Confused between dreams and reality.

[Jasmin Cottontail]

I have these thing wherein I'm having difficulties distinguishing dreams from reality. I never had the chance to know when it all started, I was just confused whether or not a particular event in my life that I've experienced actually happened or not. I figured it out one time when I've asked my hubby about a certain place that we've been and an occassion that we had attended, then he told me that he can't remember. It got me really confused in light of the fact that I knew it just happened like 2 weeks ago or so and I can't really get it out of my head so we decided to ask some of our friends who are in that particular event telling me they can't remember or were in a certain event at the time.


That made me think and something hit me, there were also times in my childhood wherein I've asked my parents something that I remember and they kept on telling me that it didn't happen or not that they know of which I think is somehow impossible because they are present at that certain moment. I don't know if it's just normal or what but there are times that it causes arguements and frustration with people that I care most.


What is your opinion about this? Have you ever experience something like this?

 

[Surrender]

Well I'm not sure if it is the same, but I have had that with childhood memories. I will say/remember something happened and my mom will say it never did, or I have a vivid imagination. But I'm pretty sure it happened. 


Sometimes I think people find different things memorable or mundane, so they end up storing a memory or not, which could be different from what you stored.  But I think if you are saying you remember things differently from others of things that are recent, well that could be something different. Maybe you are imagining things, or maybe you are very perceptive and picking up things other people didn't notice?

 

[lexinonomous]

My best advice for you is to speak with some sort of therapist. I know it doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but it's big enough for you to mention it on a forum. This sounds very similar to what I experienced as a child. I felt like I was living in a dream state for most of my childhood and majority of that was a result of being in a chaotic environment. Are you dealing with anything stressful at the moment? Stress can play a huge rule in how our mind is working.


This is a stretch, but you may be disassociating yourself from reality. I went through this as well when I was dealing with a break up. Sometimes I felt as if I was living someone elses life and didn't know how to handle my own.

 

[CT422]

I've had this before, mostly in regards to my childhood, or trying to remember things. I thin it definitely is part of dissociation, just maybe not wanting to remember hard times, and replacing it with something else. I've also had times where I felt like my life was someone else's, almost like I was watching everything happen in a movie, it was an especially stressful time for me. 

 

[Novelangel]

This was a major part of my childhood and it interests me to see that others have experienced it as well. Perhaps it isn't as abnormal as we think it is. What I mean is, perhaps certain people or children are more sensitive to their surroundings than others and have a strong tendency to 'bring out' dreams into their real life situations. It's also possible that some people have very vivid dreams and simply can't always tell the difference between dreamland and reality. I had some seriously severe nightmares as a child, some of which I've determined to have definitely been dreams, and others that I still haven't figured out. Irregardless, it doesn't happen to me today, so in my case it was a childhood situation.

 

[HappyKoi]

This is interesting.  Some medications have this side effect, too.  The fact that this has been happening for so long might be an organic issue with your brain, but this is just a guess because I am certainly not a medical professional.  I would recommend a visit to a doctor to check it out.  Sometimes I have precognitive dreams- I've been having these since I was a kid- but since it's impacting your life this seriously, it's cause for concern.  Perhaps it would help to keep a dream diary and/ or a daily journal so you can keep these things separate and track them.  Let us know how things are going with this.

 

[sidney]

If you think that a certain event happened and the rest doesn't think that it did, then you might be experiencing hallucinations? Like what has been said, it would be best to consult a psychiatrist for that. That has never happened to me though, with the exception of this incident wherein I did not know if I had seen something spooky in real life or if I was just dreaming. That was when I was in pre-school though, and when I think about it until now, I still don't know if that indeed happened or not.

 

[kelden]

Not, I have never suffered hallucinations. But I knew schizophrenic people and drug abusers, there is a  common consensus that hallucinations are dreadful as hell. Like living a nightmare while awake, I hope never had to deal something like that, the nearest thing I've experienced are night terrors and somnambulism; but beyond that nothing more. 

 

[Aree Wongwanlee]

I don't have that problem now. A few months ago, when I was down with a very bad fever, there were times when I was hovering between sleep and wakefulness and I wondered whether I was dreaming or whether I was awake. Things went through my mind and I wasn't sure if they were memories of what had actually happened or were just figments of my imagination. After the fever was gone, I was back to normal. I still spend time imagining things but I am now very clear about what is imaginary and what is reality.

 

[Jasmin Cottontail]

Well I'm not sure if it is the same, but I have had that with childhood memories. I will say/remember something happened and my mom will say it never did, or I have a vivid imagination. But I'm pretty sure it happened. 


Sometimes I think people find different things memorable or mundane, so they end up storing a memory or not, which could be different from what you stored.  But I think if you are saying you remember things differently from others of things that are recent, well that could be something different. Maybe you are imagining things, or maybe you are very perceptive and picking up things other people didn't notice?

Yes, same thing happened to me when I was a kid. I will tell my mom and dad something about school or occasions or how amazing was my classmate's birthday party and they often tell me either that a certain occasion didn't happened yet or it never did or perhaps I'm just imagining things which is really confusing on my part. I sometimes wonder what's wrong or if I have a mental illness or something which does not scares me actually but rather annoys me because of the confusion that it's causing not only me, as well as those people around me

 

[Jasmin Cottontail]

My best advice for you is to speak with some sort of therapist. I know it doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but it's big enough for you to mention it on a forum. This sounds very similar to what I experienced as a child. I felt like I was living in a dream state for most of my childhood and majority of that was a result of being in a chaotic environment. Are you dealing with anything stressful at the moment? Stress can play a huge rule in how our mind is working.


This is a stretch, but you may be disassociating yourself from reality. I went through this as well when I was dealing with a break up. Sometimes I felt as if I was living someone elses life and didn't know how to handle my own.

I can't say that I'm stressed, well to be honest I am stressed but I think it's just normal. I do get stressed from time to time usually because of work or pressure about some stuffs but it ain't that big so I guess it has nothing to do with stress though some people already told me that I might be experiencing stress at the moment but what about those memories during my childhood, those things that only I can remember? Honestly, I didn't even know when it started because it basically is reality for me so it was never or were never a sort of a dream or a fantasy. It is hard, really  

 

[Jasmin Cottontail]

I've had this before, mostly in regards to my childhood, or trying to remember things. I thin it definitely is part of dissociation, just maybe not wanting to remember hard times, and replacing it with something else. I've also had times where I felt like my life was someone else's, almost like I was watching everything happen in a movie, it was an especially stressful time for me. 

Yes it really is stressful, confusing and frustrating at once. I don't know if that is the case. I experienced depression but I never wanted to replace some part of my memory with a different one just because it is sad or painful  

 

[kgord]

That doesn't happen to me, but some dreams are very vivid and seem lifelike. Sometimes real things happen also that seem like dreams or like they are happening to someone else because they are a bit traumatic. I agree with speaking to a therapist because it might be what you need to do at this point.

 

[Jasmin Cottontail]

This was a major part of my childhood and it interests me to see that others have experienced it as well. Perhaps it isn't as abnormal as we think it is. What I mean is, perhaps certain people or children are more sensitive to their surroundings than others and have a strong tendency to 'bring out' dreams into their real life situations. It's also possible that some people have very vivid dreams and simply can't always tell the difference between dreamland and reality. I had some seriously severe nightmares as a child, some of which I've determined to have definitely been dreams, and others that I still haven't figured out. Irregardless, it doesn't happen to me today, so in my case it was a childhood situation.

So you've experienced something like this before as a child and you've discovered that some part of it were just dreams? Is there a chance that those certain occurrences that happened to me were just a vivid dream that I can't simply distinguished whether it was real or not? I had to admit that it is possible that they are dreams but I just don't know how to see the difference. Well in most cases, I know if I'm dreaming, I know if what happened was just a dream or not. That's why I can't seem to find answers because I'm still convincing myself that those aren't dreams  Because really for me there aren't. 

 

[Jasmin Cottontail]

This is interesting.  Some medications have this side effect, too.  The fact that this has been happening for so long might be an organic issue with your brain, but this is just a guess because I am certainly not a medical professional.  I would recommend a visit to a doctor to check it out.  Sometimes I have precognitive dreams- I've been having these since I was a kid- but since it's impacting your life this seriously, it's cause for concern.  Perhaps it would help to keep a dream diary and/ or a daily journal so you can keep these things separate and track them.  Let us know how things are going with this.

What do you mean by "Precognitive Dreams"? Is it the same as confusion between dreams or reality? I wasn't familiar with the term actually


Anyway, yes they've been advising me to seek professional help but I seem to get anxious in light of the fact that I might have a mental illness. I also do keep a journal. I actually started it way back 2012 but haven't really written anything about dreams. I think it's a great idea if I do that, I might as well conclude to what is really happening and perhaps it may be helpful. I think I'm gonna do that, thanks! 

 

[Jasmin Cottontail]

That doesn't happen to me, but some dreams are very vivid and seem lifelike. Sometimes real things happen also that seem like dreams or like they are happening to someone else because they are a bit traumatic. I agree with speaking to a therapist because it might be what you need to do at this point.

Well I never experienced real things to be surreal and I agree that vivid dreams are often like real. However, in my case I can distinguish a dream from reality in light of the fact that I know it was a dream unlike those circumstances that I am the only one who can remember. Oftentimes, I'm thinking people are playing tricks on me until it will lead to an argument causing people to think I'm making things up  

 

[Jasmin Cottontail]

If you think that a certain event happened and the rest doesn't think that it did, then you might be experiencing hallucinations? Like what has been said, it would be best to consult a psychiatrist for that. That has never happened to me though, with the exception of this incident wherein I did not know if I had seen something spooky in real life or if I was just dreaming. That was when I was in pre-school though, and when I think about it until now, I still don't know if that indeed happened or not.

I can't say that those are hallucinations because I think hallucinations happens because of drug or medicine side effects, isn't it? Well I'm not totally sure with that but that's what I think. I'm not taking any medications though if it's right that hallucinations came from drug side effects.

 

[sidney]

I can't say that those are hallucinations because I think hallucinations happens because of drug or medicine side effects, isn't it? Well I'm not totally sure with that but that's what I think. I'm not taking any medications though if it's right that hallucinations came from drug side effects.

Well if that's the case and the situation continues to persist then I suggest that you consult a psychiatrist to get to the root cause of what's causing it. It seems quite strange to me and not normal if you recall events that have not happened while the rest don't seem to say that it happened.

 

[Jasmin Cottontail]

Well if that's the case and the situation continues to persist then I suggest that you consult a psychiatrist to get to the root cause of what's causing it. It seems quite strange to me and not normal if you recall events that have not happened while the rest don't seem to say that it happened.

I'm actually considering it but I'll still see if it happens again then I'll probably consult a professional. Thank you!

 

[sidney]

I'm actually considering it but I'll still see if it happens again then I'll probably consult a professional. Thank you!

Oh and don't take anything they prescribe you for more than 4 weeks, because the side effects can be disastrous! I was made to take some sleeping pills, but after taking it for more than 4 weeks, I experienced sudden phobia of moving vehicles! So be cautious because it can mess with your mind!