[Imagine]

DP/DR Just A Symptom?

Does anyone agree with that?

 

[Martinelv]

Usually, a big yes. DR/DP is usually your brains reaction to severe stress/anxiety/panic - a primitive self-defence mechanism. It can, however, and quite rarely I think, exist as a syndrome in itself. Whether there is a difference between chronic long term DR/DP and true DR/DP Syndrome, I don't know.

 

[Dreamer]

Usually, a big yes. DR/DP is usually your brains reaction to severe stress/anxiety/panic - a primitive self-defence mechanism. It can, however, and quite rarely I think, exist as a syndrome in itself. Whether there is a difference between chronic long term DR/DP and true DR/DP Syndrome, I don't know.

I agree with this completely. Also my doctors over the years have given me a Dx of "Depersonalization Disorder" though I find that is probably incorrect.

I have so much other crap going on -- anxiety, mood dysregulaton, depressive episodes -- I feel this must be secondary to those "umbrella diagnoses".

I have been given the diagnosis of Depersonalization DISORDER as it is my primary complaint, and always has been. It is chronic, it is disabling, it is persistent.

DP/DR in and of themselves as defined by the DSM-IV are very specific SYMPTOMS. They are a perceptual shift in the proper processing of "Sense of Self" (DP) or in interpreting input from the outside world. (DR)

As Mauricio Sierra has found, true Depersonalization Disorder, a SYNDROME in and of itself is RARE. I know one person personally who I would say has Primary DP/DR. He does NOT experience anxiety over it. He calls himself a "meat robot". He interacts through "an interface" with the world. He feels (he'd have to describe it more clearly as I find it hard to understand fully), as if he were dead or unable to truly experience feelings. He also doesn't obsess over it. He "walks through life" doing what he can. It seems he has more cognitive problems -- concentration, feeling overwhelmed from input, etc.

To the best of my understanding and belief, Martin's description is spot on. It is a glitch in the fight/flight response which when working assists in survival in both humans and animals.... and we are animals.

I believe that drug induced DP/DR is the result of the drug itself, as "harmless" drugs, Rx drugs such as antibiotics can sometimes bring on DP/DR which will subsequently fade, then reappear when a drug is introduced. This has happend to me with alcohol. See the post at the top re: drugs which cause DP/DR and when stopped the individual (usually) returns to normal after a time.

Other forms here are the result of anxiety that is in turn the result of umbrella diagnoses such as Panic Disorder, OCD, all of the Anxiety Disorders, but also comes with other mental illnesses.

If the PRIMARY condition is successfully treated the DP can fade. No guarantee with that either, but that would seem to be the case.

Those of us on the Board here are perhaps a skewed sample. Our DP has not passed, we are consumed by it, or it has so debilitated us we can't function in social/occupational settings, etc.

Again: Primary Depersonalization Disorder is rare as best as I understand, and would be chronic, or seems to be.

Depersonalization/Derealization SYMPTOMS that are secondary to any number of other psychiatric disorders can be episodic or chronic.

I'd say my chronic DP/DR is not due to a diagnosis of Depersonalization Disorder. It is secondary to chronic stress for years, no positive intervention/coping skills, etc.

Best,
D

 

[Dreamer]

Damn the PS

DP/DR in my POV at this time (always open to change) is:

EITHER:

Anxiety gone haywire -- Fight/Flight response unhinged
or
Actual lack of communication between neurons, brain areas re: sense of BODY/SELF, or interpretation of incoming stimuli. A glitch... not necessarily permanent. And in some the result of tumor/epilepsy, etc.

And I don't know the answer to the chronicity question either. A mystery, though it makes sense that those with lesions in the brain would have chronic DP/DR -- those with physical damage -- and that isn't us here!

 

[dakotajo]

I believe its the lack of communication(serotonin) between neurons that causes the FOF to become engaged and causes the dp/dr. Dp/dr is always the result of anxiety or intolerable mental suffering. Wether its drug induced anxiety or not is inmaterial. I dont believe there is anybody here that is completely calm and yet the dp/dr still remains.

I also believe that the 2 biggest factors in this are diet and sleep. Nobody has a prozac or klonopin deficency. These drugs CAUSE the brain to become imbalanced. I believe if a person quits ALL drugs and eats correctly and gets HEALTHY sleep, in time they WILL recover. Its just my opinion.

Joe

 

[Scattered]

Good post dreamer. I was intrigued after hearing about the case of DP/DR as a primary syndrome. I also have had the experience, albeit temporary, of feeling as if I was a "meat robot." In fact that phrase right there sums up alot of my fear, of simply being a walking talking slab of meat that may have come into being as the result of complex evolutionary processes but will die like all other animals. I have this very visceral feeling at times of experiencing the torture of being able to dream of transcendence but never being able to achieve it. Wanting eternal life, but recognizing that its very likely that my physical and mental existence will end when I die and my body decays.

And back to the main topic, I realize that DP/DR is a symptom of my anxiety. Yet realizing this I still having trouble moving passed this concept of being meat. I have to know whether or not this is all there is, but fear the answer.