Does anyone know what this is called??

I am new to this forum and not sure even if I am posting this under the right topic or not. My boyfriend has been diagnosed in the past with NOS Depression & post traumatic Stress Disorder, he also has panic attacks, mood swings and trouble sleeping. Last year during a period when he was depressed and stressed out he woke up in the middle of the night and asked me who I was, at first I was shocked and tried to explain it was me, but then I thought maybe he was dreaming and I should just go with it and see what else he said. He proceeded to go outside and sit on our front steps and start talking about if I was his new foster mother and odd things. I was confused and asked him how old he was and he told me he was twelve and was acting and talking like he truly believed it. He was actually 33 at the time. Then he kept saying he wanted to go home and kept trying to walk up the road in the middle of the night. I persuaded him to go back in and lay down and eventually after almost an hour he did. Upon awakening I told him what happened and he didn't remember any of it. Now if this had only happened one time I may have dismissed it but it has happened on three occasions where he thinks it is 1983 and he is much younger and all three times he asked me who I was, which was hard since we have been in a relationship for 3 years. He had a very tough childhood and was in foster care for a period of time, he was also abused as a child. What I am wondering is if anyone else has had this happen or experienced this or knows if it has a name??? I have searched the internet and cannot find anything about this happening. I am worried about him and hope that maybe someone knows what this is. Could it be hallucinations?? or some kind of sleepwalking even though he seems completely awake?? Anyone with any input would be greatly appreciated. I just need to know if this is due to his depression or something worse. Thank you for your time.

Hi,

I think that this sounds more than just regular sleepwalking. There's something very different about your boyfriend here and it needs to be checked out. How open do you think he'd be to going to a GP or back to his old doctor about this? I don't wish to speculate on what exactly it could be, but I really feel that it must be checked out. It could be the sign of a mental disorder (don't let this terminology upset you... 'mental disorders' include anything from Anxiety Disorder, to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The diagnoses of Depression NOS and PTSD are probably correct, but what's causing them needs to be unearthed too.

Kevin

Kevin, thanks for you response, right now I am trying to talk to him about going to the doctor, but it's a touchy subject sometimes, it's hard to talk to him about it without him thinking I believe something is wrong with him even though I am just trying to help him. We are getting married in October and I have told him if he needs the support I would be more than willing to go with him if he needs me to but he just says it's something he needs to do alone, which I do understand. There is definitly an underlying issue, he has recurring nightmares, that seem real to him and he wakes up shaking, he has told me that something happened when he was little but he can't make out what it is. I honestly think it would be in his best interest to see a psychologist and maybe they could help him remember whatever happened. My perspective is that maybe something happened that he remembers subconsciously and it's affecting him and trying to come out, but I am not sure. We have been in a relationship for 3 years and I just want him to get better, I am worried and get so scared sometimes because I have never dealt with anything like this before and worry I will push him away if I keep trying to get him to get help. I like to think that the reverting to being younger when he is half awake and telling me things is his way of reaching out to me and trying to tell me what happened, but I am just not sure.

Hi, do you want to know what might help you to get him to go? If you print off an article from the Internet about what you think is wrong with him, then he will 'see' himself in that article and will hopefully realise that there is indeed something wrong with him. Some people just hate to hear from another person's voice that they think there is somethign wrong with them... ...However, if he reads something (an article, for example), then he is hearing his OWN voice and that is more believable than another person (even a partner - i.e. you) saying that he has a problem.

Kevin

Thanks Kevin, I will try it and hope for the best.

Sure, let me know how it goes.

Kevin

have you thought about maybe your boyfriend has dissociative identity disorder