Do you often feel like you're living in a different world?

[intpz]

Yesterday I've been walking down the street (just went for a walk), and at some point, I thought: what did I just do? What I do was... I've been walking, looking at one spot, thinking about some puzzle/figuring something out, not going into details, and just for a second or two I felt strange, and after these 1-2 seconds, I realized that I'm here, that things around me are real, so I've made a conclusion, that I thought for some reason that I wasn't in the real world, so deep in my thoughts, that I did even thought so... This happens occasionally, not every day, not even every week, but it feels strange. Do you get these things?
Another example is... Now I got up from my chair after reading for 2 hours, writing for another hour and watching a show for hour and a half, and while walking to the other room, I somehow felt that I'm living this nice life, reading about psychology, figuring things out, writing about something else, watching a nice show, etc, etc... But at some point it hit me - I'm living here and now, in a real planet, and all these problems came into my head again, and it felt very different. So it was something like different dimension, two different worlds...
Kinda hard to describe, it's feelings more than rationalizations, but I hope you understood what I wanted to say.
Do you get these things? If so, which situations? Both? Maybe something even different?

 

[Vecho]

Well sometimes I witness the world somehow different. It's like all the details that previously were unseen just come out. I like though, it gives a different perspective. I don't see the world as different, just what previously has been unseen. This never happens with people though, I don't suddenly just feel different about them and the picture of someone seems to build over time not suddenly.

 

[intpz]

Yea, I sometimes do that too... See it more detailed, but rarely, probably because I go out rarely.

 

[Roni]

I think you're trying to describe a sense of disconnection from the present moment?
I feel that way frequently and in the past I would puzzle over it to the point of wondering if I had some kind of dissociative disorder.
These days I just consider it an aspect of how a perfectly normal mind interacts with the world and processes data.
Since it seems to happen when I've been 'deep' in thought (like your examples - after concentrating hard on a single puzzle or after allowing myself to be fully immersed in a book) I assume I've tapped into a dream state and my mind is just sorting stuff out for me the same way it does when I'm asleep.
When I have a very strong 'disconnection' for no apparent reason I call it deja-vu.

 

[intpz]

Isn't deja-vu a feeling that you already experienced the situation, not a feeling of disconnection from the outer world?

 

[Roni]

Yep, deja-vu is the term for that 'this has happened before' conviction when you know it hasn't happened before. It feels surreal but it happens to everyone so I like it as a term for similar surreal convictions.

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

I think I get what you're trying to say.... Sometimes I feel like that. Sometimes it's that I feel like I ventured so deeply into thought that I was no longer in my body. One time in my math class during freshman year I started zoning out and thinking about some problem (I don't remember what it was, I never really do), next thing I know the period was over and my homework was all done and I had no recollection of how or when I did it. I also have moments where I feel like I'm not truly IN my body. Like I'm observing myself from a "fly on the wall" perspective or something like that. It happens really quick because as soon as I realize that something doesn't feel right my mind snaps back to reality and I wonder if it ever really happened at all.

As for deja-vu, for me I don't really feel like it isn't "that 'this has happened before' conviction when you know it hasn't happened before." Yes, I know it hasn't happened in physical reality before but I KNOW it has happened in a dream before. I can remember specifically having dreams about events but quickly forget them. Later, it can be days, even years, that EXACT event happens and I can clearly recall to the dream about it I had.... The only difference between the dream and real event is that sometimes the colors of random objects are different.

 

[xbox]

I feel like a mind within a soulless shell of a body that exists in this world. I dont feel like I belong anywhere. Never did in highschool, never will later on, and the only reason that I've made attempts to 'belong' was because of the professional world's strict rules about wearing clothes. I was never really fond of pants.



And shoes.

 

[Minuend]

I get the feeling, it's completely different from my deja-vu experiences. It's like I'm an outsider observing other people just walking their path. It's like I have the ability to step out of expectations, norms and rules, while others remain trapped within it. Which of course, isn't an accurate observation. It's interesting nonetheless.

I also have the "wow, I'm actually living" moments. Where I realize what wonder the planet is, how the wind crawls through grass, or, ops I got to go to work.

 

[Darby]

I get the "wtf have I been doing for the last x minutes?" feeling often. I have a lot of long rides on the bus to/from work/school (at least an hour), and I often drift off into some weird area of my brain and then I'll suddenly realize where I am and all I will have is this big sense that I solved a problem that really needed solving but I can't for the life of me remember what problem or how I solved it.

I really hate that feeling, so now I just go to sleep on the bus.

 

[Dimensional Transition]

I think the problem here seems to be depersonalization. Look it up. It's common. Almost everybody experiences mild depersonalization/derealization from time to time.

I have that kind of stuff too. I had that feeling of 'I'm living in a dream' for 9 months long when I had panic attacks. I thought I was going mad, I became depressed even, but I researched it, accepted it, and it went away. I still feel weird and depersonalized occasionally, but that's normal. I think it's probably extremely common for INTPs as we mainly live in our heads. I also often have to remind myself I actually have a body and a face that other people look at, I often just feel like a ghost, a field of view, analyzing everything. I don't like talking to people that much IRL sometimes, as it's weird to just think of my voice, how the heck my brain constructs an actual visual image of the world, etc... it's very distracting from the actual conversation.

 

[Roni]

Yes! Depersonalisation/derealization is much closer to what I was describing than deja-vu (although deja-vu does get a mention in the derealization article so I don't feel too dumb for making that connection).

Both seem to be associated with anxiety. I read it as suggesting anxiety as a cause. That hasn't been my experience. It's a spooky, even frightening event that used to make me a bit anxious (until I came up with my deja-vu label and disregarded the event as harmless temporal lobe glitch) but last year, while I had an actual diagnosed anxiety disorder, I don't recall experiencing this derealization at all.

I've also noticed it seems to happen much less frequently as I get older. Like hiccups.

 

[snafupants]

That is definitely the upside to industrialization: the ability for normal folk like you and me to rove and scan and read and write in the expansive environment of the mind!

Without a modicum of specialization we would still be hunters and gatherers foraging and scrounging for food and worrying about basic survival. This is not conducive to study.

What is real anyway? Simply because intellectualization and introspection is not heavily tied to processing and responding to gross sensory input and experiential stimulation that does not void its worth.

 

[Dimensional Transition]

Yes! Depersonalisation/derealization is much closer to what I was describing than deja-vu (although deja-vu does get a mention in the derealization article so I don't feel too dumb for making that connection).

Both seem to be associated with anxiety. I read it as suggesting anxiety as a cause. That hasn't been my experience. It's a spooky, even frightening event that used to make me a bit anxious (until I came up with my deja-vu label and disregarded the event as harmless temporal lobe glitch) but last year, while I had an actual diagnosed anxiety disorder, I don't recall experiencing this derealization at all.

I've also noticed it seems to happen much less frequently as I get older. Like hiccups.

Yeah, depersonalization is a protection mechanism of the body, mainly to relieve you from extreme sadness or fear. (People often experience it at funerals and such, too.)
I had it a lot when I had panic attacks/(temporary?)generalized anxiety disorder because my body was trying to protect me from them, instead, the depersonalization made it worse because it made me even more anxious. Now I've learned to embrace it, and to see it as a mechanism to help me view my situation objectively whenever I feel really anxious.

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

an individual has self-awareness. It is a feeling of watching oneself act, while having no control over a situation. Sufferers feel they have changed, and the world has become less real, vague, dreamlike, or lacking in significance. It can be a disturbing experience, since many feel that, indeed, they are living in a 'dream'

This is totally accurate, "watching oneself act" check. "having no control" check. "the world . . . less real, vague dreamlike." yes. "living in a dream" definitely. Thank you for linking to this.

 

[Dimensional Transition]

This is totally accurate, "watching oneself act" check. "having no control" check. "the world . . . less real, vague dreamlike." yes. "living in a dream" definitely. Thank you for linking to this.

I'm glad you found out man. I was so scared I was going mad when I didn't know what it was. I later found out my dad had it too in his teens, and he actually got severely depressed for years because of it. He had to repeat the same year at school two times because he just couldn't go to school anymore.

 

[digital angel]

I think this is why we are dubbed "absent minded professors." I get lost in thought from time to time.

 

[Minuend]

I doubt my experience has anything to do with depersonalization. It's just an awareness.

 

[Bird]

Schizophrenia.

 

[Dimensional Transition]

Not in that way living in a different world...

 

[A22]

Oh I thought that was just me

 

[Bird]

Oh, discluded ):

 

[Roni]

I just found a boggling collection of brain hiccups and thought of this thread.
Somewhat off topic ...

Spoiler

[there were no links/sources in the article, sorry. I'll probably google some of this stuff later just out of interest]
People who suffer from Anton-Babinski syndrome are cortically blind, but they don’t believe or feel blind from their conscious perspective. They will adamantly insist that they can see even in the face of clear evidence of their blindness. They dismiss their inability to perform visual tasks by confabulating explanations. Subjects with blind sight have the reverse problem; testing reveals that they can see, but they report no awareness of any visual stimuli. They insist that they are blind even though they are not. The syndrome results from a specific sort of damage to the occipital lobe of the brain. Capgras syndrome results from occipital temporal and frontal region lesions in the brain. These patients have the powerful sense that someone they know, particularly a loved one, has been replaced by an imposter. Vilayanur Ramachandran has postulated that the problem arises from a failure of the temporal cortex regions of the brain responsible for face recognition to communicate with limbic system regions responsible for emotional responses (1998). Fregoli Delusion comes from a related form of brain damage that leads the patient to believe that many different people are actually one person with multiple disguises. Cotard’s syndrome, or the delusional belief that you are dead, you don’t exist, or that you have lost your organs or blood results from damage to the interactions between the fusiform face area and the limbic system. Patients with mirror prosopagnosia have difficulty processing the spatial relations of objects in a mirror with other objects in the area, and they often feel convinced that they are being followed. Brain damage or congenital problems with the fusiform gyrus is responsible.

 

[AlisaD]

I just found a boggling collection of brain hiccups and thought of this thread.
Somewhat off topic ...

Spoiler

[there were no links/sources in the article, sorry. I'll probably google some of this stuff later just out of interest]
People who suffer from Anton-Babinski syndrome are cortically blind, but they don’t believe or feel blind from their conscious perspective. They will adamantly insist that they can see even in the face of clear evidence of their blindness. They dismiss their inability to perform visual tasks by confabulating explanations. Subjects with blind sight have the reverse problem; testing reveals that they can see, but they report no awareness of any visual stimuli. They insist that they are blind even though they are not. The syndrome results from a specific sort of damage to the occipital lobe of the brain. Capgras syndrome results from occipital temporal and frontal region lesions in the brain. These patients have the powerful sense that someone they know, particularly a loved one, has been replaced by an imposter. Vilayanur Ramachandran has postulated that the problem arises from a failure of the temporal cortex regions of the brain responsible for face recognition to communicate with limbic system regions responsible for emotional responses (1998). Fregoli Delusion comes from a related form of brain damage that leads the patient to believe that many different people are actually one person with multiple disguises. Cotard’s syndrome, or the delusional belief that you are dead, you don’t exist, or that you have lost your organs or blood results from damage to the interactions between the fusiform face area and the limbic system. Patients with mirror prosopagnosia have difficulty processing the spatial relations of objects in a mirror with other objects in the area, and they often feel convinced that they are being followed. Brain damage or congenital problems with the fusiform gyrus is responsible.

This just scared the hell out of me
I mean, you know that your brain can play some crazy shit at you, but having so many options in one place just freaks me out

 

[Dimensional Transition]

The brain is a really weird and delicate thing. It freaks me out too.

Have any of you ever had ocular migraine? I've had that around 3 times in my life and it's fucking scary. You begin seeing psuedo-psychedelic whirlpool-stripes of color in some part of your vision, which soon spread around your complete vision. It's like those little psychedelic whirlpool-lines eat up your vision like a black hole. You don't see giant black blobs, you just don't see anything. For example, a portion of a whole sentence might be missing, but you don't see it. You just see that there's a part in between those two texts is missing.

For example: This is an example sentence.
But with ocular migraine, you see: This is|mple sentence.
The stripe being a little colorful, flashing light.

It's the scariest thing ever. It feels like you're going blind, but it stops after 15 minutes - 60 minutes. It's probably caused by some sort of nerve twitch in your brains.... For me it's triggered by long periods of barely any sleep.

There's a simulation of how it looks here: http://www.knownjohnson.com/?p=73 (press start on the image below the text)
It's pretty accurate, except for the fact that it's impossible to make it seem like parts of your vision are actually missing.

 

[Maniceureka]

I know this feeling all too well. It's like being a mental zombie, you go around and do daily things without thinking about it. It feels like everything you see is a projection on a tv screen and you're just sitting there watching without actually experiencing it.

And then you experience a moment of realization that you are here and now, and you are a living being and have been for a long time. Only to fall back into a mindless state of mind.

You should watch a movie called "Numb". It's about a man who lives with depersonalization. It's kind of funny, but it's interesting because you get an example how life with such a syndrome can be. Though I think this thread is closer to derealization but still.

 

[Lobstrich]

@ Op - I don't remember having an experience like that, but I do remember a thing that I do quite often, I look at my cat or dog and then I literally can't believe that it's alive, I get extremely fascinated by the fact that this cat or dog is moving, that it reacts to certain things, that it 'exists' I suppose. (I guess this feeling is about 'life' and not just cats and dogs. But I've never felt this way looking a human)

It's a very odd feeling because normally you just look at a cat and not pay more attention to it than giving it a pat. I'm not sure if I can explain it, you be the judge of what I just wrote, lol.
And I'm not even sure if it's related to your experience of "phasing" but what I just told you came up the second I read your post, so it must have some correlation, haha.

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

The brain is a really weird and delicate thing. It freaks me out too.

Have any of you ever had ocular migraine? I've had that around 3 times in my life and it's fucking scary. You begin seeing psuedo-psychedelic whirlpool-stripes of color in some part of your vision, which soon spread around your complete vision. It's like those little psychedelic whirlpool-lines eat up your vision like a black hole. You don't see giant black blobs, you just don't see anything. For example, a portion of a whole sentence might be missing, but you don't see it. You just see that there's a part in between those two texts is missing.

For example: This is an example sentence.
But with ocular migraine, you see: This is|mple sentence.
The stripe being a little colorful, flashing light.

It's the scariest thing ever. It feels like you're going blind, but it stops after 15 minutes - 60 minutes. It's probably caused by some sort of nerve twitch in your brains.... For me it's triggered by long periods of barely any sleep.

There's a simulation of how it looks here: http://www.knownjohnson.com/?p=73 (press start on the image below the text)
It's pretty accurate, except for the fact that it's impossible to make it seem like parts of your vision are actually missing.

So at first reading this I thought you were explaining something that happens to me quite a bit but after seeing the simulation it seems that it's not. What usually happens to me is the center of my vision will start to flash, similar to the simulation, but the edges of my vision will also start to go black. It doesn't last for as long as you said but it's really freaky because as the flashing gets bigger and more intense the edges actually start to close in so it actually feels a lot like I might be going blind.