When Everything Feels Like a Dream | Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder

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I had this for 7 years.

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Been here done this

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Thereā€™s dozens of disorders that are built around a single symptom. I donā€™t understand them, they all just sound like symptoms of schizophrenia. With all these different labels it would be easy for a schizophrenic to dodge the sz label their whole life, citing things like ā€œdepression with psychotic episodesā€, dementia, memory disorders, attention deficit disorder, etcetera. Itā€™s a shame we donā€™t have biologically based tests for diagnosing mental illness.

As for this disorder, I donā€™t have it, but I have had the symptom it implies. I identify it as the way I feel during an episode of psychosis. If Iā€™m feeling this, Iā€™m psychotic. If Iā€™m not, odds are Iā€™m not. Itā€™s a dangerous thing because dreams donā€™t have the same consequences as real life, which is why itā€™s so important to distinguish the two from each other.

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Looking back on it derealization is so flippn scary. Imagine being in another realm n not even dreaming. Not knowing wen u will return to earthly normal realm

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My stinkā€™n old iPadMini2 just wonā€™t let me play the video.

My entire life feels about as connected to reality as a jelly doughnut does to a classical concert.

Call it what you want, but why does it never appear when your confined for hours in a miserable situation?

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Just wanted to bump this topic, this video helped me so much.

I hope it can help other folks out too!

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This video explains it very well. And I think itā€™s good that thereā€™s research going into dissociative disorders! I might show this to people when Iā€™m trying to explain my dissociation and how it works. Definitely an interesting watch!

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Glad you like it! Thanks :slightly_smiling_face:

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Hereā€™s another video

Within she says, as far as meds go, ssrisā€¦lamictalā€¦and naltrexone can help.

Iā€™m on lamictal and I think its really helpingā€¦the difference is like night and dayā€¦still, Iā€™m looking forward to getting even better with time as my mood hopefully stabilizes. :crossed_fingers:

I was on ssris for years, even before atypical apsā€¦celexa, zoloft, prozac(RSP/ZPR/OLZ), brintellix(LRD/QTP/RXLT+QTP), (ARP+QTP) and luvox.

I may be mistaken in paraphrasing all she said, but CBT is a superior treatment.

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Iā€™ve felt like life was like walking around in a nightmare with paranormal activity, but things were always tangible, so iā€™m not thinking I have this.

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Lately Iā€™ve been feeling detached, as a result of withdrawing from the benzodiazepine class of medications at the end of April.

Withdrawal from the benzodiazepine class of medications, I read online, can often result in PTSD, and Dissociative Disorders.

Had derealization for most of my life. You get used to it.

Then it started getting weird when i would see a black cat walking around. Or seeing black electricity come from electrical stuff. For a moment i was like ā€œam i still dreaming?ā€

Not sure what could fix it, i used to have random moments where i would be in full control.

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EXACTLY what Iā€™ve been going through for the past 3 months.

I lost 4 weeks of my life to a dissociative fugue event. They had to give me ect to bring me back to the land of the living. I have a few tiny fragments of that time, otherwise it must be like being dead as ā€˜Iā€™ in the sense of consciousness didnā€™t exist for that time.

They wonā€™t let me see my medical records of this event although i have paid for a copy of medical notes twice. It is redacted and censored.

My other dissociative fugues events only lasted a day.

How I was or who I was in those times is completely alien to me. I know not of ā€˜Iā€™ when I am dissociated. it is as if I donā€™t exist. It is not dreamlike, it is though i do not exist. Closer to DID than feeling derealized, in my experience.

I felt like I was in a video game numerous times. Also objects would appear very small or very big.
One time it looked like I was inside a live painting. Hard to explain lol. I tried to explain it to a therapist and just got confused look :sweat_smile:

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