# Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Will Heal YOU



## JamminJ (4 mo ago)

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to make a quick post. Recovery is totally possible, either a 100 percent recovery which would be wonderful, or like me, a 90 percent recovery which honestly feels about 1000 times better than where I was before.

Acceptance and commitment therapy is huge. Find a CBT or an ACT therapist who specializes in OCD and depersonilzation. What basically happens is that you live your life, as painful and hard is that is. Eventually your brain starts to choose life instead DP. DP starts to fade into the background, almost like a static on the tv but you eventually just enjoy the program. It’s takes time and acceptance and a lot of hardship to get there but you start falling into life again and forgetting about the DP. I still have a level in the background but it’s almost like an annoying friend who you ignore at the party and instead focus on those you love.

I know you’re thinking that this is impossible but I’m here to tell you it’s not. I was pretty much incapacitated for a long time and just as dissociated as you can imagine, but the human brain is amazing and wants to rein-gage in life.

I’m a husband, a father of two, and provider the sole provider for my family. For the last two years I have faked my way thru it to just function and suddenly things are now starting to fall into place. I’m happy, I’m engaged, I’m looking forward to things. 

Keep going and don’t stop. Keep pushing. Keep living. Feel free to respond with questions. You don’t need to tell me your symptoms as we all know how brutal and different they can be. The whole point is to accept them and keep living. You are not broken and you are no worse off than I was. I promise. Get rid of the OCD, monitoring, and comparing thru ACT and CBT and you will find a nice life again. Lamotrigine has also been incredibly helpful.

sending love and hope,
J


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## Aridity (Jun 12, 2011)

While I am very happy for you, but this never worked for me. I have been "living life" for so long yet it's still here, I am in school I graduated,I opened my own restaurant I go for daily walks see my friends and live a pretty normal life, from the outside you wouldn't have one clue that I am totally numb. It worked in the past but back then the dpdr was way different than it is now, any talking therapy like CBT or whatever just doesn't work on me I can't apply anything and to be honest I know more than the therapists...another thing how long did you have It for?


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## JamminJ (4 mo ago)

Hey there. I’ve had it for two years. You can get better. Maybe for some people 100 percent better and others not perfect but much better and eventually that could lead to a 100 percent recovery. Look at it like a knee injury that needs rehab. We all recover differently and at a different pace but the body wants to and can heal. Obviously much more painful than a knee injury but use that analogy). And look, truthfully, it’s not perfect for me but it’s in the background. And life’s not perfect but you can still have a good life. Try and find a wonderful ACT therapist. I’m sorry you haven’t felt the relief but you can. Save one story from this forum that inspires you and that you can identify with and then hop off and live your life. But get support, a good psychiatrist and a good ACT therapist. Sending love.


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## Aridity (Jun 12, 2011)

JamminJ said:


> Hey there. I’ve had it for two years. You can get better. Maybe for some people 100 percent better and others not perfect but much better and eventually that could lead to a 100 percent recovery. Look at it like a knee injury that needs rehab. We all recover differently and at a different pace but the body wants to and can heal. Obviously much more painful than a knee injury but use that analogy). And look, truthfully, it’s not perfect for me but it’s in the background. And life’s not perfect but you can still have a good life. Try and find a wonderful ACT therapist. I’m sorry you haven’t felt the relief but you can. Save one story from this forum that inspires you and that you can identify with and then hop off and live your life. But get support, a good psychiatrist and a good ACT therapist. Sending love.


Thanks brother, I have been on here since 2011 as you can see. I noticed the 2 year mark is when most people recover, when it gets longer than that it gets harder and harder. I have been to psychiatrists before. I still have hope but it is what it is. Take care.


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## upandaway (Jan 11, 2016)

Aridity said:


> Thanks brother, I have been on here since 2011 as you can see. I noticed the 2 year mark is when most people recover, when it gets longer than that it gets harder and harder. I have been to psychiatrists before. I still have hope but it is what it is. Take care.


I've also noticed the 2 year thing...interesting. and observed it in myself when I briefly recovered. Maybe the body moves in cycles.


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## Georgewright6 (Nov 15, 2016)

i’m completely with you on this, i needed this boost this morning, i am the same it’s still there i know why because my anxiety is still underneath which needs more work which triggers the dp/dr and yes the hardest thing with the ocd thoughts that are alongside the dp is the monitoring and the comparing, it is all about acceptance, and this is the most confusing part! as you feel you can’t accept it, but if you are not adding to it then you are accepting, yes it may feel like you add to it by worrying but that is your mind and your thoughts and you can’t control that, just understand if you have anxiety that has triggered dp then it is your anxiety you need to work on, lower your anxiety lower your dp! but yes some days are very hard, i feel very numb in the mornings and struggle to accept but normally mid day it clears up so i begin to focus more on other things and all though it’s still there it’s more in the background, not perfect but it’s way better as jammin says, what bothers you is it’s not perfect which makes you worry, but when you have a bad moment or day you realise how much better it actually is or is beginning to get! 

you can recover from this and it can be 100% accepted where you don’t care nor feed it 100% and it then lifts very well, i have done it before, i was probably 90% and had found full acceptance in it, at that stage i didn’t suffer with anxiety, only dp during that period. 

my dp came back when my OCD came back and it once again became very hard to accept, but it doesn’t make sense that you would be able to accept it while suffering with anxiety, it’s a protection, it can’t protect you from
anxiety if you can accept it can it ? because it would disappear! my hypothesis is once anxiety is gone or reduced enough, you will accept dp naturally and it will leave when it feels no need to protect you. once you have understood this i believe you can get better very quickly! 

it took 2 years like jammin to realise this as i was comparing all the time (OCD) to my last recovery which didn’t involve OCD! once i realised this after feeling better for a couple months i relapsed which i believe needed to happen to start from the root again, im now roughly 3 months in and it’s getting better pretty fast! i’ve done in 3 months what probably took me 1 1/2 years before. it’s understanding, and acceptance! 
that doesn’t always mean 100% acceptance it means accepting it the best you can!


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## LissArcen (2 mo ago)

No, in fact I need to find a psychologist or a cheaper therapist who is easier to call than the other neuro-smart professionals with their views on life. And how much do occupational therapists make? Now imagine if low-income professionals would teach you how to live your life the right way. Who will give me a guarantee that they haven't had substitution therapy and aren't in the DP stage themselves? I wouldn't mind becoming a therapist myself, but I don't want to kill half my life for it.


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## JustsomeSteve (1 mo ago)

Aridity said:


> Thanks brother, I have been on here since 2011 as you can see. I noticed the 2 year mark is when most people recover, when it gets longer than that it gets harder and harder. I have been to psychiatrists before. I still have hope but it is what it is. Take care.


I just made an Account to post here because I want to say I noticed the same thing.
I feels like a lot of DP/DR Episodes last between a few months to 2 years.

But I'm in the same boat as you. 13 years 24/7. And it never changes for the worse or the better. (Actually that's only 99.9% true. It did get slightly better about 5-6 times in those 13 years, for a few seconds, when I was awake the whole night and the first Sunshine Hit me in the morning....((maybe that is a point to research further?))

And I also tried a lot. Acceptance, meditation, medication (a lot), therapy etc. 

I will try the Melatonin that another user suggested (that had it for 10 years if I remember correctly). Did you already try this?

Just wanted to let you know that there are people like you, that have DP/DR for a long time, 24/7, are stuck in it, but still searching for a cure.
I hope we find one rather sooner then later.


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## Aridity (Jun 12, 2011)

JustsomeSteve said:


> I just made an Account to post here because I want to say I noticed the same thing.
> I feels like a lot of DP/DR Episodes last between a few months to 2 years.
> 
> But I'm in the same boat as you. 13 years 24/7. And it never changes for the worse or the better. (Actually that's only 99.9% true. It did get slightly better about 5-6 times in those 13 years, for a few seconds, when I was awake the whole night and the first Sunshine Hit me in the morning....((maybe that is a point to research further?))
> ...


For me it got only worse with time, I maybe be different. What I experience now is nowhere near what I experienced a few years back, truly dead inside. I also do not have any relieve, it's like something stressful happens and I get thrown in deeper but I don't get back to baseline I stay deeper, and then another stressful event happens and so on. Don't know where the limit is.


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