[Chris]

I don't know what to do here. DP is getting worse and worse every day. I'm getting more and more detached.

I've only ever taken one kind of med. Luvox. It helps my anxiety big time. I've had dp for 4 years. Always thought it was bad, but it stayed the same.

Last month I started noticing symptoms of psychosis. This made me obessively think I was going schizo. Started having panic attacks again..

Now all of a sudden, the DP has entered serious serious levels.

Wondering what I should do. I can't live like this. I stay up all night. Sleep all day. Wake up, my family feels 1 million miles away. Which makes me very depressed.

I'm wondering what I should do in terms of help. IS there a point in seeing a psychiatrist again? IS there a point in trying 20 different meds?

I can't keep getting more deeply dp'd. It truly is hell. I thought I had it bad the last 4 years. That was NOTHING compared to the DP I have now. Now I know chronic DP. How could someone NOT lose their minds being this way?

It's very very scary. Sorry I'm freaking out but reality is fading fast.

 

[David]

Hi Chris,

I can totally empathise with what you're saying. I've thought, at times, that I am going mad/becoming psychotic. Someone once told me that if you are going mad, you wouldn't realise it - it was some comfort!

It seems like such a long while ago when all this started - it was 1997 in the March before I graduated in June. I do think it was initiated by anxiety due to not being able to figure out what to do after unievrsity and coming to terms with my sexuality. Do you know what causes your anxiety?

I also know what you mean about family/friends being a million miles away - DP totally deadens your emtional reactions so while you recognise people you don't have any emotional connection to them. This also explains stuff like speaking but not recognising your voice - you hear your voice but you have no emotional connection to it.

All I can say is that by keeping yourself really busy - ideally with family and friends - you can, at times, 'forget' your DP. You will realise, with a jolt, that you haven't thought about it for half an hour because you've been so busy with other stuff. Then it comes back, but hey!

At its worst DP is like a living nightmare, but you do realise that you can get on and live your life - you have to drag yourself to do it, but you can. Sitting around thinking about is the worst thing you can do.

I did find that psychotherapy helps - especially cognitive behavioural therapy - in exploring the causes of the underlying anxiety. The problem is that very very few psychs have heard of DP or have any experience of it.

After years of plodding along with pretty mediocre mental health care I finally found out about the depersonalisation research unit in London and was referred to them. It was such a relief to *finally* talk to someone who knew what I was talking about.

In terms of meds they have put me on lamotrigine, which is a drug used to treat epilepsy, but whcih they have had quite a lot of success with in treating DP in combination with Prozac. However they have established that an SSRI on its own has no impact on DP. Also a quick web search of Luvox shows that its effectiveness in use longer than six weeks has not been proven.

David xx

 

[Guest]

like david said-- try to keep busy....think about staying up to get your sleep back on schedule...inly waking for night is a HUGE factor in depression..you never see the light of day which is naturally healthy for your seratonin levels....do you work> inschool? concentrate on other things...adn let that be your reality- not the DP...if family is also as imporatnt as you have stated- make sure you GET to see them sometime during the day....family interaction IS EQUALLY important. it reminds you of "normalcy" (no one is "normal") but you get the drift ....and it is a support group as well. good luck and i hope that helps.....remember YOU are in charge of your own choices-----not dp. i think we all need to remember that.

good luck---today

 

[sebastian]

However they have established that an SSRI on its own has no impact on DP.

Is this based on findings from the London research center? I've never heard of this before. Not that i doubt the veracity...just from personal experience. Just wondering if it is indeed an "official finding".

Chris,

I know what you're going through. We all do. The "chronic dp" is the worst. And one wonders, day by day, night by night, hour by hour, how in the hell ANYONE would be able to make it through just one more day of this, without going mad...let alone an entire lifetime. It becomes impossible to envision how you will ever be able to pull yourself out of it. Time is spent in constant worry over the impending doom of insanity.

But these are all symptoms of anxiety, panic attacks, and depersonalization. This happens to ALL of us. Things will simply get better. I have been exactly where you are. It might last for a long time...feeling like you're spiralling further and further down the rabbit hole...but that hole is an illusion. You are still you. You're just caught in a rut, as euphemistic as that might sound...it's the truth.

Good luck, and Godspeed...

s.

 

[David]

I checked just now with my contact at the London DP research to be double sure and it is correct. He sent me the research abstract below. It was actually done my the Sinai research centre who, along with the London guys, seem to be leading the way in DP research. I think this info should be spread as widely as possible as it is a common belief that an SSRI can help DP. I think it's just that doctors who don't know what to do with DP cases just chuck them on Prozac (much as they do with low level depression and anxiety).

Fluoxetine therapy in depersonalisation disorder: randomised controlled trial.

Simeon D, Guralnik O, Schmeidler J, Knutelska M.Br J Psychiatry. 2004 Jul;185:31-6.

Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York 10029, USA. [email protected]

BACKGROUND: Anecdotal reports suggest that serotonin reuptake inhibitors may improve depersonalisation disorder. Objective: To investigate the efficacy of fluoxetine in the treatment of depersonalisation disorder. Methods: Fifty-four people who met DSM-IV criteria for depersonalisation disorder were recruited through newspaper advertisements, and 50 were randomised to a 10-week, double-blind trial of fluoxetine 10-60 mg/day or placebo. Primary outcome measures were the Dissociative Experiences Scale-Depersonalisation Factor, the Depersonalization Severity Scale and the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement (CGI-I) scale. Results: Intention-to-treat analysis revealed that fluoxetine (mean dosage 48 mg/day) was not superior to placebo except for a clinically minimal but statistically significantly greater improvement in CGI-I score in the fluoxetine group prior to covarying for anxiety and depression (2.9 v. 3.6). Depersonalisation was significantly more likely to improve if comorbid anxiety disorder improved. Conclusions: Fluoxetine was not efficacious in treating depersonalisation disorder, despite the commonly reported clinical use of serotonin reuptake inhibitors for this condition.