# Recovered in two days



## appleseed24 (Oct 9, 2013)

Ok so I had DP for 6ish months and at the same time had Bipolar 2, so yeah things got weird. I had dissociative tendencies ever since I was young (so I'm no stranger to dissociative disorders, but DP was just intense my god!)

Let me go through some things:

1. Your life hasn't changed

2. You haven't changed

3. You have an anxiety disorder

4. Your relationships are still intact

5. Your aspirations and dreams are still there

6. Life is still INTACT!

I know when you have this disorder it seems like everything is so significantly scary and everything is distant from you. When my bipolar kicked in while I had DP, I actually had to be hospitalized, it was quite a strange experience.

After 6 months of this nightmare I literally one day, woke up and just said "F*** this I've had enough" and I just was myself, of course after a few seconds the symptoms came back on but I was persistent, even if things seem weird and unreal and your life seemed to have disappeared don't entertain it! Don't let it control your life. Take back the life you know is still there!

It's crazy because DP makes you believe that your life up until now has been a failure! Now that I'm out I'm like wow I've accomplished a lot of good things, why did I believe that?

DP is a thought bully and you HAVE to stand up for yourself, one day you will and you will see it was just trying to scare you!

Here is an exercise, walk down a quite street and say: F**** you weird thoughts, and DP feelings! I'm going to feel like my normal self while I walk down this street. Even if you have a small breakthrough while you're walking, that's something! Those breakthroughs will multiply and get bigger and bigger and then fill your life with utter normalcy!

When you first breakthrough you'll feel super awkward, you may even still not feel like yourself but you will feel different, and you may want to retreat back into DP but don't do it! Be strong and try to walk through it.

The first day I broke through DP I felt like the world was more real, but I still didn't feel real. But you know what? I persisted, I didn't fall back into (Oh, the world looks so weird, I must be crazy, did I lose my soul? etc.) I kept pushing away the DP thoughts even if I felt empty, actually no matter what I felt. That was the rule that was set for the day. And it was the most comfortable day I've had on forever!

Just make little commitments to yourself like the walking exercise, then you'll feel yourself emerge and you'll recognize yourself, this is WAY more powerful than the DP thoughts, they'll linger around for some weeks, but eventually they'll go away!

You-yourself just being there, how you are, is way more powerful than a silly anxiety disorder which only left, what -a thumbprint on your life compared to how established your life already was?

We all know that these aren't regular thoughts right? You can see people around you leading normal lives doing normal things. Okay so the fact that you can recognize what is NORMAL means you're not crazy! That means you're NOT losing your mind and you just have an anxiety disorder. Remember that (you can recognize normal behaviour therefore you are NORMAL). YOu just have to latch onto "the normalness" instead of latching onto your thoughts day in and day out.

You've probably heard people say to get grounded, well this is exactly what you need to do. Don't put off running errands, exercising, working, going on trips (I went on a 1 week overseas vacation with DP). Because these things will help you, you'll be able to look back and say hm look at the normal thing I just did, and I survived it!

Actually you're more normal than most people. While at work I'd always get worried that people thought I was weird or crazy or the things I did were out of the norm. When the truth of it was after I recovered I went to work and I felt like the smartest most competent person there, no joke! It's crazy once you recover how relieved you'll feel because yes it IS all in your head.

There's so much momentum behind the DP that yeah the un-realness seems real right? Because you as a PERSON is buying into the DP thoughts. Whether you're believing they're true (which I did when my Bipolar kicked in) or whether you're commenting on them (ie. Oh my god what is happening to me, I will be like this forever, this isn't normal!)

You probably have existential/philosophical thoughts too. I'd have these constantly! They freaked me out. The truth is these thoughts are just thoughts! Once you're recovered you'll still have these thoughts but they're just ponderings, casual thoughts that really don't mean anything. Think of all the philosophy majors out there!

Don't even entertain the thoughts, don't even ALLOW them in. The mind is addicted to these thoughts, you have to put your foot down and be disciplined just like a smoker who stops smoking, except getting out of DP may even be easier. (I'm not saying having the disorder is easy, but once you get the hang of recovery, you'll feel the momentum of it and everything will click back into place)

Once you're recovered you'll be all like: Oh wow I remember now how I usually feel, your relationships will make sense, you'll be back to your life!

The only difference for me is that I'm more mature now, more realistic and recognize the importance and pleasure of everyday things! In other words, life is awesome again!

And it's so funny because everything you're doing while you have DP, is sooo normal. Staring off into space for a few seconds is normal, talking to yourself is normal, you're still running errands, you are so normal!!

No matter where you are in your recovery, one day you'll get really angry and you'll want to stop it more than anything else and it'll stop!

Anyway I really just want to offer support to those who are in the thick of DP and just assure that it really is okay, and that your life is there waiting for you. Claim it back!

Also, I know for me I recovered in two days because I'm a super stubborn/extremist type and I honestly REALLY had enough. It also helped because I'm in the middle of a project start-up so I had LOTS to focus on, that's key too! Keep your mind busy on the normal things! They are there in reach!

I also want to add, I'm currently on medication for bipolar 2 which involves a mild sedative and antidepressant properties.

If you have questions don't hesitate to message!


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## chelsy010 (Oct 29, 2012)

Another line I thought was so on point was noting that " the mind is addicted to these thoughts" its so important to realize that this is whats happening and to do your best in starving those thoughts by doing others things than thinking about how horrible you feel all day long, it really does not help you recover. if you notice that all your want to do is think about, talk about, cry about your symptoms just know that your feeding the dp/dr, hence making it worse. recovery of dp/dr can be related to recover from a ocd habit or an addiction. it may consume your every being when your trying to stop and focus on other things, it will be painfully hard, but as the days progress and as you are being consistent in doing the things that will help you recover each day it will become less and less and less until its gone.


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## yosemitedome (Aug 1, 2013)

You recovered and you have bi-polar?!

You sir, are a boss.


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## appleseed24 (Oct 9, 2013)

yosemitedome said:


> You recovered and you have bi-polar?!
> 
> You sir, are a boss.


Yeah things got pretty weird as I said (seeing as hypomania can create feelings of euphoria, and that combined with existential thoughts, whoa man, I felt like I was in a parallel matrix for a while) , but I regained reality and my drive to recover was stronger than bipolar and DP. I was just REALLY freakin angry and had enough! lol And now I'm just back to my normal self haven't had a manic episode since too!


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