# Fighting DP- My Self Helps



## Conjurus (Oct 25, 2008)

Rather than start a new topic, I am editing my old "touch" topic.

I feel that I am on the way to recovering from DP. I'm making several self discoveries that I feel is helping my situation. I'd like to keep track of each and every detail on the road to getting well. Hopefully this will help whoever reads it.

Keep in mind, this is what is working for *me.*

*My new way of dealing with Stress.*

Step 1- Gaining control of your mind

_Update_-Step 1 really helps me with depression. I've been using the forceful good thoughts method to actually come out of depressed moods. I've never had control over my mood in my entire life. This is a major improvement for my personal depression issues. Im not sure exactly how much this directly diminishes DP symptoms though since depression and axiety can feed DP, it must help.

I've realized that when something stressful comes into my life, I think about it in my head over and over again- analyzing each and every detail, each and every word of a conversation I had with someone for hours until Im so anxious I could have an attack or cry.

This is not at all how to deal with it. That leads into DP, and DP leads into more depression and axiety which feeds in a vicious circle. Instead, I will not let myself think of the bad things anymore. When something bad happens I think- Is this really that big of a deal? Is it something I really need to worry about? Can I even do anything about it? Most of the time the answer will be no. If so, then think "Oh well" and move on rather than "Oh crap" and worrying about it.

Dismiss the bad thoughts and start thinking good things. Think about things in your life that you do like. It can be easy- simple things like when it's storming think- wow I like the sound of the rain and thunder and how the lightning looks. When you're taking a shower, think about how good the warm water feels and how good it feels to be clean. Think about a good friend and how awesome they are and how great it is that you have them in your life.

I believe DP is caused by our own minds. We overthink things and stress ourselves out. We over analyze things like what could happen or what people could be saying about you or what they think about you. You need to forcefully reprogram your mind to think differently. Force the bad thoughts out of your mind. Force yourself to "look on the bright side".

It will take some work, but you must keep at it. You must keep on. There is hope. Tell yourself that you're in control- even if you dont believe it, pretend you do. Tell yourself anyway. BELIEVE in yourself. You have the power over your mind. You decide how you feel. Tell yourself that. If you find yourself in a depressed mood, DECIDE- "I dont want to be depressed, I think I'll decide to feel happy now, because that's what I want." Then proceed to think about the things around you or in your life that you love.

Eventually you will be able to change your way of thinking around. I believe for non-drug induced DP, it is caused by prolonged negative thought programming. You get stuck in that mode. To reverse it you have to force yourself to think differently.

Step 2-Touch

I've found that touching things and really thinking about how stuff feels helps me a great deal. Whenever I feel myself slipping, I tap something, run my fingers across a surface, scratch my arm, whatever- it really seems to help.

Think about the temperature. Do you feel hot or cold? Do you feel a breeze? What do your clothes feel like on you? Are they comfortable? Touch things.

Step 3-Diet

Im not asking you to go on some crazy diet that's nearly impossible to stay on. Just make 2 changes. Stop eating out more than once per month or at least keep it close to that; stop drinking fizzy drinks and drinks with caffeine.

It may take some time to adjust to not drinking caffeine, but after you do you will feel better. You may need to ween yourself off of it depending on how much you drink.

Step 4-Exercise

Get into a workout program. You dont have to go to a gym, you can do pushups, crunches, jumping jacks, or whatever gets your muscles burning and your heart beating.

Step 5-Find things you like to do

Think about the things in life you enjoy doing, then make time to go out and do them.

Step 6-Break OCD

If you have OCD, figure out what those things are and force yourself to do things differently. Tell yourself it doesnt matter if you do something differently. You are only bound by the limits your own mind has set. Take the self-imposed limits off of yourself and begin to feel freedom.

*Conclusion*

I'm not fully recovered yet, but I absolutely believe it's possible and that I'm on my way. Im tackling my anxiety and depression and while I still feel dp, I feel that Im coming out of it. Im having periods of time throughout my day now where I dont feel dp. This is the first time I can ever remember not feeling it. I feel that in time I will completely be free.

Good Luck! Hope all of this helps.

_*Update Section*_

1. The mirror- When looking into the mirror, remember to observe what parts of your body you can with your peripheral vision. For example- when you're going about your daily routine you can see your hands and legs and torso and sometimes your nose. Notice these things when you look into the mirror. Dont notice them in the reflection, notice them on your person with your peripheral while looking into the mirror. This should make you feel like you are looking at a reflection of yourself rather than feeling you are looking at a different person or that you are actually in the mirror.

2. Staring into space- When you find yourself staring into a certain spot and starting to go into deep thought, stop yourself. Start looking around at different things in the room. Feel something close to you and prevent yourself from "zoning" out. Keep your eyes active.

3. Eliminating Stress- Learning to fight stress rather than "flight" from it is great and one of your most powerful tools in getting over depression, anxiety, and DP. However, you can become exhausted from fighting all the time. Figure out what stress factors in your life you have the ability to get rid of. For instance- I had a stressful living condition. The place was a shack and the person I was living with really stressed me out. I checked into my finances and determined I could afford to move and get my own place and I did just that. Now those stress factors are removed. When it comes to stress- seek and destroy. If you cant eliminate it, then always fight it rather than "flight" it.

4.Stay off the illegal/unprescribed drugs- Drugs like weed and ecstasy can worsen DP. I believe mushrooms worsens it too. Im not sure about other drugs, but it's probably best to stay away from them- especially since they're illegal.


----------



## borges (Sep 8, 2008)

Agree.

I am thinking that the reason touch helps might have something to do with relocating yourself to the present...to the here and now. 
If so, then DP must be a sort of fantasy/escape and it should be possible to challenge it by the usual means of getting rid of compulsive thoughts etc.

I guess nobody is reading this thread anymore, but I would love to get some feedback.

Oh, and Sartre had some ideas about this too. Much of 'Nausea' is dedicated to the protagonist's haptic experience.


----------



## leike (Nov 2, 2008)

yep, and nearness with living things, especially with honest and appreciating humans.

i don't have very much anymore analyzed my senses, but it's important to use all of them.

tip:
try walking blind-folded with some human you are trusting.

i think our senses are might be lieing to us, but it's still good to know what you really are seeing, touching, smelling, tasting, hearing in this world (there might be others, but you are HERE! if you cannot walk through a wall, you are in a same mood, reality as the wall. energy is oscillating at near frequencies, so things are communicating. it's communication not to go through a wall.) but also there are other senses! (nowadays science says there's body-position-sense. try it! try, try!) and everything! even though you cannot know what's real, enjoy! enjoy! what has been given to you! colors and such, any little feeling that there's something you can touch. even though it's so far away.

i know there's people here who don't have much sense sensitivity but i think it's possible to learn to be more sensitive. by touching. observing how it feels, by being open and fearless. concentrated but NOT trying anything. and NOT thinking. just quit thinking. practical meditating might help also, laughing without much reasons 45 minutes, listening some sound from its beginning to its end. and in meditation the meaning is not to think or to go very deep into worlds, especially when trying to affirm this reality.

and in the end, there's no common one reality. or maybe is. i mean that we cannot know. we're just sharing something, maybe. but even though there maybe is nothing existing, just live life as a gift and make it as good as possible. for example in shamanism is thought that the more fundamental reality is world of pure ideas (like platon and guys later thought if i remember right) and in a way it's not here. this is not the most important world. but still, even shaman is born here and his task is to help his own people. here.

i think we might just have bad manners of thinking. don't take reality for granted. don't try to control it. just flow. AND: things have reasons. also they don't have any reasons, but in a psychic processes they often have.

i'm sorry of off-topic but i'm so new on this forum that i don't yet know where to comment.


----------



## Conjurus (Oct 25, 2008)

leike said:


> yep, and nearness with living things, especially with honest and appreciating humans.
> 
> i don't have very much anymore analyzed my senses, but it's important to use all of them.
> 
> ...


I really like the wall idea. I can use that principal on any solid object and it seems to ground me back to reality.


----------



## SistA HazeL (Aug 10, 2008)

Thanks for that mate!

I'll get myself a copy of what you posted here... I really want to get better.


----------



## borges (Sep 8, 2008)

> 1. The mirror- When looking into the mirror, remember to observe what parts of your body ..... Dont notice them in the reflection, notice them on your person with your peripheral while looking into the mirror. This should make you feel like you are looking at a reflection of yourself rather than feeling you are looking at a different person...


Hey,
That helps!

Thanks.
.b


----------



## pbandit27 (Dec 8, 2008)

Those are really awesome ideas. You should read/check out Carlos Castaneda. In a lot of his writings he gives great methods to be mindful and self-aware.


----------



## bums (Dec 22, 2008)

Thanks man this is brilliant, really helpful.
When touching things, i feel for a slip second i come out of DP, then my thoughts come barging in and start over analyzing the good feeling and ruin it. Then I feel even worse.


----------



## Conjurus (Oct 25, 2008)

bums said:


> Thanks man this is brilliant, really helpful.
> When touching things, i feel for a slip second i come out of DP, then my thoughts come barging in and start over analyzing the good feeling and ruin it. Then I feel even worse.


Im sorry to hear that man- maybe that one isnt the best one for you.


----------



## jessiebee (Jan 2, 2009)

The touching thing I've done for a while now, before I even knew about dp.
It helps. And doing things I enjoy. Again, before I knew about dp, when I was at the cinema or seeing friends I felt normal and with it.
I've never been the type of person to obsess over bad things. Actually, ooh this is weird, this might be the first time that I've realised that maybe I do. Haha, see this is how the site helps. I don't really obsess over things that go wrong. I think how a situation could have turned out really badly if I hadn't held back and said something I really regretted. It can be really stupid stuff, like waiting a second to answer a question, then realising that the question wasn't actually aimed at you. I get obsessed with thinking how embarassing it would have been if I'd answered as soon as the thought came into my head.
I hadn't thought about that to now!!
I've decided to stop smoking weed, its not something I did regularly, but I've never even particually enjoyed it. I can't enjoy the experience because I hate the feeling of not being in control. I want to get better so thats stopping as of today!


----------



## Conjurus (Oct 25, 2008)

--


----------

