# My DP experience - Success Story - Tips



## H9u (Mar 9, 2012)

Hello, my name is Patrick and I'm 17 years old. Fairly young, but I have suffered from Depersonilzation Disorder for about a year. I'm going to share my story with everyone here on the board and maybe help some people that are newly experiencing DP / DR or have had chronic symptoms and just don't know what to do. Anyways, let's start of with my story and how I was diagnosed with DPD. 
It all started 2 years ago, when I became a pot smoker. I admit it, I loved it. Life was TERRIBLE; when I got high, nothing else mattered. It was a new life. I loved it, every second. It completely changed my personality as well. I was super outgoing and I loved who I was becoming. 
This went on until I was 16 years old. I met this girl, and she plays a HUGE role in to grasping reality. Anyways, I fell in love. I know, you can say I am too young to experience such a feeling, but when someone changes your life to quit drugs and completely changes who you are in a positive way, you know it's real. My life was at a constant level of happiness. Then we ended things for a bit, and I went back to my old routine. You can guess what that was. I got a group of my close friends and we all did you know what. I did so much, that I had an anxiety attack. It was one of the worst experiences of my life. That moment truly changed my life mentally...literally.
After that, I looked at things completely different. I always questioned humanity and if everything was an illusion. I would always space out in class and it just felt like something was wrong. While riding in the car the next month, I had another anxiety attack. This is when everything started. Everything felt unreal. It felt as if I was in a dream and time was passing me by. It felt like I was watching myself in the third person and I HATED it. I couldn't stop thinking about it. It was like my mind was on circular thoughts. No matter what I thought about, it kept on going back to these thoughts of, "Is this real?". I thought it would just go away after sleeping, but it did not. It was always constant. It got so bad that I couldn't take it anymore. Thoughts of killing myself and this feeling would go away would enter my mind. I couldn't grasp reality.
I forgot to add this, but before feeling this, I did get back together with my girlfriend. So she is in my life as this is going on. Anyways, she said I should go see a psychiatrist. Which I did, and that was probably the most important thing I had ever did. Which was talk to someone about it. It made it so much better. They diagnosed me with DPD. I did some research on it because I had no idea what that was and come to find out, it's EXACTLY what I was feeling; a perfect description. Talking to a professional, they assured me that this isn't lethal and that since I was so young, my brain is still developing and that it will probably just fade away. 
After all this, I was destined to grasping reality again. For those of you who think that there's no hope with DP / DR, trust me, there is!

Here is what I did:

-Do not shut yourself down!
The more I thought about it, the worse it got. It felt as if the anxiety was fueling the feeling. Don't over think things. Everything is going to be okay. Just remind yourself that.

-Enjoy life
Spend time with friends, do things. Don't sit inside your house all day alone thinking when the hell this shit is going to past. You're just making it worse. When I was doing things, it wasn't even on my mind until I brought it up.

-Talk to people about it
Talk to people. Do not isolate yourself, and if you're feeling like you're going to hurt yourself, get into contact with someone immediately. Try talking to a therapist, that helped me.

-Drink water
I'm not going to lie, I increased my water in take by a ton and that helped. Just going to the bathroom reminded me that I'm okay









-Revert the thoughts in your head
This is the hardest thing to do, but it helps so much. It really takes a developed brain to do so, but just try to revert your thoughts. The less you think about it, the less the feeling of DP will occur. Listen to some music!

-Exercise
Before, I was eating like shit and getting no exercise. Have you ever heard of a healthy person complain? No! Get your ass off the couch and on the treadmill.

Look, DPD can be really minor for some people or it can be really really bad for some people. I understand what everyone is going through and I'm here to help people. I just want to clarify that I'm not 100% "cured" of DPD. But, I have learned to live with it and just accept it. I know that is hard, but it's the best you can do. I hope this helps anyone or my story can relate to anyone else's. Cheers.


----------



## Gwen H (Mar 5, 2012)

Hey Patrick,
Your experience stood out to me because I went through something very similar. I also smoked some very powerful pot that led to the uncovering of some latent anxiety and panic issues (I, however, was never an avid smoker- I've only done it a few times and I probably will never do any mid-altering substances again). You seem to be heading down the right path, I have had to make similar changes to my habits and diligently monitor my thoughts. I still deal with DP but it is definitely much better than before. I would also be riding in the car and have anxiety/panic attacks- I had to hold myself down for fear I would float out of my body. Everyday was a struggle to hold onto my grip with reality, very often I thought I was going crazy or that I had a brain tumor. It was literally like feeling that I had no control over anything and there was nothing stopping me from dying at any second or loosing touch with reality. Luckily, once you accept your new perspective on life and no longer fear your panic/anxiety/DP then its miraculous how much easier it is to monitor your thoughts and live life again. I definitely agree with your tips on getting past DP- the most important one is not sitting at home and brooding! Get out and break the cycle of anxiety. 
Good luck on your journey.


----------

