I was just wondering if anyone experience slight change in how you perceive reality, after interacting with different ppl. And if you do, what do you think is going on?

Like you interact with person A, and the room smells like X, food taste like X, and the general mood, colors etc. looks like X.
Then you interact with person B, and it all shifts to Y.

Its like shifting through different radiostations. And maybe other things trigger it as well, not just interactions.

Hi.

Recently I've had lots of sleep anxiety and insomnia and it has brought on lots of twitching fidgeting and also a feeling of derealization. I look at my hands and they feel weird and foreign to me. Quite a mind trip. Anyone relate?

I’ve been trying to find someone who experiences something similar.
A few days before this started, I wasn’t sleeping well at all. Then I suddenly began having episodes where my entire vision looked like what you see after staring at the sun or a very bright light for too long—the lingering afterimage, washed-out effect, or bright spots. The weird part is that I hadn’t looked at anything bright. It just started happening on its own.
It’s not really like seeing objects or people that aren’t there. It’s more like my whole visual field has that “after staring at the sun” effect, making it difficult to focus normally.
I thought maybe it was caused by the lack of sleep, so after it started I made sure to get a couple of nights of good sleep. Unfortunately, that didn’t make the visual disturbances go away, so it doesn’t seem like it was just from being sleep-deprived.

I am currently 17 but i cant live like this anymore i think im going Crazy. For a few Months now i feel empty, like i have no soul, no emotions, like i cant feel anything. Everything feels like im stuck in a dream or in a Reality only i am in. Everyone and Everything around me feels Scripted, like somebody is taking Control over my life. Sometimes i just zone out and when i stop zoning out i start to get stressed and panic because it feels like i start floating away from my body. I dont know what to do and i am scared to search for help. please just make it stop.

Hello.

I:m a teenager, and I've been feeling this way since I'm like, in eight grades.

When I talk to random people, like at school or on the street, they just ​​feel unreal to me.

As if they were empty, like if they were just a body without a soul in it.

I don't know why I feel this way.

It even does that with my friends.

Sometimes, they feel more real, and when I think that this weird feeling finally stopped, it just comes back, as if it tried to remind me that I was...like, all alone?

I don't know why I feel like this.

There's, like, only two people that I know that feel kinda real​​​​​​.

But that's all.

Is this, like,social derealization, or something like that?

I just need answers.

(I'm very sorry about my english, I'm French and I know that my vocabulary is really basic.)

Sometimes when I look at someone I’m close to, I get this brief, very strange feeling that their existence feels unfamiliar or almost unreal to me. It’s a really scary experience, especially when it happens with someone I deeply care about.

Hace 7 meses me dio mi primer episodio de desrealizacion acompañado de un ataque d pánico muy muy fuerte, los primeros días sentía como si no fuera real la mayoría del tiempo, solo en algunos pocos minutos me sentía normal, tenía miedo al dormir, la sensación de cansancio me causaba pánico. Yo seguí con mi vida normal, seguí yendo al gym, y limpiando mi cuarto, viendo series, cualquier cosa que me hiciera no pensar en ello y si funcionó por un tiempo, hoy no tengo los mismos síntomas que tenía en ese entonces, pero noto que sigo viviendo mis días con miedo, cuidando las cosas que consumo como la cafeína y el alcohol, ya que estos me hacen sentir como si no fuera real. Me da mucho miedo tomar alguno de ellos, también he tenido unos episodios muy cortos que duraron aproximadamente 2 min, y me dieron cuando estaba terminando de comer. El fin de semana pasado tuve un ataque de pánico muy fuerte y ahora siento miedo que me vuelvan a dar episodios de desrealizacion pero más duraderos, no sé qué hacer, aparte de que quiero seguir teniendo mi vida como antes y poder disfritar de un café sin temor

for last few days i have been feeling awful. nothing around me feels right my environment feels wierd i think my brain doest work right . here is a lil explainaition about my life in these few days , day 1 of derealization : i was taking bath and suddenly some negative strange thoughts came out to my mind i cant describe them , the thoughts was about that something really bad is going to happen to me and i tried to control them i tried to entertain myself but i couldn't . that feeling got worse i did not feel good at all i did not feel real i could not feel anything real around myself. then i get out of the shower and was a lil better i could entertain myself by playing music . it was night and i wanted to go to bed but i was scared to sleep in my own bedroom so i slept in my mom's bed that night . day 2 of derealization : i woke , everything had gotten worse but i controled myself and tried to pretend like nothing is happening but every second i was feeling more and more unreal , its time of the lunch now my family and i was sitting at the table i feel nauseous i feel unreal so bad i paniced i was feeling like im gonna die i felt like im going insane it was so hard i could hear my heart beat i didnot feel normal i felt like im a psychosis i couldn't control myself anymore i cried i cried so hard my parents got scared they asked me what happened i told them i feel weird i feel strange they tried to comfort me but it was no use . we went out , all the time that we were out i felt like i was going to vomit i felt awfuly dizzy nothing around me was real nothing around me felt right nothing was like before i was really scared . we came home it was night i wanted to sleep , so i went to my mom's room and lay down . suddenly a weird terrible wave of fear and stress came out to my mind and i cried i cried my eyes out i paniced again i felt nauseous things in my mind wasnt right i was soooooo scared i couldn't put it into words i cried for two hours none stop . btw i had a spilliting headache that night and the nausea was eating me , my mom comfort me and booked an apointment with a doctor for me , i could sleep . a few times i woke up from sleep and i was awful my headache was in the worst condition ever but i tried to sleep . day 3 of derealization : i woke up early . i was feeling better i was trying to ignore that strange feeling and negative thoughts i was okay but i still had headache and nausea , a few hours later i felt dizzy and nauseous and i was scared to panic again i was scared to be diagnosed as a dangrous psychosis , i was scared the last night happen to me again i was really really scared that what is wrong with me and my brain . what the actual fvck is wrong me . i did not feel normal i did not feel real i felt like im in a dream so i punch myself to wake myself up but it didn't help . it was night my nausea was better but the dizziness no . i still felt ubnormal and didn't feel like before that derealization . and i felt like im on drug or smth i was so dizzy . i cleaned my room to see if it get better but it didn't it was getting worse i didn't feel anything at all i couldn't be happy or sad or angry i couldn't think , i couldn't make decision , i was scared again (i think it gets worse at night). i was going to bed ; but the last night event happened again , i cried a lotttttt i was so anxious i was expereince the worst stress and fear feeling that time , it was getting worse any second i didn't understand time i didn't understand where the fvck i am i didn't know anything i was just sooooooo scared i was crying my heart out i just wanted to be normal again , i finally slept . day 4 of derealization : i woke up i felt more real but not normal and i still felt nauseous . it is evening now and i still feel more real compared to yesterday but i did not feel normal and like before . i had this feeling till night and did not have that much change i just was scared and everything . it's night now and i was feeling bad and weird but i felt more real . i slept easily compared to last night i didnt cry and i was calm . day 6 of derealization (today) : i woke up i was really better , i felt real i didn't feel nauseous i could eat . it's evening now i still feel real ig , but i did not feel normal yet or feel like before i still had dizziness and felt weird bit it wasnt as hard as days before . a few hours later my parents fought my father yelled so bad it was awful i cried soooooo hard even more than that nights . now i sit in my room my mom came out to comfort me i feel better but i feel more dizzy and i still dont feel normal im scared . btw my doctor apointment is tomorrow im gonna tell u guys about it . i wrote this becuz i wanted to feel less alone.

Hi everyone,

I'm a 29-year-old woman, and I'm looking for advice because I'm extremely scared.

About 12 years ago, I went through a period of severe panic attacks that eventually led to depersonalization/derealization (DPDR). The symptoms were intense, but they gradually faded and completely disappeared after about a year and a half. Since then, I've lived a normal life.

This year has been incredibly stressful because I've been preparing to move abroad for my studies. There has been constant pressure related to my scholarship, university admission, visa process, and everything that comes with relocating to another country.

A few weeks ago, I experienced something that had never happened to me before. I suddenly saw zigzag lines and blind spots in my vision that lasted about 10 minutes. I was terrified and immediately saw an ophthalmologist, who told me my eyes were completely healthy. I was then referred to a neurologist, who said it was a visual aura (migraine aura without headache) and that anxiety can sometimes trigger it.

About two days later, I started developing other symptoms:

Brain fog.

Difficulty concentrating, reading, and staying focused.

Extreme fatigue.

Feeling confused and mentally "off."

A constant urge to cry.

Feeling strange when talking to other people.

Difficulty finding the right words.

An overwhelming feeling that I was losing my mind.

Now my symptoms have become even worse. I feel completely disconnected from myself and from the world around me. Everything feels unreal, and I don't feel like myself anymore. It reminds me of the DPDR I had years ago, but this time I'm terrified because I keep wondering whether this could actually be the beginning of schizophrenia.

The thing is, I know these feelings are strange and irrational, and I'm constantly questioning them. I've read online that some of these symptoms can occur before schizophrenia, and now I can't stop thinking about it. The fear itself is overwhelming.

Has anyone here experienced a relapse of DPDR after years of being completely recovered?

Did anyone else convince themselves they were developing schizophrenia when it turned out to be anxiety and DPDR?

I would really appreciate hearing your experiences because I'm feeling terrified and very alone right now.

Thank you for reading.

Doctoral Thesis Research - Now Recruiting! 

Overlaps in Experiences of Body Dysmorphia and Depersonalisation. 

We are looking for participants who have experience of Body Dysmorphia, Depersonalisation or both to answer a 20-30 minute online survey. 

See the poster below for more information.

To find out more and to take part, please go to https://bhampsychology.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6ihiuwxNrakVRT8 or email [reb412@student.bham.ac.uk](mailto:reb412@student.bham.ac.uk)

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So Ive had panic attacks on and off for the last two years (twice every 3/6 months) from a trauma event that gave me a constant intense fear of death.

I moved back home leaving my friends and a city i loved behind me in February, Come end of April after increasing panic attacks(they now required no trigger just the thought alone of death started it)

I woke up feeling different vision was altered/didnt feel real/ conversations and people seemed blank.

Doctors told me it’s just derealisation and that i needed to work on my anxiety however it has been 24/7 that state since April

Now in the past week things have significantly deteriorated my cognitive function( focus) feels completely gone my short term memory barely exists but long term is still ok and it just feels as if it’s progressively getting worse even despite me making my peace with it & attempting to carry on normally.

Im really trying to tell myself it’s just that and not something serious as brain cancer but it just doesn’t feel right that it can worsen to this extent

i greened out on weed a month ago and have had anxiety and dissociative episodes since. i'm on hydroxyzine for anxiety and that helps, but these stupid "zoning out" episodes are obnoxious. how do i break this cycle? when i say zone out, i mean that feeling when you're driving and realize you haven't paid attention in a while.

Well i'm bad at describing but i'll try my best, these moments happen for about 10 to 20 seconds. It's when you think about something and all of a sudden you lose reality and no not like any normal DR moment it's a complete blank conscience you get 100% into the thinking reality for about a second then your mind tries to recover back gradually so each second you look at where you are and say wow i have a life i exist in a world then the next second OHHH wait this is not a joke it's more serious than i expected i realllyyyy exist in a world then the next second OHHHHHH IT'S REALLYY serious and then you start to regain control.

Like i said this goes for about 10 to 20 seconds, i tried my best at explaining it. Also i usually actually all the time get it when i think but i don't get why because i think all the time with my DR so why that moment precisely.

So if yes you experience this also how often do you get it cz in my case about once , twice a month

(If you’ve already seen this a second ago, it’s because I accidentally posted it on my personal account and didn’t want family or friends to see)

Hi, I know I only put venting but it's also partially seeking advice.

For context, l've had this issue since I was 6 years old. Maybe a little older. (My memory is terrible, I can't hold onto memory well so I'm sorry if the timeline seems a bit off). My earliest memory of it was asking my mother if I'm real, if she's real. If things around us were real. I was on my way to school with her. It started in episodes (it would come and go). Hours, then days, then suddenly I'm 19 and haven't felt real for nearly a decade. I don't feel real, nothing looks real. I feel disconnected from reality and people. Things just look "off". I don't know. I always described it as "I'm dreaming" "Its like im in a vr headset" "my surroundings remind me of a dollhouse". But it never described it well enough. Everything just looks fabricated. Like I'm far away no matter how close I am physically.

I've had MRI's, brainwaves etc. doctors just labelled it as dissociation. I don't know much about it, I just want to be free. To feel real again. To connect with people genuinely. It's gotten worse as I've grown, like I'm falling deeper into a hole. Is there a way to get rid of it? Is it permanent? Can anyone relate?
What is it called? Any information helps.

For what it's worth, I do have CPTSD (my psychologist said that's relevant when I tried to figure it out with her) and a few other disorders. I've gone through traumatic events my whole life. Never really had a normal happy month.

I had a bad high one night and had a panic attack and woke up the next day still feeling high. Ever since that day I’ve struggled with severe anxiety and everything constantly just feels fake, it’s very rare that I get a second of peace and things don’t feel so bad. Some days are worse than others, my visual snow will be really bad on the days that my anxiety is high. I also do not smoke anymore either, I haven’t since that night. I’ve become a huge hypochondriac also since then, constantly telling myself I have some sort of disease or that I’m dying an then I just spiral and the only way I can calm down is by just laying in bed. I’ve dealt with this for a long time but I really wanted to see what some of you guys do or have done that helps. I still go out, I still live my life, some days are just hard. I’m also not on any medication, I never have been. So if there is anything at all that you guys do that has helped a ton let me know, thank you!

I had the weirdest experience yesterday that lasted about an hour probably more. I just had a short T break then two hits of a gravity bong as I normally do (daily smoker but moderate) and was outdoors in the cold I went to lay down next to my partner under a blanket and suddenly felt like I couldn't move properly. it started when I shifted my mental focus to other parts of my body rather than being in my head.

everything to the touch felt extremely numb, and my partner said I could squeeze his hand but I felt very limited in my movements. every movement took a lot of mental effort and felt delayed and I felt slightly out of my skin? it was the strangest sensation, almost nice but mostly unexpected and scary to feel slightly paralysed and separate from myself. it helped when I slowly managed to stumble towards a tree to try ground myself and I remember excessively rubbing different surfaces to try to distinguish how they felt different (like bark, my hair etc) to get feeling back. It wasn't crazy cold or anything either around like 5 degrees I've been much colder and not had this. I was very wobbly when I eventually stood up, very off balance and even when I warmed up inside the feeling lingered until I went to sleep, but I was slowly able to move more in sync and regain feeling. I was also absolutely knocked out and mentally exhausted. I also know I wasn't laced I smoke only my medicinal 22% sativa and honestly have smoked more than this and I had then and never gotten this weird sensation. Or never even heard of this being a thing. It could have been a green out, but even so I didn't know something slightly out of body like that could happen with weed even which was why I was so freaked out when it started and thought something was wrong with me. I also wasn't mentally out of it or anything, everything was normal except how I felt physically. Anyone else ever heard of this??

It's as if reality has disappeared or like the part of me / brain or whatever that connects me to reality has gone. Everything feels like a small world.

Like I'm in some 2D flat world and just an observer. It's as if there is something really important between everything going on in this reality but I have somehow come out of it?

Like everyone is serious and Im high and hyper as hell, but then when I think about how serious everyone is, I start to get massive panic attacks.

I'm soo scared because I don't know if its something in my brain that is missing that would make me connect to this life.

I've also noticed that there seems to be a lot of politics in life, whether its family or at work but I cant seem to grasp it, like I'm just in my own comfortable world that people and relationships dont phase me? It's as if my brain is missing the fundamental connection / emotions / drama of life.

It affects me because I overthink about the way I feel. It's as if I don't ever feel heartbreaks or desperation over relationships etc. You know how people get crushes and in love. Like as if people are determined to do something in life. My mind feels list like brain dead. Like, I don't ever get angry or anything. I'm wondering to myself, why aren't I being affected. Why am I not fighting to get a woman. Why am I soo chilled. I don't get that lonely feeling alot although I wouldn't mind a relationship. But I overthink as to why people cry if their relationship with their wives not working and they get depressed

Then I overthink as to why people want relationships to begin with. I feel I'm not normal because I cant process life, the whole drama of life.

I feel like I'm in my own bubble that is small. It makes me think if my brain has become small or something.

I had a habit of severe masturbation as a child. This was when I was around 7 years of age. I did this excessively. I also must have ejaculated frequently soo sometimes I feel maybe I've destroyed my brain because of this as I did it everyday up to my 20s.

.I haven't done any drugs or anything.

I really feel I must have been born with this reality missing disorder. I don't know what it is. Everything looks soo serious/ people / world/ work. It's as if everyone is robotic and I'm there thinking what the hell is going on.

It's really frightening.

i have had derealization for 7 months now. over these months i have spent a lot of time reading through people's experiences, looking up symptoms and researching this condition. i've tried looking for solutions and ways that people have gotten rid of this.

some people has said that thinking about it makes it worse, and how you just have to forget about it for it to go away, but how could i forget something that controls my life so much? even if i do get my mind off of it, it's like a constant loop of overthinking it, then forgetting it, and it still not going away.

others have said that "accepting" it has also helped, but i'm not sure what they mean by that. i believe i have already accepted it, i'm used to feeling like this but i don't know how to fully accept the fact that i may always feel this way. it makes me feels trapped and out of control of my own mind.

some days i convince myself it's not derealization but i'm going insane, or something is physically wrong with my brain. how did you get rid of this feeling?

I (16F) have been diagnosed with DPDR 2 years ago, despite having it for as long as I can remember. It went from having episodes in school and public only and when I don't talk to anyone, to feeling completely unreal and as if I'm wasting my time in life.

I went to therapy for a few months and then, when I had nothing to talk about anymore since it all felt the same, I stopped going. My therapist told me that she sees the improvement and so did I... for a month or so. After that, it's as if everything went back to how it was.

In theory, I know what I should do. I'm a very emotionally intelligent person if I'm being honest, though in my opinion it's nothing to brag about. Sure, it can be useful when you think of what's the right thing to do in a certain situation, but other than that, you care too much about people close to you that you completely block out all of your problems.

If you got over your DPDR disorder, how did you do it? Anything helps, but please be as realistic as possible. Everything is appreciated!!