[Universal]

I was wondering if anyone has discussed this topic with their shrink, about regaining back the way you used to be. See, I think we DP people need to figure a few things out for ourselves. Things like, what is it that I really want to do at this point in life. Do I want to return to the way that I previously was in life? Do I simply want to get rid of my dissassociation/ start acting like a normal person? Do I want to continue living in my DP hell without any for of recovering/dealing with the current state of things? Do I want seek help through shrinks, hypnosis, books, medicine, etc?

I think it's very important to establish what you want, because otherwise there is now sure way of getting it if you don't know what you want.

Has anyone talked to their shrink at all about trying to regain to/ return to their previous personality? Is this even possible? Perhaps our old way of being is stored somewhere in our subconscious and we can somehow restore it? Has this even been mentioned by anyone here?

 

[Sojourner]

Seems our "old personalities" got us here; while they have some wonderful qualities, obviously it would be foolish to desire to go back to a personality that would do THIS to you, isn't it?

One definition of insanity I've heard is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

 

[rainboteers]

I don't think we can ever get back to the person we were before. Our experiences shape who we are and who we become. I know that I will get through this and be well again (at least I try to know it), but I also realize I will never forget this hell. I am hopeful that it will make me a BETTER person but oviously not the SAME person. I don't ever want to stay the same anyways. I want to keep evolving and improving. At least that is how I feel on a decent day... other days I don't care if I am a better person I just want to feel better now!

 

[Universal]

Seems our "old personalities" got us here; while they have some wonderful qualities, obviously it would be foolish to desire to go back to a personality that would do THIS to you, isn't it?

One definition of insanity I've heard is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Well I'm talking about back in the day, when you didn't have anything interfering with your life, and you were more or less whole and secure about your life. Wouldn't you want to go back to that? I don't mean going back to right before your DP, I mean going back to a time that you were actually normal and there wasn't anything wrong with you.

 

[Sojourner]

Alex wrote: Well I'm talking about back in the day, when you didn't have anything interfering with your life, and you were more or less whole and secure about your life.

Sojourner says: Alex, you are going to be better than you ever were. The thing about anxiety disorders, as I understand it, is that anxiety is a mechanism that the brain uses as a last resort to get our attention that something is wrong. It is the nature of the beast that if we had been capable of addressing our real feelings, we would not choose anxiety as the mechanism by which those feelings were expressed. We would instead talk to people, cry, get angry in a constructive way. But we didn't choose the healthy method of dealing with the normal frustrations of human life.

Anxiety, I have come to believe, is the body and soul's life-jacket for people. The body speaks to us and says something. We need help to understand what it is saying. But one thing it cannot be saying is that everything was fine before the anxiety. The anxiety never would have shown up if everything was fine. The thing to remember also is that it's not a volitional thing. Research has proved that the disposition to depressive disorders is genetic.

 

[Universal]

I don't think you get what I'm saying. Are you really saying that you would rather be in a state you're in right now, and not be in a "normal" state you were before this happened to you? If you're saying that, then I'm puzzled. Really, all philosophy and meandering aside, I'd do anything to go back to the way I was. Before all this DP bullshit happened.

 

[Sojourner]

I'm just making the distinction between going back and feeling good. Feeling good is possible; going back is not.