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I remember I used to read a lot when I was younger and I was able to keep my focus fairly well, all I did during my recess/lunch breaks at school was reading. But now I can barely read a forum thread, how sad. lol

I can really relate to this. When I was young I loved reading and learning. Now it takes me months to finish a book and I'm only 34. It doesn't matter if it's fiction or nonfiction. Constructing a world inside my head from the details I read in a novel seems to take so much more mental power than it did when I was a teenager. And when I read nonfiction now I sometimes have to read it aloud to really absorb the information. And reading an entire book out loud is physically exhausting to my mouth and voice. My jaw gets sore from the hours of talking to myself.

I'm truly thankful there's so much information on youtube now on all sorts of things, from lectures people have filmed to documentaries. But youtube videos aren't usually that in-depth.

Hi, I'm a new member. I just wanted to say I've experienced this too and it's very disturbing. I've only had derealization, not depersonalization. I'd be in the middle of some random moment just having a mundane experience sitting with people talking or whatever and then out of the blue I think "This isn't real. If I picked up this drink and poured it on this person next to me would it mean anything? Is this all just in my head?" And I feel like I'm watching some elaborate virtual reality and the world doesn't really exist. Like I said, it's extremely upsetting when this happens. I think it might be related to anxiety, because the few times this has happened to me they've all occurred at times when I'm socializing and feel that I've become overtaxed by the social interaction. Has anyone else experienced dissociation this way? One trick I've heard is whenever you feel like things aren't real or like you're dreaming is to pinch yourself.