What is this wierd feeling??

Question

I have suffered from depression before, and I had this really strange feeling, like everything around me wasn't real, and it was like I was in a dream or something. I have recovered from the depression, but I still get this weird feeling when I go into shopping centres, and other places. Has anyone had the same thing happen to them?

Answer 1

I know what its like to feel like you are dis-associated. The crowded places you talk of, and your feeling of this again, dream state...seems like anxiety. People/ noise... your protecting yourself as your still frail.  

Answer 2

Derealization (DR) is an alteration in the perception or experience of the external world so that it seems strange or unreal. Other symptoms are feeling as though one's environment is lacking in spontaneity, emotional colouring and depth. It is a dissociative symptom of many conditions, such as psychiatric and neurological disorders, and not a standalone disorder. It is also a transient side effect of acute drug intoxication, sleep deprivation and stress.

Depersonalization is a subjective experience of unreality in one's sense of self, while derealization is unreality of the outside world. Depersonalization and derealization are often used interchangeably, although evidence suggests they have distinct neurobiological mechanisms. Chronic derealization may be caused by occipital-temporal dysfunction.

Answer 3

Nausea

Answer 4

Yes, it's like everything around you seems really dreamy. It's hard to bring it all back to reality. It comes with slight bit of anxiety but sometimes not. Its like you see clearly but you can't focus. You're almost just going "with the flow" without stoping to focus. The harder you try, the cloudier it gets.

Answer 5

Yes i get it, and i refer to them as an out of body experience. It's very odd, and i too have suffered from depression as well. I Think that it might be when our body gets tired from like, life, and it takes time out. It tends to happen to me in situations i used to find scary, or when i would cut. Hope thishelps x  

Answer 6

this may sound a bit stupid but it works. everyday try yo sit in on the floor and close your eyes and take deep breaths and exhale. the goal is to keep your mind on one target, breathing is done automatically but if you think and breath for sometime your mind concentrates on that thing only. i advise you to do this daily for about 15 minutes before you go to bed and after you wake up. your memory and thinking power also develops. if you take this seriously for about 1 month you will be more healthier.

Answer 7

I've had that feeling before. Just forget about it.

Answer 8

You have this feeling because you're not spiritually grounded.

I'm not very adept at explaining this so you may want to search the net for a more specific answer.

Answer 9

It means that you now know what the Matrix is.... Godspeed Neo....

Answer 10

OK and Lovely_Girl have nailed the name of this.

I think it is very much a part of the Anxiety-Depression complex. I have Depression and I've just had a very bad night with my family.

I find that I'm Depersonalizing even now.

The brain tends to want to 'run away' when things get too much.  Its a way of protecting itself. I will usually get unnaturally sleepy after a period of Derealization.

Tunnocks probably has the best solution, use a tranquilizer if you have them or do like I do and try to find a 'real' place and go for a mini-vacation. Just a couple of hours. A walk in the sun, go on a short trip to the beach or to the park, get out and try to reconnect with the world.

It may not work completely, but it will help some.

I intend to do that in a little while on my lunch break.

Answer 11

I get it all the time and I have depression, its just another form of anxiety. Someone mentioned that lack of natural light stimulates also which I tend to agree with.

Its not nice and I cannot get rid of it either, dont worry though it wont do you any harm.  I find the best way of dealing with it is just telling yourself that its ok and let it carry on as long as it wants because it doesnt  hurt me. This seems to take it away in moments.

Good Luck

(Diazepam works if its persistent but there is many many downsides to that)

Answer 12

'OK' is correct - it is derealisation (or depersonalisation), which is caused by and are a symptom of an anxiety disorder.  For some it can be relatively easy to live with, as the thoughts come and just pass. For others the thoughts are there for longer and can be very disturbing, in which case there is professional help out there.    

Answer 13

Yup, all the time.  I don't know what can be done about it, though.

Answer 14

In today's time... most of the people are feeling low and depressed... Let's face it we are living in a very stressed environment...remember Darwin's Theory..."struggle for existence"...yes even i go into depression very often...and the whole world looks so unreal.

The question is are we succumbing to the situations around us,

The feelings are generated from our thoughts from our brain, that is very much under our control.

The feeling of depression is not wrong...we are living in a world of competition.... true...!  We need to overcome our own thoughts.

As some poet said, this world is a mirror...may be true it shows what we want to see.

Answer 15

yes , i have had that same feeling. it feels like your head is somewhere else and nothing feels real and that you can just picture yourself sleeping and lying in bed and living in a dream yet you know your not..its creepy. i wish i had some good advice for what this is, but all i have is personal insight...good luck sweetie.

Answer 16

I get it all the time! You dont feel like your you and when you look in the mirror at yourself you get really freaked out. In shopping centres you dont feel like you are there and you just wish you was back at home. I get it all the time and its not comfortable at all. you wonder what you are doing there... and ask you self why am i here even though you know why. I think its just one of those things. Try not to think about it, do somethink to take you mind of it, but i was aslo depressed so they might be linked. email me for more info so on.

Answer 17

I have, although I am sure this will not get me best answer because it won't be backed up with medicinal facts, but I can tell you I also expierenced this. When it would begin I would feel a sense of euphoria mixed with nervous anxious energy, my stomach would become nauseous and my heart would race to the point I would have to sit down and collect myself. As miserable as the feeling was, the moment it passed I was always a bit depressed because it seemed almost other worldy or unique, like something special was happening to me cutting through the false imposed reality that everyone else was believing. Often it also felt like Deja-Vu, like I knew this had happened before. I was seeing a psychiatrist, a psycotherapist and a counselor at this time (I see none of these so called "doctors" anymore, I swear they just pumped me full of lithium and other fun cocktails and forgot about me when they picked up their check at the end of the week). Anywho,... I explained all this to my doctors in the way I've explained it to you, perhaps I was a bit more animated in the personal telling. They diagnosed me with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Anxiety even though I denied the possibility of both,... the doctors didn't care what I felt. I expierenced this for about 4 years running through all the drugs they put me on, and then one day, it just stopped. It's funny you should be asking this now because about a month ago, I had my first "episode" of this again,... and although I don't know what it is, or whether or not your expierence is the same. I had to write to tell you, not everything is explainable, and no worries because even if ya are going through something strange, I'm there with ya. Us quacks gotta stick together,...lol jk

The Jerk

Answer 18

yeah, it's kinda weird.  I'll be talking to my parents or some of my friends and then all of a sudden it's like I don't know them.  I mean, my brain says yes you do but it's like I'm dreaming and it's not real and there not really there or something.  I don't know, it's kinda weird.  Maybe it's from lack of sleep or something. :)

Answer 19

yes, i get that almost everyday.

i don't have a clue what it may be, apart from a disillusion of the mind.

don't worry about it though! :) x*x

Answer 20

Yeah, I get like that if I don't sleep.  I feel like no one can see me lol.  

Answer 21

The very unnatural lighting ,lack of fresh air in many stores doesn't help.I  experience feelings similar to yours in Asda and Wilkingsons  

Answer 22

Its Derealisation