# Possible explanation for DR



## AlexS (Nov 18, 2007)

It all started when I was about to take a shower. I reached to turn on the faucet, but I was taken aback when I noticed my hand seemed 2-dimensional or flat. I was surprised by this visual disturbance, but I thought maybe I'm imagining this and it will all go away. The next day, I noticed the same thing, but it was a little more pronounced. As a result from all this worry, I got more and more anxious. The more anxious I got, the more this perception haunted me. I had enough with the anxiety and I was dealing with some problems in my life that put me in a state of depression that I began treatment on antidepressants once again (I was on them a few years back, but got off of them because of the sexual side effects). The antidepressant meds that I was put on actually increased my anxiety for some time being, most probably due to the large amount that I was given. After reducing the dose and giving the drug time to kick in, I noticed a change in my perception at night when I went to get a glass of orange juice. It was like a dialation of everything - what was in this background/2-d visualization I was in, came to the foreground/3-d, everything started to look more REAL. The high anxiety state I was in seemingly distorted my sense of vision. Now when this happened, I saw a zoom in/zoom out twice, like the described dolly-zoom that DR is referenced to. Everything was corrected. I didn't know what DR was at the time, but I suspected it when I remembered the term from taking a psychopathology course in college. I did a look up on wikipedia and saw that a high anxiety state can cause a visual disturbance from info being processed at a staggard rate. Now, I'm sure this isn't the only explanation for DR, however, I was relieved to finally see some scientific explanation for it.


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## jay2008 (Nov 6, 2007)

AlexS,

I'm glad you found some help in the medication for your DP. Like you, my main problem with DP is the constant visual disturbance, everything looking flat or further away than it should be. My own research has come to the same conclusion that it is somehow a hightened sense of awareness caused by anxiety. My DP started after a month of constant panic attacks.

Question for you...do you seem to have trouble focusing under lights especially non-natural lights? This has been horrible for me lately!

James


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## AlexS (Nov 18, 2007)

James,

I know how you feel. You know you aren't alone in this. Meds had a lot to do with calming down the anxiety. For me, actually, the antidepressants aggravated it at first and I went through akathesia. You might want to give some of the anti-anxiety meds a try instead, like klonopin or xanax. Make sure its just for the very short-term (a week or two, i think more than a month is pushing it) as the drugs are highly addictive and can cause rebound anxiety. But, for your questions, Yes. Lights tend to cause more worry, especially the flourescent ones. In fact, for some time I would try and close my eyes to forget about this stupid DR. I would think, why can't I be normal and get a broken bone instead of having to go through this seeing 2-d crap. What really helped me too was just to not worry over it. Its tough because you feel like your in this trippy state, but if you just try and accept it, within time your anxiety should subside. Additionally, you might want to see a doctor just to make sure the DR is not the result of a temporal-occipital condition (which I think is unlikely) and/or try to resolve whatever is precipitating the panic in the first place. Best of luck to you.


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