Hollow feeling in chest/ empty chest feeling

[cait_sith]

Do you suffer from this too? It's a horrible feeling I can't put in my own words. Needed ai to accurately describe the feeling:

Tightness/Constriction in the Chest Cavity
• A palpable tension or constricting sensation focused in the area around the sternum and heart region
• Feels like something is caught, trapped, or bound between the lungs, restricting full expansion of the chest
• Creates an oppressive, compressed feeling of physical emptiness within the torso
• Chest cavity feels tightly constricted, as if being slowly vacated or hollowed out from the inside
• Breathing may feel labored or constricted due to the tightness and inability to fully inflate the lungs

Absence of Somatic/Visceral Feeling
• A distinct lack or deprivation of normal visceral sensations from within the chest cavity
• No palpable feelings of substance, heaviness, warmth or presence occupying the inner torso
• Absence of the typical somatic sensations that indicate aliveness, vitality or being "filled out" in the core
• Feels as though the chest cavity has been entirely emptied out or voided of its contents
• Creates an unsettling sense of lacking essence, substance or being fundamentally "hollow" internally

Perceived Vacuum or Void
• The lack of somatic/visceral feeling translates into the perception of a literal empty space or cavernous void
• An impression of an expansive hollow, vacuum or nothingness within the chest/thoracic region
• Feels as though the entire chest cavity itself is just an empty, vacuous space devoid of matter
• The void seems to be steadily growing, expandingoutward and occupying more internal space
• Exaggerated by an inability to perceive any "filling" substance within the chest other than air

Psychosomatic Hunger/Deprivation
• Linked to the perceived void is a persistent sense of hunger, emptiness or deficient need
• An aching feeling that something vital is lacking or missing from within the chest cavity
• Almost like a throbbing, ravenous hunger or emptiness demanding to be filled or satiated internally
• Creates sensations of profound deficiency, loss or deprivation centered in the core of the body
• The void and tightness create a psychosomatic pull or gravitational ache to be made "full" again

 

[sadidiot0328]

Yes, I have felt the same way for a few years now. The "Perceived Vacuum or Void" is the closest to that "emptiness". However, for me personally it's a sense of emptiness that feels physically empty like an endless abyss that has no foreseeable end or bottom in sight. It's nice to know someone feels similar though.

 

[ConfusedClouds]

I have had a few variations of tight chest.

Sometimes sharp like breathing in if it were freezing cold air (but isn't that cold outside)

Sometimes more like having taken too much caffeine and getting a bit jittery (but on occasions without the caffeine)

Sometimes feeling like my lungs just aren't able to fill properly/fully (not in a restrictive way like asthma sounds), even when exercising, just feeling like 'theres unused capacity'

Sometimes feeling my heart beating strongly without needing to touch my chest (not fast/irregular), in fact this evening I have been a bit like this.

To calm the over reactions/anxiety kicking in about it, I often resort to exercise. Proves to myself that its nothing sinister/severe (or exercise wouldn't be possible). Although now I'm more familiar with the sensations, I don't mentally react to them so much and can ride them out a lot more easily.

 

[escape_from_hell]

I especially relate to the first category.
I often even find myself like 'not breathing' and it is a struggle to really breathe, like I'm not ABLE to do it 'properly' at all. Cannot assume a proper posture to allow the breathe to flow freely.
I started thinking it was COPD or some other kind of shit but it's not really. It's psychosomatic too there are moments when the anxiety and hell-think is diminished enough it's like I can breathe for real for a few moments.

Do you have any insight about this? Because you posted about it I'm wondering if this is common and good treatment is available.
To the other categories you describe I relate mostly in the sense of being an 'unwhole' human or being, like I'm Pinocchio or something not a real boy. More of a DPDR type thing overall I guess, a lot of dread and unsure what "I" am.

Sometimes feeling like my lungs just aren't able to fill properly/fully (not in a restrictive way like asthma sounds), even when exercising, just feeling like 'theres unused capacity'

Very much this for me, it's like something is keeping my breaths from being real ones, they are not 'full' like some force is preventing me from taking a complete one? Even with a lot of focus and attention, my whole body is tight from anxiety and shitty posture too.

 

[cait_sith]

Do you have any insight about this? Because you posted about it I'm wondering if this is common and good treatment is available.

no, as far as I know there is know there is no diagnosis for this, and pretty sure doctors will tell you it's all psychosomatic. Googling some of the symptoms you find some threads on depression forums describing similar feelings.
Ai says:

Based on the cluster of symptoms described - the feeling of tightness/constriction in the chest area, the perceived absence of normal visceral sensations, the sense of an expansive inner void or hollowness, and the accompanying psychosomatic hunger/deprivation - the most likely clinical diagnosis would be:

Depersonalization Disorder

This is a dissociative disorder characterized by persistent or recurrent feelings of being detached from one's body, emotions, surroundings, or sense of self. The hollow, empty feeling aligns with the core experience of depersonalization - a disturbing sense of unreality and detachment from basic experiences of embodiment and selfhood.

Specifically, the symptoms point to a somatic subtype of depersonalization focused on distortions in body perception. The tightness, constriction, and perceived inner void map onto the depersonalization experience of feeling disconnected from or alienated within one's own physical self.

The aching psychosomatic hunger likely stems from the desperate yearning to feel reconnected and "re-filled" into the somatic experience of being an embodied, unified self again. The hollowness represents a dissociative detachment from visceral selfhood.

Other potential diagnoses could include:

Derealization Disorder - A similar dissociative condition involving detachment from surroundings rather than body/self specifically.

Somatoform/Somatic Symptom Disorder - Characterized by physical symptoms without a clearly identified physical cause.

Depression with Psychosomatic Features - As emptiness, loss of essence, and psychosomatic distress can manifest with severe depression.

I don't know, I don't really suffer from depersonalisation imo

One thing I forgot to add is that feeling of physical coldness in my chest without feeling cold, it's like the coldness in my solar plexus, it sounds so daft and cliche and cringe when I write it but it's a real feeling, these are all tangible bodily sensations I suffer from, especially at night.

 

[ConfusedClouds]

Thats an interesting connection from AI. My therapist does say I freeze and dissociate a lot in sessions, but I don't know. Maybe sometimes but I see it as less 'significant' and more common like zoning out/losing attention.

 

[SexyIncél]

The empty stomach feeling may have to do with the gut brain — the dense collection of neurons around the stomach, that's considered a second brain. It can even get Alzheimer's

I noticed the communication between the two brains, in me. My gut brain has no linguistics ability, but it can spam me with pain and perhaps even cause imagery somehow, particularly in dreams

This happens when my actions are unaligned with parts of my unconscious. To solve it, I must align them. Occasionally (only happened rarely), it helps to convince my unconscious that "I'm really trying hard, so please stop spamming me, I'm really working on it, you can clearly see I am"

 

[Callie Arcale]

I recognize the feeling you describe. I used to have it a lot when I was very young and in my 20s and 30s. It was like the entire middle part of my body was missing.

"Emptiness" isn't even the right word. More like "absence".

It got better for me once I realized I was doomed, and there was nothing for me in this life, only the promise of death.

 

[Eudaimonic]

Kind of. I always have tightness in my chest and my breathing is usually somewhat restricted. I get the "hollow" feeling sometimes too.

 

[Forever Sleep]

Yes definitely. I think we feel grief and sadness in the heart and cheast. I think feeling grief and stress can release stress hormones like cortisol which affect the heart.

But yes, it's such a sad feeling. For me, most of it relates to grieving loved ones who have died. It feels like big holes have opened up inside of me. I suppose they have. When we lose significant relationships in our lives, we lose the part of us that was for them. You can't exactly get that back. You can't reminisce with them anymore. You can't create new memories with them anymore. Grief is so awful.

 

[cait_sith]

Thats an interesting connection from AI. My therapist does say I freeze and dissociate a lot in sessions, but I don't know. Maybe sometimes but I see it as less 'significant' and more common like zoning out/losing attention.

Therapists love to pathologize everything, layering diagnosis on top of each other, which one of the many reasons I avoid them, lol

Yes definitely. I think we feel grief and sadness in the heart and cheast. I think feeling grief and stress can release stress hormones like cortisol which affect the heart.

But yes, it's such a sad feeling. For me, most of it relates to grieving loved ones who have died. It feels like big holes have opened up inside of me. I suppose they have. When we lose significant relationships in our lives, we lose the part of us that was for them. You can't exactly get that back. You can't reminisce with them anymore. You can't create new memories with them anymore. Grief is so awful.

I don't really suffer from grief, at least consciously, but had to deal a lot of it having lost mother at 11 and father at 25. I don't remember having that feeling I have now. But everyone is different, the main theme here seems sadness, it's definitely feels like a manifestation of loneliness.

The empty stomach feeling may have to do with the gut brain — the dense collection of neurons around the stomach, that's considered a second brain. It can even get Alzheimer's

I noticed the communication between the two brains, in me. My gut brain has no linguistics ability, but it can spam me with pain and perhaps even cause imagery somehow, particularly in dreams

This happens when my actions are unaligned with parts of my unconscious. To solve it, I must align them. Occasionally (only happened rarely), it helps to convince my unconscious that "I'm really trying hard, so please stop spamming me, I'm really working on it, you can clearly see I am"

Very interesting, I will look into the gut brain.