Did I experience a depersonalization?

Is this DP/DR?

Reddit, I need help. I thought it would be logical to ask my question here since many people here may experience depersonalization. I experienced this so often as a child that it happened at least once a week. I'm in my 20s now, and for a long time, as far as I can remember, I haven't experienced it again. However, whenever it comes to mind, I think about it and try to understand what it was, and when I think about it I still feel those fear and panic again

It usually happened when we visited my grandmother at her house with my family. Because we stayed late, I would lie down on the sofa in a small room to sleep. I would either fall asleep or be woken up just as I was about to fall asleep and taken home.

After I came to myself, or rather, after I was woken up, I would feel an incredible wave of fear and panic inside me. I would be terrified of something I didn't even know what it was. I would constantly tell myself things like, "I am me. I'm fine, yes. I am me and I feel like I am me, everything is alright. This body is mine and I am okay." I even tried to calm myself down by making stupid jokes to myself in my head, but it never felt like myself; on the contrary, it felt like someone I didn't know was talking to me, and I became even more scared. Slowly (sometimes over a very long period, sometimes a short one), I would come back to my senses but throughout that process, it was like there was a stream of consciousness in my brain, and I couldn't silence myself.

Do you think this was a case of depersonalization? I'd like to learn and read more about this topic. If you have any resources you can recommend, I would appreciate it, and thank you in advance for your answers.

Posted Jan 27, 2026, 2:00 PM UTC

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