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It's weird I get a feeling of not really being there sometimes. I'll be sitting in class, and all of a sudden I'll be watching my class still in the same body, but everything seems to be moving slow, it's like I can here my pulse in a loud distracting room. The strange part is, I'll sort of snap out of it, and forget where I am. I'll have to look at everyone, and tell myself 'oh right, I'm at school' Even walking down the hallway...I'll be walking in a daze, everything in my head going quite, even though the crowded hallway is loud. I snap out of it figure out what I'm doing, and continue on to my next class. I've asked this before, somewhere else, and someone said it was an epilepsy seizure, but I don't really know. Anyone had this, or know what it is? Sorry I couldn't explain it better!

2007-07-04 19:48:17 · 6 answers · asked by Raina 3 in Health Mental Health

6 answers

Depersonalization Disorder is a Dissociative Disorder and it's characterized by a profound sense of detachment that makes you feel as though you're going through the motions of life, but not really living the experience. People describe it as feeling like they are in a fog, or almost as though they are in a dream and there's often a sense of unreality about things, although you consciously know what's real, it just doesn't feel that way. Sometimes there are alterations in your sense of space (things appear smaller or further away) or your sense of time (things seem to be speeded up or slowed down) or you may see people talking but not really hear or know what they are saying for brief moments, like in the song "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd which is quite a poetic description of one presentation of the experience and dissociation generally.
Depersonalization can exist alone or as part of another disorder, most notably Panic Disorder and PTSD, but it may also be connected with depression, especially in milder form where people describe feeling numb or like their emotions are blunted or flat lined. However, actual depersonalization is usually more extreme and represents a significant sense of detachment from oneself more than just the chronic numbness that often accompanies depression.
It is also has a relationship to “trance” and can be brought on by significant periods of sleep deprivation or other “trance-inducing” activities that require extreme and prolonged focus and concentration, like addicting computer games or monotonous and routine activity, both of which I believe are related. “Trance-inducing activity” leads to an altered state where there is reduced sensitivity to your surroundings. (Just think of "highway hypnosis"-this is pretty common and normal, but lasts briefly, though it shares many of the same features)
There's a good chance that Depersonalization will resolve on its own without intervention, particularly if it’s brief and hasn’t become habitual. However, a longer duration suggests that treatment aimed at helping you reconnect with yourself may be beneficial. Often times, depersonalization becomes a chronic way of coping with overwhelmingly uncomfortable or painful feelings and disconnecting from the experience of them, hence its frequent occurrence in response to trauma. Depersonalization is a frequent and common symptom associated with PTSD and also extreme anxiety and functions as a defense against the intense feelings people experience during abuse, life-threatening circumstances and extreme anxiety and panic and protects a person from becoming completely overwhelmed. People often "trance out" when under stress, and it functions to decrease their awareness of and sensitivity to distressing experiences, like the "freeze" response seen in trauma victims. (Just think of the teenager who "tunes out" when a parent or other person is berating them with criticism-they hear it, but don't really react to it). Therapy can be especially helpful if there is a history of emotional abuse that depersonalization helps you escape as it can become a familiar and almost automatic process that gets triggered by emotional arousal. In that way, it becomes a disorder as it serves to keep a person detached from their own experiences and disconnected from their sense of self. Therapy aims at making this a less automatic process and helping people reconnect to their emotions, their body and their sense of self and learning other ways to cope and self-soothe so that dissociation is no longer a “knee-jerk” reaction to emotional triggers.
Things you can do involve grounding yourself in various ways. "Mindfulness" is excellent and is simply being in the moment and concentrating on all the sensations you are aware of in order to ground you both in the present and in your body (Eg: doing the dishes: concentrate on the temperature of the water, the smell of the dish detergent, the feel of the glass or ceramic you're holding, notice the soap bubbles, etc.) It can break the "trance" effect when you are experiencing depersonalization. Another tip is to keep your eyes moving-frequently when we are stressed and "freeze" our gaze becomes fixed, or locked, and this induces the hypnotic "trance" state. Keep your eyes moving and avoid becoming transfixed or staring at a single object. Using a journal or meditative practices that seek to connect you with yourself, being in touch with your feelings and even your physical state, as well as your emotional self, can help reconnect you and ground you. Deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation is excellent as it treats both the disconnectedness as well as being the single most effective technique for stopping a panic attack. Hope this helps, but please seek out a therapist who can assist you further if you suffer from continued panic and depersonalization.
Hope this helps.

2007-07-04 20:25:00 · answer #1 · answered by Opester 5 · 2 0

You have done a fine job of explaining your episodes.
Throughout my own life I have experienced this to varying degrees. What I do is called DISSOCIATION. To separate from or to dis-associate from. Some have called it daydreaming, or being present in body but the mind is disconnected and off in its own world.

This is something we all do.
But, for people who have difficulty with it becoming a major problem in your life, consider working with a psychologist for a while -- one experienced/specializing in Dissociative Disorders. They will explore with you how seriously this interferes with your life, it's origin, or why you would "need" to dissociate so often. Along with this, they will help you to learn techniques to pull yourself back to reality in order to deal with the here and now, AND they will also assist you in dealing with your stresses in life so you will feel less of a need to be walking around in a daze, avoiding connection with real life.

2007-07-04 20:24:14 · answer #2 · answered by Hope 7 · 0 0

If you wish to make persons to complete anything however in once perhaps not to inform them what they need to do then you will need a plan like Black Ops Hypnosis, a online plan that you will find it here https://tr.im/BIlTS and that may coach you on how to utilize hypnosis without the other person know.
 
Black Ops Hypnosis it will coach you on the hypnosis technique. With this particular strategy you will have a way to hypnotize your self and the others around you for your benefit.

2016-04-24 07:40:06 · answer #3 · answered by ? 3 · 0 0

I can't explain it, really, but it's not a epileptic seizure (I've had those) and normally you can't /recall/ having the seizure. You recall these episodes, so I'm fairly sure they aren't seizures. They may be just plain dazes, or you might want to mention it to your doctor if you're really worried about them.

2007-07-04 19:57:19 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

I also have these its because of my borderline personality disorder. It just happens a lot of people dont understand these. Its known as dissociating. For some reason they have gotten more frequent for me lately and it can be very frustrating. Please make a therapist appointment and find out how you can change these behaviors.

2007-07-04 20:52:12 · answer #5 · answered by tootiebear 2 · 0 0

That could be dissociation. It would take a long time for me to type an accurate description, so I will refer you on to these websites:

You can also just search "dissociation" or "dissociative disorders".

2007-07-04 20:02:16 · answer #6 · answered by Erica 2 · 0 0

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