I read a post that someone mention feeling outside of their body and my husband asked me to try that and I said I cant. Now I am wondering if this is something that happens when manic or something? Anyone feel that way? Thanks.

Hi,

It's called depersonalisation and it's happening to me at the moment and driving me insane. From what I understand, it occurs more often as a result of being nervous or worried or panicky (consciously or otherwise) than being manic. Or, sometimes, it can just happen for no obvious reason at all.

Thank you for your reply. I will have to look up information on depersonalization. I hope your ok soon.

Hi Marshmallow,

I was 'out of my body' for the best part of ten years and still experience it now when I'm very stressed out - in fact I can kind of call it up now when I can't cope.

I don't know if it's the same as you are talking about - I feel as if I'm watching myself go about my daily business. A much more confident, capable 'me' takes over and I just shrivel up and let her get on with it. Sounds a little crazy I know! I read a lot about Disassociative Identity Disorder - there were some similarities for me there. I have a lot of friends who suffer from anxiety and depression who describe similar things from time to time. I have on occassion seen 'myself' kind of lift up and leave my body (which is a bit freaky). I used to do a lot of drugs when I was a teenager - I don't know if this contributed at all.

Sorry this has probably raised more questions than answers. I do find the whole field of psychiatry quite confusing and lots of conditions seem to overlap and be called different things by different people. If it helps at all, I tend to pick out the bits that apply to me and call them whatever I think fits best - I know it's not an approach a doctor would agree with but in terms of keeping things straight in my head it seems to work. I sometimes used to feel that my 'other' person was the manic one and I was the depressive.

Hope this isn't too confusing - sorry if it is. Janine

Thanks, Pic you cant confuse me I am already way toooo confused about the mind and what makes it work. I try to figure out things and it just leads to one more thing to figure out. LOL Thanks again.

Hiya Marshmallow,

Had to laugh when I read your post - I can remember that 'early research' time when none of it made sense, lots of info was contradictory and everything I read just led to more questions (none of which I could ever get answered by psychiatrists, many of whom, strangely, seem to have a very limited knowledge of psychiatric disorders!!). I received four different diagnoses in the same week - bi-polar II, recurrent depression with psychotic features, cyclothymia and cyclothymic personality disorder. At that point I kind of decided to go my own way!!

If it's any help, I decided to refer to myself as manic depressive simply because most people have at least heard of it and have some idea of what it means. I personally think Disassociative Identity Disorder actually fits me better but if you mention that to someone you then have to explain all about it which gets a bit tedious. I also treat my symptoms as oppose to my 'condition'. I did loads of research into complementary therapy and have found a combination of homeopathic treatments that I keep at home and can use as necessary. In the beginning I saw a homeopath regularly, but as I got more stable and more knowledgeable I was able to just buy the various supplements and treatments and sort myself out. I often medicate in a preventative way now - if I know something stressful is coming up I start taking my remedies well in advance and if I get a bit low I cancel anything I don't fancy doing and spend a couple of days on the sofa watching DVD's.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't get too hung up on what to call it or whether things are attributed to mania or some other cause. Identify the symptoms and explore the different ways of treating them. The thing I like about homeopathy is that they treat the causes rather than the symptoms themselves - ie a mood stabiliser will keep you steady because it suppresses the symptoms of the mood swings - when you come off the stabiliser the mood swings will still be happening. A homeopath will try and identify the cause of the mood swings and treat that instead, thereby stopping them from occuring in the first place. Try to identify triggers and find ways of avoiding them if possible and, if all else fails, tie a scarf around your head to keep your brains from popping out if your head explodes with all this confusing information!! x

Looking for a scarf! Thanks for the laugh. You also make a lot of sense. My husband is the one that has the problem (if that's a good word) and I keep trying to diagnose him in my own mind. We went to therapists and pdocs and were told so many different things but now he does not believe he even has a problem. He rages and is violent at times and his thinking seems delusional at times. He talks sometimes about leaving his body and looking down on his life outside his body. I do get confused at times with some of this. We are not living together at this time but still love each other and would like to someday be able to live together again. He does not hit me but the verbal and mental abuse got to be too much. I am trying to understand why he behaves the way he does.