Title basically. Almost like your dreaming, but awake. It’s hard to explain. Sometimes I feel like I’m just dreaming or like I’m in the Matrix or something. The feeling tends to pass, but always leaves me feeling messed up mentally for a bit. Just curious if this is somewhat common or if I should probably get help. My wife says she experiences this too. So I feel like it’s definitely not just a me thing.
Derealisation, may want to see a therapist if it happens regularly.
Look at it this way, if the world wasn’t real and it was a simulation or something, it wouldn’t make any difference. Whether it’s a computer architecture or an actual universe or some other unknowable thing, we are less than a grain of sand in an unimaginably immense desert. Nothing means anything and everything is chaos, so the only meaning behind life is the one that means something to you.
Life is a neverending march of pain and rot. Of course it is real, it hurts too much to be a dream.
You should really see someone my guy that is not a normal experience of the world
I did. It didn’t help. It was expensive.
Try lots of therapists until you find the right one, don’t waste your time on ones that don’t (e: help) - you might as well talk to a wall.
Reality: therapy is expensive, wait lists are long. And half the reason you’re feeling like this in the first place is because of how much harder it’s getting to keep ourselves fed, clothed and sheltered.
It depends, if you’re worried better to talk to a doctor than ask random internet users. I think anyone who reflects on life can probably relate to the feeling, but there are definitely physical and mental conditions that can have this as a symptom.
One of the things I heard (again speaking as a non-doctor internet rando) is that the time to be concerned is if it appears involuntarily and impacts your daily life. For example, you’re at work and suddenly this thought takes over, and you can not just shake it off and get back to what you were doing.
It’s not. Don’t worry. You already know.
Sounds like you’re describing dissociation. I’d talk to a therapist if possible. It might be triggered by trauma or other condition as someone else mentioned.
Might be depersonalization or derealization. Those are a trip. 0/10, don’t recommend.
Looked them up and that’s exactly it. I can still function, they mostly come on when I’m by myself or it’s quiet.
I was just sitting at my desk at work listening to people chat across the room and it felt like I was a consciousness just existing in the room outside of my body and just listening to the noises and conversations. Sometimes it’s like that where it’s like you’re watching a movie. Other times it’s like a nagging feeling in the back of my mind like what I’m experiencing isn’t real life.
I have been meditating every day for the past month, but if anything that should help combat these feelings it sounds like.
Can I ask if you use cannabis? It can contribute greatly to depersonalization/derealization.
I do not
Frontman of Counting Crows (Adam Duritz) has a condition that he describes very similar to this. A lot of their music is written from this perspective too.
Do you get the thing where, even if you hugged a friend, you’d feel like they’re across the room? Super super weird. I hated every moment of it.
Look up Alice in Wonderland syndrome! I get it when I’m super exhausted. Things feel big and small at the same time.
No, that sounds scary
Are you meditating to get rid of it or did it start with the meditation? I’ve had it before but not much. Someone will come along with a better solution than I can offer but for now, do not be tempted to self-medicate or experiment with any kind of mind-altering substances whatsoever, as they will most likely make it worse or cause other unexpected problems.
Completely normal for people to feel disassociated with the reality they are living in. It’s crazy that we made it this far and it’s not pleasant here. When people say “deja vu” they have this feeling drugs can change your pathways and make you feel this way. Meditation and exercise can help to feel more grounded if that is what you want. If you start not realizing where you are or have serious thoughts of harm talk to someone. Recent movie that shows examples of this is called, “glitch in the matrix”.
Phil K Dick talked a lot about this " I experienced an invasion of my mind by a transcendentally rational mind, as if I had been insane all my life and suddenly I had become sane." Phil K Dick Wiki
…
Look, dude was an amazing author. But he was also a meth head that thought aliens were telepathically communicating with him and telling him real stories he just wrote down
When he “suddenly felt sane” was when he lost his last grip on reality and went full on delusional.
If some one may be experiencing a mental health event, don’t start quoting Dick to them
Whoa. I wasn’t trying say Dick was correct. OP just wanted some context if other people have this type of experience. Yah Dick was losing it. A lot of people in the “Enter the Matrix” I mentioned are lost in their own thoughts.maybe more of a warning rather than endorsement.
Completely normal for people to feel disassociated with the reality they are living in.
It’s not tho.
You’re downplaying something that may be a serious issue for OP, and then gave a no context quote of a guy who is an amazing author, but legit crazy, talking about how he suddenly felt sane when he gave into his delusions.
I’m not saying you didn’t have good intentions…
But your comments could legit cause serious consequences and harm.
Because complete detachment from reality is often the first step to something worse and not the last step.
It must be Thursday
Who cares if it’s real or not? It’s the thing you’re experiencing. Considering that you don’t know how to escape the simulation, why not just give reality the benefit of the doubt?
Regardless of philosophy, what you experience is real to you. I try to live in a way where I can just enjoy life without negatively impacting others. Much of what is seen as “success” is a social construct. Obviously, this is not possible for everyone in this silent recession. Hopefully that changes within the next few years, but my hopes aren’t too high. But yeah, if this is a persistent feeling and not a worldview thing, hit up a therapist.
It’s not just a you thing at all.
I couldn’t go so far as to say it’s common because that implies it would be happening to a majority, frequently enough to merit common, and that’s not the case.
It is, however, a common symptom of underlying issues ranging from psychological/psychiatric to something organic or pharmaceutical.
In other words, it isn’t something that’s a sign of good things. It is, afaik, always a sign that something is wrong, just not always something half major.
It’s always worth getting at least a basic run of testing to rule out the physical stuff.
I have this occasionally and there’s nothing relatedly wrong with me
Same. I often experience what OP is describing, and I’m neurologically and psychologically fine.
For me, it usually takes the form of the sudden realisation that I’m a tiny slice of the universe piloting this body on this planet. I could leave any time I like, and the body would continue to function and operate on its own. Everything I’m seeing and experiencing are simply electrical signals from this body’s eyes and other senses passed to me, none of it is “real”.
I don’t let it freak me out. I’ve learned to use it as a source of confidence, to remind myself I’m more in control of my life and my actions, my experiences and outcomes, than I think I am.
Should we tell him
My kid (18 year old) had this. He had depression for a while which probably triggered it. Once he stopped being depressed, all of that went away also.
Sounds exactly like what happened to me when I had bad anxiety. Definitely worth talking to a therapist about
It may be nothing at all but what you describe can be seen as depersonalization/derealization which is something I suffer as part of my mental illness. It could also be something as small as not drinking enough water. Check on your mental health, check on your nutrition or sleep. What’s going on in your life’s right now, any new stresses?
I’ve had it happen in the past. But yeah right now I’m gearing up to start a new job.
It’s definitely a common thing. It should concern you depending on severity. Like if you feel extreme discomfort while that’s going on that’s a bad symptom.
