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Derealization but no Depersonalization?

2181 Views 8 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  HSaunders
Hi there,

I've had a panic attack while smoking weed only the last two times i smoked. I've smoked probably 5 or 6 times in total. 3 weeks after the last panic attack. I woke up in my dreamy state, the weird thing is. I don't have a continuous out of the body experience. People describe Depersonalization as if i feel detached from my body, but i don't. I do in fact feel detached from the outside world, i can stare at a tree for minutes thinking about if it's real or if it's just my mind making things up. I feel like being in a coma, or a long long long dream.

Can you guys tell me why i don't feel DP but i do feel DR? I can't seem to find anyone else that doesn't have both at the same time?

Thanks!
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I only have dp. There are many people that don't have both. Don't be sad of not having them both cause DP really sucks..no identity, memories, feelings.
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I've pretty much exclusively had derealization. I can't recall having depersonalizaion to a level which really bothered me. I did have a fairly significant breakdown of the 'self', but that was much more to do with having an existential crisis. For me, the feelings of unreality, brain fog and existential rumination (all derealization in my case) were far stronger than anything related to depersonalisation. I almost always felt like myself, but it was the world outside that felt completely and utterly bizarre. I've also never felt detached from my body or anything like that.

There's never going to be a clear reason why you have DR but not DP - we're all different. I'd suggest staying away from marijuana while you're experiencing these feelings. Feel free to ask any questions if you're feeling scared.
I only have dp. There are many people that don't have both. Don't be said of not having them both cause DP really sucks..no identity, memories, feelings.
this is something weird as well, because i also have been experiencing memory loss since i got my dr. I didn't exactly forget things but i forgot the order in which what happened. I can tell i told something to someone but i can't tell to whom nor if it was last week or two weeks ago for instance

I've pretty much exclusively had derealization. I can't recall having depersonalizaion to a level which really bothered me. I did have a fairly significant breakdown of the 'self', but that was much more to do with having an existential crisis. For me, the feelings of unreality, brain fog and existential rumination (all derealization in my case) were far stronger than anything related to depersonalisation. I almost always felt like myself, but it was the world outside that felt completely and utterly bizarre. I've also never felt detached from my body or anything like that.

There's never going to be a clear reason why you have DR but not DP - we're all different. I'd suggest staying away from marijuana while you're experiencing these feelings. Feel free to ask any questions if you're feeling scared.
Thank you for helping me out, i do feel the same way you did. And i think i learned my lesson, i'll never touch any drug again ;)
Hi

I will pop back and say more later but its important to be clear on one thing DPD patients DO NOT report out of body experiences (unless they have co-morbid factors). The anomalous body experiences reported by DPD patients may revolve around feeling disconected or estranged from the body, but this does not imply that people are 'out of body' There is another thread on this, in this section of the forum that you might find useful.

It is important to be clear on sypmtomology so people can think about what you're experiencing. Note - not all dissociation equals disembodiement...thats the crucial message.
I don t know how is it to have an out of body experience and I m not curiouse about it at all. But I ve read that there are dp'ed persons who experience that.
Hi Dr B,

This is my hypothesis based on my experience with this disorder -

Maybe dp and dr are two sides of the same coin?

I think that the arrays of symptoms of both conditions can be explained in terms of reduced emotional reactivity. Let me explain briefly what I mean by that:

When you go through an event in life, such as having sex on new years eve, fighting with your
father and going to the gym it provokes emotions in you.

Further - I think that all things provoke emotions, such as a simple physical touch or a "normal"
sight (even of a car passing by).

Let's take a classic dp symptom and try to explain how it may arrise of an overly restrained
emotional system. Dp sufferers often complain that they feel as if their organs don't belong to them, or feeling divorced from their body.
I think this can happen when the emotional response that's associated with the physical touch don't come and go. The same physical touch that before used to provoke emotions (even if it be crossing your fingers) doesn't do that anymore. But your nervous system is obviously unharmed so you can SENSE the physical touch (measure pressure and temperature change). Therefore, it creates this sensation that is often described by dp sufferers as if they are divorced of their body. Because emotional respones that should accompany physical touch are being restrained.

Let's take a classic dr symptom and try to explain how it may arise of an overly restrained emotional reactivity system. Dr sufferers often complain that they feel ddetaches from their surroundings.
Now, keeping in mind that I am assuming that every simple touch and sight is accompanied by an emotion - an overly restrained emotional reaponse system prevents from the sufferer to "feel" his surroundings. The simple sight of your owm home that healthy people "love" amd the simple sight
of your school that many people "hate" does not provoke those love and hate emotions within the sufferer, as any other sight. Therefore it may cause feelings of the world being "flat" (only bits of information, which is not accompanied by any emotions), "2d" (another expression for "flat"), unreal.

What do u think?
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This is totally normal (in the DP/DR sense). Some people have depersonalization, derealization, or a mix of the two. I started off with feelings of derealization for months, and then after trying magic mushrooms, I went into full blown depersonalization. Now it's back to derealization with short moments of DP every once and a while. The main symptom of DP that I started noticing was that during conversations my voice would 'detach' from my body, and it became unrecognizable and I would slowly, mentally slip out of my being while a machine continued on with the conversation. I hope that makes some sort of sense.
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Let's contribute to the topic with my experience with DP/DR. First I was triggered with this sense of a mind blink, followed with extreme anxiety and a feel of doom. By mind blink I am referring to a sensation like you have passed out for a second and got to consciousness again. I found that extremely scary. Then DR followed. For 4 and a half months i was being derealised. Every new condition, though, feels worst than the last. Then it stopped. I stopped giving it so much attention, and after the last major episode of DR it faded away... to make place for the DP. Now i have new symptoms. The feel of self is not consistent. Memories are all foggy. Time seems prolonged, like it has passed a day, but it feels like two. It goes to the time when you feel losing your mind, and the only place where you can find comfort is here - where people are going through the same thing. I don't know where all this will end, but i hope for the best.
this is EXACTLY what I have, word for word! I smoked a joint, had a bad trip on it, was fine for 2 weeks, then woke up one morning feeling in a dreamy state! And yes intact, I don't feel detached from my body, but everything else! I feel like my body is sometimes the only real thing and my mind is everything if you know what I mean?
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