Is there something wrong with me or is everyone like this? (16, Female)?

I’ve been finding it increasingly difficult to differentiate between reality and what I assume are dreams. It’s hard to tell if my memories (both recent and much older) are real or not and it’s starting to effect my life and the people around me. I don’t trust myself to talk to or open up to people because I’m afraid I’ll tell them something that I honestly believe is true that isn’t. A minor, kind of recent example: I was recently told by a friend (let’s call them Z) in a class that they liked and wanted to date my friend (let’s call them A). So I decided to give A a little heads up that they had a secret admirer but I didn’t give them any details. A spent the next few days desperately trying to figure out who it was, so I reached out to Z to see if it was okay to tell A and they’d take it from there. Z was confused and had NO idea what I was talking about. Turns out there was no such conversation between me and Z, but for whatever reason I remembered it so vividly, enough so that I told A about it. It was so embarrassing to explain to A that there never was a secret admirer and that I unintentionally made the whole thing up. I have very poor concept of time, I zone out a lot, and I find myself constantly acting out fictional people’s lives and full on pretending to be them (I do write stories so that may be the cause of that), and I’ve been told by a few friends that I have 3 different personalities. Does anyone do stuff like this? Could there be something wrong with me?

Answers

Pearl

nnaybe you should go see a psychiatrist, they nnight be able to help you out

needhelp

Therapy, specifically talk therapy, may be something you want to look into. You don't have to worry about not opening up to a therapist since that's what they're there for. Check with your parents to make sure your health insurance would cover therapy visits, and start looking into it. If it turns out that you do have some sort of mental illness that is causing this, remember that you are still loved and that mental illness doesn't make you a monster or broken. Mental illness is hard to deal with, but there's probably a lot more people out there like you than you think. Good luck.

Lili

This is not normal behavior, no. I really think you need to see a therapist to figure out what's going on. Writing stories and being deeply interested in fictional characters is fine, but you can take things too far and, as you say, start to have trouble differentiating between fiction and reality. Moreover, daydreaming is fine and normal, but "zoning out a lot" isn't. Most people with creative imaginations can get heavily involved in them, but if your imaginative life and your real life are colliding as you describe, you need to figure out what's going on. It could be simply that you are just TOO imaginative and that you need to find ways to rein in your imagination, creativity, and daydreaming where appropriate. But a professional could help you explore this.

Kristen

It’s common, but not medically “normal.” It’s great that you reconize this behavior, but if it’s increasingly getting in the way of your happiness you should see a psychologist for a proper diagnosis and move on with that. When I was in highschool I’d almost have the opposite; where multiple friends would tell me about crazy things you don’t normally forget that we did from a few weeks ago to a few years back, and I would have no idea it was me they were talking about unless they told me. My memory has improved a little since then as ive gotten over trama and abuse from back then, so hopefully your issue will clear up as well.

I’m scared I might have the same thing

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Is there something wrong with me or is everyone like this? (16, Female)?

So which is his real personality?

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