Fatema

“It was strange when I would hear myself talking. Who was this person speaking words out of my mouth? I didn't feel like it was me.”
― Malia Bradshaw, A Return to Self: Depersonalization and How to Overcome It

“Trapped within the confines of his mind, he is too aware of every thought passing through it, as if he were outside, looking in. At night he often lies awake ruminating endlessly about what’s wrong with him, about death, and about the meaning of existence itself. At times his arms and legs feel like they don’t belong with his body. But most of the time, his mind feels like it is operating apart from the body that contains it.”
― Daphne Simeon, Feeling Unreal: Depersonalization Disorder and the Loss of the Self

“Louise often feels like part of her is "acting." At the same time , "there is another part 'inside' that is not connecting with the me that is talking to you," she says. When the depersonalization is at its most intense, she feels like she just doesn't exist. These experiences leave her confused about who she really is, and quite often, she feels like an "actress" or simply, "a fake.”
― Daphne Simeon, Feeling Unreal: Depersonalization Disorder and the Loss of the Self

“The first time I experienced dissociation I had no idea what was happening to me. I sat on the couch with my boyfriend. He said something to me and when I looked at him, I didn't recognize his face.

I still knew it was him, but his features looked mangled and foreign. This face that I had looked at thousands of times now seemed strange.

Needless to say, I was terrified.”
― Malia Bradshaw, A Return to Self: Depersonalization and How to Overcome It