Existential Thoughts and DP/DR.

[allan07]

For the last 5 Months I have experienced Existential Thoughts as well a sense of detachment from the world. Stressful/Anxious situations bring on this sensation as well when i have existential thoughts. These thoughts differ but are generally unanswerable and intrusive. For example, How are we even here? What is the purpose of Life? Is Space endless? When i used to have these thoughts i was intrigued and astounded by the questions, yet nowadays it terrifies me. Making me feel great Angst and hopelessness.

As well as these feelings it brings on a sense of derealiztion whereby the world feels like a dream world. This includes not Recognising myself in the mirror, a sense of disorientation and not feeling grounded, Questioning everything and imagining myself in situations of distress. Its as if my mind decides to put me into a state of anxiousness even in carefree situations like sitting watching TV.

I have been trying Mindfulness techniques including breathing exercises, Meditation, and Yoga. And i have been doing everything i possibly can to alleviate these symptoms yet it feels as though i'm in a vicious cycle, that is spiralling out of control.

When i was younger i experienced similar feelings of derelization and Anxiety in certain situations such as school assembly's, plane flights, heights, tunnels. Yet this only occurred during the experience and disappeared once i was out of those situations or i calmed myself down. Yet in my current state of mind, it is more generalised and obsessive in nature and takes up a lot of my daily thinking. I learnt to deal with my anxiety when i was younger through understanding it, facing the anxious situations and making it seem more normal. Yet my current situation is a whole new beast.

Just wondering whether anyone else has experienced this, and can relate? Has any tips ideas for coping? Or can share successful inspiring stories to assist in helping myself and others battling.

[White_Rose]

Dear Allan

Welcome to the forum and thank you for your story.

While I have thought about my purpose in life and why we are here I cannot say these questions have distressed me to any great extent. However I do know these recurrent and long lasting thoughts may be a symptom of other medical conditions. I am reluctant to make any kind of diagnostic suggestion as I am not a medical person. I will say that as these thoughts are so persistent it would be a good idea to speak to your GP about them.

How do you feel about making a long appointment to chat with your GP? At the very least it can put your mind at rest and if there is a more involved answer your GP can offer solutions. I think this would be your best option at the moment.

In the meantime please continue posting in here where we can offer you support. Happy to talk about whatever you want, including your thoughts.

Mary

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi allan07,

Welcome to the forums and thanks for your post. I appreciate you opening up to us about what's happening for you.

Mary / White Rose has given you a great welcome and some support already, so I won't echo any of that. What I did want to ask was - when do you think these existential questions started causing this sense of hopelessness and angst rather than intrigued and astonished?

While there's nothing wrong with having these thoughts or being curious about those bigger questions, it sounds like it's causing you more distress and linking in with that dissociation. I agree that it might be worth discussing this with your GP.

One thing that you might like to try (and that's helped me) is to try and get curious about your reaction to these thoughts. So if you have that thought of 'is space endless?', where does your mind go, how does your body feel? What does that thought 'look like'? The way that I see your post, I feel like stopping the cycle isn't stopping those thoughts, but more so not letting them have such a big impact on you like they are now.

Hopefully this gives you something to think about.