[duskandherembrace]

Hello,
I was previously diagnosed with Panic Disorder back more than five years ago. It was quite severe and led me to even develop a little agoraphobia. However in the past few years I have not had any panic attacks and no longer have typical symptoms for panic disorder, only depersonalisation and derealisation. It’s like when my mind gets worked up enough and in an anxious state it shuts off and “unplugs”.

I started seeing a psychotherapist recently for this and have been having a hard time being diagnosed with anything. I no longer fit the bill for any anxiety disorders since I don’t have any anxiety symptoms other than dpdr and don’t have panic attacks. She had me take the Dissociative Experiences Scale and my score only indicated mild dissociative symptoms. However all of my answers were very specific and I think inline with DPDR (50%+ for all dp & dr questions, 0% for everything else). I also in the past few years developed a lot of sensory problems that cause a lot of issues in daily life and trigger dissociative episodes, my therapist has suggested I get tested for autism because of these but don’t they also come with DPDR? Additionally I think that derealisation has a lot of influence on any agoraphobia that I still experience. It just feels like I’m going around in circles with this whole thing, I don’t know what to say to make my therapist understand my experiences.

Can anyone that’s been diagnosed with DPDR tell me how they got diagnosed? Perhaps a test or evaluation that I could ask my psychotherapist about, that would be really helpful.

Thanks

 

[Trith]

Hello,
I was previously diagnosed with Panic Disorder back more than five years ago. It was quite severe and led me to even develop a little agoraphobia. However in the past few years I have not had any panic attacks and no longer have typical symptoms for panic disorder, only depersonalisation and derealisation. It’s like when my mind gets worked up enough and in an anxious state it shuts off and “unplugs”.

I started seeing a psychotherapist recently for this and have been having a hard time being diagnosed with anything. I no longer fit the bill for any anxiety disorders since I don’t have any anxiety symptoms other than dpdr and don’t have panic attacks. She had me take the Dissociative Experiences Scale and my score only indicated mild dissociative symptoms. However all of my answers were very specific and I think inline with DPDR (50%+ for all dp & dr questions, 0% for everything else). I also in the past few years developed a lot of sensory problems that cause a lot of issues in daily life and trigger dissociative episodes, my therapist has suggested I get tested for autism because of these but don’t they also come with DPDR? Additionally I think that derealisation has a lot of influence on any agoraphobia that I still experience. It just feels like I’m going around in circles with this whole thing, I don’t know what to say to make my therapist understand my experiences.

Can anyone that’s been diagnosed with DPDR tell me how they got diagnosed? Perhaps a test or evaluation that I could ask my psychotherapist about, that would be really helpful.

Thanks

Hello, I never got really diagnosed, even though I have seen many therapists. When I told my first psychiatrist about my symptoms, they never talked about DPDR. When I discovered what it was and talked about my self diagnosis to other therapists, they doubted it, or didn't care about it, or fought it like I had made it up by spending too much time on the internet. And when I stopped mentioning DP and only gave my symptoms again to let them make their mind on their own, and then at the end told them I thought it matched with DP, only then they nodded noticeably and said it was what they thought all along (but didn't say it...), to show me that it's not me who is teaching them anything but they came up with it themselves. So they kind of approved my self-diagnosis, I don't know if this counts, but I have mostly learned that where I live therapists don't like to give diagnoses, they like self-diagnoses even less and they have a big ego.
But, I did manage to get a diagnosis for a "mild" mood disorder, and after many interviews also had a diagnosis for some autism spectrum things recently, for symptoms that don't seem related to DPDR. One psychiatrist told me that he thought I might qualify for autism spectrum disorder and that it could be related to DPDR but he was not qualified to give me a diagnosis himself. He sent me to autism specialists who work only with autistic people, I went through a few long interviews, did some tests, turns out I am on the spectrum according to them but they told me they were clueless about DPDR, so for them it's really not related. They see hundreds and hundreds of patients, and if these symptoms were frequent for autistic people I think they would know it. But I am open to any contradictory information about that.
If you are interested in the possibility of autism, one of the criteria they use is that autism doesn't start late, it is a developmental disorder, so it's already present in childhood although it could manifest differently at different ages I guess. It might not be straightforward to tell if problems were present in childhood, so they have their own tests to estimate that but perhaps it can give you an idea.
And since you talk about agoraphobia, would you mind reading my super long post here and tell me if you identify with some of it? I would be very interested in your answer.

 

[duskandherembrace]

Hello, I never got really diagnosed, even though I have seen many therapists. When I told my first psychiatrist about my symptoms, they never talked about DPDR. When I discovered what it was and talked about my self diagnosis to other therapists, they doubted it, or didn't care about it, or fought it like I had made it up by spending too much time on the internet. And when I stopped mentioning DP and only gave my symptoms again to let them make their mind on their own, and then at the end told them I thought it matched with DP, only then they nodded noticeably and said it was what they thought all along (but didn't say it...), to show me that it's not me who is teaching them anything but they came up with it themselves. So they kind of approved my self-diagnosis, I don't know if this counts, but I have mostly learned that where I live therapists don't like to give diagnoses, they like self-diagnoses even less and they have a big ego.
But, I did manage to get a diagnosis for a "mild" mood disorder, and after many interviews also had a diagnosis for some autism spectrum things recently, for symptoms that don't seem related to DPDR. One psychiatrist told me that he thought I might qualify for autism spectrum disorder and that it could be related to DPDR but he was not qualified to give me a diagnosis himself. He sent me to autism specialists who work only with autistic people, I went through a few long interviews, did some tests, turns out I am on the spectrum according to them but they told me they were clueless about DPDR, so for them it's really not related. They see hundreds and hundreds of patients, and if these symptoms were frequent for autistic people I think they would know it. But I am open to any contradictory information about that.
If you are interested in the possibility of autism, one of the criteria they use is that autism doesn't start late, it is a developmental disorder, so it's already present in childhood although it could manifest differently at different ages I guess. It might not be straightforward to tell if problems were present in childhood, so they have their own tests to estimate that but perhaps it can give you an idea.
And since you talk about agoraphobia, would you mind reading my super long post here and tell me if you identify with some of it? I would be very interested in your answer.

I’m sorry that your therapists were like that. The therapist that I see at the moment still seems open minded to it even though she doesn’t understand or know much about it. Which is good at least.

And about Autism, I have definitely had sensory problems since I was a very young child but I don’t remember it ever being as bad as it is now. I’ve read that one of the symptoms of DPDR is senses being intense or dull, which is why I thought it could be causing or at the least enhancing my current sensory issues idk.

Sure, I’ll check your post out when I get a chance.