[Inflammed]

http://www.lindaland.com/stressbook/page20.htm

 

[falling_free]

Im not sure abput this but isn't dp/dr and anxiety tied in with the flight or fight response which is related to ardrenline? Cos for an example if someone started chasing you with a gun with the intention to kill you your body and you mind would react to that situtaion an I spose you could experince a detachment from reality in the sense that instead of going about your normal everyday exsitence you sole concern would become to run away from the gunman (obviously to escape and to preserve your life) rather than I must get fom point A to B being a primary concern, So maybe dp is a similiar detachment that a body 'feels' wherver correctly or not that the person who is the body is in danger from something in reality maybe some situation that a person is put in such as abusive parents or a drug induced state and the mind experinces a detachment from how they previously viewed the world and this previous view and safety and securtiy of self is replaced with a repeater ferling in an individual's mind that they do not exsist or other anxiety thought patterns, I know for me personelly that my anxiety and later on dp and dr was baught on by me coming home stoned and then i kept imagining that an imaginery bogeyman was in my room with me and would pop out from under my bed and shock me, I of couse still having the mental processing of reason knew there was no bogeyman under my bed or in my room, it was mostly a result of a what if question that kept on repeating in my mind, and this probably resulted in a state of flight or fight and then this could have lead to anxiety or dp/dr states as my rational mind tries to disasscictae from my bogeyman type thoughts and this leads to mental confusion , hence anxiety.

But I don't know really, im just writing all this stuff as I stream of couciuness probably sounds like a load of babble but I do think that dp/dr states are related to flight and fight and adrenline like the article suggests, cos maybe the minds processers kind of slow down and prepare the body to fight or run ,(the lion examople is a good one). Maybe this suggests that time is just subjective based on the experience , cos I mean sometimes time seems to run fast when your enjoying your self , but go slow when your not etc etc.

Anyway interesting article , got me waffling on about a load of random crap anyway!

 

[dakotajo]

Yep, its just all part of our wonderful FOF response. Its an awesome system when everything is working properly. Dp/dr seems to be one of the many processes that occur when this response becomes triggered. I believe that anxiety disorders are nothing more than an exaggeration of the fof response.

 

[David]

I posted this in another thread, but it relates to the discussion here. The thinking from the DP research unit is that DP is related to FOF but to a general rather than specific threat:

When the body perceives a specific threat it heightens the senses and makes the body ready to fight or run by pumping adrenalin etc. Depersonalisation is the response to a general threat that cannot be overcome or that the individual cannot (or feels they cannot) do anything about it. The body is trying to dull your senses to make the current unpleasant situation recede.

What happens is that the emotional centre of the brain is dulled while the more rational part continue to function. When we see or feel something the sense goes jointly into the brain. Both process it. One tells you what something is, what to do with it etc, but the emotional part gives you an emotional connection to it eg I like this, I have seen this before. This is backed up research which shows patients suffering from DP fail to activate brain regions associated with perceptions of emotion when shown unpleasant pictures.

This explains many of the symptoms of depersonalisation. You know what you are doing but have no emotional reaction to it which is why things appear flat and two-dimensional or, for eg, you seem not to ?recognise? emotionally familiar people or surroundings. It also explains the disembodied voice ? you recognise the voice but don?t connect to it emotionally.

So we should understand DP not as an illness but as heightened use of a normal bodily process. The original anxiety may no longer exist ? there is a cycle of anxiety increasing DP increasing anxiety etc. After a while the DP can exist on its own. You can go into remission and lose the DP for a while but then it comes back when the body experiences anxiety, which then ?remembers? the DP.

David

 

[Inflammed]

Thanks for your intersting posts guys.

But still I can associated my worst DP phases with moments that Adrenaline kicked in...
When fatigue, after sport, after eating too much, in a stressfull situation, in anxiety or panic attack, on a hangover.
So to me it is very logical...

 

[dakotajo]

Hi David,

Excellent post. I agree that dp itself is not a disorder. Its a mechanism which all human beings will experience if they are put under enough stress for a long period of time. Thats why I think it seems a little ridiculous to look at dp itself. Whats causing the fof response to become engaged is what should be looked at.

Joe

 

[David]

Yeah, I do agree with that. There is a danger that by talking about DP we perpetuate it. Identifying the original anxiety-provoking situation is useful but, as I said, the DP eventually exists on its own so needs to be treated, whether with drugs or whatever. I know what my original anxiety-provoking situation was, but have been suffereing DP so long that it doesn't help me to know this.

David