# The Key To Recovery Summed Up In A Single Picture



## ValleyGirl (Nov 10, 2017)

Seriously. It's as simple as that. I was one of those people that had one of the "Worse than everyone else" cases of dp and I spent a whole lot of time whining about how I was the exception and recovery or doing anything to recover wasn't possible for me. I spent every waking moment on this website complaining about the same thing over and over and over until, one day, someone basically told me to stop mind f*cking myself, shut up, and do what I needed to do to recover. It's been a long hard road and some days were a living hell but I MADE MYSELF get up out of bed every single morning, no matter how bad my symptoms were, no matter how numb/detached/unreal everything was and live my life. Shower, eat, get dressed, clean the house, go outside, LIVE. If I was so bad that I didn't get out of bed for an entire year, anyone can recover. If you really want to you will. If you don't, you'll keep making excuses why you can't.


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## joshz28 (Jul 22, 2011)

How did yours start. And your right by the way. I get up everyday and go to work and do what I gotta do. Im going to start trying to put myself in uncomfortable situations to get over this.


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## Guest (Feb 29, 2012)

i couldnt agree more, people need to stop feeling sorry and stop the self loathing and actually do something about this. saying its too hard or just waiting for the dp to get better isnt gunna do shit, get on with your life and do what you were doing before. people need to realize they might have this for a very long time and to just move on.


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## TheGame (Feb 1, 2011)

Indeed. Very nicely put. As a fellow recoveree i must say it is the will to fight that has to be recindled and you really have to "deal" with it. But most importantly of all NOT to identify with it. That will further confusion and ultimately have you thinking you need to actually DO something with your MIND in order to piece yourself together.

The sollution is not in the mind. It is in the realization that you are your body and thoughts and sensations will be what they are.

end of story.


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## ValleyGirl (Nov 10, 2017)

joshz28 said:


> How did yours start. And your right by the way. I get up everyday and go to work and do what I gotta do. Im going to start trying to put myself in uncomfortable situations to get over this.


Mine started after 6 major traumas in a 6 months period. I think that's a good idea. I've found that the areas that have scared me the most and I've pushed the hardest to overcome, have brought me the farthest in recover. I think that's the key with dp. You have to face every single fear and not give it anything to feed off of. If you have nothing to fear, dp has no reason to be there anymore.


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## ValleyGirl (Nov 10, 2017)

TheGame said:


> Indeed. Very nicely put. As a fellow recoveree i must say it is the will to fight that has to be recindled and you really have to "deal" with it. But most importantly of all NOT to identify with it. That will further confusion and ultimately have you thinking you need to actually DO something with your MIND in order to piece yourself together.
> 
> The sollution is not in the mind. It is in the realization that you are your body and thoughts and sensations will be what they are.
> 
> end of story.


YES! EXACTLY!!! I should have thought to put this myself for clarification. You are exactly right. There honestly is NOTHING that we can do to make ourselves recover. The weird paradox with recovery is that the only way to recover is to not think of the dp at all. It's like to get to the goal, you have to move away from the problem. The only way to recover is to just focus on getting yourself into a safe environment, working through any issues that may have triggered the dp, and then live your life and refuse to think about dp. You have to starve it to death. It's like taking your focus off of dp and putting it back on life. The more you live and become comfortable with functioning DESPITE the dp, the more it starts to fade.


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## stuckinbetween (Feb 17, 2012)

Fully agree with the above posts. You can not force a recovery upon yourself, it has to come on its own, when we dont expect it at all. I certainly notice a significant improvement in the way I feel now compared to 4 months ago when it all started. Keeping busy with my life and actually living it are, I think, the key components to facilitating the upward progression of recovery. In the begining of February I got a job, which has been very helpful, since I have spent almost the whole month of January looking for it (I graduated from University in December). Although, I was trying to stay active, going on trips, hanging out with my friends and my girlfriend, I still spent majority of my time at home, which made my condition much worse because I had shit lots of time to focus on it and constantly feel sorry for myself. Now, I wake up early, make breakfast, take a shower, put on a suit, a tie, a freshly ironed shirt, and go to work with a smile on my face. Bought a gym membership, working out 3-4 times a week helps for sure, constantly doing something on the weekends, I dont even remember the last weekend that I had to stay at home looking for something to do, I just engage myself in everything. Surprisingly, when I do not think about how I feel or how everything around me looks so unreal, I forget about myself and focus outward, and only 30 minutes later when thinking about DP I realize that during the last 30 minutes I did not notice it at all and was absolutely fine. DP is an obsession, a pure obsession of constantly thinking about it, I still do, but I am in the process of breaking that cycle.

What helps big time and I really mean it, is not constantly being on a forum or reading about others negative experiences with it, I think everytime I read something that says "ohh what about this symptom, do you guys have it", miraculously somehow I tend to begin to experience it too. That tends to indicate one more time that the more I read about it, the deeper I push it into my mind, as a result I think about it more and it gets shittier and shittier.

So get out, do something, focus on other things, stay active, busy, enjoy your life, and the recovery will emerge when we dont even expect it.


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## Ingrid (Feb 1, 2012)

ValleyGirl83 said:


> Mine started after 6 major traumas in a 6 months period. I think that's a good idea. I've found that the areas that have scared me the most and I've pushed the hardest to overcome, have brought me the farthest in recover. I think that's the key with dp. You have to face every single fear and not give it anything to feed off of. If you have nothing to fear, dp has no reason to be there anymore.


Briliant,thank you..i have major improvment with dp,but when fear starts dp comes back,you are very inspiring


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## kate_edwin (Aug 9, 2009)

...thats not a picture it's a statement......


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## katiej (Jan 21, 2012)

valley... i am very happy for u.. i have made progress.. but some months are unbearable... im just wondering if u had all the existential thoughts.. and no sense of self.. and if all that stuff has come bak to normal.. i too feel like mine it sooo bad.. im not numb anymore.. but i am in therepy working thru my issues.. and its painful.. x


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## ValleyGirl (Nov 10, 2017)

kate_edwin said:


> ...thats not a picture it's a statement......


No actually,it is a picture, with a statement on it


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## Guest (Mar 9, 2012)

Wow. That inspired me. So did your story. I also showed it to my husband and it applies to something he is going through in his life now too. Wow. Thank you.

I'm at that point where I can hardly get out of bed, life is a struggle, and I really just want to sit on the sofa all day and just occupy myself there (Hence coming on these forums quite a bit now). I rarely go outside. I have no friends. I don't LIVE!

I am going to nick that quote and really really focus on it. Once again, THANK YOU!


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## ValleyGirl (Nov 10, 2017)

beth. said:


> Wow. That inspired me. So did your story. I also showed it to my husband and it applies to something he is going through in his life now too. Wow. Thank you.
> 
> I'm at that point where I can hardly get out of bed, life is a struggle, and I really just want to sit on the sofa all day and just occupy myself there (Hence coming on these forums quite a bit now). I rarely go outside. I have no friends. I don't LIVE!
> 
> I am going to nick that quote and really really focus on it. Once again, THANK YOU!


You are welcome. Girl I know it's hard when you want to hide in the house but you need to do that as little as possible. Go sit at a cafe and people watch or in a park or go window shopping. Do whatever you can to engage in the world outside yourself and outside dp. It does wonders for how much better you feel. I know it's hard. I remember wanting to die every single second that my dp was bad but I had to fight through it. At first I had to fight for control, breathe through every single second I was out of the house, just to keep from freaking out. But the more I did it, the more minutes I gained not thinking about and babying my dp, the better I felt. It's not about fighting against the dp. It's about fighting to not think about the dp and live as normal of a life as possible despite it.


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## wise (Mar 29, 2012)

ValleyGirl83 said:


> You have to face every single fear and not give it anything to feed off of. If you have nothing to fear, dp has no reason to be there anymore.


so true


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## Fluke93 (Nov 2, 2010)

kate_edwin said:


> ...thats not a picture it's a statement......


I still cant get over how much you winge and how negative you are.


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## ChrisCookiemunch (Apr 22, 2012)

I got over it once, sadly it returned because i took advantage of my new found ability do do everything and fell back into it. But the best way to get rid of dp is to act like you dont have it, if that makes sense hahahaa


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## Gypsy85 (Sep 23, 2010)

I simply love this quote. It has become the basis of my decisions since I cannot make decisions on the basis of my feelings anymore!


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## ValleyGirl (Nov 10, 2017)

Fluke said:


> I still cant get over how much you winge and how negative you are.


I agree. Guess misery loves company...or something.


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## ValleyGirl (Nov 10, 2017)

Gypsy85 said:


> I simply love this quote. It has become the basis of my decisions since I cannot make decisions on the basis of my feelings anymore!


That's awesome!!!!! I'm so glad it's made a difference for you.


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## stranger in the mirror (Feb 24, 2012)

this is ecxatly the way i deal with dp and after 5 months of complete hell i feel alot better for the past 3 day.

you just have to ceap pushing yourseld no mather how bad it is! get on whit your live, do something be productive.

deep inside i feel strong, and i know this will end if i ceap pushing myself, my therapist is a great guy he helps me alot to.

i take no medication because i think dp is something to deal with yourself.

this disorder will end, and i will recover!


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