Has anyone ever experienced this?

Hello everyone,

Every since I could remember I have been experiencing this strange detachment, as if the people in my life (be it loved ones or colleagues at work) became strangers all of a sudden and as if I was trapped with them with nowhere to go. This applies to surroundings as well, and the feeling lasts for a couple of seconds, but it's incredibly unsettling. This feeling occurs erratically, it can pass several months before I experience it again but I'm curious of what may cause it and I would really appreciate if I could get more insight.

Hello and welcome to PC! What you're describing seems like derealization which is a form of dissociation. I experience this as well. Do you have a therapist or a diagnosis? It is common in borderline personality disorder.

Thank you for your response. No, I have never been diagnosed with anything. This is actually the only thing I'm aware of that feels out of place to me. I've always assumed there has to be more symptoms to get a proper diagnose.

Yep, I get something similar to this. It happens sometimes when it's late at night and I'm trying to get to sleep, makes you feel like you're the only person in the world (like an alien among humans) and like no one else can connect with you. It also happened about a week ago when I was walking and the smell of woodchips triggered it for some reason and I thought about just walking to a new city and starting a new life.

I would never plan to just abandon my current life, in fact I'm quite happy in it, but it's just a weird feeling like being detached from your own personality and temporarily being able to explore the world from a completely different perspective. The easiest way to explain this to people is just to say "It's probably what someone tripping on drugs would feel like". I've never taken drugs (for whatever reason) but I imagine someone who's "high" would get a similar kind of dissociative experience.

It depends what drugs you're on. Vicodin gives me that feeling, but cocaine makes me super aware of myself and my surroundings.

Yeah that happens to me too, but mostly when I'm in social situations as a result of anxiety. Atomicc points out that it occurs with BPD but it is also associated with many other mental conditions. Extreme anxiety or past trauma can be a cause (remember "trauma" is relative) but maybe other things too.

I don't think it necessarily feels like being on drugs, but some drugs can cause dissociative feelings. It's not nearly as entertaining as drugs though. Cocaine actually used to make me more dissociative I think but that's because I'm already an anxious wreck. Don't do drugs.

Read about dissociation on wikipedia. Good luck.

It started happening to me about the same time I started to really change and started having difficulties at 14. I could not relate to being around my friends or family. Nothing about them seemed enjoyable. People would talk to me and it seemed like it just went thru me and I had no clue how to answer. I didn't find my friends funny anymore, etc. I had no idea what was going on with me.

Before that I had no trouble being interactive and I enjoyed being around family and friends.