Feeling of unreality

Winnie57 · #1 18th October 2009, 20:45

This probably sounds really stupid but the older I get the more people seem unreal, and it seems like real life was in the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties and then it ended. I don't know if this is the case for anyone else or if it's just a result of depression. I probably haven't explained it very well but it's difficult to put into words.

Rae · #2 18th October 2009, 21:39

It's funny you should say that, because I actually have the complete opposite, that being that only now feels real and everything that went significantly before feels like it was a dream and that it didn't actually happen at all. I can't seem to associate it with who I am at all, it's a very strange feeling indeed.

Wol · #3 18th October 2009, 22:01

For me the feeling of unreality comes from isolation. If I spend more than 2 days not talking to anyone then reality starts to slip.
My level of isolation has been up and down over the years from none to way too much.
I don't think it's getting any worse with age.

iloverain · #4 18th October 2009, 22:23

This is how much of my life has felt,i always tried to tell people this and have ended up just getting funny looks.

artist23 · #5 18th October 2009, 22:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Winnie57

This probably sounds really stupid but the older I get the more people seem unreal, and it seems like real life was in the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties and then it ended. I don't know if this is the case for anyone else or if it's just a result of depression. I probably haven't explained it very well but it's difficult to put into words.

i think when people you like die and and you miss them, it feels strange and unreal afterwards.

Hackpen · #6 19th October 2009, 11:37

I get this quite bad some days, derealisation its called i think. My head can feel a few steps behind my body, i think in my case its probably med withdrawal if im taking a break from my meds. Getting out in the fresh air for a walk you would think would help, but sometimes it makes it worse. I often skip brekkie so it could also be low blood sugar, or as already said a symptom of depression.

Pink*Lady · #7 19th October 2009, 18:36

Some parts of my life are clear and I have a good memory of them but other parts are a blur or I just don't remember much about that time. It comes and goes. It sometimes feels as if there is a glass wall between me and other people.

Winnie57 · #8 21st October 2009, 00:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by artist23

i think when people you like die and and you miss them, it feels strange and unreal afterwards.

That makes sense because I have been bereaved fairly recently and haven't felt the same since. When I come to think of it this feeling of unreality has manifested since my son's death and it is partly a feeling of longing for past days when it feels like everything was real although I probably sometimes felt the same unreal feeling even in those days.

Thanks for your replies - all relevant and interesting

Ruby1 · #9 21st October 2009, 19:45

Aye i get this too.....i never feel i am fully anywhere or in any situation, sometimes I don't even feel real. I imagine myself to be one half of something. When i feel particually bad i start to become plasticine, well not literally cause i'd probably need medical assistance! Mostly i feel superimposed, i guess it's my way of coping with situations that scare me.

Winnie57 · #10 22nd October 2009, 00:42

^ A plasticine Ruby is something every home should have

but seriously it is not good to feel unreal. But when we feel like this I suppose we must be real to other people.

Part of my unreal thingy which I failed to explain properly is a sense that the modern age is not real. I think this aspect is more to do with getting older.

Ruby1 · #11 22nd October 2009, 09:33

Placticine Ruby only from Mattel.....she wees herself, shes fully poseable and comes with a little rubber welly to hide in when Barbie comes around batteries not included

Thanks gorgeous miss Heather you made me smile

Winnie57 · #12 23rd October 2009, 00:54

^ and you've just made me smile too

Eraserhead · #13 23rd October 2009, 19:27

Yeah, reality is our perception. If our perception is wonky, where does that leave reality? I often feel as though life is unreal and I tend to exacerbate this feeling by isolating myself and watching films. This way, my primary reality is in question.

Winnie57 · #14 25th October 2009, 00:57

Good point Eraserhead - I am pretty isolated in many ways myself and it does indeed distance me from reality. Living through films, TV or computer games can make real life seem unreal.

Mark_One · #15 26th October 2009, 13:10

My depression, anxiety, negativity are all getting worse and I have noticed that I frequently feel detached from reality but dont understand why.

Winnie57 · #16 27th October 2009, 01:30

^ I suppose it's because depression and anxiety makes us more introspective which in turn makes it difficult to engage with the outside world so it becomes detached from us like a separate entity

piesJoy · #17 31st October 2009, 04:27

i've had these feelings of unreality of and on for a good few years. i don't get it very often atm though.i can't make much sense of my condition whatever it is. i feel like all my memories are created like i've been a ghost all my existence. during my unreality faze it was painful and confusing, but at the same time i can't think of any time when i wasn't a 'day dreamer'. its like all the real pain of those times young and old are waiting to hit me out of nowhere, and that the pain was shelved away, when i tried to avoid it. somethings got to give as the saying goes. i probably don't make much sense.

piesJoy · #18 31st October 2009, 04:33

QUOTE: Aye i get this too.....i never feel i am fully anywhere or in any situation, sometimes I don't even feel real. I imagine myself to be one half of something. When i feel particually bad i start to become plasticine, well not literally cause i'd probably need medical assistance! Mostly i feel superimposed, i guess it's my way of coping with situations that scare me.

Oh christ, i know that feeling. try having the opposite of it and seeing others and family like that! :S nightmare. one thing i always used to tell myself was (sooooo hard to believe) that it wouldn't last forever, 'cos during it, thats something thats hard to believe.

Mr. Nobody · #19 6th November 2009, 13:03

Thank god someone else feels this,...
someone very close also died not too long ago, but I definately had this before that,
I feel that the reason for everything being unreal to me is that hidden very deep down is the feeling that this cannot be what existence intended for us to live like, there have been two or three moments in my life that have been earth-shatteringly real, but have also been very, very different from what most people consider to be reality, these were moments of complete love, complete unity, complete understanding, spiritual moments if you like, spiritual glimpses of true reality, but they were only short-lived glimpses of a possible reality, and so, from the day, of the first glimpses, everywhere, I go I know and feel strongly " this isn't the true reality" I have tried all sorts of meditations, drugs intensive therapy, etc. but nothing comes close.

Winnie57 · #20 8th November 2009, 00:45

The spiritual moments sound wonderful jerry. Are you saying that happiness equates to reality? I have had spiritual-ish moments too but they seemed unreal too in retrospect even though they sometimes caused me to feel elated.

Mr. Nobody · #21 9th November 2009, 13:09

that's an amazing way of putting it Winnie,...happiness equates to reality... wow!

one of the happiest was an experience that I was everything,
I mean everything, birds, sunset, the earth, but this was really deep, it felt like a great impending death was happening and my mind freaked, and I struggled back to the surface, strange thing was that it all felt so normal and,...even familiar.... but in retrospect, this seems to have been the experience of a few mystics etc. down through the ages...... that ultimate reality is that we are everything, and only the mind divides reality into separate compartments. but it really is shatteringly deeper than our day-to-day normal existence.
sorry to sound like a cuckoo,....
the funny farm awaits............
I'm quite normal really, just had a few freaky experiences when I was younger.

Winnie57 · #22 10th November 2009, 00:48

Sounds brill jerry. Were you meditating or something or did it just happen out of the blue?

Cookie-Monster · #23 10th November 2009, 04:59

Life in general has seemed to be very unreal or surreal to me for the last couple of years. I just keep thinking what's the point. Its feelings of the emptiness that comes with it that really gets to me.

Mr. Nobody · #24 10th November 2009, 15:29

Hi Winnie,

some things came naturally when I was really young
some happened through trying a meditation technique
but the two major events that have happened were triggered by drugs, but I honestly feel they were triggered by them and not as a result of them.
they sound brill, but the memory of them has been kind of eating away at me, it's hard to relate to others when you carry these secrets, if I told someone about these things, I would sound mad.

Winnie57 · #25 10th November 2009, 23:17

^ I don't think it would sound mad if you told the right people. I expect a lot of people have had strange experiences whilst on drugs. If they helped you experience this intense feeling then that can't be a bad thing I suppose, although generally I am very anti-drugs for personal reasons.

Mr. Nobody · #26 11th November 2009, 15:02

me too Winnie,
I only done them for a year or two,
long term, they are definately harmful
thanks for your responses,
what were your experiences?
...only if you want to share..

artist23 · #27 11th November 2009, 15:13

when someone close in the family dies, it puts you into another world that is all unreal and distant, but you cant exscape, its like that tv programme life on mars where hes stuck in time.

peterjohn · #28 14th November 2009, 23:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Winnie57

This probably sounds really stupid but the older I get the more people seem unreal, and it seems like real life was in the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties and then it ended. I don't know if this is the case for anyone else or if it's just a result of depression. I probably haven't explained it very well but it's difficult to put into words.

sometimes I feel like an alien, rather than a person amongst people, which also feels very unreal !

Winnie57 · #29 19th November 2009, 00:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerry302199

me too Winnie,
I only done them for a year or two,
long term, they are definately harmful
thanks for your responses,
what were your experiences?
...only if you want to share..

My spiritual experiences happened while I was a born again Christian in my twenties - something I got drawn into. The first experience was getting the gift of tongues and the other was having demons driven from me. I now realise that these were just tricks of the mind although it felt very surreal at the time.

Quote:

Originally posted by peterjohnsometimes I feel like an alien, rather than a person amongst people, which also feels very unreal !

I know just what you mean peterjohn!

Mr. Nobody · #30 19th November 2009, 10:15

"""""My spiritual experiences happened while I was a born again Christian in my twenties - something I got drawn into. The first experience was getting the gift of tongues and the other was having demons driven from me. I now realise that these were just tricks of the mind although it felt very surreal at the time."""""

sorry to hear that,...as long as you definately knew it was a trick of the mind
I was a Hare Krishna devotee for a short while, lol
I found it really emotional / devotional, the emotions were pretty intense at the time, but I kind of "snapped out of it " after a while, when I saw that Hare Krishna etc. was only an excuse / veil over something real that was coming from me,..better to feel something on it's own without giving it explanations / reasons / excuses etc.

thanks for sharing Winnie !