# EXISTENTIAL CRISIS BECAUSE OF DP. ANY ADVICE. PLEASE HELP



## edgapena (Dec 12, 2015)

PLEASE SOME ADVIICE. So my dp has lessened but the depression and negative thinking have me on my knees. Existential questions are truly crippling me. Are we just brains? Am I just flesh and skin with a brain that causes us to feel things? Am I souless? In that case is my life really that valuable if everything, feelings, consciousnesses is just a chemical reaction in my brain? Are we really humans, or just a complex brain in an intrecate body made of flesh. These are questions/ thoughts that are truly distrubing and is making the abyss I was in deeper and depper. I don't want to have these thoughts, they trully are destroying me. Has anyone had this sort of crisis with similar toughts? Please , any help, knowing im not the only one going through this would really help. I feel quiet alone with the burdent these thoughts give me. Thank you.


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## foggypark (Dec 10, 2015)

Your more than just a human. You are infinity that's why you have the conscious ability to define yourself in such a way that you find contradicting towards your sense of identity. You are whatever you say you are. Especially for dp experiencers who have created this sense of non reality, all existential questions are given total credence. It's an illusion we create. Albeit a painful one.

I find myself completely dejected and depressed when I cannot connect with people whom I have some form of karmic association with. I have witnessed so called friends openly take advantage of my situation to further their own ego. It's painful and right now I also feel completely empty.


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## Guest (Jan 2, 2016)

well, the state of DP, being detached from the mental process, yourself, automatically puts one in this state of thinking. To me , as my therapist said at one point, this can be a good and bad thing. Good, in that you see beyond the basic ego mind numbing society is in cause of your state. Bad, because of the OCD and constantly thinking about it. I would try to get as grounded a possible. Try to connect with things that make you happy and connect you with life to the best of your ability. If its become that severe for you.


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## Luna_ (Dec 2, 2015)

I have and am currently experiencing this. Im starting to believe this happens to pretty much everyone who has DP/DR. I hate this existential thinking. It can truly be debilitating. although, the more you have less inward thinking, itll dissipate.

I tend to have lots of existential thoughts after a DP episode. When i have high anxiety and dissociate, my symptoms stick for a while and i have lots of sensorimotor obsessions and existential obsessions.

Hopefully more and more doctors and psychiatrists learn about this stuff and can help us more.


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## razel123 (Nov 17, 2015)

You have tottaly captured my thoughts right there. I think about the exact same things. About how our brains work and who we are. Even just thinking about that makes us way more than just flesh and bones.


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## Allez (Apr 10, 2013)




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## howsieman (Jan 23, 2016)

I,m experiencing the exact same thoughts but I do believe it,s the dp talking .I also think that it seems a problem because when you,re in the throes of dp you feel completely numb emotionally ......when you have emotions you connect with your body in an emotional way and you don't think of your body as just flesh and bone and brain etc.you think of yourself as a whole person with a mind and a soul. Hope this helps you 
☺


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## fieldsmatt31 (Dec 16, 2009)

You should investigate so to learn the truth about who you are. You have believed your self to be this person but have come to find out that this 'person' is not real, only in your imagination. There is something more to who you are that you will have to come to know. There is something in you that is aware of all of this. That is aware of your thinking, your feelings, all the time. This is all seen. By you. The consciousness. Not a person.

There is something in you that has not changed. An awareness. Consciousness. But you have been identified as a person. You have given your self an identity as this 'person'. And now, you have, in some way come to realize that this person isn't really real. It is something that you have made up. This can cause a lot of grief but can be rectified. The person is only a character in the mind. But there is something that is seeing this. There is something that is aware all the time, effortlessly. Pure awareness. Everything is happening in this awareness. You are the awareness. It is strange because you can not see it, touch it or hear it. You are it. Everything is happening in it. You will have to see for your self.

This is something that is becoming common in the world. People are waking up to this. You can watch videos on youtube about this. Mooji. Osho. Adyashanti. Eckart Tolle. And there are many more. There are a lot of folks who are aware of this. These are just a few teachers who are self aware and want to help others to wake up. To wake up from the illusion that they are a person. A person with a personal and private self of their own.

Try not to be so identified with this dilemma. I know how difficult it can be. I would suggest to take good care of your self. Eat clean and good food. Exercise. Plenty of time for relaxation. Anything to make you feel good. Bubble baths. Walks. Creative activities. Meditations. These things can help you to become stronger.

Learn. Relax. And Live. I would strongly recommend watching some of these teachers on youtube talk about this whole existential thing that you are talking about. Good luck. You can find out. And you can get through it.


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## fieldsmatt31 (Dec 16, 2009)

foggypark said:


> Your more than just a human. You are infinity that's why you have the conscious ability to define yourself in such a way that you find contradicting towards your sense of identity. You are whatever you say you are. Especially for dp experiencers who have created this sense of non reality, all existential questions are given total credence. It's an illusion we create. Albeit a painful one.
> 
> I find myself completely dejected and depressed when I cannot connect with people whom I have some form of karmic association with. I have witnessed so called friends openly take advantage of my situation to further their own ego. It's painful and right now I also feel completely empty.


I know what you are saying. I have gone through this too.


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## DB_73 (Apr 23, 2016)

Hi, I have had the exact same thought process which left me in a complete state because it made me question the whole world I'd taken for granted and felt safe in for 40 years. These thoughts made me look at everyone in a different way, including my loved ones, which really bothered me. These thoughts just contributed to my anxiety and put me in a complete loop of discomfort and fear.

However, I have come through. I came through with acceptance, which was not easy - it took a long time to accept the terror which came with these thought processes - about 2 years! But basically, my realisation, with the help of guides like Shaun O'Connor (http://www.dpmanual.com/) and Paul David <a>(http://www.anxietynomore.co.uk/)</a> was this: I was in a state of high anxiety because of a change in my life's circumstances. When I am in a state of anxiety I get DP/DR symptoms, my brain goes on high alert and I get hooked on perfectly natural and intelligent existential thoughts which have the power to frighten the hell out of me. These thoughts, if I had had them in a non-anxious state, would simply come and go. In an anxious state I pored over them, cowered from them and looked for solutions and ways to resolve them. Completely pointless apart from upping my anxiety levels even further.

I learnt to let them come, take them for what they are - the effects of anxiety on my brain. There was always a part of me that kept on trucking no matter how much turmoil was raging in my head because of these thoughts. And the more I just got on with life and lived alongside the state, treating it like a partner, not an enemy, the more all the anxious symptoms subsided - the dp/dr and the fear of thoughts. Go well.


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## theconduit (Apr 19, 2016)

Yup, fell you here. Everything is a constant analysis of the fabric of life. It's shit. Look forward to the day it just breaks off.


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## revuptheglory (Feb 14, 2016)

I've definitely had these thoughts, I think most people do. The thing that separates us (as in those with dp) from most people is our/their ability to relate to these thoughts. This is why we hook onto them so intensely, I mean with dp we feel like piles of flesh just walking around so it would make sense we begin to identify with such disturbing thoughts. The experience itself is disturbing

However, no one has the answers to these questions. The question's "what is the meaning of life,feelings,etc.?" are all meaningless questions in themselves.

Cope with these thoughts, accept them. Stop trying to change things, you can't right now. You know enough to know the only choices you have is to try to stop them or to let the thoughts come and go. Your body is under enough stress as it is, allow nature to take its course. Realize your thoughts are reflecting your experience and as your experience gets better so will your ability to see your thoughts as they are, as just thoughts. You also need to stop consciously engaging with them for now, the answers will come on their own.

Maybe try reading some taoist quotes, there's a lot of wisdom in there. Your stronger than you realize and this experience will give you a depth that you'll later be wise from.


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## Surfer Rosa (Nov 27, 2015)

It seems like the very valid upset you are having is leading you to believe in some false dichotomies. Therapists generally call this black/white thinking. For example, identifying yourself as a series of brain synapses, white stressful, does not mean you don't have a soul. It might mean you don't have a whispy casper-like thing, but that thing is more a visual representation of eternal spirit, and not something I myself take seriously. Another thing is that people can't just give you a worldview. You already have a healthy level of skepticism, and will probably have a hard time adopting some arbitrary set of beliefs.


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## Ontyam (Apr 28, 2016)

I suggest listening to Alan Watts. He has helped me in ways I can't explain just by making it clearer to me the absurdities of mind/body dualism.


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## Surfer Rosa (Nov 27, 2015)

Ontyam said:


> I suggest listening to Alan Watts. He has helped me in ways I can't explain just by making it clearer to me the absurdities of mind/body dualism.


I'm a little skeptical of anything labeled "spiritual", but the way he described overthinking and anxiety seemed pretty accurate.


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## apoplexy (Jan 4, 2013)

There is a high chance we do not have a soul and when the brain dies, consciousness ceases. Whether this is or is not the case, of course your life is valuable or however you positioned the question. I would look into CBT, speak with your medical practitioner (ideally a psychiatrist) and go from there.

Your issue is not what happens after death but the mental disorders that are forcing you to obsess and be horrified by the thoughts.


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## Surfer Rosa (Nov 27, 2015)

apoplexy said:


> There is a high chance we do not have a soul and when the brain dies, consciousness ceases. Whether this is or is not the case, of course your life is valuable or however you positioned the question. I would look into CBT, speak with your medical practitioner (ideally a psychiatrist) and go from there.
> 
> Your issue is not what happens after death but the mental disorders that are forcing you to obsess and be horrified by the thoughts.


There's no way to calculate the chance of something that is entirely unknown, where none of the factors are understood. All we can say is that it's possible that death is a finality. It looks more possible than any other outcome. since it is materialist and easily understandable, but there is no logical way to say for instance, "I'm 95% sure that dying is the final experience."

I'm done talking about this here, though, since this kind of conversation is probably not encouraged around anxious people.


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## AndreiSK98 (Jul 18, 2017)

can someone send dp manual by shaun o connor free please..pm me..thank you


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