Is Feeling Unreal Caused by Anxiety?

Anxiety can cause just about any physical and emotional symptom imaginable. Feeling disconnected from reality, or "unreal," can be triggered by panic, or it may be a precursor to a panic attack, according to the Anxiety Care website. However, these feelings do not mean you are losing your mind or going crazy.

Definition

• The clinical name for feeling unreal or disconnected is depersonalization or derealization. It can feel as though you are outside of your body, watching yourself. It can also seem as if you are behind a thick glass wall, in a fog or numb--not caring or connecting with anything going on around you.

Anxiety-Triggered Depersonalization

• Depersonalization may happen right before a panic attack or at the height of one, according to research cited on the Anxiety Care website. In fact, it may be the body's way to disconnect from overwhelming and stressful sensations. With anxiety disorders, this state is usually brief or over when the panic attack subsides.

Depersonalization Disorder

• On the other hand, depersonalization disorder can be its own diagnosis. If it is the primary cause, anxiety can accompany it, but there will be more prolonged disassociative states that can become chronic. This disorder tends to affect men more than women and is diagnosed primarily before age 40.

Panic Disorder

• Panic disorder is a specific type of anxiety. This type is more likely to involve depersonalization. The Love Your Anxiety website suggests recreating the alienated feelings so they do not frighten you and, as a result, induce anxiety episodes.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

• OCD can cause anxious thoughts and obsessive rituals such as frequent hand-washing.

  Obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, is characterized by anxious thinking and the need to perform rituals. This anxiety disorder also has been associated with depersonalization or derealization. Dealing with this strange feeling is part of its cure.