Anxiety Forum

coops025 · mucho contributor Joined: 23 Mar 2009 Posts: 257

Hi all,

I still suffer from de-realisation and find it hard to concentrate with the feeling that im looking at the world through a video camera is not nice at all. Ive had this for months some days its very bad and does differ from day to day, i just cant put my finger on what makes it worse of better.

I'm asking if anyone here has suffered of is suffering from this to give me and others your imput.

Robbed · Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 6:40 am Post subject:

Derealisation is a symptom of MANY mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, and substance issues. It is a symptom, and nothing more. Treat it as such by trying your best to accept it (along with all other anxiety symptoms). Try your best not to concentrate so much on it. And try to do other things to distract you from it. As for what makes it worse, chances are there is nothing you can really do to 'control' it. But you might find that it tends to worsen when your anxiety levels worsen. This is what I have always found when this problem was a MUCH more serious issue for me than it is these days. Also, when I could REALLY engage my mind in something, unreality would become less of a problem. But perhaps the most important thing to realize is that derealisation will gradually diminish as your overall anxiety levels decrease. Just keep in mind that this might not happen terribly quickly. So be prepared to live with this symptom as best as you can for possibly some time.

coops025 · mucho contributor Joined: 23 Mar 2009 Posts: 257

Thanks Robbed

It would appear very little is know about this symptom and as you said i can do is try and ignore it the best i can Sad

From what i understand is the cause of this is infact that your Brain enters some kind of defensive mode blocking certain receptors from excepting stimulated messages from hitiing the Brain due to Anxiety or even depression.

I know i can ignore it but there must be some way of getting my Brain to let down its gaurd if indeed when i have read is true.

Oh well back to the distractions smile

Robbed · Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 3:08 pm Post subject:

coops025 · mucho contributor Joined: 23 Mar 2009 Posts: 257

True but if i have to except it i want to know what makes it tick so to speak. All i know is that it is worse when im tired and thats pretty much it.

Georgec · apprentice poster Joined: 16 Jun 2009 Posts: 38

As many people have said, there is little known about this symptom.

The way I look at anxiety there are 2 causes:

1. Some emotional/personal problems
2. Chemical/brain imbalance

I believe in the first one more, but we can't rule out anything physically wrong with the brain. I think many medical professionals tend to focus on number 2 a bit too much. I read somewhere that the brains of people with certain mental illnesses were scanned and physically checked and no difference was found in these brains compared to normal brains.

In any case, if it is caused by reason number 1 perhaps you are right that the symptom is caused by your own body as a way to "guard" you from something. I strongly believe anxiety is caused by the body as a mechanism to deal with reality. You get distracted by fear. Anxiety in itself becomes your main focus.

I can attest to the fact that my anxiety was keeping me from dealing with certain problems in my life only because they were difficult to deal with. It was caused by me even though I didn't know it. My anxiety was caused in deeply rooted habitual activities and thoughts that I needed to change.

I hope this post was not too off topic, but I thought maybe it would help. People tell me it helps them when I discuss myself when talking about anxiety since I have not had a panic attack in like 5 years.

Please send me a message if you have any questions or if you want to talk more about your anxiety. Just looking to help.

Thanks,

George
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Author of the Anxiety Control System
http://anxietycontrolsystem.com