# Perceptual shift - weird thoughts about time and existence.



## The_Shadow (Sep 15, 2006)

I've mentioned this before on other forums. But after having a meltdown a little over a month ago, my whole view of the world changed. All the sudden something seems..."wrong" about time and existence.

I am plagued by questions such as "why things only move forward"; "why everything is a causal relationship"; "why does everything keep changing", etc. etc.

Familiar concepts (past, present, future, cause and effect) suddenly seem really strange and in a way "mysterious". I can't get this thought out of my head!

I want to enjoy life again, not be plagued by this weird sense! I've had OCD and obsessive thoughts before, so I'm wondering if this is somehow related to OCD. Can anyone relate to this? What do I do to get back to reality?


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## Pancthulhu (May 27, 2006)

Hmm, I don't know whether it's related to OCD as I have these thoughts but I'm not obsessive compulsive. They're weird aren't they? Like you know it makes sense for the world to exist, to be 3d, for you to see through this perspective, etc etc, but it seems weird. Anyway a technique I've found that works is:

1) Work out how much you believe the thought
2) Write down any evidence that proves the thought
3) Write down any evidence that disproves the thought
4) If somebody else believed this, would you argue with them?
5) Work out how likely it is that the thought is true.


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## forever_empty (Sep 30, 2006)

hi. it could be ocd related.

i have had thoughts kind of like that...but it's usually when i'm dissociative..for days on end...

i am always in a strange head space when i'm dissociative...and my whole sense of time...is gone..

probably not what you're meaning...but thought i'd reply anyway.

what you said, reminds me of this show 'what the bleep do we know' it's about quantum physics....

it was hard to understand, and strange...but some of it made sense, having to do with reality, time...etc.

the basic storyline was a lady with anxiety and probably dissociative disorders...

it was just...a neat story...

i would also recommend 'the peaceful warrior' movie, if it ever comes out on dvd.....


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## Guest (Dec 21, 2006)

Hey,
I can relate to those type of thoughts. I didn't really start experiencing them to a serious extent until I too had a meltdown about a month ago. I'd have moments were I felt like I was "fading" from myself and my past seemed to be someone else's. Then came the thoughts of time and the universe and the feeling of something about it all being "weird". I know those thoughts are all wrong and are just wanderings of my imagination. I do my best to try not to entertain these thoughts because they only feed the dr/dp and make it worse. They really seem to isolate me from others sometimes.
I know how painful it is in those moments to want to feel normal but everything has some odd/vague/unfamiliar taint to it.
I'm happy not to have dr/dp all the time, only from time to time. I really feel bad for you all that have to deal with it constantly


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## Gussick (Jan 27, 2006)

I have DR without OCD, but I certainly recognize this line of thinking. Everything has seemed "wrong" to me for as long as I can remember. Time, matter, existence and the like really *aren't* what people think they are. At any given moment we are nothing but a series of probabilities. I mean every atom in us is just a probability, and one that can't be known without changing its state. Conscious thought is the delusion. The notion that there is a self is probably just an evolutionary safeguard to trick the brain and keep it from destroying itself, thereby protecting the genetic material. Put another way, evolution insured that those who had the "delusion of self" bred and survived better than those without it. I have a very strong suspicion that DR and certain other forms of mental illness are the result not of delusion but of a break down of delusion. You start to see things as they really are, and at the same time you get "unstuck." It doesn't matter anymore if things that appear to happen took place in a million years from now or a million years ago. One moment you're ten, the next you're forty. Then you realize you probably died ages ago.


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## Crystal (Dec 13, 2006)

http://www.dpselfhelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9973&start=0

Your post reminded me of another post I have read recently, thought you might be interested.

Crystal


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