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My DP started late one night in the summer of 1977 after I smoked some pot after finishing the late shift at work. I wasn't a regular pot smoker - as a matter of fact this was probably the second or third time I tried smoking it. The feeling I had while high was very unpleasant. I had an intense fear that I wouldn't feel 'normal' again.

That was over 40 years ago and that feeling still exists. Over the years I've learned how to live with it. In the beginning when this happened to me there was no explanation for what It was. Every doctor I went to diagnosed it as anxiety and treated me along those lines. It wasn't until the Internet became popular that I found out I wasn't alone and that this 'feeling' had a name.

I don't spend much time thinking about my Depersonalization anymore, but I would love to feel life without it again. My latest attempt at escaping from my DP was ART therapy. Like all of the other forms of therapy or medications, it had no effect.

I'd love to hear if anyone has had success dealing with this scary state of mind caused by pot smoking.
 

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I can see you live in Florida. There is a rTMS center in Palm Beach that have made a case report about treatment case of depersonalisation disorder with deep rTMS. It is very interesting because almost 95% of private rTMS centers in Europe and the US do not have the equitment to do deep TMS, -only TMS at the upper lager of the prefrontal cortex. There are many areas in the prefrontal cortex that are very active in depersonalisation like the anterior cingulate and the medial prefrontal cortex. These structures are to deep for normal TMS to affect. The clinic in Palm Beach should have equitment to do deep TMS. They are the only ones I have read about who have reported they have used deep TMS in depersonlisation. I can see they have equitment from "Brainsway" and They also likely have deep rTMS coils. It could be interesting to know more about what they have used in their case of depersonlisation. I suspect They might have used a H-coil from "Brainsway" for OCD as it affects the anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex. You might give them a call. Their report of use of deep TMS and where depersonlisation is mentioned is here:

https://www.brainstimjrnl.com/article/S1935-861X(19)30138-X/fulltext

Their site is here:

https://www.advancedmentalhealth.com/
 

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There should be no difference over time between drug induced depersonalization and the non-variant. It is the same condition. Those with drug induced depersonalization often had prior to the outset a anxiety related condition either with general anxiety or panic. It is thought that the combination of the drug and a tendency towards anxiety made the outset.
 

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It happened to me in 1971. I was something of a worst case scenario. My 1st cannabis intoxication segued into temporal lobe seizures.

40 years later I would read in a British Neurological journal "The worst case scenario is when the post ictal psychosis segues into an affective disorder of major depression".

Eureka! That's me. I saw an eptileptologist and had an EEG and MRI with epilepsy protocol and we concluded I had a history of epileptic seizures comborbid with recurrent

major depression. I was told I was disabled. I wasn't actively having focal temporal lobe seizures any more, though I realized I had experienced them frequently over the

previous 4 decades. I had survived 4 episodes of major depression by that time. I had ECT for the depression in 2014 and it allowed me to stop the psych meds I had been taking for 25 years.

For the last 6 years, I have been symptom free. My EEGs are significantly abnormal and I have occasional migraine auras, but nothing like the suffering I experienced from age 17 to 57.

I'm enjoying life like never before!
 
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