# Has anyone tried exposure response prevention (ERP) for DP/DR?



## Guest (Nov 26, 2012)

I have recently realised that I have some OCDish behaviours, and from reading up on OCD and therapy for it, I came across ERP therapy. If you haven't heard of it, this therapy basically uses fear to beat fear. You expose yourself to the things you fear, starting from your smallest fear, and working with that until you no longer feel any fear towards it, then you can start on something else you fear a little more, do ERP with that, etc etc. It's part of CBT.
I know I tend to obsess over my DP and DR just like I do with my other fears, so when I started my self-directed ERP today, I was interested to know what effect it would have on my DP and DR. My smallest fear, but a fear nonetheless, was simply moving my body from place to place. This fear had its roots in DP/DR, so what I did, was I got up out if my comfort zone (the sofa) and walked around the house slowly, stopping at intervals to feel how I felt at that spot. I felt the fear, embraced it, let it happen, almost seeked it, leaving no stone unturned for it to hide from me under, and at each interval where I stopped and stood, I stayed there until there was no discomfort. Noticing my DP/DR obviously made me feel more anxious, but that was all the more reason to stay put. I stood and felt the physical sensations in my body, listened to the thoughts going through my head, and let it all consume me. When it faded away and I relaxed, I moved on to the next spot in my house. I did this all in one session, and I probably spent the most time feeling the fear lying down in bed, because that is where I get my night panic attacks. I spent roughly half an hour there before the fear passed through me.
Now I feel a little more comfortable getting out of my comfort zone in my home, and I feel like this could potentially really help my DP/DR with a few more repetitions.


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## Guest (Nov 26, 2012)

thats pretty cool, i always thought cbt was a awesome tool to beat ocd and many other things like anxiety but I couldnt really picture it helping me with dp/dr. but the way you used it is great....and I have to admit I stay in a comfort zone way to often and I dont like to leave it and it makes me feel uneasy when I do so i applaud you for working on that

ima have to try it myself and get on some therapy for my anxiety/dp/dr it just sucks that it costs so much out here in the states, but i guess it pays off


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## Guest (Nov 26, 2012)

redcomet2011 said:


> thats pretty cool, i always thought cbt was a awesome tool to beat ocd and many other things like anxiety but I couldnt really picture it helping me with dp/dr. but the way you used it is great....and I have to admit I stay in a comfort zone way to often and I dont like to leave it and it makes me feel uneasy when I do so i applaud you for working on that
> 
> ima have to try it myself and get on some therapy for my anxiety/dp/dr it just sucks that it costs so much out here in the states, but i guess it pays off


Well I have to go on a waiting list that can take up to half a year to see someone for this so I'm starting it slowly on my own without help. I just read up a ton about it and gave it a go, and it's pretty good! It's so different - actually letting fear happen to you instead of fighting it - so so different. One person I read about with OCD did this because she had to wait for ages to see a therapist, and when the time came for her to actually see them (5 or so months) all she was really there for was to get confirmation on whether she should carry on doing what was doing. She basically didn't need the appointment because she'd done it all herself through self-directed ERP.

This is primarily where I learned how to do it:
http://www.ocfoundation.org/EO_SelfERP.aspx

Also, a guy I watched on Youtube (everybodyhasabrain) said something along these lines, which just rang so true:

*"With every thing you do, you're either making your mental health better or worse - It never stays the same"*

Such an empowering statement and it shows that we have complete control over the outcome of our mental health and therefore our life







So we can't let DP or even anxiety define us, we define it, and if that means we want to abolish it, we can if we really work hard enough. Just like physical health, it's much easier to be lazy with our minds than work them out and shape them up - But putting the hard work in is what will be the healthiest and most life-changing for us.

It's a tough one with DP and DR, but if we try to improve our mental health (and even physical health) in general, then all I can assume is that surely it will improve. It wouldn't make sense if it didn't. If any anxiety is attached to the disorder too, then there seems to be even more of a chance that this therapy could work.


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## chelsy010 (Oct 29, 2012)

Very interesting, I will for sure try this technique...


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## redpanda91 (Nov 21, 2012)

Thanks for sharing this. Interesting that you say you fear about moving around to different places, I also have that - I feel extremely uncomfortable walking around in an environment due to DP/DR. I'm only comfortable sitting down somewhere, I feel so uncomfortable actually standing and walking places as it tends to make my DP/DR worse. I wonder if I should try to do it more, expose myself, like you're saying here. All I know is when I do have a day where I have to walk around a lot, I tend to feel worse.. I get weak and my mind starts feeling like it's deteriorating.. basically I just worse. So I'm not sure if exposure would help or make me worse.


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## Guest (Nov 28, 2012)

redpanda91 said:


> Thanks for sharing this. Interesting that you say you fear about moving around to different places, I also have that - I feel extremely uncomfortable walking around in an environment due to DP/DR. I'm only comfortable sitting down somewhere, I feel so uncomfortable actually standing and walking places as it tends to make my DP/DR worse. I wonder if I should try to do it more, expose myself, like you're saying here. All I know is when I do have a day where I have to walk around a lot, I tend to feel worse.. I get weak and my mind starts feeling like it's deteriorating.. basically I just worse. So I'm not sure if exposure would help or make me worse.


Yeah, it's like the most basic thing for humans to do and yet we find it difficult! I think it's all based on fear of fear and the apprehension of how we would feel doing it (DP, negativity, thinking the worst) because we are so used to not doing it. Unfortunately we're not going to get over our fear or discomfort by avoiding it though. It's such a battle at first but it is one we can eventually win. How does that quote go.... "It will get worse before it gets better"


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## flat (Jun 18, 2006)

I think my dp/dr is connected with a fear of intimacy. I have always had that even before dp struck. A lot of relationships fell thru because I couldn't connect on an emotional level because of that fear of commitment or being smothered. So I'm not really sure how to practice getting used to it since it would seem artificial to go "looking" for intimacy like you are looking for a spider to overcome your fear of it.


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## Idris (May 19, 2012)

my therapist said that DR/DP is a form of OCD; that we are constantly aware and obsessing about how we feel, how our body feels, how we're perceiving things. it makes sense if you think about it. Which is why things like CBT really helps.


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## GroupHug (Jul 6, 2012)

I've had CBT for a few years, but informally I started exposing myself to situations outside my comfort zone and eventually they don't even bother me. It works, and you don't even need money to do it.


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## wise (Mar 29, 2012)

I think my dp, which is under control but not something I that I think is fully gone, has to do with me not allowing myself to fully be myself. I have a very critical internal voice and that is compounded by the critical people around me, so dp is an OCD of the self but I don't think it's an obsession about physical symptoms, but an obsession over our faults.


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## Guest (Nov 29, 2012)

I am not very critical of myself in my head but I can see how it can be "OCD of the self", definitely.


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