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Feeling of detachment

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Deefor4
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10 Sep 2007, 11:10 am

pbcoll wrote:
Cooper wrote:
I get the depersonalization feeling too. In fact, I'm really glad to hear that people with AS experience it, because some things I read online made me think that only schizotypal or borderline PD sufferers felt this way. It happens to me when I'm really stressed - trying to write an essay, in a small group situation with peers, in a meltdown like state, etc.


i've heard anecdotal evidence that it can happen to anyone in extreme situations. what is unusual in my case is that alcohol can also bring it about, but from other posts this bit may be an aspie thing.


That's interesting, because alcohol definitely makes it worse - it's as though the clumsiness and incoherence that come with being drunk (not that I do it very often, you understand :wink: ) are due to the distance between me and the world increasing until I can barely interact with it at all.



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10 Sep 2007, 1:14 pm

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I'm just wondering whether anybody else with Aspergers has this? I know I've had Aspie traits from as far back as I can remember, but when I was in my early teens I had 'flu. As I was getting over it, I started to feel somehow divorced from reality, and I've been like it ever since (I'm 45). I can see and hear what's going on around me; I can interact with the world; but it's as though I'm doing it all from behind a thick screen. It's almost as though the real me is in the control room of a robot that's doing all the interacting for me - that's the best description I can come up with.


I don't think it had any connection to the flu per say. I have the same disconnected relationship with reality and the world around me. What I imagine in my head seems as real as what's taking place before my eyes. The robot analogy is excellent. I never thought of it that way before. Although just yesterday when I was experiencing that sensation of being behind the screen I thought how much if felt like being in control of a puppet or marionette. The real me being the puppeteer and the interacting me being the puppet. I was at a kind of large family gathering when I got this intense feeling and it also occurred to me that I was almost like a ghost in the midst of the gathering. Like I was there, but no one could see me and that I imagined any interaction that took place.



M_LibertyGirl
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10 Sep 2007, 1:47 pm

Nambo wrote:
Yep, and me, I allways discribe it as feeling Iam watching a television programme about life rather than actually being there,
I think this explains the Aspie trait of starting at people,
I stare at people because I dont think they know Iam there and so dont see me staring at them, which is quite rude apparently?

I experience the same thing. I have actually used the same words to describe it before. And it's not just staring with me, a lot of times when I'm watching people talking or doing something or I'm minding my own business and then suddenly they ask me something or start talking to me I become genuinely shocked, the way you would if suddenly people on tv started talking to you!


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12 Sep 2007, 1:14 pm

Yes, that's so true. I was told that since I was a little baby I was always quiet staring at the people, looking everything, every movement .. and I could spent hours like this. Guess, that's the reason I'm still an 'observant' personality ( I can't help it ), and sometimes my 'staring' way of being ( most of the time I don't realize it ) it gave some problems cause the people get nervous with my solely presence because they feel I'm like an intruder who likes to touch eveybody's 'privacy' life, but how to explain them I'm not doing cause I want, it's just a way of being .. in this cases I usually decide to go away to avoid anybody gets angry at me, just for doing nothing, but sometimes I realize my presence cause this feelings on oter people, that's why I'm always alone ...



Ana54
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12 Sep 2007, 1:29 pm

Oooh yeah; I have the depersonalization problem too... sensory deprivation. Soemtimes I feel like I'm really there, most of the time like I'm not. Sensory deprivation, Sensory Processing Disorder-- I think there might be other names for it too. :)



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12 Sep 2007, 2:15 pm

I get feeling that can relate to these, but I just can't explain what they are. I sometimes get them after taking a new type of medicine (even simple things like over-the-counter drugs) and at times when I'm really stressed. I first started having them in middle school, and when they first happened, they were so bad that I just couldn't think properly.



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12 Sep 2007, 6:03 pm

cosmiccat wrote:
Quote:
I'm just wondering whether anybody else with Aspergers has this? I know I've had Aspie traits from as far back as I can remember, but when I was in my early teens I had 'flu. As I was getting over it, I started to feel somehow divorced from reality, and I've been like it ever since (I'm 45). I can see and hear what's going on around me; I can interact with the world; but it's as though I'm doing it all from behind a thick screen. It's almost as though the real me is in the control room of a robot that's doing all the interacting for me - that's the best description I can come up with.


I don't think it had any connection to the flu per say. I have the same disconnected relationship with reality and the world around me. What I imagine in my head seems as real as what's taking place before my eyes. The robot analogy is excellent. I never thought of it that way before. Although just yesterday when I was experiencing that sensation of being behind the screen I thought how much if felt like being in control of a puppet or marionette. The real me being the puppeteer and the interacting me being the puppet. I was at a kind of large family gathering when I got this intense feeling and it also occurred to me that I was almost like a ghost in the midst of the gathering. Like I was there, but no one could see me and that I imagined any interaction that took place.



CC,I used to try and describe it as a spider that was sitting behind the "eye holes" of this giant machine,just sort of riding around in it and looking out the holes.It is much worse when I am in a social situation(and dont know what to do with my body)bt I feel that "spider behind the eyes" thing all the time.I try and not think about it because it's the....i"s this normal",feeling that really freaks me out.


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12 Sep 2007, 6:37 pm

Deefor4 wrote:
I'm just wondering whether anybody else with Aspergers has this? I know I've had Aspie traits from as far back as I can remember, but when I was in my early teens I had 'flu. As I was getting over it, I started to feel somehow divorced from reality, and I've been like it ever since (I'm 45). I can see and hear what's going on around me; I can interact with the world; but it's as though I'm doing it all from behind a thick screen. It's almost as though the real me is in the control room of a robot that's doing all the interacting for me - that's the best description I can come up with.

I saw a doctor about it once, who gave me some tablets (I have no idea what they were) which did nothing, and I did get referred to a psychologist once, who eventually informed me that I "might just have to learn to live with it". Which I have...

It's not really much of a problem - I'm barely aware of it unless I think about it - but I'd be very interested to know whether anybody else out there experiences this?


I have the flu now and am experiencing this.
I nearly always feel this way...but when I feel sick it is worse.


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12 Sep 2007, 7:20 pm

I think I had this once for a few days. I was in a lot of emotional stress and I got very sleep deprived on top of it all.

I would describe it as the world becoming dream-like. The physical numbness was almost a relief but there was an accompanying fear of loss of inhibition. Since the world felt less real it seemed like there was less to prevent me from doing something stupid, embarrassing, or dangerous. I also broke down and cried, yet it didn’t feel like I was experiencing the emotion myself. It was almost like it was someone else crying or I was just putting on an act, yet I couldn’t control it. Also when I walked and talked it felt like everything was in automatic pilot. I was so absent minded that I couldn’t remember what I was doing half the time.

There was also a physical sensation. At times it felt like I couldn’t feel my legs moving or my feet touching the floor. It was like I couldn’t feel the strain in my muscles and I could run without even noticing my legs. I get this feeling in my legs other times when I have an adrenaline rush. Also, my legs always feel like this in dreams.