Does anyone suffer from feelings of detachment/depersonalization, it really scares me?

feelings of detachment, and depersonalization are very common with stress, anxiety, panic. It is not harmful, but I know how weird it feels. It is actually your brain trying to protect you from too much stress, so it blocks things out. you are not going mad. See what happens when you take the medication that may help.

The main thing is don’t get overly anxious about it because it’ll be harder to get rid of. Just start the medication and find ways to relax your mind. That’s the best thing you can do. whether it’s listening to some meditations for anxiety, getting a little exercise is always helpful even if it’s just walking. Practice, long, slow, deep breathing, etc. I’ve been through that and I know that calming down my mind was very helpful.

a counselor can help you with that and offer other suggestions. Virtual counseling works great.

Hello,

I'm a retired medical professional in the U.S. but I'll respond here to see if I can provide reassurance.

Depersonalization and de-realization can come about both as a consequence of Panic Disorder, SSRI treatment medication or a combination of both circumstances. Realize that both PD and the SSRI medications tend to have an impact upon the body's senses that can produce distortions from what you normally experience. Patients typically describe what seems like a barrier between themselves and their environment and/or sensations that they are experiencing life outside their own body, symptoms that are most often cyclic in nature.

It's important to understand that with respect to panic disorder, there is a reduction in GABA, or gamma-aminobutyric acid, is a neurotransmitter that is responsible for regulation of certain nerve stimulation and most often produces a calming effect. Studies have shown that persons experiencing panic disorder most often have a corresponding reduction in adequate levels of GABA.

SSRI medications work by blocking receptors that help remove circulation of excess serotonin, which is a neurotransmitter that upregulates mood. You might well expect that these collective changes in neurotransmitters demonstrate variable effects upon the body's senses, which are also stimulated and regulated by neurotransmitters. Remember that your collective senses - eyesight, hearing, smell, touch and taste all work in coordination to permit you to detect and interact with the environment around you and provide feedback that you regard as normal unless disturbed by unusual circumstances.

Any disturbance to this real-time process will subsequently produce odd variations in your senses that together make you feel unnatural in the context of not feeling like your interaction with the environment is normal, that you feel as though everything around you or you, yourself, do not feel quite real by comparison to what you know to be normal.

The important fact to mention here is that your senses are merely dysfunctional and under influence of the effects of medication or chronic anxiety/panic disorder. Person who feel frightened that they may be experiencing a psychotic break, or otherwise "going mad," simply need to realize that the sensations responsible are not a process of the mind other than its misinterpretation of what is actually taking place physically. The improper stimulation of the body's senses is both temporary and harmless. It is not an indication of anything worse.

Lastly, understand that many if not most patients who experience panic disorder or clinical depression that are treated using medications such as Citalopram can invariably at some point in time experience unusual sensations that are misinterpreted as a sign of some negative or harmful and irreversible consequence. Again, the sensations and their perfectly natural misinterpretations are entirely normal and patients all react differently to treatment or the disorders themselves. Treatment is not a perfect science and dose adjustments or changes to medications are not uncommon at all in order to ultimately achieve a balance between the most positive benefit and least presence of negative side-effects.

You're going to be just fine. Work closely with your physician regarding your progress in order to ultimately achieve the best results.

Best regards

Hello yes, I usually get that detachment feeling mainly when I wake up yes its scary and horrible no your not going mad its all part of the anxiety unfortunately hope you are feeling better soon🤗