Depersonalisation

[Jimbo86]

Hello everybody does anyone have any helpful tips on depersonalisation

[white knight]

Hi Jimbo

Good question. DPD is, unlike depression for example, less known and rare. I'd suggest its also much more difficult to imagine a life with it.

Good luck however.

Tony WK

[romantic_thi3f]

Hey Jimbo86,

Thanks for your post.

This is a great question - but it's also a hard one to answer because lots of people have lots of different strategies on what works and doesn't work for them.

One of the biggest and most heard of techniques is learning to ground yourself in that present moment. A lot of this comes tied in with mindfulness; trying to stay present, aware of your breath and surroundings but without judging or analysing them.

It's important to try and focus on your senses; what is it that you can see, feel, touch, hear?

The stronger the feeling is of depersonalisation the harder you have to work to focus on your senses. For example, I'm sitting in my study and if I look around I can see folders and a few books - but if I really look I know a lot of my folders are white and I have 10 books sitting there. If I really look I can see that they're all different pages and the folders have different coloured post-it notes. Other times it can be looking for something in particular, like anything with the colour blue/red, or anything that's a circle/triangle.

For hearing, it might be listening to the rise and fall of your breath, your heartbeat - or external things. I can hear my fingers tapping on the keyboard, a car driving past and a few birds in the distance.

For touch, I'm touching my keyboard, but that's obvious, so I need to go further. I can feel my feet on the floor; how I'm wearing socks - how the floor is a mat so it's all slippery. I'm wearing a jumper so I can feel the cotton of it against my body.

This is a really long post but hopefully it can give you some examples and things to work on. The more that you become aware of your body and what's going on for you right now in this moment the more that it will be easier to try. It also helps if you can try these techniques when you're not depersonalising so that you can start to use them when you are.

Of course it also goes without saying that it can help seeing a therapist too to discuss it in more detail and get to why this is happening for you.

Hope this helps

[Ned532]

hello my name is Iszak i'm 17 and have only started having depersonalisation the last 3-4 months and it has come and gone through out these months its extremely hard for me to focus and try and enjoy life like most other teenagers and my friends and my relationship is amazing but i don't it to change just because of this disorder. I've had a normal life loving family i don't suffer from anxiety i haven't had a troubled past so i really don't understand how it effects me compared to everyone else with the disorder. i just want as everyone else does to get rid of this disorder especially coming up to my HSC and trails this year.

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi Iszak,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the forums! Sorry that I haven't replied sooner - it looks as though you piggybacked on an older post which is why you haven't had any responses yet.

It's true, often this disorder can come on when people have troubled pasts like trauma, but it's not always the case. When we experience depersonalisation it's our body and mind's way of coping with what's going on. Maybe your mind doesn't have really good ways to cope right now, so depersonalisation is the next best thing.

It is difficult, but you can find ways to manage it. What sort of support do you have around you?

[Doolhof]

Hi Iszak,

I too welcome you to the forum. I am wondering if you have been diagnosed with this condition or if it is something that you have discovered yourself through Googling information.

If you have been diagnosed by a Dr or other health professional, did they offer you any ways of dealing with this condition? If you have diagnosed yourself, can you take your findings to your Dr so they can help you with this.

As part of my diagnosis with different mental health issues, depersonalisation happens sometimes. It has been suggested that I try mindfulness techniques so I become more grounded and aware of what is happening around me.

Would you like to share more of how this condition makes you feel?

Maybe you might like to start up a thread of your own with the title of Depersonalisation and see what responses you receive there. Other people may recognise what you are experiencing.

All the best from Dools