# Anyone here from England?



## Laura41 (May 30, 2011)

Hi, I am new to this forum having just realised (at the age of 40) that I think DP is what I have been suffering for a LONG time. It's such a relief to discover this and to find out that there are many others out there suffering with it. Looking forward to chatting to some of you. x


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## bridges (May 31, 2011)

chamomilelaura said:


> Hi, I am new to this forum having just realised (at the age of 40) that I think DP is what I have been suffering for a LONG time. It's such a relief to discover this and to find out that there are many others out there suffering with it. Looking forward to chatting to some of you. x


Hello, i am from england!

I really could do with some advice too maybe we could help each other... this experience has been happening to me for about 1 year on and off? Just lately its really getting the better of me. My brain is so tired and im so sick of trying to explain to people that care without sounding like a complete nutcase!! I can see them looking at me and i know exactly what they are thinking. Its affecting my life, im 20 and i refuse to go out to bars or clubs in fear that something happens to me while im out or someone notices that my mind is thinking right at the moment.. maybe il say something stupid or people think im weird. I am a very strong person usually i have learnt to cope with alot in my life and see alot of things and still continue as normal. I believe now that its finally catching up with me... I cannot remember ANYTHING! My memory is terrible, i struggle to figure dream from reality and its frightens me. I feel alone in my own mind in the fear of never returning back to how i once was. Will this EVER go? I do not believe i can keep putting on this act for much longer of being ok

Thank you


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## Flyuk (Nov 5, 2010)

Hi I'm from Leeds in west Yorkshire and like you I've een sufferingbfor a long time approx 15 years would be nice to speak to someone of my age

Thanks Neil


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## Laura41 (May 30, 2011)

Hello you two!
Thanks for replying. I would say the same Neil, about 15 years. It seems to me a lot of people have got from smoking marijuana but, I think mine was more to do with psychological trauma. I had a pretty bad breakdown which may have triggered me becoming extremely introspective, anxious and depressed! Hooray! People have suggested I had Aspergers Syndrome but I identify much more with this. It was such a relief to hear about depersonalisation. There is some good advice on this website which is worth reading (the Holy Grail of DP/DR or sth like that - very good). Just accepted that that is what you have has helped me


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## Laura41 (May 30, 2011)

Hi Bridges
Just to say that I can identify with everything you are saying - if that helps. I wrote the book on being socially dysfunctional. I am still working on it now and I am twice your age!! Suppose the best advice I could give right now is to try and understand why you have become as you are and try and appreciate that it's good to be different! So easy to say i know


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## bridges (May 31, 2011)

Laura41 said:


> Hi Bridges
> Just to say that I can identify with everything you are saying - if that helps. I wrote the book on being socially dysfunctional. I am still working on it now and I am twice your age!! Suppose the best advice I could give right now is to try and understand why you have become as you are and try and appreciate that it's good to be different! So easy to say i know


Hi

thanks for the reply, I am feeling a little better now ive had an interview and my life is slotting back into order. I have an idea about what may of triggered it off... but it was nearly 7 years ago?! Its really just sitting at the back of my mind annoying me... i wish i could just delete it!


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## Laura41 (May 30, 2011)

What go away until you confront it I'm afraid. Have you tried seeing a counsellor? What was the interview for?


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## jules k (Jun 3, 2011)

Laura41 said:


> Hi, I am new to this forum having just realised (at the age of 40) that I think DP is what I have been suffering for a LONG time. It's such a relief to discover this and to find out that there are many others out there suffering with it. Looking forward to chatting to some of you. x


Hi I am from England and have lived in the States for 17 years.I have had this disorder for 2 years it never gets better.Have tried everything to no avail and was told by a shrink that he couldnt help me.No medcines no therpy nothing helps i feel i will never be normal


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## bridges (May 31, 2011)

confront it how? and the interview was for a job







i have a neurologist appointment soon also to see a psychiatric nurse. So fingers crossed at least one of them can fix me!


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## bridges (May 31, 2011)

jules k said:


> Hi I am from England and have lived in the States for 17 years.I have had this disorder for 2 years it never gets better.Have tried everything to no avail and was told by a shrink that he couldnt help me.No medcines no therpy nothing helps i feel i will never be normal


You will start to feel ALOT better soon, i found the less attention u pay it the quicker it fades... if u feel it coming on divert your mind... your mind is strong enough to make you feel this way so its strong enough to ignore it! Might feel now like your trapped and its going to haunt you forever, but trust me your mind will give up playing games sooner or later and u will gradually feel it beginning to fade! Do not give up hope. You need to gather information about DP i find the more you know the less scary it all is once u can understand why your thinking the things you are... remember DP is not a sign of being weak.. its a sign of being strong for too long!


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## Laura41 (May 30, 2011)

Does anyone here feel their lives could be a lot better than they are ... and you feel incapable of doing anything to change it?


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## Timer (Feb 10, 2011)

Hi and welcome,

Im from London - had dr for around 9 months.....trying to get through it though!


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## Avalanche (Apr 14, 2011)

.


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## VinceyP (Nov 13, 2010)

I am from Southampton, England! I have had dp/dr for about 8 or so months!


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## Staffy (Oct 19, 2007)

Hi, 
I'm from Reading in Berkshire. I have suffered from DP/DR since I was ten years old (I'm in my late 40s now).Like yourself, I could not put a name to what I had been suffering from and ,in fact, would have found it very difficult to describe to anyone, though I had tried to explain it to various threapists and doctors over the years.A few years ago,during a particularly distressing episode, I googled 'ontological insecurity' or somesuch phrase and followed the trail to the various definitions available on the internet and finally to specilalst sites such as this one.I'm glad I did and I'm sure you will be too; it helps greatly to know that you are not on your own and, in spite of how things feel sometimes, that there is nothing particularly mysterious or life threatening about the way we feel.Unacanny would be the word I'd use to describe DP at its least intense though things ,for me at least, can get a bit scary when things are at their worst.I'm trying to find a way out of the labyrinth or at least to the edge of it from where the 'real' world is at least visible.I'm sure it can be done;I've found that using the techniques of acceptance and commitment thereapy are pretty helpful though they'd not be for everyone.Good luck with finding your own way out.
All the best.
Neil


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## DiscoStick (Dec 13, 2009)

I'm from England!


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## bridges (May 31, 2011)

Hi neil,

i feel the same as you... stuck in this labyrinth of unreailty. And sometimes i dont think about it at all, and sometimes i get all day and i cannot wait to go to bed to see if the next day brings something nicer.. Its hard. Does it get easier?



Staffy said:


> Hi,
> I'm from Reading in Berkshire. I have suffered from DP/DR since I was ten years old (I'm in my late 40s now).Like yourself, I could not put a name to what I had been suffering from and ,in fact, would have found it very difficult to describe to anyone, though I had tried to explain it to various threapists and doctors over the years.A few years ago,during a particularly distressing episode, I googled 'ontological insecurity' or somesuch phrase and followed the trail to the various definitions available on the internet and finally to specilalst sites such as this one.I'm glad I did and I'm sure you will be too; it helps greatly to know that you are not on your own and, in spite of how things feel sometimes, that there is nothing particularly mysterious or life threatening about the way we feel.Unacanny would be the word I'd use to describe DP at its least intense though things ,for me at least, can get a bit scary when things are at their worst.I'm trying to find a way out of the labyrinth or at least to the edge of it from where the 'real' world is at least visible.I'm sure it can be done;I've found that using the techniques of acceptance and commitment thereapy are pretty helpful though they'd not be for everyone.Good luck with finding your own way out.
> All the best.
> Neil


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## Staffy (Oct 19, 2007)

bridges said:


> Hi neil,
> 
> i feel the same as you... stuck in this labyrinth of unreailty. And sometimes i dont think about it at all, and sometimes i get all day and i cannot wait to go to bed to see if the next day brings something nicer.. Its hard. Does it get easier?


Hi Bridges,
I have found that things do get easier in as much as it does seem possible to learn to live with DP.Acceptance of the condition seems to be the key to overcoming it;this is something that I have been working on with a therapist who I have been seeing for a couple of years.I still have pretty grimy days when I feel pretty hopeless about the way that I feel. As you say, it sometimes feels easier to write some days off and escape into sleep. I have tried to strike as positive an atttude as I can towards DP/DR and I just tend to carry on regardless even when I am feeling very detached from the world; I've decided to take the 'what'the worst that can happen' approach to things when I can.

There are several good books on various strategies for coping with DP and I've found a book that explores an 'acceptance and commitment' type of approach really helpful.Here is a link to to an Amazon page where you can read a bit more about it. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Overcoming-Depersonalization-Disorder-Mindfulness-Acceptance/dp/1572247061/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1310823064&sr=8-15
I find this kind of approach works best for me as I think that my DP is primarily caused by rumination and worry. 
I hope that you start to feel better soon;there are ways to deal with this thing and it needn't make life a misery.
Regards
Neil


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## Midnight (Jul 16, 2011)

Hey,

I'm from SW UK, Bath actually / London during term time. 20 y/o student.

Sound


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## amarpreet123 (Aug 12, 2012)

Staffy said:


> Hi,
> I'm from Reading in Berkshire. I have suffered from DP/DR since I was ten years old (I'm in my late 40s now).Like yourself, I could not put a name to what I had been suffering from and ,in fact, would have found it very difficult to describe to anyone, though I had tried to explain it to various threapists and doctors over the years.A few years ago,during a particularly distressing episode, I googled 'ontological insecurity' or somesuch phrase and followed the trail to the various definitions available on the internet and finally to specilalst sites such as this one.I'm glad I did and I'm sure you will be too; it helps greatly to know that you are not on your own and, in spite of how things feel sometimes, that there is nothing particularly mysterious or life threatening about the way we feel.Unacanny would be the word I'd use to describe DP at its least intense though things ,for me at least, can get a bit scary when things are at their worst.I'm trying to find a way out of the labyrinth or at least to the edge of it from where the 'real' world is at least visible.I'm sure it can be done;I've found that using the techniques of acceptance and commitment thereapy are pretty helpful though they'd not be for everyone.Good luck with finding your own way out.
> All the best.
> Neil


I'm from Maidenhead!


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## Judith (Jun 16, 2013)

Hi to everyone from England on here!

I live in the North West. I'm 55 and have had DP for over 30 years. I agree with the person above who says it gets better if you pay less attention to it. I realise that's not easy though - especially when it first begins. I have found over time though that the more you concentrate on it the worse it gets.

It may not be much consolation, but there is another alternative that you can't conceive of in the beginning and that is that you can get used to it and lead a reasonably normal life.

Most recently I've found that techniques to do with acceptance - getting used to a certain level of discomfort when you're out and about, for example, have been the most useful.

Judith

XXX


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