Feeling disconnected from reality.

[OneEyedKnight99]

I know this is a common symptom of anxiety(Its called depersonalization)I feel as if I'm mentally disconnected from reality but physically connected. I know depersonalization is where you feeling COMPLETELY disconnected from reality, but this is the closest I can describe this feeling. Apart from the anxiety, I might know 2 other potential causes.

1. Thinking too much.

I spend a decent amount of time "buried" in mind, thinking about memories, other people, songs, places etc. and when I "leave" my mind I get this feeling, which causes me to panic or get the impression I'm going insane and losing contact with reality.

2. Hormone imbalance.

I'm in my teenage years, so I assume there likely to be chemical imbalances in my brain, which could be the reason why I get this feeling.

However, during an episode of this "feeling" I also always have this urge to start thing about why we live, nature of life and existence, which causes me to panic because ,again, I feel like I'm going crazy.

Anyone else have this?

[OneEyedKnight99]

I forgot to mention, I occasionally get this feeling after I've used electronics that you can get absorbed in(Such as computers and consoles) and because I spend a lot of time on a computer AND a console, this could be a third potential cause.

[JessF]

Hello OneEyedKnight99, I have replied to you on your other thread too but this is a very intersting topic you bring up too.  That feeling you describe can be very eerie, like floating out of your body.  I have had it too.  It's intersting that you have tied it to spending a lot of time in front of a computer, you may be onto something there.  A way to counter this feeling is to get grounded back into your body by doing something very physical and real that gets you to concentrate on where you are in the moment.  This can be as simple as taking deep breaths, or going for a walk or run, or even something like mowing the lawn or doing dishes in the kitchen. Pick an absorbing physical task whenever these thoughts start to take over and concentrate fully on every action of what you are doing, and you will notice that you start to come back to earth,.

[OneEyedKnight99]

Hi JessF, thank you so much for the advice.This feeling i experienced lasted quite a long time(about a few hours) and to be honest i started to get really anxious and worried. I also started getting worried about my future and how i will be stuck with this for the rest of my life.That thought made me cry and after that i started started feeling "on edge" and constantly worried (which was overwhelming) for the rest of the day.Thankfully, those feelings are gone now.

[megdkline]

I started experiencing these same feelings and thoughts about life, existence and weather or not it's even real. It started after about 4 years taking an antidepressant.  And continued to get worse. I weaned off of this antidepressant about 6 weeks ago and am still having some issues. Some days are worse than others. I feel afraid of the outcome if I don't deal with this but I would rather not take medication again if possible.  It was vert comforting to read your post though. Knowing I'm not alone helps. Thank you 🙂