Depersonlization/Derealization , how would you explain it?

[HRose]

I agree with everything you have all mentioned. I also find that i feel really sensitive to sunlight and can't walk straight - even though I am! Like nothing is real and I'm really sensitive to sound :0

[PanchoGoz]

I really think though that one mustn't dwell on it and delve into the feelings! You have to live your life and it disappears! It is only as a result of inward focusing and focusing on "it" means you are focusing inwardly more and you get more depersonalized! It is a vicious circle!

[gregcool]

Well for me
Its like im a spectator and a live comentary of my every movement and thaught.
Me inside me, almost like another clone me inside looking out through the other me eyes and seeing and talking step by step of my movements and thaughts.its almost like i could excpect my inner me to suddenly go BOO
And freek me out. Its deff anxiety iv had this before and the way wound this is to tell yourself, this is just a feeling, not real do not focus on it if pos , try to keep busy, and in time you have longer points where you havent excpereaced it, then it slowly moves away from you.

[gregcool]

Mishel, i think you are living in my body, because word for word as you explained, is EXACTLY how i feel, my god how odd,

[Anxious_gal]

sometimes I feel as if everything is new or unfamiliar, I often think when I'm walking through town it feels like I'm in a different town. It's weird.

Looking at myself in the mirror is very odd, I see my self staring back, I dunno maybe I expect my reflection to do something odd? Sometimes I feel like the person in the mirror is not me.

[Rhys1879SAFC]

Pure hell, I've had it for a good six months now with hardly any relief and although its gradually been getting better (for the first month or so I was a cabbage, couldn't leave the house) I still haven't snapped back to reality yet. The problem with me is that I can't stop thinking about it, speaking to people who have recovered it becomes clear that it fades gradually and then you don't even realise you've recovered until you have an epiphony like "oh, its been three days since I felt dp'd".

Its my worst anxiety symptom by far, I absolutely hate it!

[Anxious_gal]

I've had a bad episode that lasted a few weeks.
I was very stressed and anxious at the time, I also was not sleeping to well.

Focousing on it makes it much worse, I was terrified when I first had it, I wondered if I would always feel like this, eventually it did improve.
Distraction helps, video games, cleaning, organising , anything that keeps the mind busy.
I've had awful fits of cleaning in the middle of the night as I needed to escape the anxiety .
Then I've spent hours on the laptop because I was almost too scared to move.

[TracyL]

Hi everyone

Found this on a site and I think it sums up this horrid things perfectly.

Depersonalization (or depersonalisation) is an anomaly of the mechanism by which an individual has self-awareness. It is a feeling of watching oneself act, while having no control over a situation. Sufferers feel they have changed, and the world has become less real, vague, dreamlike, or lacking in significance. It can be a disturbing experience, since many feel that, indeed, they are living in a "dream". Chronic depersonalization refers to depersonalization disorder, which is classified by the DSM-IV as a dissociative disorder. Though degrees of depersonalization and derealization can happen to anyone subject to temporary severe anxiety/stress, chronic depersonalization is more related to individuals who have experienced a severe trauma or prolonged stress/anxiety.

love
tracy