2w ago

I sometimes experience cognitive size and space distortions. What’s that called?

Like one time I was fighting with my partner and it felt like we were an entire football field away from each other even though we were just across the room. And every time they talked I physically felt like I was the size of a doll.

Or sometimes on bad dysphoria days I’ll watch myself type and my thumbs will look huge to me. Or sometimes they’ll feel really far away.

Is there a name for this? Is it indicative of anything?

10 comments

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome?
I have it. It usually gets worse when I have a migraine.
- Ya, this is what I know it as. Interestingly enough, experimenting with inducing it via meditation brought on some pretty hefty headaches in that time period , but not while I was experiencing it. I also had a bit of exploding head syndrome thing going at one point that was triggered by Tobi's swirl face mask from Naruto.😅
- I usually have it in bed and it's typically within a few days of having a migraine, either before or after.
I feel like this is a style of dissociation. I get the one where I feel like I'm watching my body do things from the outside, or I'm looking out of my eyes through distant TV screens.
EDIT:
Is there a name for this? Is it indicative of anything?
Trauma
I don't know a name for it, but it sounds similar to something that's somewhat common when people get deeper into meditation. I've had the feeling like my hands were enormous or my body was shrinking into an abyss. I don't think it indicates anything specific to be worried about, just an odd sensation caused by heightened emotional states.
This sounds like vertigo
I used to get this as a kid, but I haven't had it happen since. I feel like I could induce it, but it was very upsetting so I have not wanted to try. I had no idea it was an issue other people experienced.
That's a glitch in the matrix you've been experiencing. My name's Trinity, I've been trying to reach you for a long time
- I don’t want an extended warranty, thank you
Coming back to this now because I thought Facky saying Alice in Wonderland Syndrome was a joke, but that is actually a term for this experience:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland_syndrome
Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS), also known as Todd's Syndrome or Dysmetropsia, is a neurological disorder that distorts perception. People with this syndrome may experience distortions in their visual perception of objects, such as appearing smaller (micropsia) or larger (macropsia), or appearing to be closer (pelopsia) or farther (teleopsia) than they are. Distortion may also occur for senses other than vision.[3]

10 comments