Jump to content

Have you experienced depersonalization?


bydefault

Depersonalization?  

  1. 1. Have you experienced depersonalization?

    • Yes, non-drug/stimulant induced.
      145
    • Yes, drug/stimulant induced.
      19
    • No, never.
      55

This poll is closed to new votes


Recommended Posts

geronimohorse

Yes - due to social phobia/anxiety (not very often though, thank god!)

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes, and non-induced. Or at least something similar.

I wouldn't have called it depersonalisation. More like detachment - like I'm controlling my body from afar and everything seemed very distance. The part of me that's me was floating somewhere else.

If I had to give a cause I'd say it was social anxiety. I always assumed it was some in built mechanism in me that cut me off from the world when there was too much input. It would usually last a period of a few days. It hasn't happened to me in along time and I assumed that signified a success in getting over my shyness and anxiety, and better management of my exposure.

Except to me, it feels like everything is muffled by my skull. Y'know, with the whole 'trapped in there' thing?

Muffled is a good word that describes well how I remember it. The trapped feeling was also associated with it. I know I said it felt like remoteness, but it was like a bit of me floating around in my head linked in some inexplicable way to me somewhere else in the vaguest sense.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 4 weeks later...

It happens. I was diagnosed with depression 4-5 years ago, but I'm pretty suure I'm not anymore. But it still happens sometimes.

Link to post
Share on other sites

yeppers... I voted non-drug induced but it also used to happen due to drugs...

dissociation and depersonalization have been a major part of my whole life. Most often it happens when I am either having a panic attack or when my brain refuses to believe something that has happened... it's odd...

as a kid I used to play around with the feeling simply by asking myself "why am I here" after a while it didnt work any more but I could intentionally set myself into a state where I was completely detached...

later in my adult life I associated it with drugs... often with smoke I would experience it, it was my favorite part because I somehow felt I had control over the feeling... with tweak after a couple of all nighters I would call it "having the answers to everything" because that detachment would come alongside of a mental confidence and clarity... I would never manage to consider anything important to consider during those times so I know now that it was more a feeling of knowing than actually knowing... doing 3 or 4 all nighters in a row can do that to ya :P

these days (clean off drugs for 3 years now :woot:)I am back to experiencing it with panic attacks. typically I can tell the difference between an anxiety attack and a panic attack based on if I feel like I am trapped in a glass box or not... I almost prefer to recognize that it is a panic attack because those tend to end quicker and are easier to deal with (even though they are more sever)

anwyay yeah... it's some crazy stuff... but is a part of my life :\ I am used to it and almost sometimes dont even notice that it happens...

Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest Heligan
Am I the only one that actually kind of enjoys the sensation? :redface: Maybe it's just my bohemian side coming through and drawing from the experience for artistic inspiration. Or maybe I'm just weird ;)

No you arent the only one, I quite like it too- but its both rare and brief for me, so maybe that explains why I can view it as an interesting curiosity.

Read the wiki thing, and I am concluding its probably coffee/ sleep deprivation that did it to me, as it tended to happen when I was using coffee to stay awake so I could revise or get an essay finished.

Its been quite a while since it happened to me.

It isnt something I ever worried about.

Link to post
Share on other sites
SpirallingSnowy

Non drug induced. Happens due to my anxiety/depression..... some times its more a fluffy brain, othertimes im trapped, other times im watching myself etc...

Also happens when im over tired, or drinking, or overwhelmed...

Used to it, and find it strangely relaxing when im stressing out. Its a little escape someitmes..

Link to post
Share on other sites

yeah :) so far I think this is one of my favorite parts of the forum

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 4 months later...

from some antidepressants the quack gave me. I quickly stopped taking them.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 months later...
inter\m/ent

I said yes originally but this poll has nothing to do with the disorder. depersonalisation (even PTSD related I think) is different from depersonalisation disorder, a life-f*cking disorder which seems to contain a range of types but it is not pleasant and one feels emptied and dead (or whatever one feels) 24/7. drug-induced types seem to have some success with psychiatric medication - none are developed for the disorder and there is very little research done comparatively. some people with DPD have panic attacks, others experience no anxiety at all and may report an absence of emotions over a long period of time (like over a year) which becomes pathological. I found Simeon's Feeling Unreal: Depersonalization and the Loss of Self helpful in learning more about it. I'm ordering Overcoming depersonalization which others have found helful.

DPD and non-drug induced for me (I don't do drugs/alcohol, my only addiction is coffee (although minimal amount) which apparently reduces vitamin absorption) although one of the triggers was undoubtedly second hand smoke from marijuana, one of the hardest things to avoid [other triggers being prolonged period of heavy stress]. Weed smoking is commonly mentioned as a trigger, not necessarily the first or first few times but it happens out of the blue.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I answered yes without the use of drugs.... I used to experiment with sleep deprivation way too much.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Pentachromacy

Yes. Rather often. Either due to my own traits or the restraints of others...

Honestly don't care which anymore.

Link to post
Share on other sites
silentdreamer

Happens to me when I'm overstressed or exhausted from when my insomnia hits back hard. It only last a little while, but it can be a little confusing cause I often wonder if I should stop what I'm doing and go take a break. Luckily I dont cause then people would think I lost my mind :blink:

Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't know. I have panic attacks fairly often, but I never really feel like I'm not me.

I have had feelings of being older or younger than I am though. As in, 'Wow, I'm already 18? It seems impossible that that much time could have passed.' and when people refer to being 10 as 'when I was little' I always think that they mean like, when I was 3 or something. I don't tend to think of anything over 8 as being 'little'. 0.o

Sometimes it's more like 'I'm only 18. I feel like I've been around a lot longer than friends my age.' or 'Only 18 years have gone by? Seems like so much more.' I also feel like I should have a lot more responsibilities and legal rights than I do, or like people should look at me like an adult when they don't. Although I think that's typical.

I think it might be the Prozac. xD I also have so much deja vu it's ridiculous.

Although when I was little (as in around 5) I would wonder about why I was me and seeing things from my perspective, and then upon realizing the apparent complexity of the question I'd have a really weird sensation, almost like fear because I felt it in my chest, but more like '...Woah o__o'

I love brains. They're trippy. xD

Link to post
Share on other sites

Oops.... after reading this carefully, I've realised that I confused depersonalisation and ego death.

Luckily, I have experienced both. There is actually a technique for achieving depersonalisation that involves being really tired, a metal bucket and some keys (or any small metallic object, really) if anyone is interested :P

Link to post
Share on other sites

You have to wait until you're in that 'pre-sleep' phase where you see patterns, or flashes (and maybe hear noises) when you close your eyes. (hypnagogic state). You sit in a chair with a metal bucket or tray in your lap and balance the smaller metal objects on your head, near the front.

When you get tired enough to get that little jerk thing when you're 'falling' asleep... the things fall of your head onto the bucket/tray on your lap making a noise to startle yourself awake.

If you're lucky (and I have been a few times) this somehow jerks you out of your body, and you kinda see yourself from the back... and slightly from above.

Link to post
Share on other sites
hrmmm... That sounds... interesting?

*makes note to try it* :P

I'm almost certain it isn't at all dangerous: but I've always had someone else there when I've tried it... in case I freak out or anything.

Link to post
Share on other sites
hrmmm... Then I shall add that to my list of "Things To Try When Not Alone". I have several things on that list already...

Hmm... now I'm intrigued as to the contents of this list!

Link to post
Share on other sites
haha I think maybe that's something better kept to myself, rather than posted on a public forum... (Don't worry, I'm not planning on robbing any banks or trying cocaine... :S)

Suffice to say that none of the things on my (rather short) list have been done yet... *sigh*

Hope you get them done one day! (and not posting these types of lists publicly may be for the best :P )

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes and non-drug induced.

I used to get this all the time a few years back, around the ages of 15-16. I wasn't diagnosed as depressed but probably was. I'd walk around for days at a time feeling like this - kinda like an out of body thing. Pleasent and murderous at the same time. My body felt hollow and my soul and mind were pretty much dead. Sometimes i'd wake up and actually wonder if I was alive or not.

Wooooo!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes, they've happened to me more recently. Really, they started ever since I had sex. I was always in that state during/after the act, and I found it very upsetting. It also started happening to me when I switched schools, because I developed a large amount of anxiety based on the atmosphere of the school, and my inability to skip classes (I used to use that to counteract my social anxieties, but the new school was very strict about absenses.)

It's not so bad if I am alone, I usually only get them when I am around other people for prolonged periods of time. And, as I mentioned, in relation to sex. But thankfully now I'm out of that relationship. I'd never heard it referred to with this name before, although that is definately how I would discribe it. Just when you think you're the only one experiencing something, you find a whole group of people who do too!

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 3 months later...

I sometimes get this odd feeling where I either feel utterly horrified that I am alive and existing, or completely detached like I am not alive at all, not my self, just an animal with no real self. Neither are pleasant and they usually occur after I've had deep intellectual thoughts on the meaning of life, the meaning of consciousness, and other things I ought not to think about since I know it brings on such weirdness!

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 6 months later...
LittleMissAwesome

Yeah, constantly. My friends call it "phasing out". Sometimes it's like I'm on autopilot, like I'm living in a dream. Sometime's I forget where I am or that I even exist. It's pretty heavy. It started when I was depressed a few years ago and it just kind of spiralled :mellow:

I don't worry about it too much though, in fact I kinda like it. It's like I'm drifting, like I'm a ghost. And I'll spend hours and hours just sitting still and thinking. I like the quiet life :lol:

Link to post
Share on other sites

I had to answer yes, drug induced. I'm a diabetic. when I take too much insulin, my blood sugar drops alarmingly, making me feel really odd. that affect kicks in sometimes.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I used to experience it very often in my childhood (the most often) and teenage years, and still now, but a lot less often. Some medications seem to intensify it (for lack of a better term), such as painkillers from a leg injury, but I don't believe it is ever started by drug alone for me.

Link to post
Share on other sites
AFlyingPiglet

I did get this when I suffered from depression a very long time ago.

I seem to remember that I didn't experience it when I was extremely depressed - rather it was during the times when the depression slightly lifted - i.e. I was able to 'cope' and do normal things, leave the house etc and have normal interaction. I seem to remember talking to people, whilst at the same time feeling like I was observing the conversation and almost having to pinch myself that it was real.

Link to post
Share on other sites
50 Cent Piece

Yes, during about a year long period a year and half ago when I was experiencing anxiety attacks. A few weeks ago I could feel my body trying to lapse into another one, but I exercised a ton and made sure I was breathing a lot, and that averted it. I'm all good for now 8D

I feel weird calling them anxiety attacks because I was never anxious when they occurred, and I was never anxious during (in fact everything seemed to slow down and my emotions flat lined) 8I

Link to post
Share on other sites
vrazda verlaine

Yes, extremely. I've always just referred to it as "not existing"

For me, it's just because I think about things too closely. I regularly look at the world like I'm an alien with no knowledge of humans or human practices, so I always find myself thinking "why is this happening? how is this happening? why am I experiencing this? why am I in this place and time instead of some other? do I know these people? why do I think I know these people? why do I remember anything? has my life even happened up to this point, or am I imagining it? why am I myself? am I myself? am i imagining ALL OF THIS?"... etc, etc, etc. you get the idea.

It generally happens when I'm going through routines, or at the other extreme, doing something really unusual. Actually, never mind, it can happen at any time, now that I think of it. I don't think there's any correlation with how depressed or how happy I am.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...

I tend to derealize rather than depersonalize I think, either way, it's not fun

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...