It happened once in awhile before my dad passed away, but now it happens a lot.

It used to happen with the panic attacks, but now I don't really get the attacks anymore, so it's like indepdent of panic attacks-- but anxiety comes on while it's happening-- not a full-blown attack anymore.

All of a sudden I just can't see right. Things look weird, like they are unreal or out of place. T says it is from the buildup of my anxiety, the constant feeling of impending doom. The other day I was driving in the rain and I put my sunglasses on because I didn't like the way things looked and I needed to shield my eyes.

Can anyone relate?

Yes, I can totally relate.

The more stress I am under, the more it happens. It's really disconcerting. It's especially unnerving when I look at my own arm, or look in the mirror, and find that what I'm seeing looks "wrong". eeek.

When things calm down for me, it gets better. You are under an unbelievable amount of stress right now...so it makes so much sense that this is happening.

[Kendyll]

I can relate to this, too.
Kind of like looking at a word that I know is spelled right but the letters are all wrong - except it's the world that looks "wrong". Yeah, it can be very troubling and it's even hard to describe. But things around me don't look real, don't make sense, don't look right. Really weird to look at my BF and not quite recognize him. Or driving or walking and the streets look wrong.

I get it more when I'm stressing, too. And when I'm stressing, I can't shake it off as easily. That's when I need to do non-visual grounding exercises - like touch or taste or music. When my eyes are playing tricks on me, I need to find another sense to get me back to "reality".
You aren't alone with this one!

[Rosie7]

OMG! I didn't think this happened to anyone else. I fell 2 days ago because I was looking at my foot when it didn't look right. It was the weirdest thing. I have no clue as to tell you what to do for it but I know exactly what you are talking about!

[wanttoheal]

((((((((((((((Pinksoil)))))))))))))) Good to see you here.

It sounds like derealization, which from my understanding, is a form of dissociation. My T has used depersonalization and derealization together.

Here is an excerpt I found that might be helpful. It's hard to read from the colors and you might need sunglasses though, lol.

"It may happen when you first wake up, or while flying on an airplane or driving in your car. Suddenly, inexplicably, something changes. Common objects and familiar situations seem strange, foreign. Like you've just arrived on the planet, but don't know from where. It may pass quickly, or it may linger. You close your eyes and turn inward, but the very thoughts running through your head seem different. The act of thinking itself, the stream of invisible words running through the hollow chamber of your mind, seems strange and unreal. It's as if you have no self, no ego, no remnant of that inner strength which quietly and automatically enabled you to deal with the world around you, and the world inside you. It may settle over time, into a feeling of "nothingness", as if you were without emotions, dead. Or the fear of it may blossom into a full-blown panic attack. But when it hits for the first time, you're convinced that you're going insane, and wait in a cold sweat to see when and if you finally do go over the edge.

What you don't know at the moment is that this troubling experience is distinctly human, experienced briefly at some time or another by as much as 70 percent of the population. In its chronic form, popular culture once saw it as part of a nervous breakdown. Some have called it "Alice in Wonderland" disease. Jean Paul Sartre called it "the filth" , William James dubbed it "the sick soul". It's been linked philosophically to existentialism, even Buddhism. Yet to its victims, it's anything but an enlightened state of mind. Welcome to the world of Depersonalization Disorder."


It's from this address: http://www.depersonalization.info/overview.html


There looks like a lot of good information there that might help. Stress definitely adds to dissocation, I've found. You have a whole lot going on for you right now so it would make sense that things are happening more often.

Hope that helps. We look forward to hearing more from you.