Long stares..

[Mango2]

Hi everyone

Anyone here ever get long fixed stares, like the ones you can get in the morning after just getting up from bed?
Since my anxiety has come back I keep getting these "1000 yard stares" every now and again.
Actually they're kind of relaxing, almost meditative. A couple of years ago when I was in an other anxiety period I had trouble with derealization/feelings of unreality, and the stares often preceded the "unreality attacks".
Noticed I have been getting a lot of these stares just before my current anxiety phase returned. I almost had a suspicion that anxiety was just round the corner.
Wonder what exactly these stares mean and what their purpose is. I mean they don't feel uncomfortably like other anxiety symptoms.
Do the stares make the anxiety worse, or do they have a healing effect?

[xBettyBoopx]

Hi

I get 'The early morning stares' quite often. I'm not sure if they affect me either way, not sure why they happen either. I suppose they must have some purpose but I did a search and can't find anything about them.

[Mango2]

Yeah, me too, can't find a lot about it on the web..Only stuff on the "thousand yard stare" related to PTSD and combat veterans.
I get the stares despite not being tired an having slept through the night, and they're always in conjunction with my anxiety. When I'm "normal" I very seldomly get them.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I've had times where I've done this too. At the time it was like I wasn't thinking ir even looking at anything. I knew I was looking but it was like what my eyes were seeing where on a delay.

Sometimes it felt like tunnel vision too.

It was a very strange feeling but not an anxious one, nor what I would class as relaxed.

I've never classed myself as having DP/DR, if so it was mild, and I've always wondered whether this was related? I just put it down to cognitive issues since anxiety & depression are well known to affect them anyway and there is Serotonin involvement, which can be lacking hence the use of antidepressants.

[Bonquiqui]

It sounds like dissociation

[Mango2]

Dissocation, is that the same as DP/DR?

[Bonquiqui]

I don't know what DP or DR are

[Mango2]

Derealization, Depersonalization.
Feeling of unreality, like your in a glass dome, or in a dream..

[Bonquiqui]

Oh yeah I think they are all the same thing

[MyNameIsTerry]

Dissociation is often when the brain is trying to escape something traumatic.

People having bad panic attacks seem to get washed out & spacey. I've known people who go into DR/DP spells this way.

So, it's perhaps more that DP/DR in the scope of an anxiety disorder is more diverse a symptom than dissociation is?

In the context of Dissociative Disorders though, it's a more complex discussion, but these won't be relevant in this case so no point going any further the differences.

[Mango2]

Thanks Bonquiqui and MynameisTerry for your answers, I'm embarrassed that I don't know more about this :blush:
In my case, the stares sometimes preceded an "attack" of DP/DR

[MyNameIsTerry]

Don't feel embarrassed. I can't say I knew anything about DP/DR until joined this place and learned from others.

There's that many symptoms, nuances and overlaps in mental health!

The guys on the DP/DR board will likely know more from their own experiences.

---------- Post added at 09:49 ---------- Previous post was at 09:47 ----------

Could it just be the beginning of the attack itself? The trigger? So, it's perhaps just a part of that episode?

I'm not sure, those with more experience of it will hopefully answer it.

[Bonquiqui]

https://taikonenfea.wordpress.com/2015/09/10/depersonalization-vs-dissociation/amp/

This link states that DP/DR come under the general umbrella of dissociation or dissociative disorders

[MyNameIsTerry]

https://taikonenfea.wordpress.com/2015/09/10/depersonalization-vs-dissociation/amp/

This link states that DP/DR come under the general umbrella of dissociation or dissociative disorders

According to WHO, DP/DR can even be a separate diagnosable disorder(Depersonalization-derealization syndrome) but it's in an "Other" section in the Neurotic category that houses the anxiety subcategories. But that's doing to be where it's just that and not a symptom of another disorder, where it's very common in anxiety according to looking on this forum alone. WHO state the following when diagnosing this syndrome Depersonalization-derealization symptoms may occur as part of a diagnosable schizophrenic, depressive, phobic, or obsessive-compulsive disorder. In such cases the diagnosis should be that of the main disorder.

But like you say, it can also be in the Dissociative Disorders. The thing is though, these disorders go beyond what we tend to talk about with DP/DR into more severe symptoms as well e.g. you may see TV programmes about it in the form of amnesia? That's just one example of the more severe types of these. But if you looked at some of the categories, they do indeed replicate a lot of what people talk about in DP/DR. I guess it has to be the main issue in someone's mental health as opposed to being a symptom of another disorder? But we're firmly into psychologist territory here so I'm only guessing.