Why Do Some People Get "Glitchy" in Real Life?

Suppose you're on a dull street, walking when, all of a sudden, the world freezes—for a fleeting instant, as if a game was paused in mid-air, with you left feeling the bizarre sensation that the world isn't the world. Glitching in life is merely a good way to describe it; it's an actual sensation for some individuals to attempt to put into words. Studies indicate that such an experience is most closely linked to dissociative states of depersonalization and derealization, where one's sense of self or world within one's surroundings becomes distorted or unreal.

Psychology of the "Glitching" Experience

The source of the experience is dissociation, a mental process whereby one detaches from an immediate experience. In depersonalization, one feels as if he or she is separated from himself or herself, watching himself or herself and what he or she is doing as if he or she were outside his or her own body. Derealization, however, is a sense that the world is unreal as if he or she is dreaming. Others will catch it as a few, in a whole "glitch" in the fabric of the universe—moments when the entire world, for all practical purposes, is pixelated, slowed, or non-existent.

Neuroscientific studies have found that such experiences can be caused by interruptions in the way the brain consolidates and processes sensory information. Our brains continually forecast what will happen next on the basis of what has happened already—a mechanism called predictive coding. When such expectation is thwarted or sensory input does not match our expectation, the consequence may be a slight delay between perception and reality. Further studies indicate that altered activity in brain regions such as the temporal and parietal lobes—the regions utilized to process sense data and build our sense of self—may be what actually creates these "glitching" effects.

Stress, Trauma, and Dissociation

Stress is perhaps the most prevalent source of dissociative states. When a brain gets overwhelmed with traumatic stress, the brain may react by using dissociation as a method of protecting the person from emotional overload. It can cause brief episodes in which the world around them seems to fall apart—something others have compared to a "glitch." Research has discovered that individuals with depersonalization-derealization disorder (DDD) all experience the same symptoms, including feeling that they are watching themselves live or the world as foggy

and distorting. Research using tools like the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) shows that the higher one's rating on these scales, the more often such reality "glitches" happen.

The Role of Brain Chemistry and Connectivity

Another thing to remember is the role neurotransmitters and neural connectivity play in our view of reality. Neuroimaging studies have yielded results that alterations in connectivity among brain regions—particularly those employed for the integration of sensory input—can play a role in the breakdown of the sense of reality. For instance, reductions in activity within the anterior cingulate cortex, which is involved in error monitoring and emotion, have been linked to an experience of unreality. Other than that, chemical imbalances involving neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, influencing perception and mood, can also make these effects bigger.

Notably, these neuro discoveries are accompanied by hypotheses in cognitive neuroscience for a "predictive processing" theory of the brain. That is a theory in which the brain is a prediction machine, in which it is continually updating its model of the world. When its model is interrupted by surprising or confusing sensory input—perhaps stress or chemical imbalance—it will generate the illusion of a perceptual "glitch."

Implications for Mental Health

To comprehend why some people experience these "glitches" in life is crucial when creating effective treatment. In depersonalized or derealized patients who are chronically so, attacks may be disabling and disruptive. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness training have proven useful techniques to help patients regain contact with their world and body, reducing the frequency and severity of dissociative episodes.

Secondly, studies are underway to determine whether neurofeedback and other types of neuromodulation can "reverse" normal brain patterns of connectivity. By giving patients more control over their brain activity, such therapies could potentially lower the incidence of "glitching" sensations and improve quality of life.

Conclusion

Though that sense of "glitching" out there in the world might evoke the premise of a science fiction movie, to others, it is real. From the workings of the mind's complex methods of coping with stress and interpreting sensory information, these events illustrate just how precarious and flexible our hold on reality is. Still more inter-disciplinary work—anything from cognitive neuroscience right through to clinical psychology—will be necessary in unravelling the mysteries of these phenomena. Greater knowledge enables us to offer more successful treatment regimens to those for whom such failures become an all-too-familiar and disquieting part of their existence.