# This forum has a whole new meaning if you replace the word "DP" with "anxiety".



## seafoamwinterz (Aug 12, 2013)

DP is just anxiety dammit.


----------



## Guest (Aug 31, 2013)

Since this was meant for you, I figured I'd put in your thread:

My DP started after a rather intense bout of anxiety, so yes; the anxiety caused it, but anxiety dose not simply appear out of no where. Anxiety is a reaction to stress, and stress can come from a variety of sources; in DP the stress is very often subtle, chronic and builds over the years; this is the kind of stress that develops into anxiety issues.

??? ---> chronic stress ---> Anxiety ---> DP

A lot of people recover from DP by eliminating their anxiety, but since they never fix what's causing them stress they stay at heightened stress level until something in life comes along and pushes them over the edge into anxiety, or even straight back into DP.

A lot of people say they don't feel stressed, but stress isn't really something people feel like an emotion; what they are often describing is tension or mild anxiety. Stress is a measure of the negative energy building up in the body, and often times the source is very difficult to spot. Most people have healthy ways of alleviating stress, but those who do not end up with anxiety issues that could lead into DP.


----------



## seafoamwinterz (Aug 12, 2013)

I'll reply here too:

"Most people have healthy ways of alleviating stress, but those who do not end up with anxiety issues that could lead into DP."

Basically you said "People with DP don't know healthy ways of alleviating stress, but people that do know healthy ways to relax don't have DP". It's self explanatory!


----------



## Guest (Sep 1, 2013)

It's not just about relaxing, relaxing might help with stress from work, but it won't do a thing for stress that has it's roots in something like poor self image, or other emotional issues. In most cases of chronic stress the only thing that can alleviate the stress is cutting it off at the source.

The reason I talk about chronic stress and it's sources is because a lot of people will make a temporary recovery by treating their anxiety, but relapse a while later when life gets harsh, or the anxiety reappears. This happens because the stress from chronic sources was still building up even after they recovered.


----------



## seafoamwinterz (Aug 12, 2013)

Antimony said:


> It's not just about relaxing, relaxing might help with stress from work, but it won't do a thing for stress that has it's roots in something like poor self image, or other emotional issues. In most cases of chronic stress the only thing that can alleviate the stress is cutting it off at the source.
> 
> The reason I talk about chronic stress and it's sources is because a lot of people will make a temporary recovery by treating their anxiety, but relapse a while later when life gets harsh, or the anxiety reappears. This happens because the stress from chronic sources was still building up even after they recovered.


A lot of my poor self image and emotional issues stem from DP though. I thought of an analogy. What if an adult who never had anxiety was held up at gunpoint? The traumatic event causes anxiety and DP and depression. It doesn't make sense to say that "Oh they got DP because they didn't have a secure enough base inside of them because of unresolved childhood trauma".

And besides isn't the tried and true cure for anxiety "Face your fears".? DP makes it no different.


----------



## Guest (Sep 1, 2013)

ahhhhhh, a lot of people bring that up, but interestingly you very rarely here about people exposed to something like that and developing DP afterwards. Sexual assault would be a similar circumstance, and I've similarly heard very few stories that start with it, even if they do, the DP comes a while later. From my observations DP almost never occurs as a direct result of something physically stressful.

This is why I always emphasize chronic stress as the cause, because people handle short term stress, like being held at gun point much better. The reason is simply that they know what was causing them stress and the source of stress is resolved when the situation ends. People are wired on an evolutionary level to handle stress from brief, obvious,physical events; not prolonged, hard to spot, non-physical issues, as a result these are what tend to lead to anxiety and DP.

So, I'm standing by that anxiety and DP are more often than not resultant from chronic stress.


----------



## seafoamwinterz (Aug 12, 2013)

Well, all I know is that DP is causing me chronic stress... I don't care what caused it anymore.


----------



## Midnight (Jul 16, 2011)

Antimony said:


> It's not just about relaxing, relaxing might help with stress from work, but it won't do a thing for stress that has it's roots in something like poor self image, or other emotional issues. In most cases of chronic stress the only thing that can alleviate the stress is cutting it off at the source.


So, what would be the solution? My self-image and esteem has always been up and down throughout my life and it's caused me alot of stress. How does one go about 'cutting it off'?


----------



## let_it_be (Aug 27, 2013)

Antimony said:


> Since this was meant for you, I figured I'd put in your thread:
> 
> My DP started after a rather intense bout of anxiety, so yes; the anxiety caused it, but anxiety dose not simply appear out of no where. Anxiety is a reaction to stress, and stress can come from a variety of sources; in DP the stress is very often subtle, chronic and builds over the years; this is the kind of stress that develops into anxiety issues.
> 
> ...


I'm stressing about my DP/DR. It's a catch 22. My inital anxiety appeared through marijuana, thus this panic attack from a bad drug experience put me in a loop of anxiety over my symptoms, symptoms because of my anxiety.


----------



## Guest (Sep 2, 2013)

Many people have all kinds of anxiety disorders and don't have DP/DR. I have friends with GAD and even panic and have no clue what I'm talking about when I describe DP/DR. None.

I do believe that DP/DR is an extension of INTENSE anxiety, chronic anxiety, though I'm not sure. No one understands it. I had DP/DR at 4/5 without it feeling scary. Later it "took over" and scared me to death. I am anxious by nature, I dissociate by nature, I have depression by Nature. I had a chaotic environment and no soothing that made all of this "The Perfect Storm."

DP/DR are symptoms. Perceptual distoritions. The anxiety can come before, with or after -- I've had all 3. My DP/DR are chronic, all the time, 24/7, etc. I don't feel any anxiety now. But I know rumbling beneath the surface is my usual discomfort with the world that I always had since I can recall. I was always waiting to be abandoned because I was always abandoned.


----------



## Guest (Sep 2, 2013)

If you go to a forum strictly for panic and anxiety (and there is one I joined years ago on NAMI but don't go to) -- many have no idea what DP is.

They are two separate things or feelings or symptoms. They can come together or not.


----------



## Guest (Sep 3, 2013)

Midnight said:


> So, what would be the solution? My self-image and esteem has always been up and down throughout my life and it's caused me alot of stress. How does one go about 'cutting it off'?


That depends on what causes your self esteem to go down; it is something fueled directly by our actions, reactions and inaction, so look back at when it was low and try to understand why.


----------



## Guest (Sep 3, 2013)

let_it_be said:


> I'm stressing about my DP/DR. It's a catch 22. My inital anxiety appeared through marijuana, thus this panic attack from a bad drug experience put me in a loop of anxiety over my symptoms, symptoms because of my anxiety.


Then do what your name says. Overcoming the fear of your symptoms and breaking out of that loop is crucial to recovery. Distraction really helps with this,as it takes your mind off the symptoms and you slowly learn not to fear them.


----------



## Guest (Sep 3, 2013)

Le Chat said:


> If you go to a forum strictly for panic and anxiety (and there is one I joined years ago on NAMI but don't go to) -- many have no idea what DP is.
> 
> They are two separate things or feelings or symptoms. They can come together or not.


I've read more than enough stories of DP/DR occurring after anxiety to think there is some connection .

Even if there is some genetic cause behind this, we can't do anything about it ourselves, so discussing it is unproductive. However, we can handle the issues that caused this predisposition to trigger and find recovery that way. The fact that not 100% or 80% of people who experience anxiety, trauma, or emotional issues develop DP dose not make there role any less valid when we have hundreds of stories of people's DP triggering do to anxiety, trauma and emotional issues.


----------



## Guest (Sep 3, 2013)

seafoamwinterz said:


> DP is just anxiety dammit.


DP is NOT just anxiety. Please do some research before you start misinforming everyone.

So many ppl spend so much time intellectualising dissociative disorders.. trying to 'nut it out'. You'll never get anywhere with just all this knowledge. It's about feelings.. lack of feelings.. the way we push feelings away.. and end up feeling like a lifeless shell.

It's good to pick up some basic information on what dissociation is but that's not going to stop it.

I don't want to offend anyone here.. but I see so many arguments over what could cause dp and theories on backgrounds of ppl who suffer from dp.. sigh..

Hardly anyone seems to think therapy of any kind is useful.

Hardly anyone talks about 'grounding techniques.

Hardly anyone talks about triggers and how to deal with them.

They're all such important things for dissociative people to understand and use, and yet they're virtually ignored.

Don't get me completely wrong, there are some very helpful posts and topics.. but there's so many more that aren't.

Too much intellectualisation.


----------

