# Dreams more real than reality?



## existential_artist

Hello,

I am new to this website. The first thing that I wanted to ask people about was whether or not they have experienced this since they got DP/DR.....My dreams feel more real than reality. They have more vivid colors, I feel more alive in them, I feel more connected to my body, I feel more connected to life itself....then when I wake up I feel like I return to this grey reality that was no where near as real as my dreams. My dreams remind me of the way I felt before I got DP/DR...its like torture in a way...to be reminded of the fact that you used to feel connected to reality !

Has anyone else had this experience? How does it make you feel?


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## Guest

Yes,

I have had this.


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## Guest

And welcome to the site!

And forgive me for being short of words, it seems to hit me around this time of night. Uhhh...WELCOME!!!


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## FoXS

yes, i know it as well, and for me it is frightening. many times, i don't know if i have already woke up or if i still dream. i often sleep to long in the morning and miss the bus which brings me to work. i dream that i have already stood up and then i am confused if i open my eyes andi'm still in bed. sometimes i ask myself if i am dreaming right now. :-(


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## nahcourt

I feel like this too. It's horrible


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## dancintrulife

I've totally had this, when my dp was feeling dead/numb. I would find I would still be thinking of my dreams from that morning later that evening as they had been so vivd and more real than life.


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## dola

Yeah i said that when i woke up a few days ago. My dreams seem more real than reality. How does that work out?


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## Absent

I have more feeling in dreams, more in touch with my body, less dp. It can take a while to sort out the difference from dreams when I wake but I always do know the difference.


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## rob35235

Not necessarily as you put it, though, I do consider sleep a time of peace, as opposed to the torture of being awake...anyone feel me?


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## Mario

rob35235 said:


> Not necessarily as you put it, though, I do consider sleep a time of peace, as opposed to the torture of being awake...anyone feel me?


i'm 100% with you


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## Guest

Always fascinated by this question. This has changed over time.

My dreams are always about the same level of DP/DR as when I'm awake. Transition from sleep to wakefulness used to be horrific, but no longer.
I also used to have nightmares where the DP/DR were HORRENDOUS and I have tried so hard to wake up. I am "alive" in the dream, but it is often "dark" and I can't see.

As a teen I had hypnogogic and hypnopompic experiences as well.

Sleep has become an escape, but if I sleep too much it makes me feel lousy when I'm up.

I honestly don't understand how someone can feel "more real" in his/her dreams. However, this just goes to show you the mystery of consciousness, the mystery of sleep and dreams.

Also, I ALWAYS dream. Vivid, complex stories, since a child. In color, with DP/DR vision. And they are frequently "anxiety" dreams ... in the past few years, my dreams are more pleasant and fanciful. It's about time. 8)


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## existential_artist

Thanks for all your replies. I am a psychology student and yet...I have not one single theory on why your dreams would seem more real than reality if you suffer from DP/DR ?
Does anyone have a theory to pose? I am all out of ideas!

Thanks for all your wonderful responses by the way. I think this site is fantastic for people who feel very isolated like those suffering from DP/DR. Really...how much more disconnected can you feel from people when you feel like you can't share the same reality with them? I am glad there is a place for us lonely ducklings on this website! Thanks everyone!


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## xxcdawg

I get this a lot.
I'll be dreaming and be half asleep then wake up & wonder if I'm awake or if I'm still dreaming.


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## Rebekah

I have a theory about why dreams feel more real: maybe it's because we aren't processing the external environment which overexcites our frontal lobe brain area which I've read somewhere is the culprit for keeping us DP'd. We are processing from internally when dreaming, so not too much brain activity. Love those (good) dreams.


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## KJameson1959

I absolutely feel like this all the time. The worst dreams are the sexual kind......because I have completely lost my sex drive in real life.


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## snugglezone

I just woke up this morning and thought that maybe my dreams are more real than _reality_. My dreams, even when they are scary (a couple times a week), make me feel so alive. I'm definitely beginning to think that my 'dream state' is the true place where I belong. The main difference between dreaming and waking is that when I'm dreaming I'm not questioning my existence. I'm totally at ease with everything that is going on. Dream existence is how my life was as a child. It just 'makes sense.' When I wake up though I'm back to wondering what all of _this_ is.


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## trelion777

I have this too. I have been on serotonin medication for two years and i mothly have these periods o have dream more existing than the world i wake up. my vision is not bad, bad i has gone worse from perfect. i´m 27 year old male, IQ ~125. in these vivid dreams, i usually experience themes that are beyond explaining otherwise, than they are applications of my thoughts experienced with very random characters i have met earlier (usually around a week). In these dreams i see details of many kind, that are more real than what i see in the real life.


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## dunnoanymore

i registered here just to reply to this thread. the original post struck a cord with me, in that that's one perspective I never thought to look at or through. in my case, my dreams are usually very well versed people (a woman mostly) whom i understand to have unfathomable knowledge of realities true nature who in turn explain to me what i already know hoping to awaken me. the reason i started searching online was my latest dream (last night to be exact) was this figure who looked a bit like Terrence Mckenna and Jerry Garcia mixed spoke to me, revealing truths i couldnt understand, until the end when all i remember is asking, "is this what reality looks like?" and the person/figure-head said "if you want it to." a few times at first it was a woman who sadly asked, "isnt it a terrible knowledge to know that everything you know isnt real?" and in another a man appeared in empty black space from a fold of light to reveal truths to me. But, on point, what disturbed me the most was this last dream, where everything was overly realistic, no abstract landscapes, no distant meanings, no nothing, just a room with books and this man explaining to me in a language i cant understand things i only dream to know, and when it came time to ask, i got a very blunt answer. the answer wasnt even that bad, just how real the whole thing seemed. and how gray and bleak my actual life is becoming.


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## needhope14

existential_artist said:


> Hello,
> 
> I am new to this website. The first thing that I wanted to ask people about was whether or not they have experienced this since they got DP/DR.....My dreams feel more real than reality. They have more vivid colors, I feel more alive in them, I feel more connected to my body, I feel more connected to life itself....then when I wake up I feel like I return to this grey reality that was no where near as real as my dreams. My dreams remind me of the way I felt before I got DP/DR...its like torture in a way...to be reminded of the fact that you used to feel connected to reality !
> 
> Has anyone else had this experience? How does it make you feel?


YES! Just in the past few weeks I've had dreams where I felt so many emotions when I woke from it, and felt very connected and alive. I was so in love and happy in my dreams (I think I was getting engaged or something) and felt what that felt like for a few minutes after I woke up..but then it goes away. It sucks..


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## needhope14

KJameson1959 said:


> I absolutely feel like this all the time. The worst dreams are the sexual kind......because I have completely lost my sex drive in real life.


I'm on the same boat. See my thread. How long have you been without it? IT SUCKSSSSSSSSSS


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## ValleyGirl

I know a lot of people have replied but I wanted to throw in my 2 cents too. I experienced this for about the first 8 months of having dp. In my dreams I was normal. No dp, everything was fine and then I would wake up and I felt exactly as you said, that my dreams felt more real than reality. I would be like "NOOOOOOOOO!!!! I want to go back to sleep!!". I guess the only thing I can tell you is that it does fade with time. My dreams no longer feel more real than reality. In my dreams I still don't have dp but my waking life is just as real. I can't say more real but just as real and I haven't had the "dreams more real than reality" sensation in a good 7 months.


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## Kitr

Yep i get that too. I'm like DP DR free 80% but now i have depression and anxiety that comes in waves thru day also fog or lose of concentration and pressure in head gets more intense when i eat food (does anyone have that)


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## omniel

it is possible you could be visiting the astral realms while you are asleep.

if that is the case then that is why it feels real, it is.


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## eternity

%110 agreed .. dream seems more real than this creepy life


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## Z-Ron

Yes, I've experienced this... but doesn't pretty much everyone?

Unless you are lucid dreaming, you aren't aware that you're dreaming. Dreams are where people experience their fantasies, and waking up to reality is harsh for even a person without DR/DP.


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## sunyata samsara

For me yeah I have such rich feeling in dreams, I feel so alive. Dreams are superior to reality, reality is lame. In my dreams Ill give you an example how its better than working your life away. I was flying over a swamp under big trees, think Yodas home world in Star Wars it was so much fun, then a few dreams later im on vaction in the Bahamas. My daily life is working over 12 hours a day for less than minimum wage, you tell me which ones better.


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## squidils

this forum is really old. but oh well.

for me, i can sleep for a whole 24 hours even if i'm not tired. and i sometimes confuse my dreams for real life. or i sometimes i have to think about things like "wait.. did that actually happen or was that one of my dreams?"

this depersonalization disorder is kinda scary and i wish i didn't have it


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## BenjaminP

Hi guys, i'm new to this forum, this is my first post, But this "dreams feeling more real than reality" thought really hits home with me. I won't bother to tell you my whole story in this thread but i'll summarize my experiences with sleep.

For most of last year, my DP has been quite severe and I've been trying to deal with it on my own. The first instance of a dream feeling more real than reality was almost like a nightmare for me, it happened a good few months ago.

I was asleep in my house (still living with parents) and a drifted of around 11 or so, i had this dream that was SO incredibly real, of myself walking around my house, everything exactly where it should be, literally none of the appropriate "dreamy" or fantasy illusions, it was just pure realism. I walked downstairs to my mum's room and said hello to her, and in the dream, she responded exactly how she would have in real life, with a "hiya" and a smile she always does. Then i just saw some figure in her room, i said to her "who's that man?" and she just looked at me like i was crazy. Then i woke up with the thought of her staring at me like i was crazy burned into my skull. needless to say i was beyond scared and anxious, but i haven't told anybody since it happened because i didn't want anyone to think i was going insane. This was the first "realism" dream i had, and it was by far the worst. It's so difficult to explain why the dream felt so real, but the thing is, i'm 100% certain that i felt the realness within the dream and it wasn't something i contrived upon waking. It was like picture perfect, and when i got scared in the dream, i could really feel my body actually getting scared, almost like my emotions were attached to me during the dream (not that they shouldn't be? not sure).

Since then I've had a few dreams like this here and there, i can't remember most of them, but i had one where i was helping my friend get his TV or something similar, and another another where i was dreaming of being in my house again (but not as intense). It's difficult to explain, but as others have described, it's like your dreams are picture perfect simulations of life, and when you wake up the real world appears foggy and under-stimulating.

As my current situation stands, i had a bit break down last week, hence why i'm on this forum now. I ended up not being able to sleep at all for 2 days in a row, my mind was just racing, thoughts and thoughts going round, and i ended up just crying to my mum about really personal stuff about our dad (as they broke up when i was young). I went to the doctor to try and talk some of the stuff off my chest, and she just gave me mirtazipan pills (anti-depressants). Took the pills for a couple of days but they made me so drowsy and empty; it felt like the exact opposite of what i needed. I'm not having any trouble getting to sleep anymore, and as for my dreams i can hardly remember them to be honest. My only issue is now just before bed and just after, hypnagogia i think you call it? When i'm lying in bed trying to drift off i will have some kinda thought with fairly strong realism that will give me a bit of an adrenaline rush, and keep me from falling asleep for a while. Also there are some things like this upon waking, this morning actually, i dreamt of a flashlight being shined in my face which woke me up prematurely; couldn't remember the rest of the dream or why the flashlight was there.

I'm not quite sure what the condition is or how it arises in people, but if any budding psychologists want to probe, ask away; i studied psychology at A level (UK) and i'm very fond of the sciences, so i wouldn't mind being a guinea pig so to speak if it means it might get us somewhere to solve this thing. All i can say is that I've found quite a few things helpful (i.e. doing them seems to help reduce my symptoms); exercise which involves a lot of focus, reading fiction and trying to visualize the characters (Terry Pratchet was a good start for me), doing chores like gardening in the sun and just letting my mind go empty besides thinking about the gardening, and of course reducing the stress in my life by sorting out files, debts ect one bit at a time.

Thanks for reading if anyone did, i'll really appreciate any feedback


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## Wheepey

yesss!


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## luctor et emergo

Since tapering off Klonopin, my dreams are more intense than in the past 8 years.

Sometimes they are lucid, some are nightmares, but when waking up the feeling of numbness is back again.


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## TDX

In my case dreams don't make a difference.


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## imayusa

Now that I think about it, my dreams do feel more real than this reality. It's as if the true reality was in the dream, and this reality is the dream. Philosophically speaking, we can neither prove that this is a dream nor that it isnt a dream. I mean for all we know we could be in the matrix. But I have a feeling that we're going to find out the truth in the years to come, definitely within our lifetime.


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## peaceful soul

i sleep almost all the day to avoid feeling dp.
dreams are more comfortable than reality


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## ThoughtOnFire

http://www.dreamviews.com/


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## Ningen

I usually don't remember my dreams. When I do, I can't remember how I percieved things, because right now I don't have any perception and cannot remember what it was like to percieve things, so even if I do percieve things properly in my dream I won't remember how I percieved things because I don't have any perception or memory of perception. I hope that made sense.


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## H04

BenjaminP said:


> Hi guys, i'm new to this forum, this is my first post, But this "dreams feeling more real than reality" thought really hits home with me. I won't bother to tell you my whole story in this thread but i'll summarize my experiences with sleep.
> For most of last year, my DP has been quite severe and I've been trying to deal with it on my own. The first instance of a dream feeling more real than reality was almost like a nightmare for me, it happened a good few months ago.
> I was asleep in my house (still living with parents) and a drifted of around 11 or so, i had this dream that was SO incredibly real, of myself walking around my house, everything exactly where it should be, literally none of the appropriate "dreamy" or fantasy illusions, it was just pure realism. I walked downstairs to my mum's room and said hello to her, and in the dream, she responded exactly how she would have in real life, with a "hiya" and a smile she always does. Then i just saw some figure in her room, i said to her "who's that man?" and she just looked at me like i was crazy. Then i woke up with the thought of her staring at me like i was crazy burned into my skull. needless to say i was beyond scared and anxious, but i haven't told anybody since it happened because i didn't want anyone to think i was going insane. This was the first "realism" dream i had, and it was by far the worst. It's so difficult to explain why the dream felt so real, but the thing is, i'm 100% certain that i felt the realness within the dream and it wasn't something i contrived upon waking. It was like picture perfect, and when i got scared in the dream, i could really feel my body actually getting scared, almost like my emotions were attached to me during the dream (not that they shouldn't be? not sure).
> Since then I've had a few dreams like this here and there, i can't remember most of them, but i had one where i was helping my friend get his TV or something similar, and another another where i was dreaming of being in my house again (but not as intense). It's difficult to explain, but as others have described, it's like your dreams are picture perfect simulations of life, and when you wake up the real world appears foggy and under-stimulating.
> As my current situation stands, i had a bit break down last week, hence why i'm on this forum now. I ended up not being able to sleep at all for 2 days in a row, my mind was just racing, thoughts and thoughts going round, and i ended up just crying to my mum about really personal stuff about our dad (as they broke up when i was young). I went to the doctor to try and talk some of the stuff off my chest, and she just gave me mirtazipan pills (anti-depressants). Took the pills for a couple of days but they made me so drowsy and empty; it felt like the exact opposite of what i needed. I'm not having any trouble getting to sleep anymore, and as for my dreams i can hardly remember them to be honest. My only issue is now just before bed and just after, hypnagogia i think you call it? When i'm lying in bed trying to drift off i will have some kinda thought with fairly strong realism that will give me a bit of an adrenaline rush, and keep me from falling asleep for a while. Also there are some things like this upon waking, this morning actually, i dreamt of a flashlight being shined in my face which woke me up prematurely; couldn't remember the rest of the dream or why the flashlight was there.
> 
> I'm not quite sure what the condition is or how it arises in people, but if any budding psychologists want to probe, ask away; i studied psychology at A level (UK) and i'm very fond of the sciences, so i wouldn't mind being a guinea pig so to speak if it means it might get us somewhere to solve this thing. All i can say is that I've found quite a few things helpful (i.e. doing them seems to help reduce my symptoms); exercise which involves a lot of focus, reading fiction and trying to visualize the characters (Terry Pratchet was a good start for me), doing chores like gardening in the sun and just letting my mind go empty besides thinking about the gardening, and of course reducing the stress in my life by sorting out files, debts ect one bit at a time.
> Thanks for reading if anyone did, i'll really appreciate any feedback


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## H04

BenjaminP said:


> Hi guys, i'm new to this forum, this is my first post, But this "dreams feeling more real than reality" thought really hits home with me. I won't bother to tell you my whole story in this thread but i'll summarize my experiences with sleep.
> For most of last year, my DP has been quite severe and I've been trying to deal with it on my own. The first instance of a dream feeling more real than reality was almost like a nightmare for me, it happened a good few months ago.
> I was asleep in my house (still living with parents) and a drifted of around 11 or so, i had this dream that was SO incredibly real, of myself walking around my house, everything exactly where it should be, literally none of the appropriate "dreamy" or fantasy illusions, it was just pure realism. I walked downstairs to my mum's room and said hello to her, and in the dream, she responded exactly how she would have in real life, with a "hiya" and a smile she always does. Then i just saw some figure in her room, i said to her "who's that man?" and she just looked at me like i was crazy. Then i woke up with the thought of her staring at me like i was crazy burned into my skull. needless to say i was beyond scared and anxious, but i haven't told anybody since it happened because i didn't want anyone to think i was going insane. This was the first "realism" dream i had, and it was by far the worst. It's so difficult to explain why the dream felt so real, but the thing is, i'm 100% certain that i felt the realness within the dream and it wasn't something i contrived upon waking. It was like picture perfect, and when i got scared in the dream, i could really feel my body actually getting scared, almost like my emotions were attached to me during the dream (not that they shouldn't be? not sure).
> Since then I've had a few dreams like this here and there, i can't remember most of them, but i had one where i was helping my friend get his TV or something similar, and another another where i was dreaming of being in my house again (but not as intense). It's difficult to explain, but as others have described, it's like your dreams are picture perfect simulations of life, and when you wake up the real world appears foggy and under-stimulating.
> As my current situation stands, i had a bit break down last week, hence why i'm on this forum now. I ended up not being able to sleep at all for 2 days in a row, my mind was just racing, thoughts and thoughts going round, and i ended up just crying to my mum about really personal stuff about our dad (as they broke up when i was young). I went to the doctor to try and talk some of the stuff off my chest, and she just gave me mirtazipan pills (anti-depressants). Took the pills for a couple of days but they made me so drowsy and empty; it felt like the exact opposite of what i needed. I'm not having any trouble getting to sleep anymore, and as for my dreams i can hardly remember them to be honest. My only issue is now just before bed and just after, hypnagogia i think you call it? When i'm lying in bed trying to drift off i will have some kinda thought with fairly strong realism that will give me a bit of an adrenaline rush, and keep me from falling asleep for a while. Also there are some things like this upon waking, this morning actually, i dreamt of a flashlight being shined in my face which woke me up prematurely; couldn't remember the rest of the dream or why the flashlight was there.
> 
> I'm not quite sure what the condition is or how it arises in people, but if any budding psychologists want to probe, ask away; i studied psychology at A level (UK) and i'm very fond of the sciences, so i wouldn't mind being a guinea pig so to speak if it means it might get us somewhere to solve this thing. All i can say is that I've found quite a few things helpful (i.e. doing them seems to help reduce my symptoms); exercise which involves a lot of focus, reading fiction and trying to visualize the characters (Terry Pratchet was a good start for me), doing chores like gardening in the sun and just letting my mind go empty besides thinking about the gardening, and of course reducing the stress in my life by sorting out files, debts ect one bit at a time.
> Thanks for reading if anyone did, i'll really appreciate any feedback


Hi, I'm sorry if I double replied I just made an account to reply to you but similar things happened to me, after I had an anxiety attack related to thanatophobia a few days ago, I think I developed DP, nothing really feels real anymore and my dreams feel more real than this. But I think forms of anxiety trigger the problems you might be having with your sleep, and honestly I don't think antidepressants work doctors just like to perscribe them so they make more money


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## Sunkanmi

snugglezone said:


> I just woke up this morning and thought that maybe my dreams are more real than _reality_. My dreams, even when they are scary (a couple times a week), make me feel so alive. I'm definitely beginning to think that my 'dream state' is the true place where I belong. The main difference between dreaming and waking is that when I'm dreaming I'm not questioning my existence. I'm totally at ease with everything that is going on. Dream existence is how my life was as a child. It just 'makes sense.' When I wake up though I'm back to wondering what all of _this_ is.


I am in complete agreement, same is happening to me these days at first I was suspecting the medications am on but now I don't understand and to make things worse am getting depressed with reality, i wish to remain in the dream state.... am also scared


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## dalailama15

Exactly this. All the time. It is like I was . . , a kid again. It fells like how I think I am supposed to feel. This has to mean something, but I’m tired of thinking about what, lol. Anyway.


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