Déjà vu – sense of ‘already seen’ (Myth of Past Life)

Déjà vu is a French word that means ‘already seen’. It is the feeling that one has experienced or lived through the present situation before.

For example, you are going to a new school, which you never seen before, even not in any photo of the school. But when you enter into a classroom at that moment you realize that you were in this place before, and suddenly you recall it for a very short time. Though you never came here before.

Déjà vu is a common experience and it is completely normal without some very exceptional cases. Every people experience this once in life, maybe twice or more (till now I experience it 3-4 times). It’s mostly experienced by young adults. As we grow older chances of déjà vu become lesser.

Two types of déjà vu are recognized –

1. Pathological – It is often associated with symptoms such as hallucination, which may be an indicator of neurological or psychiatric illness.

2. Non-pathological – It is a sign of a healthy person with good psychiatric phenomena.

There are many scientific theories on this and some are fictitious.

According to a recent study those who

1. frequently watches movie,

2. read a lot of books,

3. travel a lot,

4. recall their dreams (people may experience déjà vu because some elements in their remembered dreams were shown)

have a more tendency to experience such feelings than a normal one.

5. Among students, fatigue or anxiety/stress may facilitate déjà vu.

Deja Vu is also caused by the side effect of certain medications. Like Xanax, Librium, Tranxene and Valium etc.

Another study shows, it is associated with temporal lobe epilepsy (a chronic disorder/type of epilepsy that occurs in the part of your brain that handles short-term memory)

Temporal lobe is related to hearing and other auditory perception. When temporal lobe of the brain gives a sense of familiarity which is ignored by other parts of the brain as there is insufficient and uncertain proof of the past event. This process take place in a fraction of reason and that’s why déjà vu remains for a short period of time and it's impossible to recall.

There are several theories like parallel universe, divided-attention, past life, the hologram theory. You can search about these theories on web if you are curious.

But always remember déjà vu and past life is not related, and there is no past life.

Remember it not indicates any future.

Conclusion - 

Deja Vu is a very exciting hypothesis. Why it occurs is still an enigma for everyone. We have lot more theories behind it, how far they are true or certain is still unknown. Again, it is not harmful but can be, until one experiences continuous seizures which may be due to certain psychological disorder and in that case, you will notice other symptoms also, so no need to worry.