation against my skin at all for months. It's been over a year now and I finally feel more grounded and real. I could really have done with knowing other people had similar experiences back then, so thank you for sharing!
6 likesThese versions sound more like psychosis to me.
3 likesIt's not considered a psychosis by definition as during a psychosis a person cannot distinigsh between what reality is and what isn't. I thought I had developed a psychosis at first, but when I researched it I realized I didn't fit the definition. While my world-perception turned nightmarish, I was fully aware of 'reality', I just couldn't percieve it anymore.
7 likesWhen you develop an extreme version of Derealization/Depersonalization that is chronic, it can very much feel like a psychosis, feel like you're losing it, because it wears down your brain and the constant anxiety and visual distortions feed paranoia. However due to the ability of people with dp/dr to recongize reality (despite the perceptional changes) as well as having little impact on other cognitive functions, the disorder has it's own classification that is seperate from a psychosis.
I just thought it might've been because I've suffered both. I have the permanent 24/7 derealisation and I had some small bouts of psychosis. Derealisation feels more like being stoned and psychosis was experiencing things such as everyone's faces being very uncanny valley and I felt very disturbed all the time in general. I'd look at a towel and notice that it would look like it was rippling... things like that.
2 likesBut were you aware that it was not real? I don't know how strict the definitions are these days, but usually the difference between these two states that Ive heard is that in derealization you know what is real despite everything suddenly appearing crazy while in a pyschosis you don't know. The symtoms of a psychosis and DR can overlap, but if you remain aware of things then from my knowledge you haven't yet gone to a full on psychosis - sometimes a psychosis may begin with depersonalization/derelization though
1 likeGood god. I have a lot of hypnogogic/hypnopompic hallucinations and my episodes can be very much like that but not that intensely for any long period of time.
1 likeoh god, i hope you're doing better now!!!
1 likeAlex Volkov same dude, same. I hope you feel better now :<
1 likeMine was set off just as yours was with a panic attack when I was 17. I’ve lived with it for almost 8 years now. It left me severely agoraphobic for the first couple of years. After seeking treatment for my severe anxiety it gradually went away but always lingered, with the use of anti anxiety and anti depressant medication. Now it’s back yet again and the contrast in my vision has been turned way up. I’m looking into TMS as she described here. It’s a scary place to be. I hope you are doing better.
0 likesthat kinda sounds like schitzophrenia
0 likesCanabalisticKitten it does. I thought I had gone absolutely insane. The mind is a powerful thing, and as she says in the video after speaking with professionals it’s a relief to hear that you aren’t schizophrenic yet you still live in a terrifying dream world. For some reason your brain thinks that reaction is better than your reality. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
0 likestysm for ur video! finally i know my condition are real
1 likeI had it in my teen years and could "switch" it on and off, like "i dont want to hear that" and then i wouldnt be there anymore until it was okay. Sometimes i wish i had it now, because my brain protected me this way. But i'm glad my environment isnt as unstable as it was. I dont know. Does this make any sense? I feel Bad for wishing this.
0 likesokay, heres a story of mine. ever since i was 11, i could see colours ( like i consciously realised i could see them, i dont remember if i could see colours before). like i didnt know it was a unique thing to see until i was 15, when i told one of my best friends very casually that "hey, today, akshayas colour was yellow man, it felt good". she freaked out so much, she freaked me out. she was like "what are you talking about" and i told, "hey, u know umm, her colour was nice? maybe she was in her best mood today?" and that was the time i realised that i could see colours, and its just me. that night was terrifying because, i felt alone and pretty much horrified that i perceive the world much differently than others. im 17 now and i still dont know why i see colours around people, but the experience is pretty much overwhelming. for my 10th grade biology project, i did one the condition called "synesthesia". i was able to relate to it pretty much, but i know it wasnt completely it. i didnt tell this to my parents because i know nobody would believe this thing i have. i considered it as a defect in my eye until my other best guy friend came into my life and said "hey, u know about auras right? yea, i think u can see auras" and it is so weird and i refuse to believe such supernatural stuff. i still consider it as a defect but hey, it is a part of me soooo gotta live with it.
1 likeand also, umm let me tell about my first crush, because the experience was AMAZING.
okay there was this one guy, in our chemistry lab, myself and my friend were doing titrations and he just came out of his class to help us with his friend. his colour was hot pink, and the moment i felt his colour, i honestly became drunk in his colour. like, his pink made me go wrong in my calculations and my readings. i was even mispelling my words! omg, his pink was like intoxicating me. and the more i saw him, the more i was drawn to him and his colour. it lasted for the entire day. then after i woke up, i think i felt really good, hoping to see him and his colour again.
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woah, that’s a really cool thing to be able to see colors around people!
0 likesTry telling your brain that your "dream" permissions are too intrusive by becoming a lucid dream master. You could then try to (for example) have a busy person to set a counter app on a tight smart watch with a password. Everytime you fail to be sure, this person has to reset the counter, while you, at night, not wanting to upset this busy person (ppl are nice, she probably wouldnt mind) get lucid dreaming about yourself without the watch in your wrist. And getting used to not having things your way in real life (in contrast to your lucid dreams) might help
1 likeI've had 2 episodes of derealization. The first was the worse. When I had it, I didn't know what it was. I was at the movies with my family, and as soon as we walked out of the movie room, everything was off. Nothing felt real. It was raining heavily which didn't help as the rain itself didn't seem real. I was so out of it, i went in to the parking lot and almost got ran over because I didn't think anything of the car. It wasn't real it seemed, so it couldn't hurt me. I went home and napped my way out of it. The best way I could explain it was that I felt that nothing was real, everything seems like a dream, so the next day I googled "I feel like nothing is real" and learned what derealization/depersonalization is.
157 likesI get into times where I think I'm having an episode again, but it isn't the exact same feeling. I'm just tired/out of it. Please don't self-diagnose and if you truly think you have it, go get yourself checked because it truly is one of the scariest feelings I've experienced
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TheDodge I had an episode come over me while I was at work of both derealization and depersonalization at the same time. It lasted for 7 days straight. I couldn’t feel my own body, I wasn’t there. I couldn’t tell where things were, like I couldn’t even gauge how far away my hand was from my face. It felt like I was dreaming and I couldn’t remember where I was. Or how long it’s been from one second to the next. Even if I was standing still it felt like if I wasn’t looking at something, it didn’t existed. It was honestly horrifying. I couldn’t think clear or do simple math at my job. I had a panic attack at work and did go see a doctor. It was insanely frustrating not being able to think, I was so afraid, so afraid that I wouldn’t stop feeling like that. So afraid that if it kept going on at such an intense level I’d eventually kill my self because I couldn’t handle not being able to function like how I knew I should have.
6 likesI hope I never experience it again.
i have episodes like this all the time
2 likesglad to know im not the only one with that fear of killing myself from not being able to handle it
0 likesSomething like that happens to me when I'm at parties. I do not understand why, but suddenly the sounds become muffled and I feel I'm not there, as if something were coming off me. Often after this feeling I get a panic attack and it's not nice when you're in a disco, surrounded by people who are having fun. I don't know how to call this feeling, it's not permanent thanks to God, but it's not easy bc this not allow me to have some "normal" fun ugh
0 likesSounds scary..
0 likesTheDodge people can get these feelings, even if they don't have derealization. When you get diagnosed it is when its inflicting your life etc.
2 likesSomething like this happened to me at the movies too. I'm glad to know I'm not alone.
1 likeone day i was at a roller rink and i was having a lot of fun when suddenly i look up and everything seems kinda dimmed down. i look at my skates and if feels like i shouldn’t have them on. i felt like i was in a dream and tbh was quite excited because i’ve always wanted to lucid dream but i remembered the entire day so i knew it wasn’t the case. i wasn’t even tired so i was so confused. everything just seemed so fake but yeah so raw and real at the same time and i just wanted to wake up. it really is hard to explain but when i saw the title of the video i was thankful i wasn’t just going insane. it hasn’t happened since and it been a couple years so yay?
0 likesI felt like this on shrooms once. It was bizarre.
1 likei’m only 15 and I’ve struggled going to school because of this or even going out in general and i haven’t gone to school for a while , anyone know any suggestions of things that could help x
0 likesI didn’t know this existed and don’t know if I had it (don’t wanna self diagnose) but I often have the feeling that I’m not really there. I struggle to talk to people and hold healthy relationships because I am spaced out and don’t remember things. Things just don’t feel real sometimes and I can see it as a way for my brain to cope with ptsd. I know I disassociate a lot and this sounds similar. Anyway. It’s always nice to be able to talk about my mental health even if no one reads this it’s nice to talk about it. Mental health awareness :)
0 likesthank you for this, it’s very important and derealisation i feel like is a very underground, not talked about topic when it really needs to be made aware to people. thank you 💕
17 likesI dreamt you did a concert at my school, then offered a prize to the person who could recite the Scooby Doo theme song the best.
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I wonder what it means
1 likeOmg I get this all the time sometimes it's worse than others I feel not real
0 likesthis is semi common for people who have trauma, and it stinks ngl, im sorry you have this and i hope the best for u <3
0 likesIt's not a separate condition, it's a symptom. Welcome to the magical world of dissociative disorders! Of which there are four: BPD, PTSD&cPTSD, BPD, DPD, and DDNOS. There are fugue-ish states that are similar to dissociative states present in other conditions. For example, untreated AD(H)D and the fatigue surrounding chronic sleep dysfunctions.
0 likesidk if this is similar but maybe someone will understand.
162 likessometimes I like, kinda disconnect with myself. like, I'll look in the mirror and I'll recognize that it's me but I won't feel like me.
does that make sense?
am I just crazy? 😂
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《PattiRose》 yes it does I feel the same way
7 likesI've got derealisation constantly for over 2 years now. Sometimes I get episodes of depersonalisation, which feels like what you described. The mirror moment can become kinda creepy, I know.
19 likesliterally same, all the bloody time.
4 likes《PattiRose》 I think that’s depersonalisation
6 likesi feel the exact same way. ugh. it sucks.
4 likesYeah it's scary and it sucks
0 likes《PattiRose》 sometimes I feel like I’m not me but I’m like someone else seeing my life through my eyes and like narrating my life
2 likesIt is extremely strange 🤨
Oh my god that happens to me all the time
0 likes《PattiRose》 yes it does
0 likesIzzy Dw same with me, i constantly feel like things that are happening to me arent happening at all and im just watching it
0 likesexactly!!
0 likesWhaaaaat I feel exactly the same and I describe it exactly the same if anyone asks :OOO
0 likesI can sympathize. I have a condition called "Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory" or SDAM for short. And long story short, I don't have the full capability to recall or relive past events in my life like most people do. I can't even remember how a person looked like a few minutes after I spoke to them. My whole memory are factual and not visual, like generalized cliff notes of another life. Because of this, it's hard for me to personalize anything in my past. I found out about this sometime in the past 5 years, but I don't know specifically when. The only reason that I'm talking about this is that I recently lost someone I cared about, my best friend from high school. I'm sad that he's gone, but I also have no memories of him to look back on. 21 years of friendship is now lost and I can't even remember his voice. When I try, I get a massive migraine with nothing to gain.
0 likesThank you for this…
0 likesWhile I don't have this (at least I don't think so), I do find myself zoning out and going floaty and so when I do that I eat frozen fruit. So if anyone wants to try frozen fruit, it's a small method of trying to ground yourself, or at least I have found it helps me :)
0 likesFor me I'll feel like this for a few days. It's not as bad as what's she's taking about, but I get super bad episodes every so often (it's becoming more often) and then I feel high and I do stupid and reckless things. Or I get panicky and tunnel vision and bad nausea when I look at something close up. I feel like I have to touch something to make sure it's real, but even then I'm not sure. I don't recognize myself in the mirror, and I don't associate with my personality if that makes sense. Right now I feel like I'm watching life but I'm not really there. I feel like I'm zoned out and I can't snap out of it.
0 likesThank you Dodie! There's little to no information online and hearing your experiences is really helping me and inspiring me to get help.
My dreams always feel so real and reality always feels so fake. I don't know what to do about this, but I hardly feel awake or alive really unless I'm asleep and then everything becomes insanely real.
0 likesi can't remember if i actually have a diagnosis for this or not? it's so weird and if i don't i really hope i get it one day
0 likesThis is just what being conscious is right?
0 likesI have narcolepsy and it creates a similar disassociation. I lucid dream every night/nap/sleep attack vividly and remember everything. Before I started treated (all of my youth) I would be asleep for more than half of the entire day. I've since created worlds, timelines, characters. I've induced lucid dream subconcious dives that have rivaled significant mushroom trips. I'm 22 now, before I was self conscious about it, my friends have labeled me the wierd hippy of the group. It was 2019 when I first started treatment and it has opened my eyes to how creative I am and I'm thankful. I wish you well on your journey!!!!
0 likesI went through this through my late teens, I went through a phase I couldn’t even leave my house! But over time I gradually challenged myself to get out my shell, Gym really helped and more than anything interacting with people helped me, stay strong... there’s always light at the end ❤️
54 likesI’m listening to The Fear right now and the chorus is so relatable to this lol
2 likesI feel like i am Always in a dejavu! :D
0 likesHonestly the Only way I can socialize is when I feel, at least, a little bit drunk.
0 likesAre you getting any kind of disability help from the government? It sounds like you might be able to find relief if you take some time off. It sounds like your equilibrium feels off. I definitely feel distant from... things. I took a few months off and I feel a little bit better. Like, just some relief and relaxing. And space to get reacquainted with yourself and recognize who you know you are because you remember feeling how you used to feel.
0 likesWe still and will always love you dodie💛
56 likesDefinitely don't want to self diagnose but I saw this video a.... While ago?.... Idk when oops... and related to it. After more research and stuff and some depressive episodes and shit I've kept coming back to it. And watching this video again makes me think maybe that's what's going on. I don't feel like I'm really here. I'm "completely out of it". That's the only way I can really describe it. But it's pretty much all the time. The thing is, I'm not under a lot of stress or anything.
1 likeIm late but..i have this too! I'm also part of a system
0 likesI don’t have this all the time, but I never feel quite all the way there. Often it takes me a minute to remember what’s going,on, where I am. Also I often space out for no reason or I realise I haven’t digested anything that is happening around me because I thought I wasn’t really there somehow. I think a lot of it is just normal being a human butwhen I get anxious dissociation goes very nicely with existential OCD. (btw I have been diagnosed with OCD andd dissociation as a symptom of my anxiety by a therapist, but as far as I low I don’t have any full dissociation disorders)
0 likesI don’t think I have this disorder, but I most certainly dissociate and experience derealization particularly when I’m super anxious or stressed (had an awful breakdown my sophomore year of college) and the whole looking in the mirror and not knowing who it is is the scariest thing. The vision thing and just being there but not there is too real, and I often think to try and keep myself here which throws me into the verge of panic. It’s totally real, and everyone dissociates every now and again.
0 likesthis was such a well set out and informative video. i'm really loving the new content dodie!
8 likesyou should watch The Science of Sleep it’s directed by Michel Gondry, although your condition is absolutely different the description of it sounded a lot like the plot of this movie
0 likesFor me it's like I'm watching a movie. Or like looking into my eyes from a third person view but knowing I'm not. It's weird. I also have a tendency to ask myself weird questions like "is this a movie?". Idk. I don't like it. It gets scary looking into my eyes sometimes because they seem so dark and scary and unfamiliar.
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I’ve had times when I suddenly felt like a passive observer of the own life; it’s quite odd
0 likeslil jill yea me too
1 likeMy God how do you do this. I’m three years into this and I can’t deal.
0 likesI was certain I had a brain tumor, or my eyes were failing, or I had diabetes…. Something. Anything. It’s too overwhelming to be just in my brain.
Some days I wish I’d just die and get it over with. I feel crazy and explaining to anyone else doesn’t make sense to them. I used to be so engaged and present in everything I did. Ive even had several bouts of severe clinical depression, but nothing like the hollowed out feeling of derealization.
This is miserable.
this is probably the 5th time ever watching this, its been about a year since i watched it the last time before this. i wouldn't say its gotten better for me but its gotten more manageable, im still writing this with a skewed sense if awareness but im definitely able to function. i'd just like to say i hate this. you related it to alcohol but i feel it as more of the dull sensation of being high. i hate being high because it just brings me back to this place of disconnection.
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and i just realised that it's all i've ever really known, stemming all the way from my traumatic brain injury when i was 7, whoopsie
0 likesanother update, i just realised that when i have these episodes i tend to look high to other people, given what i had stated prior i hate weed so
0 likesOh my GOD! This is what I had!! In high school for a year. I couldn't figure it out, no one could help me, it terrified me, but when it went away it was scarier to me. I became extremely alone and alienated during and I'mmediately after because my family was not supportive at all, and I was afraid my friends wouldn't be either... Although now I feel they probably would have. I barely remember any of half way through 2010 to halfway through 2011. Most is a blur of me trying to stay "awake" or present while feeling like someone else is moving my body in and out Every day. I'd miss conversations that I'd have and find my family strange seeming each morning waking up. I felt like I never woke up and never went to bed...it felt like a constant stream of living...but like...living inside a body I have little control over
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I actually benefited from it in a few ways though. Though...I'm not sure I'm completely over it. I can still relive that mental fog if I think about the past
0 likesVickyVicVicx maybe some kind of treatment could help you?
0 likesDo you remember how you got cured?
1 likeI woke up from a dream and started talking, not really sure why, but after waking up more I realised I was talking nonsense. Really very weird... I feel like I sometimes get this every now and then but certainly not like this and is probably caused by a lack of sleep.
0 likesI have a friend who has bipolar & since trying psychedelics has been experiencing some similar issues, as well as occasional hallucinations & psychotic symptoms, & she has found CBD very grounding, stabilizing. I hope it’s helping you too. I don’t know what the standard treatments would be (I feel like SSRIs are over-prescribed as the off-label go-to for a lot of conditions they won’t necessarily help), but if there was an obvious go-to I’m sure you’d already know about it.
0 likesIt’s really great that you haven’t given up on it, & are pursuing whatever forms of treatment you can. Keep on down that path.
I'm like this often but it's a it's worse at work as, about a year ago, I had a very traumatic experience when a customer cornered me in their vehicle when I put the groceries in the car. If I didnt need and love my job as much as I do, I'd quit but I'm trying to get through it.
0 likesI feel it
0 likesI’m so happy to see this video. Mine also started in about 2012.. it’s really nice to see I’m not alone. I spent years panicking about it like you until I finally accepted my life with it.. although I hope it goes away for me and you and anybody else struggling.
29 likesI don’t have DR/DP (I don’t feel like things aren’t real) but for the last couple of years, I’ve gotten progressively worse brain fog, poorer and poorer memory, and a dwindling sense of hope. Not sure what to do to fix it and not sure what to call it. Could be connected to an underlying condition other than my (diagnosed) depression. Who knows? It’s really difficult to pinpoint exactly what’s wrong with you sometimes.
0 likesMy brain disassociates too during stress but it’s not all the time like yours. Sorry you have to deal with it it’s very hard to always be daydreaming and not remembering anything after a long drive, not remembering how you got there.
0 likesSo that's what it's called! I don't think I have the disorder scince it's not 24/7 but I definitely do experience it on some days, I knew something wasn't right lol
0 likesi fee this way only when it comes to interacting with people.
4 likesI've experienced depersonalization multiple times, mostly in my late teens.. It's scary as hell feeling like a stranger in your own body... I would tell myself over and over i am a human until it went away. It feels like you are looking at yourself from outside your body.
180 likesI honestly thought i was going crazy.
Now i am super spiritual and believe it's spirit showing me i am a spiritual being in a body. That this is just a vessel.
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Courtney Gardam I relate to this so much. When I dissociated a lot, I could also recall my childhood, but everything felt like it didn’t happen to me. Like the memories could have been from reading about it or dreaming about it, but it didn’t directly happen to me.
6 likesCourtney Gardam Yes I’ve had this feeling before, for some reason everything gets...more far away? Not like super far away but something is off and you can tell.
6 likeseveryone, it happens to everyone. It only becomes a disorder if it stops you from living your day to day life. Also please excuse my name
0 likesDepersonalization or dissociation is soo scary, even if you just experience it once. It happened to me when I got way too drunk and high (on weed, not any other hard drug) at the same time and accidentally crossfaded. I had a whole mental breakdown I’m this hotel because I felt like I was in a literal dream, and that all my friends were dream people, and any second I was going to wake up and realize that they aren’t really my friends and I’m all alone. It was terrifying. My vision tunneled, I couldn’t stop crying, I felt like I was sitting in the back of my head and watching a movie as I walked around. 10 minutes felt like an hour, and I also thought I felt my friends feelings. It was so scary.
1 likeSarah Barr yes! I have Depersonalization disorder chronically and it’s really frustrating that my memories don’t feel like mine. With all the other symptoms.. but the memories it’s such a weird thing, like they didn’t happen to me although cognitively I know they did.
2 likesCourtney Gardam this is exactly how I felt like last night and I was so freaked out
0 likesSooo, I had what you described wrt the vision (being triggered by patterns and lights) and feeling drunk, and not able to retain information. When this initially happened, the doctors thought I was having a stroke. I had all the symptoms. After months of testing for causes, it was deemed as “Complicated Migraine Syndrome” meaning that apparently I get migraine attacks with all these symptoms without having any pain.I have to stop what I’m doing and lay down and close my eyes because I start to panic due to not being able to see anything (at its worst only outlines and shades- or half a face, the other half is then geometric lines and patterns). I’ve been treated with anitripaline to try to combat this which seems to be helping. I’ve had this for the past 6 years. If I still manage to get sudden onset of symptoms I take razotriptin which kicks in with in 20mins.
0 likesI dissociate a lot but idk if this is what I have, I’m looking for more things to try and explain how I feel because I cannot afford therapy, though I’m not self diagnosing, just trying to see what I’m feeling is happening to others as well because it’s hard to believe others feel the same ?
0 likesIt's like I know I'm here but it doesn't feel that way, my thoughts scare me sometimes like- living is all about feeling right? That's what being human is about, but I feel nothing except for when I'm doing stuff like daydream, read, watch shows or play video games, all the escapism. I don't wanna turn into a shut in or something
0 likesOh my freaking god. I don't want to say this myself I'm not a doctor but I'm pretty sure I'm this
0 likesAWESOMELY WONDERFUL. My sister has this (along with chronic back, knees, hips, and headache pain) and she describes it as " feeling like I'm asleep when I'm awake, and feeling like I'm awake when I'm asleep" and seems stuck somewhere between all the time. And then, she has lots of anxiety - but we're not really sure if that's a symptom of her condition, or a side effect of the medications, or simply 'real' anxiety because of how stressful living with chronic chronic derealization is for her. THANK YOU for your open, honest discussion of this. You rock. <3
6 likesi think i might have this too 😫 you jsut helped me
1 likeDoes anyone feel constantly buzzed?
0 likeslike from drinking alcohol?
4:32 ah, so yes...
I also feel eyes slow-ish, and brain heavy and foggy. less emotional feeling, maybe a little less physical feeling.
this is my first 24hrs, we'll see...
could just be sleep deprivation circadian rhythm oversleep and under sleep alcohol caffeine, and endorphins.
feel like I still know everything and am physically present ( mostly) but mentally unable to access or formulate.
I read this, it helps.
https://www.carolynspring.com/blog/feeling-unreal-depersonalisation-derealisation-disorder/
I feel for you and everyone else who face such and not only you guys have to deal with that you also try and explain to people around you of how it feels and it real and you are not just being nut and crazy (please don't mind me) , I can not truly relate to what you are going through but its weird for me too, I am an artist so my job is actually to observe, but I guess I have been observing too much hence the unnecessary voices up my head and some times bugs in the sky more like vague hallucinations, sometimes I make sure I have done a task but then I realize I have just been thinking about it in my brain.... no idea what this call now,,, I think I am crazy..
0 likesI tend to disassociate whenever I don’t want to be somewhere. It’s as if I don’t want to be that person sitting there. I just want to fly away and be someone else for a minute.
3 likesI love the positive note you ended it on. So encouraging 💙
3 likesI got this after smoking laced marijuana (I didn’t know it was laced at the time) I knew something was wrong when I could see the sound waves coming out of the dogs mouth when it was barking. I flashed through time, there are pockets I still don’t remember what happened. I remember waking up outside in the snow, then flashing again and I was driving home, I saw my own death. Flashed again and I was in my bed, in the dark questioning everything. I then had my first full on panic attack, thought I was having a heart attack so I woke my parents up and they took me to the ER where they said to just try to relax, gave me Valium and sent me home. The Valium turned me into a zombie, more pockets of time I don’t remember. I still felt like something was seriously wrong with my perception of time and reality, I reflected on everything I thought I knew, I tried to apply logic to it. I came to the conclusion that the laced marijuana was essentially a key to get back stage of the show of life. It got me behind the curtain and I saw all the gears and ropes and pullies, the lights the props, all the things that keep our mind busy from seeing the truth. None of it is real. We will never be able to grasp any of it. It’s all flimsy shallow and fake, but it’s a lot easier to just pretend it’s real and go along with it because otherwise you’re going to feel like an alien and you won’t be able to tell anyone about it without them thinking you’re crazy. And you can’t blame them because it’s impossible to know until you’ve been behind the curtain. I was DEEP in it for a solid 3 months. My brain and everything I thought I knew was ripped to shreds and though the panic aspect of it has calmed down quite a bit, I still think about what I experienced every day. This happened 16 years ago. Once you cross that line you can’t go back to the life you left behind, at least not fully.
0 likesi’m so scared i just want to get out of this. will this ever go away?? 💔
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@the vampire diaries are you OK now... I hope you are. I'm going through this now and it sucks ass
0 likesSounds like a form of dissociation to me. Depersonalisation and derealisation are often associated with dissociation (they all fall under the same umbrella and are experienced on a spectrum, some experience more severe symptoms others not quite as severe). Most commonly the result of childhood trauma or adverse childhood experiences such as: physical, emotional/psychological or sexual abuse, physical or emotional neglect, close family member with mental illness or substance abuse (especially if parent), incarcerated parent, divorce, or presence of domestic violence in home. Narcissistic parenting can also result in PTSD symptoms.
0 likesMany people downplay the effect early experiences have or are reluctant to label such experiences as adverse, abusive even. Also, missing blocks of memory from childhood often indicates traumatic experiences. Therapies that are trauma informed that include talk therapy, CBT, DBT, group support and grieving losses, including disenfranchised losses, all help to process trauma/adverse early experiences and rewire the brain. Takes time, patience, loads of work and tears, not linear, but works.
hhhh i think i have this. I wouldn't know though, i guess. but i think i experienced this today. it was after my science exam, at lunch. everyone seemed really far away and i couldn't hear them properly, or myself even. i just felt so anxious and stressed, just constantly worrying about what i i think i got wrong in the exam. i could barely stand up afterwards and i felt like i wasn't really there. i had an overwhelming sense that i was about to cry and my vision was fuzzy at the edges. and i know it really doesnt matter-just some dumb exam that i wont even remember in a years time, but still. i felt so, so far away from everyone. it was really bizarre.
1 likeI've always been obsessed with drowning myself in warm, cuddly visions that would dance around my classroom. Sometimes my focus leaves the teacher and my mind trickles into a fun action movie. I will find myself in a jungle or a movie scene or sometimes see someone aching in sorrow as I rush over to help them. It's nice to dream but sometimes I get so lost that I find myself not even being able to differentiate my real life to daydreaming. :// Love the video Dodie! 💓
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This sounds like Maladaptive Daydreaming! Don't think it's considered a medical condition (yet), but it is fairly common and very real.
15 likesI'm not sure if this is the same thing, but I once spent at least a year in a similar situation. I'd say that 90-95% of my consciousness was occupied by an imaginary world. It was vivid and felt so real. Images from this constant daydream began to invade the real world around me, and it was distorting/blocking my view of reality. It took a long time to even notice what was happening, and even longer to drag myself out of it. Letting go of it was honestly painful, as I had actually become attached to the characters I had created. Even now, several years later, I still catch myself slipping back into it.
Reminds me of the movie "The Secret Life of Walter Middy". I like the version with Danny Kaye best.
1 likeTo me it sounds like psychosis (hallucinations). If you really can’t distinguish real life from your visions, and it affecties you, you could go talk to a counselor. I am not diagnosing you at all, I do not have a mental Health degree in any way.
0 likesDepending on how real they are it could be any combination of things. ADD/ADHD, DP, visual hallucinations. Not to scare you. If it’s not harmful than don’t get too stressed just talk to you someone or your doctor if your worried don’t be afraid to ask someone for help.
1 likeJessica OMG ME. To me it's also like I can't properly live in "reality". My brain goes off to places and scenarios and people I've never met, or characters of books and I watch them unfold, have a new life. This helps a lot in certain cases bc I write, but then I feel like the rest of my life is nor very real. Like it's in a dimmer light or I'm just waiting for something else. Idk. My brain hurts now hahah
1 likesame.
0 likesI have chronic derealization 24 7 for over 30 years.
0 likesLike viewing the world through the bottom of a glass jar. Had it for 10 years.
0 likesThe mind is really complex, we don't even know if we're living normally.
0 likesI don't know whats hapenning to me right now. I nearly got hit by a car on my way from school today and ever since I got home I just, I don't feel like I actually survived. Every time I hear an ambulance(which is often since I live on the same street as a hospital) my heart drops because I feel like I'm kind of in that ambulance in some way and that my mom will soon get a phone call about my death any minute. Can someone tell me what's wrong with me?
0 likesDodie. Seriously thank you so much. This is what I've had since I was a kid & you described it so perfectly. I'm actually tearing up because you've made me feel so much better. Thank you.
45 likesOh shit I feel this
0 likesThis is scary how i have all of those symptoms
0 likesI just feel like I cannot tell the difference between dreaming and reality anymore. I can’t even tell if I am in a dream or reality right now! I tell my mother about these things but she just says, “Oh I do too” like Mom I need your helpppppppp
0 likesOH MY GOD IVE BEEN WONDERING WHATS WRONG WITH ME FOR THE PAST 8 YEARS AND NOW I FIND OUT THAT ITS REALLY A THING OMG WHAT
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Actually even longer than that, pretty much since I can remember. Thank you for the video!
0 likesHi doddle - I have had this since I was 15, and I'm in my 50s now. Hope one day there is a cure. Thanks for making this important video, because knowing there are people out there does help. The way you describe your condition is exactly as mine. It's still weird hearing people talk about it since I had this before the Internet and doctors I saw never really understood it. So I lived for a couple of decades thinking I was some freak of nature, and it was very isolating. Diagnosis does help. Hopefully a cure is next because let's face it we have accepted we may have to live with it but we'd rather see normally again.
14 likesi feel like i have this or maybe it just happens to me bc im tired. please help if u have felt the same
0 likeseat!! strong!! mints!! it really helps me stay grounded if i eat like 10 at a time and then it’s sharp and my mouth hurts and it helps a lot.
0 likeshi! um im 13,, i really relate with what your saying,, i feel like this all the time,, i was wondering if teenagers can have this or is it just adults??
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Willow Signs go see a doctor. get diagnosed. if u have it thru will put u thru treatment, if u don’t then u won’t.
2 likesFrom wikipedia (yeah I had to look it up): "Feelings of déjà vu or jamais vu are common."
7 likesEffing... All. The. Time.
So I struggle with this too and I’m so glad that you’re addressing this because this means so much to me. I never feel like anything is real anymore since I got overwhelmed with depression really badly, I got bullied and starting cutting luckily I don’t anymore but it got to the point where I couldn’t take it. But then we moved things got better but it’s never gone away there is still something horrible there and depressing to the point where it doesn’t feel real anymore. So thank you for all you’ve done! Xx
7 likesSomeone please give me tips, I absolutely can't take it- my derealization has been a murder and depersonalization happens too much. Idk how to deal with this :/
1 likeI sometimes feel like I am alien. I can't taste food, I can't connect with my emotions. It's like you are color blind
0 likesI felt like this all the time from earlier 2019..........
3 likesI managed to obtain a degree while on highest honors and Dean's Lists. However, I've had derealization for over fifteen years.
0 likesI remember being very young (somewhere around grade 3/4) and going outside to play, and feeling like the world was just a little out of reach. Like it wasn’t quite there. I remember asking my friends at the time if they ever had days where they felt like they were dreaming even though they’re awake. They all said no, and I was left feeling like the black sheep.
17 likesBut I’ve always had days like that. Sometimes, it’ll be a result of stress or spending too much time in the internet world (both of which definitely contribute to making days like that more common), but sometimes it’ll happen just out of the blue. It’s not so intense that I lose vision (though things do get a bit... distorted sometimes), but it definitely sucks while it’s happening, not being able to acknowledge that the world around me is touchable and real. But, unlike when I was so young and asking my friends, I am comforted to know that this is something that many people experience. Since Dodie put out one of her other videos distinguishing the difference between derealization and depersonalization, I realized that must be what to call this thing I feel sometimes. I’ve been finding my own tricks to ground myself, but now if they don’t work, I can just accept that I’m dissociating, and continue on without berating myself for it. Thank you so so so much for sharing, Dodie, it really does make a difference.
Wow dodie ! That sounds annoying and difficult… I hope this video did you bettef
0 likeshey everyone!
0 likesfirst of all , english is not my first language so please ignore all the mistakes !
since more than 2 years i have been suffering from derealisation and depersonalisation. sometimes when i am really bussy i forget about it and life seems to be normal. but as soon as i remember it , i feel it again. most of the time its like being in trance and stuck in your own head. sometimes i suffer from bad headache because i am always tying to get myself out of my head - i cant describe it logically - sorry! however the hardest for me is that i cant get away from analysing my feelings and thoughts. i am constantly in self-observation and it seperates me more and more from my surrounding. i have already achieved the step of acceptance but now its really hard again and i dont know what to do... i am afraid i'll never be really here again...
For me it feels like everything is getting further away, like voices of people speaking to me, just like I’m floating away from my entire environment
0 likesI always feel like I’m dreaming I didn’t know that was bad ;-;
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It's not bad unless it makes you fell upset or uncomfortable
0 likesI don’t think i have derealization but childhood for me had feelings and a wholesome vibe and now I usually feel neutral, sorta? Immersed in whats going on, or kinda sad. I dunnu, it may just be me being nostalgic.
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[ SomeGoodMemer ] Me. All the time. So relatable.
0 likesIt should be mentioned you don't start dissociate and have a real dissociative disorder just out of the blue. It's often connected to trauma, depression/anxiety or medications/drugs. I've had a lot of derealisation and depersonalisation episodes, the longest lasting for a week straight, the shorter for a few hours before I get back in my body. For me a medication started it and then it just kept coming as soon as my mind was overloaded, usually in social situation, like a coping mechanism. I have bipolar disorder and was in a really bad state, and it made perfect sense at the time my brain did this dissociation to "help" me cope. It's so much better now that my depresson is better, my brain has recovered some endurance and I'm off that medication. But if you have no problems whatsoever in your life and feel these symptoms relate to you, it's probably nothing to worry about. You always have a reason to dissociate, otherwise the brain wouldn't use this weird coping machanism.
0 likesi’ve never been more out if it as i am now ://
1 likeI have this condition too :) as I'm Bpd
0 likesI have this condition too.
0 likesi might have derealization and depersonalization because both things that happen in them happen to me quite often and i’ve wondered why i do this i’ve googled it and i’ve told my therapist about them and she has said that i for surly have depersonalization but i haven’t really got around to talking about derealization and i should tell her about it
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i would! even if it's not acutally anything or if it does turn out to be something, it's good to talk about it either way!
1 likeKinda same lmao
1 likeyes you should! 💛
1 likeI have heard that Naloxone may help with treating it.
0 likesthis damn disease has been with me for 2 and a half years. used 10 different medications, saw 5 doctors, yet nothing has changed. feels like my brain is about to die. idk what to do, sorry for my bed england
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for the people dont know this problem, i can explain like this: i would rather have a cancer instead of this
0 likesFuck, I've been feeling like this for past 6-7 days. When i see someone, i know who they are but it doesn’t feel like before. I Don't feel hungry or full like i used to. My body doesn’t feel like it used to, i don't understand if I'm tired or energetic. It seem so confusing 😢😢
0 likesIn a nutshell I'm saying it feels like I've been on autopilot since I'm 13 I'm now 16 and I'm still on autopilot and its really shitty. I always feel like I cant genuinely enjoy something because in my mind it's just like this isn't reality.
0 likesWhen I was young, I just thought everyone experienced this disconnection! But then as I got older, I finally realized and was told that I suffer derealization, which both lifted a weight off my shoulders, but put one back in place. I’m not sure how to make the episodes less bad for myself yet, but connecting with other people who experience the same thing has really helped out!
27 likesHow can dissociation be a symptom and a result of depression at the same time i hate it
0 likesDon't do anti-depressants. They are super risky and can cause serious harm. I know someone who lost their mind due to Anti-depressants so please do not become like them...
0 likesPlease lets be friends I didn't realise I wasn't on my own
1 likeCan ppl like this so dodie sees it!!
4 likesI’m wanting to use a clip from this video in the background of one of my songs about dissociation but I want to be sure that’s okay with dodie :)
the relation to coming out of the cinema to derealisation is the most solid description of it i think, that is how i almost constantly feel :/
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I agree like i will be talking to my best friends who I know know me and who I’m incredibly close to but it will feel as though I don’t know hen or shouldn’t know them and I keep trying to look at their face in a different way to try and get myself to recognise them but it’s as if they’re a stranger
2 likesErikado Lauro same
1 likeagreed, but they're all valid.
1 likeyeah absolutely (although personaly i can't relate to the feeling of being drunk as I've never been drunk before :D )
0 likesI wouldn’t wish this on my own worst enemy. This is such a nasty and awful disorder.
1 likeI disassociate but not to this degree, so I understand to some degree.
0 likesI am not sure if anyone is here to read this but I found something that helps after I have struggled with it for a long time.
1 likeImagine that this life WAS real, for example, you are actually at death bed right now and suddenly, you time warp to the random day of your life.... And you are here now, suddenly able to live life again. Trivial things start to look charming, and nostalgic, and even the encounter to rude people makes you think "aw, yeah these things happen too". You don't feel so hurt because everything makes you feel warm, the existence of yourself makes you feel warm, and your short comings and weakness are kinda adorable.
Practice this every occasion you remember, and the life feels so much more real.
sometimes i feel like i am too aware sometimes of the world. like a lot of the time my mind just goes “oh wtf your real, he’s real,she’s real,.wtf is this. why are his lips moving. he’s speaking a completely made up language”
0 likesDodes you are beautiful and i'm sorry you have to deal with this, good luck my darling
9 likesI might have to ask my doctor about this-
1 likeI've had it for 5 months now I want it to be over I didn't do drugs I just want it to stop it's been constant it won't stop I'm going insane
0 likesI had a bad experience of derealisation during the time of malaria I don't know because of pills or not can someone help me out.
1 likeI see a lot of people in the comments concerned about this dream like feeling. Most people seem to be describing symptoms of derealization.
0 likesThe feeling of watching your life through a camera, a wall of glass between you and the world, that you are in a simulation, dreaming etc.
If these symptoms are chronic and effecting you quality of life, you should consider seeing a psychiatrist as it may be possible you have a dissociative disorder. ( I do not recommend self diagnosis)
There are 3 types of dissociative disorders
- Derealization/Depersonalization ( DP/DR )
- Dissociative Amnesia
- Dissociative Identity Disorder ( Multiple Personality Disorder)
Though some people do not fit any of these categories. This is called an Unspecified Dissociative disorder
These symptoms are often caused by
- Trauma
- Marijuana ( Psychoactive drugs in general )
- Psychosis
- Other
And even no Identifiable cause.
These disorders do not have a cure and there are no specific medications for these disorders. However the causes of these disorders may be treatable. Things such as a anti-anxiety and antidepressants. The most beneficial treatment will likely be therapy.
The good news is that this disorder can and often will resolve its self with time. There are absolutely people who have been struggling with these disorders for years or even decades but seeking treatment can vastly improve your prognosis and some recover faster than others. Even if these symptoms persist, they become much less problematic as you acclimate to them. There is absolutely hope for you.
Please check out these links to read up on these problems. I think you will find great comfort to know that these problems have a name and that you are not going crazy. There are a lot of people out there also going through this hell. You are not alone.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissociative_disorder
This forum may be very useful for you if you have questions or simply wish to talk to those who can relate to your problem.
https://www.dpselfhelp.com/forum/
From a fellow dreamer. Good luck : )
TL:DR please read this if you relate to the video ( I promise it’s worth it’s )
what a coincidence that this video came in one of my most suicidal weeks of the year - thank you for the video dodie, i'll try to keep in mind what you said but its still hard to really believe in (its not you, its my lack of faith), christmas/new year is a shitty time for me anyway so yeah, i'm glad you're feeling better
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Louisa Rhodes look, if you need a fren, you can talk to me! i know how that hurts ♡
0 likesYou might not believe me, but you can get through this week.
0 likesThank you both, your replies mean a lot <3
0 likesWhat Georgina said. One day at a time.
0 likesyou've got this Louisa <3
0 likesLouisa Rhodes you will make it and you got a whole community behind your back :)
0 likesLouisa Rhodes i know it might not feel like it right now, but I promise it’ll get better Love :) you’ve got so much ahead of you yet, I hope you feel better x
0 likesYou’ve got this! Take it one day at a time, or just one hour at the time, and it will get better, I promise you❤️
0 likesI kinda feel like this a lot as well, is it also like when you look at something and you move your arm and you see your arm and you don’t see your arm as you normally see your arm, it’s hard to explain.
0 likesI have the vision thing to, it’s like when there’s a black spot in the middle of your eye and if you try to look at it and it kind of disappears but it’s still there, it’s weird but I’ve never heard anyone talk about it before.
Not to self diagnose but I’m pretty sure I have this has anyone else had the feeling when your visions and seeing sometimes mix up and one is super slow and the other is extra fast and your just there like (slow motion) “i didn’t agree to this 😰”
0 likesmy derealization when i feel it like my eyes can’t focus one thing and everything is slightly blurry and i feel as if i’m in a movie and the people around me are fake! my depersonalization is like i look in the mirror and i’m like that’s me? my face looks funny, how does it even exist, like that’s not me! also kinda feel 3rd person mode where, i’m liking sitting in the back of my head and i’m just doing what i have to do
0 likesThank you!!!
0 likesI’ve always had the feeling but have never been able to identify what it was. Whenever I️ spoke to people about it, they thought I️ was joking.
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Same! dodie helped me so much by speaking up about it...I thought I was crazy but now I know its a REAL thing that can be identified
0 likesHey. Do you still suffer from this? My derealisation started a few days ago
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This condition is caused by SSRI's, SNRI, Antipsychotics and especially Benzodiazepines
0 likesmine is like everything is numb and everything that happens is too much or too little.
0 likesNot tryna self diagnose but this seems like me I feel like I'm in a bubble
1 likeThis sounds so much like me. Not 24/7, but a lot of the time. But no therapist ever guessed something like this. So there must be something else, that makes me feel like a thin cloth is seperating me from reality ...
0 likesI usually have my 'episodes' of derealisation in very busy areas, before an anxiety migraine, when stressed or around flashing lights. I've been told that due to my anxiety disorder this is one of the side effects and it is how my body copes with stress. I couldn't imagine living with it daily like you do and for that I admire your strength and how brilliant you are. You're doing so incredibly well to say that you're suffering with this illness daily, it's empowering due to the fact that I cannot stand my episodes and usually find a place to sleep for the episode to pass. You're doing so well and you're so incredibly inspiring, I really do look up to you!
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Also before ANYONE gives me hate. I'm NOT self diagnosed, I have been to therapy etc and do have other disorders that can trigger these episodes.
5 likesSame 😢 I felt it last month for a week and it was extreme
0 likesI didn’t really understand how depersonalization can happen with depression as a symptom until I had the episode last month and saw this video, I mentioned to my doctor and because he doesn’t speak English he didn’t quite get what I was talking about and he just said that what I am feeling is from anxiety too
Um Um, I ain’t gonna self diagnose but uh- this is exactly how I feel wtf.
0 likesI feel like reality isn't as solid as we think it is. Our life is a blink of an eye compared to the span of the universe, we're here and then gone, and almost half our life is spent unconscious/dreaming. Where we go after, nobody knows. I feel like this 'condition' is pretty common seen as though the world pretty much could be a dream and we have no way of knowing any better.
0 likesI have to much lucid dreams and inside the dream is realy like this symptoms that you discribe. In one night about 3 years ago I wake up from one of those dreams but I was still felling all those symptoms. I tought that I was still dreaming and just carry on with the day but I was never waking up. This goes for about 2 days and I go to sleep and wake up again but this time more normal and not felling like a dream. It wasn’t painful, wasn’t stressful in fact it wasn’t nothin for 2 days. I just can’t imagine what is like this for I don’t know many years..
0 likesAh you're in the UK too. I'm down in Portsmouth, where are you? I also suffer from derealisation. Its the driving force behind my social anxiety x
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portsmouth gang
0 likesThe comparison to being drunk without the fun is on point. I also suffer from really bad anxiety and derealization at times. The way I deal with both is not to focus on it and distract yourself. Train your brain to go around those troubling thoughts. Trust me it helps. At some times its harder to do than others but for me it works. Stay strong guys.. You are not alone 💗
5 likesI don't have this problem but I only have dreams that take place in daily life. I feel like I get up go to school then work and I'm almost always in bed before I wake up.
0 likesall of 2018 i felt like this- and just NOW I know what It was?
0 likesI don't have that but yesterday I was sat on my sofa and I thought, "omg who's hand is that" but realised it was my hand. It felt weird. 😳
0 likesFor me is not that bad, i mean at first i was so panicked but i would explain it as i lost taste with reality in sense that i dont experience things how i used to anymore, i could remember me from before, there were types of smells, sensations, nostalgia but i wouldn’t realize that i had it until i lost it
0 likesI've found that journaling, though I don't do it enough helps me with my derealisation. It helps with retaining a memory as well and making me more present in the moment. Also trying to not think about how what it used to feel like helps, like what my mentality was like when I was a kid. Its good to have something to compare it to and not loose sight of regaining that feeling, but disconnecting with that idea every now and again helps me :)
13 likesI feel this feeling not all the time but when I am stressed or in panic, Does that happen in derealisation? please help me
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Depersonalization and/or derealization can happen to anyone under a certain amount of stress or anxiety. Chronic DP/DR is when it happens to you constantly without having to be caused by a momentary state of stress
0 likes@grub thank you!
0 likesI feel like im dreaming like i’m floating time colors feel dull like people talk bad it feels like sound is underwater it’s not everyday but at least twice a month is really bad like a full day some days are just a little bits of time missing
0 likesYou're the dream
0 likesDoesn't everyone feel like this?
0 likesPeople will think this is “cool” or “trippy” it’s horrifying. I won’t be able to tell if it’s real or not and I’ve done weird or off things. Some days are worse than others but it’s a really scary thing and all you can do is surround yourself with people and make distractions. But even that gets hate because it makes you depressed and then it just makes everything a million times worth. It’s so miserable. Before it happened to me I was outgoing and could talk to anyone about anything I was never shy. Then when it started I forgot how to talk to people and how to be normal. I was always goofy and nothing was funny to me anymore I just wanted to wake up. It’s not “cool” it’s not “trippy” anyone going through this is SUFFERING.
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It honestly sounds horrible. I can barely deal with waking up after a long nap, makes me feel groggy and as if I'm not present, so to think about dealing with that all the time sounds like such a struggle.
1 likey’all ever get hit with a giant wave of “whoa holy shit like i’m a person i guess and nobody knows what they are doing and it’s taken millions and billions of years for things to happen and for me to get here and that’s crazy. also this is all weird and bullshit and i cannot believe it’s real” y’all ever feel like that?? or similar???
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Charlize Peace yep!
0 likesWelcome to existentialism
1 likei just cant snap out of the dream been trying for a year. drank alcohol passed out woke up and been here eversince before this ive had massive anxiety daily guess my brain just is done with me stressing and closed it self. been to doctors they cant find anything im just fuckd up
0 likesher voice its so pretty and cute
0 likesI'm pretty sure i CHRONICALLY feel like this because i CHRONICALLY maladaptive daydream and have been since like 6th grade.... shit
1 likeI had this when I couldn't sleep for some days
0 likesI have this too and like let me tell it's not the good kind of dreaming
0 likesOk so somewhere here I commented that i dont feel good it was actually really bad I COULDNT RECOGNIZE MYSELF IN THE GODDAMN MIRROR beacuse It didnt felt like the real me like my reflection wasnt real
3 likesAnd I cried all day about it that my eyes were red
Fucking.red.
My parents didnt understood me and eventually they just forgot about it
So school started at first it was hard to concentrate bc of the thought of me dreaming but I got used to it
School started giving more work and I didnt had time to think about it,and so here am I with my record of not thinking about it which is 48 hours(amazing right) and when I think about it it's like a moment or two and it doesnt effect my life like before
Never give up and some day you will find light in the tunnel 👍
Hello, i want to ask why does any kind of screens trigger my depersonalization? 🥴
0 likesi have this too - depersonalisation disorder
0 likesI have it and everyday gets worst what do I do?
2 likesyessss. and I don’t know about you- but the moments when I do finally feel plugged into reality, and out of the dream-like state, it feels scary. like I’ll remind myself often that “this isn’t a dream, this is real”. And every once in a while, it clicks and I feel reality, and it scares the shit out of me it’s so real. That’s why getting ‘better’ is so hard. It’s scary. Anyways, we’ll keep trying. Thanks for sharing, love.
39 likes❤️
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i thought i was the only one lol. sometimes i even convince myself i don't want to feel real bc of how scary it feels. i hope u feel better and i'm sorry u experience this too 💖💝
0 likesI had this.
0 likesThen I hit the blunt again and it brought me back.
i go through periods of extreme vividity. and i feel like its because my norm is fuzzy and unfocused. :/
0 likesI get this and I don’t know if it’s this or not. It’s really scary especially in school, I’m 16 years old. And i just hope it gets better. And how do u get diagnosed?
0 likesDon't feel bad...we are all dreaming.
0 likesas crazy as it sounds, watching this makes me feel like im not crazy. like even though its a mental illness, the way she is able to explain it so well... ive never felt so understood before. ive never been able to describe what its like very well, but i feel like you just described everything ive experienced better than i ever could
6 likesI would warn that the 5-htp has a stimulant quality so it causes dependence
0 likesNOT GONNA lie ever since I ate too much acid I have this thing where randomly for untold amounts of time I question if I'm real or alive or dead and if this entire life isn't some cosmic joke at my expense. It's pretty torturous. Get a huge adrenaline spike and other weird symptoms.
0 likesI suffer DPDR since I was 7 I would tell my cousin to smack me in the face to wake up but she refuse so I do it to myself but I still keep asking her if I was dreaming when I was kid she was annoyed this happeneds for like a month. But now I'm 12 my dpdr kicks in just sometimes I don't know but when my dpdr kicks in I would ignore and say something I'm my mind "everything is real" loop and would draw or read to calm my dpdr then when I forgot about my dpdr I was okay. My dpdr kicks in when I'm bored or stress lol
0 likesSometimes in school, or other places, i feel like im about to wake up from a 14years long dream. Like im in a coma. Make sence?
0 likesDodie me too. I got diagnosed with this earlier this year, and along with anxiety, it affects me. Honestly, the first time I realized that something was wrong was when I was playing a game. It was a colouring game and my brain just felt so fuzzy like... I guess that's how I could explain it.. I just wasn't able to notice I guess what I was doing, everything looked wrong and I was so confused that I dropped my phone in the middle of class and looked up at my classmates staring at me, I was so confused and my eyes were wrong and I hadn't even known that my teacher was talking to me... I was so confused I couldn't speak and that was fun. But I got to go to the nurses office and drink some juice so that's fun stuff
6 likesGrounding exercises can help a bit. For me personally it works while I'm focusing but as soon as it's over I'm back into being switched off.
2 likesMy psychologist gave me the 5,4,3,2,1 exercise. Many people know it with taste at 1, but taste is hard to pin down if you haven't eaten something recently, don't have something to snack on or especially when my senses are dulled by depersonalisation. This version of it is;
5 things you can see
4 things you can feel
3 things you can hear
2 things you can smell
1 good thing about yourself
That last one is really difficult for a reason. It's okay if your one good thing is that 'I woke up this morning' or 'I am trying to ground myself, it might not be working but that's okay'
Like Dodie said, spiky rough surfaces can help, touch is really grounding so someone rubbing your arm or back helps a lot because it reminds you that you do have a body that other people can see, feel, it's real and it takes up space. You need to be careful with spiky surfaces to bring you back though because I don't feel things as well when I'm depersonalising, so I can end up hurting myself without realising it because it didn't hurt at the time.
I also haven't found anything that helps me, but I'm lucky that I have good days and bad days. I'm slowly getting more good days, and I hope if you're reading this you'll get more and more good days too :)
I have a question ....idk if this is common or what but I start to feel like...my soul is not in my body or something like that and I feel really light . Like...yesterday I was just sitting in my table staring the wall and I hear my friend asking stuff , I hear them but their voice soon fainted away and i feel like I can’t speak at all . When I turn around I don’t even realize that I’ve turn around or anything like that . This evening I was doing a presentation and I was talking in front of everyone , then I feel like I can drop onto the ground at anytime , I feel like I wasn’t even talking and later when I went to my sit a few second later I literally forgot that I’ve done it .
0 likesIf you can help me please reply it means a lot! I’m sorry if there’s any grammar error I’m not really good at English ..
Has anyone had this through alcohol abuse.? My doctor has said I have derealisation because I have abused alcohol for the day 5 years 😫 someone help 😕 I’m so scared
1 likeI knew it before even reading the comments... every single one of you has this disorder. "ZOMG I daydream too! I must have this disorder!"
0 likesmy god i love that u spread awareness, your doing great ❤️❤️
2 likesDottie is this even normal to experience this for yrs persistently??
0 likesI have that too 😁
0 likesIt feels like I'm in a very long trip from acid
0 likesMy name is Patrick, Im 18 currently born on 10th of October, everything i am going to share in this comment with you is very private and remained unknown by everyone in my everyday normal environment, in other words nobody knows about this and i would be hella embarassed if anyone around me, (or anyone who knows me IRL) knew. Also please excuse any grammar mistakes as my native language is not english: All this started when I was about 11. I have been suffering from this since 2013 or 2014 cannot remember exactly, and that would make 6 - 7 years today. I actually do not know why this happened to me as I am pretty dang sure I did not get this from weed. The funny thing is that I can actually recall how it all started. (Now of course, not every single detail, but the situation in general.) It was during lunchtime about 12 to 14 (2) o clock and I was watching a video on my phone in my room. The fun fact is that I can even recall the youtuber I was watching at that particular moment, and it was a youtuber named "PopularMMOs" who was a minecraft youtuber at that time, I do not know if he still does minecraft but that is besides my point. Like I said I am not quite sure why or how it happened, I was just watching a video and it seemed like all of a sudden a intense rush of unreality came to me, I felt confused and being the child I was back then I had no clue what that feeling was supposed to mean or signalize but it wasnt pleasant. It was like a simple click of a button. For example the switch you push when you want to turn the light on in a room, you push it and boom the light turns on almost in the same moment.
1 likeIt happened just like that. One second I was a happy child enjoying his life and not worrying about anything and literally, and I REALLY MEAN LITERALLY the next second for some reason it hit me and I was there. Trapped in this altered state of mind. The 11 year old innocent me at that time had no clue what had just happened and what its going to turn into. Yes I did feel weird but it was not so bad back then when it all started, so I did not tell anyone about it. It has been nearly 7 years to this day, and I still did not tell anyone about it from my family, not even from my friends, basically noone knows that this is how ive been living my life for the past 7 years. Sometimes I feel like a secret agent living a "two faced" life, ya know like in those movies. I do not want to scare anyone, the following is just my experience, and I strongly believe it is individual. Over time, the feeling just became worse and worse and I kept on disconnecting and detaching from the reality, from myself and from "common senses" as time passed progressively. Actually as time goes by I dare to say that Im actually losing my mind and sanity. For the entire 7 years I havent seen a psychiatrist, and my illness is "untreated", and it is my fault, so now I have to face the consequences of my actions.
So this is a message to yall: No matter what the others say (because ive seen people who say that it does fade away after a certain amount of time.) never repeat the same mistake as me, and tell your parents or your family and start visiting a psychiatrist and go with a psychotherapy. Even if it is individual and does fade away for some people over time, come on, use your common sense, do you think that leaving a mental illness without treatment will make it better? Damn no, it will just get worse and worse over time and ultimately youll either lose sanity or the illness will force you itself to visit a doctor. But anyway, it all started with just weird feelings of "unreality" to which I didnt really respond as the illness was in an so called "Early state" where I was feeling unreal, but still was connected strongly enough to the real world which resulted in the symptoms not being so severe. Over time I felt more and more unreal and more symptoms started to kick in, I started having panic and anxiety attacks, existentional crisis, disorganised thoughts, unability to think clearly or make rational decisions, social anxiety, even hormonal problems (i sweat like a pig and no im not overweight.), the weird feeling that your everyday normal environment and people you meet everyday (even family members) suddelny feel unfamiliar to you, extra sensitivity to light, hypochondria (i tend to think i have a heart attack every time i have a panic attack and the fact that it is scientifically proven that people who suffer from anxiety are more likey to have a heart attack doesnt help this at all.), weird tics and delusions , heavily altered perception of time (for example events that happened several hours ago might feel like theyve happened months ago.) and the list goes on. For example, the school system in my country is a bit different and you go to the elementary school for 9 years, and those 9 years are divided into two "degrees".
!YOUTUBE WILL NOT ALLOW ME TO POST SUCH A LONG COMMENT AND I WANT TO SHARE MY ENTIRE STORY WITH ANYONE WHO CARES SO KEEP READING IN MY REPLY IF YOU CARE!
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!CONTINUATION TO MY COMMENT!
1 likeThe first one is from the first year to the fourth year and the second one is from the fifth year to the nineth year, after that you leave to high school. I used to have a very hot biology/chemistry teacher who I had a massive crush on (and she also happened to be my main teacher), so my ill mind created a delusion in which the school I visited was an "police station", where she would be the chief, (major rank) and I would be a captain ( a rank under her). I would give ranks to all my classmates and act submissive around the teacher because in my dumb mentally ill mind she was the chief of our class, the principal was a general BTW. I started watching a comedy series TV show which main purpose was to make fun of cops and policemen called "Profesionáli", in translation "Professionals" and I would watch that over and over again in the online TV archive of the television ( this has nothing to do with what im trying to say but incase anyone is interested here is a link to the site, if youre english speaking or any other language except slovak speaking you wont understand a thing but the main drawing there are policemen so that should be enough as proof, here it is: https://videoportal.joj.sk/profesionali ), pretending that the school I visit is just like that and trying to somehow make totally absurd connections and straight up serious DELUSIONS between the tv show and my school I visted (not to mention the fact that i literally created some type of weird "tics" or "rituals" which I would perform every single time and day before watching the show like making weird ass sounds in sync with the intro song of the TV show, hitting my leg or clapping to somehow clear the bad mental stuff or "karma" off of me because I did not want to watch it with a soiled mind. Was 12 when started doing this. Once again EXTREMELY INSANELY hard to describe to others as this was a pure and very strong psychological delusion ive created in my mentally ill mind, so completely okay if you dont understand.
This has stuck to me and I still do these tics to this very day just not so intense and i perform them in my mind which once again puts stress onto it, there is actually much more to it in depth but im not going to describe it because a, i actually cant, it is indescribable with just words, youd have to BECOME ME for one day to understand, there is no way of explaining it accurately to another person with words trust me i know what im talking about and b, i already sound like a crazy ass fu*king mentally ill creep who should be locked in a cage in a mental hospital under some strong drugs and antipsychotics. and worst of all, i used to think that all of this was perfectly normal and nothing was wrong with me.), just to feel good about myself to some extent despite the fact that the logic thinking that has remained in my head was telling me that this is all bs my mind is just making up. This is INSANELY hard to describe with words, and even harder to describe to a person who has not experienced such delusions and feelings before, and to those people I might sound like a crazy ass fu*king lunatic and I completely understand that, in fact that is what I am. Im not kidding this is how bad it was with me, no matter how absurd this sounds it is the truth but luckily I somehow managed to get rid of that delusion after i left my primary school in the second year of high school.
(Not to mention the fact that I was literally taking a walk every single day just so I could go around the building that teacher of mine lived in, in a secret hope that I would catch her being outside or walking to her car just so that I could look at her or maybe say "Hello" to her if lucky enough. My massive crush on her had something to do with it im certain. This is exactly the point, this illness is capable of disconnecting you from the real world SO MUCH that youll literally begin to form a new "reality" inside your ill head, where everything makes perfect sense and even if it doesnt, youll still convince yourself that it does which is very dangerous because thats exactly where you start to become delusional and completely off reality, and also this is why the stuff I just wrote will never make sense to a mentally healthy person and Ill sound like a total freak and a mentally wrecked weirdo.
Once again, in my personal opinion this all is my fault and couldve been prevented if I didnt leave this untreated and actually told someone about it, so once again PLEASE NEVER REPEAT THIS MISTAKE IVE DONE, AND TRY TO LEARN FROM IT. Sometimes I wonder if I have schyzophrenia because it also includes a feeling of unreality and disorganised thoughts as sympthoms and DP DR can sometimes be a accompanying factor of schyzophrenia or a other more serious mental illness, but as far as I know I dont hallucinate. Anyway, despite the fact that if you suffer from this for long enough, you can get used to this shitty everyday feeling, I still feel like it is becoming too much for me to handle by myself as I am still not under treatment and I am currently in the state of considering a psychiatrist and a therapy. This mental illness can take many years of your life and destroy a part of your personaliy, traits and hobbies if you let it do so you know? That is why it is best to start treating it while it is in its early stage to prevent more damage. I would not recommend doing any drugs, not even weed while suffering from this condition because after I smoked 2 joints with my friend (yes i was stupid enough to do it, and no it didnt trigger this thing, because it happened 4 months ago.) I was totally mentally wrecked and it made me flip out to the point that I was literally unable to talk to anyone for the next 3 days.
Now yeah, it might be individual for everyone but i dont think you want to risk this shxt, amirite? This thing can truly turn your everyday normal life into living hell if you allow it. You want to take a break? That is cute sweetie :3, such thing does not exist here, once you have it youre stuck with this feeling 24/7 to the point that youll literally start to look forward to going to sleep (of course assuming the illness isnt preventing you from falling asleep due to the racing thoughts and the constant disconnected feeling) because it is the only time it isnt so intense, and your actual dreams start to feel more real to you than the actual reality which can serve as another mental flipout. Ive literally reached the point where id masturbate 3 to 4 times daily just to make the pleasure of orgasm (mostly dopamine) numb the feeling of detachment for at least those god damn 10 seconds it lasted. It was not because I was horny anymore. In some cases it can lead to alcoholism or drug abuse because the sufferer is desperate to get at least a small and light "break" and "escape" from this living hell. Ah man, sometimes I sit down and wonder, "Damn how does it feel to be normal?" I actually cannot remember how it feels to preceive reality as reality, and not as this. To anyone going through this dont give in to the illness, seek help. And to all the mentally healthy fellas out there, be happy and VALUE your mental health because not everyone is so lucky and there are people out there who would literally sacrifice anything just to get rid of their mental illness and live a normal life once again. Just like eminem sings in his "godzilla" track: "Im beginning to feel like im mentally ill im atilla kill or be killed im a killer..."
It is hard to describe this to a person who has not experienced such feelings ever before. I wouldnt wish this upon my worst enemy, its more than a mental illness, it can be constant 24/7 psychosis if severe enough which becomes a true terror if mixed up with another mental illness. But it actually amazes me, what the human brain is capable of. Your mind is a very powerful tool if used properly, unfortunately it can suck if something goes wrong inside of it. Nevertheless, Im not giving up on my life goals and Im not letting this thing ruin the only life I have because pitying yourself aint gonna change much, if youre still reading, then thank you for taking your time to ready my "story", and to anyone who is going through this for more than 15 or 20 or even more years I salute you, youre a veteran. :]
@Patrik Hi patrick, Wow 7 years thats a long time. i'm 16 and i'm also very certain that i have this illness, i have been looking for answers for 1 year and 4-5 months since it all started and i think i'm finally close to getting my answer. so where to begin? it all started on the 20th sebtember 2019, the school year just started and everything was going fairly well. then on that morning i woke up feeling like i slept very light and with a strange light headed feeling, i still felt connected to the world and my senses weren't numb, it just felt like being a little drunk. then the next few days/weeks i slept very light and i was doing research and i was convinced i had Fatal Insomnia( a degenerate brain condition that stops you from sleeping and eventually leads to death)
0 likesi was very anxious about this and had a lot of anxiety and everyone was thinking that im just a hypochondriac. Eventually i got a sleep study done wich proved that nothing was wrong and because of that proof i slept fairly decent again afterwards. But i still felt the lightheaded/foggy feeling in my head wich i hoped would go away once my sleeping went back to normal. but it stayed, live just went on as normal and i tried to not think about it and ignore it. then covid came and schools closed. it was a relief i had a lot less stress and went outside a lot to go longboarding and do photography, i also started astronomy and astrophotography wich now is my greatest passion and it gives me a distraction from my mental problems. but my fog is still there and it hasen't gone away ever since 20 sebtember 2019, it progressed from being a lightheaded feeling to a foggy feeling and now its a disconnected feeling. i can still do all the things in life i did before and act normal to other people but i dont feel fine. my mind is in a constant dreamy disconnected state, i can best explain it like being lost in a heavy daydream but the only diffference is that you cant shake yourself out of that daydream and feel clear and vivid again. this feeling has progressed worse and worse and it is 24/7 while you cant see anything weird on the outside. i've talked to some friends about it and 1 teacher and they are supportive but i dont say a lot to my parents they think im just imagining it all in my head and that im just a hypochondriac. i sincerely hope this feeling will end once and my mind will feel clear and vivid again and that i can expierence reality as reality once again.
I feel like such an outsider here lmao
3 likesBut seriously guys, you are fucking awesome. You go through so much and are still standing strong. It will get better, I promise. I know it's hard, but you don't lose anything by having faith dude.
Y'all are awesome.
2017 my BPD that was how I felt
0 likesNo memories for the most part
I haven't been able to keep up with as much youtube as I would like
well to me it feels like everything is unreal and im just watching a movie
0 likesAnd I thought I was actually going insane...
0 likesBecause I'm often sat in class surrounding by people who I haven't talked to and im playing with my pen or I'm anxiously just going over my work in pen and it feels like I can't see clearly and like the more I think the more I sink deeper and lower inside my chair not physically not mentally but just....It just feels like it and I only stop it unless I snap back to "reality"
Life is like a dream
0 likesI’m so confused.. I seriously thought everyone experienced this stuff. Should I be concerned oh my god
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Don’t be concerned. If you are concerned go see someone and get a bit more information about it. It’s nothing to be worried about, it’s ok. I don’t experience it but I know you’re not alone. It’s ok 👍😊
14 likesYou should not, a lot of people experience this condition, it is due to anxiety and sometimes because of a lack of sleep! I felt this today, i was outside, it was horrible. Yesterday, before goind to sleep, i had an anxiety attack. It is due to overthinking, your brain practically just tries to protect you of your overthinking...
11 likes@Stefan Brockelbank For me, it was due to anxiety!
2 likes@Cosmo Boss Try to stop being so hard with yourself... honestly, you deserve better... stop overthinking and be more positive about life, you deserve it 💓
0 likesGold Rose i always think im dreaming
1 likeWe feel this, but ! No need to panic, this is totally reversible, you’ll be Chillen man I promise, fight the fucking FIGHT ! Much love friend hope you get well soon !
0 likesDon’t panic .
same i literally thought it was normal all this time
0 likesI’ve read a bit about it for the last hour and it seems as if almost 50% of the world population has experienced the symptoms of this disorder some time in their lifetime , but only 1-2% have been actually diagnosed. Sure, a lot of people can have it without even knowing it exists, but it’s apparently totally normal to experience once or twice. But if you keep experiencing this time after time you may wanna go see a doctor. But it’s not dangerous in any way and it can’t harm you unless it leads to depression and cause suicidal thoughts (of course). Maybe you want to go look up a therapist to talk to if you want someone to share your thoughts with. I wish you the best of luck!
0 likesDon’t be concerned, you’re safe, weirdly enough it’s trying to protect you and I know it’s uncomfortable, but it’s reversible and you can get out of it, all you need is info
0 likesdodie i love u so much.
0 likesI have this same condition and sometimes it gets better and sometimes it gets worse it’s not nice when it gets worse I’m just 16 but everything just feels so blurry and empty when I have those episodes I recently had one that got worse due to me breaking up with my girlfriend and after about a 3 months of blurryness I am just getting back into my life and I’m just slowly starting to be more conscious again
0 likesI’m 61 and have been depressed all my life. I got married, had kids and hated it. Got divorced at 40 and never found love. Always wanted to be a musician, but marriage ruined that. Conclusion. Never live your life for others. Live for you. If you find true love, take it. I had someone that I should have been with. But got married to another. When I got divorced I looked for the other one, but she had just died of cancer. I now take loads of meds. It’s ruined my life and constantly think of ending it. Don’t be me, find happiness and if you’re unhappy in a relationship. Move on. I’d happily discuss life with anyone.
0 likesDude since 2019 I felt like I’m ina dream and I cry abt it beacause I don’t like the feeling but I don’t think I have a condition but idk
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Foxy Meny queen is it a constant feeling tho? Please respond!
0 likesThanks for always being so open with us. ❤️
3 likesI want out. I wanna be free. I hate this mental disorder :,((
0 likesI had it for 27 years before it eas gone.
0 likesTheres hope
I dissociate by derealisation s a defense mechanism during stress/anxiety. Hate it so much.
0 likesNothing to me feels like it has weight everything feels off somehow.
18 likesI've also noticed that i can get derealisation when I don't sleep enough and combined with all the stress it gets soooo bad. So make sure you sleep enough (And eat enough )
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On the flip side, I've found that it can get worse with too much sleep as well
2 likesEquoise yeaa i noticed that as well. Lest say a well balanced sleeping pattern would be nice
1 likeyeah.. i feel like i have experienced that when i'm sleep-deprived.
0 likesIt's called maladaptive daydreaming.
0 likesi got diagnosed wit DPDR couple of weeks ago. i‘m terrified that i will never feel normal again 😔 it makes me depressed and suicidal
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hey I feel the same way. I was never formally diagnosed but I know what it feels like. And it rlly does make you feel suicidal, sometimes it’s like the only thing on your mind, but hey you got this 🥺 I can’t tell you it will get better or worse but it will become what you make of it. Whether that be good or bad, you decide. (Rather make it good lol) but hang in there! ❤️
0 likes@Sadderdaze thank u❤️ i’m really trying not to give up but it’s so hard.. my psychiatrist told me i just have to accept it. but it feels like i can’t. i don’t want this to be permanent. what makes me keep going is the hope that i will feel normal again one day. i don’t have much hope but i don’t want to “just accept” my DPDR cause it’s the worst thing ever. i can deal with my anxiety and all the other issues i have but the derealization makes me feel dead and alone even tho i’m not alone. how can anyone just accept those feelings?😞
0 likes@Della girl I understand you entirely! But your doctor is right, the first step of getting to a better place and feeling better is to accept and acknowledge those feelings. Once you accept it, you have somewhat control over it. And over time you get full control back. I know it’s literally so scary especially when it’s real bad. I mean when you don’t feel real it’s hard to control your emotions and naturally your mind goes to panic. And tbh I’m going through it right at this moment. And I haven’t exactly found one specific thing I use to cope with it. But I have accepted it. And trust me it has gotten better. It’s not as bad as it used to be and I’m able to somewhat enjoy life again. But here are just some small things I used to really help me in those hard times. ASMR, reading, talking to someone you haven’t talked to in a while, watching comedy’s, drinking tea with no caffeine cause caffeine just makes it worse😭, writing/journaling, trying out new outfits, cleaning even if it’s just a small area, working out, making yourself a nice meal, simply watching the sky, literally hugging a tree 😂, try getting some indoor plants that you could take care of, also try starting a morning routine if you don’t already have one in order, dancing by yourself (this is the best helper) , decorate your room, meditate, try yoga, probably won’t be able to go out too much because of the pandemic but maybe try going shopping for yourself, have a skincare day for yourself, go for a run, and I can’t rlly think of too much more rn but if I do I’ll get back to you with them lol. But yeah just doing simple human things make you feel real again. And it’s because it’s the simplest things that your mind begins to process everything around you easier, and soon enough you start understanding life again, and eventually you start to feel the real-ness. I hope this helped 🥺 and I really hope you feel better, just know your not in this alone at all! ❤️❤️✨
0 likes@Sadderdaze i’ve never been worse mentally and it feels like nothing helps. even when i force myself to do stuff i obsess over my derealization and feel like a zombie. but maybe i should continue doing normal stuff and it might get better that way.. i’m just so exhausted😭 the only thing that makes me feel a little better is anti anxiety medication which i have to stop using cause i’m scared i’ll get addicted and that it’s gonna make everything even worse. i hope u feel better too, maybe get professional help. i’m gonna start doing CBT even tho i don’t have high hopes..but it’s worth a try cause i don’t wanna depend on medication
1 like@Della I completely agree about the medication thing. I was always afraid to get formally diagnosed and be put on pills that I would eventually become dependent on. And addiction kinda runs in my family and I know myself to get addicted to things quite easily so medication was never an option for me. And I get you on the zombie like feeling. But having a routine and something to always do really helps. Keeps you grounded and makes you feel normal again. And I’m not too familiar with cbt, but hey I say try it all because you never know what could work for you. Just hang in there, it’s gonna take a while to feel normal again but trust me when I say you will feel normal again and you’ll be able to enjoy life and all it has to offer. I promise. You just have to keep pushing. ❤️
1 like@Sadderdaze it’s really hard to believe that i’ll feel normal again when i have never felt this way in my life. i did struggle with anxiety and depression before but this feels like something else it’s so much more intense. i also have weird physical symptoms like tingles in my brain and other body parts which i never had before. when i have a panic attack i get suicidal that is why i have to take medication so that i won’t do anything to myself. i’m trying so hard to control my anxiety but it feels almost impossible. i have to learn how to do that which is what you learn when you do CBT. there’s nothing i want more than to feel at ease and normal again and words like yours give me a little hope thank u ❤️
1 like@Della I’m glad I could give u a lil glimpse of hope! Hang in there! And know ur never battling it alone. and if u ever need some more advice or ur feeling lost just reply to my comment again anytime! ☺️ ❤️✨
1 likeshit. uh. i uh. this happens sometimes. to me. but it always goes away after a little bit. it feels like you're all floaty and lightheaded but not, yeah? every sense is heightened, but at the same time they're all dampened. it's odd, isn't it?
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something to talk to my psychiatrist about
0 likesI don't know what’s wrong with me. I can see everything and I can move and talk and laugh. I just will often times find myself zooming out of a conversation, or whatever moment im in, to look at it from a bigger perspective. Then I look at whatever my hands are doing, and I move them, but it doesn't feel like i'm moving them or in control of the movement. It's not like I’m looking at myself in 3rd person, it's more of like my surroundings becoming completely dream like. Everything looks the same, the colors don't become more or less vivid, just all of a sudden I feel very far away from everything around me. I feel detached. Kind of like I’m day dreaming/in a constant daze. I will then try to scratch my arm or hand, or move my hand to rub my face or eyes. I do this to try and mentally ground myself, and attach my mentality to this body I'm supposedly in control of. Nothing ends up working. Nothing ever brings me back down to reality until I find another distraction. The worst thing is, I don't know if this happens because I obsess over it and become all hypochondriac, or if my brain is playing games with my vision and perspective. I probably sound crazy but idk what to do. I feel so dazed and confused at all of this uncertainty and it’s really fucking frustrating bc there’s nothing I can do. I feel ultimately useless.
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I have a similar thing. It kind of makes me think i'm going crazy. Its like I just zoom out like you said but it feels like "my consciousness" falling backwards, down, deep into my brain/body. I just continue doing whatever I'm doing, but I feel oddly disconnected. I can look at my hands and think they are a lot weirder looking than I remember them to be. I tend to avoid mirrors for the same reason. I know I'm looking at myself, but it feels off and that makes me float away too. I get thoughts like "is this real?" "is anything real?" "What am I?" "how can I know anyone/anything is real?". It all started a few months ago, one day it was just there, and the same day a got an anxiety attack (which is completely new to me) and since then I've felt this way. (i'm making this into a separate comment too)
16 likescrystal gem Its just really strange because I can distract myself from it by reading or watching youtube or smth. I’ve learned a lot about mental illness and I have noticed that it’s something you can’t distract your brain from feeling. It makes me wonder if I even have a mental illness at all.
7 likesI’m late as heck, but it’s practically depersonalization. It’s fairly common with anxiety, and the best thing that you can do if ground yourself. 5 things your feel, hear, smell, taste, etc. it really helps!
13 likesmadawnaa I feel this.
2 likesI've experienced kinda the same sensation as you, and it was because of anxiety issues but I didn't know at the time so i became very paranoid and scared which only worsened my disassociation. The best thing you can do I think is contact a professional and find out which treatment is best for you. Mine was therapy and also meds. But it's different for everyone. Remember that what you're going through is happening for a reason, and you're not crazy (trust me, there's been times where i was convinced i was), you're just recieving symptoms from something bigger that's happened to you in your life. When you start to accept and come to peace with that, and with your mental issues right now, you will find yourself feeling better, bit by bit.❤ there are many people that feel like you and we are not alone!
5 likesThat sounds like add. I'm always kinda detached when I'm with people I dont know. Its hard to connect with people that are strangers
1 likeI feel the exact same way. For the longest time I couldn’t describe what I was feeling, but the descriptions in your comment match what’s going on in my head exactly. And it’s so frustrating because I know I can be in the moment more but nothing I do helps pull me back down to earth.
2 likesI can relate so much like omg
1 likethis happened to me since last week i’ve told my parents about it and they just brush it off. i don’t know what is wrong with me. am i dying? idk i feel like shit rn but also relieved that orher people also felt like how i feel rn.
1 likeOmg I'm late as hell but I'm so glad to see I'm not the only person feeling this. For me, it started the year I nearly drowned. Since then I sometimes feel like I'm dreaming or like I'm in coma. I thought it was gone for a year bur then it just hit me when I was standing in the bus amd I was so scared because I never thought of it for nearly a year.
4 likesI couldn't really descrip it so I didn't finde anything on the internet and it was freakin me out. Your description is really helpful. Thanks a lot!
I actually feel the same way. I keep looking stuff up about it but nothing described exactly how I feel until I saw your comment. I'm in middle school and I have that same feeling you do. I think it's getting really bad though. I think I sort of had it my whole life but it was a lot better when I was little but now nothing I feel like is real. I constantly ask myself in my head "woah did I do that it doesn't feel like it". I think it's gotten to the point where it even affects my walking and I feel sort of dizzy and I don't walk orally anymore
1 likeI feel that too, sometimes I feel like I'm going crazy it's so weird. I'm happy that I'm not alone tho
1 likeI get this often too. Every 2 weeks or every week usually
0 likesi really thought i was the only one
1 likemadawnaa yeah, I have similar issues 🤔
0 likesSame!!!
0 likes@agnes that's the exact way I felt the first time I had a mini anxiety attack before mine got bad was I was doing fine then got really spooked by something and I fell off and was detached and now I have to avoid mirrors during them cuz it kinda feels likeim not looking at myself
0 likesExactly the same as me omg
0 likesI feel the same, what's the cause and the solution?
0 likessometimes when I dream, I feel like I’m on a plane instead of my bed.
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I hope this is a joke because everybody doesn't dream that they are on a bed.
0 likesI mean when I dream, I don’t feel like I’m on a solid surface.
0 likesI was like that for a long time, ended up in psychiatric hospitals, psychiatrists, counsellors, medications etc. Would suddenly feel I was suddenly someone else. Convinced my pupils were growing and shrinking, felt I was disconnected from people around me, bendy walls, jelly legs, reeling sensations, panics. I gave up with getting help and read Claire Weeks and applied it for the first time and started a new journey 24 years ago and it is no longer an issue. I rarely find anyone interested in this!! I had brain/inner ear/heart/blood etc. tests first. All clear. Had various people give theories but.... After a summer in bed thinking I was never going to ever get out of it.... I read Claire Weeks and. . have had 24 years of amazing rich life, and issues with things not being real are not an issue now. Like you say, sometimes I get reeling head but... Well,... Read Claire Weeks, she says it better than me
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Ps .. this is 25yrs ago before a lot of modern terminology came about. A psychiatrist decided I had an 'aura' and prescribed largactyl. I read the side effects and decided that on top of valium, atevan and sleeping pills (which just made feel disconnected in a different way and gave me fainting spells of low blood pressure)... that I needed something else... went to the library and got Claire Weeks book .. and I found freedom from it all
0 likesWhat eye condition did you get diagnosed with??
0 likesWe all go through that, have you tried shoonya meditation to fix the floating.
0 likesFor me I call it dissociation. I get it from my ptsd and it prevents me from being fully present. I don’t have memory loss like what you described. I know whats going on its just like I’m in a weird fluttery state and things don’t feel real
21 likesi got this last year im 11. its really fucking my life up..
0 likesDisclaimer dodie is such a frikin cutie
0 likesI also feel that i am always floating. This is really depressing. Huhu i am really going to talk with someone after corona. I hate this feeling i cant understand anything anymore.
0 likesI'm sorry but your voice is so soft it's just 🥺🥺🥺❤️
0 likesI also suffer from depersonalization... and I have to say, it's something you can't fully comprehend unless you've dealt with it yourself... it's like you're constantly stuck in a 2 dimensional world, and you feel disconnected from your own body. Not every day is as intense as others, but certain situation trigger the major anxiety and that 'weird' feeling that comes with depersonalization... like sudden change or a traumatic event.. or even basic stressful situations can make me feel extra out of it.
45 likesI had this condition since I was 15 and it hasn't left me since... it's not NEARLY as bad as it used to be, but it's still there. I just learned to live with it and not let it bother me 24/7.
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Nani Corday 100% agreed. I am 15 now and I have derealisation for a long time now and today I experienced depersonalization for the first time. At the beginning I wasn’t sure if it was it but later it got so much worse. I think I had a panic attack while this because it was so scary or maybe it is just like that. I don’t know yet and I hope I won’t find out myself. I still feel like not me but it’s not that intense now. I’m afraid that it won’t leave me. If not I think I’m gonna go to a doctor. With derealisation it was bad but I could live with it but this is so much worse.
0 likesKinga depersonalization is worst. ive had some episodes, occurs after emotion trauma. rly rly baaaad. usually i gave adhd/dissociating/anxiety, mild ocd etc, but depersonalization episodes were baaaad.
1 likei dont have this and mygod i dont want to sound entitled or whatever but shit im thankful.
0 likesCarnivals are terrifying when I feel like this
6 likesDisassociative disorders suck. Try to keep a list of the things that help keep you grounded, and speak to your GP or therapist about it.
0 likesYou ARE SLEEPING BEAUTY 🥰🥰🥰
0 likesoml.......how did I not know about this.....I always feel like this when I'm very stressed....wtf
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ME TOO! I sometimes get weird experiences like this, as well as uncontrollable laughter, whenever i’m in a high-stress or very serious situation. I made another comment about it too. I wonder if it’s connected.. pwq
1 likeme too i have this all the time ...
0 likesAncermetnamed Sienna SAME
0 likesBleepboop uncontrollable laugh in a akward/stressy situation is normal
0 likesAnyone else just feel absolutely nothing.....like I’m in this state of nothing while feeling nothing and just floating through life. Watching it pass by not doing anything about it. Idk just so weird to feel nothing and be nothing all the time.
0 likesMiss being able to feel alive
0 likesDon't mind me. Just trying to figure out that why living feels off sometimes, like my soul would want to flee but can't
0 likesI'm atm having stressful time so it can be that or something else. I really want to do research about this but when i want to ask about it i'm afraid that others call me crazy.
It feels like this: My mind sometimes drifts off but then i realize it and return. Second thing, i feel like living in stimulation even when i know that i am real.
And third: It feels like that i don't achieve anything and i feel a little bit useless bc idk what to do with my life. I know what i like but i don't know what my job would be. And that stresses me out
This doesn't happen all the time but sometimes life is just blurry. Like i would live inside a bubble
one time i smoked a year ago and my eyes have never been the same it gives me anxiety everyday and i dont know what to do im suoer scared and im tired of it ive tried medicine i just dont know what to do
0 likesLuckily (thank god) I don’t suffer from this. I’ve figured when I’m under high stress levels I begin to disassociate quite a bit. For the past couple days, my mind just hasn’t been working right. It’s not exactly like dreaming- it’s more like waking up. Being shoved into reality, everything’s so real, but like an altered version of reality. This caused me to freak out, which causes frequent panic attacks. Not a very fun thing, but this has only been happening recently (past 5 days or so). Like I mentioned before, I’ve been really heckin stressed lately, so I’m assuming this whole weird brain thing is a result of that. I can’t imagine living the way I do, except magnified by like 10x, and ALL THE TIME. Dear dodie, and all you lil adorable beans suffering from something like this, you guys are amazing. To be able to handle this is so brave, and takes a really strong person to do so. GOOD JOB!:)
11 likesHow do you deal with this - d'you have to have a carer or someone to make sure you don't wander off, like a senior citizen with cognitive problems?
0 likesits like being HIGH all the time, without the fun.
0 likes//rant// i hate it so much. i've only just realized what it actually is after many years of just saying that i have constant brain fog or that everything's just "fuzzy" all the time. it's been so long since i've been present without trying. i'm so tired of it.
0 likesi almost fell asleep to her reading
0 likessometimes i feel like im fake and made up and everything else is real, but the rest of the time, i feel like everything else is fake, and like im floating through nothingness, which causes issues because i struggle to remember that my actions will affect other people and their feelings, or my surroundings.
0 likesTry the DP Manual as treatment. It’s like 30 quid but it’s worth it if you want to get better
0 likesI feel like this 😶😞
0 likesThanks I have this too
0 likesI do these things called reality checks, sometimes just to make sure I’m really, and the things that I do actually take affect, I’ll do weird things.
69 likesSometimes I’ll yell really loud, to make sure people can see me, but the worse one is when I scratch myself till I see blood, because I would need to make sure i was not a robot. Luckily I don’t scratch anymore, and I’ve token up doing other things like throwing a pen at the wall, or drawing really hard on paper.
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I do these too! I think one that might be less harmful for you is holding your breath and trying to inhale and exhale. Like, hold your breath, plug your nose, try to breathe anyway. If you're dreaming, you'll be able to breathe through it, because your body doesn't stop breathing no matter what you do in a dream. It's how I make sure I'm actually awake because a lot of the time I can't tell the difference.
4 likesYou should just look at a digital clock (if you wear an Apple watch or something similar this works well). If you look at it in a dream, look away, and look back the numbers tend to change. A lot less subtle than yelling in public and less harmful than scratching yourself.
2 likesI feel bad for him/her maybe not knowing about those 3 common reality checks till you guys mentioned it like five to six month later 😅
0 likesR3UnionHD I blame YouTube suggesting this to me late 😂
0 likesI do this too. I always bite my tongue but then think "what if I'm dreaming I'm biting my tongue and I'm actually sleeping"
0 likesDissociation is also something people who are self diagnosing around here should look into (not judging as it's sometimes all you can do, but I'd recommend not OVER diagnosing?). I'm not a great person to share on either but like Dodie mentioned at the beginning what she struggles with is a chronic version of that... If that makes sense?
0 likesThe meaning of ignorance is bliss
0 likesi have bpd and osdd and i have this constantly
0 likeswatching this from 2020 -- that's what this year feels like .-.
0 likesI’m 10 years into this.
0 likesI feel like this to most of the time after smoking a fat blunt
1 likeTHANK YOU
0 likesI have depersonalization. Sometimes it gets so bad. I hate it. Its really scary . Like i had to go to the hospital for it once.
0 likesI’m so glad that you’re talking about this! I’ve had this condition since early 2018, and I haven’t heard anyone else talk about derealization, and I’m so happy you’re bringing this subject to light.
3 likesRow, row, row your boat gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream. You're not crazy. Reality is not real, it's a frequency. - spoken by someone who has tried 5 grams of mushrooms
0 likesOk so sometimes I feel like my mind is one person and my body is someone else’s body and I live in that body and I am trying to leave it’s odd
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Anthony Priamo yeah, with DP I experience something similar. Like, even when I see myself in the mirror or look down at my hands it’s like cognitively I know it’s me but I don’t feel like me. Even with my own memories like I don’t feel they belong to me... do you feel floaty as well?
1 likeIts like when I hug myself its like hugging a stranger. My mind and body also feel like different people. Its like I'm observing the world from outside looking in. I don't know if I have depersonalization or not though.
0 likesi just want to hear her read.
0 likesI remember when I smoked my first J. I thought I was dreaming.
2 likesI'm so scared because I feel like I have this. It used to only happen rarely, but lately I've noticed that it's happening more often than not, and it's frightening the crap out of me. I'm a person who thrives to live in the moment and take in my surroundings (Carpe diem and all that) but I find it almost impossible to do that now and it's messing up my life. I feel so detached from reality, my friends, my family, from work, everything. Idk what to do
43 likesReplies (8)
Karen Elizabeth I understand... if you wish to talk about it, feel free to message me back and I can get in touch xx
1 likeEsmee H That's really sweet, thank you :). I wouldn't mind someone to talk to
0 likeswhen my anxiety gets bad ( my anxiety is all about death) I keep thinking what if this is a dream but then I find things around me I can touch,smell,taste etc . It helps keep me present
1 likegod i feel like i‘m gonna cry you are literally describing my life exactly
0 likesHealthy people have moments of derealization .
0 likesgo to a Dr
1 likeI can really relate to that and i'm scared ..
0 likesYou aren’t alone
0 likesi know you may not see this, but i think it's even a slights possibility i may have this or an beginning to have depersonalization. i feel disconnected when i look in a mirror, like i don't really look like that. my past feels like it was someone else i knew, but i know everything about it. i feel like everything and nothing are happening all at once. i don't know if this is depersonalization, a weird feeling, or another lovely mental disorder but if anyone has answers i'd love some help :<
0 likesI can switch perspectives from one person to another then back to Me I can’t control it yet. Is this early signs of superpowers?!
0 likesReplies (2)
That sounds like Dissociative Identity Disorder. I’m not sure though. Check out DissociaDID
0 likes@Collin Mintz ive watched her im a big fan however i never do any of the symptoms of DID like switching personaliyts (god sorry for my bad spelling my eyes are bad today) its mode like i can see through their eyes for a min or too.
0 likesi have the same exact thing wow
0 likesI have this issue a lot actually. not constantly, but a lot. to a point where sometimes I cant say anything and I cant think and all I can manage to let out is a few mumbles and I'm not sure of what I was thinking was said out loud or of it was just in my head. and then my vision blurs and it feels like I'm not there, just drifting. I hate it. but it usually only occurs during my depressive episodes
0 likesImagine being in a world where you never find out what your issue is or even that what you have isn't normal for your whole life.
38 likesI'm glad we live in such a time where we don't have to always deal with this.
When your crush asks you out and you're together for 2 years:
7 likesOH GOD MAYBE I HAVE THIS TOO
0 likesI'm Autistic, and this not being able to determine time correctly is definitely a thing, as a child I always asked if I was dreaming or awake, and most times getting into trouble I honestly thought it was a memory, I couldn't differentiate memories and reality at the moment..but I also have sensory issues, like seeing static everywhere. Masking for years definitely make a break down and Cptsd.
0 likesFound your channel from this vid a long time ago, happy to say its gone now
0 likesI’ve had depersonalization for almost a year now and it’s great hearing I’m not alone and someone else feels exactly like I do though I’m sorry you have to go through this. I hope things work out for you and anyone else experiencing this
8 likesPlease check out IFS therapy. ❤️
0 likesI have a condition that means I'm different and interesting, not my fault though jus tryna live my life in pursuit of adulation
0 likesOh man me too since 2014!
0 likesI pinch myself everytime i wake up so i know i'm alive and awake
0 likesthanks for making these sorts of videos dodie, love u ❤️
2 likesWhen this video came out I only watched the half of it and then turned it off. Now 4 years later i'm experiencing something similar 😂😂😂
0 likesSo i guess it's time to save some money for a therapist...........
Hey doodle, maybe you try this. When you close your eyes theres a feeling of still looking, and than try to close that looking eyes and open just your Eyelids.
0 likescould you please make an update of this? how are you? did it go away? ;(
0 likesReplies (2)
I still have it unfortunately! :(
0 likesdoddleoddle awh! i had a period of it but have felt it a lot less recently. i’m so sorry that you are still struggling with dp/dr. i hope that it will eventually go away for you, and i have read up on all the articles you did about it and how you’ve been spreading awareness. i hope knowing that you’re making a HUGE difference to sufferers (past & present) and you help others overcome their struggles makes you feel better. i really hope you recover but at the end of the day, it is what it is and i’m sure you’ve learnt to appreciate life for how it is. love your videos and thank you ❤️
0 likesI feel like im going insane
0 likesholy crap i have this too! i'm glad i'm not alone. thanks for talking about it :')
14 likesHi! I'm a new subscriber watching from London.
0 likesWell yall there is nothing wrong with you. In my humble opinion, it's not a 'disorder' at all. It's a part of you trying to wake you up, shake you up and get you back on the right path. The physical world is not what it seems. There is much more beyond it, where all of our true selves lie. So don't fret, all will be revealed one day and this world will be a thing of the past :D . Learn where you can and keep moving forward, dont worry about feeling a way you think you're 'suppose' to feel. Think. DIFFERENT. find. Truth.
0 likesgosh I realised I’m not alone anymore
1 likeyeet well i might have to bring this up at therapy this week
0 likesI had an episode of this the day after I tried weed for the first time. I had a panic attack while high so, that was definately the cause. It really sucked. I felt like I was watching a movie more than being alive. It was so hard to function. I'm glad you finally have an answer and can work towards getting better!
4 likesi have to draw on my hands and look around for clocks mirrors and things i could read just in case coz i literally cannot tell if things are real or not but i aksed my friend for help and they said theres a disorder so i looked up and and im here? imma go to a doctor tho 😳
0 likesThis has been me for the past month?? Am I ok??
0 likessorry my REALLY bad english but i had this thing a whole year, the last year, and now this happen only sometimes, so if u have this too, maybe it's not forever
0 likesI have a chronic vestibular illness and derealisation/ depersonalisation have been symptoms of it at times. It’s awful. Brain fog, floating, feeling like I’m looking at life through a window... or virtual reality goggles. Looking at people around the room and feeling like they’re not really there, or like I’m not really a part of life. Feels like my eyes are heavy and they don’t quite look around properly. It does go away eventually. I worked on my stress and anxiety. Mediations, yoga ... etc. Sometimes I notice it still. I mean... vestibular disorders are awful in themselves! But yeah I feel for you!
0 likesGoing on 8 years chronic for me:/
0 likesI feel like this but i havent told anyone
0 likesMine kicks in when I'm stoned.
1 likeI don’t have derealisation but I do dissociate a lot and sometimes it feels like I’m watching myself on tv a lot of the time when I dissociate I’m still so I just feel disconnected from the world but when I’m moving it’s like I’m watching someone on tv like I can see I’m moving but I don’t feel like I’m in control or there my first memory of this was when I was in year 5 and everytime I had a race because I used to be a competitive runner and when I got towards the end of a race and could see the finish line my body would just disconnect I wasn’t there anymore I was still running I have no clue how fast I was going because I couldn’t feel any of it it was like when you watch shows and people are running and you see it from the angle of the person who’s running so it looked like I was watching myself on tv through my eyes if that makes any sense and I didn’t realise what it was at the time I told people about it but I just thought that it was me getting in the zone or something but now I’ll just walk round the house dissociate end up putting whatever I had in my hand down somewhere then coming back and not being able to find that thing
0 likesI'm a (depressed) maladaptive daydreamer and a lot of the time I also feel like I'm dreaming, but never this bad. To bear this is one of the most difficult things I can imagine and I'm always amazed at how strong you are. When I was reading your book, I was always either crying because I related so much and I was so relieved someone else understood, or I was crying because I couldn't believe you've had to fight demons this horrible.
4 likesYou are so so precious and incredible and inspiring and imperfectly perfectly openly human.
Thank you for existing and doing what you do <3
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Jessica D 💛💛💛
0 likesI call this my brain going into low-power mode
1 likeLife is not real, you cant take it with you, thats all i gotta say about that
0 likesWait.... if you think your dreaming and your dreaming then... You would be lucid dreaming!
0 likesI'm just curious, are you an INFP? I deal with this too :/
0 likesYou are walking around in the freeze response which is basically a traumatized state, you should defenitely check out jordan hardgrave's course
0 likesyay im crying now because ive felt like this for so long and i want to die
2 likesShe spelled it with an s. I don't know why but that makes that word so cute for some reason.
0 likesthis disorder is a living hell...
0 likesI've had chronic dpdr for 4 years and its recently been getting worse. It's absolute torture. I tried to end my own life a couple of weeks ago. Your videos calm me down somewhat and its refreshing to hear someone else's POV. Thanks. Xx
4 likesi feel like i’m real but everything else around my is fake or a dream. so then i think why is there a point of trying if this really is a dream. then i get kinda depressed i can’t excape this feeling. plus i get anxiety and panic when i can’t excape. i also don’t think of it and it doesn’t happen but when i do think of it, it happens. what do you think this is ?
1 likeIts not a medical thing I'm pretty sure, its your soul wandering trying to just leave the physical, grounding doesnt help your vision but it does seem to help your focus and kinda helps your memory
1 likewow u have a way with word. very descriptive.
0 likesI’ve been wondering if I have this because I feel like this so often, especially when I recall certain accounts or am having a really stressful/anxious time. I’m trying to learn all I can so I can ask my doctor about the things I’m experiencing. I’ve been so terrified of my own body sometimes and I noticed changes in my vision a few months ago. I wish I had seen this then. It would have helped me a lot more than all the panicking I did about it haha. Thanks Dodie!
0 likesThank you so much, I really appreciate you talking about this, not just so I feel less alone with derealisation, I will show my family this so they can understand better. Thankyou.
4 likeshow do you get rid of it I've had this for so long and it's so terrible
0 likesit feels like im playing a hyperrealistic vr game
0 likesSometimes I feel like I can’t understand what people are a
1 likeSaying even though they are speaking perfect English. I’ve felt a lot like I’m not awake or existing. Like sometimes I’m like I know this is real but I don’t feel real. I’ve been incredibly dizzy and I feel like my hyperactivity and impulsivity no longer are under my control and I keep saying things without meaning them because I just can’t say anything else
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Ariella Russ YES THIS IS THE SAME THING THAT HAPPENED TO ME IT WAS SO FREAKY
0 likesThis happened to me after smoking hasch
0 likesIk this is late, and that this isn't really a medical advice page, but is it possible to have it without it being triggered by previous trauma?
0 likesSomething I feel kinda like this except I have a pulsating head ache and a stomach ache but then I throw up and I am fine
0 likesi’m crying
1 likethat happens to me sometimes o
0 likesSometimes I'm just going about my business, and as if it's in the snap of your fingers, I feel like the world doesn't exist. As if I'm not real, and nobody is real, and nothing has ever been real. I don't know how to describe it. It's like a mini black out, like a full body throb. It doesn't last very long for me, maybe 1 to 6 seconds, and usually only happens once every month or two. I don't know what it is.
274 likesReplies (16)
Mare Bear i get this too.
5 likesMare Bear existential crisis
7 likesThat is very similar to what happens to me... like I'm in a dream and want to wake up (I can't of course :p), and I just need to take a second to close my eyes and focus on my... conscience I guess? tell myself I am real. Everything around me is _real_. And well... sometimes I can just brush it off (since I'm getting it more often) but sometimes I can't help but panic really bad
7 likesSorry for hijacking your comment... it's just nice that someone feels like me
Me too
1 likeYES! Glad I'm not the only one
1 likeThat's panic disorder
1 likeMare Bear Same!
1 likeWhen I hear see other people here telling their experiences I can't remember any moment like that but I just have a feeling that it has happened.
2 likesOnly ones I do remember are when I was drunk, for example looking into the mirror, and when I was peeing it felt like I was in a dream and peed my pants but it was irl. Maybe this was just because of alcohol?
1 likeOh my when she started talking about how you feel as though things dont feel real, i had an epiphany of sorts. I've always known that this isn't normal, but i still feel as though, oh my I'm dissociating again, ok ok, i still feel as though my family would judge me and well yeah. Since I've been aware that this isn't normal, I've tried and looked around for somethi g that sounds like what i experience, and as a result I've gotten into how Dissociative Identity Disorder works, but it was definitely not me. After years if constant struggle to put a name to these symptoms and a name to the episodes, I've found something very similar to what I experience: Derealization.
1 likeFor me, I get these episodes once a month and it's a nightmare, a real living nightmare. I think i may some sub version of this because I've noticed that i am startled awake from a 1 second nap, which led me to investigate sleep disorders( i don't think i have any except perhaps insomnia) and suddely the episode begins. This is also the reason i avoid baps at all costs. I don't like to think, far worse talk about it because it's like taboo for me which is the worst part since i feel as though i can't analyze the episode without most likely losing my mind for a good 10 minutes. So I'm actually afraid I'll get another episode right now because i feel as though its taboo.
1 likeSo basically,( I'm having a hard time remembering since i repress these memories) i wake up and it really is like the world isn't real. Legit like it always happens around people and so they want to talk to me but I'm really uncomfortable and terrified because my worst episode ever, I was jolted awake from a 1 second nap at dinner and my mother and brother were conversing with me and (here's the worst of it) i genuinely wanted to talk to them to not feel as though I'm not real, i FELT AS THOUGH I DIDN'T KNOW THEM, LIKE I SORT OF KNEW WHO THEY ARE, THEY ARE MY CLOSEST FAMILY BUT NOT FEELING A BOND, THE WAY ONE KNOWS 1+1=2 BUT NOT MAKING SENSE WHY. I thought, "they're your family, why dont you FEEL A BOND," it was horrible. I hid in the bathroom trying to sort myself out and then escaped to my room because i didn't want to feel like i know them but i don't, its the worst thing I've ever experienced mental health wise. I used to wait it out, but now i try to ground myself since that episode, and its been effective. I also try to stay calm and not remember that episode by breathing and telling myself i will be alright. The next step of my journey seems to have begun with the discovery of this video: Reaching A Diagnosis
Could be a Kundalini awakening
1 likeAmalia gamer : I’m sorry this happens to you. I’m somewhat similar but I think it’s derealization
0 likesSOS save our seas
0 likesThanks, it's been quite a ride since I can now put a name to those moments where I dissociate and a name to the derealization episodes. It's interesting to see how an article online explains this vs. This video, and how that article failed to sort of thoroughly explain the sensation the way someone who has expirienced it can. Fascinating how having a personal connection to the topic can yield more insightful explanations rather that someone who's only studied it and never felt it.
Oh thats just Thanos, I hate when that happens.
0 likesOooooooo that happens to me. I’m literally just sitting their listening isn’t to the teacher than I feel like I’m not present there. So creepy
0 likessee what i go is my mind is weird and i’m technically not the only one
0 likesdo you feel like this makes you... you?
0 likesI have episodes of derealization/depersonalization? During states of mania, and depression.
0 likesI dissociate all the time.
😑🙈
Please tell me if anyone feels the same . I think i am alone feeling this way.
0 likes(What i feel is i am not alive it's like i dont exist. When i feel i dont exist it's a sad sigh that i dont care anything. When i am severaly hurt by someone or something i feel even happy by a childish thinking i am not even alive. During middle of gossip and talk i feel like i am not talkin or it's feel unreal. Even sometimes i have to hit myself just to be sure that it's not dream it's reality. When it rains or every phenomena i feel like it's unreal. Everything around me feels it's unreal. Most importantly i feel I AM IN FRONT OF GOD and he is showing me the deeds i did on earth and i am SEEING ALL MY LIFE (even now too commenting) IN A BIG TV. Means i feel i don't exist )
Only pains, hardships,cuts, bruises and love are making me feel Alive. I personally i i don't exist at all and the world around me is fake and WHAT I AM DOING NOW is writing a comment and this too i am seeing myself in a tv (from different dimensions )
I think I might have this too! I had problems in 2012-13 and I was diagnosed with depression anxiety. As mental health progresses overtime,I started spacing out, felt confused, my concentration was really bad like I cant remember what I said 10 seconds ago, felt detached with my surroundings and had a feeling that reality was not reality. Hence I failed my study due lack of concentration/focus. At the moment I try to do some mindfulness meditation as it helps me focus a bit and be more calm. CBT was fairly helpful for me but you have to realise that you need to put effort and create better habits which was so hard for me especially when ur in rock bottom.
5 likesBut thanks for sharing these type of videos as it gave me perspectives , I'm glad I'm not alone either :) xx
Psych meds ruined my life!!!!
0 likesnot sure if i have this but yeah, i really hate going to places with bright ass lights, especially shopping centers, everything feels all weird around me and i jus feel like everything’s all blurry n im in a dream or something
0 likesI wake up every single day so anxious and I can’t even tell if I’m awake or still dreaming. I feel so lost and confused and disoriented with this. It makes my own home feel so unreal and foreign and my head is severely clouded where I just feel like I’m sleep walking. It’s ruined my life so bad. It’s taken every precious moment from me. I can’t relax in my own home cause it doesn’t feel real and feels so off all the time. Going outside is scary cause I can’t tell if I’m actually walking or just dreaming it all. I feel so cut off from reality and don’t even feel apart of it anymore. I’m like on auto pilot all the time. My body moves and I walk etc but I never feel present anymore and it really makes me so depressed and anxious cause I miss being apart of life and life feeling real. I miss my family feeling real. I cry almost everyday cause it’s the scariest most isolating experience of my life. I honestly don’t know how long I can live like this.
0 likesReplies (1)
You aren’t alone mine started two months ago it sucks I know I’ve been learning to deal with it I’m getting into some counseling and getting medicine sometime this week just to try it because why not. A lot of people recover from this within 1-3 years as I’ve seen that sounds like a long time I know but you have to try and beat the inner demons life faces you with. I’ve wanted to give up a lot but nope I’m still here until it’s my time. I hope you’re feeling a bit better mine is 24/7 though which sucks but we’ll get over it I know we will nothings forever remember that!
0 likesVery fucking real and so necessary in quarantine.
0 likesToo give in some context, I used to have severe anxiety the past 2-3 years (all through high school basically) the anxiety got so bad that I had to take self teaching courses in order to complete all my high school credits. But this last year (I’m 18 btw) I’ve smoked quite a bit in the summer and I’m time I accidentally mixed weed and a drug call acutane (a drug used for curing acne) together and I didn’t know that if you mixed the two together it would cause depersonalization. Anyways I took it at my friends party and I I experienced the first time ever and I always going literally crazy. I was freaking out go back and forth, screaming, n over all in shock. My friends tried calming me down but how’d no idea what was going on so they just made it worse. Even now I can only get very small intervals of the feeling. It’s very difficult to describe but I’ll try. Basically it feels like the whole universe is playing a joke on you where everyone that you ever knew (including yourself) isn’t real just fragments of your imagination. I’m pretty sure that’s one of the stages of ego death. I currently experience light depersonalization but it used to be very severe to the point where I’d have these Intense melt downs because it was so surreal. I came to the conclusion that the only way to get rid of depersonalization is to embrace it. It can be considered as a cruel curse but in my opinion it can also be a positive. For example I no long have anxiety I can do literally anything I want. I have no fear of being judged of what I say or do. It taught me that I can’t control people’s thoughts and criticisms because of the ego. So please just and embrace and accept it. The harsh reality is that it my never go away and regardless what your opinion is on of depersonalization it most likely will always be there. Also come check out my YouTube I post great content✌️😛
14 likesTHE LIGHT THING I LIKE BRIGHT WHITE LIGHTS NOT YELLOW OMG THIS IS CRAZY
3 likesI have it as well its like that for me and all i do know is watch doomer videos on youtube
0 likesNgl Dodie you need to write a fictional book for something
0 likesWait wait wait. Do other people not feel like they’re just in a game or show??
0 likesWhy am I crying seen this? So well explained :) we can do this.
6 likesIs this because you’re the girl of my dreams?
20 likescrickets
Same here but only sometimes.
1 likeTry this - try whistling - if you're dreaming you won't have air in your lungs to blow with (or lungs technically )
0 likeswhat does it feel like?
1 likeI have no idea if i have it or not but i am very suspicious that i might.
When it hits, its very sudden like a brick wall. One moment you're fine, the next, boom* blown out of reality. Then you suddenly feel like you are just a machine, one which can comprehend factual information. It can see and hear and feel. But it does not feel like you are seeing and hearing and feeling. Ig the closest i can get is like in that movie Avatar where all the humans take on the sensory information of aliens but they know it is not actually them. Idk. Is this dp/dr?
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I keep asking myself "where am i where am i what is this place who are these people who am i" even though factually, I know exactly where I am and who is around me
0 likesDissociation with driving...I have no control...feel like I left my body...not like her problem...mine is panic. I love 5htp for depression...but it did not help my panic
3 likeshey, does anyone have physical triggers rather than psychological ones? i often get derealisation from strobe lights or when i change the location rapidly and can’t adapt to new lighting etc. it usually makes me feel extremely derealised and it’s a living hell
0 likesReplies (1)
yup i do usually when i go from a dark place to out on the sun my brain gets comfused
1 likeI experience this a lot--not frequently enough to be a disorder, but it sucks. I'm sorry for everyone who feels like this all the time.
0 likesMeditation will help.
0 likesI don't relate to this thankfully
0 likesReplies (1)
You are lucky x I’m really glad you feel this way
0 likesSmoke a bowl and see if that alters you back the other way?..
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AbleDelta no
0 likesI have had that and depersonalizations since 13 years old and I am now 24. I used to find it very very scary to the point of suicide but just within the last couple months it’s gotten better or I’m just coping with it better. I can’t tell honestly. things have never looked the same or felt the same since I was a pre teen. Good luck girl! there’s no cure that I know of but it does get easier ❤️
0 likesSome things helping helping me right now with dissociating:
0 likesA polaroid camera given to me as a gift to take PHYSICAL pictures of me and my friends and stuff to keep for me to have and look back on. Pictures of my past bring me out of that nebulous dissociative feeling. Especially when I don’t want to look at my phone or social media. Listening to music on vinyl or cassette tapes I can see and touch, look at read rather than just listening to Spotify. These are sorta expensive hobbies but you can buy albums at the thrift store for .50-$1. It seems to a little something to make me feel more grounded and it is also a lot of fun to bring an album over a friends house and spend time just listening and talking about the album playing while looking at the artwork. Its a tangible experience you can share.
I dont know if it was derealization but I went thru depression for years and I dont remember anything that happened during those years except a couple of my therapy sessions. Those years feel like a black hole in my brain, like I lost 3 years of my life by not being present mentally. Im good now but often im scared i might fall back in that pit.. i never wanna be not-present ever again
0 likesI always feel like I’m dreaming too! I can’t believe this was recommended to me. Whenever I tell people they tell me it’s not normal
0 likesThank you so much for posting this video. I'm so happy to know I'm not crazy or alone. You made my walls feel a little bit thinner. Thank you.
0 likesOmg this is me to a T!! Fee drunk all the time and like my body is not connected to me and sends me into panic attacks! It hits me hard while I’m driving and feel like my legs aren’t attached and I constantly remind myself what to do and my vision is always wonky! Please update us if anything works
0 likesThis happened to me when I was younger and never knew what had happened. This is the first I've heard anyone mention it. It's such a weird sensation and although it's not as intense now it was a very scary thing. It took some years but eventually I do think it went but I have had moments of it since but just put it down to exhaustion. Did not know it was this x
1 likeI used to suffer from really bad depersonalization, the past few months it has faded away.
2 likesI never ever thought I would find a way to describe this. Showing this video to my therapist, thank you so much
1 likeI feel like this a lot when I struggle with anxiety episodes! Thank you for sharing this. I know grounding techniques help a lot when I feel like this but it’s such a scary and odd feeling when it does happen, I can’t imagine what it’s like to experience it constantly. It must be so exhausting. X
0 likesI'd be curious to know if most people experience this at some point in their life. It happens to me maybe once a week but only for a couple of minutes at most, and I usually enjoy it, probably because it is so infrequent and I snap out of it so quickly. Thank you for sharing your experience and spreading awareness <3
1 likeI get derealization every now and then when I'm stressed out. The best way to treat it in my experience is to practice grounding yourself. And too not think or focus on it. The more you focus in it and pay attention to it, the longer it lasts (because it is caused from anxiety).
1 likeThe longest episode of this I had was about a month.
Omg I have been feeling like this for the longest time and I’m really gratefully that u have made a video about it
0 likesI remember being dissociated many times, but I couldnt imagine being that way all of the time. I applaud you for dealing with it so well! That's truly amazing
0 likesI’m 13 and i have felt like that for 1 year now. This litterly kinda saved my life from being ruined. Thank You!!!!
0 likesIVE NEVER SEEN SOMEONE MAKE A VIDEO ON THIS DISORDER, I HAVE IT AS WELL!
1 likeI swear this is the first time I’ve seen someone feel the same thing as me
13 likesI think its cool how so many people can relate to this. Lets come all together and disassociate 😎
7 likesI developed this condition in March of this year and I'm still dealing with it now. Thankfully it's about 75% better now than it was at its worst, but my god was it tough early on. Unfortunately for me seeing my GP was not helpful as they didn't really know what I was talking about. I would very strongly recommend the Depersonalisation Manual by Shaun O'Connor, I would not be doing anywhere as near as well as I am right now if not for it. The good thing is that once you know what DP/DR is you know how to fight it and you stop constantly worrying about it. Anybody can recover from it, just keep on going!
1 likeThank you for sharing this ❤ Last year I was out of school for a little more than a week when it first started and it was so bad. I got tests done, and went to therapy for a while for this same issue. It took me so long to get to where I feel like I'm okay with having it, and how I can tell myself that it's not gonna hurt me and that it's all good. I've learned to find the things that make me feel safe and comfortable. You sharing this has made me feel so much less alone, as well as seeing all the people commenting. Thank you ❤
0 likesI get this briefly sometimes, often connected to my anxiety attacks and I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like for you!! I find it quite scary.
0 likesYou’re super duper comforting and reassuring :,~)
0 likesThis sounds like something I have been dealing with lately, particularly since having my recent baby! I am seeking medical help have a ct scan booked because I've been thinking theres something wrong with my brain! I wonder if this is what I am actually dealing with?!
0 likesWhen I used to have intense anxiety I would have very light symptoms of this. Especially if I would wake up in the middle of the night. I also experience it in crowds but it’s different, I’m not necessarily anxious I just kind of in tune with the thousands of people around me and like my self is a cloud around everyone...it’s kind of blissful actually, makes feel living and attentive toward others.
1 likePro-tip: It is easier said than done but setting aside a time of day to just STOP THINKING or thinking only beautiful or positive thoughts while also repeating affirmations throughout the day really helped me. It took a year to move from a state that felt like a living hell to feeling pretty chill about almost anything. The key is TIME, and your will thoughts will ROAR at you saying it’s not working or that you are crazy, but you’re not, just keep to it and you’ll see the results. I did and I still use these techniques whenever I feel out of wack.
I have this because of PTSD and it drives my anxiety and depression crazy.
2 likesI had this just before having a panic attack, or during my depression period (with panic attacks). But fortunately it has came back with a treatment of benzoziadepines.
0 likesI have had this in episodes since I was in the third grade and a really big emotionally distressing thing happened in my life, it always comes back when I’m ignoring my own needs and am really stressed. Glad to know I’m not alone.
0 likesi have dpdr too and i relate a lot. sending love
1 likeWow. I did not know that this was a thing other people experienced. I’ve often told my friends during times of stress that I feel “floaty” because I couldn’t find a way to describe it. It doesn’t help that I regularly lucid dream and have out of body experiences as well. Thank you for sharing, and best of luck finding treatment that works!!
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That's so cool. What do you dream about
0 likesI used to have derealization so bad but to be honest the thing that helped me the most was not focusing on it. Whenever I would notice that I'm thinking about it, I would put my attention on something else, something that requires engagement. Exercise like running and socializing helped me out so much. It definitely takes time and effort but I once felt so helpless about this, like no one could understand. But just believe that everything will be okay and don't panic, that will only add onto the problem.
1 likeLove your life! The drugs will only be temporary. Soon you’ll see. I thought I was going crazy too. We are more sane than most.
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Flightrisk yeaaa but this condition makes me unable to enjoy my life. ty for strenght tho. ;) :)
0 likesWhoa..I've dissociated in stressful situations too and it's confusing, hard to concentrate, numbing and unsettling. I honestly can't imagine feeling that way all the time. Btw I love your music and now I have yet another reason to admire you. Thank you for sharing 💕
0 likesdude wtf this is exactly how i feel i’ve been feeling like there was something wrong with me. i can’t go into a store or outside even without feeling like this. i feel no time at all and am constantly confused
0 likesWeed triggered an intense DP/DR for a whole week for me, then it eventually faded away when I stopped smoking, also I felt alcohol helped making me feel grounded and human.
2 likesIt felt like other people mentioned, that you’re whole life was on a screen, you’re life was a movie, and that I was outside of the movie, inside my head looking out.
Cool for a while but scary asf in the long run glad I’m not alone
I feel like I experience this when I’m talking to someone for awhile and I zone out while staring at them, almost like the sunken place in get out. Is that the same??
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no.
0 likesi love how people say that dodie romanticizes mental illness when in reality she’s only drawing attention to the fact that these conditions exist. i love her for this reason, i feel very similar and it’s quite comforting to hear an in-depth explanation of someone else’s experience with the same disorder:)
0 likesMy depersonalization/derealization started when I had a really bad trip on acid I’ve been dealing with it now for 2 months I’ll slowly getting better at controlling it
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Kim Dimitri did Dimitri play a part as well???
0 likesManuel Olivas but are you recovered or its still part of your life ?
0 likesI remember having serious depersonlisation for months during my worst period of anxiety it was just constant and became the norm to me.
0 likesIt still happens every few weeks, and just like you ive learnt to live with it and its apart of who i am.
Thank you for the video! When i tried to describe it to my friends none of them believed me. Good to not feel alone!
Amazing, thank you for that video and for sharing. I swear I thought I was the only one who felt that way.
0 likesI thought I was crazy so thank you for sharing!! 🙏
0 likesWaw. I didn't know this was a thing. It kind of sounds like how I feel during my existential crisis moments but to be like that all the time must be bizarre.
0 likesI think I have it too, everything you're saying is basically my life.
0 likesI use to think that was my dyslexia
I realized I may have this a few months back & i legit cried because I knew something hasn't been right for years
0 likesI've experienced a lot of trauma & am diagnosed with depression, anxiety, fibromyalgia & ptsd - I'm going to see if I can get investigated for derealization because it's getting to much & maybe getting a professional opinion would help
This video was super interesting
I feel like this when I’m in a panicked state. Sometimes that state last for minutes sometimes it lasts for weeks. It kind of feels like I’m an astronaut in space bouncing(and floating) around. I’ve also had lots of trauma but the first time I felt this state was after I had an edible(I never had one before) then I got it for a year after. It would usually be accompanied by panic attacks though. It came back after trauma but comes and goes. Keeping my anxiety down helps, but it’s hard because I can’t avoid half of my triggers.
0 likesI get this alot, I've found mood stabilizers rather than SSRIs to be more helpful for treatment.
0 likesIt still happens sometimes but that's probably never going to change, at least now it's less intense and less frequent.
I get that all the time, I just feel drunk when it happens. I thought this was normal and because I’m always tired. Had no idea it was an actual condition. The first time it happened, I was scared that I was gonna do something embarrassing because I kept talking nonsense but I can kinda control myself now.
0 likesDamn my eyesight lowkey just came back just hearing this I just thought I was going blind from past blacklight exposure where I put a blacklight to my eye but then this made me realize I went through a lot in 2017 and that’s really when it started
0 likesSometimes it gets so strong I have cold sweats and have to bring my hand to my face to cover vision. While this is happening I also repeat to myself over and over "I'm not being sucked out of this reality", "just keep walking don't stop it'll pass". Locking myself in the toilet doing some mindfulness works sometimes. It's a very scary condition to have and it does feel like your losing your shit. I hope they find some way of making less intense.
0 likesI often experience depersonalisation due to my high levels of anxiety because of my panic disorder from times it will be stronger than others the thing I can't get over yet is when you realize you been gone for a whole day,week ._.
3 likesI just came across this video. I always wonder why I can't remember high stressful or depressing moments of my life. I only remember bits of pieces like it happened to someone else. I struggle to follow through with goals cause large amount of stress will put me back in auto-pilot. I call it "zombie mode"
0 likesI've had that when I had panic episodes. Everytime I would have a crises, I would feel like I was dreaming for a while. Medication cut that off though.
0 likesThis happened to me a few times as a child I remember one time I was walking with my cousin and her friend to the milk bar and then all of a sudden I blacked out for a few seconds while walking and I had no idea where I was or what was happening I didn't fall to the ground or anything it happened while I was walking.. I asked my cousin what just happened where were we what was going on and she looked at me as if I was insane I think she thought I was making it up. And then I had this floating sensation in my head I felt detached from my body and just felt like I was in a dream I didn't feel real I remember I kept pinching myself to see if I could feel pain or whether I was really existing I was so scared and thought maybe I was dead. This sensation came over me so many times when I was young. I would constantly tell my sister, " I feel like I'm in a dream" and crying my heart out I couldn't rationalize what was going on. Sometimes it would take me days to feel like I was back in reality again. I then got the same sensation as an adult a few times but I haven't had it in a while
0 likesSuffering DPD since 2013 after my first panic attack resulted into panic disorder and hypochondria. It can be very hard and exhausting, especially when trying to explain to other what you are feeling (or what you are NOT feeling..).
0 likesOh shit this has been me since middle school. I really thought I was the only one with issue. I had no idea it was a disorder
0 likesEmotional trauma & their manifestations are extremely difficult to work thru. Persistence, patience & having faith in your ability to heal are vital. Personally, it has been a dream journal (of my "real' dreams whilst sleeping) that provided me with the guidance & a focal point in waking life. The dreaming you knows more than awake you does... what you think you have forgotten it remembers & any falsities u may be living under will be given clarity..acting on what u learn sometimes means difficult choice but ignoring the message of ur d
1 likereams will only further deteriorate you.
I just randomly stumbled onto this video and I somewhat feel like I’m in a dream. All I know is I’m so upset with it, I keep getting told that I will feel better, and nothing is. I’ve been feeling this way for about 3-4 years now and my doctor can’t tell me what’s wrong.
0 likesI only feel this way during a panic attack and (rarely) after I suddenly wake up from a nap... It's the worst and I can't imagine dealing with it 24/7.
0 likesI have depersonalization, everything you said is how I feel. I did an EMDR treatment back (something really small) in 2017 and that’s when I got diagnosed. During the session I couldn’t find myself in order to ground myself again. I felt lost & couldnt pull back into reality. I consistently feel like I’m not here. I notice the world around me but my body feels lost. I always have to have something in my hands that’s textured. If I have a cut or a scrape, I tend to pick at it because pain is one of the only ways that reminds me that I’m still here.
0 likesI’ve noticed this. Sometimes I can get myself to snap out of it but it only lasts for a couple seconds. Or some days I’ll have rested super well. I won’t have a problem at all, my whole day and all my tasks are clear. Those days are so rare but they’re so crystal clear and eye opening.
0 likesWhen I had my first panic attack probably 4 months ago I had no idea what it was. I struggled with some anxiety for about 2 years leading up to it. I was serving in a restaurant and suddenly became very foggy and couldn’t focus, couldn’t read what was on my notepad or take orders normally. I felt like I could pass out and thought I had low blood sugar and needed to eat so I had some bread and a couple glasses of chocolate milk and it subsided after a while. The second time was BAD. It started in the same setting and lasted hours. I had to stop serving my tables and try to calm down, eventually had my bf drive us home and left my car there. A coworker told me about 10 minutes in that she thought I was having a panic attack. This was after I told her I thought there was physically something wrong, that I thought I was dying. She talked me through it and I realized a panic attack must be what it was which was comforting to know but didn’t help much in the moment. Since then I’ve gone back to the restaurant to eat a few times and had an attack every time, and also started getting them at home and my other job. Now I get what seems to be more mild panic attacks throughout the day that last 1-2 hours typically. I can function but it’s like I’m in fight or flight mode. I describe it as feeling high but not in a good way, disconnected from real life. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who feels like sometimes I’m living in a movie or nothing around me is real. It’s scary but I push through it. Thank you for the video
0 likesThis is exactly how I experience jet lag, I was in a dream like state unable to really process anything for 4 days after a 24hr flight years ago. I get it milder on shorter flights. Luckily it doesn't last though. Does everyone experience this with jet lag?
0 likesI feel this way a LOT and it can be so overwhelming.. especially in new situations where you have to remained focused and suddenly feel like you're floating above yourself and have to pretend you didn't just do what you did... I feel better with more rest and less stress, but it happens at random. I'm so sorry that this has been such a difficult journey for you. Best of luck. Also, beautiful writing. <3
0 likesYou should try EMDR therapy! It helps the brain process memories especially for traumatic experiences that can give you derealization
0 likesI literally have to write notes on my phone screen to remember the things I need to do. Otherwise I'd space out and forget.Sometimes when people talk to me all I hear is murmur. I thought I had shearing problem but the fuzzy head and things happening around me and the next I don't feel like I even did them
1 likeThis makes sense... I didn't know this was a thing. I have PTSD and anxiety. And I guess my mind didn't want to deal with the flashbacks and memories so it just disconnected.. I remember the exact day it became a thing for me. That was like 5 months ago...
0 likesWhen I'm at work I literally get this do bad, I'm in a corner hanging clothes all day. Sometimes people will walk behind me and I feel like I'm somewhere else and it freaks me out, bright lights and loud noises really get to me also
0 likesThis video literally made me cry... because it's been 8 months now that I've been dealing with this and I've gone to the dr oover and over, I've gone to a head and neck specialist, and I've gone to my optometrist multiple times because I've been dealing with this thing that I just haven't been able to describe...and I've described it just like that many times "it's like being drunk without actually being drunk" and I've even been told I have vertigo because of that. But watching this video and hearing you describe exactly what I've been going through just blew my mind.... thank you.
0 likesI dealt with it for a few years when I was younger, it's disassociation yea, often caused by trauma
0 likesI understand you, the sensation it's like being separate of the body but in the body at the same time. Feeling the things but no emotionally. Well I have OSDD and feel like that but adding the feeling of the posesion of the others alters.
0 likesI completely understand, it happens often and almost every one of my friends and my parents have heard me say at least once that I feel like I’m looking at things but not actually seeing anything, or that my vision is blurred and when i look in other directions it’s like my brain lags and it takes longer for my brain to see what my eyes have turned onto. I often feel like I’m not real and one thing my mum notices I do is I always look down at my hands and use them as a checkpoint to see if I’m real or that I’m really alive. It’s terrifying honestly and sends me into anxiety attacks that have me almost passing out. I don’t really know what to do at this point. I’m scared I’m not going to get better. I know mine comes from drug related anxiety or dare I say ptsd. I’m coming up to being a year clean and I thought I would be better by now but I’m not. The more anxious I am the more it happens and I’m starting to develop the feeling that the end of the world is about to happen. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.
0 likesI experienced it once, my first time ever because I had an intense anxiety last week. It felt like I was floating and it seems I am disconnected to my body. I am so scared and It keeps me thinking that it might happen again but I don't want to. And lastly am I having a DP/DR disorder now or it will be a disorder if this thing might happen frequently or chronically?
0 likesHave you checked if you have a vitamin D deficiency? It causes symptoms of depression, anxiety, brain fog, and derealization! It seems very minimal but a such deficiency can cause so many cognitive issues because it’s also a hormone! Hope you feel better soon my love <3
0 likesI got diagnosed with depersonalization/derealization disorder about a year ago. It's so important that people like you talk openly about this struggle. I usually don't tell people about my diagnosis because it is so obscure and difficult to comprehend. Even though many people may not understand the true feeling of disassossiating it is very validating to hear an influencer talk so openly about it.
0 likesI had something similar 4 years ago, I am fucking grateful that I'm normal now.
0 likesWow, this is great, have you ever thought of teaching yourself wakeful dreaming and developing the eye of awareness. I would look into sunyata, and studies of the 9 yanas. It sounds like your just fighting your next step into evolution
0 likesMy best friend had depersonalization. She passed away when 4 years ago on a tragic accident.. and i miss her very very much. She was my best friend through the first two years of highschool and we had crushes on each other which was very bitter sweet as well. We hung out every chance we could get and our imaginations and personalities connected perfectly. I experienced her having a very terrible episode one day after school and she didn’t know where she was or who anyone was, we walked her home and she was at home but it wasn’t familiar enough to her. I also recall a sleepover i had with her well before that, where we were both very silent and depresive and didn’t speak to eachother much. It was a bit scary but looking back, i think she was having a small episode and i was just in it there with her. -much love <3
0 likesOMG SO WE BOTH BE BI AND HAVE DPDR?!
0 likesdamn! So relatable!
I've never experienced it but when I had a car accident I felt like that
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escape hell you did experience it somewhat still. it was causes by your trauma. its common after traumatic event. im sorry btw, hope you heal. :)
0 likesI feel the same but I never told this to anyone...it feels so weird
0 likesI never knew I would relate to this so much...
0 likesThank you for this.
0 likesi have never been able to figure this out till i went to doctors and stared researching
0 likesThis may be more common apparently. I'm almost crying, because I feel everyday is a struggle to really be in the moment. I have to really try when I speak, and sometimes I get caught up mid-sentence. I know I went to college, but it's like a dream I dont remember much of it and I only graduated 2 yrs ago. I can't really differentiate between the things that have really happened and the things that I've dreamed or thought and I have no real grasp of time. It's hard to tell the difference between 5 minutes and 30 minutes or even an hour. I dissociate when I socialize or when I'm having fun. I went to a water park and got on rides but as soon as they were over it felt like I had been on them yesterday. When i was in college I smoked weed a handful of times and that was about the only times I felt relief and vivid reality even if it was distorted I felt focused in the moment. I've stopped since then, and thought it was just stress or some form of depression but I had never heard of this. Thank you.
0 likesi’m a cheerleader. going to basketball games with loud and bright gymnasiums is nothing different than a regular monday for me. last year, one of the last games of the season, we were going over the routine. i started to forget things that we had been working on for months. i was freaking out. it felt like i wasn’t... there? like a dream. i felt like everyone was looking at me. it was like a panic attack, but different than usual. since then i get it all the time. everyone tells me it’s normal. but i know it’s not. it’s good to know that there’s a name for it. thank you.
0 likesI just feel weird ever since 1 week ago and I just feel like life isn’t real and it’s a dream, I don’t wanna feel like this anymore. I’m hurting but watching this video gave me a little pick me up to know that life is real and that everything is ok
0 likesHi, thank you for your video. My 21 yr old daughter suffers from depersonaliztion and derealization and was diagnosed her 2nd time in a mental health facility for suicidal ideation. So far she's been in a mental health facility 5 times with the last time being just a month ago. On top.of that she suffers with ocd fears and behaviors and is seeking therapy for all above. What would you say to someone who has an extreme fear of living in a computer simulation. So far we've tried many different ways to help her and they are all just bandaids. Everything from this is God's creation to its a silly fear.. Obviously the latter was very bad.. Haha. Thanks in advance! 😍
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Oh, and she has a very high IQ and a lot of life experience so just brushing it off doesn't work. My brother suffered from the exact same thing and back in 1996 they treated this illness with shock therapy and lithium. He ended up having daily seizures and died.
0 likesYou are dreaming all the time, this feeling is happening within a dream
0 likesI had this during my PTSD times and trust me it sucks
0 likesIt's just anxiety and OCD making you feel this way
0 likesI felt this way for about 8 months a few years ago but then made myself get overwhelmingly busy because it was either that or spiral deeper into depression. After a while I realized that I felt like things were "off" less and less until I finally came to the realization that anything feels strange, even reality, if you constantly keep asking yourself if anything about the subject seems different, or bizarre, or unreal.
I would seriously bet you that you have 4 out of 5 OCD symptoms. You may perhaps have what they call "pure o" OCD which means you only have the obsessive aspect of OCD, i.e. the anxious rumination that you probably experience on a daily basis where you're constantly "checking in" with your thoughts to ask yourself if everything feels normal.
I have this too. How do you deal with it?
0 likesI have this but only on occasion, I can't imagine, it feels so freakin weird
0 likesI feel like I'm in a dream everyday and its makes me scared cause it makes me bite myself to see if I'm In a dream but yes there is pain I'm used to pain but sometimes I feel like I'll never wake up LIKE NEVER EVER
0 likesi have (i guess had now) derealization so bad to the point where i didn’t even want to leave my house because i was scared of leaving my house = more stimulation which = more of a dreaming feeling and i can confirm that it is the worst and scariest feeling i’ve ever felt in my life. but i actually don’t have it anymore!! i’m not sure what happened or why it stopped happening but i just wanted to comment this to giveother people struggling with it hope. i never thought mine would leave but somehow it did. just stay positive and when you get the feeling try to not panic i know it’s hard but you can just try your best and hope for it to go away.
0 likesWelp time to go see a shrink.
0 likesAnd here was me thinking I was possibly mildly on the autism spectrum. A lot of the general symptoms are quite similar.
Who knows. Could be one or the other, maybe both? Maybe none? 🤷🏼♀️
I need... To go to the doctor. I keep telling my mom (im 18 and live at home)that I feel like I'm dreaming and it is getting harder and harder to remember and I can't really remember specific points of my life. I have depression and my eyes are bad so I just thought it was getting worse. I keep having really realistic dreams that seem as vivid as my life and maybe that could be because my life is feeling more like a dream. Im so scared that this is what it is... How do I go about getting a diagnosis or something? Is there a way to test for it??
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Jacquie Reign Doctors vary but usually if you just explain what you're going through as best you can and use examples they'll diagnose you like that. Sometimes they'll print off a quiz sort of thing to aid in that but it really depends. Either way, even without diagnosis from a doc you're always welcome to look up "dissociation therapy techniques " "dissociation healthy coping strategies" and fb support groups for dealing with symptoms whenever! Support groups on Facebook have helped me a lot.
7 likesSee a psychologist and bring up derealization
4 likesA journal helps me with the memory thing, even when it's irregular and I skip many weeks. Assessing how you've felt, what works, or just what you enjoyed that day. I know it's not something everyone can do for many reasons, it ends up helping me personally
2 likesobviously theres a way, and you probably don’t have it it’s probably just paranoia since you just watched this
2 likesI've been experiencing this for years now, and my doctor says it makes sense... The timeline matches my trauma and such. If anything I've been less foggy because I know what to look for now :)
2 likesoh my god ive had this condition for years and i also have extremely vivid dreams!! ist really messing with my brain and i cant grab a clear thought during the day, because sometimes my dreams Keep lingering and idk how to feel about it. its so validating to hear someone else has derealisation AND vivid dreams! until i watched this Video, i thought i was going crazy but for the first time i have hope, it might finally be better one day
1 likeJule Grande oh thank you! I got a few things telling me I was making it up because of the dreams but I'm so surely dreaming that it's hard to even go to sleep... It's unreal how the situations in my deams are so confusing and real that I say all the time that something happened and it never really did... But I'm SO SURE that this vivid memory is a memory... Idk it's hard to make memories now... I'm glad that someone else has those dreams, but I'm sorry that you're experiencing it :(
1 likesame boo same! im gladd someone mentioned the super realistic dreams - almost convinced myself i was a fn psychic okay
1 likeYou said "Is there a test for it?" and I felt like I had to make some points straights, that are so important, and that everyone forget.
0 likesIf it feels like derealization, then go for it. But it's in fact no so important to be sure it is. I can relate to the mom part, because my mom was certain for a really long time that I just couldn't make the difference between being tired and some weird disorder that I was certainly making up in my head. But the fact is; IT'S NOT IMPORTANT.
There is something wrong.
Yes, it's all in your head. But it doesn't make it less real, and less important to take care.
What I mean, is that you just need to see someone, and to tell him what you feel, and if it feel like derealization, tell it because it can help to understand the problem. But everyone feel derealization in different way, and there is no diagnosis, it's just about what you feel.
So don't be pre-occupate aboute having "truly" something or not. It can be comforting to be able to put a name on the thing you're experiencing, but that's all. You're not okay; then there is something wrong. If you feel like you need help, get it, really!
Don't get obsessed on proving you do have it, just cure your problem ^-^
You don't own anything to anyone, no proof, no paper who tell you are truly bad, just take care of yourself, you have the right to be in pain. ^-^
Sorry for the long message, but I could so relate to you in my own mistakes, and I felt I should give my opinion.
Take care, and good luck :)
Jacquie Reign uh this does not sound like the disorder me and dodie have
0 likesIf you're 18 and maybe going to college soon? They should have psychiatrists there... that's how I was able to start going, since my mom doesn't really think much of my symptoms either
0 likesMe: sees title
20 likesMe: “ha dodie’s so great and goofy”
4 minutes into video
Me: “oh gosh”
Dodie: “placebo”
142 likesMe:... do you mean...
g a z e b o?
;)
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OML I LOVE YOU WBVFHGBEVE
3 likesHaley Perry omg I love your pfp sm 😂😂 finn is amazing
4 likesahaha thank you and yess finn is my bby
3 likesYEs
1 likeEddie Kaspbrak sweaty I'm so sorry
5 likesHaley Perry same
0 likesMarisela Salazar wait is salazar your real last name or is your name a mash up with george salazar cuz i’m a mUSICAL THEATRE GEEK OOPS
0 likes8:12 A.M. ITS MY REAL NAME YALL
0 likesMarisela Salazar oH OK SORRY LMAO I JUST LOVE GEORGE SALAZAR
1 likeidk if you know be more chill the musical but if you don’t it’s great
I wish I was dreaming
45 likesI hate how I'm not satisfied with reality
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Fatema Begum Zaman same though
0 likesFatema Begum Zaman who is satisfied with reality.
0 likesSame nothing satisfies me even as a kid I felt like some thing was missing now I just feel constantly neutral and like nothing matters
1 likeBut it’s not like being able to control what you’re dreaming. It’s like a nightmare not being able to recognize people you see on a daily basis, memory issues, and one example was while I was trying to be productive at work my mind just took over and tricked me into thinking I was at my school (a complete different state FL) while working in NY on my summer break. I ended up messing up what I was working on and had to ask my boss to leave- it’s not fun and it’s an actual diagnosis not something to wish for.. so be careful what you wish for- I wouldn’t wish this in anyone
1 likeSo suddenly everyone in the comment section has this too? Right.
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M Baig It is a very common disorder, also many people clicked on it because they can relate to the title. I’m not subscribed to dodie but i clicked on this because i have dpdr as well.
36 likesThey might've just realized they have it, like I did.
3 likesKidsWhoAnimate it’s not that simple you don’t just decide you have a mental illness because you can relate. If you have one you need help and treatment. People that act like that and don’t take mental illness seriously are one of the reasons people that actually have it struggle.
32 likesalondra. I see where you’re coming from but the title makes it seem much more “attractive” than it actually is.
11 likesThis happens with quite a few things but sometimes when someone who might be a big name or popular comes out about something they're dealing with for example this video on her mental health, it's like a copy thing that starts happening. I can't explain it. It's like a domino effect?? Idek why I'm trying to explain, I'm doing terrible but sometimes someone who has a big voice in a community will become open about something and suddenly, people who are a fan/keeping up with their information suddenly feel exactly the same or they convince themselves that they do without knowing that they are. Pfft, fuck it. Take what you want from that.
2 likesM Baig maybe most people in the comments “suddenly have it” because since they also have it they clicked the video to hear what someone else has to say about it
6 likesthey would search for the actual name of the illness then, no?
1 likeM Baig No? I'm fine.
0 likesI came to this video for the purpose of figuring out what is going on with me at the moment
1 likeIts because she overshares and her fanbase is mainly 13 year olds who wanna be different, edgy and relatable.
3 likesExactly my point! I've seen this happen so many times.
3 likesAlso, love your profile pic :)
0 likesM Baig thanks!
0 likesIkr, swear she talks about random stuff and everyone suddenly has it even if they don't
2 likesIt's effectively a self-selecting sample. People are more likely to say whether or not they have it if they do have it, so even if the majority of viewers don't have it, you are unlikely to see many comments saying "omg I don't have this", presenting a sample representative of the population.
3 likesConsidering this video has (at the time of commenting) 635000 views, and derealisation has a lifetime prevalence of 5%, potentially 31750 viewers will experience it at least once in their life.
One can't say how many of them have already had it, but it's likely in the thousands. Of these, I'll assume that there will be several dozens of them commenting about how they have it. These comments get up voted as a show of support, and thus, they're the ones you see.
I'm not trying to make myself sound clever here, because this is really very basic statistics. You just ought to understand this kind of thing.
M Baig You’re right many people probably do not have it to the point of a mental illness but most people do have episodes of it so they can relate and they are probably glad to see that it is an actual thing and they’re not insane
0 likesI actually never watch Dodie but I searched and found this because I feel the same way.
0 likes30 seconds in and the next recommended video is “I am depressed today” ??? Subscribed. Love the raw honesty it’s refreshing to see
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Khadijah Said i did the same hahhh
0 likesStrange story of my disassociation experience. I am a Christian and I went to Easter Camp. It's a big spiritual thing and there are lots of tears. I had an amazing time there and no dreamland feelings. I got back and woke up the next morning and felt off. Then I went to church and had a treasure hunt thing in an orchard and then it really started to hit me hard. I was talking to my friends about it but it didn't sound like my voice. I felt like a fly on the wall and the words came from the mouth of somebody behind me. I felt like this for about two days and it was awful. After having that experience I can just appreciate the strength of you and so many other people that can deal with this most or all of the time. I know that disassociation can be triggered by negative experiences but Easter Camp was the best weekend of my life. Has anybody had disassociation triggered by an overwhelming yet extremely positive experience or know why this happened? xxx
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I get extra spacey when I travel! It might have been your brain’s way of dealing with the change of surroundings/situation. <3
4 likesThat makes sense as I had no idea where I was! Thank you and thank you for always being so helpful in life generally ahaha xxx
0 likesI think it can also happen when you return to normal after being in a totally new situation where everything is awesome (Easter Camp). In a new fun place, you can't be on autopilot because you don't know where things are (unlike when you're in your own home) and the constant social interaction and stimulation distracts your brain. However, when things calm down and you go back to a situation that you're used to, the dropoff in activity and the return of familiarity can seem really unsettling and trigger an episode. Of course, I'm not a doctor or anything, this is just what I've noticed for myself. My dp/dr gets a lot worse whenever I go home from college.
3 likesThat's really interesting, thank you! I have never had disassociation but that makes a lot of sense along with the fact the I had no idea where I was at Easter Camp, there were just 6,000 teens in a bunch of paddocks. I hope all goes well with your dp/dr xxx
0 likesI’ve had this since I was about 10 and now 20 years later, my parents don’t believe me, and say I’m being dramatic. I never got help until I started taking antidepressants. I don’t know if that would help others but it helped me!
5 likesidk if this is this or just plain old anxiety and it’s not all the time but i’ll get like weird? like it feels like dreaming but really unsettled and just dissonant and unreal but like i’m like frozen? and like i won’t want to speak of move because it all feels rough(??) like when you stand up and you get a head rush, it’s that but with shivers and weird like pinprick-y feeling like i feel like static television but unsettled and quiet. idk if that makes sense but like i’ve always wondered what it is bc idk if it’s anxiety or what and it’s so hard to explain it’s just this “somethings wrong, nothings real” type of feeling and what you described was kinda similar so it might be like a mild something similar?
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holly when I read this my jaw dropped, I experience this too but I’m not sure if it’s just my anxiety or not.
0 likesIt's funny how you used the comparison with going out from a movie because that is also a thing I used to compare when I get derealisation episodes. It's like the movie became your reality and now you have to adjust back to real life and remember YOUR real life again but your brain is stuck on the movie for some time and you cannot exactly grasp at the world around you yet. Sometimes it even triggers dissociative episodes for me (which is sad bc I love going to the movies). Anyway I'm happy I have someone to relate to, and not feel completely alone in it as not many people know about it.
5 likesI have this, and let me tell you, it’s so difficult to do anything and all I want to do is lay in bed cause I don’t know what is what.
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Bridget Tracy I hope that you feel much better soon, stay strong.
1 likeemotional repression fucking sucks. When I first started developing depression, I felt numb and blank. Now after exactly a year, I don't feel anything. I can't tell you the last time I cried. Maybe may/June, I dunno. Depression has a lot to do with it. My mental health started affecting when I was physically unable to cry/produce tears. This has caused tremendous amount of stress and anxiety in my life. I feel dull. I feel empty. I don't know what to do about it.
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isle of flightless me too. and that’s okay. I’m not gonna pry too much because I don’t think that’s fair on you but self love is extremely important to get you feeling something. It doesn’t have to be beautiful lush baths or peppermint tea. I find myself sitting in the bottom of the shower with the water running, humming a long to a song. It just brings me to the present and the water acts as white noise and a cheap massage. Not being able to cry is okay, cut yourself some slack. I also find completely small goals is helpful whether that be drinking a glass of water or brushing my hair. It gives you a small smile for a second. And that’s great. I hate to do this but I’m gonna quote dodie here “there will be a day where you say you’re okay and mean it.”
0 likesBecca_xx I honestly don't know really what to say except thank you so so much. This is probably one of the best summarizations of self care I've seen. I think a lot of people, especially me, get very overwhelmed with the idea of self care. I think I've been so absorbed in my head that I've forgotten my basic needs. I honestly put that comment out there just to put it out there, not expecting anyone to see it, so for you to reply and give support means a lot to me and I think I needed that wake up call that I'm not alone and there is hope. Thank you
1 likeI didn’t know what it was till now oh my god. I have this and I never knew what it was. It doesn’t happen all the time but usually how I feel after a panic attack or even randomly like on 4th of july
3 likesi'm so glad i've found someone else that i can look up to who has depersonalization/derealization!! even tho i'm only 14 i've had it for as long as i can remember. i cannot remember anything from the age 10 and earlier because my dad abused me until i was 7 and he passed when i was 8 so i've had trauma lol
3 likesI’m here to tell you that i might have the same thing and i should go get tested because i can’t tell time. A year feels like a month ago and a week ago feels like five months ago I don’t remember what I did yesterday or a few minutes ago but I can remember my childhood like it was a few days ago. I feel numb and dream like 24/7 and I can’t tell what is a dream and what isn’t.
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Gabriela Flores same same same
0 likesI also get this it's like I always feel high and everything is not real
3 likesI used to get this almost every day when I went to karate. I would have no thoughts and just kind of do everything for the sake of doing it. I'd just suddenly realise that it isn't a dream and I am in a gym surrounded by a bunch of people enjoying themselves while I'm here hoping it'll end soon. It's been happening a lot less since I quit karate but it does sometimes come back if I'm really sad and exhausted so I definitely can't say I have it all the time but I think I know what it's like.
3 likesAll of a sudden everyone has this problem in the comments.
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I think they all came here so that they could find someone they relate to.
4 likesOr maybe, just maybe, there are people who routinely feel like nothing is real, Googled it, and came across this video? Nah, that couldn't possibly be the case (psst I did that, that's why this video turned up in my recommendations-- Google is connected to YouTube)
1 likeThat sounds very saddening because you’ll never be able to feel real.
3 likesWhile I had been depressed and sometimes even now I can’t associate reality to dreaming which isn’t visibly like a dream but rather mentally you can’t focus on it being reality, you don’t feel alive and even that time has stopped. I always wanted to be a writer but recently I’ve been what I call “creatively decaying” and it helps cause depression. I don’t even have enough experience to what you go through daily which makes you so strong it’s amazing, I hope you continue happily as you are ♥️
She has a different level of consciousnesses. She might live more in the subconscious.
0 likesThis is basically anxiety. The more you think about how you feel, the worse it gets. I had it for eight months straight- eek! I recommend cognitive behavioral therapy to anyone who ever feels this way.
0 likesI just googled the other day on how can I always feel in a dream like state lol
0 likesInteresting. I empathize with u. So many people have been coming to a realization that we are in a simulation and our reality is a holographic experience and it is as real as dreaming anyway so if u are experiencing it that way who knows maybe yr more normal than the rest of us.
0 likesI get this with my anxiety
0 likesFor me it's like i'm watching a recording of myself, or it's almost like i'm trapped in my own head..if that makes any sense...
0 likesWow, this is totally me and then I get even worse anxiety. It sucks, my eyes don’t want to adjust, I’m always exhausted and don’t remember where I am/what I said. Etc I always feel light headed/not present, 😖
0 likesi also have derealization. it’s so hard to explain but sometimes i doze of and I stare off at a random thing and everything gets blurry and i kind of hallucinate and i feel like i cant move and then it makes me cry and feel extremely anxious. then it makes me question every thing and if anything is real and it feels like im on an episode of the twilight zone. it happens randomly. then i look in the mirror and it feels like its not really me. and it feels like everything is off and something bad will happen.
0 likesi feel like im missing out on so much stuff which is causing me to not want to do anything because like what is the point if im not going to remember it in 2 hours. watching all my friends have fun when i have no idea whats happening is the worse. this condition is making me so so sad i dont know how much longer i can last.
0 likesOk, so it's not the outline of my eyelids I've been seeing. GREAT. FANTASTIC. BRILLIANT.
0 likesI feel like this a lot.
0 likesIf it's caused by stress.. then maybe it could be improved with anxiety medication like clonex?
0 likesI had little episodes before but I never thought anything of it but I took some pills and had a bad reaction from it and now it’s everyday haha that’s tuff
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SonnyXL be strong 💪we will go through it
0 likesI have this. When I tell my doctor they he tells me to call back in a few months and that it should subside. How do I get them to take me seriously and help me?
0 likesI feel like when I smoke weed I get some of the symptoms you’re talking about.
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That's funny I got this disorder and everyone thinks I'm high but I don't smoke cause I hate this feeling 😂
0 likesI look this up because I didn't know what the hell was wrong. Yes I have had extreme traumatic episodes in my life being kidnapped being attacked by a grown man as a child, ripped apart by his Doberman with my skin in its teeth. Very very traumatic episodes but I've gotten through it and now it's 30 plus years later and I feel like I'm falling asleep. Not so much like things are changing with my eyes opened up, my eyes close. My eyes briefly closed I think and I have awful dreams, they seem like dreams, obviously they are dreams because when my eyes reopen this is not the situation anymore they are dreams within a blink of an eye it feels like. I think my situation is way different than yours I don't know what to call it I don't know if there is a name for it but from your description it is different. Thank you for your video
0 likesme too, but i have Adhd. its cause of it. ive had dissociating and derealization to. derealization felt the worst. but i couldnt tell if its dissociating/adhd. adhd is my official diagnosis tho rn.
0 likesI need help ........sometimes during the day I feel like I am re -living a particular moment which has already happened....and I can clearly remember what is going to happen next. This thing happens to me when I least expect it and when it happens my head starts to hurt. Comment if the same is going on with you so that I can assure myself I'm alright.
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Dont worry this happens a lot to me too! My head doesnt hurt after but every other part is accurate
0 likesThis is a symptom of many diseases....mainly, Lyme. There is no definitive test for it yet, but I’d definitely want to have an evaluation for Lyme.
0 likesgood luck i have it aswell , 7 years of therapy and clinical treathment nothing help to get it away, still depressed and i still have derealisation
0 likesI wish I could dream...not all the time...just most of the time. Not trying to be insensitive, just sick of this real-life stuff all the time! :-)
0 likesI dealt with this so bad throughout all of high school thanks to clinical depression. I have almost no memory of my teenage years thanks to this 😢
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I also had to ask my mom every once in a while if this was a dream or if something actually happened and wasn’t a dream
0 likesOmggg I used to live like this 😭😭
0 likesPeople say that we live in a simulation. Well it turns out that the simulation is running inside of her brain and we all are just part of her dream.
0 likesThis is very common with people who have been sexually abused as children :(
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lady stardust1972 or really any trauma at any times of the life
0 likesCBT definitely helps me stay grounded.
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DRUNKEN RAMBLE hmm never tried that
0 likesI have this... and it is related to anxiety. However other more unfortunate things have exacerbated it. I don't see it going away anytime soon.
0 likesI got derealization from smoking weed. Had it for about 1 month and 2 weeks but it is not permanent
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mX Igor i smoked for 1 year everyday . Then i was drunk on the Next day i woked up with a psychical down . Thought it would be going away . My misstake was to smoke then and since then i feel like smth is wrong .
0 likesI thought i was crazy I can’t believe I’m
0 likesNot the only one .
It makes me not recognise my face and feel nothing for my family.. I just see separate people and titles.. everything they say is expected and I know how I should be but everything feels fake and memories feel like smudged ink on paper.. sometimes I just stop listening to someone by accident and my eyes just go wide. I walk real slow and always tired and just sort off waiting for something.. got a lot of money for where I live as well but I literally spend nothing because nothing entertains me or interests me. I have no social media’s, no one knows I exist. Feel like a hollow shell watching everything from a third perspective
0 likesI’m like it now, it’s just 24/7. I just feel like I have no choice so I just carry on and let nature do it’s work
i'm pretty sure it's not the same thing, but i've always tried to describe to people that feeling of staring in the distance where you're focused but not focused. a sleepy but not sleepy feeling. and then something snaps you out of it. but that ZONE that seeing things and not seeing them. it's so nice. also, really good sex. not kidding. same sort of feeling
0 likesI have sort of the same problem. Mine is kind of mild tho? I only know that because there was a time when I had a more intense feeling of depersonalization its called? And I felt like I was loosing my mind I felt much more disconnected from everything. I wasnt hallucinating or anything but everything around me just didnt feel real. I went on a raw food diet for a few months and things got much better. Im now eatting "regular" (much more clean but at least one or two cook meals) and im still a little hazy and disconnected, but not as bad as a few years ago. That was really scary.
0 likesBTW Mine started around 2012 too. Ill bet a lot of peoples did. Had a dream in February, I think, that we all died in 2012. I dunno, might explain why so many of us feel like were walking around in a dream.
Don’t know if any viewers will be browsing this comment section and this sounds a little crazy but witchcraft has done loads for me to feel more present and grounded in reality. Mostly visualizations and meditation type stuff that connects your energy to the world around you. Also crystals and herbs that stimulate the root chakra and provide clarity are big helpers too, this may not be the demographic for witchy tips but i thought I’d drop them anyways.
0 likesIf you're dreaming, try becoming lucid. Just don't jump.
2 likesI don't know if i have this but i keep spacing out. I sometimes walk around my house while im day dreaming. I can keep walking for a whole day. The veins on my feet are popping out. And my arms and limbs keep spazzing. I pumch myself accidentally sometimes. I don't know what i have.
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I also dig my nails inside my palm when im so stressed. It's kinda like im ready to punch my self
0 likesOk guys I need help so I kinda feel like I’m dreaming ever since I got out of one of those mirror maze things at like a fair that was like 5 months ago It happens like every day but not all day everyday so anybody know what it could be
0 likesI feel like I'm in a dream
0 likesDerealisation is at the end of the anxiety spectrum. It is what your brain does to avoid or resist a full blown panic attack. It’s the more passive version of the « fight or flight » response. Your brain needs to dissociate and change the reality of something that is or has (trauma) obviously triggered you too intensely. For me, treating the underlying anxiety has resolved this symptom completely.
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Yep well put I agree 👍
0 likesGirl same. always and forever.
0 likesI literally have the same thing
0 likesIT SUCKS
“Row, Row, Row your boat gently down the stream, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Life Is But A Dream.”
5 likesi had it a few times for like 15 seconds
0 likesHas anyone suggested CBD or Kratom? JK seems like there is one person on every health subject suggesting one or the other.
0 likesI have DP/DR mine came from tapering off Benzodiazepines. I had the DP/DR really bad for about a year and then it kind of just vanished over the period of a couple weeks. Sadly it has resurfaced recently, I think because of the stress of my taper, as it still gives me a whole host of physical issues.
That first year was terrifying and although it has returned, I’m a bit more at ease.
Oh boy. I think it's time to talk to a doctor
0 likesTbh I know this was a real but when ever I would talk to someone about I the would look at me weird, it got to a point Every time I use the bathroom, gets to silent (in my head) around me, or I get in a good or a bad place in my life I would have to Literally Pinch or slap my leg really hard to see if I would “wake up” and I would oddly catch myself talking to my self or Pre-predict the future but no don’t would be there... and no I’m not going to the doctor for a Diagnosis it doesn’t always effect my life and it’s probably just all in my head.
0 likesI don't know why I am just finding this. Or maybe the universe is finally answering my call or maybe I'm dreaming this, I don't even know. But I have had this issue before and doctors didn't even tell me what it was. O.o
0 likesIsn’t this just called depression? Because I have this hella bad... I went to Florida last week and it literally feels like it didn’t happen.. when I was there or felt like it wasn’t real? I’ve always known why i was like that; I knew o was in a constant dissociation. Me and my friend Brooke talk about it all the time. It freaks me out so much. For me, I’ve always had this feeling but it’s gotten really bad the past three years
0 likesI have times where i don’t believe it’s actually happening and also have trouble speaking clearly!?!😓pls help
0 likesI had this for a year and then it went away.
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How
0 likesWhat if you tried DMT (Joe Rogan feelings) and that makes you stop daydreaming? 🤔
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Vitor Roma get out of here!! go!! get!!
0 likesThis happened to me when I smoked weed, and I was “stuck” in it for a little while and it comes back. I felt like I was dreaming or in a video game. I was in control of my actions but I didn’t feel like I was, I felt like I was just watching myself preform actions and I had no control
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SoursNoodle free will is an illusion
1 likeMy first bad trip was like that, but I'd never expected it to be that bad. I didn't feel connected to my body at all, I lost myself in time, a minute felt like years, like forever. I thought life wasn't real and that nothing ever was or will be real. (I had a panic attack at the same time so that was fun.) It's really hard to explain if you've never experienced it.
6 likesAnne The funny thing is it was just weed for me, but it felt the same way. I know about mental health stuff so I kinda assumed what was going on, I was like: "shit, I'm dissociating big time" but I still wasn't sure if real life was real at all, I had to convince myself that it was because things seemed familiar. As for the panic attack, I knew it was something anxiety related, but I didn't know it was a full on panic attack till the next day. Analyzing things helped me a bit, but I guess it usually makes things worse and makes you dissociate more because you are supposed to "go with the flow". I underestimated my mental health, though. As you said, I was afraid I trapped myself in that state too, I thought I broke myself and was already imagining my life "as a disabled person disconnected from the world", explaining to my parents what happened, going to doctors who'll try to fix me etc. lmao
1 likeJan it happens to me every time u smoke weed, I actually enjoy it it's kinda cool. It's like being split into two half's and living them both at the same time (one half mind one half body)
0 likesSoursNoodle same - in HS i used to smoke a lot and whenever i would take a break id still suffer from derealization. Strangely things like opiates make me feel fine, but weed, forget it . Too scary 😂
0 likesWeed does this to me. I hate it. I have to find something to distract myself or I start to panic and always believe I may never go back to normal. The idea of you suffering this for years would be my worst nightmare
3 likesJan yes!!! It’s so hard to explain to others and I just don’t get taken seriously then it makes me feel stupid
2 likesIt's called dissociation. Usually happens to me after I have a breakdown.
0 likesHow long did it take you to get out of it
0 likesSoursNoodle it’s called depersonalization
0 likesHi I am suffering from this for 8 months and I feel the same ? Is there any medication to feel normal again . Please I feel like I’m stuck in a daydream . Help I’ve gotten help already I’m taking busparone but I feel more in a daydream on the medication
0 likesSunny Bay’s Aquarium unfortunately there’s no medication that is made to help with depersonalization. Some people find ssri’s helped but some people say it makes it worse. The best thing for it is taking care of your body and sometimes thing like cognitive behavioral therapy can help. Exercise and eat healthy. Maybe look up Harris Harrington’s how to overcome depersonalization disorder.
0 likesIt happened because you smoked weed. While cannabis seems to help with anxiety. It normally heightens it as you come down from highs. Also when your high there’s really no telling what your brain could do. 🤦🏾♀️
0 likesThis also happens to me when I take edibles, but for me, I take it as a blessing. time slows down so much, I'm able to process through so many thoughts and emotions within a short time span it's insane. Like taking a twix break. I dissociate in real life as well, and have since I was a small child so this may have influenced my opinions on it. But it gets so bad it even causes severe body dysmorphia to the point where I feel like my fingers are huge and my body is like, this spaceship. Idk. I just take it in and accept it as my current reality, and know that I picked a good time to go through with it, and I will be fine in the morning when I wake up.
0 likesI had a feeling like this when I was 14. I used to smoke alot of weed and one day I just woke up feeling different. like the weed hadn't worn off. im now turning 30, work in an office, have two kids a failed relationship, a beautiful relationship, chased my dream and moved country. ive moved on from trying to feel normal again. I used to be so aware of things, of time, of touch,smell, light. now everything kind of merges into one. everything is indifferent
0 likesSoursNoodle I also get that feeling and it often makes me paranoid I'm in the Mendella Effect. Or maybe a better way to phrase it is that I feel aware that I have always existed and the Mandela Effect has happened. I'm suddenly aware that I'm much more than this human body. Kind of a spiritual experience. Has anyone else ever thought of this possible link?
0 likesI felt like that for 2-3 weeks, I felt like I was wasting my time.
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Simon Freeby that’s about how long it lasted for me. Felt the same exact way.
3 likesSimon Freeby that's how i've been feeling for almost 2 years now(?) along with depersonalization..
10 likesMolten Kitty me too 😢 but not with depersonalization
0 likesIt’s the worsttttt it feels like a constant out of body experience I’m so glad it passed i hope her experience goes away
2 likesThis was fascinating, thank you for sharing!
4 likesI don't have a disorder like this but I had a similar experience as a side effect from an antidepressant about 4 years back. I had trouble describing it for the longest time so no one took me seriously; my depression had progressively been getting better so my doctor and my mom didn't want to change my medication over what they thought was just "attention issues" (which was a symptom of depression anyway).
Except it wasn't really that, it was more like I'd often feel like everything was unreal, like it was a dream, and I couldn't think properly. Sort of like when you're on the edge of lucid dreaming and you're noticing everything is weird and feels off but at the same time you can't really do anything about it. I couldn't read because I'd forget everything almost immediately (I've only started reading again these past few months, starting with easy things like comics and manga) and even playing games was hard because I'd forget what I was trying to accomplish. Sometimes objects (or my hands, feet, etc.) seemed like the wrong size, or very distant despite actually being close, and I had a persistent mental "fog" all the time. Sometimes I could barely move or talk at the worst points. I looked into dissociation on my own time and found out that what I was experiencing was similar. I didn't do anything about it until I was practicing driving with my mom and had to stop suddenly (in an empty parking lot mind you) because I felt like I could barely see or think straight. That was when she started realizing that it wasn't just some run-of-the-mill limited attention span issue. We eventually got me off the medication.
The issue lingered for a while and it's been less than a year that I've felt normal again, although it progressively got better within the same year I went off the medication. But I spent much of high school feeling disconnected and still haven't gotten my driver's license.
Look for a Pranic Healing healer. You are disconnected energetically and it's just a matter of time before something else pops out and you feel sick again, maybe in a different way,maybe the exact same way. It has been going on for years so you need help healing and figuring out yourself. If you need more info,just let me know.
4 likesSending you and whoever is in need, love and healing energy. May your soul find peace and be surrounded by other loving souls.
This is kinda like what happens when I get migraines. Like my vision is kinda blind, so on the edges of my vision there's just nothing there. And then I can feel myself doing things like running or talking to people but it's kind of like a simulation and I'm just watching myself from up above. I also can't concentrate as well both because of the pain and because of the simulation thing. So I get super spacy. But possibly the worst thing about migraines is the period of waiting for the pain reliever to kick in. The best way I've found to combat this is the second I have an aura, I call home so I can get picked up (if it's at school). Otherwise, I try to get home as soon as possible. Then, take pain medication and drink some water. I'll go into my room, to take off my pants and bra and lay in my bed with the door locked and the blinds closed so it's completely dark and try to fall asleep. Mostly, I'll sleep for 2-4 hours and be fine. Sometimes I'm nauseous but the pain stuff helps with that. If you have migraines, stay strong! I'm sorry, I know it sucks, but it'll be ok. lol I guess this got kinda off topic and long but idc soz
5 likesI have the exact name thing its really scary😭 but how I cope with it I pull at the fat flab under my chin and scratch it and rub it
6 likesi have ptsd and dissociation for me has stemmed from abuse endured when i was a kid. i definitely relate to your struggles because even after i was out of that environment for years i had periods of weeks and months where everything felt like a dream and i remember talking to people and going through my days, but feeling that floating feeling you spoke about. after lots of therapy and cbt and medication i have stabilized and learned to cope with my mental illness and the derealization and dissociation has lessened tremendously. i still don’t really remember most of that time in my life, but i’ve learned to cope with it. so, i’m just here to tell you that there is hope for recovery and that i wish you luck on your journey. 💜💕
6 likesPLEASE, EVERYBODY READ THIS!
117 likesOkay, so since so many of us have experienced something along these lines, I’d like to offer a place where everybody can comment to say what HELPED them. Please, if anybody has figured out a way to diminish this or kick it altogether, what was it that helped? Meditation? Journaling? Better sleep? Thank you in advance — I’m sure this will help a lot of people!
Replies (36)
talking about it a lot, lying in the sun, writing about it.
13 likesmeditation! yoga, running, hiking, being in nature!! surfing!! and most importantly talking about it!
16 likesFor me it was sitting outside in the sun and just breathing and taking lots and lots of hot bubble baths. It helped that my boyfriend was so understanding and he really helped me get through it. My mind was literally consumed with how I felt and the only thing that could help me get past it was time. I could not breathe and it was worse at night and I didn't know why I was having anxiety. I would wake up all throughout the night with panic attacks and jolts running down my body. It was terrifying. I went to the dr and made my mom take me to the ER to have all sorts of test done. I remember when the "dream state" hit me and I kept asking my boyfriend if I was just asleep or if I passed out idk I was so confused. I haven't felt the same since.
18 likeswearing sunglasses really helps with my derealization and anxiety
14 likesFor me, and for our host in the video as well, nothing really helps it go away. I have learned to live with it. It took me a long time to come to terms and accept it and embrace it. But what helps me get through it is knowing that it will not last. That I will get moments of clarity. And when I do finally get my rare moments of clarity, omigosh do I make the most of it! I enjoy it and feel grateful for it. Because I know my brain fog will come back soon. Sadly, exercise can exacerbate the symptoms for me . But that is no reason NOT to exercise. I still do it because it's good for your body in the long run. But anything you can do for your mind and body that are healthy and balancing are still important and I would encourage everyone who has this condition to really take care of themselves. If you don't take care of yourself the symptoms only get worse.
10 likesI quit smoking weed. I totally tried to distract myself and got lost in life and have FUN . It all eventually went away after months of agony and suicidal thoughts.
7 likesVenus weed is the number one trigger to dp/dr
6 likesRaphael Vasconcellos I’ve noticed. Yet I’ve always wondered why.
1 likeWhat helps me is have an ear bud in one ear (dont wear both cause it triggers it more in fear i wokt hear something) and listen to either music or youtube stories
2 likesI had the start of a very small episode once, and I did as many "normal" things as possible..the one thing that brought me back was when I was brushing my teeth. ..
3 likesDon't think of yourselves as crazy. I feel that a lot of us feel that something is "wrong" so you begin to panic. I've dealt with this my entire life and didn't even know it was a thing until watching this video, and I didn't begin to feel bad about it until I read comments about people panicking about it, which I see happens alot with people who struggle with personality disorders. And that is a completely valid response, but I feel that if we see it as something being a part of our experiences verses something negative that's happening to us, we'll feel a lot better about it and be able to handle it. That is, if it isn't affecting how you function day to day. I never want to be dismissive anybody's experiences . Speak to someone if you feel that it isn't manageable alone, or overwhelming. I hope you all find what you need for yourselves. Much love.
6 likesI had 2 episodes of that and I still don't know the cause of it, even if I am always a bit stressed... What can help me (but I'm not 100% sure) is: meditation and sleep A LOT (I can sleep maybe 12-15 hours a day when I feel derealised)
2 likesI take prozac. It helps quite a lot.
0 likesI find that lying down and closing my eyes whilst not talking or moving for a couple of minutes usually helps it to go away quicker.
1 like@Lukash Lee ty imma try this
1 like-getting thyroids checked
7 likes-getting all the vitamin levels checked
- I take vitamin b12 and NIACIN , vitamin d drops and it helped me so much
-Yoga , meditation
-finding a good homeopathic doctor
-reincarnation therapy did miracles with me
-talking talking talking
- if you go deeper into spirituality and you talk to Shamans they will tell you how special you are and that this “sickness” is a gift it means your third eye is open you see everything in a other vibration .
So understand you are not crazy ,
You don’t have to fit in a “normal” box it’s crazy to be normal .
We are all different and that is good !
There is nothing you have to be scared of you are not alone with this .
I have Derealisation/depersonalisation/anxiety /panic attacks / depression since almost 10 years . And all of this helped me so good and is still helping .
Everyday is different and without the shadow you wouldn’t recognise the light .
You are strong ♥️
Learning to love (or at least like) myself helped a lot because I'm always so in my own head
0 likesOn days where my anxiety and depersonalization is bad I will wear long sleeves to work, to me it helps not being able to see my arms and constantly thinking that I'm not real. It isn't a cure but it can help! Hope that makes sense and I don't sound too crazy lol I have yet to really find any successful coping for my derealization, i wISH something as simple as sleeves would help
1 likeRaphael Vasconcellos in my case alcohol triggers it, after the occasional night of heavy drinking I’ll spend the whole day (sometimes even two days) feeling “off”, disconnected from reality and feeling like I’m not properly responding to my environment. It usually also comes with a lack of desire to do anything, it’s kind of derealised depression
1 likeExercise, running in particular - worked for me and one more person I know. Also glasses if you need them. Also saying no to anything that makes you feel numb like too much food or sleeping. The less carbs the better.
0 likesis being on the computer a lot bad
0 likes@L S as long as you're focused on something - chatting, working or watching a movie its not. But if you start feeling lazy and dizzy I'd say take a break asap
0 likesThe more sleep I got the more these feelings diminished! Also I realised that these feeling are horrible but - they are just feelings. Even though feel unreal and that I'm dying doesn't mean that I am dying.
1 likewhat helps me is laying down in bed at the end of the day and thinking about everything I did. for example: I think about what I ate where I went how I got to places and small things like that. I do this because personally I will forget what happened by the end of that week almost completely and ill just remember what I did and not how I felt or little details(if I went to the mall with my friends I wouldn't remember what stores or what we did I would just remember that I went) this helped me tremendously stay strong <3
0 likesI got rid off it in 3 moths by talking and ignoring it... i could make u forget this feeling 😁
0 likesI tried nofap, no change.
0 likesI sleep more than enough.
I sometimes feel fresh after meditating but it barely lasts a second.
Honestly i find writing unapologetic poetry helps me materialise my feelings and that sort of helps me get a slight grasp on reality.
0 likesMeditating, use it as a tool to find your true self.
0 likesI have had it for 7 months now beginning in may and it was so bad back then but when I started running cross country in august which had workouts and long distance running I can honestly say I have improved so so so much. I know that exercise helps people with depression improve their concentration and memory so I am sure that it has to be connected to dp/dr. I highly recommend exercise :)
0 likesMusic helps me a lot. I sing and play guitar. Somehow that brings me back to reality and to life itself
0 likesI catch myself when im starting to go into a dreamy state. I start thinking about something and I completely zone out and I forget where I am. Ill be staring into space. I have to catch myself as soon as I start thinking and losing awareness of the things actually in front of me or itll be a while before I “wake up”. Usually when someone asks me a question or theres a sudden noise
0 likesFor me, live life as you would otherwise the best you can, and accept that the only cure is time.
0 likesI adopted a dog, she is my whole world, I credit her to getting me out of my first bout of dp/dr (however has since come back due to stress/anxiety). also I forced myself to get out in the world and do things, taking walks, running, I ran ~10 miles a day and I ate healthier. I became closer with the people around me as they distracted me from those feelings. that all combined helped me.
0 likesfind a place that you remember best and go there during a bad episode. or meditation/guided imagery
0 likesI just distract myself as soon as I start feeling depersonalization. I’ll start reading something or watch a YouTube video , anything that will stop my brain from over analyzing my surroundings
0 likesGeneva for me I had very similar symptoms and it turned out to be diet related. Once I stopped gluten it stopped.
0 likesIt has a name!? I need to make an appointment with my doctor ASAP
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You can find the symptoms on Wikipedia or in the DSM. It's so frustrating :/
0 likesSometimes when I have to talk in front of people I won't be able to remember what I did/kinda almost black out and have to ask "did I do good? Did I do it right?"
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Raina Pink I feel that way all the time. Apparently (for me) it's a combination of derealizarion and ADD
1 likeSounds like that might be dissociation caused by heightened stress
1 likeDODIE! BABE! YOUR SKIN LOOKS GREAT! 😍
7 likesHow do you get out of it?
0 likesI love your accent!
0 likesi really don’t know how to explain what i experience. I just start feeling like my life is going in fast forward and i start panicking and crying and telling my dad somethings wrong but he doesn’t know what to do so he just tells me to try to sleep but that doesn’t work most of the time. i can’t go to sleep when this is happening, i can’t do pretty much anything. and then it suddenly goes away
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something like that happened to me when i have a high fever
0 likesThat sounds like a panic attack....
8 likesHey lovely, telling yourself that it's "just that thought" again can really help (it's helped me heaps), know that derealization is a coping mechanism for your body to deal with anxiety. I've done tons of research on it and your brain thinks you're in a "fight or flight" situation, so it pretty much shuts down in order for you to cope! Also, for me I find that touching things around me and using all of my senses really calms me down. That way you know you're in the world around you, and not just in your head. I know how scary it can be, you can get through this 💗
3 likesI've an obscure word for that:
0 likeszenosyne: a sense that time keeps going faster.
And another:
adomania: the sense that the future is arriving ahead of schedule.
Makenzie Lombardi yeah it sounds like a panic attack
1 likeCammy thank you so much♥️
0 likesI love your make up! 😊
1 likeWhy don’t you have ATLEAST 1M subs bc tbh u deserve like 10M subs
0 likesOk is this really a thing? I’ve convinced myself I’ve got dementia but this is much more fitting....but idk
0 likesI’ve had a few episodes of this before and it was scary:( I wasn’t sure what it was and everyone around me was like “it’s ok” and didn’t understand it at all. Thank you for bringing this to us!!😊❤️ also I am not self diagnosing myself I just would like to share because I was nervous when this happened. Stay strong!
4 likesthanks for making such an informational video! i love that you are so open about this, it really helps.. also you look super cute today <3 xx
3 likesI have this. Its Lyme.
0 likesWelp Im not gonna self diagnose but it is definitely time to see my doctor haha oops
0 likesI kinda hate the fact that this is not really commonly researched, and especially with kids. I'm currently 13, and I've experiences derealization/deperonalization all my life and I can usually find some sources about it for the general public, but I can't find anything on experiencing it as a kid, and I'd never know how I could deal with it, that isn't in pov of a parent. I never knew what I was feeling had a name and I never had enough trust to tell anyone and my whole life was kinda in isolation.
0 likesI’m so happy I’m not the only one who feels this way
8 likesMy therapist says it’s just a part of my schizophrenia
0 likesIsn’t the visual aspect normal? I thought it happened when the lighting changed suddenly?
0 likesStill doctor couldn’t understand my problem. This vision problem is killing me. God only know when i will come to real world
1 likeBetween the realms of 3D and 5D
0 likes🙏💞💜🕊️💜💞🙏
Much Love to All
Just the other day on Friday I felt like I was dreaming while I was wide awake. To explain it, it feels like your floating or not in control over what is going on. Like yeah, I I wanted to pick up a paper...I could, but it didn't feel like I was doing it myself, more like someone was controlling me. A while ago, I felt this For over the span of like a week. I told my mom and everything, but she kept saying "it's going to go away" and it didn't for a while until it just disappeared. Weird right?
5 likesWow. So interesting! You look like me,too.
0 likesI know what it's called I'm pretty sure it's called "Air Duster"
0 likesFish oil helps a bit just be patient it will go away .
0 likesI’ve felt like this my whole life, for years doctors thought I just had depression but I knew it was different! I didn’t feel real, my body didn’t feel like my own, and I couldn’t tell the difference between being in a dream and being awake. I found antidepressants helped me be calmer, however nothing has actually helped me feel ‘real’ again. It’s so uplifting knowing other people feel the same! This aspect has helped me so much, knowing I’m not alone 😊
4 likesyou opened me up to this idea and made me realize that i have it too! i saw this video years ago and ever since the idea has been nagging in the back of my mind, and now i’m diagnosed and being treated! thank you!!
1 likeI can relate to this so much. Sometimes I would even ask my friends to give me slap in the face because I felt like my soul was floating somewhere else. Or I would feel like I'm moving in slow motion, couldn't feel my limbs either sometimes.
1 likeI definitely feel this at times. Most of the time I blame it on weed that can still be in my body or deficiency in vitamins or minerals. After watching ‘limitless’, I was scared shitless. Watching these types of YouTube videos are really frightening lol.
1 likeThis happens to me when I am extremely sleep deprived.
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Grace C omg i was waiting fpr someone to said it that happens to me too
0 likesThis makes me want to cry but thank you so much for explaining it so well.
1 likeThank you so much for helping me realize I’m not the only one! 💖 I have had chronic depression since I was 12 years old due to traumatic experiences and I’ve also had symptoms of what you are describing. My vision has been bad but every time I see and optometrist my vision is “fine”?
0 likesi have just been told i have this so i came back to your video to re watch it because i remember watching it when you first posted it ♥️
2 likesThank you! I think I’ve realised what happened to be after exams now. I was so scared that I was losing my mind and being left behind by everyone because my brain couldn’t keep up with what was going on around me. Thank you for making realise I’m not alone.
0 likesI feel like that all the time. This is helping me a lot
0 likesThanks for sharing your story ! Pretty sure you gonna help a lot of people . I will definitly buy your book. Best regards !
0 likesHi,
0 likesThanks for the tips. I had a major depression for a few years and a few months ago I even tried to commit suicide. In a clinic I got diagnosed with a schizoaffective disorder. I also experience permanent derealisation and it really destroys my feelings. Thanks for raising awareness as I might not have to explain it that much anymore. Good luck with the treatments!
it always happen to me during my panic attacks or my mental breakdowns
3 likesReplies (1)
Same
0 likesI have a constant undertone of being afraid of everything. I told my mom everything feels unreal like I pressed a reset button and I can't feel things I used to feel. Something feels off all the time, it's, scary. She doesn't believe it's important, it makes me want to die.
1 likeHello! Thank you for sharing your story. When I was 10 years old I was diagnosed with disrealization and depersonalisation.
0 likesAt 11 years old I started to feel very numb also caused by my disrealization and I started to self harm to make myself feel pain. I started to feel really depressed and anxious and nobody understood. I explained it as hard as I possibly could but nobody understands. I did have a very traumatic childhood and maybe that caused it. But disrealization and depersonalisation is the worst thing ever. 😭💔
Wow. Thank you for making this video. I have suspected I have something like derealisation-but-all-the-time for years, but always settled back on dysthymia/Persistent Depressive Disorder and anxiety and social anxiety and ADHD (all without a diagnosis, yeah yeah).
0 likesYesterday after a long time in a new situation I was presented with a more familiar experience, and it motivated me to read more about this feeling of being in a constant dream/drunk-lite state. Instead of searching for derealisation and depersonalisation like I usually have done in the past, I searched "autopilot feel like I'm dreaming" and got a result where someone called Suzanne described my experience perfectly. (I'd been put off derealisation as a diagnosis before because it was always so general and the symptoms seemed very specifically related to an 'out of body experience' or 'feeling like you're watching yourself from the outside', which isn't my experience. But this Suzanne person experienced the same disconnectedness that I do.)
I messaged my sister because we like to talk about our mental health pretty openly with each other, and she linked me your video after I explained that I'm taking this whole derealisation thing more seriously at last. What I told her reminded her of what you'd said here. And holy crap (as I said to my sister twice) this is it. Wow.
So yeah, thank you for describing it so eloquently and giving me a bit of hope that my brain isn't as much of a tapestry of tangled dysfunctions as I thought, and that this might explain things better than all of my previous guesses, without feeling like there's 'something wrong' but 'wronger', if that makes sense. (If not: I mean that whenever I read about other diagnoses I'm like "yeah, like that, but wronger", and that just makes me feel hopeless. Like, if there weren't diagnostic criteria to explain my brain accurately, then what the hell is wrong with me?)
So, to see something I experience described so exactly has already helped me feel a little better than I have done for a long while and I'm very grateful. This also explains why I always get a little bit uncomfortable when people talk about mindfulness and being present. :')
Sorry for the long comment by the way, this is just a bit of a climactic revelation!
Thank you for the word that describes my dream like safe place at home, but when going out into the madness of the real world, i can't wait to get home to that comfort zone. 💋
0 likesThis video helped me so much. I first watched it during a mental breakdown caused by symptoms of derealization and it convinced me to get help and speak up and get diagnosed. I'm now getting help and of course it's still hard but it's so much easier knowing that I'm not crazy and other people experience this too. Even now watching this video makes me tear up a bit because I've felt alone with this for so long and someone finally gets it. I'm so grateful for this video :)
0 likesIve just started feeling everything you described last week, its the scariest thing I've ever experienced in my life. I find I get into a mental loop, my anxiety triggers this brain fog and my brain fog triggers my anxiety. I feel like I'm going INSANE I question who I actually am. It was comforting to watch this video and know Im not the only one dealing with this.
0 likesFelt this, when certain things trigger me I have these dissociative anxiety attacks that can be really really scary. Now I take medicine and rarely have them.
0 likesI’ve experienced something like this once and it was on a school camp and the whole time I felt as if I was in a dream and like no one was real and that it was just me at the camp even though I was surrounded by a bunch of people, I remember we were at breakfast and I was putting my plate away and all of a sudden I completely forgot where I was and everything went sort of black. We also had to watch performances and stuff at the camp and the whole performance night I just felt completely detached from reality and everyone around me, weirdest 3 days of my life
1 likeThis was extremely helpful and informative. Thank you so much.
0 likesI watched this video about a year ago. Thinking when i was first watching it that it would be awful to live with this. And recently have been having episodes of derealization. And to my former self. You were right this is awful.
0 likeswhy am i only just finding this video?? oh my gosh I’ve been feeling all of those symptoms around six years and I’ve dabbled in the idea of derealisation n I know it exists but I honestly thought I was just losing a part of my brain that I need to actually feel like I’m living. thank u, dodie!!!
0 likesI've had times in my life where I've dissociated but I always seem to come back. I think. I've definitely had periods where I feel like I'm dreaming, especially during the night when all the lights are on. I also had a bit of a more scary experience in which I dissociated so far from myself that I couldn't feel any proper emotions and no longer did I recognize myself when I looked in the mirror. It was like seeing a stranger for the first time. I cried a lot during that time. I'm doing better these days I think but I definitely know how it feels
0 likesThis thing happened in class today where I started day dreaming and then all of a sudden went dizzy and felt like my life was all fake 😳
0 likesI have the exact same problem. Your going to be fine. I have derealisation as well remember you are always fine. wear sunny’s, look down. and remember your ganna be fine no matter what. I will go away soon i promise you. It will take time to recover but you will. It’s a spiritual awakening
2 likesI get this for months when I'm very stressed. Doctors never seem to know what it is.
0 likesI had a really hard period of derealization after a bad edibles trip, now my feeling of derealization is that it feels like i am always always always high. This has turned me from a very social person to someone who simply can not attend parties as every sound and voice seems to cut through it all and i check out of my body
0 likesSo I watched this a while ago and I was like wow that’s wild Im so sorry that you experience that but actually the other day had a period of derealization for the first time in my life and I would’ve had no idea what was going on without this video. Because I knew about it I wasn’t so scared or panicky so thanks dodie you’re helping people even a year and a half after this was originally posted
0 likesThank you for sharing your experience. 🌹
0 likesI used to have this for like 3 years straight and eventually it faded off with my coping mechanisms. I still get it randomly now but it goes away.
0 likesHow I always explained it to people is when you go see a movie at the cinema and then 2 hours later you walk out of the dark room into the daylight and you still feel so weird for like 10 minutes or so while you’re readjusting
For anyone that experiences this, since everyone's different, have you noticed any "triggers" for your derealization? I noticed in another comment someone said they feel like it happens when they have fun for some reason? Or is it a specific sound your hear, or smell that you smell? Or is it 24/7 for you? If you've noticed a trend it'll be awesome to discuss
0 likeswow. i feel like this sometimes when i am doing something fun like going to a party or dance or amusement park. i never knew how to explain so i always said i felt like i was dreaming and that i feel light headed and weird.
0 likesWow. Brains are crazy. I totally have no idea how that feels, but I am glad that dodie is open and that people are willing to work to find solutions to such crazy difficulties. I wish her and all people struggling with this all the best. You are important, your health matters, don’t let people disregard your needs
0 likesI experience this sometimes, I know it isnt to the extreme (and doesnt feel like to the importantce) of others who experience it all the time but it happens when my dissociation triggers are harder to handle and i dont usually let it happen so if it is handleable then i will blink really hard (I can a barely move my body most of the time) or I will let one of my Headmates take over and thats like being entirely dissociated but when its done it also feels calming and you can also only get a few thoughts in every once in a while that part is the most annoying but we can also feel each others feels so that helps
0 likesOh dude, I’ve had TMS too. IT FEELS SO WEIRD and it didn’t work for me either.
0 likesI FEEL LIKE YOU DESCRIBED ALMOST ALL THE TIME AND I NEVER KNEW WHAT IT IS
0 likesI really think I have it but I'm so afraid to ask for help because my parents don't believe me I have depression and ocd even though I was diagnosed by a professional
This happens to me when I’m really anxious
0 likesI am experiencing this right now, as I type this. I haven’t watched the video but I know what it’s like. I wonder if I’ll ever get better.
0 likesI have DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) and i get bouts of Depersonalization and Derealization .
1 likeI can get memories of timez of it when i was as young as 5 or 7.
And even going to the nurse because of Depersonalization when i felt floaty and like my legs werent there and that was maybe 2nd or 3rd grade
This feeling has only happened to me once before. I had just gotten out of a really bad case of influenza, (so bad to the point where I had to be hospitalized for three days straight because my temperature was so high and I wasn't able to eat anything without choking on it or throwing it up. Horrible, Horrible times.) Anyway, when I was released from hospital I spent a few days at home to eat and regain my strength. Everything was normal, and I was able to function properly, but there was just something that was...off. When I spoke it didn't sound like my words, it was like it was echoing from another person's mouth instead of my own. Days passed and I began to feel like I was watching myself from the third person, like all my mind could do was imagine a zoomed out image of me on my bed or watching tv, to the point where I couldn't actually see my life from a first person view (it was still there, but my mind didn't focus on it, all it could focus on was the image of my third person view I had created) I told my mom about it and she said it would go away (she wasn't dismissive, we actually had a long talk about it from what I can remember, but that's what it all led up to because I suppose she had no idea what to say.) Once I was ready I went back into school. I got a lot of hugs and hellos, my teachers all greeted me happily because I was a well-liked student and classmate. But all the communicating felt so...weird. I remembered that when I was at home I had thought that going to school and socializing would get me out of this weird experience, but it just made it worse. This all took place over the course of two weeks I believe, but then one day I woke up and the feeling was gone. I felt rejuvenated and everything felt vivid again. I could see through my own eyes and speak through my own mouth, and nothing was weird of unfamiliar. That happened when I was 9 or 10; I'm now 13 and It hasn't happened since, but sometimes when it's quiet and I'm alone with my thoughts, I think about it and if it had ever happened to anyone else. When I watched this video all I could think about was how similar my experience on those two weeks is to Dodie's experience all the time. This is definitely one of my favorite videos on youtube now :)
0 likesI suffer from this as well. But then again I struggle with just about every thing so...
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Tyra Wiggins hhmmm
0 likesI'm glad that I'm not the only one. It happens sometimes and I'm not sure how to make it stop. My family said to lay down, drink water, or some other things that don't work.
0 likesI’ve watched this before, but I only realised now I’ve been experiencing that. Shit. I only just got out of depression, and I’ve been wondering what is still wrong.
0 likesI could be totally wrong, but my friend had the exact same thing and she figured out it was an allergy to gluten. Might be worth looking into?🌸💕
2 likesReplies (2)
Make the world Glossier she could have low iron, i do and i have this same condition at random times. she should have her blood tested all she needs to do is eat differently and take some supplements if that’s the case!
1 likeSarah Esposito yes definitely I hope that’s all it is!!
2 likesi was so scared when that happened to me it makes me do things bad because i don't actually feel much guilt
0 likesI had this conditio for about 6 Months after smoking a Lot of weed.
0 likesIt was the scariest experience I ever had to Go through and it made me depressed as well.
It defenetly got a Lot better but it has changed me as a person and sometimes i still get verry anctios for no reason.
Cant imagine living like this for multiple years. Stay strong 😘
I had this for about 3 weeks straight. Most horrifying thing I’ve ever experienced. Triggered by a bunch of panic attacks at once and stress, sometimes I worry it will come back after another random panic attack, I absolutely HATED this feeling. I can’t imagine having this forever. Maybe it’s not the same thing I experienced but i can only describe it as feeling like I was in a dream I couldn’t wake up from. I couldn’t focus on anything, was afraid to drive because I couldn’t pay attention, literally felt like I was tipsy exactly like she explained. Wow!
0 likesI saw my doctor a while back because I thought I might have narcolepsy... but this seems so much more realistic to how I feel. I’ve been thinking for weeks how I feel so disconnected to what’s going on around me like I’m constantly in a dream... But I didn’t know how to describe it.. my doctor is going to think I’m a crazy self diagnoser 😫
0 likesive has this for a while, but i never knew what it was. thank you, dodie. eg. i was in class today and i just- i just could remember anything that i had just said. thanks again.
1 likeokay so write in my note when something happens which feels mentally weird and things like this have been happening for months and i haven’t ever told my therapist about it thinking it wasn’t to big of a deal but now i’m not to sure. i have a therapist for other reasons but i have chronic depression but now i’m thinking this could be another thing to talk about.
1 likeThank you for sharing this. You are most excellent.
0 likesMe too. It sends me into panic attacks so bad and when I pee I feel like I’m wetting the bed even though I’m on the toilet
0 likesIt's a big relief to know that im not alone even though i feel bad for people who feel this way
0 likesI have "brain fog" as a component of chronic fatigue and depression. It is incredibly difficult to describe these afflictions to healthy people. Your description was exceptional and poignant. Very helpful in differentiating the two. ty.
0 likesPlease try an antipsychotic like abilify. It helped tremendously with my similar symptoms. If you need to talk about it I'd be happy to!
0 likesI am 30, working fulltime as a project manager in a digital production company. I probably have a burnout btw, and I think this DP/DR is like a safe modus of my body to cancel out the stimulus that my body can not handle. I only have small episodes on DP/DR, but I had never heard of it before and when I try to explain others they are looking at me as if they see water burning: they don't understand. The DR hits me when I am over stimulated, so it happens for example in the main hall of a train station, but also in a noisy waiting room at the hospital etc. When it overcomes me, my environment gets blurry, as if I am in a bubble and I feel weird. I can still have a conversation with someone, but it takes a huge amount of focus to do so. Also all the emotion get's drawn out of my face, like a pokerface. Precise movements with my hands and fingers become very difficult, so putting in an earring is a huge challenge. It makes me feel out of control of my body, which then leads into anxiety. Until now, it goes away in a couple of hours, followed by a huge drawback the next day where I feel totally exhausted… This video almost has 10k comments at this point and more than 1.5M views. This means so much to me, we are not alone!
0 likesI too have this condition and it has improved in the past couple months but now I am weirdly missing the feeling of when it was worse and I do not understand why I miss it.
0 likesI feel disconnected from real life a lot of the time, it feels like i'm living inside my head. Sometimes I'm thinking about the future, or when things have been really bad, I've literally created a whole world in my head that I escape to, imagining various scenarios (I've heard this is called maladaptive daydreaming) I don't dissociate when I'm with people, but when I'm alone I go into a dreamworld, hours can pass and it feels like minutes. Also have very debilitating anxiety and have had periods of depression, and often purposely isolate myself sometimes for over a week (easy to do as I work from home) with no real contact with others. I know it's not healthy, but I don't really know where to start or what to call it. Not sure it's the same as this, but perhaps something similar? I so rarely feel present, and it makes it impossible to do things I want to do, and my work suffers greatly due to my daydreaming/ruminating. It feels similar to being in a trance. I also have crazy & super intense dreams every night, often lucid with full range of senses that I can remember vividly when I wake.
0 likesOf course I’ve never gone to a doctor or anything for my mental health but I just watched this whole video w my mouth wide open and the more she explained I have experienced everything she talked ab it’s insane. cuz I’ve been struggling since middle/high school trying to figure out why i suddenly felt so different and nothing felt real and lately it’s only gotten worse where I will have a whole conversation w someone but feel like i wasn’t there for it and it wasn’t real. Luckily I turn 18 in 2 months and I can go to a doctor
0 likesI remember watching this video when it first came out and thinking how horrible it must be to have this disorder. Now, almost two years later, I have it. Not being able to cope with the enormous amount of stress I've been put under the past couple of years, not to mention my depression, caused me to develop it. This probably sounds very petty and whiny but it just sucks to think about how sad I was for people who had this disorder, and now I'm one of them.
0 likesFor the last year and a halo I’ve been feeling this same way as you’ve described I’ve been to the doctor over and over and they kept telling me that nothing was rong and it’s been getting worse these last to 2-3 works it freaked me out and I thought I’ve had a tumor and other things and i really don’t know what to do and it scares me very much most of the time because all I won’t is to run my day without any problems with vision and looking like a complete moron for not remembering the basic things like names and appointments please let me know if you find anything that will help this problem
0 likesI used to feel like that when I was like 12 or less, now I’m 14 and i think I haven’t felt like that for a really long time, it just stopped happening idk why
0 likesIt gets even worse for me the more I think about it and gosh, the few times I feel substantial, it just feels SO GOOD, ugh. Dissociation/Deprsonalization-Derealization sucks.
0 likesRecently I've felt so out of touch with everything around me. I feel quieter and more isolated, even when I'm at school with friends, I space out and I find it really hard to come back. And for a few moments I forget where I am, what I'm doing and what I was doing, what day it is, what time it is, and why am I there?
0 likesIt gives me a lot of anxiety when I don't know where I am or who I'm with in these situations, so I try the grounding technique and it kind of helps, but I look stupid doing it in front of friends and I can't just say "oh, I think I'm disassociating, lol"
Idk what it is. They're little episodes I get but they become more frequent. I'm hoping to talk to a professional soon to help me with this dilemma. Its making me super anxious and kind of depressed due to isolation and hopelessness. This video is helpful. I love you
Ive always felt the same way
0 likesI told my therapist that I think I experience disassociation a lot and she brushed it off :(
0 likesBut that was
Many months ago
And it’s still not gone
It only started this year that I started having episodes of derealisation and depersonalization feeling like life is a movie and nothing is really real and it's funny because I think its my first year of not being in chronic depression but I do kinda remember what happens to me because like I said it's like watching a movie and you can always "rewatch" it
0 likesI had this when I found out my boyfriend has brain tumor and I guess I didn’t wanted to belive its really happening.
0 likesI remember everywhere I was I used to slap myself or poke myself bc I thought its a dream. Mostly at the toilet I was scared to pee bc I thought its a dream and if I wake up I’ll pee in reality.
But it didn’t least for long :D
i honestly feel like derealization is also the reason behind my social anixety. Like every time i go out and interact with people in groups i cant fully focus on them and constantly think "oh no do i sound high or drunk? im not right? do they know that? oh god what am i doing, what are they even saying?" to the point where i dont want to go out anymore... rip ill fix it one day hopefully
0 likesI kind of feel like this sometimes, but I'm not sure it's to a large extent. It takes my eyes a long time to adjust to bright or dim lights, which is why I like my room to stay at a medium amount of light spread evenly across the space. I also forget large details of important events, and when retelling the story I often fill in something random even though I know it's not right, but it's my closest guess. And finally i tend to film and photograph when i hang out with my friends, and part of that is probably my love for film and photography, but some of it is also that i space out often and dont want to forget the best moments of my teen years before I miss them all.
0 likesKeep your chin up lovie. I feel like this also. Always.
0 likesYou go girl
0 likesI been feeling like this for the past 4 days. Like a dream I can't wake up from, like and hang over that can't clear up. I dont drink smoke are do drugs and for a second I was wondering if I was drugged? Glad to know I am not alone, I feel disconnected from reality familiar things are strange my memory is fuzzy my thoughts are foggy. I hate it hope it go away soon.
0 likesI mainly feel out of my body whenever I’m thinking about it, if I am focused on doing something like basketball or I’m busy doing something I don’t have the feeling, it’s mainly when I’m doing nothing and just thinking about stuff, that’s when the feeling comes over me like my body is just a body that I can control and that I’m not myself
0 likesah yes this was so horrible in middle school for me when i was very depressed. it has basically gone away with the right medication and treatment. i used to have realistic dreams and be confused about whether a dream had actually been a memory of something real, and felt like looking at the world through a pane of glass. but i would like to share that for me it was depression-related and improved immensely as i got that under control. i hope that gives someone hope. Oh and TMS didn't work for my depression! didn't expect you to mention TMS! sure would be nice if it did...
0 likesI feel what your talking about sometimes but it’s temporary for me.
0 likesI'm 41. I've had Depersonalization and Derealization since childhood. I shudder remembering how terrified i was as a child. This is a truly awful thing to go through. To STILL go through...
0 likesStay strong everyone xxxx
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@ibra józef 🇵🇱 It never went away. Just is there hanging about waiting to pounce, I have just learnt to accept it and to try and not feed the fear.
0 likes@ibra józef 🇵🇱 Everybody experiences things differently. Yes, the intensity of it lessens dramatically. But I always have the Depersonalization feeling. I try to ignore this the best I can. Otherwise fear feeds fear. Making the Derealization show its face. Sadly sometimes no matter what I do. I have a bad time with both.
0 likesI’m on a trip right now and I feel like this 😫
0 likesI was diagnosed by my psychiatrist. she prescribed me anti-depressants and anxiety medication.
0 likesim suffering with this a lot recently but haven’t been diagnosed, its terrifying i can’t deal with it anymore
0 likesi used to / still get this when something bad has happened. the only way i used to connect it with is the feeling of being drunk. it’s very easy to zone out, and it’s very hard to pay attention just like she explained, it literally feels like your dreaming. it’s such an uncomfortable experience.
0 likesno i literally ask myself all of the time what if all of this is a dream and when we wake up we repeat the things we did in the dream
0 likesI have bouts of this, and people really don't understand when I tell them. It happens when I am overwhelmed, especially in crowds or unfamiliar places. Sometimes just randomly
0 likeshonestly i thought i was going crazy for so long. it’s hard to just completely wake up one morning & not feel like you’re there. it’s been like 3 years now and it still hasn’t left. i wish i could just go back to the way my life used to feel. it’s irritating to feeling so confused all the time . during school it’s difficult to take information in i feel so stupid bc i don’t feel like i’m understanding. i’m just glad i’m not fully alone w this.
0 likesI thought this was normal. I’ve gone through what I would describe in the same way kind of thing since like 5-6 grade, I also started having anxiety since then. I thought this was just the world lol. I probs don’t have this just, well yeh. That happens.
0 likesEvery once in a while I feel like I'm looking at myself from outside my body, and feeling pity for "the person who owns that body", like I'm just a spirit or I have nothing to do w it :-/
0 likesI don’t know how to explain this but, Whenever I sleep I always know and feel when Im in a dream, it’s like, I can feel it. And When I wanna wake up I always force myself in my dream to wake up and boom im awake..
0 likesHoly shit!!! Seeing dark or seeing black around the edges of your vision is common!!! I thought I was going nuts!!
2 likesWow I was chronic with this as a child
1 likeHad a Very abusive childhood
Don’t do it anymore
yeah there was a distinct switch in my entire being in 8th grade. i became depressed and anxious. i starved myself and self-harmed. all the while, my memory was shot (i had a great memory as a kid) and i couldn’t concentrate bc of the cotton feeling in my brain. i sorta figured out on my own it was depersonalization, but i convinced myself i was just crazy. now i’m in a really bad episode of numbness and depression and i realized that it has been depersonalization this entire time. i just need to get some therapy for it.
0 likesI'll be with my boyfriend hanging out and doing normal things and ill feel normal, then when he leaves I feel like I didn't really even experience that. or sometimes ill walk around in a big open place and ill feel like I'm not really here, and I'm detached from my body. my friend experiences it too. I think that the reason this started is because of weed, I tried it once and got really bad anxiety, and during me being high I felt unreal and it never went away, sometimes I think "I'm going to wake up soon." but I never wake up, I never feel real. it is the scariest thing I've ever felt and I hate it. I'm glad that there is a disorder or whatever for it because it gives me some but not all relief, I'm still scared because I know that this feeling may never go away and might just follow me till the end and its very scary.
1 likeOccasionally i feel like im high (not drunk), and ill realize maybe mid conversion that what i said is real and that its not a dream, sometimes when im happy or when im with certain people, im wondering if i have this? Ive looked up the symptoms and talked to my sister, but she said it was more anxiety/existential, which doesnt sound too good either. I havent been diagnosed with anything, but i have anxiety and i think i might have depression (mild), and i think i could possibly have this? I also have bad memory, but i dont have the vision thing (i dont think) and honestly i cant even remember the rest of the things she said cuz im writing this after i watched it
0 likesI was born with this and it’s only getting worse but to me it’s just a normal thing for me but the one thing I can never get use to is having deja vu ALL the time bc I can’t tell dreams from reality so they mix together
0 likesActually thought I was the only one until right now. Thank you
0 likesWhen you tell your school counselor about you having this and she tells you that you’re pretending
8 likesI have the same condition and theres one thing that pulls me back into reality and that thing is weed
0 likesThe best way to describe it to people who don't know what you're talking about is: Deja Vu ... the sensation just as you get Deja Vu that everything around you is suddenly surreal, that is depersonalisation/derealisation disorder, except that it's all the time for us...
0 likesI'm not sure if it's normal, but since past few years I've been feeling kind of... Weird? I mean, I could be in class for example and it's just like I'm losing my sense of reality. For a moment I have no idea where am I, what is happening and I'm weirdly scared. It's hard to explain, I probably make no sense.
0 likesIt's the brighest time of the day but everything is so dark and blurry. I can hear but i can't listen i can't feel. A drop of tear could have saved me if i could cry. I wait for the nights to run away from this nonsense that i can't be a part of but somehow i still complain that im not gettin any pleasure from life
0 likesThat's how i would describe it
I tend to embrace the feeling when it comes. If I don't then it triggers a panic attack feeling as if nothing exists. What I do is imagine my vision as watching a screen and checking that I'm still in control of my hands and fingers. Then I think of things like I'm controlling myself like a video game and try to think of the benefits of it. I then feel like I can do a lot more and have more potential to get things done. If I don't feel like me then I imagine that someone I care about is with me in my own mind helping take my stress or pain. Although I admit if my mental state isn't too positive it isn't always great since to make the best of a situation you have to really imagine it being good. I hope this helps anyone who reads it.
0 likesoh no that's me
0 likesthis part of my life is... very stressful.
my body feels lighter than air or sometimes heavier than a whale
and sometimes i feel like the person in the mirror is constantly changing shape, but it still looks a little like me.
all of my memories feel more like things ive seen in a movie rather than things i have experienced.
i know i'm not in the moment and i subconsciously pick at my fingers until they bleed
I'm crying i have been avoiding this video for two years now and i cant help but hate my self for it because i think i need to go get myself checked the ironic thing is that when this video came out i started to stop going to the doctors less and less the last time i went to the doctors was last year around December because i had strep throat the reason I'm sharing this is because i just realized if you think you need help or something is wrong SOMETHING PROBABLY IS WRONG i obviously cant self diagnose myself but i think its time we all start taking better care of our selves and start sharing our stories a little more and a little better to help others who don't believe it until they see that this isn't just something happening to them or something everyone is going threw but something they need to look out for (yes there are zero periods haha)
0 likesBruh I have this too, it really sucks. I know how terrible it is, my memory is always awful, and I feel like I'm never myself. I wish you the best in dealing with it ❤️
0 likesI have this. How are you doing? Also do you by chance have the Mirena IUD? Or ever had it? Asking as I relate mine to it.
0 likesWhen im really baked, like, SUPER baked, I feel like i'm in a dream, but not to this extent. I have no idea how you cope with it
0 likesI don’t think I have this bc I’ve rarely had the vision thing but I feel like I’m not present all the time except for rare moments to the point where I completely zone out or things don’t feel real and when I was very young (like 7ish or maybe 9) I would constantly feel fake and look at my hands and be like “oh my gosh those are mine” and would go into confusing mind episodes where I felt like everything was fake. Also it makes it harder to deal with things because even in moments where I know I’m supposed to have immense feelings I can’t conjure them because I feel so out of it. One of the only things that really helps me is fiction and watching TV and reading because it makes me feel alive. I don’t know why I just poured my heart out to a bunch of strangers on the Internet I’ve just never really talked about it and I’ve always felt crazy. It’s like I go through extreme moments where I feel too much and everything is heightened and then moments where I don’t feel anything at all.
0 likesI had it bad when I was in elementary school but it stopped now I'm in high school and its coming back I have found if I smoke or eat a lot of bud/weed and feel vary vary spaced out when I'm not high anymore it doesn't feel as bad and plus its is experience a few times a week try it a few times and see how you feel trust me
0 likesthank you dodie
0 likesthe being drunk all the time description is so fucking perfect omg
0 likesWell, here we go.
0 likesIn bigger sutuations, with more people, I'll walk through syrup. Look through a film. Hear everything, smell everything, colors more vibrant. I'll switch from the film syrup to the vibrant colors and hear everything. Its stressful. Anxious.
I found this video by googling why do I feel like that
0 likesThings you were saying were true but I was not really sure if this is what I have
And then you said that you see as you were drunk but you do not feel drunk and after that I knew you were talking about the same I experience
I don’t have this all the time, but I get it in the morning, when I walk places, often when I’m walking around school. It’s often like I’m talking and walking and my body’s moving and I’m just watching behind fog and glass and I know I’m talking kinda, I know stuffs going on, but I have no control of my self and I’m not sure what I’m talking about or how I got here or when this started happening. I have no sense of time, and I have HUGEEEE gaps in memory for years (I’m 16, I can’t remember years 7-9 at school at all, none of year 10). I also have this close friend that I cannot for the life of me remember meeting, or socialising with, or knowing. It’s like I just woke up one day and she was there and my friend. I’m diagnosed with depression and anxiety.
2 likesReplies (1)
Have you ever heard of dissociative identity disorder? Check out the channel dissociadid
0 likesOkay Im not sure if I have this. Idk. It used to happen ALOT at school. But stoped this summer. I would feel exactly as you said . Floating, confused, and It used to scare me, but I learned to tell my self that it is real life and that to keep walking or keep doing what I’m doing. I haven’t experienced this in a while, as I said it only happened at school. Can someone help?
1 likeI feel like I'm watching my life like if it was on a tv and I'm not really paying attention to it
0 likesI have a dissociative disorder. Mine is no longer as severe as it was. But I was in an interview last week while the woman was talking I began to have an extreme episode of dissociation and was doing everything I could to ground myself. Therapy really helped by giving me steps to stay present. Feeling the fabric on the chair. Focusing on a smell in the air. Having an awareness that it's happening was half the battle for me. Luckily she didn't notice because it was towards the end of the interview and I got the job.
0 likesSo relatable
0 likesMine also started since 2012 and it's still here
0 likesthis is very very late but i feel i need to share this before i forget. since watching this video, i realized as a child ( one of the very few things i can remember ) that i always felt as if i was being controlled in a video game or being in a simulation. and i remember saying things and then immediately not remembering if i said it a second ago or two hours ago. i’ve been experiencing this my entire life. i always thought it was normal. i can barely even remember what i did an hour ago. it’s getting worse. i keep slipping into derealization and slipping back into reality. i don’t understand it
0 likesWow, did anyone else feel themselves drifting away while she was talking?
0 likesI started feeling like this around the start of winter, so like november
0 likesI live in Norway so it starts getting dark around then like
All the time
Only a couple of hours of sunlight a day
I thought it was that, and I went through the winter thinking I had seasonal depression
I was sure this would go away in the summer, summer makes me happy! It’s always made me happy so why wouldn’t it now
I would cry every day during winter, and more and more snow would come, just making me even more depressed
I wanted to feel alive again, I wanted to know what was happening all the time
I hated having the spacing out things happen
And then before I knew it, after the long winter, the snow started melting
I was still waiting to feel better
Thinking to myself «oh summer hasn’t completely started yet»
Suddenly I could wear shorts outside, and it was july.
I’m still stuck with this feeling
And now after 8 months of it I found this
Thank you, I know I’m not alone anymore. It truly felt like that
I’m going to go to the doctor and like, figure things out
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I’m so scared of this never going away
0 likesI have the same thing and I have learned to not react or it will get worse
1 likeReplies (1)
Josie Nerska thats true
0 likesUmmm well this explains why I can’t remember literally anything and how my eyes are dumb and will not focus half the time and how I don’t recognize myself in mirrors like big oop looks like I have this. Yay more stuff that means my brain is a mess.
0 likesHad it for 27 years. A nightmare
0 likesI've had depersonalization/derealization since I was 13 years old. I'm 24 now. For the first 7 years I had little panic attacks, felt hopeless, kept counting the years, thinking that "there has been x time since I haven't been truly living"...but the truth is... We keep living, we keep being here even when we feel we aren't. This is a way of existing in the world as well and the more I focused on other things, the easier it became. This is the first time I thought about it in years, because only now I'm realizing I've been feeling like this for 11 years! I do believe I'll feel "real" again at some point, but until then, I just keep living my life the way I can. I've been using the existential angst that this feeling of unreality is giving me to ask questions about Life, the Universe and Everything, and overall I found that what helped me the most was to live from my heart more than from my mind. More love (for people, for myself, for everything) - less fear - less anxiety - more purpose, satisfaction and less stopping in the middle of something to question its reality and then go like aaaaaaa. Thanks a lot for this video, when I first started feeling like this there were just a couple of youtubers talking about this, now it's very encouraging to see more people speaking out and also sending positive messages like you do <3
6 likesEver since I've been at secondary school, I've been feeling like I'm flying through time and I used to look around and take everything in. Now when I go to 90 minutes football match, I can't remember what happened. It's really frustrating.
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I'm in year8 and I have decent memory-ish but I'm just so bored! It might've something to do with not having close friends, and not being invited to parties, etc... Sometimes I feel depressed, like, REALLY depressed, maybe it's just puberty being a bitch, I dunno.
0 likesAquatic Doodles that’s pretty much just being a teenager. Not a mental illness.
1 likeAbby Marie I hope so, don't wanna be stuck with this for the rest of my life- it sucks.
0 likesAnyway, do you suggest I try and do something about it or should I just wait it out?
Abby Marie That's what my abusive mom said too. She also told me to stop telling anyone I wanted to kill myself because it made her look like a bad mother lol.
0 likesIf being a teenager includes so much struggle, even just a little, why is it so awful to want help for it? To want to have a better experience?
Thank you so much for sharing!
60 likesI hate to be the one who always claims "I have that too!!" But I've gone through something similar. I always thought of it as a symptom of sleep deprivation. I never thought my anxiety could be the cause. I thought the whole vision thing was normal, and it was just a product of my eyes adjusting. The memory, a product of no sleep.
Although the worst, most noticable part was the inability to tell dreams from reality. I've gone from days to a couple weeks at a time where I have to check texts, my camera roll, my diary, my homework binder to figure out what I did and didn't dream. My famous line to my friends has become "Did I tell you about that for real? Or was that a dream?" It's not necessarily that I feel like I'm dreaming, but it's that my dreams feel too real.
I'm not saying I have exactly what she does, but it definitely makes me feel less alone.
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I might have this too but I cant say for sure. I have the sysymptoms she is describing. It happened to be about 4 years ago and stopped but has come back about a week ago. Not sure if that is possible with this so I really dont know what it is
0 likes@Nickolas G the condition she's talking about seems to be connected to anxiety. So yeah, definitely possible, especially if you've been more stressed, tired, or have just changed your ways to cope
0 likes@MissMayawl yeah I agree, like, Even if I don't have the condition she does, it's still really comforting to know that the feeling is valid
0 likesDUDE this is happening to me literally more and more often and its scary because I think I'm going crazy like all my friends bash me for it because it is coming more and more common for me to mix up dreams with reality and I am daydreaming more and more each day and I feel so spaced out sometimes it makes me exhausted I also have anxiety. Have you gotten any help for it? pls reply ahaha I feel so alone in what is happening in my brain I just want an explanation for it
0 likes@Leslie Socks
0 likes@Ella Marlan It seems to really be affecting your mental health I would suggest bringing it up with your gaurdian because there might be medication or something that could help
0 likesi understand. for me, my dreams are normal but it’s reality that takes a more dreamy role and dreams that take a reality role
0 likesI’ve been dealing with this for 5 years. Thank you so much for sharing about this topic 👏
3 likesI've got dissociation all the time. It's not as bad, but it's constant. It gets really bad in public at stores or restaurants, or with big groups. My memory has been effected by it too. I've been trying to do things like yoga to ground myself and feel my body, but it's hard.
3 likesYo, I have the same problem, I've had it for years, sometimes the feeling has lead me to start having very reoccurring panic attacks which isn't fun ;-; What usually helps me cope with it is watching youtube tbh.. I just find something I can focus on and help me forget about how I feel cause thinking about it is what leads me to have the panic attacks.
5 likesI had dp for five years but it turned into anxiety, and I hadn’t it for two whole years. One month ago I had an episode of dp and two days after an episode derealisation for the first time during panic and now I can’t get over it like i’m going crazy .
19 likesAnyways I have some tips for dr, when you have it basically you feel like everything is a dream, not real, or two dimensional, the vision is kind of blurry, you don’t recognise anything for example people or yourself or objects. Yeah but even if your dreaming you are real. I mean an illusion belong to something real. If illusions are illusions it doesn’t make sense. Illusions are SOMETHING.If you believe you are the only human being I swear I am real (still my doubt btw). Your blurred vision is normal if you have anxiety, or if you don’t spend time outside and other thousands reasons. And if you don’t remember a lot things, it happen even to people without dpdr. If you don’t recognise human remember that is just a feeling(yeah every fucking time I see a person I am triggered)like when you repeat too many times a word, it sounds weird. I Hope everyone will get over this
Ps
Don’t read forums or shit, it just make you feel like this will last forever and that’s incorrect because When people get rid of dpdr, updating forums is their last problem
This happens when i go on my bike at night like in the day at 7 pm intill 9 pm and then feel like im floating and i can fly but i can never lift off the ground .
0 likeswe love a comment section full of self diagnosing
0 likesThank you for this! Does weed help? Do you take cbd oil?
1 likeokay so i’ve dealt with feelings like what you described a few times in my life they’ve all happened at parties when it’s been loud and there’s been lots of lights and i’ve described it to my family about how everything goes blurry and time skips a little bit and they didn’t understand it and i had no idea what it was but after watching this i think it might be derealisation ?? all of what you described is pretty accurate to what i’m feeling and even though it’s only happened a few times throughout my life (my first time was at a friends party in grade three) i feel a lot better about it knowing that i can put a name to it thank you for being so vocal about it :))))
3 likesSo.... I have... had these symptoms? I don't want to self diagnose but I feel these symptons strongly when I'm in over stimulating places or in situations I'm not used to that invloves a lot of socializing? And I just kinda consider it me being "too tired" or "stressed" and I know everyone considers it really scary, but I've always felt calmer in this dissociation because I don't have to think about what I say or anything because I'm not fully in control of that and I can just let it happen and then go home and calm down. I always end up thinking "wow I really look like that? Thats not what I looked like earlier" though when I see my reflection though lol ^.^;,; maybe I don't have this thing and I'm just weird because I guess being relaxed in this state isn't really how people have said this state of being is
0 likeshugs you and everyone else going through this
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JiminCoffee bless you
1 likeWhen this used to happen to me like ALL THE TIME I thought I was just had at focusing so for a very long time I thought I had adhd....oops
0 likesThis happens to me all the time idk if it’s serious though I never looked into it
3 likesYou aren't alone, I have the same thing and have for three years now, I'm only 14, I've had depression and my severe anxiety is the reason for being like this. I didn't know others had this before you so thankyou.
4 likesi assumed she had aspergers its a lot harder to see in women. i could feel the same personality traits as me sometimes watching the videos, it explains how she acts so well and can sing on pitch,
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i guess feeling dreamy when there are a lot of people around, kind of tics a box too because you have to read everyone rather than do it naturally, its instantly tiring.
0 likesOK I've had this for 2 years and here's some stuff I've learned --- I can't tell if it's placebo or not, but what's really helped me, more than anything, is actually getting allergy shots to treat seasonal allergies and dust and animals. I know that seems like it's a totally different issue, but honestly every time I'm in a dusty place or it's pollen season I start having these exact symptoms - I feel drunk, spaced out, like everything is a dream- and NO other symptoms you'd usually get with allergies. I used to feel this way CONSTANTLY and it made me seriously depressed, which led me to believe my depression was the root cause. I think a lot of people don't realize how your sinuses can affect your mind and alter your mood really drastically, since they're basically wrapped all around your brain.
25 likesI'm not trying to diagnose anyone's mental illnesses and boil it all down to allergies, just wanted to share my experience and what's helped me because I know how insanely suckular it is to go through this. Everyone is different of course, and I hope you all can find something that works for you :)
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I have OCD and generalized anxiety but I've noticed that my migraines caused that feeling. I literally panicked every time I got a migraine in the back of my head. I googled (despite that usually being bad to do & bad for my OCD) and found that was likely related to my allergies. So anytime I get a migraine I take allergy medicine and my disassociation rarely happens now.
1 likeAllergies, inner issues, and congested sinuses all exacerbate my feelings of DR. I don't think they cause it, but they definitely make it worse, so you're onto something!
0 likesJust had to post a comment saying I think you might be onto something my sinus is always blocked... Lol
0 likesI really believe you're on to something. I have terrible allergies & have been dissociating since I was young!
0 likesever tried meditation? look into dzogchen, zen or doing nothing meditation, those are more intuitive approaches which feel very natural to me
0 likesI used to have constantly have episodes of this when I was a teen. It is is really disturbing. At one point, my mother took me to a doctor, but nothing came of this. I had never heard of the term derealization until years later. I realized it's symptoms matched almost exactly the mysterious frightening feelings that I would often experience throughout middle school and high school.
0 likesI’m so thankful for this video. For the past few years ive gone through time periods where I thought I was suffering from anxiety or depression but after watching this I’m pretty sure this is what I suffer from. It’s like I’ll be fine for a month and then all of a sudden I’ll experience weeks of blurriness where I everything around me feels surreal like I’m in a fantasy movie
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Ross W i used to feel like this all the time and now it comes in waves after a while of feeling okay it's strange right? i'm so thankful dodie opens up about it
1 likeOnce I went to a Summer camp, and I honestly couldn't remember anything from the four days.
1 likeI had this for a few months after smoking to much dmt
0 likesliterally i hate napping because it disorients me so so so so much when i wake up. i couldn't imagine feeling like that all the time.
10 likesDo you have any stomach conditions? Could be something with an underlying cause such as SIBO or a Lyme-type under-the-radar infection.... (I'm not a doctor.)
0 likesHave you looked into from the Medical Medium? Completely physical real health issue that people are healing from!!!!!!!!
0 likesI had just gone to therapy earlier and I tried to describe just this. I've heard of it, I know what it is but I didn't want to admit or believe it. I had gone through a long episode of depression all summer along with panic attacks from anxiety. I had been hospitalized because of it and it was horrifying.
4 likesThen after about a month of that extremely long episode. I've been feeling just this. Nothing feels real. I often get dizzy or even "sick" and causes me more anxiousness. I am getting help and I'm thankful for just that. Remember if you ever feel like your surroundings or just everything in general are unreal try a distraction such as a puzzle, journaling, or try a game of solitaire ( just some examples) remember you are loved ♥️
i thought everyone experienced this,, time to go to the doctor
0 likesOmg there is a name for it?????? Brb heading back to my doctor 😂 shitttt. I seriously thought I was crazy. I’ve been crying weekly because I thought I was going insane!
0 likesi have some of these symptoms but they're because of autism for me
0 likesOkay but i need a little help. I thought I might have this but Dodie explained it a bit different than how i experience it.
0 likesSometimes i cant focus, no matter how much i try to readjust my eyesight it always feels like im looking at something from a far. The world seems to fast, or too slow, and im going in the opposite speed. That makes me freak out when it happens because i get overwhelmed. My brain cant comprehend certain stuff and i can never focus on one thing without doing it multiple times to try and understand. I also forget easily, and im always out of it. Blanking out, forgetting how much time has passed or what my friend was talking to me about. I often feel unreal, like my hands are made of plastic, or arent my own. It freaks me out so much, but i dont know if its derealization. Can someone help?
I was just exposed to the terms depersonalization and derealization, and this video helped me understand it better (from an emotional standpoint). Thanks.
4 likesI have/had that as a symptom with my anxiety. You feel so free when it's not there and so strange when it's there. Hopefully will never have it again 🙏
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Rayowag I was thinking this too! I have anxiety and this happens to me. But not constantly. Sometimes in shopping areas. Always cvs! Idk why! Or if I’m done writing a letter, Blog, or song or something.
2 likesI'm a maladaptive daydreamer and I also have an insomnia-type-thing that allows me to feel normal when I don't sleep at night but makes me feel light and disconnected when I do sleep.
0 likesI suffer from the same condition. I have such a problem with helping people understand it, so I really appreciate someone with an audience bringing light to this issue. It's been just as challenging to get doctors to understand as it is with friends and family, and it has always been a major contributing factor in my depression. Medication has helped, but it's still a journey. Thank you for your openness!
4 likesI dont know if this is like the same as this but i could just be sitting there and feeling like im dreaming like im not day dreaming im awake and i could like be talking to someone but i dont feel like its actually happening like im in a dream idk how to explain it its really wierd and it happens all the time does anyone else relate to me?
0 likesall of this sounds familiar but I'm not sure... an example of what it feels like; i'll be on a bus and ill look at my surroundings ill tell myself I'm looking at a tree but it won't process that is there and its like my thoughts surround me and that they are the only thing that's happening, I feel as though I'm on autopilot, that I have a subconscious of what I'm doing and ill look normal to everyone else but I will feel out of it and like I'm watching a video or that I'm dreaming it feels its not happening or that I'm observing it from afar, its so weird and hard to describe and idk if its normal or if it's me going insane
0 likesOml Ok I’m not tryna self diagnose but I’ve definitely experienced this (or something similar to it) for at least the past 3 years, sometimes on and off. When I tried explaining it to my old therapist she said I just wasn’t eating enough??? So I started bringing granola bars with me to school but it didn’t stop so I just kinda tried to pretend it wasn’t happening?? Idk but at least I’m not alone in this.
0 likesholy shit.. ive felt this way for about three years now and was never able to describe it until you read the stuff in your book. My mind is blown because I've never been able to explain it people.
5 likesjust saw your instagram post, hope you'll be fine soon. being a dummy for research or for anything is scary (from experience, it's dangerous and stressful). also about the fmri thing, mri tests are loud and annoying lol.
13 likesi just thought that’s how your brain worked tbh. i thought that’s how your brain reacts to the eyes. i feel like i have this and ocd, but my parents haven’t taken me to a therapist, and i’m scared.
0 likesedit- also i’m not depressed. i have anxiety, specifically social anxiety, but i’m an extrovert??
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extroverts can have social anxiety, too. the introvert/extrovert distinction is really all about whether you are energized by social situations (extrovert) or depleted by them (introvert).
0 likesOk this is sad but
12 likesWhy didn’t school teach me this tho?
I've had that happened to me before once was when I was walking in school I don't recall if I was heading to my next class or lunch but as I was walking I felt like I was dreaming and I would ask myself, "am I really here?" Then I would answer my own question: "you're actually here right now, relax." I think I recently felt that sensation about a week ago tomorrow. It happeneds from time to time. I have anxiety I read on Wikipedia that having anxiety and if you've had pantic attacks in the past plus having low self-esteem is a few of the reasons why that dreamlike sensation manifest itself.
3 likesLmao, don’t want to self diagnose. But the beginning of 7th grade to now (beginning of 8th grade soon) I’ve felt like I’m in a dream/seeing life through a movie screen. The way Dodie describes it is exactly how I feel, and it scares me because I don’t like it. I’ve had multiple break downs and anxiety attacks because I felt like I wasn’t normal or something was wrong with me. But of course, I haven’t even tried to reach out for help because I’m always too anxious to ask/tell my parents. I’ve gotten more depressed because of it and I want help but feel like I don’t deserve it.
0 likesYou should not take 5HTP while on SSRI's if you still are, it is quite dangerous.
0 likesI take Vyvanse, there is no reason pharmacologically it should help but I feel like it does keep me more alert and aware in the severest of fuzzy times although I think it makes the logging of memories worse or perhaps my memory-logging has just coincidentally gotten worse.
Oddly, if I go off of the Vyvanse for more than a day I experience an episode of hyper-realization where everything feels real and lucid for the first time or like I am waking up from the dream. It is overwhelming...feeling coming back to your hands, clear vision, clear audio, hearing yourself breathing and feeling it...it can be scary and I think that is why my brain keeps me in the dream world.
Best wishes to you.
Hey Dodie, I just want to say I really empathize with your situation. I've struggled with it for a long time myself and I still do struggle occasionally. For me, improving my diet improved my condition a ton. I really believe diet is a huge factor in mental illnesses from my personal experience. I know people get annoyed when people talk about how diet affects mental illness, but I don't think it can be emphasized enough. Processed foods have chemicals that fuck with your brain chemistry like crazy, also animal products have hormones that fuck with your brain, and they're very difficult to digest, and the gut is the second brain so if you have crap sitting in your colon it's gonna fuck with your mental health. I follow a whole-foods vegan diet and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you try it too. Best of luck I know it's hard but keep trying you have the right mentality :) <3
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This isn’t factual.
1 likeElise M
3 likesI have chronic derealization and it started when I came off of the pill and then got the copper coil (which I believe has poisoned me).
When I eat good, I feel good.
I agree that it is to do with diet.
What we fuel our bodies with is so crucial to our health. Our gut is the place where all our nutrients (and toxins) are absorbed so it is 100% acceptable to believe this is the case.
I have started clean eating - mostly vegan with no grains. And I have been drinking fermented cabbage and honestly the amount of weird stuff my body has been purging is crazy.
Our brain, our thoughts and feelings are all just chemicals/chemical reactions and so if the chemicals are off balance in our body due to diet then why would it not affect our brain / mind.
I was really skeptical of this protocol but honestly I have been in such a dark place for so long, trying to hard to 'snap out of it'.
Many people on this page are talking about their experiences with many different symptoms and how they're being reversed (including anxiety, depression, memory issues, brain fog etc).
I'll link it incase anyone would like to look.
There are around 50,000 members and many seeing unreal results.
It's not for money, it's just information, you have nothing to lose.
And I can firmly say it's been helping me and I think this may be my way out of this nightmare
https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=197663030736437&ref=content_filter
A reaction to chemical makes sense. Diet and exercise does have an impact on brain chemistry. But diet doesn't cause it. I just think a person shouldn't self diagnose because it's tricky. It could be a physical condition, like anemia especially if it's diet related.
0 likesElise M Elise M It's pretty hard to not self diagnose when I have walked into multiple doctors offices and they haven't a clue what I'm on about or how to treat me.
0 likesWhen I was 12 I diagnosed myself with anemia and I then found it I was severely anemic and have had it ever since but all doctors do is give me iron supplements for a while and then when I come off of them I become anemic again.
There has to be a reason WHY i keep becoming anemic, just like there has to be a reason why I feel so bad mentally.
Not saying it is diet, as I said this happened to me after getting the copper coil which has poisoned my body I believe. Doctors refuse to believe this but my nutritional therapist believes this is the case and I have completed tests which prove it, as well as having aluminium poisoning (from vaccinations) and mercury poisoning.
I feel like something in our bodies has to be out of tune or off balance for this to occur and it's just about finding what it is for you whether it's hormones or diet - there has to be something.
I do not believe I fully 'thought' myself into feeling high / drunk 24/7 - to me that is absurd. I do believe it has been a contributing factor though. I think giving my body the correct nutrients and detoxing any horrible toxic matter will help me and I feel if people already haven't then they should do some research on their physical health as well.
The reason I started researching my physical health when this happened to me is because I started feeling tired a lot (even when my blood count was up!), I have become very very sensitive to caffeine when I never was before, I would get headaches and pains in my
joints.
It's really hard but i'll find a way out and hopefully others will too!x
My derelization git word from a vegan diet just saying, like I lost so much weight and just stopped eating so this doesn't always work
0 likesBreathing Oxyjenn i don't doubt it. my experience with it stopped after i cut out all junk food, ate healthy and started exercising. don't get me wrong it didn't happen over night but after 6 months of keeping up with my new routine. it was completely gone. i saw my first sign of improvement after about a month and a half and then it slowly started getting better and better
2 likesI do this a lot lately...🌻
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+Dave Long no?
3 likesDave Long wtf are you talking about
2 likesDave Long Dont mind me I'm just gonna go have an existential crisis
1 likeDave Long i agree
0 likesYooooo like nobody else ever talks about this or seems to have it, it sucks so much.
0 likesOmg,so THAT'S WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME! I literally was crying tears of joy as i watched your video,My condition isn't EXACTLY like yours but it is quite similar.I have trouble forming close bonds with others because i daydream and zone out.And i just don't mean a little bit or from time to time.I daydream A LOT,TOO MUCH IN FACT,too much to the point where it requires FOCUS to focus,and that being in my head is normal.I get overwhelmed in large crowds,as i don't have enough space to walk around and let my mind wander.Sometimes,and please don't laugh at me,i'll go into the bathroom walking around for 45 minutes because i feel like it.No.I FEEL like i NEED too.Just so i can be alone.Not only do i daydream and have attention(I don't focus well,which causes me to have this unintentional desire to procrasinate) problems,I ALWAYS have to be moving.I shift from side to side,position to position when i stand or sit.I'll roll over or change position while laying down.I pace back and forth a lot.If i can't move,i'll become anxious.I also can only remember certain things,and like you said,i'm bad at telling the time without a clock in my face.Did i mention i'll go nuts if i don't listen to any kind of music at least ONCE a day?I tried to tell my parents,here's what they think-
5 likes"Stop lying"
"Stop making excuses"
"Whose fault is that?"
"Your doing this to yourself"
"There's nothing wrong with you,your just lazy"
"Your making stuff up"
"Nobody acts like that"(OBVIOUSLY,HELP!)
I hope anybody with mental disablities will fight this war with me,for any one,on any mental illness,so that we can all live in peace as we get help from those who are consider,well,"normal".
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FamilyGuy FreakFanatic I can relate the constantly need to be moving thing. When I lived at my parents I would constantly be on the swingset so I could move all I want without being in anyones way and stay in my daydreams for long periods of time.
0 likesit feels like being high all the time, without any drugs though. it’s not fun, i desperately want my old reality back. i see the world in a different way now and it sucks, everything around me feels so fake including people. people just seem like robots
0 likesI was so shocked to see the title of this video while scrolling through my feed. I feel like I’m dreaming as well. It’s not all the time, like yours, and it’s not depression related. It just randomly happens but what upsets me is that it happens during moments I want to remember. When I’m in this dream like state everything is blurry and I cant remember what happens. It feels like I could get hit by a bus and just laugh it off, I feel so numb, untouchable. I just want to be able to enjoy moments and know that they are actually happening without feeling like I can do anything, because I do really stupid things when I feel like this, I think I’m invincible and I don’t want to harm myself or others because of my silly brain. I told people about this and they just think I’m crazy.
19 likesAnd for the people who might reply, saying they’re offended that I’m self diagnosing myself with derealisation, I’m not. I know I don’t have it, but I know that there’s something similar and that gives me comfort.
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Panicking Pilots It's okay to self dx if it helps you figure out what's going on, and everyone saying otherwise is just a jerk. 💜 I hope you get the support and comfort you deserve.
1 likeMarliesMega so is being critical of someone's feelings they've been dealing with
2 likesDodie,or anyone else in the comments,I would just love s bit of advice,I'm quite young in terms of being diagnosed with a mental illness so I'm not really sure if its just my stupid,dramatic brain or if I'm really feeling derealisation. I found dodie's channel after researching my symptoms online,which,I know isn't the best idea but what else would I do? And I really do feel like this is it.I nearly constantly feel like I'm not here or their is some of that strange wavy glass or fog separating me and the world around me,I get terrible migraines too and even growing up when I was very small I remember always being a very happy child and always praised by my parents and teachers for my "brilliant memory" that now won't even allow me to remember what I did yesterday.I also feel like I can't just concentrate or just focus on literally anything,whether its writing an essay for school or going to get something from a separate room,I just always get distracted and can't remember what I was doing.This all started after quite a lot of stressful things happened to me all at once and I could just never focus at the task at hand,I was always worring.I also feel like I can't really tell my parents as I don't want to worry them and I'm 99.9% sure they will never of hear of it before and just say something like "your probably just stressed over school" or.. "its because your on your phone too much" its not because they're unsupportive,they just wouldn't understand.I'm sorry if I have bored anyone but this really has helped me,just writing this down in these conments,it feels very positive and supportive here💗so if anyone has any advice,suggestions or tips please share them xxx
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Katie Kat any feelings, big or small, that you have are completely valid, regardless of your age! You’re not overreacting.
2 likesI encourage you to talk to your doctor or a school counselor about your symptoms so you can be referred to and get some help from an expert! That’s their job! This is really really helpful and a quite a few of my friends have done it. And if a doctor ever tells you that you’re over reacting or that you’re too young to see a psychologist/seek treatment, find a new one. They should never write off someone’s feelings or think of them as invalid because of age. Everyone’s mental heath is important. What you’re experiencing may be disassociation or it may be something else. I have add/adhd and some of those symptoms seem familiar! But psychologists know so much about that stuff, so they’re the ones to ask if you would like. Can’t hurt! And if you feel comfortable, know that your parents love you and genuinely would want you to be happy. Letting them know you are struggling should not an inconvenience, because you deserve to find some help! We all do. They would honestly probably be glad you felt as though you could talk to them. Everyone deserves to feel better both mentally and physically, regardless of whether their concerns are big or small. If you had the flu, they would take you to get some treatment, so you could definitely guide them along that path for your mental health. It takes courage to talk about that stuff, especially if your parents don’t know much about mental health, but don’t give up! So, so many others have been in your position. This might sound a bit cheesy but you can do this!! You won’t feel like this forever. Everyone deserves to get help if they would like it and take care of their mental health!
If you ever talk to someone and they write it off because they don’t understand, i’m so sorry. It really sucks, and it’s hard to not take it personally. But you can do it!! don’t let them discourage you! Do your best to remember that they probably mean well and really just don’t understand mental health!:( Know that you know yourself better than anyone else, and you deserve to find help to feel better! You will not be stuck in one place or one state forever, and you will be okay. Out of all the humans on this earth, i can almost guarantee someone, or even many people, around the world are feeling the same way you do! You’re not alone in any big or small thing. One day at a time! You got this 💗
2 likesi'm so sorry you don't have someone to tell this about. i started to feel this when i was very young too and thought i was going crazy. your feelings are valid. you know your mind and your feelings better than any other person so trust yourself! for me reading and drawing grounds me and soothes me because i'm touching a physical object and distracting my mind from the paranoid thoughts lol. i hope you find something that grounds u and i hope u get better
1 likeI love videos like these but then I dokt want to watch them because I know i’ll find anything to relate to and then think I have it and feel bad
0 likesSometimes I randomly start feeling like everything is fake. Like today during dinner, someone started talking and I was looking at them and all of a sudden everything felt fake. Like we're not real and nothing we do is our decision. Maybe we are really just stories aliens tell for fun, or simply maybe there really is a god or a similar being that controls all of us (I'm an atheist). I've had thoughts like that since I can remember, and sometimes they randomly come along with the strange feeling I get with them, or I'm thinking of random stuff and it goes back to those thoughts.
0 likesThe feeling is harder to describe, I wouldn't say any of this is nearly as bad as described in the video. I guess it could be described as a feeling of being very far away and distant from everything. Obviously not in a physical sense, but yeah. It also feels like things aren't right.
I'm wondering if this is considered the same thing or something else. I guess what I experience could be a lesser version of derealization, but I don't know, and I feel like there are a lot of differences
Is it depersonalization if, sometimes, you don't recognise the voice you are hearing as yours when you talk?
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Nelly ΤheBunny yes!! I have it and that happens all the time. It’s never just that on its own, though.
8 likesI have that all the time
1 likebro me too !!
1 likeWait omg i have that what
1 likeThat’s me , it’s really weird , and becomes really frustrating and confusing sometimes
1 likei just feel like i’m in another persons pov listening to myself, except that the other person is nonexistent, and i just feel like i’ve floated out of my body. nothing is happening
1 likeaw crap. i forgot i made this comment and upon researching more the topic of depersonalization i watched this video again and found it. didn't know it was a symptom, and now i'm kinda worried. sometimes i feel like i'm in a stranger's body, i look in the mirror and i don't recognize my face as my own, i talk and i'm almost surprised when i hear what must be my voice. does anyone know what this might be? could it be depersonalization?
0 likessomething similar has happened to me before but im unsure if that is precisely the same condition. I remember i was heading out of a cinema with a few friends and when we got out i couldn't really see my friends' faces. It's like i knew who everyone was but i didn't. And so i tried several things to get out of this dream i was in, but when my friend started talking to me i suddenly felt ok again. idk. weird.
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It certainly could be a similar state of mind. It's actually quite usual to dissociate after a deep movie/book or when you're tired. It's a natural response.
4 likesThis disorder is the worst thing I've so far dealt with. I have complex PTSD and the fabulous shit that correlates with my disorder, including derealisation disorder. I will literally wake in the middle of the night, sleeping next to my partner and lose my mind. I plummet fast into not recognizing myself whilst I have a shower at 2am, in an effort to rid my mind of unfamiliarity. Who really is the person sleeping next to me and why did they choose a life with me? Who am I, like really? I have this mind and body but what for? Why am I here if I am going to die? Will I die tomorrow? Everything can feel so petty and unnecessary. I'm in a little state now I guess. You lose track of most feelings, as well as goals and aspirations. Want to know the best part? I developed derealisation as a child to cope with childhood trauma. This is all I know. If someone could please assign me a family that will love me as their own, without bias on gene involvement I would forever be grateful. To feel as if I actually belong, I can only imagine how that must feel.
0 likesFor some reason a brightly lit room with a lot of activity or in the evening causes me to dissociate 🤷♀️
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CrazyAssFangirl okay but- same?!!
7 likesrain asdfghjkl OMG I thought I was the only one 😮
8 likesSame it sucks because in my basketball games it’s bright in there and I can barely think while I play and then my coach gets on to me! I hate it so mucch
6 likesYessss, bright lights, busy places and strobing lights causes me to dissociate. It always ends up with me having a panic attack when I get it.
15 likesyeah bright lights, open rooms ( especially empty, crowded rooms just cause my eyes to race nd just extreme anxiety), small talk, walking somewhere, LITERALLY doing anything i just start zoning out and blank and then suddenly im on a whole other video
10 likesSame. Waiting rooms in the hospital and train stations/squares are triggers for me.
0 likesopposite for me, dark lighting me feel more alienated dreamy from reality
4 likesYou wanna know why, it makes you nervous, it’s all controlled by your nervous system and it wants to defend you from this stress, you also keep looking for it meaning you keep asking yourself weather it’s happening or not, I’ve learned that you just have to accept, don’t fight it, it’s not horrible, it’s uncomfortable, you need to understand that accepting makes it a lot easier to deal with and you need to enjoy the feeling and laugh because it releases dopamine which sends signals to your nervous system to say that you are okay and it will go. Just don’t keep checking to see if it’s happening, just live like nothing is wrong because nothing is.
7 likesPlannysam
1 likeThat’s a very long run-on sentence you got there, buddy. (If you can’t tell, this is a joke.)
Other than that, that’s actually really interesting to think about.
Me too!
0 likesS A M E it's awful
1 likeI was diagnosed with this condition when I went to the psych ward last year and I just started my new school. The lights are so damn bright and I just sit there thinking maybe this isn’t real and Im trying to make out what’s around me and what helps me come back is naming my surroundings, like “that’s a book, this is my pencil” I don’t know what else to do for it 🤷♀️
2 likesHunni me too... me too
0 likesThat Is Just Like Me!! 😥😥😥
0 likesI don’t think I have it as bad, but I think I have an issue with disassociation. I feel like I spend my entire life asleep, sounds and sights don’t process properly, my memory is generally awful (I couldn’t repeat a sentence back to you unless I really concentrated) (but for some reason I remember useless information like hotel wifi passwords), I feel like my field of view is really small and monochrome but I barely notice it because it has pretty much been that way for years now. I struggle to get attached to people or things or important deadlines that my future rides on because they just seem distant. Also, sometimes I just spend about an hour in the small hours of the morning just standing there looking in the bathroom window at a face I don’t know. I know I just sound like a self-diagnosing snowflake and no one cares but it just feels good to get it out there.
22 likesEdit: looks like lots of people in the comments are the same, but no solutions. I have an idea for what could be the source of the problem for most people at least, and based off that I have an idea for what could work, but I’m just not in the position to do it.
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MEMSUS some of those symptoms also sound like depression. Please go talk to a professional if you can. x
1 likeMEMSUS writing, grounding, find things that are strong in sensation like citrus, sour or soft, acting helps a bit naming things in the room honestly the tips they give you for grounding yourself with anxiety or PTSD about grounding yourself in reality work really well
0 likesAnother good vitamin is chaste berry (idk if it’s spelled right) and it does a BUNCH for me,
18 likesLevels moods
Evens out menstrual cycles
Makes me less sleepy(depression makes me want to sleep all the time)
And more so yeah..•~•
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I looked it up and it's apparently called chaste berry or monk's pepper, because it's supposed to reduce sexual desire. :p It's also good for cyclical breast tenderness and PMS so you chose the right supplement!
1 likeI oftenly space out but when I come back to reallity i forget that I just spaced out so I kind of (when im around friends) wonder "why is everyone ignoring me?" and sometimes I would take like 10-15 seconds to rember my family/ long time friends names or just who they actually are... I would oftenly make up stories in my mind and think they really happend
110 likesI dont really know what is wrong I oftenly think that everyone has this (and some more) things that happen to them so idk am I ill or just fine
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I have the mixing fantasy things with reality, tho I mix dreams with reality too. I don’t think is normal since my parents think is weird. But at least now I know I’m not alone :3 I think we should go to the psychologist...
4 likesLook up maladaptive daydreaming?
2 likesShae Summers I did. Thanks for telling me I probably wouldnt know something like that exists
2 likesNo worries! Analyzing my daydreams/internal life helped me to understand a lot about myself and what I felt was missing from my external life.
2 likesKaili King u should probably go see a doctor
0 likesWe're all mad here..
5 likesI'm both a maladaptive daydreamer and I have an insomnia-type-thing that causes me to feel like I'm dreaming basically every day. It's weird, because I feel best on the days that I don't sleep, when I do sleep I feel awfully tired and disconnected the entire day. It's terrible.
2 likesI'm the same way with my friends I'll make up some story and it will seem more real than any actual memories... might be why they never stick around haha
0 likesEm Wiebe same man
0 likesI wanna throw up. I know everyone is like happy because they know what's going on but I feel horrible I feel absolutly horrible because I need a CURE I NEED A CURE
0 likesWhat if you woke up and you only made this video in your dream
3 likesI'm 13 and I always feel like I'm floating or unreal like I was at the mall with my friend and I was like "I don't feel alive" or as if I'm not there :/
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Okay paige I’m 13 and the same things happen to me. Actually sometimes I get so lost with trying to think and “come back to reality” I won’t realize if I’m walking or sitting or just laying down. I feel hollow and still even if I’m moving. Trying to explain is so hard for people that don’t understand or don’t have it. It happened kinda close to when I first got my depression and then I realized it which I think took part in my anxiety(some small part)
3 likesSame...
0 likesI think you and the others who experience this should get help from a professional so it doesn’t affect you for the worse. Please talk to your parents or school nurse/psychiatrist
1 likeI think I have this... omg thank you so much for speaking about it I’m not crazy!
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Rice Krispies yeaaaah
0 likesCan I just say how weird it feels to discover that another person has a rare condition that affects their life so strongly. I have a serious condition and it has basically ruined my life (chronic fatigue secondary to POTS and HEDS). People think that its all just made up and i'm just pathetic and weak. Just because a condition affects you mentally doesn't mean it isn't real.
44 likesWhenever a youtuber comes out about something like this it is always depression or serious anxiety, which I truly believe is awful, it just makes me feel even weirder that nobody is affected by anything unusual.
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Forgotten Grounds hi i also have POTS(:
0 likesilu could you please explain to me what POTS is? Or if not guide me to a good website which explains so?
1 likehi, I have PoTS, MCAS, not sure if hEDS or vEDS. you are definitely not alone. ♥️
0 likes@plqthora thank you
0 likesI have POTS too! sucks ass. and because of it I have been suffering with depersonalization, ocd, anxiety and just feeling stuck in a far away place and super tired with no energy all the freaking time! Its so relieving to hear other people in similar situations, because god does it get lonely and scary, thinking you're the only one that feels this shitty and distant all the time. I really hope it gets better for you.
0 likesI've recently started to try 5htp and like you it hasnt helped with my derealisation but i am finding i am sleeping better and seem happier so at least its doing something. I am doing a project with fixers who work with itv about the subject of desociative disorders and as a way of raising awareness, i mentioned that you had been talking about the subject matter on your channel and I believe they have since been in touch with you.
4 likesI accually don't even know how people know rather if there dreaming or it really is happening
0 likesIT HAS GONE MIDNIGHT BABE WHY ARE YOU STILL AWAKE, LOOK AFTER YOURSELF
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PenguinIsFarts where I live it's 1:47 pm. It's probably a different time for her
0 likesPenguinIsFarts scheduled uploads.
0 likesits 6 pm in other places
0 likesPenguinIsFarts no they’re right, i live in england like dodie and its 1am roughly :)
1 likeyeah i appreciate different time zones but where i live in england, as does dodie, it was midnight
1 likeI have that too
0 likesJust go with it
0 likesoh i cant believe i forgot to say this but sleeping is really important. i wouldn't want to sleep because i'd dream and the dream would make me dissociate when i woke up but the lack of sleep made me dissociate nd so on djsjd sleeping a good amount and eating healthy food helps A LOT. also getting off my phone and trying to look at the details of where i am helps a lot too. ok now i'm done sorry sjdjsjf
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cactuslegs that may be lucid dreaming - like an out of body feelin where u are conscious but sleepin and cant wake up - it happens to me every now and than. Gettin enough sleep and eating healthy actually helps
2 likesTHANK YOU FOR HELPFUL TIPS <3 I hope it gets better for you soon.
0 likesalsoisthatparkchimchim
1 likearmyand i agree
Sharon Wah someone has the name Park Chim Chim? interesting
0 likescactuslegs for me sleep made it worse and worse and worse. it would make my haze deeper, i couldn't even remember if i'd done anything that day. it would erase everything rather than just feel like i was dreaming
0 likeshmm are u on any cold/flu meds like benadryl, nyquil tylenol or even some birth control types give me that its called Brain Fog i think
0 likespartofyourworld i've seen so many people saying it's brain fog. brain fog feels distinctly different. it's not brain fog.
0 likesIm not a doctor i just have a lot of health problems good luck !
0 likescactuslegs yas is that Park Chiminiee? 😂
0 likesI’ve always hated dreaming because when I’d wake up, I’d feel drained from the dream. I’m not sure if this works for anyone else, but I would tell myself before I slept that I didn’t want to dream and I would keep my thoughts on that, and I now “don’t” dream (I don’t remember my dreams when I wake up and don’t feel drained when I awake, I suppose.) I dont dream very often anymore. It’s been quite a few years by now, at least 5, and sometimes I start constantly dreaming again, but I just remind myself before I sleep that I don’t want to dream, and I’m good again. Maybe this will help you guys, and if not, good luck on your travels to feeling a little better
0 likesi dont wanna diagnose myself or whatever bcos im very uneducated on this matter but i feel like i might have experienced it a few times? like i remember i was in class and i was fully paying attention and was very active but then suddenly it was just like my brain stopped working? i just lost all thoughts and couldn’t figure out what i was doing but i was aware of what happened and i tried to get my focus back but i couldnt idk and there was another time when i was trying on my clothes and after i looked at myself in the mirror i was like “whoa what” and again i lost all my thoughts
0 likesI think this is from looking at screens and reacting to social media daily for more than a decade now.
13 likesIve been feeling like this im 14 and i dont know what to do pleasse help me.
0 likesOh shit this was me 2017-2019
0 likesI never knew that this had a name. I’ve always known the feeling, but Ive never known how to describe it or how often others felt it too. Thank you Dodie
0 likesOn our way back from home from a music festival, my friends and I almost got into a car accident because the tyre blew, we were going 100 in the freeway, basically lost control of the car, almost crashing on the bridge we were driving under.
2 likesI found out last night about derealisation and that traumatic events can sometimes cause it. For months I thought I was having a psychotic break.
Finding this video has calmed me down in a way I haven’t been since that day.
Thank you for making this video. I had these experience a few times in my live and I also didn't knew what it was, until I saw this.
0 likesim so glad that someone finally made a video on this! i dont feel as alone anymore💛
0 likesComing off my anti depressants and in result have relapsed incredibly with my derealisation and depersonalisation. Came here to reassure myself that I'm not alone. Feeling better. Thank you so much for this. thank you.
0 likesI’m getting treatment for my mental health symptoms in CT and it’s called neuro feedback! It’s not a common practice, but it really helped my sibling drastically. I deal with disassociation with my depression so I’m hoping to see that diminish as I go through the sessions.
0 likesI remember watching this when it came out and it's crazy that 2 years later I struggle with it
1 likeThank you for sharing this! I am diagnosed with schizoeffective disorder (which is bipolar with symptoms of schizophrenia) and always had trouble explaining what I experience. It’s nice to know that I’m not alone, differentiating between what’s real and what isn’t is essential for the treatment process.
0 likesDodie, I thought you might like to know, I wrote a poetry piece about derealization based on you talking about it and your experiences. I'd like to thank you for talking about it a lot because I ended up getting 4th place!
0 likesThat sounds terrifying. I hope you can find ways to deal with this. ❤
2 likesi remember watching this when you first posted it and even when you’d talk about it prior to this video and thinking about how awful it must feel to live with this condition. a couple years on and i’m back, sitting here bawling my eyes out because now, i can (unfortunately) relate to how you’re feeling. i’ll forever be thankful for this video because it made me feel like i’m not alone. i love you dodie and although i haven’t been following you as closely for the last few months, i hope you’re doing well. ♡
0 likesOMG!!! I’ve been in that state before. Lucky my psychologist just thought it was depression and it went away.
0 likesLots of love and thank you for sharing! 💚
0 likesOh Dodie thank you for putting a name to what I am feeling.You or anybody reading this will never understand how much this is.No really like I'm almost crying
0 likesI dissociate a lot and this brought me to a realization. I hope eventually I can talk to a doctor about it. Ty
0 likesWoah, okay, I actually feel this constantly. I never knew there was a name for it. Of course I'm not going to self-diagnose but this is far too accurate to not be it. Guess it's time to talk to a doctor
0 likesI keep coming back to this video.. I remember watching it a long time ago (or at least that's what it feels like) and I didn't think much of it; obviously it's a serious thing that a lot of people struggle with, but I hadn't thought much into it at all because I didn't think that it related to me in any way. How wrong I was..
0 likesSo, my sister struggles with dissociation, how often I'm not sure, but when she started talking with me about how she felt when she was in a state of dissociation struck a chord with me. That felt.. familiar to me. The way she described feeling out of herself, like a bystander from a distance looking at her body doing things. How her body didn't feel like her own, and rather she felt like she wasn't in it. Now, we've had several conversations about that, and I came to the conclusion that I too felt that way sometimes. But I didn't realize thst there are many different ways of dissociating.
Over time, I've noticed how I've felt in new places, or familiar places. I've felt like I'm watching a movie play out, as if I'm not real. The place I am at isn't real, and I'm about to wake up in a bed after a nap. It's only this past week that I noticed this and thought more deeply about it. And that's when I started searching about how I felt; I've always had an abnormally bad memory, as if there are cotton balls blocking the memories from being brought up. And I realized that I've always felt like that. And then I read about depersonalization and derealization, about how they can cause amnesia of sorts. And they're heavily rooted to emotional abuse, or a parent with bad mental health in your childhood. This has made me rethink everything I've ever felt, and why I can't remember most of my childhood. So, here I am worrying that this will last forever and when all of my loved ones die, my mind will think that none of them ever even existed. I don't want to be like this, and I most certainly would never wish this feeling upon anyone. Thankfully I'll see my therapist soon and will definitely bring this up, but in the meantime, I'm left in a whirlwind of overthinking everything in my life..
Thank you for taking the time to apeak about this. Ive been dealing with this since I was a child and no one could ever help me becauae The only way I was ever able to explain it was " everything looks different, like I am still dreaming" and my parents never took me seriously.. Just recently last year I found out there is a name for it and I am not crazy. So I appreciate you. Thank you.
0 likesI know this vid is old but this helped so much. I'm fifteen and i havent felt real since i was seven. Thank you for making me realise im not crazy.
1 likeI am so glad someone could assure me that I wasn't going crazy.
1 likeI cant relate but I have the utmost sympathy! I wish you peace and love and comfort in this difficult journey!💓💓💓💓💓💓💓
0 likesI definitely think that I’ve developed something similar to this. Everybody around me says that I walk around like a zombie, and I don’t have ADHD, but my eyes drift around a lot and I definitely don’t take in as much as I probably should. Just today I noticed a giant clock that took up almost the entire wall in my girlfriend’s house, and she said it’s always been there.
0 likesOmG.... its sooo good to know that I havnt been going completely crazy for the past two years
1 likeThe amount of times I Have to ask/ check whether i’m dreaming or not is insane to the point where I have been using Analog clocks in the house despite how much their sound/ vibration annoys me... but they help me feel safe
For anyone wondering why the analog clocks... i was always told that they only exist in real life.... so i’m holding on real tight to that bit of information as I’m someone who has always dreamt and they’ve always been extremely vivid
Every lil helps ehh
I’ve been dealing with this for quite a while now but I’ve just come to realize it. I always describe it as going on “auto pilot”
0 likesthis helped me so much. HOW HAVE I ONLY FOUND THIS! but also i can’t afford any kind of therapy so what should i do?
1 likei also experience episodes of derealisation! for the longest time i labeled them as panic attacks because no one talks about derealising. now, i talk about it in therapy which is really helpful. as far as grounding, i find that water on my hands helps a lot, as well as laying on the floor until the sensation passes
0 likesI watched this video back when it came out and thought I slightly could relate but was like, nah.
0 likesFast forward to more recently I’ve been feeling EXACTLY THIS WAY! And only last week I remembered this video and thought it might be able to help me.
And oh my god Dodie thank you! This really helps, I thought it was just me.
Personally it not only sends me into depressive states but has given me incredibly bad existential crisis’s which absolutely sucks.
I hope this can put me onto a better path instead of suffering in silence.
And luckily i have a friend who helps me through my existential crisis’s and has also suffered from them and depressive states and has been convincing me to seek help, and after seeing this again I certainly think I will. ❤️❤️❤️
have had depersonalization since i was 16, almost 20 now, still hoping it eventually fades away, doing my best!
0 likesSometimes I get this nasty feeling in my stomach like something isn’t right and I’ll feel like I’m in a dream because all I can think about is the room I’m in but the room doesn’t look like it’s supposed. Like i know it’s my living room but it doesn’t feel like my living room. And also when I look at people I know that I know them but I feel very disconnected. I have to force myself to go to sleep or else I feel like I might go crazy because the feeling is so weird and I don’t feel like myself. This has only happened about four times in my life but I’m really curious to know if anyone else experiences it or if it’s some kind of condition.
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you commented this a lil while ago but this explains what i experience almost perfectly. as far as i know this is what derealization feels like!! can anyone else confirm?
4 likes@vanessa! I can!
1 likeGlad I seen this video, really had a hard time finding much on this disease and I haven't met anybody else with the same issues as me. But after the shit ive been through its no wonder my body does this to protect itself. Although it has made me pretty much emotionless is stressful situations and I cant say I hate it. I actually like that I dont feel real and I like that I can't really feel emotions in bad situations. It really makes my shitty life a lot easier.
0 likesI just found this video, never been to this channel before, so hi lol. But I have the exact same thing. I am glad I've found someone who goes through the same thing I do. It really freaks me out and I'm still learning how to cope with it
0 likesthank you for telling us! im not sure if this is the same but i once didn't sleep much during a school night and i believe i felt similar? of course it wasn't as serious but i may have experienced it for like a day, woo. but yeah, it isn't fun lol, i wish you the best and hope you find a cure 💕
0 likesI used to have this as a child and people used to make fun of me great.
2 likesI feel kind of like that after my father death when i was 10. It feels a little better nowadays.
0 likesThe visual effect of darkness you showed is (almost) pretty accurate. As a teenager I used to feel like nothing was real or like the oppacity of reality was like 10% and while beeing distracted all the time, being stuck inside my own mind all the time. I managed to get over some of this stuff and got more confident about my feelings. I believe a constant dose of natural (yet not very much probable) dopamin and serotonin dose could get our brain to work better and decide to experience 100% of reality.
I think the excessive use of screens, phones and computer makes it worse.
I have this every day I first encountered it when I was 12 I told my mother it feels like I’m in a dream and I’m not here now being 21 it’s scary at times cause it feels like your soul is gone and you just want to snap back into reality but can’t 😞
0 likesI’ve been diagnosed with anxiety and Depersonalization/derealization and my psychiatrist put me on Zoloft which has severely calmed me down but from time to time I still get episodes of depersonalization where for a while I just can’t function
0 likesyou've worked really hard on letting derealisation derail you!! so proud of you:))
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Jude Kat hhmmmm
0 likesI was struggling for about 2 years getting the right diagnose. I saw this video and told my psychologist that this seems to hit very close to home. A few months later I get tested on EVERYTHING like my IQ and all that. Turns out I also have derealisation and only very occasionally depersonalisation. Thanks Dodie for helping me getting this diagnose. I’ve been diagnosed for almost a year now and I still haven’t found a medicine or smthn lol but it’s fine at least I know I’m not the only one.
0 likesI have had constant depersonalization and derealization since Freshman year. Hang in there.
0 likesI got it too. Then got diagnosed with ADHD and it's definitely a lot better when on meds.
0 likesI actually think this is related to our thought patterns. I also have struggled with DR for the past 5 years and usually it's just a sense of unreality for me - almost like my brain cannot fully comprehend reality. But in times where I have felt peace and not been stressed or worried (which sadly is not a lot of the time) it has subsided a little and I feel better. I also find that if I don't get enough sleep it gets way worse. So I guess the more you look after yourself and the more positive you think then it can be bettered :) Also I think the reason why some people have this is probably, in my case anyway, is because of overthinking causing your brain to wear out and feel exhausted so it tries to 'disconnect from reality' in order to fully cope with your circumstances and still yet function relatively well. Lastly I think that some personality types are more susceptible to it and also probably some genetic factors contribute but I fully believe that if your brain can get to this state it can, with the right treatment of yourself, be fully diminished.
0 likeswow, i tought i was the only one, who experiences this! but i don't feel like this all the time, just only when i'm super excited/scared/tired. i tought I was going crazy. 😂
0 likesI have dissociative episodes something but I couldn't imagine living like that forever. But I'm writing this because I can testify to that "floating" feeling.
0 likesYou are a really good writer ✍🏻
0 likesHey dodie, i‘ve listen to most of ur music but I never knew about ur mental health and ur illness. Whatever my cousin does have the same illness and I never understand her what it was like when she had her moments. Thank u for explaining it for all of us. For now we don’t talk anymore she is mad at me. Happend a lot at the last few weeks even because of her mental illness.
0 likesTo everyone struggling with this: you are not alone. For me, derealization was more of a symptom of depression than a separate problem, and as terrible as it was while it lasted, I'm lucky to be free of both of them now. After years of therapy, the fog slowly lifted. Everything can be as beautiful and vivid as it once was, so never lose hope!
0 likesOmg! One time (during a very stressful time in my life) I was eating breakfast, and all of a sudden I felt weird. I felt as though my soul had been taken out of my body. Sounds weird/fake, but that’s how I would explain it. It was such a strange sensation! I felt very tired, and as though I was sleep walking? Is this derealsation? Sp?
0 likesI know exactly how it feels. It's bizarre. You almost forget where you are and what is going on? It takes a bit to come back
0 likesI have it too, after smoking weed, and it also caused depression/anxiety in my case. Next day, after the incident: boom, I had it. Never experienced those feelings before. Was barely able to eat, wanted to sleep all day, going to work was impossible, etc etc. Later on, I also couldn't sleep anymore, sometimes a few hours per night. It really sucks.
0 likesI have the same thing and it freaks me out a lot, I am always scared that I pass out or even may leave my body..
0 likesThis happens to me and i tell my friends i feel like i’m dreaming and they say they don’t know what i’m saying
1 likeI've had this on and off for the last 10+ years, it's not constant like yours but very often, especially lately it's been constant and it's so fricken hard to explain it and try to get someone to explain it without saying it's like being tipsy but you're not, seeing through the wrong prescription glasses that are slightly off or something I can't explain it. I only found out the name through my psychiatrist about a month ago so it's nice to have it linked to a diagnosis type thing. Thank you for the video and good luck with your current and future treatments. :)
1 likeI’ve defiantly experienced this because of my anxiety, mainly when I start a new job and I have a lot of things to learn and remember and a lot of new people to meet. I’ve been doing internships all year and sometimes it’s so embarrassing because I feel like I just act like an idiot when really I’m just so stressed and anxious I can’t focus. I try not to talk about it much because I just block it out and move on, faking it till I make it.
0 likesIt happens to me a lot like disconnecting from reality and feeling dizzy sometimes and I put in glasses cause I thought it was this but it wasn’t... I’m not saying I have that condition but I totally know how that feels and that’s why a lot of times I have depression crisis etc
0 likesSometimes I feel like I leave my body. I can still think but my body moves on it's own.
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This is just daydreaming...Its not a mental illness, when you are just thinking so much, that you forget reality.
0 likesi feel like i'm on a movie sometimes lmao
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yung*dead me too
1 likeYes
0 likesI thought it was just me
2 likesthis happened to me once as a small child I was at swimming pool and during the time my vision was a little darker than usual but I didn’t think much of it I thought just had some water in my eyes and all of a sudden i felt like I was falling backwards a bit and I didn’t even notice I had a body and then I thought I was sitting in the movie theatre watching life through my eyes on a screen and I couldn’t snap out of it
4 likesyung*dead my memory of my first kiss is literally in third person
2 likesNot nearly the same thing
0 likes@ely_wannadie but same
0 likes@Sofia Merida what do you mean not the same thing? it was like that while it was happening too its just in the past now
0 likesIt has a dream effect am I right? It's sorta blurry sometimes, it's confusing.
0 likesAll the time
0 likesThats not depersonalization or derealization...
1 likeWe are all Connected in the Wired
0 likesBig Brother is watching us
This literally happened to me today this is how I found this video when I saw this comment I was so happy I was not the only one
0 likesI can’t remember much. And when I do it’s something obsessive that I can’t forget. It’s always something negative of course. But I feel like I’m living life behind the invisibility cloak. My friends always got to pull me out of my own head.
0 likesI think I may have this too actually Dodie. I do sometimes space out randomly while I’m having a stressful conversation and just randomly while I’m listening to a teacher at school or something. It’s weird, but pretty much all the symptoms of this so idk. Maybe.
0 likesDerealization for me usually comes after depersonalization. I feel like I'm not experiencing things myself, just second hand. I stub my toe but I'm not one in pain, this character I'm following is. Eventually everything gets dreamlike if I don't come out of that feeling after a day or so. Derealization hasn't been as bad lately, but in times of stress I still experience depersonalization.
0 likesI tried sleep deprivation therapy, but after only one trial I can't say whether it would work for me or not. Was starting to feel okay, but things were said to me that caused a downward spiral. So I feel like events got in the way of what help it could have done.
Also, weird thing, I feel the most connected with reality when enjoying games, movies, or books. When depersonalized, I feel like I'm actually me sitting in that chair playing that game. As soon as the game turns off, I'm back to just sharing the experiences of this person in the chair I was just in.
Idk if this is even similar, but when I feel overwhelmed or overstimulated, my sights always becomes super unfocused and hazy, and things just seem blurred together and off. I’m not sure if that’s something or just nothing, but it’s incredibly frustrating when I want to actually have a fun experience and memories 🙄
0 likesSometimes I think my dreams are reality and it spooks me 😂 that sounds super spooky
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Moo watch the movie Waking Life you'll thank me later
0 likesThat's an interesting coincidence, I had a major panic attack in 2013 and ive been in a derealized/dissociated state ever since. Obviously after almost 6 years it's way more managed than it was in the first 3 years but this is an INCREDIBLY disabling condition and the frustrating part is you can't really fully encompass or wrap your head around the experience to explain it to people Because that in and of itself is part of the problem since it manipulates your perspective. For me it's felt like every day was waking up inside a different ugly painting, it also affects my short term memory and my ability to mentally multitask. Like before I had it I was able to just kind of jump from one priority to the next, but now its like, if I'm focused on something I'm almosy locked in to where I can't pay attention to anything around me. Either way I'm glad I got it somewhat under control to where I'm able to carry out daily functions without stress. Its all about staying busy and making priorities to work on in your life, your brain will catch up to that and sort of build an immunity around what's happening, it's not meant to stay in that state forever.
0 likesI'm 14 and I feel like for the past 2-3 years people just write most of the stuff I have off as puberty or "you're just growing up, get over it" and it's so frustrating. Glad I know what it is now
0 likesI get more depersonalisation than derealisation (using those lightly because I'm not technically diagnosed 😕) but it sucks
2 likesSometimes I can’t tell the difference between dreaming and real life. Sometimes I’ll be sitting in class and feeling like this is a dream. I deep down know it’s not but I feel the same in dreams. Brains are weird. Dreams are weird. Have a good day.
0 likesDerealization makes you incredibly alone. I can be in a room filled with people and feel like I'm by myself. More often than not lately I feel like I'm in this bubble, that isolates me from the rest of the world. I still interact with everyone around me, but it feels like the words that come out of my mouth are meaningless. Sometimes I start thinking about how it's like whatever I say is not of my accord. It just comes out and I don't have control over it. Same with my actions. I just do them, without thinking in my head, then afterwards I start freaking out because I don't understand where the actions came into existence. Sometimes I'll be laying on my bed trying to sleep and I start thinking of the very idea of existence. Am I here? What IS here? And the only thing that stops me from entirely freaking out is holding my hand in front of my face, watching the colors and focus and sharpness of my fingers, reminding myself that there is an image in front of me. I am seeing whatever this is, so its real. Sometimes I have to turn my music up loud through my headphones and tune out the world. But a lot of times, nothing is enough to stop me from getting anxiety. I'm always anxious. My heart is always racing. I shut out people. I've lost all interest and motivation to do anything that used to be important to me.
1 likeIt's worse over the summer. When the colors are more vivid, I find them overwhelming. I'll be stargazing and the sheer immensity of the stars makes me feel like time has stopped. It's an incredible feeling because I feel above every one else, more connected than those around me. However once the significance of this sets in, my heart goes into overdrive and I just want to cry and scream and wake up from this "dream" that is reality. I can't talk to anyone about this. I feel like it stems off of my atheism. And everyone around me, all my family and literally all my friends except for the one that I have kinda told, are very religious and wouldn't understand. (and would be disappointed, none of them know I don't believe).
I always thought it was just me. I didn't realize this was an actual condition. But more than a condition, it's my perspective of the world. As scary as it is, as isolating as it is, I'm not sure I want it to go away. I feel like it oddly makes me feel incredibly alive while also feeling like being in a dream. It's hard to explain.
Sometimes I can go for periods of time without being bothered. I'll go through the school day and not think about it once. Or I'll spend an evening laughing with friends and it doesn't phase me. But then suddenly it hits. It always does. And I realize I don't remember much from when I was having a carefree time. It's all a haze. My memory is absolutely terrible. I have to sit there and think, "Did I do this?" or "Was that a dream or was it real?" And I'll remark it to a friend/family member and they just laugh about it. In the moment I laugh about it too, but then I start to panic because I should not be feeling this way! And to what extent am I living in a dream? what if existence IS a dream?
It brings a constant, heavy headache. Physical movement is too much. I'm always overthinking everything and it makes my head hurt endlessly.
It's all gotten worse lately. I just want to scream. Cry. Laugh. I just want to feel alive. I feel like I'm trapped, trapped in a mind that is not mine, one step too far from reaching the edge into reality. It's my own living hell. But knowing there's a name to this hell, derealization, is a little more comforting.
Its like sitting back on a couch inside your brain to see your body know exactly what to do like a routine. It feels like a lucid dream or you just watching a blurry movie. Its awful when you have it and you need to snap back into reality to focus on something important, but you just can't and its hard to remember anything (like a dream)
0 likespeople say that this is a result of stress or trauma, but i've had this for as long as i can remember. i told my friend in 4th grade, but i knew i had it for much longer, like 3 years old. i don't have any other symptoms of trauma and i've had a pretty good childhood, so what could it be?
0 likesI feel like I’m dreaming sometimes when I’m really not
2 likesTHANK YOU FOR YOUR VIDEO
1 likei think the worst part of derealisation is that people and objects look fake and you cant really explain it to people. And even if you do explain it to people, they cant imagine what it is like having derealisation and how frustrating it can be.
Also i stopped comparing it to being drunk/high because its rly making it sound not too bad when it really is sooo scary.. when suddenly everything looks weird and fake and you think you are loosing your mind, running around in a dream you wont wake up from.
my best tips: STOP WATCHING VIDEOS ABOUT IT, STOP TALKING ABOUT IT, STOP THINKING ABOUT IT! i know thats hard especially in the beginning but i trained my brain and its hard work. My Derealisation didn't go away but i can enjoy life again without panikattacks lol. like if ur thinking "omg the sky looks so weird again" instantly replace it with "but its such a beautiful day wow" And for me, the more i accepted my derealisation, the better it was getting. So don't obsess over it, I did that reading hundred articles on how to get rid of it, and believe me it will only make it worse.
Also don't isolate yourself, no matter how weird and scary and unreal your environment looks (i isolated myself and every time when I HAD TO leave the house it was SO BAD) instead do the opposite, when you have a day when your vision is really bad, go outside and meet friends and have fun(at the beginning avoid very crowded places, be with people you trust), show your brain that it doesn't have to be afraid and doesn't have to dissociate/ disconnect with the world(but dont force yourself, like if you're getting panic attacks as soon as you walk out of your door, dont go, or maybe only with people you rly trust) . Also i took off my glasses!! my eyes are not too bad so when i take off my glasses i can still se pretty good but everything will get slightly more blurry and it makes me feel better cause if you see less, it will also look less unreal lol.
I have depersonalization, and the thing that has always scared me the most is the fact that I am unable to recognize my eyes. My eyes look different or empty, like the life is gone. I think our consciousness gives our eyes our light and our soul, but when I go through these episodes my consciousness is out of my body so the "light is out." I conjured this thought when I saw a man tripping at a music festival and his "light" was gone, and then I started to take tabs on what people's eyes look like when they are daydreaming, their "lights" are gone too. I have never tripped before so I cannot analyze why their consciousness is somewhere else, but I do have very vivid daydreams so I can give my theory on this. When we daydream our consciousness leaves our present reality and travels to a different reality, such as a memory or a made up fantasy. When this happens our consciousness essentially leaves our present body making our eyes look dead. Since we have never seen this look in our eyes before we are unable to recognize ourselves and freak out, but it is a completely normal look that daydreamers have. I wrote this to kind of provide closure for any individuals struggling with the self-recognition part of it all, which is what used to affect me the most since it made me feel like a stranger was controlling my body, when it is what my subconscious or animal-like state looks like. I am hoping that this has put some of your minds at ease, and of course I do not know if this is facts it's just my own assumptions that I have accepted as true since I have not found any contradictions to this.
0 likesQuite strange, I also, quite regularly am percived as being drunk, when particulary anxious
0 likesI have DRDP, or more accurataly was prone to the symptometic idiology in the year last.
It’s so weird, I think I have something similar but not exactly parallel to this. I go into different head spaces and section out my day then just zone out for a while. I’m really not sure what it is
0 likesits hard to ask anyone about this when you're someone with diagnosed adhd :/
0 likesOmg your vision is interesting... Everytime when I have a nightmare, I see everything like this and it's the worst thing I could imagine
0 likesLet me clarify for some people :) . It’s completely normal to have these symptoms form time to time, in stressful situations. it’s not normal to have these symptoms all the time . It’s all very VERY easy to misdiagnose yourself . And confuse these symptoms with something else . Dpdr is very specific .
0 likesIt's really hard explaining that I have depersonalization to people because they've never experienced it. They don't know what it's like. One time I explained as kind of always being stoned and my friend said "That sounds awesome! I wish I had that!" Like, no. No you don't. It's terrible and just looking in the mirror can send me into disassociation for hours. It's a terrible way to live but no one knows that. And I'm not blaming them, I'm just envious that they'll never have to go through all of this. Yet, I'm stuck here.
1 likeThis is EXACTLY how I feel when I’m high. Only did it once and never again. I couldn’t remember anything that happened the second before. I couldn’t recognize my own voice, or understand English/the words I was saying even though I was speaking English and my body felt numb and non existent and I had to keep touching sharp/cold things to bring me back to reality.
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That is actually a common side effect from weed. It typically only happens the first time. Being stoned is usually nothing like that. I'm not encouraging you to use, just pointing it out
0 likesgamer guy I thought it might have been the first time too. Ive tried edibles, blunts, and a dab pen and it happens every single time... 😪 I wish I could just enjoy it like most people 😂
0 likesI would stay away from dabs, oils, and edibles at least until you get used to it. Start with a one hitter. Take one hit on occasion. Build up your tolerance. I had a similar problem when I was a teenager. I actually passed out flat on my face. But start by smoking just a hit. Not enough to really feel it. Environment is also a factor. Being with certain people or in certain places can trigger these feelings. Try finding strains that won't provoke anxiety as well. I smoke regularly now and havent had that issue in over 20 years. Hope that helps. Sorry for the paragraph. Lol
1 likegamer guy super helpful!! Thank you for your wisdom 🙏🏼😂
0 likesi recently had an experience that may have triggered this, not sure if i have this but i had sensory overload and i haven't felt awake since, this happened a week or two ago and nothing feels normal. a lot of the time i feel like i go into auto pilot and i can have conversations and answer questions i didn't even hear, it almost feels like when you go to a movie and when you come out it's pitch black and you have no idea what time it is even though it's just an hour or two after you enters the theatre it could have been a year and it wouldn't have made much of a difference. or when you fall asleep right after school and wake up in the middle of the night and it should be morning but it's not. time just feels wrong and unnatural, sometimes it moves to slow and sometimes it moves too fast and i can never tell where i'm supposed to be because i can't seem to remember if i was going to bed or just waking up. i'm not sure if something caused this or it's been waiting for a time to pop up to say hello, i'm a bit nervous to talk about it but i'm sick of not being able to surface above the water when i'm always so close. if anyone has any advice or knowledge about this i would love to hear it but for now i'm kind of in the dark
1 likeMovie Theater: After watching a movie in the theater, I am stuck in Derealization theater mode for a while and it's especially noticeable when I walk out to the parking lot to my car. (I'm happy you mentioned this.)
0 likesI used to have severe episodes which would last for hours as a child. Today, the episodes are very mild and very short.
I have been trying to find ways to induce this in people who don't have it or at least to depict to them what it's like to experience it.
Staring into a large mirror can be a trigger for me because I being to feel as tho I have entered the mirror and and stuck inside it.
Hanging upside down can be a trigger because severe episodes cause me to feel upside down as I'm walking down the street.
During my Dereal episodes, I lose all time and space and it it the most mentally uncomfortable feeling I could ever imagine.
Most every day, I feel as tho I'm dreaming. I don't really know what normal is supposed to feel like or to be perceived as. If it's very mild, I rather enjoy it since it feels like being high. I do not use drugs of any kind except Diphenhydramine occasionally for DR. Alcohol will pull me out of an episode because it relaxes me. However, I do not depend on alcohol, have never had an alcohol problem, and I maintain a very low tolerance to it so that if I really need it, it will work in minutes with only one drink.
Thank you for this video! I've had DR since the age of seven. I am 60 now.
I do not know if you will see this comment but I went Gluten free and cut out almost all sugar and It helps your brain TREMENDOUSLY! Also looking at screens alot throughout the day can cause things to feel off due to eye strain. Just try Gluten free, Cut out sugars and bread. It really does help with the stoumach and brain. God bless you and have a wonderful day :)
2 likesI just thought this was normal and how everyone processed things when they get stressed out! I have social anxiety and bipolar depression...I feel like it comes and goes, especially when I’m out in public...so weird
0 likesAfter getting high once I started getting weird instances of depersonalization (similar to derealization) and it’s so scary and off putting
0 likesIt lasted for a good month and would hit me at random moments. Felt like someone threw me into a video game...? like my eyes were not in my body? Immediately I felt fear and started questioning my existence... I didn’t feel real
In conclusion Im never touching weed again lmao
Ok....I feel like I’m going through something similar but I need to get properly diagnosed
3 likesI actually have it to, and sometimes, when i'm stressed, it's worse, and I dont remember all of what happened during the moment I was derealised. I hate it.
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ImNoxy you need to look into ketamine treatment or even do extensive research on DXM (poor man's ketamine) could save your life from depression/suicide
0 likesbut what if it isn't there all the time? I just have moments that are either like 5 seconds or 5 minutes long and it seems like each time it comes it stays longer and longer and I'm terrified at some point it will come and stay and never go away again.
0 likesThat bit with walking out of the cinema and friends not looking right is exactly how it feels aswell
My mum has cancer and I've been feeling like everything is a dream and in third person for around a year now.... Kinda ready for it to stop
0 likesI deal with this 24/7 too and I always feel like i'm in a dream, I feel intoxicated, I don't remember a lot of what happened throughout my day and just looking outside feels bland and not like it used too and spacing out ALL the time. I never live in the moment or see the beauty of the world anymore. I also know exactly how this happened to be as I was in an extremely emotional abusive relationship previously and I know before that I did not ever have a problem with this. I get way more moody then I used too and feel like my life is pointless because of it. Which is sad to say but I truly feel that way a lot.
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Forgot to mention that when I ACTUALLY dream I wake up and it feels like that dream actually happened and sometimes it feels so real it becomes a memory of mine that I actually think happened. I have a hard time separating my dreams and my reality.
0 likesI can’t afford a mental health professional so i just have to wait to solve this problem but it’s getting worse for me every day I had a breakdown and one day at work my vision had that darkness but it kept getting darker I thought I was gonna pass out. I’ll be fine tho I just have to wait another year or so.
0 likesi always thought it was my bad vision that caused this but now i have glasses but i still feel blurry and disconnected :///
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Same,it's like there is a fog in your head, and you feel like you're dreaming and it's not reality
2 likestoo little dopamine maybe. there could be lot of conditions
3 likesjasmine sounds like anxiety.
0 likesI see clearly but I feel disconnected and feel like everything doesnt matter or if everyone isn't real to me or matter even though I know they are or suppose to matter. .. I sometimes feel dizzy when I move my eye sight but like my vision moves very unbalanced but nothing blurry. Sounds do sound louder to me though.
0 likesI lose hours of everyday , its like im on autopilot and ill come back to reality and a solid 40 minutes have passed and i wont remember what i did or even if i was thinking about anything at all. can relate
0 likesMine started with a heart episode caused by a would be diagnosed WPW genetic heart malfunction. I was 9 years old then and ever since that day, my world was never the same. I went to bed that night, traumatized and hoped to wake up normal. Instead, It just stayed like a dream and it was terrifying and still can be today, at 22 years old. Im still getting used to it and I can still remember when things felt normal and human. I feel artificial or like Im living inside a coma persistently.
0 likesDunno if its derealization, but I dont think it’s really that diagnosable. Meds dont work for it either. When I feel a strong bout, all I want to do is close my eyes and sleep it through. Seems like a healthy and active lifestyle is what I needed to break the anxiety to push through the panic I feel when it happens
Whenever I open my eyes after closing them for a few minutes in a car because the sun is too bright, everything has a blueish tint to it and I feel like my head isn't connected to my body. After looking up at the sky for a while, I sit up and feel like I'm floating. My friends who I'd been chatting to the whole time looked different. They looked like a 3d picture. I stand up and feel like I'm dreaming. I don't take in my friends voices or words, just slightly nodding my head. I have bad anxiety and depression. I sometimes feel I'm not real and space out, feeling like I'm in a simulation, and I'm the character that someone else is controlling. Idk. I'm not diagnosed with derealization or depersonalization and I don't even know if I should be. Someone help ;(
0 likesDP and DR occur simoltaneously always just sometimes one is worse than the other
0 likesI just can't believe this is real. I thought the same. I thought it would eventually change. I suffer the exact same thing. I feel im dreamig. My family and friend just never understand me and even look at me with those eyes. What i do is to try different things every few weaks so I can feel everithing new and makes me feel focused. As soon as I get used to something, time disappears. I dont know what to do. Thank you very much for this. Im not alone. Im not a ghost u.u. I just, thank you. Time and people use to disappear just in front of my face and I feel lost. Whatever I look, its just long halls and white noise. I feel despair and yet I have to smile to everyone and xontinue going forward, and finally, acting "normal" drains my energy so fast. I just make me wish im in my bed
0 likesI have this. I’m only 13 and I really want to tell my parents but I’m scared. I feel like I’m dreaming all the time and I look at my hands and think to myself “am I real? How am I here?” Please help me.
1 likeI don't know if it's similar but sometimes I feel like the world isn't real and it's more of a game where everyone but me is an npc. I don't tend to focus on that feeling, because it's trippy and philosophical but I've had that for 10 years at least.
0 likesOr sometimes I look at my mom and think "this is my mother" and it's such a weird feeling as if I were learning that fact at that moment.
The only reason I watched this video is because I feel like I'm dreaming all the time lol
2 likesPeople want treatment sometimes I just want acceptance
0 likesOh my god every time there is any kind of change it’s like my whole life goes blurry and it’s so frustrating and it feels like time passes wrong and sometimes it’s okay but it’s like my metaphorical eyes are blurred and I can’t focus them again.
0 likesI’ve had this all my life lol
0 likesSeeing this rather late sadly. I'm a 28 year old guy and I've been suffering from this very condition since I was around 13. I was originally diagnosed as simply having severe anxiety and depression. Which are a part of my problem yes, along with paranoia and insomnia but all of these stem from my real problem of derealization/depersonalization. I was never truly diagnosed by a therapist but then again I've only seen a small few and they weren't very good. They were the types to generalize and toss a prescription at you instead of listening and truly trying to figure out what's wrong. I was diagnosed by them to have dependent personality disorder but that was a misdiagnosis. They also tried me on a few drugs and I swore off them after the last time, which resulted in my anxiety and overall symptoms growing worse, oh and lovely gushing nosebleeds. It was left up to me to figure out what was wrong with me, I thought I was honestly going crazy and was going to end up unable to function in real life and be committed. I found the resolve to face my problem head on and begin searching for help. I first began be analyzing my symptoms as they would occur and break them down. This took time and was very hard to do but I managed. After I understood my symptoms it became a process of addressing those symptoms and rationalizing them. I did have certain situations and places that would cause me to fall into a sever anxiety attack and launch me deep into basically a state of shock. The same frightening, alien feeling like you're dying or unable to feel sensations or think clearly. Shock is derealization but most people only experience this through some form of extreme trauma. I would experience this just going to a store or being around a large group of people, as my mental illness grew worse in my teenage years I developed more and more triggers for this heightened sense of depersonalization/shock. It became that even certain smells and volumes of sound would trigger it. I could barely function at all in everyday life when I was 17. My illness had pushed me to drop out of school, I couldn't work or drive, I couldn't even get my license. By 18 I knew I needed to start my journey towards getting better. Exposure therapy was my best step forward. I forced myself to endure the shock and focus on going forward. It took around 3 years to get a solid grip on things. By 21 I had been able to get my license, get a G.E.D. and begin working. It's not easy and I still struggle when I have my bad days. Everyday I still feel this way, I'm always tolerating my depersonalization but I've come to accept it and always focus on analyzing and rationalizing when my mind doesn't seem to comprehend the reality of my everyday life. I will look in the mirror and see myself, I do look strange or off, I don't seem like myself or real but that's ok. I understand that's just my mind lying to me, I understand that I'm ok and nothing's wrong. I ignore it and move on, that's all you can do. It gets better with time and experience.
0 likesI always feel like I’m not real. I play basketball and when we run at pratice it gets really bad, I start to feel really light headed and my entire body feels numb and everything sounds weird. So I have to sit out almost every practice and it’s so embarrassing, I get made fun of a lot. My parents and my doctor think it’s a blood pressure problem, so I’m taking medicine for that and it doesn’t do anything. My parents won’t believe when I say that I might have derealisation or depersonalization. Can someone please tell me what’s wrong with me? 😭
1 likei have this!! i see a psychologist and stuff but i have various other mental health problems and it sucks. i only found out the answer to my questions to why i always felt like i was just floating like a week ago when i brought it up in one of my therapy sessions. for me its anxiety related and only when i get super anxious over something, sometimes my brain just decides to do that rather than go into panic mode, which i am somewhat thankful for (because panic attacks suck) but i basically end up completely zoning out in a way. its hard to explain but i know whats going on around me at the time, i just don't remember what anyone's saying, and this can be a huge problem in class, causing me more stress down the line. anyway what i am trying to say is, you are not alone dodie and you are strong for talking about it because i honestly don't know if i'm going to press that "comment" button.
0 likesobviously if you're reading this i did!
I needed this video :) ty ☺️
1 likeDAMN I HAVE HAD THIS FOR 5 DAYS STRAIGHT AND SKSKSK IT FELT WEIRD AF. IT STARTED ON A FIELD TRIP TO AN ISLAND. I fell asleep on the bus and when I woke up, I felt extremely weird. It felt like I was in a dream. Like I could do anything, nobody was watching. I searched it up and it said that its called derealisation. I kind of like the feeling, but don't. Does that even make sense??
0 likes'Awakening from the dream' would be a good video to watch on Lynn love channel.
2 likesUpdate, many people believe me, others dont, my life is extremely different now
3 likesI think I need to get professional help to actually diagnose me now.
0 likesYou must not be dreaming because I can definitely see this
0 likesThis is crazy I have days like that..
1 likeThis happens to me occasionally and I really don’t like it, my dad got it when he was younger and so did my uncle.
0 likesI have it rn and I’m not liking it at all
I thought everyone felt like this all the time though
0 likesWait, this isn't normal? I sometimes think my life is just a story being told by someone in heaven.
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Lmao
0 likesThis is fucking crazy. I‘ve been dealing with this for about probably 8 years or so, i never knew if it was actually something wrong with me or if this is very normal and everyone experiences life like this, i thought maybe its just because i‘ve grown up??? Lol. I‘ve been in therapy for a long time now. Diagnosed with ADHD, taking adderall and all that. I‘ve told my therapist about this problem i had, that everything kinda feels like im in a dream. Like there‘s some sort of filter over everything that makes stuff just kinda... not look real. And that this is the main thing that causes me so much struggle to study and stuff, because i disconnect so easily. Obviously she just told me its because of the adhd, that i drift off easily, because of the lack of motivation for stuff that doesnt seem interesting to me. It was really difficult for me to explain, that i dont think that its because of my adhd. Because every adhd kid i know, has never experienced what i tried to explain to them. They just told me i‘m probably just a really sleepy person and need to have a better sleep pattern and get at least 7hours of sleep a day, etc etc. nobody ever got wtf i was talking about. Not even my therapist. I really started thinking i might go into the direction of getting some psychotic episode or sth, because my thoughts would sometimes mix in with my real life. For example what happens a lot to me lately, is when i greet a random person, i then start to worry that i did not say „hi“ to the person, but actually something really weird like „i love you“ or stuff. Of course i didnt, but my brain makes up weird stuff sometimes, that didnt happen. I really thought i was turning fucking crazy. I‘m not tryna self diagnose right now, because maybe maybe it could be something else, but you‘ve just explained EXACTLY what i feel like all the time. Its like a hit in the face, its crazy that i‘m not the only one. Thank you for making this video, i will show this to my therapist. And also what i‘d like to mention is that you should consider trying out adderall. It really helps with this sensation. I mean, you just kinda feel a little bit more connected to your body and its easier to focus on stuff and makes you feel a little more present, it doesnt fix everything of course. I still feel like i‘m i stuck in this weird kinda liminal space, like i‘m not as much „here“ as other people are. But it helps me out and its pretty cool. Thank you again
0 likesI've got this condition too. It's called being a stoner.
0 likesI don't know if this is a mental disorder but when I look in the mirror, sometimes I'll feel like my spirit and my body are two separate beings. Like there are two of me. Physical me and Spirit me. Spirit me is my inner thoughts and what controls me, while physical me is what carries out those actions, and the person I am to other people. So when I look in the mirror it's another person because that's not the me in my thought process, like a puppet and the person pulling the strings, except more of a symbiotic relationship... I know it's kinda weird, but sometimes I think about it. I also talk to myself a lot, but I don't know if it's for the same reason.
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I totally understand this feeling as someone with derealization and depersonalization, I think it makes absolute sense though, we sort off are two people in a sense (I don't mean multiple personalities), we are our mind and physical being and must work together and treat ourselves with kindness just as we would anyone else around us. We have us, and the manager of us(us and who we would like to be/accomplish), and they need to get along to be productive.
0 likesit feels like im on my sleeping pill x10
2 likesalso i was literally telling my mom that i need to stop taking my sleeping pill because i said it lasts for days omg wtf
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Kiki Ambien is a dangerous drug do your own research
0 likesi relate to this so much but what happens to me is it comes at random times. Whether im just sitting in my class and looking at someone presenting and completely forget who they are and they look weird and unfamiliar. Or i’m even with my family at disney and feel for a second that i’m with strangers and not sure where i am. it’s crazy it is so scary. it even happens with the time and days when i get so caught up into a book i forget were i am after or whats going on. I also happens with even forgetting who i am or questioning my existence and panicking because of it. this is the best way i can explain what happens because my brain blacks it out after its done so its hard to explain. thank you for sharing this its nice to know i’m not alone.
0 likesI feel like I hover above my head like I am high or I am supper tired and feel like I am on auto pilot I am getting help but the only time I feel normal is when I am high because I have a reason to feel this way . It makes it really hard to stop and I have relapsed over and over again. I really hope I don't feel like this forever
0 likesWell idk if I ever had that cuz I don't want to self diagnose myself but I wonder if I might have had it. At the time I thought it was part of antidepressant withdraw symptoms. I stopped taking them on accident my first year of college and ended up not being able to leave my dorm for a whole semester I was so stressed and afraid and it's all a blur to me I would often describe my experience that year like a bad dream or like feeling like I was constantly dreaming all the days seemed to meld together I barely remember anything from that time like I was asleep for a couple of years. IDK if anyone has had anything similar
0 likesis there a difference between being like this and being spacey? i’m starting to worry now lol. also isn’t this just kind of similar to being high all the time?
0 likesDoes anyone else suffering from this have trouble keeping a job? Or is it just me? When I "snap out of it" it makes it near impossible for me to function at work.
0 likes"when i see you,it feels like a dream"
0 likesGood isn't it?
Maybe try L-Tyrosine. It helped me along with 5HTP.
0 likesFor me depersonalization is felling disconnected from the world and my body for example my body would move but my thoughts would not be intached if you know what I mean. Sometimes I try to pinch myself but that doesn’t work..
0 likesDerealisation/depersonalisation is insight in the holographic/illusionary nature of reality without having found your true place of perceiving. That is why it is a spiritual issue which has to be treated that way. People having it are right: reality is a kind of dream. It only seems real because we attach to it. But when you have DR/DP you lose your grip on it, which feels awful if you try to get that grip on it. Letting go of gripping is relieving that anxiety and slowly brings you to another kind of perception, in which the world is seen as the mirage that it is, but you yourself as 100% real. And that reality of yourself is so peaceful and fulfilling, that you will begin to lose your desire to hold on to a world which cannot really be held on to anyway, since it is always changing. DR/DP is not a curse. It doesn't have to be.
0 likesOMG you describe me! what does that even mean??
1 likeI had this, it is terrifying but don't let anyone tell you that you can't better because you can. No matter how long you've had it, how bad you are there is hope. I had it really badly for about a year but I'm fully recovered .
0 likesI feel like I can never focus. I recently started working and it has been 2 months so far and people are just getting so tired and frustrated with my slowness. I look up at the screen for the orders and my mind goes blank and when I feel pressured I black out and think more about not messing up that I tend to accomplish that even more :/. I’m not a sad kid I love life and every time I’m having fun a wave of depression hits me that we’re all just gonna die and it makes me so sad even though everyone will go through it. I zone out so much that people think I’m never listening and people call me “slow” which I am. Nothing traumatic has ever happened to me as a kid or anything like that, al though I did have my ups and downs but everyone goes through that. I also want to point out that sometimes I tend to focus on what people are seeing (physically wise) because I don’t know what I actually look like. I take picture and film myself but I could never remember what I actually look like and that gives me anxiety. I constantly worry about if I look ugly or just foolish when I get mad so I tend to shut off because it’s like I NEED to know what I look like. Ugh...
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Also I forget things so fast... a customer will say something and I turn around and completely forget, and it happens alll the time. My manager is getting so frustrated with me I’m scared it will affect my life :(.
0 likesSo I also have this thing... Well kinda. It's not that extreme and it's not always like that, but I'm still worried :/
0 likesDerealization/Depersonalization sucks so much. Dissociation in general such a simple sounding, yet SUPER complex experience. To me at least, I have schizophrenia and BPD, it’s really cool to see you advocating for something mental health related that isn’t only about depression and anxiety :)
0 likesWow I am the same... :( I am really corious about what this actually is.... And where this comes from.... Cause it's just so strange and makes it so hard to excist... I wish someone would know the anwser for DR/DP....
1 likeI’m not a psychologist of any kind, but I thought I would share what works for me. I find derealization treatable through grounding techniques. It’s definitely a process, and it takes a long time to get back to ‘normal’, but the best thing to do is engage with your senses. It can be as simple as just touching the cushion of your couch. Note how it feels, its color, does it press down when you push on it? Base senses are the first step. The next step is: how does it make you feel? Would it be nice to lie down on the couch? Is it soft, does it make you feel comfortable and cozy? If you can’t do this right off the bat, it may be easier if you can remember a time when you did feel the world around you more viscerally. Try to recall that time, maybe even a specific time. A nice summer day where you were sitting in the couch, a cool breeze coming in through the windows, maybe you were enjoying some ice cream, watching a movie. This is just an example. Grounding can work with anything; a cold drink, your fuzzy pet, a spicy taco, your own body. Engage with all of your senses, actively, as much as possible. I recommend looking up grounding and mindfulness techniques. It can take a LOT of effort, especially when you’re feeling so fuzzy headed, but practicing a little bit every day has helped me enjoy life so much more.
0 likesI have not been diagnosed with this disorder but my psychotherapist says I definitely have the symptoms. I was just wondering if someone else who feels the same way has differing levels of dps and drs, because some days I feel a bit floaty (almost tipsy) whereas other days I feel like I’ve drunk like 5 bottles of wine, my head hurts, i’m overwhelmed, sometimes it gets so bad I forget where I am. Is this fluctuation normal??? thanks fam x
0 likesYou might want to try self-empathizing. Maybe you've been sort of like thinking outside of yourself too much if that makes sense... Like maybe try to look in the mirror and be like "Ok this ME" and move your arm or something and consciously think or say "I am moving my arm" maybe. Just a theory. I'm thinking along the lines of grounding exercises. If they seem to work, then maybe do them every day so you get used to it.
0 likesYou aren’t insane I have it too. You’re just waking up. Reality isn’t real it is a dream, a shared one. Perception friends. Look it up, dive into the truth.
0 likesYou can't rely on NHS unfortunately. They've failed me time and time again. The attitude towards and the understanding of the mental health is very dated on UK.
0 likesI have a friend who recommended something. At universities where they study psychology and therapies, they have to volunteer a lot to gain experience and practice different approaches and working with different patients and issues.
I've only been to three sessions but I've already gained a lot more than what the 6 months of NHS therapy has given me, which is nothing at all.
Oh no. I think I have this. I've only just realised that it isn't normal. Everything just feels weird and it doesn't feel like I'm actually there. I can remember things but it's all in blurry snippets. I can't describe it .
0 likesOMG I LOVE UR SONGS IM HAPPY I FOUND U
0 likesas long as youre on top of it
0 likesYeah... I maybe have this too. One day i felt really weird, i had many thoughts and i felt like.. I wasnt me or like in my body or yeah. I cried a lot and did a little things which i didnt even mean to. It was really scary.. So i guess i have depersonalization. Its not like 24/7 with me but it comes sometimes and goes away i guess. Thanks for making this video and help me to realize it, like when i had the first time those stuff, i remember this video. It helped me a lot! Thanks!^/u/^.. Of course im not 100% sure but im gonna talk about it with my teraphist.
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Have your thoughts felt like they weren’t yours? Like random thought come and they don’t feel like they’re in your subconscious voice but instead someone else’s?
1 like@Trap Jimmy Yeah that!.. Like.. I felt like i had many thoughts and every thought were from different person or like.. I dunno.. And i felt really confused because i dunno which thought to listen
0 likesMato Herra I feel the exact same way and it’s been happening recently. I’m scared of going crazy and I actually fear of being schizophrenic and losing control :( recently I’ve felt like this and every thought I have i question is this the start of going mad, also ever sound and stuff I hear I wonder if it’s a hallucination. The derealization depersonalization to me feels like I’m watching through a tv and it sucks cause I wonder if I have somethinf completely different from others. Vision gets blurry, brain is foggy and at night when it’s silent my thoughts just get loud. This is just my experience
1 like@Trap Jimmy Oh... hug Im sorry that you are going through that. You are not alone though!.. I feel like that way too, im scared that i will go crazy too.. Its very scary thought. Yeah.. To me its not (yet) that hard like.. I dont have it so much (it just started) and yeah.. Mhh.. But remember that there is many humans who have these stuff too and understand ya. You are not alone.. Im here for ya❤.. I have phobias too, like i believe that i have fear of being alone like left alone, eremofobia. Like.. None is with me. Im just all alone.
0 likesThis makes me sad. I miss reality
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Same, but you soon accept it ugh
1 likeOk, do you guys ever do something for the first time, so let's say, drank Pepsi for the first time, and when you're drinking it ur like, oh, this is like a new drink you know, it's cool, whatever, and then you think back to that moment, and you think that that's your second time doing it, like you remember already doing it like this happens to me all the time, and everytime I ask people, they don't get what I mean, are they don't have that anything any of that can you please let me know
0 likesI have a similar codition but it’s a little more extreme lol save me
1 likeBIG QUESTION: Is it the same as living like youre looking at a memory? Like as im walking down the street or talking to friends, it weirdly feels like im looking back at a memory. And when Im in class, the lights are always too bright and cause my eyes to struggle sooo bad to focus on the professor, even though I am front row. I am concious that I am not fully concious in a momenttt? I dont know how to explain it but I kind of understand. I dont want to self diagnois, I am just weirdly relating to these symptoms. Im pretty sure its anxiety, but I kinda see where dodie is coming from.
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PeaceOfMyMind I feel like I have had something very similar to what you are describing. I’ve definitely had the bright light thing. However, I’m not really sure I can completely relate to you because I did have my eyes checked, but not by a mainstream optometrist. Anyway, he has done a bunch of research on eyes and the way light enters the eye and it has something to do with the cones in my eyes being deformed so he gave me glasses with prisms. They have been around for a really long time, but most regular optometrists don’t prescribe them cuz they think it’s kinda hocus pocos cuz it can help headaches, indigestion, balance, and the doctor has had success with a bunch of autistic kids. I’m not saying this is what you have or need, but to me it is like everything is too bright or I can’t see people’s faces properly and I have a hard time focusing. And sometimes it makes things dark too. I just wonder if some people think they have this disorder just because they see things differently, but I’m pretty sure I don’t because I don’t have the memory loss or stuff. I mean zoning out once in a while cuz I’m in my head is normal, and forgetting stuff that happened years ago like is normal as well. So like I guess I’m just confused how much of all this stuff has to correlate in order for someone to be diagnosed, u know? Idk if any of this made sense lol I’m kinda just rambling at this point
8 likeslightmountain No man, this is really good information definetly! To me, it really feels like my eyes are a big problem, so ill see if i can find someone other than the main stream doctor to check my eyes. I think this would really help a lot of people in the comments too! It's just for me, it kinda feels like it goes deeper? I hope not, so ill go to someone who can actually diagnous. I hope everyone else does too! Thanks again for this information!:)
3 likesPeaceOfMyMind hh
0 likesOmg I have the same as you, that it feels like you're the future you looking back at a memory, except it's not a memory, it's you in the present moment. It's a really weird feeling, but I think it is also derealisation, as you feel disconnected to the present moment. When you look back on something, a memory, you're daydreaming and it feels like you're the future you daydreaming, which now thinking about it totally fucks me up, but alright. And the stuff with the lights I have as well.
5 likesPeaceOfMyMind derealization is a symptom of anxiety! Dodie is describing a dissociative disorder where the derealization is stand alone, but all the same symptoms can occur in short bouts as symptoms of anxiety or depression!
1 likeI don't know if it is the same, but I know that I sometimes have kinda the same things, not focusing, bright light, being less conscious, despite the teacher in front of me and my friends trying to wake me up, but it always mean I'm actually falling mentally asleep, before my body. Does it seem possible ?
1 likeFor me, it obviously come to the depersonalization that making me sleepy, so I doesn't mean you have nothing, but maybe you should also more sleep. :)
is it like deja vu?
2 likesI have the same thing maybe because my parnts divorved and made it hard for my brain to get to do things when everythings different. Im 11 and my parents divorced when i was 9 i fell into a sort of deppresion yhen everything came crashing down.😟😞
0 likesPeaceOfMyMind sorry typo
0 likesOh my god this happens to me too, also when i'm in class light is suddenly to bright for me, my eyes can't focus and everything sounds so far away from me, it scares me so fucking much
0 likesDaydreaming in class is normal. This issue is a 24/7 thing. Always dreaming, always unable to feel real. If you aren't 24/7 but have issues focusing in class (& are eating enough since an energy problem like lack of protein can make you lose focus), then consider asking to be screened for ADHD. My best friend has it and seeing someone about it helped her be able to concentrate in school.
0 likesYes, it is kind of like that. It’s like a second ago could of happened a really long time ago. I once walked downstairs and then went upstairs when I realized something wasn’t right. I actually asked my parents if they remembered me being downstairs with them.
0 likesIt's like your trying to wake up from the Matrix and then you get reprogrammed back into the simulation. Why didn't I take the red pill!
1 likeEverything makes sense now
1 likei used to deal with this so much, i still do but not as much. i felt like i would blink and then 15 minutes had passed. i don’t remember any of my freshman year because i was so disconnected for the entirety of it. it’s like there is this block of time missing ?? it sucks
3 likesSame here always dreaming but not aware of it, after watching this i can relate to this video. But it really help me in positive way, to spark my creativeness.
10 likesSomeone needs to help me
0 likesI’m 14 and when I’m on my phone or concentrated on something I’m okay but when I’m in class etc I zone out then I feel like I’m not real and all that. It’s been like this for about a week and it’s so fucking annoying
dodie, have you ever had to deal with unexpected death? i havent and my science teacher just committed suicide. if you have dealt with things like that, can you share about it some time in a video? i love how you explain things and i find your words always comforting.
19 likesthanks<3
emma
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Emma LaRose My best friend was gay and killed himself 4 years ago. No one will ever know for sure why someone decided to commit suicide, the only thing we know for certain is that that person was sick in some way... mentally sick, like depression/anxiety/ptsd ex. Sorry to hear about your Science Teacher, it's a hard and dark thing to go through, but 'tis life. Some people decide when to leave.
4 likesMy classmate also recently committed suicide (across the road from the labs we use at my college) after a chain of events and we believe he chose that place for its familiarity. It's definitely such a huge shock although not completely unexpected from him. Sorry to hear about you teacher x
1 likeShe talks very well about it in her book *this was not a paid advertisement*. Honestly, it is very good and anyone can give you advice about it but Dodie writes so eloquently so I'd check it.
1 likeim sorry abour your teacher ): wish you the best
1 liketabsu thank you❤️
0 likesthanks for all your guys’ love and comments on the subject❤️
0 likesOnce you started talking about it I related way to much to what you were saying. I haven’t gone through anything traumatic though.
9 likesDoes anyone else ever able to like when your sitting down to make yourself feel like your going upside down cuz like I can...
0 likesI seriously want to cry
1 likei almost didn't watch this video because i have a very serious problem with projecting other's mental health problems onto my own and subconsciously creating mental illnesses in my mind (it's actually how my diagnosed depression started lol), and i was afraid of creating this mental illness for myself. however, i decided to watch it because it's dodie and i love you and honestly i'm so glad i did.
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Kenzie Fox hypochondria is a mental health issue itself and can be incredibly difficult to deal with (I would know) I hope you are ok and everything improves for you dear.
14 likesKenzie Fox apparently so does every one else who watched this.
2 likesOmg so do I!!!! Found out about depression: was depressed. And much more thx for telling me.
2 likesKenzie Fox I have the exact same problem and it does make it really hard to watch movies and tv shows about mental illness. I mainly wanted this video because I’ve been feeling really off for years and I thought maybe I had this, but then comes the trouble of not knowing if I actually do have it or if I’m just projecting and empathizing about it.
0 likesGuys I got it after smoking weed and everybody told me, that it is curable... what do you guys say ?
0 likesI’m not sure how this video stumbled across my feed but I’m pretty sure it saved me. I needed this.
3 likesWe found out a while ago about my déréalisation but for me it seems different. I have the same vision episodes as you during random times but when it becomes very bright I get very bubbly and almost like I’m high xD as you can see I’m trying to see the good side which is comforting g because when my vision gets dark I get panic attacks often. :) maybe someone here can relate
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Simmer_Scape I can relate, I get this but maybe in a way that most people experience it...for me, it feels ether really euphoric or really depressing...not sure if this is normal or not?
0 likesI had quite terrible derealisation on/off for a while now and I was so down when I felt like I wasn't experiencing your concert in Belfast properly! I felt numb and empty, like time wasn't happening and I was only observing the moment rather than the time that was in reality continuously going and going and going on :( I've been feeling a lot better recently and it's hard to imagine I felt so overwhelmed and hopeless for that long, and I truly hope you feel the liberation of the moment soon dodie! Thank you so much for sharing your emotions in a safe and educational way rather glamourising mental health problems!!! it's truly comforting! (For example: my very real tears of frustration during your performance of Secrets for the Mad)
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ava o donnell I’ve had the exact same thing happen to me ,, it happens when I’m around too many people at once and I get this feeling of shock ,, (I don’t know if your familiar with the feeling of shock after something traumatic like a car accident or witnessing something scary ),, but that’s how it feels and I got struck with that feeling in a concert with of course bright lights and loud music I felt unreal ,, I’m glad to know that this is common so I don’t feel so alone :))
1 likestingytv I get that completely! I have felt so much better depression wise but I still get pretty bad panic attacks (but I'm working on it!) I'm happy you reached out it makes me feel less alone (which I know sounds weird because I have friends) sometimes I'm not entirely sure why but I feel like I ament really there, like I'm seeing through my eyes and I can't do anything and I'm just witnessing the moment, people moving and doing things completely set me mad and I just break down, just days ago I was having an episode and I thought I heard my mum crying and I felt fear physically strike and I couldn't move (it was a dog howling) it's annoying how my mind messes with me sometimes and gets to me physically to the extent I get knots and fear stings throughout me irrationally but I truly think I'm getting better :) which I was sceptical of for so long
1 likeava o donnell I’m happy your getting better ,, surround yourself with positive people and find ways to ground yourself back into reality ,, I get it ,, I often scare myself and panic when I feel disconnected but I try to breathe and it sounds weird but I feel stuff around me ,, and I take a break on whatever I’m doing to take the time to try to calm down,, thanks for taking the time to respond but I’m also learning to cope ,, I’m a happy person I just scare myself I hope your able to overcome most aspects of it :)) wish you luck ,,
0 likesWait,there's a differience between a dream and the real life except you are sleep and feel the dream like a normal life and can't read ?
0 likesMy issues are causing me to not be able to handle work
0 likes. How do you get a job or income ?
I have the same thing
1 likeI could only describe it as “I feel like a ghost. Like I’m not really here”
10 likesi think i have this but i only recognised it for the first time yesterday
0 likesI don’t have this as a mental heath issue in its own but as a side affect of a blood disorder called anemia, where I haven’t enough iron in my blood so I can’t get enough oxygen around my boy and brain. For me the feeling of always being in a dream is accompanied by sever headaches, exhaustion, leg cramps and lack of concentration. I am getting treatment but my anemia is a lot more severe than most cases which is why it is so prolonged. It’s hard but I am dealing with it. I just wanted to say this Incase anyone here might not know about anemia and it can be a reason for feeling like you’re in a dream.
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hm. interesting.
0 likesI've struggled with this feeling since i was young and I was recently diagnosed with anemia. I am a hyper anxious person and my hands go numb during spells but since I've started taking iron it does seem to help with the numbness and anxiety associated with feeling like I'm dreaming. I think the two are definitely linked in a way
2 likesMy hands go numb too (and cold) and my vision goes black, sometimes for hours, in patches and my equilibrium is completely wobbly. My doctor is reluctant to help me to check if I'm anemic (for what reason I have no idea), but this sounds just like me because I have physical symptoms sometimes.
1 likeI just had my blood tested and that's not the case for me! My blood is perfectly fine and I'm experiencing what was described in the video. In addition,
1 likeSometimes I would see drastic changes in color (things turning too light, dark or blue-ish, red-ish, gray-ish) and even looking at a clock I would see 5 pm and later on 3 pm, as if I was lucid dreaming.
low blood pressure and lack of oxygen in the brain usually creates depersonalization/derealization. is a really well documented topic.
2 likesHoly shit thank you. I just found out I had anemia recently and was wondering why I had these dream-like feelings with horrible memory problems. I bought iron supplements and they really help quite a bit. However, my underlying issue has got to be hypothyroidism because I also have low bp, excessive weight with an inability to get rid of it, and a goiter.
0 likesI had dp/dr for a long time and even now, after i got better , it still relapses when my blood is taken for exams or when i lose blood by accident
0 likesthis is a genuine question, not rhetoric and coming from someone who struggles with very similar issues: HOW do you still function?
15 likesBecause I literally just sit in the same spot all day staring at a wall or computer screen and don't get anything done at all.
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you have to push yourself to do something. A mantra that my therapist told me (and that i still have to remind myself of every day): 'motivation follows action not the other way around' ie - you can't sit around waiting for the motivation to do something you have to just do it and the motivation to carry on will follow.
6 likesif you're struggling with disassociation try some grounding techniques or mindfulness breathing exercises :)
Everybody is different too, it doesn't make you any lesser. Like some people with depression are catonic most of the time and some live almost indistinguishable lives from neurotypicals. I've got chronic fatigue and can't deal with walking up stairs while carrying a backpack, but others with that same condition use wheelchairs to get around on flat surfaces.
2 likesis this also nicknamed alice in wonderland syndrome ? or is that a completely different thing?
0 likesSometimes I feel dizzy and my vision is.. weird? I feel like I can’t wake up and I wipe my eyes and I just feel like when I’m in a dream and I just get a weird feeling when in starring at stuff. It’s not constant though. It happened more when I wasn’t eating enough in 7th grade and always skipped lunch ( I won’t get into that stuff ) but now I eat normal and it happens less but it still happens sometimes and idk what’s wrong
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Is there other ways to fix it
0 likesI am 14 and when you mentioned the vision thing from your book where everything goes blurry, i thought about when that has happened to me and it has been quite a lot in the past few months. Then i went back and watched the first two points as i wasnt really listening the first time. I dont think they really apply to me but i feel like sometimes i get the first one when i often have a nap when i get back from school or have been woken up by my parents. The cinema one i don think i get 1)as i dont watch films or go the cinema that often 2) because i don’t know what I felt the last time i did. I am only 14 so I have never drunk so i cant say if the final point has happened and i don’t think I have ever experienced that in normal life.
6 likesI always thought that if i felt like connected with someone’s mental health condition, i was probably forcing myself to. But now that i have seen this video and that you know that you have this and notice when it happens makes me realise that i could have something like this.
If anyone has any advice or knows if my observations have any connection to this please let me know as i would really take something from your support.
Dodie you are a huge inspiration to me and hundreds of other, please keep on making the wonderful music and posting such educating videos like this one.
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hague423 please go to a therapist or school counsellor because it’s quite dangerous to self diagnose as you might not actually have the illness but then convince yourself that you do. On the other hand, if you actually do have if, you need to seek help to treat it as soon as possible! Please see a mental health specialist!
3 likesThank you, I still think that I could be just forcing myself to think this and you have just sparked me to notice that and consider that it am not like some of my role models
0 likesAlso you like BTS as I see a member in your account photo. And are you an AOT fan as I love that too
hague423 actually I am lol
0 likesDodie I saw that you said you’re going to try CBT, and I would really recommend you try DBT. it’s more of a real world application and coping skills. idk it’s helped me a lot
22 likesHave you been recovering are you almost recovered
0 likesTHAT WAS ME WHEN I WAS A KID BUT I GREW OUT OF IT?????
1 likeI disassociate every time I’m with people because I have severe social anxiety, but I have to in order to cope with it, my memory sucks, and never feel happy, however when I’m home alone and I’m relaxed I feel so confident and powerful,like I could do anything.
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same
0 likesI had this same issue for three weeks straight, meditation is key! Within a week I started zoning back in.
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No way !! I have always felt like my field of viewing has been zoomed out all the time . So meditation is the "cure" !!!!
0 likesWhat kind of mediation?
0 likesCan you get it at sudden moments of severe anxiety where it comes all of a sudden and only leaves a couple hours later or is that something else? I have the symptoms dodie has but not continuously or spontaneously through a stressful time. I can’t exactly remember it afterwards
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Melissa h yep. Sounds like you dissociate during panic attacks
4 likesMistressKatari ok that makes sense. Thank you!
1 likeIm 14 and have Derealisation and depersonalisation and tbh I think the only way to escape it would be dying but then I think if I'm not real is dying even real so I'm trapped in this world of my own . I'm not experiencing emotions everything is a blur and I've had this since I was 9
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If you feel like you want/need to talk to anybody about this, I am here. I understand. I have no answers, yet knowing that somebody else understands you is somewhat grounding. I don’t know if you relate, but you can almost feel guilty for how stupid you feel, and because no one around you seems to understand, you feel as though it mustn’t be real or relevant.
12 likesI don’t know,
Message me back if you wish sweet x
I have been feeling out of it for a long time. Everything just feels fake, scripted. Everything feels like it was placed just in that exact moment of time just to fuck with me. Everything I say just before the moment after has happened right after, like jinxing or whatever.
2 likesDying? What's the point if I'm only gonna be reborn again? Stuck in this hell forever. I just wanna die. But what if I get reborn into another dimension? Will it be like the stone age? Some weird sci-fi future? I just don't get it. If the things I like now don't exist in some other dimensions then I'm gonna go out and get or do whatever the fuck I want. Hell, this is hell. Just give me what I want! Why won't my dreams come into reality so I can leave this world?
Emotions barely exist within me, at least it feels like it. I only feel aggressive, I'm rarely sad and never really happy. Give me pleasure, happiness. Everything looks blurry. Feels like my eyes are a screen.
Everyone thinks I'm weird, my parents, friends, my classmates thought so too. End it I say. Suffering isn't funny. Haha, really funny, whoever made this world can die.
I do feel ...I just can't explain it it's neither that I feel as if everything is dream nor anything else it's wierd well I am fade up of it it's just ruining everything .even can't explain what do actually is happening to me 😫 .I feel it might have been better to have any another problem even a severe one but at least I could have explained others what actually is the problem with me.
1 like@VoldiOldie Artichokie yo thanks man
0 likesWhat's the difference between derealization and dissociation? Or is it the same? I've been calling what I get dissociating. Like when my brain doesn't feel like it's attached to my body and nothing I do matters etc. I asked my bf yesterday if my life is the actually like The Truman Show (all made up and everyone's an actor) during a really bad episode.
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Natalie Violet Dissociation is the umbrella term and derealization falls under it. I usually use the term dissociation because it's not always only derealization for me, like, sometimes there's depersonalization or other issues I can't place that mess with my sense of attachment to myself & the world around me.
14 likesIgnatius thank you friend
1 likeDissociation is more physical (can't feel arms or legs) and derealization is more mental (don't know what time it is, don't know who someone is, etc).. they tend to overlap, though
4 likesActually, it's different, however it often come together. Derealization is the fact that you don't feel connect to the reality, everything seem too tall, too far, too bright, you don't have the connection you had with the world, it all seem like a dream. That's what she is experiencing all the time.
2 likesDissociation is the same thing, but with yourself. Your brain seems to not be attached to your body, the people you're suppose to love doesn't make you anything, you don't recognize ourself in the mirror etc... ^-^
@alice garreau So dissociation is like depersonalization?
0 likesShizuma974 There is 5 kind of form de dissociation, one of it is indeed depersonalisation :)
1 likewow Didn't know that. Thanks! :)
0 likesI don't have any merit, that's what said our great lord Internet. To be fair, I don't know a lot about dissociation, so if you have explanation etc, I'd be really interested :)
0 likesi have maladaptive daydreaming
0 likesI have seizures where I can't speak and I feel like I'm dreaming I feel.that way a lot when I am.nkt having seizures and can talk too it's really weird
0 likesHoly shit, I have the same kind of disorder. But I don’t think the doctors believe me ;-;
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How do you know if you have the same disorder if the doctors don't believe you?
0 likesI know I have issues with this but never thought about the lighting connection? Is this why I'm so particular about lighting and about had a mental breakdown when my stepdad replace the light bulb in my room and it was LED instead of warm and threw me off? Is this why when I'm driving, the same exact places look like different places entirely, depending on whether it's daytime or nighttime?
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I relate to that so much. Same for me, expect warm lights are usually one of the triggers to my derealization while LED has calming effect on me. (But if they're too bright such as in mall then they can trigger my derealization as well)
2 likesI feel myself falling into weird distorted dreamworld anytime there is low lighting in restaurants or those flourescents striplights, but that might be the autism. I am pretty photosensitive.
7 likes+Mary Zan It's weird to hear other people say things like this because that means it's not a common experience people have...I can't do LEDs at all, they make me irritated and hurt my eyes unless I take 800mg of Advil. Low lights make me feel like I'm fading away, like everything is underwater and I might get stuck there with it - I always want to leave and and feel almost high.
2 likesOn the pleasant side, colorful dispersed lighting makes me feel giddy and really good. I just assumed this was a regular thing for most people and they just put up with LEDs
Same! I have colorful lights in my room that make me feel calm. I can't for the life of me walk into a walmart, I instantly get panicky and uncomfortable. And the low lighting makes me feel like I'm fading away too, that's why I can't be at a restaurant with such low and romantic lighting.
1 likeHave you tried mindfulness meditation ??
0 likesI wasn't feeling well before I watched this video. I actually felt really depressed because if (another) failed attempt at talking w/ my loved ones.
5 likesAnd I still don't feel better after reading that description, BUT, but I'm not giving up yet. Because you're right. There IS hope. (Even if I don't feel it right now, but usually I'm composed enough to trick myself into optimisn)
This "depersonalisation" thing sounds vaguely familiar, I experience a disconnection from my self ALL. THE. TIME.
Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention.
I literally developed this after I smoked Salvia.
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I’m also a trauma victim too so that could easily have something to do with it too, but I know that it never used to be this way. Lighting is a big thing for me, I’ve noticed certain lights will make me feel like I’m drowning by reality. Or sometimes when I’m doing completely normal things like going to the grocery store or going to the park I’ll just feel like I’m completely zoning out, in a fog, or drowning, without even realizing it. I honestly have to stop myself and then I am aware that things don’t feel right. I’m not sure if this is necessarily something that happens to me all the time or not, but I definitely notice when I have “episodes” or it’s more intense for me. Now I smoke CBD oil and it’s helped me a lot in the sense where I can feel more comfortable with my reality, and definitely the anxiety. But it’s still not necessarily the miracle drug.
0 likesAlrighty! I also have this I feel like.. (I match all of the properties as such, but anxiety stops me from telling anyone.. metaphorically.) I love all of you here, so I feel as thought I must help you all out with a few tips I have!! I know it's really long but please take the time to read it to help yourself or a friend out <3
4 likes1: This one is really good for me, you can do it on your own and it doesn't involve any treatment or medication. All you have to do is look around you and pick out something you can see, smell, hear, feel and taste. Taste is usually hard but if you're eating then try and pick out what ingredients or what you can taste in what you're eating!
2: Fiddle with something. This makes you realise there is something in your hands, and for me often helps to realise things are real.
3: This can be difficult if you are in a lesson or an exam at school (those at school like me) but just have a conversation with someone. Ask a bunch of random questions or just questions about them, people often like to talk about themselves so don't be worried about them judging you! Asking the questions will mean that they answer, so it can help you realise that the person you are talking to is there.
4: This is more for depersonalisation (I cannot spell rip). Basically, just fell down your arms (don't hurt yourself in any way! That may seem like it helps but please don't. I always used to get really extreme with hurting myself to try and stop it all feeling unreal, but you really shouldn't as things can get infected and then people may see (they did for me... Not fun.)) When you feel along your arms, pick out certain things that you can feel such as small bumps, moles etc. Also, look for certain spots and acne that you had when you knew it was yourself. This will prove whether it is you or not!
5: Close your eyes, and think. Think about the things you love, the things you hate and all your friends. Or just don't think about anything. It often helps just to let your brain and eyes to have a minute.
Thanks for reading guys. I hope this helps. As well as these you can also obviously try medication and tell someone and get help for it, but I feel as though there are many out there like me without the courage and with too much anxiety to tell anyone. I love you all, and thanks for reading!! I really really really hope this helps people because I know I'd really need something like this to help me. Know that you are loved and cared for and people are always there. As Dodie says in Secret For The Mad.. "There are a hundred people who will listen to you cry and I get that they don't get it but they love you so much that you won't regret it" (Go check that beautiful song out btw <3) And it is really true. Sometimes it is just amazing to talk to someone, whether they get what you're going through or not. I love all of you beautiful specimens and I hope you all have an amazing day/evening/morning/night!!!! LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH <3
You kinda look like Lilly Collins!
2 likesI THINK I HAVE THIS
0 likesI have derealizan for 6 years now 24/7
0 likesI.. don’t know where to write this but I need to, I need advice... Lately I’m searching a lot about stuff like "i feel like I’m dreaming". i don’t really know if my symptoms are the same as you, i stuggled with depression stress & anxiety but its mostly ok now? i mean except for stress but well life will be life
0 likesI m sorry my english is not the best I’m very tired right now
So I just have this weird episode sometimes where everything like Lights Sounds and Feelings (touch) are emphasized and I zone out a lot, can’t concentrate on conversations (that is so annoying) and sometimes my vision is blurry too for no reason, i have to actually focus my eyes
Idk what this is it’s been happening more and more often i think
Do you think it Could Be derealization? also ive got these moments where i don’t feel like im me, my body is strange and I don’t feel like myself idk how to explain sorry im so tired
You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you, but you can't know for sure.
0 likesThe piscean affect!
0 likesI wonder if my whole life is a dream and some day I am just going to wake up and be a baby again
1 likeReplies (1)
Same!!!
0 likesSo...this is what Zephan Clark has? Wow
0 likesThe jumpy editing in this video makes me feel like a time traveller.
1 likeTry Irlen glasses and yoga hip stretches.
0 likesSame just im stoned 😊
3 likescan you give us an update?
0 likesKind of reminds me of astral projection
0 likesThat sounds terrifying
0 likesi’ve had this feeling that i’m dreaming for a while now, felt very alone and like something was very wrong with me. thank you, sharing your story has really helped me<3
0 likesthank you so much. i’ve been feeling exactly like this since i was 11 (i’m now almost 17) and i never knew what it was until a couple months ago. everything feels almost fake and it makes things hard to fully feel and whatnot.
1 likeI literally relate so much,when it happens to me my stupid brain starts saying “oh no! It’s happening again! Let’s start panicking!” And then my panic disorder kicks in so it really sucks but I’m starting to finally get some control over it and that’s good.
1 likeI thought I was the only one who experienced this oml. Thank you for this, I don’t feel so alone anymore.
0 likesI get this feeling sometimes, it used to happen a lot more often before. Now I only get it sometimes. It happened the most in PE class. It was exactly as you described it. Thank you for sharing your story❤
0 likesThank you so much for making this video!!
1 likeI never knew I had this, I always thought it was general brain fog from my illness.
What I've done that has really helped is journaling. I have a bit better memory because I write things down, but my sense of time still sucks. :/
Happy to see someone else who deals with some of the same symptoms i do! when my mind is stressed or fatigued (and if there are certain triggers, like nighttime or an unfamiliar location), i start to fall into a dreamlike state so much so where i’ll actually convince myself i AM dreaming. this then snowballs into anxiety and paranoia. not fun.
0 likesOmg thankyou for sharing. Some of the things you’ve said really makes sense with how I have felt and I thought it was just a sypmptom of depression!
0 likesrecently i’ve felt exactly like this. i really thought i was the only one that felt this way and this gave me hope that i wasn’t going insane. :,)
0 likesI felt this a few times throughout my life. I remember when I went to Disney land for the first time, it felt like I was dreaming (not like a dream) like I was dreaming so I understand what you mean and that would be awful the whole time.
0 likesThis is an actual thing...I'm not insane...I can't thank you enough for making this video. I legitimately thought I was being silly but I'm definitely going to get this checked out. This is such a relief to actually have a name for this
0 likesI went through a very scary bout of this when I was in an abusive relationship. I also noticed it was much much worse when I used to smoke weed, I felt great when I was high but for several days I would feel completely detached from reality even when sober. The movie Numb with Matthew Perry is a good explication of the emotions you go through while experiencing depersonalization.
0 likesI also learned that I have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and not sure if depersonalization/derealization are related to it but since I had surgery and my meds are on the correct levels I feel a lot more cognitive. My memory is still poor when I’m stressed or internalizing things and I still have pretty bad anxiety but it’s better than before.
I have GAD so i've had some episodes similar to that so i really feel you and i know it must be so unpleasant (i've only had it for a couple of minutes each time) so i hope you have gotten better and you have found your way through it all
0 likesfeels like walking through molasses. Life is syrupy, foggy, confusing and distant - thanks for making this video
0 likesi have this and i remember watching it before i got diagnosed with it and I didn't really understand it, until I got diagnosed. I was like "oh wow I have this", but when I watched it I was like "I kind of feel like I have this", but I didn't want to self diagnose myself and now that I have it I can definitely relate with you on a personal level.❤️
0 likesI'm so happy you made this video, Im 19 and I just figured the feelings I was having is just part of growing up, losing excitement in everyday Activityies and settling into mundane. I feel like no matter how hard I concentrate I feel disconnected to all convocations, I know how to talk to people and I can hold a conversation but I feel like once it's over I was just on auto pilot, that how I always feel, like auto pilot. The more I notice it the more it freaks me out. I thought it might be me just being tired but after seeing this I feel I'm not alone and that there is a cause and ways to deal. You have helped me intencely.
0 likesDodie I love you so much. I know this is an old video, but I struggle with this daily. I have PTSD and this goes hand and hand with it. It’s so hard to deal with and when you first posted this, I was so relieved. Thank you. It’s shitty, but you have really helped by just putting words to it. Thank you.
0 likesMe tooo!!!! I thought I was the only one that felt this way now I feel a lot better.
0 likesWow. It is very refreshing to know this is a real condition. I remember feeling like this for a whole year in college. I was very stressed and dealing with a lot. I felt like my brain wasnt working and everything felt like a haze. I kept feeling worse and worse because I thought I had some braing disease and I thought I was going crazy. Eventually summer break came and I was able to get the mental rest I needed and eventually started feeling normal again. I can't imagine what it would've been like if it never went away tho. You are very strong and I really admire your determination. I know you'll find the cure someday and hope it'll be soon :)
0 likesIt makes so much sense, thank you for sharing!
0 likesI don't know if it's something similar but I've also experienced situations like this. I always used to invent stories and kinda live in another world in my mind since I was a child. Like I used to spend a lot of time just laying somewhere and imagining scenarios of a different me in another world. Thanks to depression I became really isolated later and could only deal with real life problems in my parallel world.
2 likesNow that I'm alright again I often have these situations where I talk to someone or write a text or just go out and then a few minutes later I realize "oh, you just did this in real life. You said that to another person. You made a decision that could influence your future." Or when I'm traveling somewhere I always get kinda lost, like I can't believe that what I'm seeing is real. It's too overwhelming.
I admire you so much! I have had episodes of derealisation and it has become my greatest fear. I feel your pain deep down, and wish so much that you find a way to work through this. However, the fact that you have accepted it is something I admire so much! It shows you are strong, and it makes me think you'll find a way through it. Thank you for sharing this, it's a topic that needs to be talked about more. You're amazing!
0 likesIt’s surprising to see a video about this for once I’ve had dr since I was 7 years old and it’s been a long struggle
0 likesIt's crazy this video was recommended to me now because today I realized I have the same thing. I have been under immense stress again after a long while and I noticed my vision got blurry. I managed to live for almost a year without it though! Hopefully you'll get rid of it too
0 likesThank you thank you thank you for talking about this. I needed to hear about this.
0 likesI feel like I have this condition too I never thought something like this would exist.
0 likesI went through a bad case of this my senior year (2017-2018). When I would go to school, it would feel like I wasn't even there. My vision was so cloudy and everything seemed fake. Like I would walk to a class and sit down, and it felt like I never left the previous class. I'm going through it again, but not as bad. It really sucks but it doesn't last forever.
0 likesThank you for sharing this. It might just help someone looking for answers just like you were. Also I just got into your music in the last few months (tardy to the party, I know.) and it's absolutely addicting.
0 likesSo I often dissociate when I’m alone at night and one of the best thing I found to ground me is listening to 8d audios and having like a comforting smell with me ( like my girlfriends hoodie or something) I don’t have derealisation (I think) only episodes of it when I’m very down so it might not work with everybody but yeah. This is my little part of help to everyone <3
0 likesI have DID but I never knew that I had derealization until recently. I just felt like that for days on and off and I was so confused
1 likeI GET THIS SO MUCH and it usually happens after I hit the peak of my anxiety or stress then it feels like I’m in auto pilot and this is a dream and I hate it so much!
0 likesI had it for 3 months solid and stilll get it from time to time depends on how I feel ( unwell/ panicked) even badly lit areas are dreamy! My therapist at the time and anorther mental health person told me it’s when your brain is in such a high level of stress it is protecting you by making things seem unreal. It can go away tho
0 likesOne more thing, I would recommend looking into aboriginal dreamtime. Reality doesn't always have to emerge from clinical trials.
0 likesOh my god! I get that feeling a lot! I thought that was normal
0 likesI had this from ages 10-12. I kept feeling like I would have to monitor myself by scratching my arms to make sure I was still in reality. Since I was so young at the beginning I would even ask other people if I was awake. It feels like you’re absolutely floating out of your own body. I only discovered this past year that it happened to others.
0 likeswow I honestly love this. nobody talks about dr/dp enough.
0 likesWow it's like a huge light bulb turned on! Thank you so much for that. I always thought I'm just weirldy tired all the time. I don't know how to describe it but that video helps a lot!
0 likesFor me it felt like I wasn’t in reality, like shit around me weren’t real. I could sometimes get lost & come back just like that, which is weird. I was so happy to open up this video
0 likesWow I have had these symptoms a lot. It was worse when I was a teen and I have always thought/been told by family that it is depression...
0 likesI never heard about that before, how is it different from dissociation? Because that’s what I had my entire childhood and as a young adult ... including A LOT of daydreaming, spacing out etc. I could sit with people at the table and „disappear“ for an hour and switch back into the conversation, not having a clue what they were talking about in the meantime. Same happened constantly in school. I really had to force myself to stay present and it was exhausting.
2 likesSometimes as a child I was observing patterns on the wall or shadows for an entire hour and loose myself into them, until they started to become weird, changing their form, some 2D surfaces with patterns started to form into 3D worlds with different layers that moved around me. It felt as if the physical and energetic world merge.
But it changed very much in the last years and almost went away! Now I can switch it on and off if I want to and only in very extreme stress situations it sometimes happens accidentally for moments. But in order to change that, I had to change my entire life, becoming very aware of what is good for me and what not and then to act on that, f.e. by not being in places I don’t really want to be, not joining conversations or parties that didn’t really interest me, not to surround myself with people I feel uncomfortable around and so on.
Most important key to change that was to experience, that I am the one that forms and creates my own reality, makes decisions and acts on them. Acting rather then reacting. In other words: Since I take care of my well-being, it changed tremendously 😊
I suffer with this as well! I'm happy that it's an actual thing and I'm not going crazy "^^
0 likeswow... this video brought me to tears. these feelings have happened to me so many times, and i never knew it had a name or that it was an actual thing. it started for me when i was 15, and whenever i’d be in a stressful or unexpected situation, like during an intense volleyball game, or when i was asked to prom. i could never control it or learn to stop it, and nobody ever could understand what i was talking about when i’d have an episode. it was just like being in a dream and i couldn’t control my movements or my words. i never ever knew this was an actual condition. wow, thank you dodie for opening up about this. you are amazing ❤️ this means so much to me
0 likesI am a first year biology student and recently had subjects about the brain, hormones and brain function so this is pretty interesting to me!
0 likesThis made my day! This is 100% me!!!
0 likesI’ve been dissociating since the beginning of my freshman year. I’m a junior now. (High school) some people in the comments are saying that they only experience it sometimes, but I feel this way so constantly. I don’t think I’ve had a break. I can’t remember the last time I went a full day without feeling this way. I feel like I’ve wasted my whole high school years away, because I’ve felt so numb. It’s ruined relationships also because I just can’t be in love or feel strong emotions. I can definitely say weed played a role in the way I feel. I’ve always smoked a lot because of the environment I live in. I get pressured into doing it a lot of the time. I get made fun of by saying no, although it makes me feel even more distant from the world and awful. I officially learned to say “No” a couple weeks ago. I hope I can fully recover, because I miss the way being alive feels, and I remember how amazing life was before this horrible dream like state took over my whole life. I will not smoke weed ever again. It only enhances the feeling to the point where I feel like I’m dying. It is definitely more of a mental thing for me. Although it does make everything look more foggy and unreal. I miss the old me, and the way life was. If anyone can relate to this then feel free to talk to me because I have no one to talk to about this. I know no one in real life who has this or experiences it.
0 likesFINALLY, someone who is well known that has the same condition as me.
0 likesme constantly!! yess! thank you for putting it into better words that i can
0 likesI don't think you will ever understand the impact this video has made on me. I have struggled with the exact same feelings for at least 6 years. I can finally go to the doctors and better explain how it feels.!!!!!!!
0 likesI’m not going to lie when you brought up piddling with rough and sharp things to keep tethered I felt so relieved that someone else did it. I always have to be holding something or raking my nails over my skin to stay tied down.
0 likesOmggg this has been happening a few weeks now and I thought it was because of sleep. I put a dog down yesterday and it got worse, last night I couldn't focus, I felt high, and I couldn't connect with my physical self even though I was sober. Today it happened again but lasted 4 hours. It usually happens at night in the lobby of my dorm and I just feel slow like how a video moves slow while everything and everyone else is functioning normal.
0 likesOnce in a while I feel like this. It freaks me out because I couldn’t remember what happened 10 minutes ago
0 likesI was young when i started smoking weed (about 13), after i stoped i had derealisiation for a long time. Not like all the time but everytime i listened to music or something really good or really bad happened and sometime just without a reason.
0 likesTook about one year till it was "gone" (still happens about 2 a year).
Every one who has drug induced derealisiation, just keep on thinking positive. :)
After traumatic series of events I started to dissociate. I still struggle with it. Nothing has seemed to help.
0 likesInteresting video ❤️
0 likesI’m having those feelings sometimes, cuz of big stress and much to do..
I’m going thought ptsd and other stuff...
But the feeling I have is like floating, unreal and bubbly... Hard to explain.
Replies (2)
Yea, gash... when you talk about the eye and the memory...
0 likesThat you for sharing ❤️❤️❤️
0 likesOmg I genuinely felt like I was slowly dying before this video. I think I might have derealisation and the other one too
1 likeI'm so sadly happy that i'm not the only one who feel this! It's sucks a lot and it feels like hell
0 likesI get short spells of derealization/depersonalization when my anxiety or depression (or both) get really bad. Usually it's when I'm doing work of some sort, I'll just stop for a second and realize that I don't feel real, nothing feels real. And I can usually combat it by pacing and using positive self talk/grounding techniques to bring myself back to earth haha. But sometimes it takes some real effort. I've brought this up to previous counselors and they all said that as long as I keep up the positive self talk/grounding when these spells do happen and they aren't happening too often, I should be okay. But it definitely is freaky when you sit down to work and then look at the clock and realize you've kind of lost the last few hours and how did it take this long just to do this one assignment/task?
0 likesI can totally relate ! I had that feeling of kinda not being there. Things passed by me. I forgot a lot of things my friends told me. And they sometimes seemed to think I just wasn't listening. I couldn't concentrate properly and had blurry vision quite often. Even noe sometimes I look in the mirror and don't recognize me, even get scared sometimes until I remind myself it's just me. So I try not to look in the mirror on those days. Sometimes things seems weirdly dark and I feel like I'm dreaming. Other times, when there are bright lights I feel dizzy and weird.
0 likesBut I must say it's gotten sooo much better. I stopped drinking coffee and it made like such a difference !! I also stopped chocolate (well not entirely but I try to avoid it) and it really helped. Now I take vitamins regularly and it really helps against the brain fog.
Good luck to you. Hope it gets better 💕
I’ve had this exact same condition and it was the worst. I couldn’t cope with the coping and had severe anxiety attacks. Reading the title I hoped you were speaking in the topic and I’m so glad you are, no one really talks about this and I’m glad more awareness is being shown
0 likesHuh this clears up alot the experiences I have been having, when every I get overwhelmed my emotions just suddenly just shut off then I start drifting off feel like I'm floating and everything is fuzzy, it sucks because it happens when I have inportant stuff to do
0 likesWhen I was four my father died and my mother was extremely suicidal. I don't remember almost all of my childhood. I would feel like I was a little girl up in heaven looking down on this little girl who was me. I wouldn't feel in my body. It has not happened as much as it used to but it still happens at certain times. I'm not sure if it would be derealization. I just always have tried to look for answers and talk to people about it but many just think I'm lying or it's just my imagination. I just really would like to know if this could be a slight case of derealization.
0 likesTo me it DPDR feels like the opposite of deja vu mixed with the feeling of existing but not living.
0 likesI feel this way too, not all the time but pretty often. I feel out of it until at least noon most days but then I'm okay the rest of the day.
0 likesi have bipolar type II and i never experienced derealization until i started having hypomanic episodes and it's not as intense but it's nice to have it explained bc when i experienced it for the first time i was glad i had seen this video among others bc instead of thinking "oh god what's wrong with me" i thought "ohh so this is what it's like." (given i was still kind of mentally having a freak out bc a lot of other stuff was going on up in the brain!! found out later it hypomania! psychiatrists are awesome guys!!)
0 likesI had the same for a couple months last year and I'm glad it haven't happen since then, but when I recurred to a psychiatrist he told me in a really mean way that I only needed to sleep more and it made me feel like people don't really care about others.
0 likesAlso I don't know how it stopped cause I kept sleeping 3-4 hours a day but I guess it's cause I started to worry less about college and more about myself
Well, I have a problem of thinking I’m awake because I do things in my mind that never ever happened physically. It happens almost every morning.
0 likesI want to expand my conversation I had on JBU about the"truer" brain. I can't shake the feeling that these so called disorders are just a brain that might register reality a little bit too well. What you're describing sounds a lot like ego dissolution. People will travel all the way to the rain forest to gulp down a shaman's concoction to experience this transcendental state. You have it with out a pharmacological assist. You are Ayahuasca in a dress! I think it's scary that a delusional brain may be a more happier brain to the extent we get fooled into thinking this is the more accurate brain. What if the brain that has the "disturbances" is the truer brain. In other words, what if it is not hiding stuff from you? It's not protecting you. It could be that your brain is peeking behind a code! Our construction of mental health is ascribed according to how well one gets along in society. That's the metric. No one stops to ask if the given society is worthy of operating in with supreme competence. We forget that there were flourishing members of Nazi society and of American slave holding South. Were they healthy? They certainly fit in. We just assume our societies are models of health because we are too close to them. Impressionist paintings need distance, not a magnifying glass Our societies very rarely go on trial with the exception of mild political tweeking, but the stubborn brain will to the point of treatment plans. What if your brain is putting our form of civilization on trail. Who has the right to hold the gavel?
0 likesDon't misunderstand me, happiness is such a worthwhile thing to possess. I chase it secretly with just as much gusto as the next man. I just don't know if we can say that it is an indicator of mental health.
My argument does come apart somewhat with memory loss. Yet, if I were to be persistent, I might argue that supreme mindfulness does not need the best recording of the past as it really does not exist. Only a faint trace to frame the present situation may be needed. Very fascinating!
opposite for me. In dreams I feel like i’m awake even tho I have no control over it. I even sometimes say, “Wow, I can’t read this, I must be dreaming” or just randomly yell in my dream, “I’m dreaming”
0 likesI’m glad I’m not the only one. I thought I was going crazy. For me it feels like I’m watching my life from inside my head. Like a really shitty reality tv show.
0 likesI thought I was alone... and going crazy in my own little word. It feels like I'm walking around in a model, or a stage set. Nothing is quite real.
0 likesJust in case this helps anyone here- I suffered with derealization disorder for five years, it absolutely ruined my life at the time, because i didn't know what it was, wasn't taken seriously by the doctor and couldn't explain it to my family or friends. Randomly one day (after searching for about two years) i typed in my symptoms and found a tonne of videos just like this one. From breaking the cycle of anxiety (thinking i'm going crazy, panicking about leaving my comfort zone, having panic attacks in shops because it would suddenly hit me and i felt like i couldn't see) and simply taking this huge baggage off by being able to call it a label and attribute it to emotional stress (as well as physical injuries guys, don't forget!!) about 70% of my problem immediately went. i still felt weird most of the time, but not panicking about it, and exiting the negative thought cycles, not only do i feel better, but I have allowed myself to rest and almost rewire my brain. I can safely say i feel 90% better, with the occasional spout. I would recommend resting as much as possible, making sure there is nothing wrong physically, constantly relaxing your muscles (baths, massages, acupuncture) its just a coping mechanism from your brain, so you have to reset it- relax your body, and rest your mind, these things will go hand in hand.
0 likesI suffered with this really badly when I was on anti-psychotics (which I shouldn't have been put on in the first place). It was hella dangerous. It would often feel like I was teleporting around, in that I would go somewhere, but have no recollection of even leaving the house, let alone making any kind of journey. This was most apparent when I had to go pick up my prescription. It was a 5 mile round trip and I would WALK to go get it. I mean...I assume I did, cos I can't drive, I was often home alone cos everyone else was working, and it is the only rational explanation for having my medication randomly appear in my hands and me being on the wrong side of the front door. Things are slightly better now I'm off meds and in counselling, but I can still (remember...or not) how unsettling that feeling of dissociation can be and deeply sympathise. I hope you are able to find something that helps you. I have also taken up art since coming off meds and giving my hands something so potentially complex to focus on has helped ground me in some semblance of "reality."
0 likesi have the same since over 10 years now and it is always there, some days even worse than others... it's the best when i am with my boyfriend where i can totally be myself... i am working in a social job with over 50 people per day... and i am 100% acting, everything i do and everytime i approach somebody i act because normally i would sit in my room and be glad to not talk to someome :D also i can't remember stuff... i have to write everything down.. i can watch a movie and after a year i can watch it again with having forgotten everything which was in the movie so it's like a new movie :D also i forget things which had happened years ago and my friends ask me “do you remember when we....?“ i am always like what i haven't been there xD
1 likei think i might have this... sometimes i can't see properly like my eyes just zone out and a lot of my side of conversations go like "what i forgot to listen" like that's genuinely what i've come to saying now not i didn't hear i actually forgot we were talking at all. it's not as severe as your symptoms because i still recognize myself but other people sometimes i get confused
0 likesi can’t tell you how much of a breathe of fresh air it is to hear someone talking about this, for years i felt so alone and in the begginings of it i was so depressed, i think the worst part about derealisation is no one will ever know fully when your experiencing it because you become so accustomed to living your life through another set of eyes, for me it took years to learn how to cope with the situations, staying calm and reminding yourself you do exist and you are on a timeline and living in that moment, i never knew derealisation was the third most common after depression and anxiety i wish i had known this when i was 14 because i can’t describe how alone,sad and scared i felt back then-thank you for bringing some light to this and even though i wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy there is a comfort in knowing you really aren’t alone
0 likesHer voice is so soothing when she read the book
0 likesI think this happens to me from time to time..
0 likesI feel like I’m dreaming constantly too... I should ask my therapist if I have this...
0 likesSometimes ill just be sitting there completely conscious, and yet ill wonder if im actually alive. I wonder how I can really prove I am. I usually start waving my arms around just to make sure I am actually experiencing something and have some type of control. Shits weird....
1 likesoo I never comment on these videos... but I wanted to share something for anyone who is struggling.
0 likesI went through a traumatic experience last year which gave me ptsd. my childhood was also a big contribution to it as my upbringing I went through some crazy shit haha so it was all connected.
the first 2-3 months after the trauma were the scariest months of my life. where I first experienced depersonalisation/derealisation questioning my existence, and some fucked up thoughts lol. but after learning what I was going through I felt a lot more at ease and my healing process really started to take off.
its almost been 1 year since the event. and every now and then I get derealisation, but I find what has helped me and reduced this is training my mind not to attach an emotion to it. so when it does happen I will distract myself or treat it as if it were a normal feeling/thought and let it pass on by and accept it. Doing this has slowed it immensely and helped me feel normal again. and my brain is slowly getting rid of this habit and forgetting the feeling.
you can and will get better, some people will take a lot longer than others. your brain has learnt this habit and its about learning to re training yourself out of it. meditation is something that should be adopted regularly also. If you're in the hard stages of derealisation, stay very distracted and accept this feeling. you will get better.
I’ve been feeling like this for months and i asked my mom for therapy and she doesn’t seem to care :(
1 likeReplies (5)
i_need_a_life_fr lol i have it to just try to talk to her
1 likeRotten Angel I love ur pfp and I tried but she doesn’t really listen at all
0 likesWhy not im at therapie now and it doesnt help so im just trying to life with it maybe you can ask again or someone different😔
1 likeRotten Angel I’m sorry it isn’t helping :(
0 likesi_need_a_life_fr lol ty i literally feel nothing i wish i could feel again or feel better jk
0 likesOkay. Now I understand all of this. I would always feel numb and whatever that word was (derealization??) whenever i went into haunted houses where there’s flashing lights and smoke machines. My vision would get weird and that’s the only way I could explain it. the only way to tell others how I felt was “I felt like i wasn’t me” and that sounds insane but now I know i’m not alone and that’s very comforting
0 likesWhen I watch other people really understand what someone else is talking about and be able to give such intelligent answers like they know what is going on. Because I never can do this! I can’t follow what they are saying.This feels like a little bit like this
0 likesWhen I was younger I has weird days where I felt like this and like I was dreaming and my mum used to get annoyed because I was begging to go home when we went out
0 likesHave you every had something like a blury tunnel vision, while everything slowly goes numb. And waking up from this time to time and thinking you were sleep or some type of dashivu but you were awake the whole time with a plain face and eye just staring ahead and your body is in autopilot.
1 likeI experience this alot but i wonder if it's just sleep deprivation/depression/stress. I dissociate alot but don't even realise it or know if I really am or not.
0 likesLike I'm afraid to even drive because of it.
this feels so accurate
0 likesMy sister was diagnosed with this and this gave me hope that she can get better, thank you.
0 likesI know that this is an old video but.. this isn’t a constant state for me but happens when I’m anxious .. like heavily.. I had no idea that it was a thing .. I’m glad I know now.
0 likessummer of 2017 some stuff happened and i remember being at a cookout and it was night time and i was in the pool and the moon was full and it was shining on the water and i was just staring at the reflections and i felt like i was actually in a dream and i would stare at the moon and it freaked my sister out and she asked if i was ok and i just started crying randomly and it was very weird. i felt like nothing was real. now i know it was just me coping with whatever happened that summer lol. that was the only experience i’ve ever had though.
0 likesI feel like everything isn’t as real as it used to be, like “oh really, this is it?”
0 likesI have a condition that makes me feel like I'm watching myself through a screen I can't rll explain it but all I can say is that my eyes feel like there inside my head and when I get it it's hard to show emotion and it's like Im not in in my body like I'm on autopilot
0 likesI get this feeling when i am in a crowded place which gives me anxiety
0 likesI get This under pressure or when my hearts beating really fast and things are happening fast, it’s like my heart and head is just like, fuck that I’m out of here
1 likeI've lived with it for the pass 4 years
0 likesThis is so hard to believe that I am not the only one who going threw this
0 likesI'm really scared now because i feel like i have this, i've been feeling this way for over 2 years and always thought it would go away but it hasn't. And i want to ask for help and stop feeling this way like i'm not living at all but i don't know how.
0 likesDo you guys also expirience deja vu very often but in a bit different way? Its sounds weird (ill try to explain as easy as i can) so deja vu - something happened or you dreamed about it and you think it happened again/or dream got real, but after few seconds you cannot bring back the memory or the „proof” that it happened/you dreamed about it, even tho few second ago you were pretty sure about this feeling
1 likeI don't know if this can happen temporarily but I was talking to my family and I found out we went to Disney World about four years ago and I wasn't able to fully remember that trip... I know, I was really surprised because it wasn't a long time ago but I can barely remember what happened and I just remember the pool of the hotel, not the room or what happened on that trip, just like an old dream. I don't really suffer of this symptoms often but I can deduct that it happened because I was struggling with coming out... You know coff gayyy lol So my dad didn't take it to well so probably there were really uncomfortable parts of that trip so my brain decided to just make all that experience really blurry and confusing to me hahaha I'm really impressed of how brain can react in really uncommon ways.
0 likesYou’re such a sweet person ahh
0 likesLike you’re watching your life go by fast
0 likesHoly shit I didn’t know anyone else felt like this too 😭😭😭 fuck I’ve had it for 6 years
0 likesI’m afraid I’ll never really feel alive. It makes me wonder if there is any point in living if I feel dead most of the time.
0 likesI hate this and I hate that I haven’t even been diagnosed with it and no one understands and I’m just done. I’m done.
Oh my God dodie, i didn't know this was a thing... I think I need to see someone...
0 likesTry lsd or mushrooms :) I feel like they are a potential real ‘treatment’ you said you were looking for. Derealization has everything to do with your perception of reality, and psychedelics have the chance to change your perception in a profound and deep level that goes beyond understanding. I would be disappointed if anyone reading this were to disregard it in favour of confirmation bias of your own beliefs. Psychedelics allow you to experience something human animal human behaviour does not in a way that can potentially change your life
0 likesI don't think I had exactly what you have but when I went on holiday to Spain for a month I had this sense that everything wasn't really real and there was like a lighter tint to everything but I thought it was just the heat when we cane back it didnt really go and I didn't listen to anything said in school. This went on for about 3 years before I became a bit more aware of my surroundings. However I went on holiday when I was about 9. When I went to secondary school I was closed off and dazed for about half a year before I made friends and starting becoming more aware
0 likesYou're an introvert like me, I had a dream one time like that I thought I was awake but I was literally sleeping. But I would like to sleep next to you, you're pretty
0 likesYeahhh I deal with that a lot to, I usually scratch something rough or count the colors and textures in the room to help ground myself ghgh
0 likesThis is an actual codition??? When I was younger and was going through some stuff I sometimes felt like I was dreaming but it was SO extremely uncomfortable. I talked to some of my friends and my mom about it but they thought I was lying
0 likesI have chronic Dissociation Syndrome. I've always refused Prozac. I can't stand the idea of being all dressed up and nowhere to go. In my heart, I will go down with this ship unless an anchor presents herself. I can not focus due to being ugly, and too ugly for any anchor (as far as she is concerned). Living in a bell jar is no way to exist.
0 likesMan thats depressing to hear lol. I think i may have a little bit of the derealization. I feel very diconnected from things but not depressed? So this explanation would make a lot of sense. Like i cant dance at parties or feel involved with anything. I just constantly feel alienated. The only thing that seems to help me is music and conversing 1on1 or in small groups with people. But that cant be done all the time and i struggle with the vision stuff as well and there doesnt seem to be a fix for that other than just waiting for it to end. I hope you feel better doddle, heres to better times 🥂
0 likesThe movie thug really freaked me out I thought I was the only one who experiences this😭
0 likesEven if it doesn't fix things in the ways you want to talking therapy can help regardless as you get to speak about things and learn coping skills for it. So you could still feel like unreal and dreamy but you will now have skills to deal with it so you can have a normal happy healthy life.
0 likesI do hope CBT helps fix it but even if it doesn't there's skills you can learn from it that can help you cope and that will give you a significantly better quality of life than you have now so please keep in mind that even if it's not a full sucess it's still able to help and be somewhat sucessful. Also your therapist may work with you for a few weeks and say "I think x therapy might be better for you, I could talk with my colleague who's a x therapist and see if they think it would help and if so you could be transferred to them." So starting therapy regardless of results is ALWAYS a good thing. Good luck.
I have that too it’s called an addiction
0 likesSometimes it's like dropping a roll of toilet paper, if the roll of toilet paper was time, and everything unrolls and you don't know what happened to the last four hours all of a sudden. Or you wash your hair twice and brush it three times in one morning because you couldn't remember if you already did that, or if you did it yesterday. I think it can turn you into a placid and vulnerable person sometimes, I'm slow to ever get angry, and possibly feel more at peace with bad things that happen to me, at least compared to other people I know.
0 likesI CLICKED ON THIS IMMIDEATLY BECAUSE ME TOO GIRL
0 likesI uh. Didn’t know this was a disorder. Now I know I have that.
1 likei've felt like this since my eating disorder in 2016
0 likesfuck
That's called daydreaming. I have it too
0 likesIs it normal to have your brain just forget what just happened. Like you just had a conversation with your friend...you blink...bam! That memory is gone. Or when you just kinda sit there....and your mind makes you feel like you are in a videogame or a dream. Like when you realize that you're are just dreaming when you have a nightmare...My brain will be like "you can do anything, there is not consequences!". Is this common for people
0 likesi’ve been so detached from reality i thought i died
0 likesActually if you’re outside for a long time and go inside usually for everyone they also see black specs but after they go inside but it goes away shortly
0 likesI just thought it was normal... Ha... I would always laugh at myself. And try to touch my surroundings, but I could never register if I was dreaming or not. My head floats lol
0 likesI get a bit like this but it’s more like I’m in a bubble and I don’t feel real and it’s really hard to connect with people because they feel like they are on another planet lol. It’s just really weird and scary tbh :(
0 likeswait shit maybe this is what I've been experiencing? I only feel like this very very rarely in my day to day life, but almost every time I go far outside my routine, like go to a concert or an event or travel to a new city I feel like it's not real? I just feel really disconnected and I struggle to remember things and focus on what's happening and it's so frustrating, but I didn't think it was actually a thing? I usually get pretty stressed out by these situations, so it makes sense.. maybe I should talk to someone. I guess I just thought it was normal.. or I just didn't think too much about it, because I'm so used to it.
0 likesReplies (1)
Almu Canta yeah, that makes sense! Maybe that’s what’s happening
0 likesI always try and talk to my mom about this but she doesn’t believe me and has no idea what I’m talking about
0 likesHave you considered Ayahuasca? I really feel it will help this!
0 likesi can't remember things very well and when i do it usually feels like it wasn't me doing that or like i was floating in that memory?? it's like i can see the memory clearly but theres a thick black barrier on the outside as if i'm watching from a cinema, and sometimes when i remember things i see my face and my body as if i'm watching from outside my body?
0 likesanother thing is like i just can't remember things like certain people coming over last year or going out to the theme park that one time, my family and friends tell me about it and get confused when i don't remember.
can someone help me? is this what she has? when she's talking about it it feels really similar because i feel like i'm living in a simulation or that the people around me aren't real and i'll suddenly get super nervous around them
am i just experiencing something different or is it the same or am i just being weird?? please help
so what’s it like when ur sleeping, do u think you’re still awake??
0 likesMeditation helps me to focus on the present moment. Maybe it’ll help you too?
0 likesI have that too!
0 likesImagine when you die the store manager walks up to you, takes off the headset and asks “so, how was it?”
0 likesThis is why I don't drive, I couldn't forgive myself if I spaced out and hurt anyone. I'm hoping for the best with my diet change and eventually I will dive into Quantum Hypnosis to help cure it completely
0 likesYeah I have that since I'm 13 years old. I'm 35 now. Basically just wasting my life and waiting for it to be over.
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raiBK just checking in on you, hoping you are doing well. Let me know?
1 likewere all gonna make it brother
0 likesi don’t have that disorder but i do feel like that in public places like beaches, parties, parks, or anything with a lot of people. it’s so weird and a while after it happens, i might forget everything that has happened
0 likesWoah. I thought it was just me! I didn't even know this condition was a condition. I'm so slow. 😂 But wow, I'm kinda speechless.
4 likesWait but what if i have it and i just think its normal?
0 likesSometimes when i went to swimming pools it was always very steamy there and alot of times i felt like i was dreaming
could that just be it being steamy or wut?
Wait but what if i have it and i just think its normal?
0 likesSometimes when i went to swimming pools it was always very steamy there and alot of times i felt like i was dreaming
could that just be it being steamy or wut?
Wait but what if i have it and i just think its normal?
0 likesSometimes when i went to swimming pools it was always very steamy there and alot of times i felt like i was dreaming
could that just be it being steamy or wut?
Wait but what if i have it and i just think its normal?
0 likesSometimes when i went to swimming pools it was always very steamy there and alot of times i felt like i was dreaming
could that just be it being steamy or wut?
Wait but what if i have it and i just think its normal?
0 likesSometimes when i went to swimming pools it was always very steamy there and alot of times i felt like i was dreaming
could that just be it being steamy or wut?
Wait but what if i have it and i just think its normal?
0 likesSometimes when i went to swimming pools it was always very steamy there and alot of times i felt like i was dreaming
could that just be it being steamy or wut?
I really cannot imagine what you are going through. Whenever I remember my dreams (which is kind of rare), it feels like reality.
3 likesReplies (1)
thats not what dp/dr or dissociation is....
1 likeWait but what if i have it and i just think its normal?
0 likesSometimes when i went to swimming pools it was always very steamy there and alot of times i felt like i was dreaming
could that just be it being steamy or wut?
Wait but what if i have it and i just think its normal?
0 likesSometimes when i went to swimming pools it was always very steamy there and alot of times i felt like i was dreaming
could that just be it being steamy or wut?
hi dodie! firstly, this video made me cry because well i’m a very emotional human being and because i am really mad at myself. i’m just gonna rant in this comment so feel free to skip this and go get some water and food. so, i’m axel, i’m 15, 16 in 6 days, and im not diagnosed with anything. but i feel like i should. i’ve been feeling very depressed and suicidal since primary school and getting through life is a really difficult thing for me to do. at first i thought it was just me being in my edgy teen phase, like my friends and family would say, but i knew something wasn’t right. i figured that i was a transgender ftm about 3 years ago but i’ve known it since i discovered what gender was and i thought that was it, that’s why i wasn’t feeling “enough”. but hey it wasn’t it. i wouldn’t call it “depression” because again, i am not diagnosed and i’ve never seen a therapist (i really should but i’m afraid to) but i’m not just sad or anything. it’s not sadness, it’s numbness. it’s not crying and getting frustrated because of your lack of feelings. it’s having too much feelings but they’re so big and overwhelming they become nothing. it’s nothingness with everything at the same time. it’s not wanting to get up, it’s not wanting to wake up. ever. it’s so much more but it’s nothing at the same time. it’s hard to live.
8 likesi don’t remember exactly what happened or when it happened, maybe i was just overthinking like always, but i remember just a click. simple as that. and then, nothing. even less than i already was. i just spaced out. like that. the weirdest thing was to think about it and be like “it was always there, i don’t remember feeling real. i don’t remember what it felt like”. and i lost connection, i feel like floating but being too heavy to fly. i remember not recognizing my friend and being scared of my own reflection; screaming on the inside with a terrified face on the outside. “i remember” yeah right, like if i could remember stuff. it’s weird. i forget. everything and nothing. mostly everything. when something happens, it takes 0.2 seconds for me to forget and be like “did i just imagine that or did it really happen”. it’s worst with sounds. god the sounds. it’s scary. i don’t feel like i’m there or real either. nothing feels real, even if i try my hardest to grip onto reality, it doesn’t work. the click won’t happen again and i hate it. i hate it because it’s awful to feel like i’m just watching a movie all the time, or dreaming, or just looking at someone else’s life. it’s awful to look at reality like i would look at a video game. it’s scary to think that everything is not real because i’m always so angry and i feel like i could do something bad and just be like “yeah but it’s not real, right?”. but i hate it too because i don’t want to get better. in a way ? i don’t want to feel again because i don’t want to get better. i don’t want to be here, to be alive and to enjoy things that i will lose one day. what’s so important about living and being happy if everything will just die with you or through your journey? i don’t know. i’m lost and mad at myself for thinking that way. god. sorry for ranting that much. if you ever see this, thank you for everything you do and now i know that i’m not alone and will never be. even if you’re not dodie or you don’t experience those things, i still care about you and i will never feel alone. have a good day/night everyone, thank you and sorry again for writing all this stuff aha.
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hey happy (early) birthday:) sorry you're going through all of that... maybe check out therapist kati morton if you haven't already? she's got some vids on grounding techniques that might help and a whole bunch of other things. take care<3
2 likeslibbycatherine thank you so much that is really sweet of you! i’ll definitely check her out, thank you again. take care ❤️
1 likeI understand why you wouldn't want to get better or feel real again. It is an extremely daunting thing to go back to; but still would be so wonderful, right?
2 likesI am sure that since you feel like you're watching someone else's life or watching a video game, you'll know what all is possible for this amazing and strong person to achieve. I hope, with all my heart, that you'll realise how many quests you can complete with that amazingly messed up brain of yours. I hope you'll find the push to try out therapy sometime and I'm sure it will work out if you decide to give it your best.
May you always have a better day than the bad ones I know you've had. xx
wow, i feel this way all the time and it's so frustrating because i don't know what it is like it's definitely more than just having anxiety and depression. but yeah idk, just know that you're not the only one feeling this way. hopefully we'll both figure it out and all this pain will come to an end. good luck!
1 likeRØSE good luck to you as well, i’m glad i’m not alone in this. 🌟
1 likeI Scream You Scream 💓💓
1 likeAxel.... ying and yang - if nothing matters then EVERYTHING matters. You choose which one you want. Life is absolutely beautiful because it has an end. We are here to experience and enjoy.
1 likeCheck out Dr Jordan Peterson’s work on finding meaning in your life. His work is incredible.
It actually does sound like depression in a more severe state. When deeply depressed we can feel numb to things, I see it as my mind's way of trying to protect me from feelings that are too painful - hence the simultaneous feelings that there is just too much emotion. There is not "just" depression, depression can be extremely debilitating. In common usage it is probably seen as something milder that everyone experiences at some point but know that that's not the case.
1 likeHey, I don't know if you've heard about this, but LENS Neurofeedback might be an option for you! It's still a new field and isn't recognised by the NHS at the moment, but it's been proven to work better than a placebo for all kinds of things.
7 likesIt can be hard to find a practitioner, but there is a woman called Dr. Tamsin Arnold who works Fridays at The Bath Practice (in Bath). I see her then most weeks and I can testify she is absolutely lovely. She also works in London as well, but I don't know when (sorry). Most of her work is predominantly with children, but if you reach out I'm sure she won't be opposed to working with you.
Just a suggestion!
okay, can someone help me? sometimes, when i start doing something that's really unusual/new/a bit scary for me, i get this split-second sensation in my head that makes me feel like i don't have control over anything, like i'm frozen. it also can happen when i sing to myself (lol) and hit high notes (maybe, not sure). does anyone know what this is?? anyone else experience it??
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I think is the same as Deseralization. I don't actually know, but sometimes i have that feeling too like a snap for a second and all the sudden you feel like you're not there, like you're not controlling anything.
0 likesEvery time i feel better something pulls me down and im worse every time idk what to do
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Elias C talk to your doctor about ketamine therapy
0 likesHad this for 2 years, ongoing. It feels like nothing is real and i can't connect w anything or anyone. All of my interests are gone and I never feel like myself. I can't enjoy anything, because every second of every day I feel disconnected. I try to talk to people about it and they don't understand. They support my getting better but there's nothing they or I can do about it. I've been trying to practice self-love, and it's helped w depression; I've also been going out more, meeting new people, so my anxiety is better too. But I can't seem to shake this off. It's a constant hell and my panic attacks keep continuing. I just want to feel normal again, I'm so tired because of it.
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I forget everything within seconds of doing it, literally I could be talking to someone and then completely space out and forget who they are, who I am, what year it is, or what planet I'm living on. I never realized how wonderful normality was until I experienced dp;dr. It's a living hell.
0 likesDam this hit hard because this sounds exactly the same thoughts I had when I was suffering from the derealizarion/dissociation 4 years ago. I remember thinking it also as a living hell that if I don’t ever get better there is no point living. For me it lasted maybe 6 months, and then it just went away. I know that when you’re in that state it’s hard to ever think positively but it does get better for a lot of people. Second thing, is getting the anxiety/panic attacks under control, I found that really exacerbated my issues. Ik it might sound cliche but mindfulness really helped me... you may realize the feeling of dp/dr actually is very similar to meditation/mindfulness (disconnected state, floating feeling), but what is different is the ANXIETY. For instance using mindfulness techniques I would be able to stop the panic attack and instead focus on things like “weird my hands don’t feel like my own” or “I feel like I’m floating above myself”, but not treat it as a bad thing but as an interesting thing that just passes by. Like a “oh that’s kind of cool, I guess” and over time the symptoms went away... for some it takes longer than others but don’t worry it will pass trust me, but with some changes in thinking about your own thinking and as you said immersing yourself with friends/activities can likely accelerate the process.
1 like@Marlie Tandoc Yes!!! The one good thing about dp;dr is the meditative state and intuition it gives. It's much easier to meditate because you aren't really thinking about much ever. It's like I know things are going to happen before they do and it's helped me become more stable and grounded in myself. It made me realize that certain people and situations make me uncomfotable (and therefore dissociated), and what I need in order to get better. It's not exactly clear yet, but I know I need to repair some damaged parts of myself. I didn't even realize I was so broken and easily triggered by certain things until I started figuring out what dp;dr was and what was causing my panic attacks.
1 like@Marlie Tandoc It's also very comforting seeing so many people w the same problems as me. It makes me feel less alone and I hope more people know that it's normal to have this. It's just a coping mechanism.
1 likederealization just like all mental disorders are spiritual things that need to be dealt with spiritually and the only way to do that is through Jesus Christ he can and will set you free if you allow him to. i struggled with this for like 2 weeks but got over it after some prayer it went away, this was a couple of weeks ago if you want to know more just reply to my comment i will be happy to help.
0 likesMe too, had exactly two years, it's so hard to live like this, I wish I can go back to normal, I can't learn how I used to, learning is a passion of mine, and with this mind cloud in my way it's so hard. Smh
0 likesomg. i didn’t know this existed. this makes sm sense
0 likesThis happens to me when Im around more than 2 people at a time, bright lights at night , flashing lights, and other random times. I feel like my brain is shaking, and I also can't focus on one thing. I feel that if I just blink, the feeling will go away, like waking from a dream, but it doesn't work.
28 likesWhen you described how you felt, I found thats exactly how I felt.
I've told my parents, but they just ignore it when I bring it up ;-;
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I know it sounds weird but I makes me happy when other people talk about this/describe it because it helps me know I'm not alone. I feel the same way and my parents are in denial I guess. They think It'll pass or I'm just being weird or something
1 likeNataly Pourkesali you really need to continue to talk to your parents about this, if you actually have this it’s a good idea to get treatment.
1 likeAbby Marie Not all parents are accepting or helpful when it comes to these things. And you don't need a diagnosis to seek treatment unless your insurance requires it, in which case you get the diagnosis via treatment in the first place.
0 likesmy best friend is the only person ive told yet, and im so thankful she never gets tired of me asking "am i shaking??" i never am, but it always feels like it...
0 likesWait, feeling like this isn't normal?
0 likesyasss
18 likesI've been waiting for another way to procrastinate
Whenever I’m high I feel like this. Like exactly. I don’t like it.
15 likesReplies (1)
Juju put down the pipe.
4 likesThis sounds extremely familiar and though everything sounds like it could be about me I hope it won't be.
3 likesI am still in highschool and I have exreme difficulty with remebring anything the teachers have thaught that hour.
Though I honestly try and do work hard, my parents seem to think I am just lazy, as my grades are dropping, but I honestly do not remeber the things I have learned about for weeks prior
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Ben 1.aye logan
0 likes2. SAME SAME
The fuzzy specks thing happens to me all the time it sucks and I’m not saying that it is as bad as yours probably is but just saying
0 likesI genuinely think I have this, I feel like I can never properly concentrate on things and I keep sort of forgetting that I exist? Idk tho
88 likesReplies (9)
Mim Montague yep, same. i think you definitely have it, seek treatment if you can whether that's alternative routes or pharmacuetical - whatever works for you ❤
0 likesSame lmao
0 likesSee a professional instead of assuming please
23 likesCaptain Ford PLEASE DON'T SELF DIAGNOSE.
5 likesMim Montague Same. I have already wrote this once but, forgotten what I was gonna say off your comment fully. So, yeah concentration is hard some times. I have NEVER in my entire life felt like I was real or anyone around me are either. And one of the things Dodie said as well relates to me. I see dots of blur sometimes but, never blanking out or anything. Idk.
0 likesCaptain Ford before seeing a professional you have to be aware you have something...
0 likesNature and creating things, like drawing helped me. It proves to me that I am real I created something that wasn't there before.
2 likesLidia De la Rosa thank you so much
1 likeNeptune .png Yes definitely! My partner and I just stick to "I'm dissociating" rather than describing details so we know where we're at and can be mindful to it. If I think about it too much it triggers it.
0 likesEdit: Quick note, I know that Dodies is a lot worse, and this probably only happens because im sick.
3 likesI have had something like this happen to me? Not exactly though. The only things that happen to me are these;
So often, when im sick, I feel like this. Very rarely it happens when im not sick. Basically what happens is that my memory is not as good, so I might ask a question twice. It feels like my head is super light. I also start talking loudly because everything sounds far away.
Now that I write this down I don't think its as normal as I thought before...
But it doesn't really change the way I see things, and its not bad either. Whenever that happens i always start mumbling or humming because everything sounds so weird XD
I just bought a book called Dodie.
0 likesOmg I have a very similar things except it’s not 24/7 for me
0 likesI know being popular youtubers doesn’t mean you’re friends by any means. That being said...
229 likesPlease do a nail painting and face masks with Daniel Howell where you talk about therapy and mental illness
kthanks ✌🏻❤️
Replies (8)
Juce // i'd love it if people would not bring up dan or phil on every goddamn video on this platform, especially when the video is about something as serious as someone's personal experiences with mentall illnesses
60 likesOnly if they're good enough friends that they're comfortable being open and vulnerable with each other! Otherwise it's not a good idea.
17 likespeaches thank you, I love them but honestly their fans sometimes need to realize not everything revolves around them
7 likesPreach, peaches. I don't care about the request, but not on this fucking video I mean c o m e o n
12 likesThis person brought up Dan because he suffers from mental health problems and has recently spoken out about it. I agree that it would be great to hear about them both discussing what they have been through.
22 likesI'm sure they're not some fan that thinks everything revolves around Dan and Phil. I understand that the phandom is pretty much everywhere but this comment wasn't something completely irrelevant
YES
0 likesi agree with peaches (cof cof p r e a c h) but like can we not blame the people they are fans of? its not dans fault
0 likespeaches preach im tired of phannies bringing them up on nearly every one of dodies and other youtubers videos
0 likesI love you. We all love you.
10 likesBrave <3
0 likesWhat if you’re not dreaming 🤔 but see the other side... 🤔🤔🤔
1 likeWhen you said about your vision it felt like a whole lot made sense, but Im gonna stick to smoking weed and blaming it on that
0 likesThis is very helpful as a young teen with depression and very confusing life style these type of things help a lot I don't think I have derealizartion but I'm might have depersonalization dose anyone know what I'm talking about plzhlp
6 likesGuess I have to go to the doctor now because FUCK i definitely have this
0 likesI thought I was the only one!!!
1 likeThe back ground is soooo cute!
54 likesHi I’m poppy and I think I’m dreaming all the time but I’m too scared to go to the doctors or tell anyone nice to meet you ok bye
24 likesReplies (6)
Poppy Anastasia sending you love 💛💛
2 likesLauren Whymark Thankyou!😌💗
2 likeshi poppy i'm charlie i am similar and i send you luck
2 likesKaitlyn Watts Thankyou! You too!😌
1 likeTry to ask someone for help, it'll make things better. And if they don't believe you or don't take you seriously, try again with someone else until you find someone. Don't be scared, I promise you'll get through this! I send you the best of lucks :)
1 likeMaria Winchester thankyou so much, I’ll try I don’t know when but I will
1 likeSweet dreams.
0 likesi have random moments where i feel really dizzy a lot and ill space out of reality and when i come back in my vision is all blurry and i feel like i'm going to faint. there are also times where i can just be sitting somewhere and everything is quiet and dark and makes me feel very nauseous and i don't know how to handle it... is this the same as derealization??
4 likesReplies (3)
jenna vanellia i thought that this was just me holy moly
2 likesthis happens to me too i will just be sitting still and then the room starts to spin and i feel nauseous. i didnt know this could be a part of derealization but maybe it is!
1 likeJocelyn Wiebe exactly! like sometimes it's because i'm sick or feeling symptoms but a majority of it it'll just be like any other day
0 likesIS THIS WHATS WRONG WITH ME?!?!?! I didn't even know this was a thing.....I thought if I just ignored it it would just go away.... oml
150 likesReplies (6)
SAME
2 likesSAME!!! I've been dealing with this since I was in 4th grade and always wrote it off as an anxiety attack but it never fully felt as though it was an anxiety attack. This is all so new to me!
4 likesSame with me!!! It started happening to me when I transferred to a new school!!
0 likesSame! I just ignored it. I just figured I was weird or something. I didn’t even feel particularly anxious during these times either that’s why I didn’t question it.
0 likesSAMEEEE
0 likesSAME
0 likesOMG WTH I JUST BOUGHT THAT BOOK AND NOW YOUTUBE RECOMMENDED THIS TO ME. Why am I being stalked?
1 likeI have depersonalization but nobody believes me
248 likesReplies (26)
Maya Maya I can sadly relate and I’m very sorry because nobody deserves that shit.
24 likesI’m sorry friend 💙
4 likesYou should see a specialist and get diagnosticed, and then people will more easily, it can also be something else and all, that's what people might think
14 likesi believe you
6 likesStop self diagnosing you
12 likes@Dynqsty sometimes you just dont have other options than self diagnose, for example if no one is taking you seriosly and you know something is wrong or you are just too scared to go see anyone, or it might cost money and you dont have it
13 likes@ᴏ ɴ ɪ ʙ ᴜ ᴛ ᴛ yes but self diagnosing is bad in certain cases (like if you're doing it to feel special)
12 likesᴏ ɴ ɪ ʙ ᴜ ᴛ ᴛ self diagnosing can be extremely bad and cause actual mental health problems if you’re wrong. If you can’t go to see someone do not diagnose yourself and stop there. You eventually need to see someone to confirm.
1 like@existential dread What about if person x has been feeling down for years and they are afraid to see anyone or tell anyone. Is it just good still let them tell themself that they are fine? Or that they should not even do any research what would be their problem?
4 likesI do repeat myself: sometimes its Your kinda only option to understand what the hell is going on, and everyone Who is doing it for attention.. What is so beautiful about being ill? Why the hell you have need to feel so special and just seek attention because of that?
I got it today because I had an anxiety attack while beeing high and I felt like I'm losing control of myself and that I'm going to die now I'm so glad that I found this👀
1 likeIts just you waking up to the lie weve been told, ever heard of the "age of deception"? Were in it!
1 likeI’ve been to several doctors and they don’t even know what I’m talking about. They say I’m fine but I tell them IM NOT FINE! I hate it so much because nobody understands. I thought I was the only one that gos through this but then I found this video and I feel a lot more comfortable!
1 likeDynqsty if you have depersonalisation/derealisation you would know it’s not self diagnosis as they are symptoms unless you have the disorder
0 likes@Funny Fails And Skits I wouldn't worry man it's a thing that happens just try to do things that make you feel again maybe it's a sign of stagnation in your daily life I have those feelings too it's about actually being way more aware than others I imagine you see things that dont catch other people's eyes not that your hallucinating just that you see way more detail than others
0 likesI believe you❤❤❤❤
1 likeWell i do know
0 likes@ᴏ ɴ ɪ ʙ ᴜ ᴛ ᴛ stop.
0 likesMaybe because you're self diagnosing
0 likes@Dynqsty lol
0 likes@Domyeet 26 FACTS.
0 likesI'm sorry but diagnoses are shit anyway, they are only existant because they NAME a problem. They dont discuss how to SOLVE the "problem". They give medications for solutions which I find extremely western and wrong. Pills usually dont work like some people think they do. These arent brain disorders these are conditionings of the mind, which is an entity separate from the brain which is only physical.
0 likesIsabelle Rollins I also have this
0 likesI got a MRI and EEG and they said that I’m fine but I’m not fine
@Raley Wilson brain scans arent going to do anything darling, this is a mind disorder
0 likesYou can only defeat or overcome it with mind power
1 likeBloody psychiatrists don't even know what it is. Or they pretend they don't know what it is because they haven't found a way to manage it! I feel your pain friend.
1 like@ZeroGHome24 smh agreed.
0 likesHow do you know if you have it?
0 likesI may have this---- holy potato I think I kinda do
1 likeOmg yess I have this. Mine was due to me trying out weed for the first time. It was so horrible that my brain was like nope you’re staying like this forever. I was so scared and freaked out because I saw everyone around me differently. The faces I once knew were a lot more scary. I was so terrified that I screamed out “I want to die! I don’t want to feel this anymore! Let me die!” I was taken to the ER and the psychiatrist told me that I have drug induced Derealization. While I was told that my heart sank. I had a million questions. What is that? Can I get rid of it? Can I take some pills to numb it? Can I ever be normal again? I researched a lot as soon as I was sent home. I felt so alone I felt like the people I once knew had changed into other people. I was surrounded by strangers. My mom is my mom. But there was something off. It’s like having an oculus on you at all time. Everything seems so fake and unreal. It’s been a year and I’m used to it now. When I have a panic attack my Derealization spikes up like hell. It’s still so scary but I’m happy that a person I watch a lot has the same issue. :) ❤️
4 likesReplies (8)
kay Steele I did by just simply ignoring it. If I give it attention I’ll start feeling it even more. I feel it 24/7 but it’s not scary anymore. If I’m watching a movie and I look up and realize I’m not a character in the movie freaks me the fuck out it’s like I was taken to a new world once I look away. It’s been 2 years now and it only gets very bad when I have a panic attack. They gave me Klonopin to ease my anxiety.
0 likesyeah its difficult but you need to stay calm and eventually your body will be more comfortable with it and you wont feel it as much, although im still dealing with it, talking to someone can help but you should be cautious because sometimes it may make it feel worse or more frequent because you keep thinking about it and it feels more present because you have to keep bringing it up to talk about. i think ignoring it helps for me, i am glad you seem to be doing better
1 likeKristal R yess and thank you. I’ve been ignoring it and that seems to help
0 likeskay Steele I think mine will be forever. It’s almost 2 years that I’ve had it now
0 likesI'm so sorry that you feel like that all the time. The last time I smoked weed I felt like that, it felt like I was constantly just waking up, having to remember myself that I was stoned, that my anxiety was just because I thought something could go wrong. I felt everything too intensely, and slow, and also had a sensation of being an expectator, like watching a movie, but not being into reality at all. It was certainly a bad experience, and not being able to break out from it sounds horrible, I hope you get out of it some day.
1 likeUnknown Bih yeah my experience was exactly like that. At the moment it just feels like I’m watching my life in a movie. It’s just sooo cloudy and dreamlike.
1 likeI'm so sorry that really sucks. That happened to me, i got drug induced depersonalization and started getting derealization episodes. it was the worst. turns out i have anxiety, even though some days i feel it more, i train my brain to be more positive when i get scared or anxious. about the dp/dr thing tho, i've tried to ignore it and i dont even feel it anymore. i get slight feeling of it when i think of it, but it helps so much when you distract yourself and try to "get involved" and get "into reality" if that makes sense. im wondering if you smoked after that tho, because i want to, at least for experience, but im scared of that happeneing and doing the whole cycle of getting better (but longer and worse) again. good luck to you, though!!
1 likelore rodriguez I did smoke afterwards and holy shit it was worse I don’t know if it’s just me. My friend had dp and he was fine after a month or so. And he decided to smoke and he was perfectly fine. I stay away from smoking now. I just take hemp pills to calm down when I need to. Makes me mellow out a bit.
1 likeI... relate... a bit too much
15 likesReplies (1)
VeraWhiskers Same here. Too much, unfortunately
1 likeYou are definitely real
64 likesIt’s horrible. I had it for about three years & I remember the first day I felt normal again. I was sitting in McDonald’s drive thru and I called my mom balling I was so happy. It got to where I couldn’t even smoke weed anymore because it FREAKED ME OUT. Still to this day I can’t smoke weed because it brings the feeling back. Btw it all started after I smoked the fake crap k2 synthetic weed. 🤦🏻♀️ yeah I know I’m stupid. But I was young and peer pressured into trying it. Worst high ever.
0 likesTry and NDRI and not an SSRI! NDRI's target your dopamine, not your serotonin. I've been diagnosed with a bad case of double depression, with major depression coming to visit often, and I often feel like I'm dreaming or that I'm not a real person when it gets really rough. SSRI's never, EVER have worked for me. I went on bupropion (Wellbutrin) and it's changed my way of life. 10/10!
14 likesReplies (1)
social engeneering.1 love world system pls help by realising this.
0 likesno wonder you're so dreamy
2 likesReplies (1)
Lol
0 likesI feel like im alone and the only one who is real in this world and when i die the world just stop existing
0 likesBeen feeling like this for 9 months I hate it I pray everyday to GOD to make me feel normal again ... this happened because I got laced with PCP it traumatized me my life feels like a dream eversince I hate it I’m always anxious, dizzy , sleepy , heart pounding, short of breathe ... God just take me . Fucklife
0 likesMe too 😴
0 likesThis comment section is the perfect example of "HYSTERIA!"
0 likesWOW! SMH
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placebo?
0 likesoh my GOD what the fuck.
0 likesi thought everyone had the whole vision thing. sometimes you go inside from a really bright summer day really quick and ur eyes won’t adjust or wtfever but i stg damn near every single time i stand up from sitting or bending or crouching ALL SENSES GO BLACK & NONEXISTENT??????? jfc.
I have the same...
0 likesI want this
0 likesI just wondering how you got treatment of this
0 likesReplies (1)
This condition is caused by SSRI's, SNRI, Antipsychotics and Benzodiazepines so if you are taking any of those... The treatment should be to stop before they become worse for you unless you are treating a condition outside of anxiety and depression
0 likes❤️❤️❤️❤️
0 likesI also have this kind of condition but not from the same issues. But from Anemia. When my Anemia strikes i feel like i was dreaming, floating, everything i see is a dream. I wake up still feeling sleepy and hoping that a cold water splash on my face would wake me up. It didn't work.
8 likes(If you don't know what Anemia is. Anemia is a a lack of hemoglobin in your body. Usually also cause by lack of iron)
When my anemia strikes:
1. I feel like i'm floating
2. My vision is blurry
3. My hearing is also kinda like late to digest in 0.5 seconds
4. Very hard to concentrate
5. Always feeling exhausted and tired
6. Slow to understand something
7. When i'm being pinch, the reaction of the pain comes slow..
So yeah, it's really annoying sometimes cause i can't concentrate and i can't do my day like normally since i am so fatigue. It usually up to 3 weeks , even though i already ate like iron foods such as spinach, red meat, beans, etc. But still slow process.
And you, with the condition like that everyday it's amazing. I know it's very hard, but you pull it all very well. 🤗
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Same omg, especially the heartbeat thing
0 likesShe's so cute
0 likesI hate to self diagnose but I think I may have something similar like sometimes I can’t tell what’s a dream or a memory and sometimes in class I’ll be awake and feel disconnected from myself and it feels like time is going by really fast or slowly and I won’t comprehend anything and when my depressive episodes passed I still didn’t feel right and time is confusing for me I can’t say how long ago I did something or something happened and my vision after going inside is fuzzy and dark even though I can still see and it sometimes lasts a little longer than usual
0 likesthe explanation is literally so spot on)838?
0 likesIs smoking weed making this worse?
0 likesI feel like i have it since i smoked my first blunts...
Replies (1)
Dehrk yes
0 likesSome periods of our growth are so confusing that we don’t even recognize that growth is happening. We may feel hostile or hesitant. It would never occur to us, unless we stumbled on a book or a person who explained to us, that we were in fact in the process of change, of actually becoming larger, spiritually, than we were before. Whenever we grow, we tend to feel it, as a young seed must feel the weight and inertia of the earth as it seeks to break out of its shell on its way to becoming a plant. Those long periods when something inside ourselves seems to be waiting, holding its breath, unsure about what the next step should be, eventually become the periods we wait for, for it is in those periods that we realize that we are being prepared for the next phase of our life and that, in all probability, a new level of ourselves is about to be revealed.
3 likesOkay i feel like I'm different than other people and that I'm not normal that i just like think of something OVER AND OVER and its so random it just be too random and when i space out not like in dreaming Its just like Im not in the real world or as i say "in the wrong place" this was happening for me from the age 6 or smaller and I want explanation can anybody explain it for me :(
0 likesWow... Thank you! I never knew what it was that made me feel that way but it’s good to know it MIGHT be derealisation for me as well. Thanks 💛🌞
0 likesI get really bad derealization and depersonalization when my depression and anxiety get bad. I have a period of two years where it was bad and I only remember a few things from that period in time. It comes and goes but I found it has gotten a lot better after learning proper ways to hope with my emotions and practicing being present. It’s a process but I hope you are able to feel normal again 💛
2 likesI’ve googled how i feel so many times without getting answers. You explain it SO WELL. Thank you for this, I feel less alone and crazy now :)
0 likesDreaming really feels like a nice way to describe it! I am super scared when I start to derealize, it feels more like a nightmare for me. Hoping I can get to a nice dream state!
0 likesI learned that I had depersonalization on 2013 and it was the scariest moment of my life. This video is the first time I see someone talk about it on this platform so Thank you so much! I hope we get better eventually :)
0 likeshi dodie! i have come back to this video so many times over the years, especially when i feel like there’s no escaping my sucky brain. this video was the first thing that even came close to describing what I had been feeling for months, for years. it made me feel a lot less alone and a “freak” and i’m really grateful for that. thank you 💛
0 likesThis sounds exactly like how I am, I just generally feel differently than I used to
0 likesThank you so much Dodie! your channel was the first time i finally got clarity and felt understood i literally can relate to everything you are saying- omg this feels so relieving!
0 likesi've been watching a bunch of mental illness videos to get an idea of what i could have... thank you for this ❤
0 likesThank you for sharing this. I truly hope you find some relief soon. As an astrology student I must say this immediately sounded like a 12th house or Neptune debilitation (the dream state). Amidst your medical research , you might try consulting an astrologer for possible remedial methods as well. Good luck to you!
0 likesthank you for making this video, it's nice to not feel so alone in this
0 likesI went through a really rough point when I was around 15ish, I started to dissociate on occassion but it turned into a full on depression when I felt like nothing mattered and nothing was real. I was able to get through it, and eventually I got on meds (which did help a lot) but I really appreciate this video. I had no idea what was happening to me for most of that entire year, and felt so so very alone, so seeing this is really refreshing. I hope you're able to help someone who was in the same situation feel less alone and get some understanding.
0 likesOh that's so crazy cause I use to feel like dreaming when I was a kid, it was such a bad feeling cause I knew I wasn't, I use to cry a lot in that moments. Now it's really rare, but it feels good to know that I'm not the only one.
1 likeI sometimes experience similar sensations, and I always get so anxious during it because I feel like I'm losing my vision
0 likesI have felt very similar for the last 5 years since my dad passed away. I haven't known how to describe it except it was like my brain exploded and I haven't been the same since.
0 likesi’ve been feeling all of this so much since about 2016, and it’s caused me bad anxiety thinking there was always something wrong with me. i try to talk to others about it but no one gets it, which just makes me freak out more. it comes and goes but it’s always there, everyday. everything you described lines up with exactly what i’ve been through, and i’m happy that i’m not the only one. thank you for shedding light on this, i now know i’m not alone. 🖤
0 likesI have spent four years going to the opticians convinced there was something wrong with my eyesight. I knew I struggled with depersonalisation and I usually feel like I'm not really here. I didn't realise the vision problems were part of this. Thank you.
0 likesThis happens whenever I smoke weed (it can last for days after), as well as sometimes for a few days after drinking alcohol. I have bipolar disorder, but I never thought that that had anything to do with it. I always assumed it was a hangover or a weird side effect of marijuana. Thank you for sharing it’s so good to know I’m not the only one this happens to, I’m sorry you have to deal with it all the time.
0 likesFINALLY I’ve never come across someone who has this feeling. I’ve felt this for almost 2 years, non stop. I wanna bring this up to my doctor to see if I can confirm this, it may help my depression hopefully
0 likesI feel you, I used to be housebound due to having agoraphobia (caused by having panic attacks and derealistion) and I'm now back to working almost full-time :-) I still have some moments of derealistion (sometimes multiple times a day) but I came to accept this way of feeling. It won't hurt you and your thoughts will pass too.
0 likesWe love you know matter what, Dodie ^u^ I mean QUEEN Dodie! You rock, girl!
0 likesI have these exact symptoms and I legit thought for the last 3-4 years that I was just nightblind and would never be hydrated enough (even though i'm actually drinking a lot most of the time) and thats why I'm feeling foggy and wasn't able to keep most of my memories but that's making SO MUCH SENSE THANK YOU SO MUCH!! <3
0 likesDodie will never know how much this video changed my life. As I first saw it, i started to search for more informations about this condition... and then i realized that I always had it. For many years i thought i was going crazy, that something is really wrong with me... i can't express how much I'm thankfull for this video
0 likesI think I have this as a symptom of my depression and when I’m really stressed, life gets extra difficult because of it. It’s so hard for me to feel in control because the passage of time feels warped so I get even more stressed because I worry about missing assignment deadlines or important dates. Three days can pass and I can literally do nothing because it didn’t feel like the days passed. It’s such an uncomfortable feeling 😟
0 likesI went through it several times!
1 likeMindfulness helped me.
And music!
OMD! MUSIC, a quiet room, and ambient light are my best solution!
I think I experienced a bit of depersonalisation last year when I felt really depressed. It only happened a couple of times and lasted like a day each time, but it was honestly just so weird. I felt like I was faking my entire personality and I didn’t feel like I was completely there. It made school kinda difficult.
0 likesJust found this and this is really great. I have Depersonalisation Disorder through PTSD. Mine isn’t as intense anymore thankfully after seeking and undergoing intense therapy. But every now and again if I am stressed or tired, it’ll come back.
0 likesThank you so much this has been so helpful especially since I have LHON it really confused me but I found this video very helpful.
0 likesThank you once again.
Hey I got this this shit too. It's nice to hear someone else talk about having it. It's honestly kind of hard to feel like things are really real sometimes. I go through episodes about once or twice a month. Especially when I get sick. It's really tough to deal with. But being around people I care about helps a lot.
0 likesThank you so much for addressing this topic. I deal with this as well, and it can be really hard.
0 likesReplies (1)
derealization just like all mental disorders are spiritual things that need to be dealt with spiritually and the only way to do that is through Jesus Christ he can and will set you free if you allow him to. i struggled with this for like 2 weeks but got over it after some prayer it went away, this was a couple of weeks ago if you want to know more just reply to my comment i will be happy to help.
0 likesi think i have this. it happens rarely, but everything you said explained it to a tee. thank you so much for making this video! i used to call it "real life lag"
0 likesHave experienced ongoing dissociation for years. Has kinda been on the back burning as other illness have been taking priority. The floating feeling I especially related to. I also use stem & grounding exercises for to hemp with my Sensory Processing Disorder👁👂
0 likesI...I really really feel this. I get these feelings a lot but when I go through periods of major stress my whole life will just feel like a dream, or as if I’m a background character moving through a book or tv show. I didn’t know that it had a name, I thought everyone always felt this way, I’m so relieve do I feel like I might cry right now
0 likesThis happens to me ALL the time and I was blaming my thyroid!!! Anyone else?
0 likesI get this too and mine started when I was 8 years old. I went through multiple traumas that year and I've had it ever since. Now that I know what it is its much more manageable and I know what situations usually trigger it. For me, its the sounds of crowds or fluorescent lighting, or large amounts of stress. Getting enough sleep and food usually can help. It feels like you were watching everything in a TV and then everything is REAL.
0 likesI use to have anxiety attacks every time I went out into public and I experienced this often. I also have it at school a lot or driving because I am a new driver so it’s a bit scary.
0 likesThis happens to me every so often (usually when my mind is over stimulated or something triggers my anxiety) but it reminds me of this one time I pulled an all nighter and then went directly to six flags, rode a bunch of roller coasters, and then had like an out of body experience. It literally felt like a dream. I felt like I was floating, everything was a little blurry and fuzzy, and I felt like I was watching everything from outside of my body. This was because I was sleep deprived, obviously but it’s one situation that I can visually and physically remember, all of my other experiences are sort of gone because usually it’s to cope with anxiety and my mind wants to forget the situation...
0 likesDissociating is so scary. It used to happen to me while driving to school nearly every day
0 likesWow...very brave of you to share such experiences on your channel. I commend you for doing so and find great courage in you doing so. 🤗✌🕉
0 likesI didnt even know this was a thing. Thank you for sharing. I can concentrate at all at work, cant hold eyecontact anymore and in many moments i forget if i said my thought out loud or just thought it.. Guess that more an anxiety thing.
0 likesThankful for this video 💕 I’ve had this ever since I experienced my first severe panic attack. I was zoning out really deep into thought, questioning reality and suddenly the lights around me got really bright and my heart started beating so fast I couldn’t see anything and I just felt so weird. I’ve had mostly derealization for the past 2 years now and It’s just weird how it affects you on such a physical note! I’m dizzy all the time now, can’t see properly, memory loss... but anyways it definitely made life harder but it’s getting easier to cope with as well. Stay strong y’all! 💕💕 we’re in this together
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derealization just like all mental disorders are spiritual things that need to be dealt with spiritually and the only way to do that is through Jesus Christ he can and will set you free if you allow him to. i struggled with this for like 2 weeks but got over it after some prayer it went away, this was a couple of weeks ago if you want to know more just reply to my comment i will be happy to help.
0 likesChrist's knight im glad that worked for you... but for myself personally there is no correlation and has nothing to do with religion
0 likes@V you sure? The truth will set you free but a lie will keep you in bondage. I'll testify of the Lords healing power, but it's your choice if you want to believe or not. I've shown you the cure whether you don't take it or take it is up to you but I'll recommend the latter.
0 likesOther than that i hope you get over this have a blessed day.
when my anxiety gets bad ( my anxiety is all about death) I keep thinking what if this is a dream but then I find things around me I can touch,smell,taste etc . It helps keep me present
0 likesThank you so much for this video. Sometimes i think if someday i won't have this condition anymore and how it will feel.
0 likesYup I have this. It’s no fun when you get to work and forgot how you got there, you feel like you could scream at someone because everything feels like a dream. Talking to people during an episode is almost impossible. I felt awful, it really felt like I wasn’t there and nobody was real. But of course I knew it was...it’s happened 3 times, and I hope it never happens ever again.
0 likesI have derealization too as well as dissociation and it’s super hard to feel connected to people because of it 😢
0 likesI had to deal with derealization for several years after smoking weed ... Glad I came over it, but it was really horrific for a long time and took years to heal. Don't get me wrong, I'm not againsr weed, but for me it's just destroying my brain rapidly. It's a topic about weed that's rarely talked about sadly.
0 likesi used to have this ALL THE TIME as a kid. Especially in unfamiliar situations. I still do sometimes and it sucks. I can't imagine what it's like to have it all the time...
0 likesI'm glad you haven't given up on treatments, and you are lucky to be able to explore so many different types of treatments. How do you pay for your different therapies though? Are you on disability? Does your family support you? If you work, what challenges does your condition pose to your every day responsibilities? Thank you for bravely sharing your story ❤️
0 likesI also have derealization.. It's an actual hell. You always want to wake yourself up somehow,but you can't. Hope you feel better now,x.
0 likesIt’s a weird feeling it really just feels unreal it’s the only way I can think of explaining it
1 likeI'm so glad you spoke about this. I get this too and it is really annoying to live with, for me and irritates me all the time. It's good to feel I'm not alone.
0 likesIt sounds like when you're super stoned, but just all the time :/ I'm glad you're not giving up ♡
0 likesthank u youtube recommended..i don’t feel rn and life feels so weird. but my dreams feel so much more real!! like how it used to when i was a kid. this became a part of me after a really bad high where i made myself panic so bad and my anxiety convinced myself i was dying (lol) and since then everything’s been different. sad.
0 likesHi this is something I’ve been struggling with for about 6 months. If anyone has any tips on dealing with paranoia or slight agoraphobia while adjusting to this sensation, please reply!
0 likesI have derealization as well. I also have OSDD so it kind of goes together, but my derealization is constant. Just sometimes it’s not as intense as other times.
0 likesI’m crying at how much this is me. I thought I was just broken and dumb
0 likesI have dissociation when I'm in those periods of time where I experience zero anxiety (dissociation probably replaces it). It's not as severe as lasting for hours like depersonalization. It's just like how a panic attack would be. But it happens when I'm entering a place for the first time. Or at the airport. I also have synesthesia so my brain just convinces itself that I'm on LSD or some shit and then I get extreme paranoia that someone poisoned me. They confirmed it's not bipolar disorder. But, luckily, I have a highly effective way of relieving it. Deep pressure therapy. In fact, my doctor contacted my insurance so that I may get a weighted blanket to help me (cuz it affects me the most when I wake up and inhibits my ability to digest things). I personally suggest a weighted blanket to try because it applies sensory information without causing harm (granted the one you get isn't too heavy). I still can't take pills cuz my doctors are waiting until I get my autism testing. My insomnia is a huge factor in it. In fact, I'm pretty sure my insomnia is one of the major reasons why I dissociate. You know, my brain hasn't caught up with the fact that I'm awake so it just gets confused and dissociates.
0 likesTW: I dissociate to the point of losing control of my motor skills and actions. It's very scary. One time I overdosed involuntarily after disociating in a moment of high distress, I literally saw myself overdosing but I couldn't control any of it, my body just did it. I feel myself going into dissociation over a period of a week or so and then something will bring on a point of dissociation where I lose control, literally. I had something happen during a disociative episode where I was feeling depersonalized and derealized for about a week, nothing felt real and I felt like I was in a fog, and I wasn't in like the same time zone as everyone else. It brought me into a psychotic state and I heard a lot of scary thoughts while I was also feeling like I wasn't actually alive. Then something traumatic happened and I started seizing but I was conscious and i was and screaming help me, I don't want to die, it hurts. I couldn't control any of it, what I was saying and what my body was doing. I dissociated to the point of having an unconscious flashback and that was my bodies response, my mind was not connected to what my body was doing. My eyesight is all messed up when I'm dissociating. I feel like I'm looking through fog or a filter. Mental health is very complicated. You are not alone.
0 likesI usually have episodes of this, like in school when we're going on a trip or something not ordinary, I feels like a dream, it deels like it's not happening, and then the days after is so confusing because we talk about and I kind of realize it actually happened.
0 likesA few days ago we had a school trip, we sat on a bus for 2 hours and then we went to a museum, we stood and listened to one of the "museum people" and my head ran through all sorts of things (I had a lot of things on my mind/stress) and I just fainted (I didn't realize it actually happened it felt like I just thought about "what if it happened" and it was so confusing because I tried to just "zone in" again to the museum man who was talking, but I couldn't because it was actually happening) and I came to myself and there I was, actually sitting in a chair by my shocked friends and teacher, confused about what actually happened. I remember the moment I fainted like a dream...
Would you say that this is derealisation?
holy fuck i am so happy to find someone else who feels this way because i am constantly in a state of disconnection from reality. the beginning of the video connects so hard because i am constantly snapping and doing little things to try to connect myself with reality. its such a terrifying way to live when I think about it.
0 likesOk so the first time this happend to me was yesterday, nd im 19. At first I thought that i was just high nd now i found this video. Thank you so much for sharing and now i am just trying to learn how to love myself as who i am
0 likesI just ran into this video.. and it’s really interesting to me because I was diagnosed with derealization and disassociation a few years back. And I didn’t know there was something wrong because I’ve had it since I was a kid. I don’t remember my childhood from before I was 11ish. And everything from then till now is blurry. So it’s always felt like it was a normal thing, until I decided to go to a physiologist for help with what I believe to be depression (which it is). But I have never thought about how it must be for someone who got once they were older and are able to remember their childhood.
0 likesTHIS IS ANSWERS TO MY FEELINGS
0 likesI had this for 7 months and it was the most terrifying time in my life. As soon as I read the title I knew that it was about DR. I’m mostly recovered, but I’ll sometimes have moments where I’m scared my DR has returned but they pass quickly.
0 likesAnyone who has to deal with this is so strong. It is literally like being stuck in a nightmare, no way to get out, doubting the realness of everything. Keep fighting 💕
I don't have derealisation, but I've always zoned out in lessons, lectures and while reading books. I have autism so I'm wondering if it's connected with that. Or is it something separate? I dunno.🤦🏻♂️😂
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Bimmerman42 I do the sameeee thinggg
1 likei just realized this happens to me almost every time i swim/when i’m underwater.
0 likesOmg I have this too! It is terrible and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
1 likeDodie I have been in this state for about the past 6 months and am getting to the point where I don't know if I can handle it much longer. Does yours come and go? Or being chronic does it stay constantly? My dr has called it derealisation/dissociation too
0 likesI have ptsd and i feel this way,ive cried 2 years,ive accepted this as my new normal, i know one day it will go away and one day I'll wake up feeling like me again and i can resume my life,everyone please be patient..u will cry but god is with you,you are your only medicine,cherish the light that you have still within you,and regain it back over time.. please live by this if this works for you.❤
0 likesWell, this is new. I guess that's another one to add to my list of mental illnesses.
0 likesGod I'm just a bundle of joy aren't I
I've had something similar, but not really that. it all started when i was depressed, anxious, and smoked a loooot of weed. Everything in my life seemed like it already happened, every movement, every emotion, not just mine but from everyone. Obviously i couldnt know the future, just all that was happening felt like i knew it would happen. Basicly i was having DEJA VU all the time. And in the moments when my depresion or anxiety got worse deja vu would get 10× more real... It was extremley scary. i stopped smoking weed because i thought i fucked my brain up with it, and it didnt go away. i was sober for 2-3 months. I was terrifyed of smoking again because i didnt know what to expect, i thought it would get worse. Then some bad things happened and i said "fuck it" and smoked a joint. Suprisingly, it calmed me down, and then when i started to get my life back in order slowly, noticable changes started and deja vu finally left my head a month later. Terrifying times. Still sometimes from time to time i would get a moment of that old feeling and it would scare me to death.
0 likesIm so glad that I'm not the only one who has experienced this. I've had those little dream episodes ever since elementary school, typically whenever something out of the ordinary was happening (like being at school at night because of a winter concert or something). It felt like I was detached from my body, not a true "out of body" experience where you see yourself from above, but as a passenger in my skull that has no control over the words coming out of my mouth. I would dread whenever someone would come and talk to me because I feared my brain on autopilot would say something that didn't make sense (and often times it did). During these dream episodes, I would always try to communicate to others that I was in this dreamlike state and I have a feeling that they didn't truly understand. But typically these episodes would only last for an hour (at least I think so, its hard to keep track of time in this state). I can't imagine what it would feel like to be trapped in that state for a day.
0 likesin october i had fainted twice, and after that i feel so sensitive to everything. like in november i had this feeling i was in a dream or a coma (not what u had) and my glasses had really hurt my eyes. but it’s gone away now, the only thing that’s happens is when i’ve been laying down awhile and quickly get up i feel like i’m going to faint but i don’t.
0 likesI have anxiety and sometimes I dissociate too
0 likesNot particularly while having anxiety attacks but also sometimes when I’m just chilling
Everyone is saying this exact same thing and I’m just mind blown that there’s an actual disorder for it.... I actually didn’t know everyone didn’t feel like this until recently. I worked in a really fast paced restaurant and a few times a month I’d just like “come to” ? Like all the sudden everything around me was so real and that was the only way to describe it. Almost like everything has been fuzzy and it went crystal clear for a few seconds. I asked my husband if he ever does that and he had no idea what I was talking about... also the visual part. If I’ve worked a long shift, driving home is an ACTUAL nightmare. Sometimes I don’t even remember half the drive home and I’ve always wondered if everyone feels that way driving home and how they aren’t terrified of driving like I am!
0 likesOmg I feel this all the time
0 likesoh, my god, I needed this. I thought I was alone on this and I just. thank you so fucking much for talking about this, is all I can say without starting to ramble and getting all sappy.
0 likesThis is actually how I felt 2016 and 2017 might be because they weren't vey good years for me but I didn't know this was a thing and when you said that your vision gets blurry and showed how it looked like I was just sitting here like that's exactly how I see most things. I'm not going to say I have it because you shouldn't self diagnose but maybe I should look into it more.
0 likesomg ive always though its something i just make up because none of my friend has ever understood when ive explained but wow this is a real thing
0 likesI feel the same way, very out of touch and floating. I've tried to bring it up with my team but no one will listen.
0 likesOh my god... I feel like this constantly too but I thought it was something completely different. Maybe I should look into seeing someone about how i'm feeling.
0 likesI get this feeling only after traveling by plane. I always have. Even if there is no significant time difference between the countries. And I'm not afraid of flying, I actually enjoy it. For longer flights the aftereffect lasts longer. It can last from a few hours up to 2-3 days. So it might have something to do with the ears/pressure/balance? I do have a minor issue with those. Just saying.
0 likesThank you!! I just thouht I was going crazy!
0 likesOne example is that I have to constantly tell my self that im alone in a public bathroom, the door is looked and that im not standling around people who will watch me pee myself, im only going to the bathroom, not the center of peoplemass.. It drives me crazy sometimes, I almost pee myself bc i have to sheck that there really are walls around me and a looked door etc...
First thought: I feel like this a lot too. Maybe I have something like this.
0 likesI have gone through episodes like that since my father passed away 6 years ago. It doesn't happend all time, but it does when im really anxious or having a pannic attack. Also I have Lost ALL my memories from when I was 9. It was somewhat a weird fact that it was the first time I took a picture with Santa, I was really terrified of him. So I guess my mind wasnt working fine.
0 likesBut I've learned how to deal with my "spaced out" episodes. Learning to meditate, breathing technics AND medication for anxiety.
(Sorry if there was any typos. English is not my first language)
i’ve had these kinds of episodes! glad to know i’m not the only one
0 likesLast year I had serious derealization episodes and periods where I would just be stuck in that state it was fucking terrible after a week of having it regularly I was having panic attacks every single day for about 2 weeks I felt as if my life wasn’t real I was scared everywhere I went nowhere felt safe and nothing was familiar I remember going to booster juice one day and my brain suddenly turned off it was like a video game the lights got a lot brighter and the sounds around me got louder and scary it was like that everywhere I didn’t even bother asking for help because I was so hopeless nothing could take this away i am still recovering now and doing a lot better I’m on antidepressants and taking care of my self this video really helped dodes thank you lots of love
0 likesI experience this in small bursts and I’m terrified that one day it will become permanent.
0 likesI suffer from this I stressed a lot over school and going to court and I have anxiety attacks
0 likesI have really bad social anxiety and have for as long as I can remember but especially for the past year and a half I have been dissociating really bad. So I thought it was really cool to have this in my recommended- I never knew you dealt with derealization! It is so comforting to know those I look up to also experience similar things- or that anyone anywhere can understand-. I have been listening to your music for over a year and fell in love with your music the moment I heard it. I always found your music to be very comforting and relatable.
0 likesSo can we say...that you're living the dream?
0 likesIt’s scary when you’re driving and it hits you. I’ve had to pull over waiting for it to pass 😑
0 likesI also suffer from this and its no fun.. In fact sometimes it can be terrifying and it's really taken the joy out of most of my life for the past 6 months or so. CBT therapy along with EMDR tuned personally to me is helping... CBT to be aware of my thoughts and feelings so that they don't control me and I feel more calm when in control over what's going on in my body and mind. And EMDR because I have a history of trauma that's added up so much that my mind got stuck in the defence state of disconnecting from reality. Recently all of reality feels too much to be connected to but I have to keep pushing through.
0 likesDrugs didn't help, pills didn't help, having friends and being in person with people I like helps. My therapist helps, and these two types of therapy we chose to do help. CBT focusing on mindfulness, and EMDR for processing the trauma that put me here.
Stay strong! for anyone else feeling like this, you're not alone in this at all.
Before I transitioned I felt this too. Not saying that that’s a solution for most people at all, but it was my response to my situation. The whole part about, “was it a minute or an hour since that person said that?” feeling I have felt often. I used to feel like I was in control of my body but only in a very distant and separated way. It made me isolate a lot because any social settings induced anxiety. For me writing about my trauma and reading memoirs about inspirational women who have overcome great feats really helped me to love and believe in myself and that confidence and overcoming trauma was what healed me. I’d say 90% of the time I’m genuinely present nowadays, it’s not like it goes away forever but it’s a lot easier to deal with.
0 likesITS NOT A PLACEBO! I feel the exact same way all of the time and the 5htp has helped me so much w my social anxiety and depression. But ive never understood the word for how I was feeling. Trying to live in the present is one of the only thing that helps me get through the day. Meditation and hypnotherapy has played a big part in my recovery as well ! We are not alone!! Stay strong stay present.
0 likesThe only thing that helps me when I'm around places where I know lights will be bright (like you mentioned malls etc and feeling 3D) is to wear sunglasses. It sucks. But it has helped.
0 likesThank God, i dont have none of those symptoms.....wish you all the best to heal my loves.
0 likesThank you so much for talking about this I'm so glade I'm not the only one feeling this way, Iv been feeling like this for about 2 years now and I still feel it, But I don't know if this has anything to do with it but I can't feel my emotions like I can still get angry but I don't acully feel the anger its kinda hard to put it but thats the easiest way I can so, Sorry if you don't understand tecnally I'm emotionless but sometimes say when im dancing I feel a quick jolt of reality but it's only for a split second iv talked to my parents about it but they havnt done anything to help me, I'm kinda use to it now and am learning to live with it even tho I still get a bit frustrated at times I'm getting better i just hope one day I'll feel real agien, I also hope anyone els suffering from this feels real agien one day to. Thanks agien for making this it helps alot.
0 likes6 years ago I had severe anxiety i didn't think I was real or the world was real or anything. Felt like I was floating outside of my body it's so hard to explain. Only for about a month until I got some help from professionals and I was fine, I hadn't felt that feeling for 6 years until two weeks ago. I'm stressed ATM and looking in the mirror triggers it but only for a few minutes until I try to snapping myself out of it by calling my friends and family to bring me back down to earth and I hate it so much! I hate that feeling SOOO MUCH it's absolutely horrible and I can't imagine what you go through feeling that way all the time, I really hope your going ok.
0 likesI do realise this video is old so I'm heading over right now to see your most recent videos and definitely going to buy your book. xx
Oh my god I think I suffer from this I think if you have PTSD you can get it which I’ve had for awhile wow I’ll get back to you
0 likesi have the mirror thing too, when i see my reflection its like a random person staring back at me and copying everything i do.
0 likesHow do you know how dreaming feels like?
0 likesHmm.... I really relate with this, thank you.
0 likesI know what you're feeling.
0 likesThat’s fucking intense! Like a never ending trip 😱😱😱
0 likesI had such a hard time describing what I'm feeling. I feel like I'm almost astral projecting??
0 likesDiet was also a very big part of my recovery, try an illumination diet to see what works best for you !
0 likesweird story: I took an edible and felt this way for a whole week. It lead me to a very dark place, I felt like if I killed my self or drove into a car that I would wake up and none of it would be real. I never got a real answer for it and when I tell people they think I’m crazy.
0 likesthis makes me think of get well soon by ariana grande. i hope whoever suffers get well soon tho 💙
0 likesHi. So I'm not depressed (at the moment) nor am I stressed at all. In fact, I have a pretty good life. I'm almost 14, have been riding horses for the past 4 years and genuinely like school. Recently though, I've noticed that everything seems muddled. I can't tell how much time has passed and I often space out for 3-20 minutes. When I say "space out" I mean it feels like I'm in a haze and my vision is blurry/I can't focus on anything. I'm not sure if this normal for people my age or if it is the after effects of a depressive episode that I had for about 3 years (10-13). Could someone please respond and give me advice? I don't want to go to the doctors for no reason, nor do I want to leave this untreated <3
0 likesI feel like im dreaming sometimes.
1 likeSo, with depersonalization and not feeling like you are real, what does that mean? I mean, I look at myself in the mirror and don't see myself very often, because I am confused on what "I" am. My hair, face and body feel like a child's game where you can mix and match outfits. It's probably linked into my depression and anxiety but I want to know more, to find out how to help myself or someone else who has it.
0 likesI feel the same it’s really scary please help me
0 likesHad it now 31 1/2 years 24/7, but as you say learned to live with it. Anti depressants didn't help me and to many side effect, but the 5-htp helps the depression mostly unless I start thinking about how I feel I"m missing my life. I have tried so many different things to help with none helping. So I just keeping going on and dealing with life. Helps to know I'm not the only one, even though I hate that anyone has to feel this.
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derealization just like all mental disorders are spiritual things that need to be dealt with spiritually and the only way to do that is through Jesus Christ he can and will set you free if you allow him to. i struggled with this for like 2 weeks but got over it after some prayer it went away, this was a couple of weeks ago if you want to know more just reply to my comment i will be happy to help.
0 likes@Neos I'm a Christian and do believe Jesus can heal all, I've had prayer several times in groups and from different people I know who love the Lord. Also at enter healing pray groups. I believe there are things I have to learn by going through this. Hate it, but not giving up.
0 likesdoes it also feel like when you stand up too fast?
0 likesTo anyone that feels this way. Please seek help. What you have is an anxiety disorder. Tell your parents or A teacher that you need therapy. Please don't hesitate
0 likesi feel like i might have depersonalization? usually i just go about in kind of an automatic way, bu sometimes i have these intense moments of “i am a real person with real feelings and you are a real person” and stuff. its weird.
0 likesYa it feels like a bad high or drunkenness permanently. Or when you just wake up and your groggy half awake but you never wake up. It’s hell but ya it’s our life.
0 likesWow, I didn’t know this existed, wow I’m changed, I always thought that was something everyone did, I didn’t know I had this.
0 likesLet's stop calling all this beautiful neurodiversities by that ugly clinical terms and consider ourselves sick and damaged. You have a beautiful and unique brain just like every one else and it is just like it has to be! ♥ Simply enjoy life from your perspective.
0 likesI have a lot of the symptoms of this mental illness but I don’t think I have it
0 likesI have symptoms of this (I have symptoms of fucking everything 🙄) but like I zone out all the time when I’m stressed, 🌈❤️
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*not when I’m stressed legit all the time now
0 likesDepression and anxiety are talked about so often, but I think Dodie is the only person who I've ever heard talk about derealisation and depersonalisation. Most doctors don't even know what it is. The first time I heard her talk about it I just bawled my eyes out and felt such a strange sense of relief. Derealisation and depersonalisation have become my "normal" state - ie pretty much 24/7 that I often forget I have it and just excuse my strange behaviour as depression and anxiety. It's so exhausting living like this. All I want to do is sleep. It's like living inside a glass box that distorts your perception of the world.
0 likesSometimes, I could be doing something, and then just immediately feel like I’m in a simulation, and nothing/ nobody is real, and it’s really just me that’s real. Then I start to ask my friends (If I’m around them) “You’re real right?” They look at me with the most confused look and say “Yeah?” Then I just stare at something. Also, sometimes, I feel like if I’m just going about my day as usual, I feel like everything is a dream (similar to the simulation thing), and the “real” world is opposite from this world, and I’m just in a big dream, and my “real” Family is trying to wake me up, and if I try to wake up, I can’t, and stay in the big “dream” (I’ve actually tried to wake up from the “Dream” before, of course it failed-)
0 likesIt’s reassuring to see just how similar we all are with this condition. I’ve had it 100% of every single day since 2012. I had a panic attack for the first time ever and never felt the same since I woke up. I developed full blown panic attack disorder and became extremely depressed. I recovered from panic attacks thru meditation. But still have it. I finally accepted this isn’t going to go away and 99.999% of doctors are total idiots when it comes to this. I’m actually quite happy. Have done many wonderful things in life. But I have the haunting thought that I’d be so much happier if everything felt more real.
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derealization just like all mental disorders are spiritual things that need to be dealt with spiritually and the only way to do that is through Jesus Christ he can and will set you free if you allow him to. i struggled with this for like 2 weeks but got over it after some prayer it went away, this was a couple of weeks ago if you want to know more just reply to my comment i will be happy to help.
0 likesYeah no. Happy I’ve never experienced that. That really sucks bro.
0 likesHave you ever tried Medical Marijuana? I’ve heard really good things about it for Depression. Someone I know really well does it (mostly CBD’s but if it’s really bad THC’s) and if helps them so much with their pain. This have MDD and PTSD- both diagnosed. And I’ve seen a huge difference in them. They also have chronic back problems and it also helps that too. If you ever get the shot to. I would give it a whirl. Good day
this is ironic because I went to your show and dissociated for like a solid 50% of the time
0 likesIt might be the same thing that you’re referring to, but a lot of the time everything feels fake to me. Everything feels unreal and like I’m in a movie. When people talk to me it feels like they’re not real people and they’re like not a real part of my life. Does anyone else get this?
0 likesi have this and i smoke weed all the time to make myself feel not crazy
0 likesI feel like derealization makes me have bad memory issues and brain fog anyone else?
0 likesBut how can we tell if someone really has this?
0 likesThis happens when I’m having fun bro
0 likesI don't think I have this but I do have elements of it from time to time
0 likesIf you are still going through this look into EMDR
0 likesIt’s one of the hardest parts of ptsd
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I’ve always compared it to being high. Always.
0 likesDo you also have crazy existential thoughts? Do you ruminerate about the weirdness of life and us beiing in our bodies? I have severe anxiety from such thoughts and experiense dr/dp from time to time, especially when stressed. But the thoughts scare everything out of me...
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I used to have horrible existential thoughts that were caused by my derealisation and they made it terribly worse... it felt like hell. But now even though i still have derealisation, i barely ever get this kind of thoughts. And if i do i can make them easily go away. So please be strong, i promise it'll get better. When you have these existential thoughts, instead focus your mind on something fiddling, think about anything else and you'll eventually train your mind to automatically avoid these thoughts or make them go away quickly
1 likeWait... I thought I was just weird... I went outside in summer and when I went inside I couldn't see. I can't hold in information at work very well and people think I'm not listening, they'll say 10 minutes and when I walk away and it's time... I can't Remeber.
0 likesWhen I wake-up from sleep and I walk around I feel floaty and I can't see well. I thought that my eyesight was terrible, but it's always been said to be fine. I'm 17 and have only realised this could be the answer.
When I was little I always used to day dream and be in my own little world but really It was me not being able to focus. Id think my toys were real. Daydreaming was my childhood thing to cope with school work. Would find conversations hard to even keep up with and have felt isolated. I have all the things she said.
The questioning yourself to feel engaged is me everytime I go outside.
mm weird that sometimes I dream that i feel like I'm dreaming in real life, i don't know if i explained it well but now im scared
0 likesThis is how I feel when I'm high, is that normal?
0 likesso basically a mental condition that makes you feel like you're high 24/7
0 likesOk I know dissociation can cause depressive episodes
0 likesBut not severe depression
Seee this type of thing. I am quite confused about it because this is what mindfullness and meditation encourages. It encourages you to observe your emotions instead of being your emotions and acting on them straght away, where as if you observe your emotions you can deal with them better, for example. If i feel sad, i will notice that my mind is trying to be sad and i'll observe that sort of like " Hmmm, i'm starting to feel sad now" i'll try and change that by thinking of something happy or doing something that makes me happy or one that happens a lot, I observe when i feel anxitey coming on and i try and stop it from happening before it takes over my body and controls me. I try and take deep breaths and sort of meditate for a second to try and not become so anxcious.
0 likesI feel all of this isn't a bad thing and that's how humans should learn to be, we probably get down by it because it's not "Normal" but what is normal. Nothing is "normal" normal doesn't exist.
Does it feel like you’re setback in your head and your watching tv?
0 likesthanks for the vid. your editing is a bit choppy tho so it was hard to follow at times, perhaps you don’t have to cut the clips so much, just speak freely xo
1 likeI have had episodes of this and it absolutely sucks!
0 likesDoes that also cause dreams to feel more real then real life
0 likesReplies (1)
Nope. Opposite. Now her dreams are filing paperwork in an office cubicle 8 hours a night.
1 likeWhen i occassionally derealize because of highly stressful situations i find it sometimes helps if i get someone to tickle or scratch my face??
3 likesi really needed this
5 likesI get this so badly when I'm high. One time it lasted a whole week and it felt like hell I just wanted it to end
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Genji not trying to tell you how to live your life but maybe you shouldn't continue to get high if this is how your brain/body reacts to it
34 likesyeah since then i've decided to quit for a while
6 likesGenji good for you 👏👏 hope the best for you
3 likesIt has happeded to me too with weed. The last time was 2 hours ago, I was high af and I felt that way, but for me is not all the time. I have felt this with spice/k2 too and it was a lot worst than what I feel with weed and it would last days, I'm happy I got away from spice. srry for my English I don't know if you're getting what I'm trying to say.
6 likessame thing happens to me, you're dissociating, weed is a dissociative and so are a lot of other drugs. ive also decided to stop
0 likesOne time I had a supppper terrible high where I actually convinced myself that I wanted to kill myself, and I haven’t been the same since. So i def relate to you and i quit smoking a while back but the feeling in my brain hasnt gone away
3 likesguys it's actually a side effect of smoking weed. Take out the happy part and it's quite similar. The good thing is, it's only temporarily and you can control it by not smoking. I think some people do experience it for a longer time like you, but it's still most likely a side effect, so you don't need to worry about it being a permanent mental health condition.
0 likesI get this aswell, I got so bad to the point that I wouldn't even be high, I would just have one toke and then it would feel like nothing around me was real and I couldn't withstand a conversation. I have since quit as I think it was my brain telling me I shouldn't
1 likeUm no that’s drug psychosis and you either got too high or reacted badly to whatever you smoked
2 likessame same same
0 likesSame thing happened to me. I already have this problem but I got high once and it made it 1000x worse for three days straight and then I had an anxiety attack that I wouldn't come back to reality.
0 likesThanks but this isn't a symptom of any disorder. It's a side-effect of many drugs. You're derailing this conversation.
2 likesIt's quite funny... When I used to get high the same dreamlike feeling would stay with me for a week. I couldn't taste my food, my body was numb, nothing felt real. After I stopped smoking that same feeling came back every month and it would last at least 5 days. Now it's something that occurs quite often. Keep in mind.. I stopped smoking when I was 15 and I'm 20 now. The episodes of feeling detached from my body have gotten worse. It literally affects my life everyday. I don't want to blame it on weed, but my episodes occurred when I started smoking. I'm used to them now.
3 likesaylin the same thing happened to me! I’ve stopped smoking for around 3 months now but I get this detached numb feeling everyday since then and I associate it with the feeling I got when high. I may go to the doctors because it just gets in the way of everyday life. Everyone said it’s a “ghost high” but they’re meant to only last up to one week.
1 likeGenji that's not the same thing. That's a side effect of drugs.
0 likesSHIT. i relate to this so hard.
0 likesi feel fucked up and I think im denying that weed is the root problem in my life in terms of short and long effects
1 likeGenji After I stopped smoking my episodes occurred randomly and I never thought much of it until last year. I started having them fault specially when I drove on the high way. My doctor said that it was a severe panic attack so she prescribed me meds that didn't help. The other episodes that I have we're random, I could be out and about, not stressing or having anxiety and boom, everything was dream like. It's like a natural high. I honestly think weed was what started all this but idk. My doctor said it's because of my depression and anxiety. I just hate when I get those episodes during work or out in public and I feel like I'm high. I don't know how to act, I have to tell whoever is with me to like pinch me and reassure me that I'm real, that it's not a dream. I hope you find a solution for yours since you haven't had them for long. I think fixing mine is too late now. :/
1 likeI do something simmilar
51 likesI look at something random and just think: what is life? Like,I know I'm looking at an item of clothing I never wear, but am I really seeing it? Is this just a simulation or video game? Or am I in a coma and this is just nothing and I wake up in a completely different world-
So basically that goes on for about half an hour until I just forget what I was doing and go back to watching youtube
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frisk i feel this
0 likesSame..😬
0 likesthat’s not derealization that is called an existential crisis
4 likes😂I have something like She said in the video and some Episodes what you said
1 likeSometimes I close my eyes and try my hardest to "Wake".
0 likessmall sections of natural light, rough textures, cold water, human touch, help y'all
0 likesFor some reason when I look in the mirror I feel like that's the real original word and the word I am in is not the same or a dream world.
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Abby Marie Stop harassing strangers who are dealing with very serious symptoms.
0 likesevery once in a while my brain is just like EVERTHYING IS FAKE THIS ISNT HAPPENING THIS IS NOT REAL and then i think of dodie and how she feels this way more often than me and honestly it grounds me back into reality. knowing your situation IS better than someone's can be helpful when i'm in that panicky state btw !!
17 likesomg I guess everyone after watching this video now “has” derealization. remarkable.
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JustTristin isn’t that odd... maybe it’s contagious?
2 likesYeah.. they wouldn't comment if they didn't relate to the topic
22 likesNadia Keaton Some people want to relate so they self diagnose, but i’m too tired to write an entire paragraph about why n stuff.
14 likesI don't..... I understand a TiNY bit as I once had a low blood pressure and felt so spaced out and I wasn't able to really take in everything going on. But thankfully I know I am always present in the real world and do not suffer from derealisation
4 likesorrr maybe it's because lot's of people clicked on the video because they related to the title and then commented :O
31 likesRUE the title makes it seem more attractive
4 likesmost people who are saying that they "have" this disorder are a bunch of 12 y/o tumblr girls who are desperate to be unique.
16 likesLauren maybe so but not everyone
3 likesJustTristin I'm literally 23 and was just as mentally ill when I was 11 as I am now. All my doctors, therapists, psychiatrists have validated that self dx can be very helpful and streamline treatment process. They interview you before putting you on meds anyway. But it's just an interview and nothing like the amount of DSM, medical journal readings, extensive documentary watching, support group finding and questions I asked and examined in the process of my own diagnosis. Have you been to med school? Because they hardly spend any time on any given mental illness.
4 likesIf I had realized it was worth getting help for then because neurotypical =/= default, maybe I wouldn't have attempted suicide when I did. Maybe I would have found support and community and thought I wasn't crazy for thinking I must be crazy. I could have compartmentalized what was happening as not being something inherently wrong with me and rather an affect of mental illness. I still survived, because I managed to run away at 17, and get help, but I didn't have medical access at all before that.
You're not helping anyone you think you are.
Ignatius I said that most of this comment section are self diagnosing I didn’t say that some people couldn’t have this disorder. calm yourself.
5 likesI mean, I clicked on the title because it sounded like the condition I've been professionally diagnosed with- and sure enough, it was! So hey... lmfao
7 likesDo you realize not every person that watches this leaves a comment ?
3 likesTumblr is why we can't have nice things
0 likesomg. I guess people feel like they're able to say they have derealization and not feel crazy or shamed. Remarkable.
0 likesJust you wait, it's gonna become the next big mental health "trend", like self harm, or eating disorders.
0 likesWhile there definitely can be harm done by people self diagnosing, there is a lot of benefit. Many people who don't have the funds for a doctor can do it themselves and seek treatment that way. For instance, I was able to self diagnose my generalized anxiety disorder before my counselor and doctors diagnosed me with it. It was painfully obvious I had that mental illness. From the diagnosis, I was able to seek treatment. However, not everyone is lucky enough to afford to do that. There are different levels of mental illness, and GAD and depression are quite easy to diagnos as opposed to bipolar disorder or BDD. I wouldn't frown at the people who do self diagnose. There are people who thoroughly go through their research about mental illness before diagnosing themselves. Even then, there are people who do have mental illness but are misdiagnosed by their doctor, so that can leave people to self diagnose. Please don't disparage those who do so.
0 likesI'm scared because this happens to me. I scratch my arm because if i don't I'm not there. And I feel like I don't see people well enough. Like there face is there but I can't see any details which freaks me out
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I kind of just have to not look at people and talk so as to make sure that I have a voice
0 likesAhhhhh midnight dodie vid I love
5 likes• v • o h ? O H ? Good good I'm glad you were able to put a name to it ! Brainy brainy
2 likesYou need to go somewhere. Like China. To a a monastery. Go heal your mind. ❤️ you can do it.
0 likesquietly and off topically I like ur eyebrows
37 likesIs that what it's called? My dad just said it's because I'm a 'grownup' now and that's how it feels, but sometimes it feels like I can blink away an entire week, and sometimes I fear my real life is a dream and I'm actually really living a nightmare; everytime I feel a random pain, a little part of me fears I'm being tortured somewhere else- I'm just not waking up, and it freaks me out. Thanks for making this. Now I know I'm not quite as crazy as I thought! 😂
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Meece I feel you I feel like I'm trapped in a dream
0 likes/nightmare I can't wake up from and that in real life I'm off doing some other crap
Anyone else feel like dumber than usual? Like I feel like I was smart but after like 2-3 months of living in this state I feel like my memory got worse and I feel a lot more dumb
0 likesI think you made a decent effort to inform people, however, wasn't very wise considering your young and impressionable audience. I feel like a quick skim through the comment section would suggest that a lot of teens have somehow 'self-diagnosed' now, since watching this. Clarify that this was a diagnosed condition. Point out the misconceptions and similarities to everyday 'stress', so youngsters in stressful times don't get confused and ultimately diagnose themselves with this.
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fleetw00d its a very common disorder and many people clicked on the video because they had the disorder already and were looking for advice for it.
1 likefleetw00d yeah I wish she would have mentioned that stuff after reading the comments her fan base seems to be very impressionable.
3 likesalondra. Actually the title would make these younger self diagnosing people more likely to watch because of the way she worded it, it makes it sound allot different than it is. I personally clicked it because it said that and was curious, it would make sense if the title was the actual name of the illness and not making it seem so attractive ( I didn’t really know what other word to use so I just went with it)
2 likesalondra. i’d think it’s more the fans watching it. the actual people diagnosed with it have already someone to talk about? i think only 1k of the views, maybe even less came here because they related to the problem and aren’t fans who just self diagnose. yes, there maybe are some people that relate, but it is unreal that suddenly so many people have this mental illness.
2 likesI was just as mentally ill as a teenager as I am at 23 now. Only no one believed me as a teenager! Which caused a suicide attempt. :)
0 likesSo idk let people try and figure out and put words to things and if they find they relate or don't, it doesn't cause harm to me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If your doctor doesn't take you seriously then your doctor is an ass. It's not the fault of young people.
This sounds quite familiar to me but it’s only happened a few times???
3 likesi need to go to a dooctoor but my family will question me so maybe next time
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tomato head All the best, pal. I know it can be daunting but I sincerely feel you'll make it through. =)
1 liketomato head I feel this too on a real level! We will be okay x
0 likesMy mum doesn’t believe in anything like that so any time I try and bring it up so she can understand she just dismisses it and it’s only getting worse
0 likesThis is so troublesome for me, because I relate to a lot of it, but I have so many other mental health issues that these things might honestly be side effects of those instead? For example, I have ADHD, so I have a tendency to not pay attention to things or forget where I am/what I'm doing, as well as just forgetting things in general. My memory is shit. But I feel like it's worse than the average person with ADHD. I also have chronic depression and panic disorder. I feel numb and like I'm not myself for periods of time before feeling better, and a lot of sensory things (i.e. lights being bright/dark, not hearing well, unfamiliar with myself or others, etc) are all symptoms of panic attacks for me. But what I experience is so similar to Dodie that it can't just be my other shit, right? Like technically I'm at the best my life has ever been. But it feels a bit hollow, and things rarely excite me, and sometimes if I'm out with friends there's moments where it's like I've completely gone away and my brain is so dizzy/fuzzy that my friends ask if I'm okay. Help.
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Lena Carey if you're already professionally diagnosed, talk to your psychologist / psychiatrist. They may be able to help you parse these experiences and feelings. Because I personally have never experienced derealization, but I have had brain fog days (essentially dissociative episodes), but because I'm already diagnosed with ADHD I can see how a mixture of those symptoms and anxiety could cause me to dissociate briefly. I think it also helps to see if you still have these dissociation problems when you are taking meds. If you do then definitely go talk to your therapist. Because it seems that your symptoms are really impacting your daily life in a way that mine didn't, so don't just do what i did a give yourself an armchair diagnosis, actually go seek help if you can! :)
1 likeYour last sentence I can relate to so much wow. I, for periods of time, feel so hollow and even though I should feel something I don't. And time feels so fuzzy that a lot of times I'm not sure how I am feeling.
2 likesLena Carey I relate to this. I have ADHD but also struggle with severe anxiety and bouts of depression, and some dissociative episodes from living with narcissistic abuse/ trauma my whole life. I think a lot of these things are interrelated. I don’t describe to myself as me “having” multiple diagnoses, just experiences with those things that I need to work on. Is there anything that helps you with the brain fog?
1 likeHey, so I was wondering, when you say you've got Chronic Depression, do you mean Dysthymic Disorder/Dysthymia? You can call it either of those three; just checking. Have you been professionally diagnosed with it? I have, and if you have as well, I think you're the first person I've heard/read about who has it too. Even though it really sucks most of the time, it's nice to hear about somebody else I guess. I'm just wondering.
1 likeTatum Cooper I believe DSM 5 now labels that persistent depressive disorder at least in the US. I think you may want to look into the sociological view of mental illness. It views mental illness to be an issue in some ways because society tells us that we mean less to society if we have less than perfect mental health. Personally, I had a very traumatic childhood and lots of mental health issues myself and running in my family. But I avoid saying that I “have” a specific condition aside from my neurodevelopmental condition ADHD because I feel that gives too much power over something that does not define me as a person if that makes sense. But, I can promise you’re not the only person who experiences chronic depression. Also, Reddit mental health communities have been really helpful for me. And if that didn’t answer your question or you have any others please do let me know!
0 likesWow, I got more responses on this than I thought I would. Thank you all so so much. It's so nice to know that other people feel the same way or have similar experiences.
1 likeMarcy, I think you're right, I really should mention this to my therapist and psychiatrist. I do feel this way still on meds so maybe I need something different. I definitely have disassociated in the past, but this feels different, it's more omnipresent if you get what I mean?
Julie Smiles, I'm here for you if you need someone to talk to who relates. I feel you <3
greengal111796 I totally think these things being interrelated is true. I know that my depression gets worse when I'm not dealing with my ADHD. For me though, knowing my diagnoses gives me power over them, not the other way around. But everyone is different.
Tatum Cooper Yes, I do have dysthymia! I've been professionally diagnosed! I'm so glad I can be the first person you met who also has this! It sucks a lot knowing that we have more depressive episodes than most, and that we'll have to have treatment our whole lives, but it's manageable. Love u, fellow Chronic depression bud!
Lena Carey just gonna say so many people are misdiagnosised with ADHD not saying you are but I was, I have dyspraxia and DPD (which can stem or worsen from trauma) and alot of people don't know about it so they just pretend it's not real
0 likesN. J. Saroff it’s actually really hard to get diagnosed with ADHD because it requires tons of assessments psychologically and neurologically. I urge you to look into the actual diagnostic rates of ADHD as opposed to maybe listening to hearsay stigma since all of us in the mental health community suffer from stigma.
0 likesLena Carey it’s best to try and get diagnosed. And as for the ADHD part (I’m only gonna comment on that cause that’s all I have experience with) there isn’t really average ADHD person it’s more of a spectrum from severe to mild. I genuinely can’t say much though considering I’m not going through it and only have a small amount of experience with everything else you said. Hope everything gets better for you!
0 likesCharlie Kelly I mean isn’t that what your comment is for... attention
0 likesgreengal111796 so my mom is a special needs advocate and my mom who has worked in special needs for over 10 years has to relearn the statistics each year my brother mom and myself have all been misdiagnosed with it and none of us have it I have done the research I have taken the tests
0 likesgreengal111796 dpdr is something that takes years to diagnose and many people get diagnosed with other similar things such as ptsd or sensory processing disorder (this happened to me) and every treatment failed till I was diagnosed a year ago in the hospital. I know my shit i take psychology classes
0 likesI feel like this after smoke weed
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dude same
6 likesSometimes. Depends on the strain. Indica does that
9 likesI have bad anxiety , derealization and depersonalization and I smoke weed every other day and I mostly smoke Indica but I don’t think the weed is causing me to have anxiety bc when I don’t smoke I still have anxiety
4 likesPoppa Queefy sativa makes my anxiety go crazy, indica is the opposite chill strain
4 likesweeeed caused my derealisation
26 likes@chiara asmrʚϊɞ i think it caused mine too a few months ago i had a really bad trip in which i experienced intense derealisation and ever since that day its like my eyes have opened and i just cant see the world the same way anymore
8 likesidk what to put here I felt the same exact way , I also had a very panicky moment smoking and ever since that night I just couldn’t shake the feeling off, maybe it’s because it felt so scary that it’s hard to just get back to feeling “normal” but yeah I’ve had moments like this now it’s been just a little over a year, it has helped to learn there’s actually a term for it because initially I just thought there was something wrong with me! Hope you feel better
10 likesyes me too!!!!!
1 likeChiara Mucaj me too I went crazy with it in Amsterdam and it did a lot of damage to my brain bc it made my derealization get worse
1 likeThis is exactly the sensation!
0 likesIf you have anxiety, already, thc can trigger derealization. There’s more information about it on Wikipedia and what not.
0 likesChiara Mucaj yes me too!!! I feel like smoking was the catalyst for me. I was having a bad trip one day and ever since I randomly feel like this. I hate it to be honest.
0 likesthe title can be a the 1975 song
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doctorzelda75 true
0 likesdoctorzelda75 or any lofi song lol
1 like...i feel like in dreaming all the time....
0 likesI can't believe Dodie's acting in Inception 2
0 likesI love your accent! Where are you from? (sorry if you already said it).
0 likessame bro but this little corner feels real
0 likesOmg... I’ve thought it was just normal...
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like that everyone feels like that?
2 likes+Yung Jojo
0 likesYeah, Music thought everyone felt like that. That isn't true though. I remember before I had this condition; I enjoyed and lived life a lot more.
You look so much like Lily Collins
156 likesReplies (7)
Jade that’s what I thought too😂
1 likeJade a healthy Lily Collins tho🤔
0 likeslanatic lily collins is healthy...
0 likesJade i don’t see it at all
0 likeslarissa she's dangerously underweight, but you do you😚
0 likesnot at all
0 likeslanatic She did that for a role for To The Bone but a health and nutrition coach helped her back to health and apparently now she is in good health.
0 likesYou are extremely attractive girl!
0 likesSimilar at some point with schizophrenia 🤔
0 likesFeel the exact same and I'm scared, send help
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Don't worry live with this and it will automatically end..
3 likesAny other problem u can sand me message
I understand how scary it is to feel like this. Really. It's terrifying. It's the worst thing. You are so brave and so strong. Give yourself credit for this. Acknowledge all that you are doing, even if the world won't. I'm proud of you.
2 likesGo see your doctor. Or your school counselor. Or find a therapist. Or all of those. Tell them about what you're experiencing and ask about treatments. Go to a doctor and don't stop until they do something to help. Find a way to get treatment.
Care for yourself. Sleep. Eat food that's filling. Drink water. Shower. Do anything you possibly can that makes you happy. ANYTHING AT ALL. WHENEVER YOU CAN. read or paint or sing, listen to music, take long baths, or walks. Watch movies and eat desserts. Cry. Cry a lot. Talk to your family and friends. Ask to be reassured that you'll be okay. You will be okay.
You will be okay. No matter how much it doesn't feel like it. Your brain is capable of telling you lies that feel like the truth. They are not the truth. Because you ARE a good person. You are worthy and beautiful and incredibly fucking brave.
And everything is going to be all right.
You will be happy again.
I swear to you.
Stay alive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfVIMfSGBhw
7cups.com
The first 2 happen to me
0 likesI'm not sure if I have a mental heath condition. I’ve seen multiple people who have tried to help me and no one can. No one knows what’s wrong with me. Being bored feels the same as being happy and if something funny I will laugh and naturally react but I feel nothing inside. Christmas (even though I love it) feels the same as just another day inside. My emotions seem to blend together and the only different one is this heaviness that sometimes fills my brain and chest. It makes me wanna cry and other stuff. I don’t always feel the heaviness though so it's random mainly when I get help or tells someone it goes away and makes me feel like I’m lying and when the help stop it come back like a circle effect. The thing is I can be happy I’m just not feeling it and I now sort of ok with than right now but the heavy feeling gets too strong. If anyone feels this way or knows what it is please tell me I just want to stop it because it makes me feel so pathetic. I haven’t told many people this including my parents because I’m scared they just say it’s normal and I’ll just feel like I can’t handle what everyone else goes through. I had a boyfriend and I knew I felt something for him but I could hardly feel it and it was so difficult to know you love someone and not feel it.
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Ibbi Bibbi I FEEL EXACTLY THE SAME. look, wanna talk? I've never been to any professionals but i had help from my friends, and i'm a better place rn :')
0 likesamandalikesbands pleaseeee im ok rn but it could happen whenever
1 likeamandalikesbands thank you so much
0 likesI'd recommend asking for help-- it sounds like clinical depression, or at least a major symptom of it, which is anhedonia: a loss of pleasure in things you once found pleasurable. If your parents say it's normal or no big deal, they're wrong, because most people don't feel that way. There are loads of super helpful treatments for depression (or whatever you may have) and I really recommend you try to find help for it!
1 likeyes! you’re not pathetic, and not alone. that sounds like symptoms of depression/depressive episodes and you’re absolutely not alone. it can be really hard, especially when people don’t understand so you’re worried you’re overreacting, but i encourage you to talk to a professional! you deserve to find help and feel better, because mental health is just as important and worthy of care as physical health! i sincerely wish you the best, and i hope you find shift soon! you got thisssss
0 likesand it’s okay if you don’t feel like this all the time, that doesn’t mean you’re lying! writing down how you feel when you are in that state, if you can, may help you communicate it to others. these feelings aren’t a normal part of growing up-you deserve to feel okay
0 likesSarahlily thank you so much
0 likesrosa r thank you. I didn’t expect this reply. People are being so nice and helpful. Thank you so much!
1 likeGirl this is out of the vid but you are beutifal
6 likesNothing feels real, it's hard to concentrate and listen to people talk alot of the time, it's like everything is foggy, like I'm just only awareness and watching my self doing shit. I just want to sleep forever
0 likesSigh......what if I have depression and this? Right now I feel so drunk and sleepy and im hungry but I don't want to get out of bed cause it's too much work....ugh but I'm so hungry....but I'm so tired I wish someone can just spoon feed me instead at the moment.
0 likesI thought this was just me omg
17 likesI get week long derealization after I binge on xanax. Not fun
0 likesWow okay first oIf all I feel sooo sorry and bad for you I’m so sorry you’re going through that bullshit. Also I feel so so proud of you for not giving up that obviously means and obviously proves you are SO damn strong keep on fighting and I promise you that it WILL fuck off forever. I’ve never had it myself personally which I’m extremely grateful for, but unfortunately my brother got both when he was 16 for 3 months and he got it from his stupid dumbass fucking doctor prescribing him something called strattera which is an SNRI which is supposed to “help” Depression & ADHD but since it built up in his system he unfortunately smoked weed as the medication was at its peak and then that’s what triggered DP/DR. So he didn’t wanna live like that it was literally destroying his life. So he had a great idea to taper off the medication, and not smoke weed for a long ass time, and finally when he was off the medication, he was gladly amazingly back to normal and that fucked up disorder disappeared. So here’s my advice for you that could get rid of it for you too. If you’re on ANY antidepressants, SSRIs, SNRIs, or anything like that, slowly taper off them, because those medications usually make DP/DR worse. So if you’re on any of those meds taper off them but very slowly explain to your doctor and pharmacist how you feel, ask them how to get off those meds slowly, stay away from these following drugs, weed, psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, DXM, Salvia, Non-Benzodiazepines (sleeping pills) & Ecstasy. Ask your doctor to prescribe you Klonopin, Valium or Xanax. And ask your doctor to prescribe you an Antipsychotic such as quetiapine, aripiprazole, olanzapine, and risperidone. And if you get prescribed any of those meds make sure you only use them as prescribed and directed by your doctor and pharmacist. If you have any questions about the medications. Ask you doctor or pharmacist, or feel free to reach out to me and I will do my best to help you out even if you need or want someone to talk to please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. My phone number is (289) 698-8137. I know in my heart you will heal. ❤️🙏
0 likesI smoke a lot of weed to feel like this everyday, depression is a bitch
0 likesDo you feel like your in real life but unconscious mind is taking place over the conscious. I feel like this all the time. Is it something I should take seriously. Its only been growing and it started at when u was 15 yrs and now I m 19. ????
0 likesi clicked on this video because i thought I was the only one
0 likesits even weirder when you wake up after a lucid dream a
0 likesIs there any group, where we could interact?
0 likesBut what is 'real' any way? Maybe that experience of everything and yourself in particular being not real is actually you getting closer to the Truth? Who says that 'this' is real?
0 likesFloating that's the word!!! THAMK YOU
27 likesReplies (1)
Shoktic Konark you're welmcome
0 likesSo basically if feels like you're high 24/7..
1 likeThis is so me man
0 likesDoes mindfulness help at all?
0 likes5-htp is an amino acid.
0 likesNot wanting to be self diagnosing or anything but when i was really depressed and stressed, i felt like i was “drunk” or “high” all the time - i feel much better now. It really affected my grades and i would zone out all the fucking time
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It feels like your tired all the time and in a dream
0 likesPeople try to talk to you but you keep zoning out because u feel like a “drunk”
Does that make sense?
I would also forget all the time
0 likesPeople will say something to me and i would forget 5 mins later because i space out ALOT and just cave inside my head
happiness noises
0 likesI now know why does this happen haha im not weird :')
Well i am but its not the reason of this
Never related to a video more 😫
0 likesCan u update us dodie :(
0 likeshave you tried taking Ambien???
0 likes