"Floating" outside myself

I sometimes get that feeling of "floating" slightly above myself, like my "self" was above the back of my head. It's not like I can see myself from the outside or anything, I still see what my eyes see and everything, though it gets a little unfocused, like when spacing out. This happens only some times when I'm up and sitting, and only once when I was walking. It made me feel like I was walking down some stairs and "missed a step" every once in a while, even though I was walking on flat ground. I was getting a fever at that time, so I thought it was only because of the illness at the time.

Usually, I get this feeling when in my bed, like my mind retracts from my head and beyond. Still having some connection with my head and body, but it feels like the connection is "stretched", like I'm feeling/thinking through the wrong end of a telescope/microscope and either my mind or my body feels really small and/or far far away. I can still control my body like normal, it's only the feeling of it that's "off".

I can cause this feeling on purpose sometimes. I used to do it when I was younger because it's kind of an interesting feeling. And I got that feeling now, by writing about it. I usually find myself rocking very slightly back and forth, and when I get the feeling in bed I'm usually making these rythmic motions with my leg. I don't know if the rocking or the feeling comes first, or if one is causing the other. When I was younger I thought I might have some motion induced epilepsy or something, because of the rythmic motions.

This only happens some times, and it's not really a problem for me, it might even be normal, I just thought I'd ask if this is is similar to depersonalization (cause I'm not really familiar with the term or the symptoms). Some light version or something.

Hi. You are describing a kind of "out of body" experience that is typical of depersonalization, a kind of dissociation. It is a common symptom in many people, including people who are mentally healthy. But as you have two diagnoses, having this symptom should trigger an assessment to determine the full extent of your dissociation. Most assessment tools are in English only but one, the Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire (SDQ), is available also in Norwegian. See these links

http://www.enijenhuis.nl/sdq.html
http://www.enijenhuis.nl/sdq2.html
http://www.enijenhuis.nl/SDQ/norsk_sdq20.doc

Thank you for your reply!

To me, I always imagined that it was kind of like floating on a cloud. I don't know why I thought that, but I'll be staring at something and it'll happen. I used to be able to make it happen as well, simply because I liked the weird feeling of it (can't anymore), I experience it seldomly.

I this a lot but I describe it like a ghosted me and a physical me.

It happens when I'm resisting having a tantrum mainly. Last week I fell out with my other half, and then like, if you were to pick something up and throw it you feel the energy of it, the movement. Well I was sitting and I really wanted to throw something, but I froze, but my ghosted me threw it. Then I was still frozen and almost in annoyance my ghosted me hit me in the face as if I'd hit me in the face but physical me was frozen. Then it screamed and then both Me's screamed and curled into a ball.

It happenned where ghosted me threw myself on the floor screaming, and my head was screaming but physical me was trying to stay standing.

But it can feel floaty, i think that's why i describe it as being a ghost.

I don't like it, it scares me.

I'm laying down and having one of these moments right now and as I was reading this I was doing the rocking/swaying the leg thing too. I describe it more of being pulled back in my head that this huge empty dark space and I just float around in it wrapped in a blanket. I feel warm but if my body is cold ill feel it too. Its really weird. It can last for a week or more at a time or a few minutes. Either I get tunnel vision, everything is out of focus or nothing seems real but is very clear/vibrant. It doesn't feel like my body is there or really part of me, like its just there but moving obviously isn't a problem. But thinking and speaking/typing can be difficult.

Words don't make sense or look real. My posts don't make any sense to me but I post them anyway because I try and remember they are probably fine. Its annoying and interferes with a lot of things in life. No dx though. But do you get sort of the same way?

I feel relieved because this is exactly what I feel. I've only felt it a handful of times, I think when I've been really tired. And it appears to last about a millisecond. But it feels as though, for an instant, my mind departs my body & is floating behind my head, kind of looking down on me. I remember first feeling this when I was very little & it feeling very uncomfortable & 'unreal'. Then I remember it again when I was in high school. I was making my sandwich very early one morning, & I felt it, like my mind left me & was staring at me. I hadn't felt it again til this weekend that just passed; I had a couple of cocktails with some friends & on the way home it happened. It felt like my mind temporarily shut off & felt completely strange & uncomfortable. I woke up the next morning & it kept happening intermittently for about half an hour. My mind was leaving me for milliseconds. I went for a run to try & escape it & eventually it stopped.
But it's like you said, it appears to be leaving me & floating behind & above me.
Depersonalisation?