# For those in treatment or therapy



## Deleted Account (Jul 26, 2010)

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## Ronnie (Jul 5, 2011)

I'm currently meeting with a therapist once a week. she's not very familiar with depersonalization or what it entails, but talking to her feels like a safety net in case it ever gets to the point i'm seriously suicidal. she's genuinely interested in my case and wants to figure out a way to treat me without prescriptions. i recommend it if you have some emotional baggage or just need a neutral ear to hear you.


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## Deleted Account (Jul 26, 2010)

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## dpsince2002 (Oct 26, 2008)

Thanks; therapy has helped me, even though I haven't found any therapists with experience treating dp, and it's still very much with me. Different therapists seem like they've provided different pieces of the puzzle, working on things like my anxiety, OCD tendencies, and relationship issues. Also, as long as I'm in therapy, it's like an acknowledgment that I haven't given up, and I am making progress toward getting out of this, even if it doesn't feel like it a lot of the time. I just moved to a new place, and have been dragging my feet about finding one, so thanks for the reminder!


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## Deleted Account (Jul 26, 2010)

deleted


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## dpsince2002 (Oct 26, 2008)

I know what you mean! A little is about how much therapy seems to have helped me over the almost 9 years I've had this now, but, somehow, it feels like, as long as I'm in therapy, I'm not giving up on getting better.


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## dpagain (Oct 5, 2011)

I am on medication for OCD which is mainly because of the intrusive exitential thoughts dp brings. I noticed that it made my mind much clearer & able to see the thought pattern that was making the dp worse. Once I stopped analysing the thoughts & let them flow my physical symptoms of anxiety flared up as I wasn't playing the mental ocd game of dp. So then I got myself some anti-anxiety meds & take them when it gets bad. I am assuming I will be like this for a while as the dp was covering my bad anxiety. I have only been on medication for a week & am 85% better. Previous to this I tried NET which helped alot & I also see a psychologist weekly. I do breathing exercises as much as I can thorughout the day & an guided meditation daily to clear my mind. The key is to let the thoughts go even though you feel whacko. HOpe that helps.


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## kate_edwin (Aug 9, 2009)

there are some DBT skills that have come in handy, Mindfulness is something everyone should try, it will help anyone who puts in the time and effort, there are two medications that may be affecting my dissociative symptoms


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## Keyn (Jan 6, 2012)

ShannaLynn said:


> Is Therapy or treatment working for you? If so, what are the tools you have learned or what are you doing that is helping? Please share
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This is my first post on this forum...so, hello! I have had minor DP since I was a young child (rare, I know). I just found out some two years ago about dissociation and DP specifically. I have been seeing a counselor for the last year who has been EXTREMELY helpful in battling DP. This counselor specializes in addiction, addiction recovery, and families of addicts. I am not an addict, so we were both leery about how helpful she could be. But take the time to compare and contrast the experience of addiction with that of DP, and you'll see many parallels (at least for me). My DP was brought on by trauma (years of trauma), so I believe it became a coping mechanism where I could seek some shelter in difficult times. DP became a 'problem' when I was back in real life (grandparents had custody of me with weekends/holidays back on the street). Anytime I wrote, read, or said my own name, heard my own voice (like on a recording) or had my name called, I would get snapped back into reality with a sensation of an electric shock. The feeling was terrifying, and it made me want to retreat further.

I just rode around in my own body waiting for things to happen and never had any real direction or ambition. I began to despise 'reality' and wanted to stay in the back of my own head. Life of course doesn't work that way. My counselor recognized the utility of DP in a traumatic situation, but brought a perspective that was liberating. I realized that the trauma is over. I'm 34 years old trying to make the most of my job and life. I don't need DP to cope, because there is nothing to cope with! At this time in my life, living in willfully in a DP state will destroy me. I am not IN trauma anymore, DP is utterly irrelevant to my otherwise normal life. Just like learning to cope with life after addiction we DP'ers need to:
*
*Recognize and accept the areas we can and cannot control.

*Relegate our coping mechanisms to where they're appropriate and relevant.

*Engage in life as it is, not as it was or 'should' be. (as the Jedi say, Be mindful of the present!).*

My brain developed DP because it was useful. It is now letting go because the damage it does far exceeds its usefulness at this point in my life. Your brain will adapt to the things you reinforce. When you can recognize and experience the utter dysfunction DP creates, you can begin to let it go.

My advice to everyone with a similar form of DP is to find a grounded Cognitive-Behavioral therapist or counselor. PLEASE be careful of Jungian therapists or any form of 'parts work' therapies. You will find yourself deep in fantasy and further from the here and now. Good luck to you!


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## kate_edwin (Aug 9, 2009)

Isst-d.org has therapits who specialize in trauma and dissocition. CBT works for some, a T with dissociation training can be reallllly helpful. Part work and famil systems therapy are both just as legitimate models, which ones work for which person is very Individual. There are also many other models. Glad you found someone to help


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## Deleted Account (Jul 26, 2010)

Keyn said:


> This is my first post on this forum...so, hello! I have had minor DP since I was a young child (rare, I know). I just found out some two years ago about dissociation and DP specifically. I have been seeing a counselor for the last year who has been EXTREMELY helpful in battling DP. This counselor specializes in addiction, addiction recovery, and families of addicts. I am not an addict, so we were both leery about how helpful she could be. But take the time to compare and contrast the experience of addiction with that of DP, and you'll see many parallels (at least for me). My DP was brought on by trauma (years of trauma), so I believe it became a coping mechanism where I could seek some shelter in difficult times. DP became a 'problem' when I was back in real life (grandparents had custody of me with weekends/holidays back on the street). Anytime I wrote, read, or said my own name, heard my own voice (like on a recording) or had my name called, I would get snapped back into reality with a sensation of an electric shock. The feeling was terrifying, and it made me want to retreat further.
> 
> I just rode around in my own body waiting for things to happen and never had any real direction or ambition. I began to despise 'reality' and wanted to stay in the back of my own head. Life of course doesn't work that way. My counselor recognized the utility of DP in a traumatic situation, but brought a perspective that was liberating. I realized that the trauma is over. I'm 34 years old trying to make the most of my job and life. I don't need DP to cope, because there is nothing to cope with! At this time in my life, living in willfully in a DP state will destroy me. I am not IN trauma anymore, DP is utterly irrelevant to my otherwise normal life. Just like learning to cope with life after addiction we DP'ers need to:
> *
> ...


Thanks Keyn for the post. Thanks for the advice, I really need to learn to live in the moment...i'm so stuck in the past.


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