Intrusive thoughts about deja vu.

[BrokenAge]

Hi, as many of you on the OCD board know I worry about schizophrenia because I'm in the age range and etc etc. About a month or two ago I had two deja vu moments within about 2-3 day range so I googled what deja vu meant. Ya know I was just curious on what deja vu even was. So I googled "frequent deja vu" and oh god the worst things popped up. "Frequent deja vu is a sign of Schizophrenia" and "deja vu is a symptom of epilepsy" and I almost cried. So now I've been having deja vu a lot more now, but my mind says "I've seen this person before" or "I've been here before" when I know I haven't. I feel like even if I go to a place I know I've been to its deja vu. I'm freaking out everytime it happens. I was on facebook and i saw someone and thought "oh they look familiar" and I went to their profile and thought never mind never seen then and then I started to feel anxious worrying if that was deja vu. I step back and look at myself and realize it's silly and laugh a little but but sometimes I get really worried. I'm a very health concious person. I always look for symptoms when their not there and then make myself feel them. I've honestly been doing a lot better when it comes to intrusive thoughts. A good 80% of intrusive thoughts don't bother me but these deja vu and hallucinations fears do still a little.

[Holds1325]

Schizophrenic sufferers don't usually know or understand that they are schizophrenic. Not to mention the deja vu that they experience is something that never happened yet they are sure it is happening or has happened or definitely will and no one or anything can convince them otherwise.

Its just the anxiety and worry that you have something serious, which isn't the case.

Also with epilepsy, deja vu sounds uncommon, but whats most common with epilepsy is seizures.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Have a look at TomT's threads, Nick. He started on here with this issue. Discussion in those threads might help you make sense of it.

Deja vu happens in everyone, they shrug if off, you notice it and act with fear so off starts the cycle.

You have to also remember that our subconscious stores a lot of data. You may only recognise the main person but your subconscious records everybody in the image and can try to recall it if it is triggered by something. How many times have you looked at someone and thought "don't they look like X person out of film Y"? It can be a facial feature or an expression or maybe even how they speak.