# The 1000 thousand yard stare



## miguelmalato (Jan 9, 2012)

I don't know if you're familiar with war lingo, but I notice that many of us, sufferers from Depersonalization and Derealization, seem to fall frequently into a vegetative state, void of brain activity where you just look far and far beyond, with a blank mind, and an emptiness inside your head.

This is called the one thousand yard stare, and it is very common in soldiers who have witnessed the great horrors of war.

It's something we share with those who suffer from PTSD, so that means it's trauma-induced.

I only found this peculiarity worthy of mentioning because I used to do this all the time... It was horrible. I would distract myself from any activity whatsoever, and I would just lose my mind into an abysmal hole of nothing. It was almost like my brain was being sucked by a black hole.

While at my computer, I would stare at the screen for minutes... sometimes hours.

And afterwards, I would think to myself: "Why the hell did I do that? What was the point?"

And I also notice that many of this forum's users also suffer from this. I can tell by the way their photos were taken. I can relate to the "nothing" behind their gazed eyes...


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## insaticiable (Feb 23, 2010)

miguelmalato said:


> I don't know if you're familiar with war lingo, but I notice that many of us, sufferers from Depersonalization and Derealization, seem to fall frequently into a vegetative state, void of brain activity where you just look far and far beyond, with a blank mind, and an emptiness inside your head.
> 
> This is called the one thousand yard stare, and it is very common in soldiers who have witnessed the great horrors of war.
> 
> ...


I definitely have this...the 1000 thousand yard stare. Especially when I'm sitting somewhere just staring at something. My mind/eyes just ''glaze'' over. I call it ''glaze-over'' mode. My eyes go out of focus...I seem to feel like I cease to exist as a person/body in those moments as I continue to stare.


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## rob35235 (Feb 21, 2009)

I'm glad you posted this. I have posted about similar symptoms recently. THis is the way it happens to me... there will be long periods of times when I feel unusually drowsy, but not a natural drowsy, it feels like I have the urge to fight it. My staring spells can happen any time, but are more likely when I have this weird drowsy feeling. Anyway, it's like I suddenly and random become hypnotized, like someone with a swinging stop watch says 'look into my eyes you are getting sleepy' and then my vision becomes glued to one thing.. I zone out, everything visually becomes weird and distorted like the wavy images caused by heat rising off something on a very hot summer day. I just go into this trace, and it feels "good" I feel sedated and happy like I somehow "belong" there although at the same time I hate it and know I don't belong there. The only escape is to look around and different stuff and focus on different things. This brings me out of it as long as I keep looking around.


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## chickadee (May 8, 2012)

I get that a lot.


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## miguelmalato (Jan 9, 2012)

rob35235 said:


> I'm glad you posted this. I have posted about similar symptoms recently. THis is the way it happens to me... there will be long periods of times when I feel unusually drowsy, but not a natural drowsy, it feels like I have the urge to fight it. My staring spells can happen any time, but are more likely when I have this weird drowsy feeling. Anyway, it's like I suddenly and random become hypnotized, like someone with a swinging stop watch says 'look into my eyes you are getting sleepy' and then my vision becomes glued to one thing.. I zone out, everything visually becomes weird and distorted like the wavy images caused by heat rising off something on a very hot summer day. I just go into this trace, and it feels "good" I feel sedated and happy like I somehow "belong" there although at the same time I hate it and know I don't belong there. The only escape is to look around and different stuff and focus on different things. This brings me out of it as long as I keep looking around.


True,

I'll admit that this feeling is almost like a natural high, although an unconfortable one.

I found it very hard to distract myself from this "vegetative state" ...

I guess the key was working as hard as you could to focus on one particular thing


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