Depression, dissociation, derealization and depersonalisation

[Healthy_anxiety]

Hey guys I don’t know I’ve there’s a thread for this. Here I go, so I’ve been battling anxiety for the past 5 months. And I’ve noticed when you get one you’ll get the other, but I never get those thoughts about harming. It’s just so new to me and I don’t know what to do when this happened does anyone have tips or tricks when these thought of things happen? Thank you for your time

[james1]

Hello health anxiety,

It is nice to speak to you. I hope it is okay if I ask for your help in clarifying something as I am trying to understand what your experience of depression, dissociation, derealisation and depersonalisation is. When you mention "these thoughts of things", do you mean self-harm?

In my own experience, I previously used to self-harm and for me it was linked to my own experiences of losing connection to myself. It wasn't a 'good' way to cope, and I eventually managed to find other ways of essentially grounding myself. As an example, I used to try and walk barefoot a bit more around my backyard, I tried meditation (though it didn't work for me) and I generally tried to find physical sensations like being out of breath after running.

Have you found anything that helps you?

James

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi Healthy anxiety,

Thank you for your post and your question - it sounds like you are very detached from the world and I'm glad you were able to come here and write about it.

All of the dissociation type feelings (including depersonalisation) can come along with self-harm, but not always. Self-harm is just one coping mechanism to try and deal with these feelings of detachment. If you are not self-harming, that doesn't mean anything is 'wrong' with your experience.

As far as tips and tricks go, the biggest way to help is to get to the core of why this is happening - what is it about your anxiety that makes your body and mind want to do these things to cope? Is there any trauma behind the anxiety?

One thing you might want to look into is grounding - I'll link to another Beyond Blue thread here - https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/online-forums/staying-well/grounding-yourself-what-is-it-a...

Hope this is helpful

rt

[Healthy_anxiety]

Hi James thanks for the reply! I’ve never had thoughts like that, it makes my anxiety skyrocket if I think of that, and I’ve had a friend who sadly passed from those thoughts and I’ve told myself I’ll never do such thing. Sorry about that I missed worded that, what I was meaning by “these thoughts of things “ I was meaning what coping techniques do people use when they’re feeling those things. I enjoy going to work and being active but sometimes it back fires on me when I’m doing those things and I get very lost and I feel like I can’t do anything than stay in my room and cry

[Healthy_anxiety]

I’ve mmmmm not into self harm as it makes me very anxious. I try to keep myself moving so I don’t think about it much, but I still feel like a zombie sometimes just doing day to day activities. Well I’ve got ocd and from that I’ve got heath anxiety and it worries me daily if I’ve got anything medical issues. I do some breath work and that helps but it’s so hard to do that during work since people would be like what are you doing, go back to work. I can’t see to copy that link can you send it again please!

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi Healthy anxiety,

It's great to hear from you again! I managed to get the link hyperlinked so hopefully now you can click on it and it will take you to that page. Does that work for you?

I'm so sorry to hear that your friend passed away. I promise you though that your friend didn't pass away because of her thoughts - she passed away because she acted on them. There's a big big difference. Sometimes there are people with OCD have intrusive thoughts about hurting others - obviously those thoughts aren't great, but just because people have those thoughts doesn't mean they will hurt someone else. The same can happen with self-harm and even suicidal thoughts too.

I'm not sure what you mean by breath work - a lot of these sorts of things are actually super subtle. Other techniques can be the 54321 - 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell and 1 thing you can taste. Maybe this is something you can try.

rt

[Healthy_anxiety]

Yeah you’re most likely right, but I can understand their pain now, and know how it can affect them. The moment I know something was wrong I got help ASAP, I think that is the difference. I didn’t even think of that with my ocd, so thank you for the tip. But yeah no thought with that. Oh like I take breath in for two seconds hold for 3 and release for 4. Yes that is a good technique but I’m really bad at it just cos I feel as so I need someone with me to help me ground me with say name 5 things 4 things ect

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi,

Exactly, I'm so glad it's resonated with you. I'm also really glad that you're reaching out for help.

I see what you mean yeah, it's a practice. Maybe you can look into some reminders or guided breathing exercises? There are lots of apps out there, some with reminders in the apps - and then there's phone/watch timers (you can put on vibrate), and even things like phone wallpapers.

and gosh no, if it's not easy you're not bad at it - as with anything like playing an instrument it just takes a little time.

Do you have a therapist you can talk to about this?

rt

[Guest7765]

I used to actually have derealization. Felt like everything was fake for months and months. From memory, once I got to the point I didn't care anymore about it, that's when it went away. Pretty sure its caused by worrying too much, then you get derealization and constantly worry about the derealization itself. Its a vicious circle you have to snap out of.