# Emotions and Feelings: Key to Recovery



## creativedp

[size=150]No persons who are in touch with their emotions and bodily feelings, both pleasant and unpleasant would complain that they are depersonalized.

In the absence of emotions and feelings we can know ourselves, the world, and other people only intellecutally. We will be able to go through life like an automaton. Days, months and years will roll by meaninglessly. Emotional world gives the feeling of reality which makes life meaningful and worth living in spite of all sorts of real problems. Intellectual world is an emply world. In the absence of emotions, the experience of the self and the world assumes a diabolic quality, which is extremely obnoxious and difficult to describe.

Depersonalized persons function with themselves, other persons and the world in a non-emotional manner. Brain studies have shown that the emotional centres of depersonalized persons are not sufficiently stimulated. Emotional repression or other causes such as drug abuse, traumatic incidents etc. etc. may be the causes.

The causes are the thing of the past. At present what we can do is to get in touch with our emotions, bodily feelings, and other sensations either pleasant or unpleasant. In the beginning one would find hardly anything to feel. Little by little once can get in touch with one emotions. Very often negative emotions like utter despair, anger, insecurity, the feeling that everything is lost, feelings of meaningless, open the door to positive emotions.

Many of us may require the help of a good psychotherapist to get in touch with our emotions and feelings as they remain repressed and unreal. Repressed emotions change one's world in a fundamental way. We will only appreciate it only when we get in touch with our emotional life. Don't consider unpleasant emotions and feelings your enemies; in fact they are your friends. But it requires tremendous amount of courage to accept one's negative emotions like despair and anger. If you find it extremely difficult to get in touch with the negative emotions, seek professional help. Tell them plainly you want to get in touch these repressed emotions. It would be easier for them to help you. You can save precious time and money by avoiding psychological games like playing helpless victim who can never recover. One need not be a specialist in depersonalization therapy to help you to get in touch with your negative emotions.

Plenty of bodily exercise especially walking, playing outdoor games, jogging etc. are useful in making the body more alive and to experience bodily feelings. 
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## DownTheRabbitHole

did you write that?

that is amazing, and it makes perfect sense.

thank you!


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## voidvoid

"Don't consider unpleasant emotions and feelings your enemies; in fact they are your friends." I do not agree with this, it is when I am subjected to negative things like arguments/problems etc that my dpd/dr is severely increased.


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## voidvoid

Good post tho.


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## mouse406

Inzom said:


> it is when I am subjected to negative things like arguments/problems etc that my dpd/dr is severely increased.


Could this be that when you are subjected to these negative emotions you are depersonalizing to avoid feeling these feelings? I'm starting to feel that this is what I do. For as long as I can remember I have avoided expressing feelings in front of other people and even to myself.


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## jfromaz

I think this is why when I have periods of extreme depression and can cry like a water hose, I feel less DP/DR because I feel more "focused" and drowning in actual EMOTION. I think what you wrote could very well be the slow but sure recovery for DP/DR individuals. I am starting to do things that make me feel emotions to the best of my abilities. It sounds like a juvenile ideal; but something as simple as talking to beautiful women brings me out of DP/DR.. I think.. I hope.. I don't know.. I am confused as a flower


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## mind.divided

This is the key!


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## creativedp

After the passage of a year I am all the more convinced that feelings and emotions are the keys to recovery from dp/dr. Feelings put us in touch with our bodies, our selves, other people and the world.


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## creativedp

The more courage one develops to confront and tolerate one's emotions--fears, even baseless ones, false threats of catastrophe, fear of rejection, fear of isolation, feelings of insecurity, feelings of guilt, fear of joy and pleasant things, distress of insecurity, hopelessness and despair, sense of futility and failure.......the list goes on and on. All these emotions and feelings need to appear and disappear on the screen of the mind with the self courageous enough to watch them, feel them, endure them, ignore some of them as baseless, nourish and strengthen positive emotions.....it is a lifelong project, this fight against dp. All the best.


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## forestx5

It is interesting to see how, historically, scientists have proposed various theories that eventually were discounted and proven false. Astronomy gives many examples of this evolution of ideas, as does our understanding of genetics. Psychiatry/Psychology is another

"science" which has had its share of theories. Well actually, it consists almost entirely of theories as there is not much science to be found in psychiatry or psychology.

I don't believe in "repressed emotions". I would have to have someone explain that concept to me. Secondly, I don't believe there is such a thing as "a good psychotherapist". I don't believe there is enough science in

psychology or psychiatry for anyone to practice it effectively. There are, however, a few good people who make the attempt at being a good psychotherapist, but I wouldn't visit one to have a friend at $75 an hour.

I read many self help books during my 40 years of mental illness. Most were totally worthless. Some could get you excited because they wrote accurately about your symptoms.

When the time came to provide a solution for your problems, things got kind of murky and it ends with you being right where you started. (no workable solution).

I can recommend a book by Robyn Dawes titled "A House of Cards". Professor Dawes taught at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. He raised a disabled daughter as a single

parent. Reading his book helped prepare me for what to expect from an industry which no longer had roots in legitimate science. (the psychology industry).

Yes, I did lose all of my positive emotions and what remained were the harsh emotions of dread, fear, and hopelessness. I didn't repress my positive emotions or embrace

the negative emotions. I was busy trying to survive in my new reality. It did take a lot of intellectual work, because that is all I had to work with. Life was bland without emotions, but

I had no choice but to proceed without them. I say lose, rather than repress because I lost my emotions following a 3 minute period in which

I experienced approximately 30 epileptic discharges in my temporal lobe. The temporal lobe is where your sensory inputs go to be merged with emotional context after

consulting with your memory and....it is really a complex part of your brain. It is where you live. Scientists say that if you have a soul, it is in your temporal lobe.

The eyes are the window to the soul. If you look in the mirror and don't see it clearly, then you dp'd your temporal lobe somehow. The temporal lobe is "exquisitely prone to insult".

Psychoactive drugs can insult your temporal lobe and dp you. 40 years later, my temporal lobe shows the wear and tear on my EEGs. It is obvious I had a history of epileptic seizure.

Not obvious to the good psychotherapist, however. I saw 5 of them during my illness, and none ever offered to recommend me for an EEG, which would have revealed the problem.

But I also saw 3 or 4 psychiatrists over those 40 years, and they never recommended me for an EEG either. They, like the psychologists, were simply happy to treat me. (ineffectively)

But, one day I was googling through a British medical library reading neurological texts and journals when I found a rare epileptic syndrome which explained how a cluster of temporal

lobe seizures initiated by an epigastric aura can segue into an affective disorder of major depression in a worst case scenario. I recognized those unique symptoms as mine in every detail.

I consulted a specialist in neurology and testing proved my self diagnosis. At that point, I took over the treatment of my

illness and have lived happily ever after.


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## Abe89

I like the post by Creativedp. But I think it is also true that Psychology so far haven't provided the proper help for people with brain disorders. It have been more or less like guesswork. Hopefully Psychology will make use of latest technology to use clinical tests to diagnose and treat people.


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## Chip1021

Abe89 said:


> I like the post by Creativedp. But I think it is also true that Psychology so far haven't provided the proper help for people with brain disorders. It have been more or less like guesswork. Hopefully Psychology will make use of latest technology to use clinical tests to diagnose and treat people.


I don't see why psychology should be effective for brain disorders. If there's something wrong with the brain, you should see a neurologist. If you have maladaptive thinking styles or belief systems, that's the purview of psychology.


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## forestx5

Progress is being made. My small city (70,000?) just celebrated the opening of an epilepsy center, which will also specialize in diagnosis and treatment of migraine. I googled "epilepsy and migraine"

and the results indicate the medical science community has figured out the co morbid relationship. One British Neurologist wrote a paper titled "Migraine, on the borderlands of epilepsy".

The researchers have also connected epilepsy and migraine to affective disorders (serious mental illness such as recurrent major depression and bipolar disorder).

If I presented to an emergency room today, as i did on an unseasonably warm December night in 1971, I doubt an attending physician would recognize my symptoms as caused

by post - ictal psychosis in the aftermath of temporal lobe seizure. However, I certainly hope it would not take 40 years for mental health professionals to suggest an EEG, given I was

suffering frequent ocular migraines, co morbid with "spells" (*focal temporal lobe seizures), and co morbid with episodes of recurrent major depression.

"Bigger Fish to Fry" is what one US Neurologists said to me, after diagnosing my visuals as ocular migraine. I wonder if he would suggest an EEG if I saw him today

under the same circumstances? Doubtful if a psychologist would recommend an EEG. Why should they when they have a book case full of self help books for me to read.


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## Dancing_master

forestx5 said:


> It is interesting to see how, historically, scientists have proposed various theories that eventually were discounted and proven false. Astronomy gives many examples of this evolution of ideas, as does our understanding of genetics. Psychiatry/Psychology is another
> 
> "science" which has had its share of theories. Well actually, it consists almost entirely of theories as there is not much science to be found in psychiatry or psychology.
> 
> I don't believe in "repressed emotions". I would have to have someone explain that concept to me. Secondly, I don't believe there is such a thing as "a good psychotherapist". I don't believe there is enough science in
> 
> psychology or psychiatry for anyone to practice it effectively. There are, however, a few good people who make the attempt at being a good psychotherapist, but I wouldn't visit one to have a friend at $75 an hour.
> 
> I read many self help books during my 40 years of mental illness. Most were totally worthless. Some could get you excited because they wrote accurately about your symptoms.
> 
> When the time came to provide a solution for your problems, things got kind of murky and it ends with you being right where you started. (no workable solution).
> 
> I can recommend a book by Robyn Dawes titled "A House of Cards". Professor Dawes taught at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. He raised a disabled daughter as a single
> 
> parent. Reading his book helped prepare me for what to expect from an industry which no longer had roots in legitimate science. (the psychology industry).
> 
> Yes, I did lose all of my positive emotions and what remained were the harsh emotions of dread, fear, and hopelessness. I didn't repress my positive emotions or embrace
> 
> the negative emotions. I was busy trying to survive in my new reality. It did take a lot of intellectual work, because that is all I had to work with. Life was bland without emotions, but
> 
> I had no choice but to proceed without them. I say lose, rather than repress because I lost my emotions following a 3 minute period in which
> 
> I experienced approximately 30 epileptic discharges in my temporal lobe. The temporal lobe is where your sensory inputs go to be merged with emotional context after
> 
> consulting with your memory and....it is really a complex part of your brain. It is where you live. Scientists say that if you have a soul, it is in your temporal lobe.
> 
> The eyes are the window to the soul. If you look in the mirror and don't see it clearly, then you dp'd your temporal lobe somehow. The temporal lobe is "exquisitely prone to insult".
> 
> Psychoactive drugs can insult your temporal lobe and dp you. 40 years later, my temporal lobe shows the wear and tear on my EEGs. It is obvious I had a history of epileptic seizure.
> 
> Not obvious to the good psychotherapist, however. I saw 5 of them during my illness, and none ever offered to recommend me for an EEG, which would have revealed the problem.
> 
> But I also saw 3 or 4 psychiatrists over those 40 years, and they never recommended me for an EEG either. They, like the psychologists, were simply happy to treat me. (ineffectively)
> 
> But, one day I was googling through a British medical library reading neurological texts and journals when I found a rare epileptic syndrome which explained how a cluster of temporal
> 
> lobe seizures initiated by an epigastric aura can segue into an affective disorder of major depression in a worst case scenario. I recognized those unique symptoms as mine in every detail.
> 
> I consulted a specialist in neurology and testing proved my self diagnosis. At that point, I took over the treatment of my
> 
> illness and have lived happily ever after.


how do you check for temporal epiliepsy, I asked my doctor bout it and he said I dont have it but he is retarded like wtf let me do the test you dingus.


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## PerfectFifth

Chip1021 said:


> I don't see why psychology should be effective for brain disorders. If there's something wrong with the brain, you should see a neurologist. If you have maladaptive thinking styles or belief systems, that's the purview of psychology.


This, so much this. If you have a neurological or any organic disease, how can you possibly hope to cure it by thinking? You can't cure diabetes or alzheimer's disease either by thinking it's going to go away or "getting in touch with repressed emotions".


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## leminaseri

PerfectFifth said:


> This, so much this. If you have a neurological or any organic disease, how can you possibly hope to cure it by thinking? You can't cure diabetes or alzheimer's disease either by thinking it's going to go away or "getting in touch with repressed emotions".


okay, then why the fuck do negative emotions and thoughts cause a brain disease?


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## creativedp

*Hi friends,*

*It is after a long time that I am writing again on this topic. I have come a long way. I still feel that dp/dr deprives a person of experiencing the self and the world in an emotionally colored way. It doesn't mean that dp/dr people do not experience emotions. They do in a strange, detached way. They are separated from themselves and the world with a thin film. While accepting the condition and stop complaining about it, and stop checking it all the time, one should also accept the fact that one doesn't experience the world in an emotionally coloured way. *

*One should also recall that one is living in a world experienced qualitatively different from other people. In order to get into that world one should first of all be ready to accept the fact that one is experiencing the world differently. One should learn to live in this differently experienced world as a painful fact of one's existence. There is no use pretending that what one is experiencing is all that is to experience of self, body and the world. It is also a good practice to imagine how the world would be experienced in a emotionally coloured way. One can also recall how one experienced the world before this filthy stuff enveloped one's self.*

*People all around do not know that you are living in a strange world. For everyday living the strange world is no obstruction. But your inner self will always be thirsting for the real world of experience.*

*Without frustration, without obsessive checking, without anger, without pretense if you calmly continue to wait for the dawn of the real world, it will get closer to that Holy world waiting at your doorstep. You can lead a heroic life with deep understanding of human condition, full of compassion and courage. Eventually this horrible thing will crumble before your spirit of being an authentic person!*


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## creativedp

Depersonalization is a special kind of existence, an existence nevertheless! Theories of dp apart, it is the altered experience of the self, world and reality that matters. It angers one, prompting one to curse the "filth" when encountered for the first time. Then it remains with one like an altered form of consciousness. What a dpd person learns about oneself and the world that is not accessible to others in the world? In many ways it is an impoverished existence, but in some ways it makes a person supremely poised to understand the pathos in human existence and human condition in the world, what is to be a "being in the world".


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