Hi, I'm norahtheexplorah and I'm 18 years old.
I don't know if it's derealization or depersonalization I have but I've felt disconnected to my body for more than a year now.
It started last June. I was on my way to catch a train when I had a panic attack. I felt really strange in the morning and then I just had a panic attack and it just made me feel really weird and shaky. But that was just iron defiency and after a few months I still remembered that panic attack and it shook me up quite a lot so I just started checking up on if I felt connected or not. Around that time I also cut ties with my closest childhood friends and that was and still is extremely hard for me. I find myself constantly pushing the thought of them away. And I was bullied when I was younger and I thought that I moved from that but thoughts of the bullying have also been reappearing more frequently. And I've also been getting a lot of pressure from my family with school since they have like extremely high expectations from me. And it has been terrible for me I've cried countless times. And now I've just shut my feelings cause its too hard to deal with all of this with letting go of my friends and try to get good grades. I don't go out as often cause it had gotten scarier cause I don't really feel like I'm in my body...
I'm a senior in high school now and I honestly don't know how I'm gonna cope with all of this constant stress and worrying and this feeling of not being connected to my body..
Does anybody have any advice or tips?
Hi Norahtheexplorah. I apologize that it took so long for someone to respond to your post.
From what you've described this sounds very much like DP/DR. It sounds like you were going through a lot when your DP/DR developed, this is typical for development of DP/DR for many sufferers. Having emotional trauma in your past like you described, such as bullying is also very common among sufferers.
What you described regarding checking to see whether or not DP/DR is still there is called self checking. This is also very common among DP/DR sufferers ("Am I still DP'd, DR'd, let me check" etc. .) no one can really blame you for doing it, but I'd recommend avoiding that as much as possible as it can be counterproductive. You want to distract yourself from this ordeal as much as possible, work, school, hobbies, etc. . Keep busy.
Have you ever considered seeking some professional help? Maybe finding a psychologist/therapist to talk to would help you out in this situation?
My best advice to you other than seeking out some professional help is to try your best to busy yourself with day to day life. School, work, whatever you can find. Its one of the best ways to move forward.
