# Existensial terror. Questioning reality.



## hennessy (Apr 2, 2008)

I had dp/dr 5-6 years ago while suffering from very bad anxiety. I suffered from it for a few months and then with the help of a SSRI, I came back to my normal life and lived happily for 5-6 years with a lot of joy. Thoughts were just coming and going and they were not bugging me at all. I was just ignoring them and to be honest they were not coming a lot.

Now I am back on this and I am questionin the "reality" of everything around me, even my parents and that puts me in a very dark spot where I'm alone. The fact that I can't prove that this is not all in my head and is an illusion is freaking me out. The world and existence look weird.

Please help.


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## Surfer Rosa (Nov 27, 2015)

"Not all in my head."
Elaborate.

"The world and existence looks weird."

Is it possible to elaborate on this as well?


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## Luna_ (Dec 2, 2015)

hennessy said:


> I had dp/dr 5-6 years ago while suffering from very bad anxiety. I suffered from it for a few months and then with the help of a SSRI, I came back to my normal life and lived happily for 5-6 years with a lot of joy. Thoughts were just coming and going and they were not bugging me at all. I was just ignoring them and to be honest they were not coming a lot.
> 
> Now I am back on this and I am questionin the "reality" of everything around me, even my parents and that puts me in a very dark spot where I'm alone. The fact that I can't prove that this is not all in my head and is an illusion is freaking me out. The world and existence look weird.
> 
> Please help.


The best way , i've learned, to help this is to stay away from the forums. You may think it helps but it reallllllyyyy doesn't. because I've noticed that my worst days with the existential terror and dp/dr was when i was on here the majority of my day. hopefully I'm not sounding harsh cause i don't intend to. But thinking about it (which is sooooo hard to *not* do) is what made it harder to recover. I don't even feel like myself anymore. I feel like I've lost myself in this mess. But you should get out, and do something that you normally would. go on a walk, if you don't want to go alone, invite someone. Look at pictures of landscapes on google. and just FOCUS on the different things. The key is to acknowledge these thoughts but not let them control you or take hold of you. You can say " yeah, i hear you, existential thoughts, but i don't really care anymore. you don't bother me." and you have to really mean it. This is the hardest thing i've been through and it really is rough.!

You CAN get better. You just have to prove it to yourself!


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## leo134 (Oct 26, 2015)

I know all of this if terrifying when you look at it but you need to understand this. 
You can't elaborate on the reality of life because anyway, it will always be there. 
Tell yourself that tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after, will be all the way the same reality as today. What can you do about it? Well not a lot. 
Try to focus your mind on something else, and also, tell yourself: Damn, it's so funny i'm thinking that, it's not anormal or unhuman because only humans have the capacity to think about this so it's just normal in the process of life to think about this kind of stuff, so of us does, so of us don't. 
Life is funny. Inbox me if you need to talk,

Love, Léonard


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## hidden (Nov 28, 2015)

I spent much of the late night and early morning discussing this on chat with a few people: Tidalpine, Hennessey, Beagle, etc.

These are normal things for people probably from the ages of 13-29. But in time, you realize you strengthen your own understanding of the little things that are in front of you.

I wouldn't try to figure out the universe if we as humans can't even get along or understand each other as it is.

Start small, take baby-steps, and consider that things are 'this' way: most things are fkn Arbitrary! And many, MANY things are just phenomena. Some things are just a phenomenon. <bad grammar>


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## james07 (Aug 12, 2015)

I completely can relate. The whole "fact that I can't prove that this is not all in my head and is an illusion" is referred to is philosophy as the concept of solipsism, and when my dp was at its worst this summer I was constantly boggled down by that too. Like everyone else has said above, I can tell you that things do get much better. Your mind is already tired from anxiety, so give it a rest and just distract yourself. I can tell you that once you get your anxiety down, the dp will go down and you will be coming from a place where you won't even be asking yourself those questions in the first place.


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## foggypark (Dec 10, 2015)

people should relax a little. All of these symptoms of unreality, and feeling unreal is because you have dissociated aspects of yourself from yourself&#8230; it sounds simple and it is, the struggle is being willing to approach it.


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## yellow_lamp (Sep 5, 2015)

If you said SSRI helped you before, why not try them again?


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## jquinn914 (Aug 27, 2015)

Firstly, I think you can benefit from CBT as these sound like obsessions and it sounds like the dp/dr is generated from them. I can relate in a sense not that I worry about the possibility of my loved ones being real but that they are out to get me or against me. It's a terribly isolating disconnect. All i can say is it starts with the thoughts which you do not generate yourself, reacting to them is what perpetuates your struggle. Easier said than done, I know, but do the CBT and look into mindfulness: learning how to have those thoughts and not react will eventually remove the feelings of significance from them and just like with OCD this should not only reduce the distress they cause but the frequency they spike off at.


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## truffle (Dec 8, 2015)

Questioning reality is still something I fight with everyday, but just telling you not alone here and people just like you are trying to overcome these fears the same. I wish I could suffer right next to you so you wouldn't feel so alone and such fear as the same as me.


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## hennessy (Apr 2, 2008)

james07 said:


> I completely can relate. The whole "fact that I can't prove that this is not all in my head and is an illusion" is referred to is philosophy as the concept of solipsism, and when my dp was at its worst this summer I was constantly boggled down by that too. Like everyone else has said above, I can tell you that things do get much better. Your mind is already tired from anxiety, so give it a rest and just distract yourself. I can tell you that once you get your anxiety down, the dp will go down and you will be coming from a place where you won't even be asking yourself those questions in the first place.


Thanks a lot!


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