# Scary thoughts



## Georgewright6 (Nov 15, 2016)

Does anyone get scary thoughts that you get anxious of only when experiencing DP the thoughts and emotions can get so bad that my mind is convincing me of them they literally come on and off all day, and they can be so random and stupid but the emotion and belief in them makes them so scary I start to convince myself I've got phycosis. I've read it up and it's supposedly called cognitive distortions which I never suffered with when I had OCD or if I did I didn't notice them


----------



## evolvingpsyche (Oct 20, 2015)

You don't have a psychosis. One rule of thumb to remember is that if you're questioning whether you have a psychosis, you don't have it (although this can be argued).
Unless you start seeing things that don't exist and hearing things that don't exist you don't have a psychosis.

Even if you're having paranoid thoughts I would rule out psychosis unless you also have the conditions described above.


----------



## tfiio (Nov 10, 2016)

in what little research I've managed to find, the biggest difference between psychosis (a la schizophrenia) and depersonalization/derealization is this idea of "reality testing". like, when my depersonalization gets bad, I still know, intellectually, that I am in my own apartment and I am safe, but I may *feel* I am somewhere else that I do not want to be. I am aware that this feeling is not accurate, which means I can still determine what is or is not reality. I'm not sure that's exactly what you were asking about, but maybe it will help.


----------



## JuniperFlame (Nov 25, 2016)

Do you mind sharing some of the thoughts you have? That might help us understand what you're asking a bit better.

I get scary existential and nihilistic thoughts that logically I know either are ridiculous or don't matter, but when the DR/DP is really bad, they seem like such real threats. Things like worrying about death, or the meaning of existence, or the afterlife; when I didn't know that I was experiencing DR, I'd worry that I was imagining the people around me. Something I've found really helps me is journalling. The act of writing everything down is grounding for me, and facing the thoughts makes them less scary. Maybe it'll help you, too.


----------

