# You'll be okay. Promise!



## daveplanet (Aug 24, 2004)

Just came back to this board as i've recently started a new job and have heard depersonalisation discussed in a whole different context. I now work as a senior nurse in a Therapeutic Community, where medication is frowned upon and Freud is revered. 
Had the dp thing for many many years and feared it desperately but think I have now kicked its ass. 
I now believe that the way we think about ourselves creates the whole thing, regardless of cannabis use, ecstacy use, childhood emotional/physical abuse etc. Research confirms that pre morbid traits are similar regardless of 'trigger'. 
It now seems laughable to me that I thought (for too long) one tiny amount of illicit chemical could alter my entire brain chemistry forever!
I've had so many relapses now that they don't scare me (too much). I know that if I plow on then tomorrow I may not think about the troubling sensation for ten minutes; in a weeks time, maybe an hour; in a months time, possibly a day. 
So, I have nothing revolutionary to say. If you are reading this then you have read it all. And by definition, if you are reading this then you are still in the mire.

Stop reading, start doing. My advice, for what it's worth, is do something that would have made you shit yourself before you 'got' 'dp'. Test yourself to destruction. If you are where I was then what have you got to lose. I joined a band and started doing gigs. Absolutely terrifying!

BUT....

I showed myself that my post 'dp' self was just as functional as my pre 'dp' self. There were no panic attacks, nervous breakdowns or psychotic fallout. No number one singles or groupies either but there you go.
Meeting new people was so important. They still recognised me as human and (sometimes) okay company. The 'dp' didn't need to actually stop me doing anything. I was still me ( so not quite as de PERSON alised as I may have thought)
Don't think I'll ever be the same person I was before experiencing the dreaded dp though. I know that given ten minutes I could easily think myself into an existential nightmare. Thing is I also know that I can wake myself up from that same nightmare.

Anyone want to debate the psychodynamic aspects of the condition or anything else please feel free to send me a message.

Good luck. Don't torture yourselves. Life is TOO. DAMNED. SHORT.


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