[MusicaElectronica]

Can someone relate to this? Is it dp/dr?
When I'm looking at an object, I know that I'm seeing it but I just can't "feel" that I'm seeing it, like my brain won't register what I'm seeing. My mind feels blank.
The same is with my thoughts, I can't really "hear" my inner voice.

 

[Chip1021]

I can relate to the first thing (I phrase it as "not being able to process what I'm looking at), but not the second part. Though I'm sure you'll find many "blank mind" sufferers here that can understand you more fully.

 

[Al_pk]

I feel you on both counts. I was explaining the other night how i dont have emotional connectivity to anything anymore. It's a really strange thing to describe because people don't think they have that connectivity to simple objects but they do, and you really notice it when it's gone. Im slowly, very slowly regaining my inner thoughts, it comes back in drips. Buti feel like i haven't had a typical internal mental life for about a year now

 

[Al_pk]

I cant say why it happens only that DP causes a lot of upheaval in the mind that is poorly understood right now

 

[forestx5]

Its temporal lobe dysfunction. Sensory input (hearing, seeing, feeling) is routed to the temporal lobe of the brain. The temporal lobe analyzes by referencing memory and providing emotional context to your inputs.

The temporal lobe is said to be "extremely prone to insult". Psychoactive drugs can insult the temporal lobe. Excessive amplitude of sensory input can stress the temporal lobe. (PTSD). Emotional abuse

insults the temporal lobe. The temporal lobe is also said to be the seat of an individual's soul. An insult to the temporal lobe can be like an insult to your soul. Loss of emotions. Loss of personality.

I write from experience and from my research. I lost my emotions following a sequence of temporal lobe seizures at age 17. A description of my epileptic syndrome describes me as a worst case scenario.

My "post ictal psychosis segued into an affective disorder of a recurrent major depressive disorder." A lesser symptom of my illness was temporary DR and long term DP.

It took 40 years to solve the riddle of my illness. Neurology, psychiatry, and the medical community in general were worthless in helping me. I discovered the appropriate diagnosis for myself

following research into British Neurological Journals after googling into a medical library. I followed up with an MRI and EEG which confirmed my self diagnosis. My EEGs show significant pathology in my

temporal lobe, consistent with a history of epileptic seizure. Sadly, all neurology could say....even after

40 years...was that I was disabled and entitled to social security disability payments. And, they are a welcome addition to my pension as I did not allow my illness to disable me.

I also suffered frequent ocular migraines from the age of 17. That was also due to my temporal lobe dysfunction and it is all related. A neurologist explained the ocular migraines and said "WE (US Neurology) have

"Bigger Fish to Fry". He then noted the Brits had done more research into that area. Well, that proved helpful in my future search for answers. But, today (thanks to the Brits), neurology understands the

nexus between migraine and epilepsy. "Migraine, the borderlands of Epilepsy" is the title of a recent research paper. My local Epilepsy Center also treats migraine. Temporal lobe epilepsy is the most common

form of the illness and it is all pathology in the temporal lobe.

If I ever write a book about my life, I will have to title it "Bigger Fish to Fry".

 

[PerfectFifth]

Yeah, I have this exact problem. I see things, but some sort of "depth" is lacking. Hence it makes it harder for me to really grasp what it is that I'm looking at. It makes something like playing sports impossible. It even makes comprehending something like a complex database or a page of programming code much, much harder because it just looks like a big blob of information that I can't really "connect" with. And last but not least, it robs me of the joy of taking in a beautiful view.

 

[Al_pk]

Sadly you never fully appreciate how mystical and intricate life is until it's gone

 

[ThoughtOnFire]

I relate to this both with seeing and hearing.

 

[Saschasascha]

There are certain areas in your brain not working 100% correctly at the moment; not integrating everything the way it should be. That doesn't mean there is any damage to your brain, but as forestx5 said, it could be very well the temporal lobes not functioning properly. It also doesn't mean it has to stay that way or that this is your new "main brain state". I think that DP is in a lot of cases a combination of accumulated trauma, high sensitivity, introspection as a personality trait, obsessiveness; so I'm with Harris Harrington here. So your current brain state is the result of those conflicts. Of course there are different causes, no size fits all. There can be as well purely biologically caused DP, but I think it is not that common. Lastly, excuse my english, it isn't my main language. And take everything with a grain of salt, those are just my opinions

Lots of strength from Germany

Sascha

 

[Jackk11]

Can someone relate to this? Is it dp/dr?
When I'm looking at an object, I know that I'm seeing it but I just can't "feel" that I'm seeing it, like my brain won't register what I'm seeing. My mind feels blank.
The same is with my thoughts, I can't really "hear" my inner voice.

I am the same way. From what I understand this is a combination of emotional numbing and anhedonia. This can arise in multiple disorders but blank mind symptom is most noted in depersonalization disorder.

 

[PerfectFifth]

There are certain areas in your brain not working 100% correctly at the moment; not integrating everything the way it should be. That doesn't mean there is any damage to your brain, but as forestx5 said, it could be very well the temporal lobes not functioning properly. It also doesn't mean it has to stay that way or that this is your new "main brain state". I think that DP is in a lot of cases a combination of accumulated trauma, high sensitivity, introspection as a personality trait, obsessiveness; so I'm with Harris Harrington here. So your current brain state is the result of those conflicts. Of course there are different causes, no size fits all. There can be as well purely biologically caused DP, but I think it is not that common. Lastly, excuse my english, it isn't my main language. And take everything with a grain of salt, those are just my opinions

Lots of strength from Germany

Sascha

I'm pretty confident that mine is endogenous, or biological, and not caused by external influences. Why do I think so? Because my DP/DR does not correlate with my mood, or anything psychological that I'm conscious of for that matter, whatsoever. If anxiety was the cause, then getting more anxious should increase my DR, and being anxiety-free should conversely have an ameliorating effect on it. This is simple logic. But this isn't the case for me at all. My DR stays relatively consistent regardless of my mental state, and those times that it doesn't, the severity doesn't correspond to my mood but has more to do with whether I'm tired or not.

This is why it's a little frustrating for me to see people conjecture on here and take for granted that DP/DR is definitely anxiety-related when it's anything but scientifically proven that that's the only, or even main, cause. Also, these one-size-fits-all magic bullets that people offer where they go "do X, and you'll be cured overnight!" are more than a little irritating. "Because it worked for me, it'll work for everyone!"-logic.

But it's worth mentioning that it's possible that even though we all describe what we have as DP/DR, we could in reality have vastly different ailments because interpretations of the same descriptions vary, and people use language differently. These symptoms are already inherently difficult to put into words. I guess I would say what I have is DR only, but no DP.

 

[Saschasascha]

Hey, Perfectfifth,

Maybe I didn't expIain myself well.I meant that I personally believe purely biological DP (organic DP) is not that common, actually quite rare. Meaning, most cases are caused by biological, psychological and environmental factors.

What's funny is that I a can relate to your description. I personally suffer almost only from derealisation and my DR is pretty much constant as well. I agree with your argument that it should fluctuate depening on your anxiety state/ mood state. But if there is accumulated trauma (and I think DP is often a mashup of trauma, anxiety, obsessiveness, introversion as an inborn trait) and those emotions/ traumatic memories aren't resolved the DP will not go away even though you don't feel anxiety at the moment and your emotional states change. Trauma can be sneaky. Last night I actually dreamed of stuff that happened many many years ago that is still effecting me. Are there any things in your life that you haven't resolved? Again, I'm no expert and I'm not saying that biological DP doesn't exist. I just think it is rarely truly just nature at play. Your genetic makeup of course playsa role but I think that purely biological DP is not that common.

Sascha