Topic suggestion: rejection sensitive dysphoria. I think it may be more associated with ADHD but I experience it often and it makes me feel like I can't function socially. I'll say or do something that I get lightly scolded for, or maybe even not (maybe I only PERCEIVE it as a blunder), and I will try to avoid talking or even being with people for days. Just a suggestion 😊
I feel it since I was a kid, and to this day in my 20s, I can't sleep in silence. Being alone in silence is an immediate trigger for pelopsia and audio hallucinations. If Im too stressed, time speeds up and Its like aim moving in slow motion, but by thoughts are still running wild. When It gets intense, I feel like I'm going insane. Thank you for talking about this.
I’ve had this since I was a kid. Especially at bedtime or when meditating. I described it to people for decades hoping to find out what it was and they’d just look at me oddly. Finally found out the name of it a few years ago. So glad you did a video on this!
wow, this is so accurate to my experience at the moment and i had been so worried there was something incredibly wrong with my brain! i've been in a burnout episode for 1 1/2 months now and had a massive shutdown yesterday. ever since the shutdown my sensory issues increased as well as a reoccurring headache started. when i stood up a few minutes ago everything around me looked so small! this terrified me so much but the video calmed my anxiety a bit, thank you! 🙏
I think a lot of this could be explained better by dissociation, and that AWS itself might be a relabeling of dissociation (like how people will use “highly sensitive person” or “gifted child syndrome” instead of realizing they may just be autistic). I’ve always felt really disconnected and like my perception of my environment and self greatly vary, and I think a lot of that has to do with my brain processing things differently at different times, and then using dissociation to cope with overwhelm. Autistic people are known (to some professionals at least) to experience higher rates of dissociation than allistics. I’m definitely not knocking the AWS label if it helps others, though. And I also really appreciate your channel! It’s been very helpful to me. So just letting you know I’m not criticizing anyone. I’m simply sharing my thoughts on the matter, because I think this is an interesting topic.😊
I never knew someone had words to describe this, i used to close my eyes and proportions of body parts used to change drastically and objects would change in sizes, it was during my middle school to high school years where I remember it the most, its not as common for me now. it was the oddest thing, i just thought people experienced this sometimes
I have a topic that I haven’t heard much from the autism community: prosopagnosia. I didn’t realize this could be a problem until I reached my mid 20’s. Not everyone who has it, is autistic and not every autistic person has it, but I’ve read an article stating it’s not rare for autistic individuals to experience this as well since it is also a neurological condition. Thanks for all your informative videos, Orion!
Hey, idk if you know, but autistamatic has an interesting 3-part video series on ASD and prosopagnosia. I think this is the first one: ua-cam.com/video/27GDprxr4d4/v-deo.html
That's (a lot of the time but not always)due to eye contact issues and not looking at faces. If you start masking your eye contact issues by looking at the bridge of people's noses and at other areas of the face then you start remembering faces a bit better. Poof, face blindness cured.
@@colepeterson9961 simply untrue. I can stare at my own face in a mirror for hours and still have no memory of it afterwards. I’m faceblind and have developed many ways to identify people because I cannot recognise faces. I can see them perfectly fine, I can force myself to make eye contact for as long as you like, but I cannot remember them all at once. I explain it as being like looking at a whole tree and looking at every leaf at once. Do you remember every single leaf? No of course not. I cannot see all the face at once. I can either look at one detail or I can get an overview of the whole face, but I cannot see the details and the basics at once. I can see eyes, nose, mouth. OR I can see a blue eye with almond shaped lids and eyelashes. I cannot digest the details and process them. I am not saying everyone is affected the same. But true face blindness is only experienced in similar ways to how I experience it. It’s not caused by any eye contact stuff at all. That would be a discomfort of focus issue that means people may find it harder to remember specific faces, but they can still see and remember faces normally.
@@terryenby2304 that's why I put the "a lot of the time but not always" in parentheses. Perhaps it's not true face blindness, but it's similar enough that people still refer to it as such.
Thanks Orion! I've known I've had Aphantasia and Autism for years, and I really like and appreciate your videos different conditions/disorders! It's been great hearing from someone I can relate to.
I coming across your channel today from mastodon. Recently found out about alice and wonderland syndrome, which I believe I have. I'm autistic, had migraines, and the big/small experience only happened when I would lay flat, the visual distortion (also felt when eyes closed) would distract me trying to fall asleep. I sleep in a recliner. Time slow down and speed up, I thought everyone felt that. Huh. I'd scream if ppl touch my shoulders, I didnt know that pain/shock was related to Alice in wonderland syndrome. "Avoid known triggers" I WISH! Too many people will not stop shoving the triggers into my life, I have been fighting about the neighbors noises for so long, and they just wont STOP. I wish I could afford to move.
I don't know if I have Alice in Wonderland syndrome, but I know I have the thing where I feel like my body is expanding and contracting, or growing and shrinking dramatically. It most often happens at night when the house is quiet and dark and I close my eyes to go to sleep. A weighted blanket definitely helps.
Yes! This thing! I cannot find anything official about it but did find some stuff on Quora and Reddit. I had it frequently as a child and found it disturbing. I had it again recently, but I am recovering from a brain haemorrhage and I think it was connected to that. I could bring it on by concentrating/meditation if I wanted to as well.
I was obsessed with Alice as a kid and it was the only movie I'd watch and I watched it over and over and over and over and over all the way to 12. Collected the figurines and dressed up as halloween all the way until 22. I'm assuming I related to Alice without realizing it? So excited to see artists and ravers lean into Alice - I love the quirky artsy types are also into it. Of course, that turned into an obsession with Nightmare Before Christmas once I became a teen.
Like Autism, these things are probably diagnostically described by people who don’t experience them. There is an experience that gets reported of the feelings similar to this by people actually experiencing them and if you get them yourself you get that ‘aha!’ moment.
Orion, thank you so much for being you and having this wonderful channel. Thanks to you and some other channels, my life finally makes sense! I am a 69 year old woman and I am finally at peace within myself. You are amazing! Thank you so much!
Can THIS be the reason why I can't drive a car (or any other vehicle incl. a bike)? Everyone around me says 'everybody can drive a car; you just need the right instructor and patience'. But I really really really can't. I can't grasp the dimensions of a car or the dimensions of my body in that car, I can't grasp the dimensions I see in the mirrors they tell you to check or the speed of other cars or even the feel of the gas pedal, I just can't, and believe me I have tried many times. I have this problem even on a bike, things are far away one second, nearby the other. This coupled with anxiety (is that car going to stay on that lane at that speed or will they change their mind? and this on and on and on in different scenarios) I'm now used to living without being able to drive, but it's the outside world that seems to have a tougher time with it = unbelief and this 'but you can do it if you really wanted to' shaming.
In all fairness, I've seen enough car drivers to know that not everybody can drive beyond the absolute bare minimum of technically operating the car. And, presumably, they aren't even the least capable of doing so, some don't even pass the tests or try.
It’s the first time i have heard of that , funny since my name is Alice. I will research it : i do feel life a lot of the things you list have been affecting my life ! My autistic diagnosis is very new so thank you for helping educating me and better understand my own brain chemistry !
I sometimes have short periods of time where people seem smaller and further away even though I know they are in front of me and at the same time voices and sounds start to be way louder and almost violent and aggressive, even though I know nothing changed in the normal conversation we had a minute ago rarely things also feel larger when I pick them up I told that to a few people and tried googling it 5 years ago, nothing came up so I just ignored it... good to know theres a word for it These things usually happen when I am overwhelmed/burned out or similar thanks for this video!
I get these too, time becomes nonexistent so I have no idea how long it lasts. Everything is amplified, yet far away, it’s what I’d imagine a hallucinogenic would feel like I guess. I’m not sure if this is AIWS or not, but I can’t find anything else about it and my therapist had no idea either.
Had it as a kid 35 years ago, never told my parents and only thought to google the symptoms a few years ago and was blown away when I discovered AWS. So refreshing to find information on the topic.
I only ever get feelings like this in nightmares, when I’m about to fall asleep, or once when I was just closing my eyes and resting after 2 weeks of LOTS of activity and stimulation. It’s always things being bigger and moving around me, but behind by eyelids, and a strong feeling of wrongness. Once there was also, while I was going to sleep, a very loud voice, like something I’d heard during the day suddenly being shouted above me
Couldn't sleep this morning...was about to write in my journal and then saw you posted this. I may not have AWS (hopefully never), but the strategies you mentioned that I need to work on (including sleep haha) are *spot on*. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, Orion! 😊
Thanks for this video! I've known that I've had Alice in Wonderland Syndrome for over 10 years now and have been wondering for a few weeks if there's a connection to autism and if my episodes were actually sensory overload. Unfortunately we don't know a lot about the condition, but hopefully more research will be done in the future!
I have been trying to find the word for this for decades. This happens to me only in a specific circumstance; when I am looking at a person who is talking directly at me for a long period of time. The room distorts like it’s getting longer and longer and the person slowly looks farther and farther away, sometimes their voice gets muffled and I feel like I am unable to look away. I avoid it by not looking at people directly when they talk - I know they consider that rude but it’s better than me explaining I can’t move for the next half hour because the room is moving. 😅
oh dang i think i've found the jackpot of terms for the constellation of my experiences in this here video. i'm gonna mention this to my therapist. thank you so much for these videos, Orion, the way you break things down is so important and helpful. A++++! some coping strategies i've accidentally stumbled upon, now that i can reframe my thinking about these things thanks to this video, tend to be the things i wear on my body. the sensation of certain things on me is a great grounding technique, which has increased my focus and general equilibrium in life. this opens so many doors to finding my footing in the world, even if just to think about myself more mercifully. thank you.
I want to talk about migraines for a moment. I'm not referring to those unfortunate souls who have dealt with them their entire lives. I'm referring to people who might have experienced them very sporadically for, say ten to fifteen years and then, suddenly, they become more regular and often triggered by light such as driving toward a sunset. If you've experienced this sort of onset, I would highly recommend you getting a CT scan because you very well might have a meningioma (a benign tumor on the outside of the brain). I had such a tumor and, over what was likely about twenty years according to the doctor, it had grown to nearly 6 cm in diameter. Yeah, that's huge when you're talking about a tumor in your head. Thankfully, I had it successfully removed back in November of 2017 and as of last year there was no sign of it recurring.
Thank you so much for talking about this, I struggle Alice in wonderland syndrome quite a lot and it’s so scary. I’m autistic and it’s nice to hear that they could be correlated
I’m my experience of my body image symptom has been, my body is to big or way to small. Not like an appearance way more in a “in reference to everything else” kinda way. Like I’m suddenly a giant stuck in a room or a mouse in an auditorium. And I’m not saying this to dismiss anyone else’s experience I am saying this to share my own and hope no one else is to feel alone in this feeling.
I remember having this very often when I was younger, probably before the age of 10. I don't remember having that many problems with it though. I just remember that the the TV started shrinking while I was watching it and peoples peoples heads got smaller while I was talking to them (that one used to freak me out a bit). I thought it was probably a normal process in children while their brains are developing and had no idea it was linked to autism.
So interesting! I have body dysmorphia disorder (and struggled with ED’s for decades, and thankfully have solid recovery with food, yet BDD continues). Time?! What’s that? AuDHD adult diagnosis (and mom of 5 ND kiddos) so I enjoy learning. Ty Orion!
I’m not autistic but I get this quite often myself, Usually when I’m laying in bed at night. I had it a lot when I was a kid, typically when I had a fever. The room feels huge, everything zooms in and out and then when I get up and walk around it feels like everything is like 10x speed when I’m turning directions. It would typically last for like 10-15 minutes then eventually go away when I try to not think about it. This is the most terrifying thing for me and idk why 😂
I only found out about AIWS earlier this year. Before that, i'd been searching for years for an explaination of this very specific feeling i get sometimes, where my body feels both incredibly light and incredibly heavy at the same time. Like I will touch my thumb and index finger together and know that the pressure between them is feather light, but also feel like they are crushing each other like giant stones. It's a revolting feeling. At the same time (and i know this bit sounds weird but there really is no other way to explain it) there is a tiny car on a precarious racetrack in my head that is getting faster and faster and perpetually on the edge of losing control. The whole feeling together makes me feel so awful that i will do literally anything to stop it. Usually the best thing to get it to stop is vigorous exercise, but as it mainly happens in the middle of the night that isn't always practical! I've spoken to many medical professionals over the years and none of them had any answers for what it might be, but from reading about AIWS it seems to fit as a kinesthetic and 'fast feeling' form of the syndrome. It really is a sensation like nothing else.
I’m now wondering if this explains why one of my kids is terrified of large buildings and likes tents/hiding under a blanket so much??? If you can’t see the distortion it’s not scary? They also get migraines! I’m going to gently ask some questions and see if the doctor can help when we next see them.
I have autism and ADD, but this video was helpful today mostly in finally discovering the terminology for what I keep noticing may be happening to my 7 year old grandson during his weekly visits to my place. He oftentimes tries to force a toy inside something too small for it, and I mean like twice over too small, and is surprised to discover that it would not fit. He also cannot ride a bike yet and has given up trying. (So far, he is not believed by his parents, teachers and pediatrician to have autism nor ADHD. And I'm just taking notes in case some day it could be helpful. I feel like it isn't my place to say anything and that it wouldn't be taken seriously anyway. But I will start including some balancing activities in our playtime together during his visits.)
Not sure if it relates to this or not, but I was wondering if anyone else sees shapes (like 3d shapes that FEEL fuzzy or familiar, or like they are real somehow, I’m not sure how to explain it) when they close theirs eyes, especially when emotionally dysregulated or associated with some of the other symptoms in this video? I never really thought of myself as displaying autistic traits but now I’m starting to wonder, they would certainly explain some of my difficulties better than other theories I’ve had. My mind seems to reject the idea though, like it doesn’t know what to do with this information if it proves true. In fact, my mind and I don’t seem to see to eye on many things at the moment, I’m just so tired from all the inner adjustments that I need to keep making just so I can get through the day, even when I’m not interacting with others, let alone when I do 🤕
I certainly don’t have Alice in Wonderland syndrome- but thanks for educating us about those of us in the autism community who do. I have another pattern of visual processing difficulties for which I need to be formally assessed. Can you please consider doing videos on NVLD Irlen Meares Syndrome Aphantasia
Same, and it really bothers me when people keep saying I should meditate. What they don’t realise is that my stress levels go through the roof every time they say it
This would happen to me as a teen at 16. I would be going to sleep and have the sense of being bigger but mostly it was as if every movement was very fast. I developed migraines with aura about 15 years later and my son is autistic. Wonder if it's all connected???
I experience, an odd feeling of being shorter, as I walk around our apartment. It feels like, being one of Snow Whites' dwarves! It's a very strange experience!
One of my Facebook followers linked to this video.I already an avid subscriber .I think they we're trying to say something through this action . What that is could be this syndrome.
I love putting extra weight on myself. I won’t buy a weighted blanket, because I would sleep too well, and miss my alarm clock and not make it to work. 😂
Do certain medications tend to make these symptoms better or worse? How would they initially discover AWS if someone was experiancing this but had no idea that this existed or that they are even autistic in the first place?
Presumably the same ones that they use for schizophrenia as there's a much better known connection between schizo disorders and Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. Which is to say, probably not a great idea if the only issue is with sizes and proportions as it will affect a lot of other things.
Don’t they say that Lewis Carroll, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, may have been autistic? I suppose you can say for sure because nobody knew about autism when he was alive. It would make sense if he did and some of the scenes in Alice were inspired by his own experiences. I actually named by daughter Alice after the character.
Special interest mode activated: Lewis Caroll was most definitely autistic. He was a professor of logic and mathematics who hated the way words/phrases/ society made no sense and had no rules. He was known to rant about it. He had almost no friends and everyone thought he was odd. He was a loner and a creative. Alice in wonderland is best read as a girl who is desperately trying to apply logic, reasoning and book smarts to a world that absolutely makes no sense; paradoxically part of the reason it makes no sense is because words and letters are treated in the same way the equations are; a word used in one context will always carry the exact same meaning in the story regardless of context. The book essentially is about what it’s like to try to navigate an allistic word as an autistic person. You can have all the logic in the world but that won’t help you and everyone will still act like YOU’RE the problem. I am certain that Lewis Caroll was autistic and I hate how the majority of people think the book is about drugs or insanity or being goth or something.
@@melissabennett6571 thanks so much! That is such a great interpretation and one I never appreciated. I am going to read Alice again but through this prism! It makes a lot of sense like when Humpty says “words mean what I say.” How cool!
The time perception of AWS and ASD aren’t the same. AWS it’s literally like everything around me is in a movie and someone pushed fast forward or reverse. Sounds even thoughts are distorted. ASD is just a basic hyperfocus and whoops moment when 5 hours passed.
Is it autistic trait to experience some weird phobias? I am scared of many things like night sky is an absolute horror for me. I literally cant Look up when its dark. I fear darkness and nights because then you may hear sounds so clearly. I have a huge problem with sounds that dont belong on some certain moment or space.
Sorry for another message. Just to say in case helpful I control mine and never let the sensations continue. I always detract myself. I also can't drink much alcohol as I need to keep in complete control of it. I can't give it an inch! Anyway I'll stop messaging now. I always think of it as the cross I have to bear but there are worse crosses so I suppose I'm fortunate if I look at it like that!
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Topic suggestion: rejection sensitive dysphoria. I think it may be more associated with ADHD but I experience it often and it makes me feel like I can't function socially. I'll say or do something that I get lightly scolded for, or maybe even not (maybe I only PERCEIVE it as a blunder), and I will try to avoid talking or even being with people for days. Just a suggestion 😊
It’s actually next weeks video.
@@orionkelly AWESOME 😊
Agreed😊
I feel it since I was a kid, and to this day in my 20s, I can't sleep in silence. Being alone in silence is an immediate trigger for pelopsia and audio hallucinations. If Im too stressed, time speeds up and Its like aim moving in slow motion, but by thoughts are still running wild. When It gets intense, I feel like I'm going insane. Thank you for talking about this.
I’ve had this since I was a kid. Especially at bedtime or when meditating. I described it to people for decades hoping to find out what it was and they’d just look at me oddly. Finally found out the name of it a few years ago. So glad you did a video on this!
wow, this is so accurate to my experience at the moment and i had been so worried there was something incredibly wrong with my brain! i've been in a burnout episode for 1 1/2 months now and had a massive shutdown yesterday. ever since the shutdown my sensory issues increased as well as a reoccurring headache started. when i stood up a few minutes ago everything around me looked so small! this terrified me so much but the video calmed my anxiety a bit, thank you! 🙏
I think a lot of this could be explained better by dissociation, and that AWS itself might be a relabeling of dissociation (like how people will use “highly sensitive person” or “gifted child syndrome” instead of realizing they may just be autistic). I’ve always felt really disconnected and like my perception of my environment and self greatly vary, and I think a lot of that has to do with my brain processing things differently at different times, and then using dissociation to cope with overwhelm. Autistic people are known (to some professionals at least) to experience higher rates of dissociation than allistics.
I’m definitely not knocking the AWS label if it helps others, though.
And I also really appreciate your channel! It’s been very helpful to me.
So just letting you know I’m not criticizing anyone. I’m simply sharing my thoughts on the matter, because I think this is an interesting topic.😊
I never knew someone had words to describe this, i used to close my eyes and proportions of body parts used to change drastically and objects would change in sizes, it was during my middle school to high school years where I remember it the most, its not as common for me now. it was the oddest thing, i just thought people experienced this sometimes
I have a topic that I haven’t heard much from the autism community: prosopagnosia. I didn’t realize this could be a problem until I reached my mid 20’s. Not everyone who has it, is autistic and not every autistic person has it, but I’ve read an article stating it’s not rare for autistic individuals to experience this as well since it is also a neurological condition. Thanks for all your informative videos, Orion!
Hey, idk if you know, but autistamatic has an interesting 3-part video series on ASD and prosopagnosia. I think this is the first one:
ua-cam.com/video/27GDprxr4d4/v-deo.html
That's (a lot of the time but not always)due to eye contact issues and not looking at faces. If you start masking your eye contact issues by looking at the bridge of people's noses and at other areas of the face then you start remembering faces a bit better. Poof, face blindness cured.
@@colepeterson9961 simply untrue. I can stare at my own face in a mirror for hours and still have no memory of it afterwards.
I’m faceblind and have developed many ways to identify people because I cannot recognise faces. I can see them perfectly fine, I can force myself to make eye contact for as long as you like, but I cannot remember them all at once.
I explain it as being like looking at a whole tree and looking at every leaf at once. Do you remember every single leaf? No of course not. I cannot see all the face at once. I can either look at one detail or I can get an overview of the whole face, but I cannot see the details and the basics at once. I can see eyes, nose, mouth. OR I can see a blue eye with almond shaped lids and eyelashes. I cannot digest the details and process them.
I am not saying everyone is affected the same. But true face blindness is only experienced in similar ways to how I experience it. It’s not caused by any eye contact stuff at all. That would be a discomfort of focus issue that means people may find it harder to remember specific faces, but they can still see and remember faces normally.
@@terryenby2304 that's why I put the "a lot of the time but not always" in parentheses. Perhaps it's not true face blindness, but it's similar enough that people still refer to it as such.
Thanks Orion! I've known I've had Aphantasia and Autism for years, and I really like and appreciate your videos different conditions/disorders! It's been great hearing from someone I can relate to.
I coming across your channel today from mastodon. Recently found out about alice and wonderland syndrome, which I believe I have. I'm autistic, had migraines, and the big/small experience only happened when I would lay flat, the visual distortion (also felt when eyes closed) would distract me trying to fall asleep. I sleep in a recliner. Time slow down and speed up, I thought everyone felt that. Huh. I'd scream if ppl touch my shoulders, I didnt know that pain/shock was related to Alice in wonderland syndrome.
"Avoid known triggers" I WISH! Too many people will not stop shoving the triggers into my life, I have been fighting about the neighbors noises for so long, and they just wont STOP. I wish I could afford to move.
As a young person I had tactile distortion a few times where a sheet of paper felt an inch thick and as rough as a split log.
I don't know if I have Alice in Wonderland syndrome, but I know I have the thing where I feel like my body is expanding and contracting, or growing and shrinking dramatically. It most often happens at night when the house is quiet and dark and I close my eyes to go to sleep. A weighted blanket definitely helps.
Yes! This thing! I cannot find anything official about it but did find some stuff on Quora and Reddit. I had it frequently as a child and found it disturbing. I had it again recently, but I am recovering from a brain haemorrhage and I think it was connected to that. I could bring it on by concentrating/meditation if I wanted to as well.
I get this too. 🤔
Me too! Sometimes i close my eyes and feel like i have grown so much that i am far away from my house and the people around me.
I get this!
@@nicholasharris4306 😊
I was obsessed with Alice as a kid and it was the only movie I'd watch and I watched it over and over and over and over and over all the way to 12. Collected the figurines and dressed up as halloween all the way until 22. I'm assuming I related to Alice without realizing it? So excited to see artists and ravers lean into Alice - I love the quirky artsy types are also into it. Of course, that turned into an obsession with Nightmare Before Christmas once I became a teen.
Like Autism, these things are probably diagnostically described by people who don’t experience them. There is an experience that gets reported of the feelings similar to this by people actually experiencing them and if you get them yourself you get that ‘aha!’ moment.
Orion, thank you so much for being you and having this wonderful channel. Thanks to you and some other channels, my life finally makes sense! I am a 69 year old woman and I am finally at peace within myself. You are amazing! Thank you so much!
Can THIS be the reason why I can't drive a car (or any other vehicle incl. a bike)? Everyone around me says 'everybody can drive a car; you just need the right instructor and patience'. But I really really really can't. I can't grasp the dimensions of a car or the dimensions of my body in that car, I can't grasp the dimensions I see in the mirrors they tell you to check or the speed of other cars or even the feel of the gas pedal, I just can't, and believe me I have tried many times. I have this problem even on a bike, things are far away one second, nearby the other. This coupled with anxiety (is that car going to stay on that lane at that speed or will they change their mind? and this on and on and on in different scenarios) I'm now used to living without being able to drive, but it's the outside world that seems to have a tougher time with it = unbelief and this 'but you can do it if you really wanted to' shaming.
This might not be alice in wonderland syndrome specifically, but it definitely sounds like you have some problem with proprioception x
In all fairness, I've seen enough car drivers to know that not everybody can drive beyond the absolute bare minimum of technically operating the car. And, presumably, they aren't even the least capable of doing so, some don't even pass the tests or try.
I drive but can't when I have an AiWS episode because it distorts things so much.
It’s the first time i have heard of that , funny since my name is Alice. I will research it : i do feel life a lot of the things you list have been affecting my life ! My autistic diagnosis is very new so thank you for helping educating me and better understand my own brain chemistry !
I sometimes have short periods of time where people seem smaller and further away even though I know they are in front of me
and at the same time voices and sounds start to be way louder and almost violent and aggressive, even though I know nothing changed in the normal conversation we had a minute ago
rarely things also feel larger when I pick them up
I told that to a few people and tried googling it 5 years ago, nothing came up so I just ignored it... good to know theres a word for it
These things usually happen when I am overwhelmed/burned out or similar
thanks for this video!
I get these too, time becomes nonexistent so I have no idea how long it lasts. Everything is amplified, yet far away, it’s what I’d imagine a hallucinogenic would feel like I guess. I’m not sure if this is AIWS or not, but I can’t find anything else about it and my therapist had no idea either.
Had it as a kid 35 years ago, never told my parents and only thought to google the symptoms a few years ago and was blown away when I discovered AWS. So refreshing to find information on the topic.
I only ever get feelings like this in nightmares, when I’m about to fall asleep, or once when I was just closing my eyes and resting after 2 weeks of LOTS of activity and stimulation. It’s always things being bigger and moving around me, but behind by eyelids, and a strong feeling of wrongness. Once there was also, while I was going to sleep, a very loud voice, like something I’d heard during the day suddenly being shouted above me
That's very intesting ! I have many of those symptoms, but I don't know if it's just autism and being a bit weird, or Alice in wonderland syndrome...
Couldn't sleep this morning...was about to write in my journal and then saw you posted this. I may not have AWS (hopefully never), but the strategies you mentioned that I need to work on (including sleep haha) are *spot on*. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, Orion! 😊
Thanks for this video! I've known that I've had Alice in Wonderland Syndrome for over 10 years now and have been wondering for a few weeks if there's a connection to autism and if my episodes were actually sensory overload. Unfortunately we don't know a lot about the condition, but hopefully more research will be done in the future!
I have been trying to find the word for this for decades. This happens to me only in a specific circumstance; when I am looking at a person who is talking directly at me for a long period of time. The room distorts like it’s getting longer and longer and the person slowly looks farther and farther away, sometimes their voice gets muffled and I feel like I am unable to look away. I avoid it by not looking at people directly when they talk - I know they consider that rude but it’s better than me explaining I can’t move for the next half hour because the room is moving. 😅
oh dang i think i've found the jackpot of terms for the constellation of my experiences in this here video. i'm gonna mention this to my therapist. thank you so much for these videos, Orion, the way you break things down is so important and helpful. A++++!
some coping strategies i've accidentally stumbled upon, now that i can reframe my thinking about these things thanks to this video, tend to be the things i wear on my body. the sensation of certain things on me is a great grounding technique, which has increased my focus and general equilibrium in life. this opens so many doors to finding my footing in the world, even if just to think about myself more mercifully. thank you.
I want to talk about migraines for a moment. I'm not referring to those unfortunate souls who have dealt with them their entire lives. I'm referring to people who might have experienced them very sporadically for, say ten to fifteen years and then, suddenly, they become more regular and often triggered by light such as driving toward a sunset. If you've experienced this sort of onset, I would highly recommend you getting a CT scan because you very well might have a meningioma (a benign tumor on the outside of the brain). I had such a tumor and, over what was likely about twenty years according to the doctor, it had grown to nearly 6 cm in diameter. Yeah, that's huge when you're talking about a tumor in your head. Thankfully, I had it successfully removed back in November of 2017 and as of last year there was no sign of it recurring.
Thank you so much for talking about this, I struggle Alice in wonderland syndrome quite a lot and it’s so scary. I’m autistic and it’s nice to hear that they could be correlated
I’m my experience of my body image symptom has been, my body is to big or way to small. Not like an appearance way more in a “in reference to everything else” kinda way. Like I’m suddenly a giant stuck in a room or a mouse in an auditorium. And I’m not saying this to dismiss anyone else’s experience I am saying this to share my own and hope no one else is to feel alone in this feeling.
I remember having this very often when I was younger, probably before the age of 10. I don't remember having that many problems with it though. I just remember that the the TV started shrinking while I was watching it and peoples peoples heads got smaller while I was talking to them (that one used to freak me out a bit). I thought it was probably a normal process in children while their brains are developing and had no idea it was linked to autism.
I have Aphantasia. I believe it's quite opposite of this!
So interesting! I have body dysmorphia disorder (and struggled with ED’s for decades, and thankfully have solid recovery with food, yet BDD continues). Time?! What’s that? AuDHD adult diagnosis (and mom of 5 ND kiddos) so I enjoy learning. Ty Orion!
I’m not autistic but I get this quite often myself, Usually when I’m laying in bed at night. I had it a lot when I was a kid, typically when I had a fever. The room feels huge, everything zooms in and out and then when I get up and walk around it feels like everything is like 10x speed when I’m turning directions. It would typically last for like 10-15 minutes then eventually go away when I try to not think about it.
This is the most terrifying thing for me and idk why 😂
I only found out about AIWS earlier this year. Before that, i'd been searching for years for an explaination of this very specific feeling i get sometimes, where my body feels both incredibly light and incredibly heavy at the same time. Like I will touch my thumb and index finger together and know that the pressure between them is feather light, but also feel like they are crushing each other like giant stones. It's a revolting feeling. At the same time (and i know this bit sounds weird but there really is no other way to explain it) there is a tiny car on a precarious racetrack in my head that is getting faster and faster and perpetually on the edge of losing control. The whole feeling together makes me feel so awful that i will do literally anything to stop it. Usually the best thing to get it to stop is vigorous exercise, but as it mainly happens in the middle of the night that isn't always practical!
I've spoken to many medical professionals over the years and none of them had any answers for what it might be, but from reading about AIWS it seems to fit as a kinesthetic and 'fast feeling' form of the syndrome. It really is a sensation like nothing else.
I’m now wondering if this explains why one of my kids is terrified of large buildings and likes tents/hiding under a blanket so much??? If you can’t see the distortion it’s not scary?
They also get migraines!
I’m going to gently ask some questions and see if the doctor can help when we next see them.
I have autism and ADD, but this video was helpful today mostly in finally discovering the terminology for what I keep noticing may be happening to my 7 year old grandson during his weekly visits to my place. He oftentimes tries to force a toy inside something too small for it, and I mean like twice over too small, and is surprised to discover that it would not fit. He also cannot ride a bike yet and has given up trying. (So far, he is not believed by his parents, teachers and pediatrician to have autism nor ADHD. And I'm just taking notes in case some day it could be helpful. I feel like it isn't my place to say anything and that it wouldn't be taken seriously anyway. But I will start including some balancing activities in our playtime together during his visits.)
I am schizophrenic as well. So it just more confusion now for me.
Fascinating I’ve never heard of this.
Not sure if it relates to this or not, but I was wondering if anyone else sees shapes (like 3d shapes that FEEL fuzzy or familiar, or like they are real somehow, I’m not sure how to explain it) when they close theirs eyes, especially when emotionally dysregulated or associated with some of the other symptoms in this video? I never really thought of myself as displaying autistic traits but now I’m starting to wonder, they would certainly explain some of my difficulties better than other theories I’ve had. My mind seems to reject the idea though, like it doesn’t know what to do with this information if it proves true. In fact, my mind and I don’t seem to see to eye on many things at the moment, I’m just so tired from all the inner adjustments that I need to keep making just so I can get through the day, even when I’m not interacting with others, let alone when I do 🤕
I certainly don’t have Alice in Wonderland syndrome- but thanks for educating us about those of us in the autism community who do.
I have another pattern of visual processing difficulties for which I need to be formally assessed.
Can you please consider doing videos on
NVLD
Irlen Meares Syndrome
Aphantasia
Yes😊
I find it impossible to do meditation. I've been told that this is a normal Autistic trait
Same, and it really bothers me when people keep saying I should meditate. What they don’t realise is that my stress levels go through the roof every time they say it
Fascinating! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Whitney.
This would happen to me as a teen at 16. I would be going to sleep and have the sense of being bigger but mostly it was as if every movement was very fast. I developed migraines with aura about 15 years later and my son is autistic. Wonder if it's all connected???
I experience, an odd feeling of being shorter, as I walk around our apartment. It feels like, being one of Snow Whites' dwarves! It's a very strange experience!
I was office diagnosed with it after they diagnosed my migraines by catching them with an MRI.
One of my Facebook followers linked to this video.I already an avid subscriber .I think they we're trying to say something through this action . What that is could be this syndrome.
Space isn't distorted. Walls like to jump forward so I run into them when turning a corner. Walls hate me. jk.
I love putting extra weight on myself. I won’t buy a weighted blanket, because I would sleep too well, and miss my alarm clock and not make it to work. 😂
Do certain medications tend to make these symptoms better or worse? How would they initially discover AWS if someone was experiancing this but had no idea that this existed or that they are even autistic in the first place?
Presumably the same ones that they use for schizophrenia as there's a much better known connection between schizo disorders and Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. Which is to say, probably not a great idea if the only issue is with sizes and proportions as it will affect a lot of other things.
Don’t they say that Lewis Carroll, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, may have been autistic? I suppose you can say for sure because nobody knew about autism when he was alive. It would make sense if he did and some of the scenes in Alice were inspired by his own experiences. I actually named by daughter Alice after the character.
Special interest mode activated: Lewis Caroll was most definitely autistic. He was a professor of logic and mathematics who hated the way words/phrases/ society made no sense and had no rules. He was known to rant about it. He had almost no friends and everyone thought he was odd. He was a loner and a creative. Alice in wonderland is best read as a girl who is desperately trying to apply logic, reasoning and book smarts to a world that absolutely makes no sense; paradoxically part of the reason it makes no sense is because words and letters are treated in the same way the equations are; a word used in one context will always carry the exact same meaning in the story regardless of context. The book essentially is about what it’s like to try to navigate an allistic word as an autistic person. You can have all the logic in the world but that won’t help you and everyone will still act like YOU’RE the problem.
I am certain that Lewis Caroll was autistic and I hate how the majority of people think the book is about drugs or insanity or being goth or something.
@@melissabennett6571 thanks so much! That is such a great interpretation and one I never appreciated. I am going to read Alice again but through this prism! It makes a lot of sense like when Humpty says “words mean what I say.” How cool!
Thankyou.
The time perception of AWS and ASD aren’t the same. AWS it’s literally like everything around me is in a movie and someone pushed fast forward or reverse. Sounds even thoughts are distorted. ASD is just a basic hyperfocus and whoops moment when 5 hours passed.
Is it autistic trait to experience some weird phobias? I am scared of many things like night sky is an absolute horror for me. I literally cant Look up when its dark. I fear darkness and nights because then you may hear sounds so clearly. I have a huge problem with sounds that dont belong on some certain moment or space.
Does Alice in Wonderland syndrome have connection with Daydreaming?
I think so😊😊😊😊
This only happens in the dark for mee
I hate this, I have had it all my life. It suuuuuucks.
Me too. I never met anyone in my life like me. Until you. Thank you.
Sorry for another message. Just to say in case helpful I control mine and never let the sensations continue. I always detract myself. I also can't drink much alcohol as I need to keep in complete control of it. I can't give it an inch! Anyway I'll stop messaging now. I always think of it as the cross I have to bear but there are worse crosses so I suppose I'm fortunate if I look at it like that!
@@marthaedwards8199me2
Same here. I just want it to go away 😭
I'd like to hear your wife's point of view
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