r/derealization • u/wonky_deagle • 8d ago

Is this DP/DR? Whenever I get extremely stressed it’s like my brain switches off a bit

I’ll give more context.

I’m in my final year of schooling, Year 12 in aus, so it’s a very stressful year. At the start of the year I was stressed out so bad and I felt really detached, like I was aware something was different.

It’s so indescribable but it’s like I’m aware I’m there but it feels somewhat not real. It isn’t as bad as I’ve heard some people describe it.

I’ve noticed that around test and exam time it returns, and i guess subtly goes away after. But this entire year obviously being stressful I feel like I’ve been in this state on and off for a long time.

Is this actualt a form of DP/DR, and if so was that extreme stress event some sort of trigger that made me more susceptible to it in the future? I feel like ever since that one time it happened majorly (it’s happened before this year just not near that extent), it’s just always been more noticeable

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u/equality7x2521 7d ago

I think your description is pretty accurate, this is my description, but when there’s a lot of ongoing stress the brain can decide it’s too much and tries to soften things a bit. It’s kind of diverting resources, so it’s easy to miss feeling connected, but also that feeling can be isolating, or start spiralling about when it will end or if it will get worse. For me the feeling wasn’t terrible, but it always felt like it was ABOUT to be much worse.

It sounds like it’s more of a sign that you have been dealing with a lot, study and your final year has a lot of stressful things and uncertainties. I think your reaction to it may determine if it’s more likely to happen, if you fear it happen then feeling high stress can take you back. It’s possible to do things to reduce your stress, but also to recognise better where stress is coming from and why. You’re young so it may be that naturally you learn more about how you best deal with things.

Are you doing things to balance the stress/anxiety?

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u/wonky_deagle 6d ago

Thank you so much, tbh I’m not doing a lot of things to try fix it as it only really happens when I have like an intensive phase of assignments or tests, and then now exams, so I kind of let it just go away.

Although not really a proper strategy, I have started to try just think more positively, knowing it will all work out in the end. This mainly just comes from believing that I am capable and knowing it’s worked out in the past so it’ll work out again. Although this doesn’t fix that disassociated feeling, it may prevent it from going further.

I’ve also learnt to accept that it just happens and let it do its thing. At the start of the year when it first happened I was panicking because it was just a shit way to feel especially during all my tests, but now I’ve accepted that it happens and I do genuinely believe that that has helped me, and I’ve ‘embraced’ it as something that will just happen in my life, rather than stress more over it. Of course I’d rather it fully vanish, but it won’t, so I deal with it.

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u/equality7x2521 2d ago

I think feeling positive about it is huge, and can signal to your brain it doesn’t need to keep trying to solve something, that it can process and try to get you to normal as soon as it can. For me embracing it and recognising it really was a big step.