Derealization & Depersonalization

For those of you who have had, or are having, a tough time with derealization and/or depersonalization - what's your understanding of their cause and how have you found relief?

Hi there and warm welcome!! Here are a couple of definitions to your question......sometimes the effects are different for different people, but when describing it it seeems to have a universal description, if that makes sense

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derealization

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depersonalization

The only thing that worked for me at the height of its nastiness is anti-psychotics........although now I have found that they are symptoms of perimenopause as well. A bit of therapy can work a treat in helping you to "cope" better with how it feels.

You take care and I hope you get a positive outcome, babe It does get better......

My goodness. Very generalized question. There can be lots of answers.

I, personally, have many diagnoses. What have I done to get through those feelings? DBT therapy helped quite a bit. Through it, I have mostly learned how to 'come back'. The dissociating used to take me away...alot. I have more control over it now. I take the time to meditate and/or pray...whatever works for a person is best... There are times where I lose time still. There are times where I dissociate still. I try to be more conscious of it. Discussing it w/someone, in person, helps me to. Staying away from triggers also.

I don't really understand the cause but I've found anti-psych medication helps alot. Also when I feel the world taking a backwards step and i'm floating away I try to ground myself. I carry something that I associate as real and solid and concentrate on how it feels. It's was given to me by someone I trust which helps grounding because I think of all the memories they have given me. I don't know if this is any help to you.

Those of you who have mentioned antipsychotics - are you talking the atypicals?

From what I understand, one reason a person could experience these symptoms of dissociation is increased stress/pressure in one's life, and also due to emotional/psychological trauma that a person has not dealt with and has internalized to the point that dissociation is the minds greatest escape. This is usually on a sub-conscious level.

I'm sure there are other reasons for it happening other than this, but ultimately I think it comes down to the mind finding a creative way of coping with and escaping from some form of trauma.

What I have found works well when I experience these symptoms is grounding techniques and mindfulness. I think the suggestion of DBT skills is also a good thing. You can learn more about all of these from google searches if you like.

If these symptoms are impacting your life in a negative way, I would speak with your MD about it, or if you have a T, I would let them know how these things are affecting you.

Take care, and keep us posted on how you're doing.

What is DBT therapy? I am curious. Derealization is really getting to me I have been suffering since May 4th and it won't let up no matter where I go and these horrible thoughts get me every day too.

Not sure about atypicals, it is my understanding that anti-psychotics can treat a whole range of things from symptoms of Borderline personality disorder to Bipolar to schizophrenia......as far as I know there are all sorts......I was on Olanzipine(zyprexa), Largactil(thorazine) and seroquel at different times......

Sorry babe, never read much in to the atypical nature of some. Like I said, some are better than others at treating specifics so I guess you can bring it up with your pdoc......

Good luck, babe....

Help. I have had derealization since May 4th and it won't let up. Now I feel really bad because I feel like I can't even be comfortable at home. I keep thinking I can't spend an entire weekend with my husband, I will trigger worse. Does anyone else have this experience of being married and suddenly it is worse around your husband, pets etc? Yesterday was a really bad day for me. he and I went to get coffee and I thought I would be okay but then we went into two stores and I really started to dissociate/derealize really bad. I am on Celexa just started June 8th and on Ativan as needed. I have a therapist also. It is costing me a fortune and to add insult to injury my husband lost his job and I derealize at work too all the time and can't seem to shake it. I have had issues at work too since this came on and am under review. any advice on how to finally shake all this? it is like I am not comfortable anywhere at all....

Alright first my experience.
I used to work in a really stressfull job, IT helpdesk. About a year into working this job I broke up with my long term girlfriend, moved out of the flat we were living in together and started living with my brother. I hated living with him, the combination of these factors made my life very stressfull.
One day at work I had a really bad migraine. At first i didnt know what was happening as my vision went blurred and I was really out of it. This was a really bad experience and I started getting really scared I would get another one. I was really aware of how I felt all the time as I was constantly monitoring myself for signs I was going to have another migraine.
This constant fear of having a migraine escalated into a fear that there was something seriously wrong with me. One day on my way to work I got this strange feeling and I was convinced I was dying and needed to go to hospital, that was my first panic attack.
I was diagnosed with a panic attack disorder by my gp, for a period of time I was too scared to leave the home out of fear of having a panic attack. I was under extreme stress and was on medication. During this time I was constantly scared of having a heart attack, some strange things like going blind, but a big one was going insane.
Thats when I first experienced depersonalization/derealization. It was a scary experience. Just now can I say that I feel I have beaten it.

For starters, drugs are not going to fix it. There is a concious process you must go through to fix this.
You can and will get over it. most of the distress is caused by fear of what is going to happen or what this will expand into it, its not the actual moment you are in. Eventually you get used to waiting out the experience, so much so you have no fear of it anymore. eg I used to get the depersonalization problem in public, I would be scared I was going to nut out or do something bad because of it, the event I feared never came.
Once the fear is gone the problem is gone, its like an illusion of sorts.
It is very important to NOT to avoid ANY situations which you fear will bring this on. Dont give it an inch, if you know anything about operant conditioning you will understand the conseqeunces of avoidant behaviour (including the positive consequences of not avoiding a situation).

Its actually a state brought on by a normal functioning brain. The state is found when you are examining your self/thoughts for something to be scared of due to paranoia or stress. People can be very creative when they are paranoid, this is a perfect example. Most thoughts and ideas found when in this state of paranoia can be quickly rationalized so you disregard them as a threat. The state of Derealization & Depersonalization is unique, once found you attach all these negative possibilitys and any other scary creative ideas your paranoia creates.

I'll stop now to limit the size of this post,
Ask me any questions if interested

I would like to talk to you. Please message me.
Otherworldgirl

Please message me, I am Otherlifegirl on here. I really need help

DBT is for people with borderline personality disorder.

Not saying it might not help you, but it's really designed for this other "condition".

From the little I know about derealization/depersonalization some form of grounding can be helpful--like when you feel it coming on find a way to connect with yourself at a physical level, like watching your breathing like they do in meditation, or just allowing yourself to feel your muscles, or notice other physical sensations.