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maya
24-02-07, 17:49
I was diagnosed with GAD about a year ago and finally started going for behavioural cognitive therapy 5 months ago.

I have complained about a strange feeling to my therapist where I am in a room with people and I just feel weird like something isn't right and it's like I'm not really there and then I get so anxious I get dizzy. It's like I can't relate to the other people but I also can't realte to myself.

Has anyone else experienced this? What I find scary is that I don't seem to know what triggers it. Sometimes I feel it, sometimes I don't.

Anyone else experienced this and if so have you ben able to get it under control?

Meg
24-02-07, 18:59
Hi Maya

Feeling unreal either in place or person is a very common sympton in acute anxiety. It is usually a direct result of adrenalin coupled with scary thoughts.

Try these or if the links are not working, put derealization depersonalization into the search facility above.

Depersonalization (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/lounge/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2835)

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Have a read of any of Claire Weeks books - you can get one via our bookshop in Introductions. That explains it beautifully

bearcrazy
24-02-07, 22:18
I get this, especially when I am very anxious and it comes ion so quickly sometimes without warning. Its like watching a film of what is going on. I also
feel really dizzy and last time had to leave work and go home. I also get really tired afterwards, the effects of the adrenalin I think. Now I know what it is i think i will be able to cope with it better.

Its not life threatening, just a nuisance.

Hope you feel better soon,

TC xxxxxxxxxx

Filthy1
27-02-07, 17:52
do you ever get it when you think youre not feeling anxious? cus sometimes i get this thing where i think words sounded wierd or wrong or not real. it has happened about 5/6times and is a bit scary as i dont think im feeling that anxious when it happens. its almost like if you say a word over and pver it sounds wrong, but without actually repeating it.
does anyone get this./

mandie
28-02-07, 11:11
Maya i know exactly how u are feeling, im suffereing with this at the moment.Im sitting at work and everthing around me doesnt seem real. I feel like im in a bubble, its hard to explain. I feel like im not here, its very weird feeling.

Divalou - i can relate to you as well

love mandie x

Poco a Poco
28-02-07, 12:39
I can totally relate to this. I had it a few times on a platform waiting for a train and I think the last time I had it was when I was wandering through a supermarket buying some food.

I just feel like I am not really there and even the sound around me sometimes went slightly muffled, like the things around me were fading away. I haven't had these feelings for a while now which is good because they freaked me out a bit and I thought I was weird. But its good to be able to relate to other people's experiences on here. :)

Filthy1
28-02-07, 15:52
do you ever get these when you not feeling that anxious? i get it some times when i think words sound wrong or like im feeling spaced out or dreamy feels liek im oging mental!

Issy_Bum
28-02-07, 16:35
Divalou, don't worry! Everyone gets that - where words sometimes feel wrong or you feel a bit spaced out or unreal. Even people who don't suffer from anxiety.

mazzywoo
28-02-07, 16:43
Hi Diva lou
I get this feeling too-it can be really wierd. I think that is caused by the anxiety and adreneline. I find that the more I worry about it the worse it gets. I know what you mean about words sounding odd sometimes too but that happens when I'm not anxious as well so I don't worry too much about it. Theres whole chapters in Claire Weekes books about derealisation and depersonalisation-I find that her advice is brilliant! Try not to worry too much hun-best wishes :)

Dan D
01-03-07, 19:18
Hi,

yeah i get it. Sometimes really bad. Oftentimes, i can wake up in the morning and look in the mirror and scare myself... no, not because it's the morning, because i forget i'm me, i think i'm me just not... me.

PanickyPolly
03-03-07, 13:56
Gosh I feel this a lot the time. Been feeling it on and of for about 25 years. Disorientated and all. You get used to it after a while.

eventide
03-03-07, 15:54
Hello all,

I have this problem a lot , feel completely spaced out & as though I'm not here at all. In fact I find it terrifying & as though I'm going to go insane & am actually afraid to be out & about in that state. It may have something to do with the adrenaline rush in some, but in my case I find it is to do with racing thoughts. My thinking can become almost obsessional & gains momentum & before I know it I'm being pulled along by a sort of compulsive way of thinking. Racing, out of control thoughts seem to feed more of the same ,so I find it can take a while for the momentum to die down.

As thoughts do begin to slow down again ,I find myself coming out of that zombie state & head starts to clear & I start to feel as though I have returned to the land of the living.

Does anyone else experience it like this?

Filthy1
03-03-07, 17:20
phew glad to hear people can relate! :D

davidthegnome
05-03-07, 18:06
Yup, I can definitely relate to that. Just last night really, when I was lying in bed and writing in my journal, it came on very suddenly. All of a sudden I felt my vision was less clear, like maybe I wasn't even really all there. Everything seemed vague and hazy and it did spook me.

It's strange for me too. Some times, for example, I get these thoughts like "I wonder if this is how it feels to be a ghost" because at times I even feel like I really don't exist. I feel invisible, at times and it can be pretty scary. It's definitely anxiety related and it really really stinks. For me it tends to come on pretty randomly, like I'll be ok one minute and the next that strange feeling comes back. Even looking at myself in the mirror can spook me at times. Like another said... I know I'm me... but I feel like I'm "not me".

It's hard to explain, but I know what it's like, seems like a lot of us do. What I do is tell myself it's just a feeling and will pass - and eventually it always does, it will for you too.

I'm sorry you're having this trouble, it's really nasty and unpleasant, but it does pass and over time becomes easier to manage. Good luck to you my friend, and God bless you. God bless you all.

Dave

maya
12-03-07, 00:01
Hello all,

I have this problem a lot , feel completely spaced out & as though I'm not here at all. In fact I find it terrifying & as though I'm going to go insane & am actually afraid to be out & about in that state. It may have something to do with the adrenaline rush in some, but in my case I find it is to do with racing thoughts. My thinking can become almost obsessional & gains momentum & before I know it I'm being pulled along by a sort of compulsive way of thinking. Racing, out of control thoughts seem to feed more of the same ,so I find it can take a while for the momentum to die down.

As thoughts do begin to slow down again ,I find myself coming out of that zombie state & head starts to clear & I start to feel as though I have returned to the land of the living.

Does anyone else experience it like this?

That explains it really well. It is exactly what happened to me in the grocery store line today. My thoughts started to race, then I felt detached from things, then went into such a panic I almost blacked out. That is my biggest fear. People say it will never get to the point of blacking out but it feels exactly the way I have felt in the past just I have fainted for non anxiety related reasons.

Bran Bran
12-03-07, 22:00
Yeah, I had that. Twice when i went off my meds, lorazapam. I thought it was the medicine, and I thought it was making me crazy. and then the thought process... I started to fear I would loose touch with reality and they would throw me in a mental instituion lol. They would last on and off for like two weeks at a time. I read on here its normal. and I am soooo glad I am not the only one.

dont know how to get rid of it, I just toughed it out, jogged, and did lots of things with my friends, and that kind of took it away as well as my thoughts of it returning away.

hawkeye
17-05-08, 22:54
I have just self-diagnosed my condition, as it were.
This is a huge gear-shift for me. As said before in a previous post, it is like looking through a glass window at yourself. My spin on it is that i'm on 'auto-pilot'. Its a scary feeling as in my younger years (I am 16 now) I had never considered such a complicated psychological 'disease' could affect me. Its like I've lost the old way of thinking and making my transition into this new way. Please someone say its just my age and that hormones play a part in this.