# Solipsism and Terrifying Existential Thoughts



## Stardvst (Jul 4, 2017)

Hello everyone, Chris again. I posted earlier today because of the same problem I currently have, which is this terrible terrifying existential crisis I'm going through at the moment. I have never felt so terribly derealized and detatched from the world than I have before and I'm scared that I've reached the point of no return. I probably haven't, but of course I fear I have. It was very sudden and arbitrary. I was talking with my mom and suddenly I felt so unreal and dream like and then I became scared that this is the true reality and nature of things. Then I thought of solipsism and feared I would go crazy over these thoughts. I feel my head feeling incredibly light headed. I went for a walk and whilst walking I suddenly felt this weird chill in my head and I freaked out over it. It felt like my head suddenly lifted or like my mind lifted out of my brain. I know this all seems like the normal typical depersonalized post about losing in touch with reality and whatnot, but I'd really like some advice for this and reassurance. I'm having a very scary dilemma of solipsism at the moment. I heard of this thing called solipsism syndrome and it scared the shit out of me because I definitely don't want to be a solipsist and constantly doubt that anything is real and never believe in anything. But I can't help it unfortunately. I read stories about how people have gotten better from depersonalization and people who have had these solipsist and existential thoughts, but my mind still goes back to the thought, "What if these stories aren't true? What if they're just made up in my head and I'm creating these thoughts in order to make me feel better? What if I won't get better? What if I'm different and these thoughts will haunt me forever? What if solipsism dominates my life?" Even as I write this I feel utter terror and hopelessness. If these thoughts will pass eventually, then great. But I feel if I ruminate about them enough I'll eventually believe them and that's a terrible feeling/realization. I feel incredibly unreal and detatched, and if I continue to THINK about unreality and detatchment, I'll get worse and never get out of this thought process. Please please tell me what to do. Should I read up on it and expose myself to it? Should I continue to ignore it and wait for it to go away? Please help me, I don't want to be a solipsist, I don't want to feel and think that the world is unreal. How do i reconnect and can i reconnect?

TL;DR I'm going through an existential scare, specifically solipsism, and I'm scared it will dominate my life and I'll forever be skeptical and think the world is unreal. I know it isn't, but my mind persistently suggests otherwise. How do I get over these thoughts? How do I not go crazy? How do I stop freaking out about this? Help, help, help.


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## Pieke1990 (Jul 11, 2017)

Hi!

I've had these thoughts a long time ago as Well... they Will pass eventually.
I'm trying meds now...
Keep you posted and good luck!


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## Grindelwald (Jul 22, 2017)

Ah, solipsism. Where to begin with this one!

I remember when my first DP/DR kicked in, following my weed-induced panic attack. Surprisingly, it didn't happen right away. When I came down off my "high", I realized "oh, I was just high, lol" and while I was embarrassed about how I had acted in front of my roommates (psychotic), I went back to my life as usual. It wasn't until some time later when the DP hit me while I was alone in a computer lab working on an assignment. A terrifying thought came to me, and it didn't take much Google-searching before I found the Wikipedia page on solipsism. I had never heard the term before in 21 years of existence. So I clicked the link to it. The idea scared me a lot, but believe me when I say that the possibility of solipsism is an ILLUSION. It is nothing more than DP/DR anxiety rearing its ugly head. I'd love to go back in time and prevent Descartes from doing this thought experiment.

Anyway, the big problem with solipsism is its very existence. You have to reconcile the fact that all the while you're over there fretting over solipsism, I'm over here doing the exact same thing. As my months wore on, solipsism became less and less scary and more and more laughable. But this idea did bug me for a lot longer than I would have liked and still does get to me in fleeting instances. I was scared solipsism would dominate my life as well but it didn't happen, I got better and you will too, I promise.


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