How Can I Help My Derealization and Depersonalization?
Question by Aitan: how can i help my derealization and depersonalization?
I have been feeling out of reality for a while now, but just recently found out that what i was feeling had a name. how can i help myself become in tune with the world again? are there medicines or treatments? please help, it is the worst feeling i can imagine, being on autopilot and not being real.
i think the reason i didnt have this before is because i had some OCD behavior, so i always was counting, touching, flexing, etc. but that was also really bad
Best answer:
Answer by barry
Depersonalization/derealization: Opester, a therapist with more than 20 years of experience, specialising in dissociative disorders, and former contributor here, provided a post which is well worth viewing at: http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AjGm6SZeDl.EmP3AKExBq3fh5gt.;_ylv=3?qid=20070729124635AAGBzdb&show=7#profile-info-418bccfb9324deeab3120af8e1ccb6ffaa Regard DP/DR as being purely temporary.
Advice from other therapists, and sufferers: When affected, run your hands under cold water for several minutes. Adapt the following to your situation: Look around and find 5 colours; feel 4 different textures; smell 3 different odours, and taste 2 different things. Focus on your hands for several minutes, multiple times daily. Try snapping a rubber band on your wrist, lightly, at first, then increasingly harder; remove afterwards, and pocket.
Give the EFT a good tryout, to see if it helps you. It is free via the searchbar at http://www.mercola.com “EFT” & “EFT therapists” or www.tapping.com (13 free videos). Professional is best. – There is a version for use in public places, (if you want to, you can claim to have a headache, as you employ the acupressure massage/tapping on your temples, but you would then be restricted to subvocalising: [repeating to yourself in your mind] ) “Even though I sometimes suffer from depersonalization/derealization, I deeply and completely accept myself”. Use the PMR, at http://www.drcoxconsulting.com/managing-stress.html
DP/DR often results from anxiety/panic attacks, so if this applies in your case, see http://your-mental-health.8m.com/blank_25.html re anxiety, and/or panic, then pages h, & i. Neo-Reichian therapy has been recommended for DP/DR, but I suggest using the above treatments for at least several weeks, as they may well be all that are required. Also view http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depersonalization but TMS (radiation exposure) and naloxone (see www.drugs.com ) should be kept in reserve, due to their relative risks. Read: Feeling Unreal: Depersonalization Disorder and the Loss of the Self by Daphne Simeon and Jeffrey Abugel, and Depersonalization: A New Look at a Neglected Syndrome, and The Haunted Self: Structural Dissociation and the Treatment of Chronic Traumatization (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology) by Onno van der Hart, Ellert R. S. Nijenhuis, and Kathy Steele, from your bookstore, or Amazon.com.
Read: Feeling Unreal: Depersonalization Disorder and the Loss of the Self by Daphne Simeon and Jeffrey Abugel, and Depersonalization: A New Look at a Neglected Syndrome, and The Stranger In The Mirror by Marlene Steinberg and Maxine Schnall, and Depersonalization Disorder Medical Guide by Qontro Medical Guides, from your bookstore, or www.amazon.com
Google DP/DR chat sites & forums, such as www.anxietyzone.com & http://www.dpselfhelp.com/forum and ask what worked for them, such as: http://www.dpselfhelp.com/forum/index.php?/topic/20892-the-holy-grail-of-curing-dpdr/
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