[andymania]

I was wondering if any absurd thoughts start to brew, do you still get scared and panicky and start to believe them? Or is your mind strong enough to easily brush them away and do you really FEEL that they are really absurd and able to move on with no problem?

-Andy

 

[Guest_]

.

 

[gaddis]

Because the DP feeling is tied in with your thoughts, there is the tendency to think that is a purely psychological phenomenon.
When you've recovered, like I have, you realize that it doesn't really matter what you think. If your nervous system isn't in a DP state, you won't think thoughts that have to do with unreality.
DP is a feeling, an emotional disorder and you only have those thoughts because you feel that way.
Nobody knows what causes DP, but it seems that it is something that happens to your nervous system as a result of bad drug experiences, organic brain disorders or some type of nervous system defect.
I do have momentary DP mini-relapses, but they are always traceable to some physiological cause, like not enough sleep.
When I had this momentary DP feeling, I remembered there was nothing I could do about it, and tried not to focus on it and let it die out, which it did after a few minutes.
It didn't accelerate into a DP panic attack, because I'm taking a drug (imipramine) that blocks these types of panic attacks.

 

[Blake]

"I was wondering if any absurd thoughts start to brew, do you still get scared and panicky and start to believe them? Or is your mind strong enough to easily brush them away and do you really FEEL that they are really absurd and able to move on with no problem?"

I have gotten to a point where when thoughts of dp arise, I am able to "release" them. Used to be DP Thought > "Oh God, Im crazy" or "I feel so unreal" > Further Crazy Thoughts
Now the process is DP Thought >"I am having a thought about DP" > I am letting go of this thought. > No DP Thought

The core is that I can now value DP as "just a thought", something akin to having a thought about what time it is or something as trivial. Now the only reason its easy for me to do this is that I spent the past 6 months DEVELOPING that skill. It definitely did not happen overnight. But with patience and a good attitude, anyone can learn how.

Blake

 

[Scattered]

Understanding Dp as a thought not a valid hypothesis that actually relates to the real world. First step is to not entertain obsessive thoughts as truth and recognize them as ideas that are meaningless and not worth spending time on. Easier said that done but on occasion it does work for me. Otherwise there is a part of me that feels the visceral effects of panic/DP and thinks the world really isnt what it seems.

Sounds good to me.

 

[Dreamland]

I can honestly say that now that my DP is gone I still get bizarre and strange thoughts, but they don't bother me at all since I feel confident and realize that I'm playing with a full deck of cards. As a matter of fact, I've been suffering from a cold or allergy for the last couple of days and have been inundated by these strange emotions and reality experiences, and I'm not panicking at all and am actually enjoying this altered state of mind. Depersonalization, anxiety, and depression, tend to make you mentally weaker and prone to "opportunistic" thoughts and emotions that are always present but have less of an effect on emotionally stable people. With DP you overanalyze everything and anything out of the ordinary is perceived as a threath, resulting in more irrational thoughts, more DP, etc. I compare DP to that scared child who just viewed a scary movie and because of the ensuing uncontrollable fear becomes hyper sensitive to every sound he/she hears when trying to fall asleep.