You are standing in a shop when everything suddenly feels slightly wrong.
The lights seem too bright. The sounds around you feel distant. You can see people moving and hear them talking, but it is as though you are watching the scene through a screen.
You look at your hands and they do not quite feel like your hands.
You know where you are. You know the shop is real. Yet you do not feel properly connected to any of it.
Then the questions begin.
Why do I feel like this?
Am I about to faint?
Am I losing control?
What if I never feel normal again?
The feeling may have lasted only a few seconds, but now you are monitoring whether it is still there. You test your vision, examine your surroundings and repeatedly ask yourself whether you feel real yet.
The sensation was frightening. The investigation that follows can make it even more important.
What is the feeling that everything is unreal?
People describe this experience in different ways.
You may feel as though you are in a dream, looking through glass or watching your life happen from a distance. Familiar places can suddenly seem strange. Sounds may feel muffled, objects may look unusually sharp or flat, and time can appear to move differently.
When your surroundings feel unreal or unfamiliar, this is often described as derealisation.
When you feel detached from yourself, your thoughts or your body, this is often described as depersonalisation.
You may experience one without the other, or both at the same time.
The terminology can sound alarming when you first encounter it online. Experiencing a brief feeling of disconnection does not automatically mean that you have depersonalisation-derealisation disorder or another mental health condition.
Feelings of unreality can occur during periods of intense anxiety and panic. The NHS describes derealisation as feeling that the world is unreal, foggy or lifeless.
Why can anxiety make everything feel strange?
Anxiety changes what your brain pays attention to.
When your alarm response is active, your attention narrows towards anything that might signal danger. You become more aware of your heartbeat, breathing, balance, vision and the way your body feels.
At the same time, information that would normally feel ordinary can begin to seem unfamiliar.
You are no longer simply walking around the shop. You are watching yourself walk, checking how the room looks and assessing whether you feel connected to it.
That change in attention can produce a strange sense of distance.
Your breathing may also become faster or shallower when you are anxious. This can contribute to dizziness, light-headedness, tingling and changes in how you experience your surroundings.
The physical sensations are real. The anxious mind then tries to explain them, often by reaching for the most frightening possibility.
Why does the feeling make me think I am losing control?
The experience is unsettling because it affects something you normally take for granted.
You do not usually need to check whether your hands feel like your own or whether the room around you is real. The moment you feel compelled to check, the ordinary sense of familiarity has already been interrupted.
Your mind may interpret that interruption as evidence that something serious is happening.
What if I am losing my mind?
What if I stop knowing who I am?
What if I do something without realising?
The fear can be intense, even when you remain completely aware that the sensation is unusual.
That awareness matters. You recognise that the world feels unreal rather than believing it has literally stopped being real.
Feelings of unreality can occur as part of a panic response. NHS clinical classification information includes depersonalisation and derealisation among the possible experiences associated with panic disorder.
Why checking whether I feel normal can make it worse
Once you have experienced derealisation, you may begin looking for it.
You wake up and immediately ask yourself whether you feel normal.
You enter a brightly lit shop and check whether the room looks strange.
You stare at your hands to see whether they feel like yours. You say your name in your head, look in the mirror or test whether you still feel connected to somebody you love.
Each check has a reasonable intention. You are trying to confirm that the feeling has gone and that you are safe.
But checking requires you to focus on the exact experience that frightened you.
You may have felt relatively normal before the test. Then you look at your hand and ask, “Does this feel like my hand?”
Now an entirely ordinary hand has become an object you are examining for evidence.
The longer you inspect it, the stranger it can begin to seem.
This is the same checking and reassurance pattern explored throughout the Anxiety Hub. The check may bring a moment of relief, but it also teaches your brain that the sensation needed to be checked.
Why does Googling the feeling rarely settle it?
You might type “why does everything feel unreal?” into Google late at night.
The first explanation may reassure you. Then you see a phrase you do not recognise, open another page and discover a list of conditions associated with the same symptom.
You compare every description with your experience.
Was the room foggy or dreamlike?
Did I feel outside my body?
How long did it last?
Do I still feel like myself now?
The search has moved from finding information to trying to obtain certainty.
No article can promise that you will never experience the feeling again. When that is the answer you need, another search always feels necessary.
If searching for explanations has become part of your anxiety, you may recognise the same process described in why anxiety can appear when nothing seems wrong.
Why trying to force yourself back into the room can keep you focused on it
When you feel detached, you naturally want to feel completely present again.
You may concentrate intensely on the room, name everything you can see or repeatedly tell yourself that you are real and safe.
Some grounding strategies can be useful, especially when they help you return attention to what you are doing.
The difficulty comes when the exercise becomes another test.
Can I feel the chair properly?
Does my voice sound normal now?
Is the room still strange?
Has it gone yet?
You are still monitoring the sensation and waiting for evidence that you have returned to normal.
The harder you try to manufacture a particular feeling, the more aware you become of any moment that does not match it.
You do not usually feel real because you are successfully proving reality to yourself. You feel real when the question is no longer demanding your attention.
Why can it happen in busy or enclosed places?
Supermarkets, shopping centres, restaurants, public transport and crowded rooms contain a great deal of sensory information.
There are lights, movement, conversations, music, signs and people passing close to you. If your nervous system is already alert, the environment can begin to feel overwhelming or unfamiliar.
You may also worry that leaving would be difficult or noticeable.
The thought that you cannot quickly escape increases your anxiety. Your attention moves inward, the surroundings feel more distant and the sense of disconnection becomes another reason to leave.
Escaping usually brings relief. Your brain may then conclude that the place caused the sensation and leaving prevented something worse.
This can become part of the pattern described in why panic increases when you feel unable to leave.
Does derealisation mean I am going mad?
A frightening sensation does not establish a diagnosis.
Derealisation and depersonalisation can occur alongside anxiety, panic, intense stress, trauma, sleep deprivation and other mental or physical health factors. They can also be associated with some medications and recreational drugs.
An online article cannot determine why you are experiencing them.
What often keeps anxiety going is the attempt to answer the question repeatedly through checking, researching and analysing every sensation.
You may never obtain the absolute guarantee your anxious mind is requesting. You can still decide that the appearance of the sensation will not automatically begin another investigation.
How can the pattern change?
Start by recognising the sequence.
You notice that the room feels strange.
You interpret the feeling as a threat.
Your body becomes more alert.
You check your vision, thoughts or surroundings.
You ask whether you are losing control.
The increased attention makes the sensation feel stronger.
You leave, seek reassurance or search online.
You feel relieved, and your brain remembers which actions appeared to keep you safe.
When you can see the sequence, the experience becomes less mysterious. There is a sensation, followed by a series of predictions and responses.
The aim is not to force the sensation away. It is to stop treating every moment of disconnection as evidence that you are in danger.
You can notice that things feel strange and continue with the next ordinary action. You can listen to the person speaking rather than checking how their voice sounds. You can finish choosing what you need from the shelf without testing whether the shop feels real yet.
That gives your brain different information.
The sensation appeared, you remained in control and the moment passed without requiring an emergency response.
When should I speak to my GP?
Speak to your GP if feelings of unreality are new, persistent, becoming more frequent or affecting your ability to manage everyday life.
A medical professional can consider anxiety alongside other possible causes, including physical health conditions, medication, sleep difficulties and substance use. Seek prompt medical advice if the experience is accompanied by other new or concerning symptoms.
The NHS guidance on anxiety, fear and panic also recommends seeking support when anxiety is difficult to manage or affecting your life.
Hypnotherapy for anxiety and panic in Bromsgrove
I offer hypnotherapy for anxiety and panic from my Bromsgrove clinic and online.
We look at the automatic response that begins when everything feels strange, including the physical alarm, frightening interpretation, self-monitoring and checking that keep the experience important.
Your free one-hour initial consultation gives us time to understand what has been happening, how the pattern affects you and what you would like to experience instead.