Hi, I'm 27 years old and have been struggling with anxiety for a couple of years.. But the past 3 months i have been having this feeling like im living my life but not really there, like I'm looking through a window..or even maybe dreaming? ill freak my self out thinking "am i really here? is this really happening?" It feels like im going crazy and thats what REALLY scares me.. i still live my normal day to day life but with that constant feeling. I have been on 50mg of zoloft for a year and my primary doctor just upped me to 100mg, i have been on that for almsot a week, if i really focus on the feeling then ill throw my self into a panic attack.. should i see a phycologist? has anyone else felt like this? ):
travis please don’t worry about this. This feeling of out of body is extremely common with anxiety and stress. It’s your brain‘s way of trying to block outside things that are causing you anxiety. It’s called depersonalization. It’s not harmful but I know how weird it can feel because I’ve had that many times. So take a nice long deep breath and release it. You don’t have to get panicked about it.
The best thing you can do is relax your mind as much as possible. One thing not to do is overthink this because then your sensations will continue. You can definitely talk to a counselor about this because they are familiar with it. They can help you relax more and decrease your anxiety so that this doesn’t happen. You can do a virtual appointments which work great . I do them and I really like them. so here’s what I would recommend…
- speak with a counselor if you would like to get some extra support
- relax your mind with soothing meditations for anxiety and breathing. You can find these on YouTube and they work great! I do these every night.
- keep active and busy so that you do not overthink. There’s lots of information on YouTube about how to stop overthinking. Your counselor can also help with that.
- get regular exercise because that increases the great hormone endorphins in the brain that relax your mind. It’s called the feel good hormone.
- drink lots of water. The brain becomes dehydrated easily and it really needs more water than most of us taken.
- it all boils down to take care of yourself! Have a sense of humor also because that actually is like medicine to the brain! you are not going crazy you are just experiencing some of the byproducts of anxiety. You’re going to be OK!
Thank you so much! this makes me feel a lot better, I’m going t follow the tips you gave me and see if it helps me out!
great! and don’t worry if sensations come and go every now and then. that’s the way anxiety works. just heavy relaxed attitude about it.
Yes, this is 100% normal with anxiety and unfortunately very common.
Hi Travis, I have experienced this so many times too and I understand your concern and how scary that feeling is, but trust me, you’re fine and it’s your body’s way of protecting you as Jan mentions, with how hard that it may be to believe. I used to be so frightened by it and panicking and thinking about it, made it much worst than me. Please stay calm and distract yourself as best as you can. Whenever I feel that sensation happening to me, I usually do some meditation to help me ease my mind or watch some of my favorite shows and I forget all about it, talking to a therapist is definitely recommended since they can help you to overcome your anxiety, but wishing you best of luck. Take care!