# The line between dreams and reality?



## Secretaz

What mental disorders can make you to have difficulties with telling what is true and what is dream? Or is it a normal thing to happen?


----------



## identitycrisis

I'm no expert on mental illness, but that sounds like paranoid schizophrenia.


----------



## tehuti88

Some forms of schizophrenia can do this.

Dissociative disorders such as depersonalization disorder and derealization can really make one doubt what's real and what's not. In fact, if you're having trouble telling the difference between dream and reality, I think maybe you should look into that before assuming you have schizophrenia, since often people with a true psychosis don't worry that they're going crazy, they believe they're sane. (This doesn't always hold for early stages, granted.)

Sometimes mania (as in bipolar disorder) can cause one to start to get delusional or hallucinate, but I imagine you'd have shown signs of ups and downs before now.

Whatever the answer is...you won't find enough info, or a solution, on a message forum.  You'd do best seeing a professional. It's usually not normal to be unable to tell dreams from reality.


----------



## bottleofblues

Sounds trippy like something out of that movie inception. But i imagine for someone who suffers from schizophrenia it must be pretty horrible. I personally prefer my dreams over reality, in my dreams i visit new exciting lands all the time and meet lots of interesting people, reality is the opposite for me, i wish i could stay for ever in my dream world or least several decades like leonardo and his wife did in inception.


----------



## Reclus

They are not mental disorders, but they are frequently misdiagnosed as them: chronic insomnia and sleep disorders.

Insomnia and sleep disorders can blur the line between dreams and reality. You are left feeling like you are in a netherworld where you are neither really awake nor asleep.


----------



## whattothink

Secretaz said:


> What mental disorders can make you to have difficulties with telling what is true and what is dream? Or is it a normal thing to happen?


You should try to be more descriptive.

Do you have trouble distinguishing dream events from real events? Are you unaware if you are awake or dreaming? Do feel as though you drift between lucid day dreams/fantasy and reality blurring the two?


----------



## Twelve Keyz

if you have trouble distinguishing your dreams from reality, it's time to see a psychiatrist/doctor. Seriously.


----------



## Secretaz

Twelve Keyz said:


> if you have trouble distinguishing your dreams from reality, it's time to see a psychiatrist/doctor. Seriously.


It is not like that always, it happens to me just every now and then. But this week it has happened so many times that i got worried, its more than ever before. 
Psychiatrists, doctors, etc can't know what is wrong with my mind, only thing they're able to do is misdiagnose me with disorders i don't have and misunderstand everything what i say. I'm the psychiatrist of my own mind, no one else knows anything about it. I am the only one who can help me.


----------



## Secretaz

whattothink said:


> You should try to be more descriptive.
> 
> Do you have trouble distinguishing dream events from real events? Are you unaware if you are awake or dreaming? Do feel as though you drift between lucid day dreams/fantasy and reality blurring the two?


When it happens to me, i think the things that happened in my dreams have happened in real. Like two days ago, i had a dream that i had a car(in real i don't even have a driving license yet) and i got in crash with that car. It happened near to my home and the car got totally broken. I was panicking how to tell my parents that i managed to break my new car... When i woke up, i again started to wonder how do i tell my parents about the car, and i panicked again, my dad would be so angry. I was afraid my parents have seen my broken car because its near to our home. I just sat in my bed for a long time trying to figure out what to do. Then i realized that wtf i don't have driving license, i don't even know how to drive.. I realized i have never even had a car, it was just a dream. But for a while i thought it had happened in real.

I don't feel like i'm dreaming while i'm awake, it's just that i think the things in my dreams have happened in real.


----------



## tehuti88

Secretaz said:


> When it happens to me, i think the things that happened in my dreams have happened in real. Like two days ago, i had a dream that i had a car(in real i don't even have a driving license yet) and i got in crash with that car. It happened near to my home and the car got totally broken. I was panicking how to tell my parents that i managed to break my new car... When i woke up, i again started to wonder how do i tell my parents about the car, and i panicked again, my dad would be so angry. I was afraid my parents have seen my broken car because its near to our home. I just sat in my bed for a long time trying to figure out what to do. Then i realized that wtf i don't have driving license, i don't even know how to drive.. I realized i have never even had a car, it was just a dream. But for a while i thought it had happened in real.
> 
> I don't feel like i'm dreaming while i'm awake, it's just that i think the things in my dreams have happened in real.


This actually sounds a lot less worrisome than what I was thinking based on your original question. I sometimes experience the same thing myself; immediately or for a short while after awakening I'll think something really happened when in fact it was merely in a dream, and I'll have to think about it a bit to actually work it out that it didn't happen.

It might be related to a sleep disorder as already suggested, or you just experience your dreams as so realistic, and are a bit foggy after waking up, that you have to work through them to determine they didn't happen. It's not too uncommon to be mentally confused upon awakening.

Clarification--for how long do you suspect that something that happened in a dream happened in reality? Does this happen only shortly after awakening, or does it ever happen an extended period after you had the dream, like much later in the day, or even days later...? What's the longest it's taken you to realize something was a dream and it didn't really happen?

If it's taking you really extended periods of time to determine something was a dream, then yes, that might still be a problem.


----------



## whattothink

Secretaz said:


> When it happens to me, i think the things that happened in my dreams have happened in real. Like two days ago, i had a dream that i had a car(in real i don't even have a driving license yet) and i got in crash with that car. It happened near to my home and the car got totally broken. I was panicking how to tell my parents that i managed to break my new car... When i woke up, i again started to wonder how do i tell my parents about the car, and i panicked again, my dad would be so angry. I was afraid my parents have seen my broken car because its near to our home. I just sat in my bed for a long time trying to figure out what to do. Then i realized that wtf i don't have driving license, i don't even know how to drive.. I realized i have never even had a car, it was just a dream. But for a while i thought it had happened in real.
> 
> I don't feel like i'm dreaming while i'm awake, it's just that i think the things in my dreams have happened in real.


It's probably nothing to worry about, but you should definitely explain this in detail to a qualified professional.


----------



## Belaha77

*Recurrent dreams interfere with reality*

I have the same dreams over and over again. I find myself in the same place I don't think I have ever been to and people I don't know. It has gotten so out of hand I find myself confused as to what my dreams are and what my real memories are. I dream I have a job when I woke I am in a panic thinking I am late for work. I'm staring to integrate what I dream and what is real and feel confused. Is this how you feel? Curious. I am already on medication for mood and sleep disorders. I don't know if that is making it worse


----------

