When Everything Feels Like a Dream | Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder

It's not rare to feel like we're dreaming, even right after we wake up, but when it sticks around for longer than it should, it can merit its own diagnosis: depersonalization-derealization disorder (DDD). Hank unpacks what this disorder is and how scientists and doctors are working to understand and treat it.

Hosted by: Hank Green
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[KP-ovmg]

It honestly feels like this disorder can never actually be described. It feels im fading away. Like my consciousness is at 30% saturation.

[luis]

it feels like i’m stuck in my head and my body is just going along. Kind of like Auto Pilot

[bluesageful]

I've had this disorder for over 40 years . This is by far the SCARIEST part of anxiety! If my anxiety attacks only consisted of feeling nervous, thinking I was going crazy, etc. I could handle it. But the De-realization is THE WORSE! My prayers are with anyone who's ever experienced this

[whatthefrickbro]

My derealisation began when I was 11 and I’ve just come to accept that I’m always going to feel about 40% conscious for the rest of my life

[mjnoon]

For me it feels like the real me is already dead and I'm just living my memories.

[Tullio]

For me, derealisation is like watching a hyperrealistic movie. It often takes a couple of seconds to realise that someone is addressing me and not merely talking to the fourth wall

[michellegilley]

As a 19 year old who has had severe disorder since I was 11, describing it to others who don’t have the same disorder is extremely difficult. It feels like everything, and everyone, is a simulation. Nothing feels real, not yourself, not anybody else. Everything around you is covered in fog, and You feel so numb, yet so frustrated that you can’t seem to snap out of this dream/nightmare. You feel like you’re in a video game realm, yet you can’t take the VR headset off. It’s having a vague memory of what the world around you seemed like and, in comparison to now, you’re longing to see the world like that again. It’s living on pure survival mode. It’s not being able to absorb information around you. It’s having your vision clouded by smoke and showing you the most dull version of colors it can. It’s not having any (or very few) friends/relationships because it almost physically pains you to have conversations with people because you have to force your brain to come up with a pre-loaded, “socially-acceptable” response because you don’t have conversation skills due to not really understanding them. It’s so draining to even force yourself to talk because, your brain feels deserted. It’s sleeping 18+ hours a day because you don’t know what to do with yourself. And, at least in your dreams, you feel a little bit more real. Its forgetting what you just did every 2 seconds, like hopping out of the bath, getting dressed, and asking yourself right after, “Did I take a bath today…?” It’s also so much more than that, and so different for so many people. is real, so real, and please don’t hesitate to get help bbs. I currently am seeking to get treatment. We can get through this together 💓

[mr.duck]

I feel like this mostly happens to me when I’m socializing a lot, especially in an environment that I’ve rarely or never been in before.

[jamesdaly]

I've had this chronically since I was a about 10 years old and I can tell you that medically, nobody seems to remotely care.

[beequeen]

I usually describe it as like having on a very convincing VR headset. You’re senses are all working and you can interact with your surroundings fine and, yet, you still feel like your not actually there. It still feels simulated and unreal.

[gigiouija]

I use to live with this DAILY. I'm super thankful that I no longer get it- I was really depressed at the time as well. It felt as though you can't fully connect with everything. You know you're there but it feels like you're not, very floaty. I felt as though I was experiencing everything in third person, nothing felt mine or connected to me. It's a very hard thing to describe and experience. I remember telling people about how I felt and no one understood what I meant. If you're going through this and feel as though it won't go away, trust me, it will with time. I always thought it was just me but as time slowly passed it started to fade away.

[pinktigerstripes]

this used to happen to me a lot when I was little and I could only describe it to others as "It feels like I'm in a dream" . it would just happen to me randomly whilst I was walking or something and it felt like my mind detached from my body

[speed_up_songs]

When I was younger I used to say "I don't feel myself" when I had this and people were like wtf

[northwestwind]

I have many moments where I zone out and look at my hands, table, computer. When someone is talking to me, and I feel for sure stuck within a dream landscape. My surroundings feel like a dream and I don't feel present. I find my hands very uncanny! Because that's what we do when we realize we're in a dream, look at our hands. Even typing this...I know I'm alive and existing, but it truly doesn't feel right.

[yukiyoshikawaa]

I have this. For me, its a continuous cycle of varying intensities. One moment I can feel anchored to reality, not thirty seconds later everything can be unreal.

Nothing has weight. I've been hit by a car going 50 mph, asked out or been asked out, and it feels like a movie.

The scariest part about DDD is the detachment makes you question the validity of your own memories. You know you had a good time during your high school prom, but you can't feel excited when you recall that moment. Everything is acknowledged. Nothing is felt.

[DuckiesDad]

Getting chills just watching. I experienced both in 2012, simultaneously and due to stress. It was, without a doubt, the most terrifying experience ever. My heart goes out to anyone experiencing this long-term.

[Yltfososkaeps]

my dreams have become so vivid i’m getting dream memories mixed up with “reality” memories

[nothingtoseehere]

I literally can't stare at a mirror too long or I just separate from myself. It's a really sucky feeling

[wellick]

Knowing there’s other people out there that experience this makes me feel way less alone, I genuinely had no idea what I was experiencing. It felt like I was reintroduced to a world that I’ve already been living in and never had an explanation for it. Everything just felt so fake like I was the only sentient person on earth. Sometimes I freak myself out that I’m in control of a person when I look down at my legs and body lmfao

[aizuni]

I think I have found the best way to describe my feeling :
It feels as if my vision and senses are limited. So it feels like I am supposed to see more. I don’t have eye problems (I’m just nearsighted but I have glasses), but my derealization feeling is like… I feel like I should see more than what I already see in my field of vision. I feel like I should be seeing everything at the same time. Same with my senses. I feel like I am missing out on something. It’s as if, in my past life, I could see way more than just what humans see in their field of visions… Kinda like I used to see behind myself too and not just in front.
It’s actually mostly a feeling that something about my senses or capabilities is missing.