# Mild Derealization (?)



## föddförlorare (Dec 26, 2015)

Hi!

I'm Gabriela and I think I've been dealing with derealization (not depersonalization) for 11 years now (I'm 17), but the thing is, it's not nearly as severe as most of the cases I've read about, and it's not something that affects my daily routine or anything, I'm just curious about it. What I experience is several short episodes every single day in which it feels like my surroundings aren't real and I feel like I'm not there, only my body is.

These episodes have been happening much more often in the past year or so, but also in a little more subtle way than the ones I experienced as a kid, in the sense that, when I was younger, I knew exactly when I was about to have an episode and their beginnings and ends were very pronounced/marked, it was like I fell into my "derealized" state in the blink of an eye, there wasn't a building up; also, it was much more vivid and intense, but it only lasted for a few seconds, never more than a minute. Now, they last a little longer (2 minutes at most) and, as I said, occur more often.

Everytime I go to a supermarket or a shopping centre, I end up feeling disconnected/zoned out and it also happens when there's a lot of people around and this adding up to my natural sleepiness/tiredness isn't very pleasant.

I don't have any diagnosed disorders and I've had no childhood traumas or anything, so I think I probably inherited it from my dad or my grandma, since they both experience something similar.

I'd really appreciate your opinions on this!


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## something6789 (Oct 7, 2013)

föddförlorare said:


> Hi!
> 
> I'm Gabriela and I think I've been dealing with derealization (not depersonalization) for 11 years now (I'm 17), but the thing is, it's not nearly as severe as most of the cases I've read about, and it's not something that affects my daily routine or anything, I'm just curious about it. What I experience is several short episodes every single day in which it feels like my surroundings aren't real and I feel like I'm not there, only my body is.
> 
> ...


This sounds similar to me at about your age. It turns out my vision was a big part of the problem. It was my stereoscopic vision cutting in and out. Do you have a convergence issue with your eyesight or one eye worse than the other?


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## slenderman124 (Dec 26, 2014)

föddförlorare said:


> and I feel like I'm not there, only my body is.


This is depersonalization


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## föddförlorare (Dec 26, 2015)

something6789 said:


> This sounds similar to me at about your age. It turns out my vision was a big part of the problem. It was my stereoscopic vision cutting in and out. Do you have a convergence issue with your eyesight or one eye worse than the other?


no, not really...


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## föddförlorare (Dec 26, 2015)

slenderman124 said:


> This is depersonalization


oh, okay! so do you think it is depersonalization and derealization at the same time?


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## slenderman124 (Dec 26, 2014)

föddförlorare said:


> oh, okay! so do you think it is depersonalization and derealization at the same time?


most people have both at the same time


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## Chicane (Oct 8, 2015)

I had brief phases of feeling mildly unreal or disconnected from the world around me before DPDR hit me big time (and full time). This was in 2013. That was the first year I started feeling a little surreal, then in the spring of 14 it hit me like a ton of bricks and has been with me ever since. Hopefully in your case it remains transient and not too bothersome (or ideally, goes away completely). I wouldn't wish this on anyone.


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## föddförlorare (Dec 26, 2015)

Chicane said:


> I had brief phases of feeling mildly unreal or disconnected from the world around me before DPDR hit me big time (and full time). This was in 2013. That was the first year I started feeling a little surreal, then in the spring of 14 it hit me like a ton of bricks and has been with me ever since. Hopefully in your case it remains transient and not too bothersome (or ideally, goes away completely). I wouldn't wish this on anyone.


really sorry to hear that. thanks for commenting and stay strong!


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## something6789 (Oct 7, 2013)

föddförlorare said:


> no, not really...


When it comes to disconnection from life and reality, I like to look at it as keeping things simple, instead of slicing it up and nit picking the various aspects of what potential triggers and traumas you may have had to get you into this situation. Look at your present lifestyle and work your way through what's causing you disconnection from the ground up. The key is to do something, change what needs to be changed and take things slowly.

I still think it may have to do with over-stimulation from a problem of your eyesight. Because it sounds so similar to what I experience, I realize that cannot be the case for everyone but if you look at many people who suffer from advanced diplopia or certain types of amblyopia they hate supermarkets as well because it's so much to take in. Eyesight issues can be a lot more than just how you see the letters of an eye chart incidentally, I didn't discover this until recently.


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## föddförlorare (Dec 26, 2015)

something6789 said:


> When it comes to disconnection from life and reality, I like to look at it as keeping things simple, instead of slicing it up and nit picking the various aspects of what potential triggers and traumas you may have had to get you into this situation. Look at your present lifestyle and work your way through what's causing you disconnection from the ground up. The key is to do something, change what needs to be changed and take things slowly.
> 
> I still think it may have to do with over-stimulation from a problem of your eyesight. Because it sounds so similar to what I experience, I realize that cannot be the case for everyone but if you look at many people who suffer from advanced diplopia or certain types of amblyopia they hate supermarkets as well because it's so much to take in. Eyesight issues can be a lot more than just how you see the letters of an eye chart incidentally, I didn't discover this until recently.


I have no idea what's causing it because I've had this forever, it's not something that started happening recently

I believe that could be the cause but honestly I don't think it is in my case. I think what I experience really is at least some form of dissociation, as mild as it may be. what exactly do you experience?


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