# *Trigger* Coping Methods for Existential DP/DR/Anxiety



## SteveCarr (Nov 9, 2014)

I made a huge mistake last night, around 5am.

I looked into something called Solipsism, it was the biggest mistake ive made while experiencing DP/DR.
For those on the site who don't know, i have had DP/DR for 7 months and Generalized Anxiety for 6 years.

Also, with those aren't familiar with Solipsism here is a link ( Do not look if you are vulnerable to spontaneous worry or trigger easily like me) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solipsism

With DP/DR for me, im sure some of you can relate. When i think of something or i have a thought, depending on what it is, i can FEEL the thought as if it were real. That is really scary for me.

*I have these thoughts and feelings running through me like. " What if im not real and my brain is creating all of what i see as an illusion" 
" Its probably been like that all my life and im just noticing it now". " What if my mind is the only mind that is real? and everyone elses are not". *

LIke i said, when im experiencing these thoughts, im also experiencing the feelings associated with them, since i am so beaten down from all this DP/DR over the past seven months, i feel like these things are a possibility or even true and then i have this one pop into my head *" Well if its not true, how am i suppose to know?" .*

I've been able to work through my DP/DR somewhat by myself before using the resources of this site and the friends ive made on here.
But this is extremely new and extremely frightening, even as i type this i have thoughts pop into my head* " what use is it anyways, if who i am talking to is not even real or there."

Someone please help *


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## Wendy (Aug 7, 2013)

Many people experience this and that's why I've written so extensively on the topic. I'll paraphrase a few points in some of the posts I made, but if you want to read them in detail, then you can check them out:


Solipsism is Rubbish.
How to Deal With an Existential Crisis.
Imagination does not indicate reality.

There are some key points in these posts that I'll showcase here, as I've said before, and these are the main points that need to be addressed as much as possible to people who are having outlandish fears or people who have been sucked into the Solipsism philosophy and can't seem to get out. I know what it feels like dealing with both the former and the latter; I can tell, first-hand, that these will go away and they're not going to plague you forever, as long as you work to get rid of them. I'll start with the first main point:

*Solipsism is Rubbish.*

It goes along with the title of my blog post - it's good to know that the entire philosophy is absolutely silly. The concept of 'you are the creator of your own mind' has way too many flaws to even be considered as reality.



> If my mind is the creator of all things in this world - the world is my canvas and I, the painter - then why am I not sitting in a multi-million dollar mansion with stacks of money surrounding me? Why would any artist paint a world where they are in constant pain or why would any artist want to include these horrible thoughts into their own heads? Do you not think that the artist of their own world would like to dictate better principles to their own body and, even if they didn't want extreme riches, they certainly would want to have a cleared mind - a mind without Solipsism and derealization.
> 
> Let's take a step back, though, and look at the world for what it really is - with a bit of simplicity, to keep is short:
> 
> ...


Your brain is a very powerful organ, but it's not powerful to create this whole engaging world - billions of people, trillions of galaxies, and all these different intricate buildings and locations. There's no conceivable way that you could generate all of that and, even if you could, then why are you not all-powerful? One that has created this world could twist and turn it in every which way that you please, yet you're still suffering from this fear and philosophy. If you created this world, surely you would make it so your life was perfect, right? I could go on about the many flaws in Solipsism, but that's the biggest one. Instead of ruminating over the idea of Solipsism, disprove it - and you most certainly can - just find the flaws within the philosophy and realize how silly and outlandish it truly is. You didn't make this world up in your head, believe me. 

*Imagination does not indicate reality.*



> The sooner we show that our imagination cannot control what happens in reality, the sooner we can get rid of those terrible thoughts that litter our heads. I could dream up the worst horror in my entire life, right inside of my head, but will it have any affect on my existence? Will that monster in my head come out and make those fears come to life? The answer is: *absolutely not.* What you dream up is not what will happen; just because you can imagine evidence for it happening, doesn't mean it'll happen either.


The point of this quote is that just because you dream something up, doesn't mean that it's going to happen. I could make up the idea that I'm the all-powerful deity controlling this land and all the world's suffering is my fault. In my head, well, it seems to be a viable idea. I can't disprove it, so I might as well snowball the idea, right? You start to throw evidence at it - evidence that you imagine, no less - and start to build the idea up until you're afraid of how "true" it is in your head. However, regardless of how you may feel when you think it in your brain and how true it may feel inside of your head, that does not mean that it's true in reality.

You're just not noticing this because you're enveloped in fear and confusion. The fear is keeping you obsessed on the thought and you're continuing to build on the idea because you're searching for this answer to your big philosophical question. Here's the answer: your imagination does not control reality and just because you get a scary thought in your head does not mean that it's true. Always remember that and push this thought out of your head - don't obsess and dwell on it, it'll just make the thought more frightening.

*How to Deal with an Existential Crisis.*



> So, what can you do to cope? Well, you can do a bunch of things and, for the sake of remaining concise, I'll list them through bullet points below. The main coping mechanism is understanding that Existentialism and the meaning life just simply cannot be explained by any thought process that goes through your head - you cannot validate the dread as something that is okay and that's something that you need to accept if you wish to continue on with your life. Think of it this way, would you rather be completely depressed over a series of serious thoughts leading up to the questioning of your own existence or would you rather spend your time living your life happily and waiting to find out what happens later on. I'd choose the latter - now, onto coping;
> 
> 
> Find something that's constructive. Seriously, hobbies are the best method for coping, even with a number of things besides Existentialism. Try that college course you were thinking about taking, try that cool new thing you saw online or even just frequent the local coffee shop and listen to some shit bands. Finding something that is constructive to you, finding a hobby, is something that is incredibly important with anytype of coping - distractions make us forget that we have pain and, sooner or later, that pain will dissipate.
> ...


I hope this helped. I know it may sound convoluted (it's early in the morning here), so if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer any and all. I've suffered from these thoughts before so I know how scary and terrifying they may feel. I hope what I wrote to you can at least give you a little comfort. Hang in there, though. These thoughts are just obsessions, they'll go away.


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## SteveCarr (Nov 9, 2014)

I am going to copy this post into a note onto my computer!

Thank you Solomon


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## Wendy (Aug 7, 2013)

SteveCarr said:


> I am going to copy this post into a note onto my computer!
> 
> Thank you Solomon


I'm here when you need me!  Best of luck to you!


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