# Difference between treatment for DP and DR



## mrt (Dec 10, 2011)

A lot of what I read seems to relate to DP, all the literature seems to mention DP primarily, and DR as something of an afterthought. I mainly experience DR, Is there a difference in the way that treatment should be approached to DP/DR? Or any DR specific studies, or is it all just thought of as the same thing?


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## lilnewk (Mar 15, 2012)

Good question I also think I just have DR


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## eddy1886 (Oct 11, 2012)

They are one in the same (treatment wise) and are basically the same condition experienced in slightly different ways....They usually go hand in hand....I myself originally experienced extreme DP and a little DR....Nowadays its the opposite way around....Its different for everyone


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## mrt (Dec 10, 2011)

Thanks eddy


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## tfiio (Nov 10, 2016)

that's my general impression as well, that they're viewed as interchangeable when it comes to treatments and underlying causes, even though they feel quite different for most people.


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## dope (Aug 31, 2016)

I think the treatment is pretty equal.


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## eddy1886 (Oct 11, 2012)

Actually when it comes to "TREATMENT" ...........There actually is no proven treatment for any of this, DP or DR....Its just a needle in a haystack search and then some of us get lucky with a medicine or lifestyle change....

Trust me...Ive been searching since the late eighties for a proper treatment for this crap....Nearly 30 years later and Im still experiencing DP, DR, depression, anxiety and panic attacks......I have accepted that FOR ME (and im only speaking for myself here) this is now with me for life...

I wont start ranting about the "Treatments" Ive tried like Therapy, Shrinks, Meds etc....Cos I will just upset myself and probably scare others....

Its basically a guessing game and a process of elimination.....


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## tfiio (Nov 10, 2016)

just want to state that I genuinely appreciate your pointing out that your experience is your own and not universal. everyone works differently, even within a disorder, and that can be difficult for people to remember, both when writing and when reading comments. (if you do decide you want to rant about all the things that haven't worked, my inbox is open.)


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## M1k3y (Sep 19, 2016)

what is DR? I think I have dp, and probly just dp, there is times i sit back after a run and think everything looks like a video game but i just think im light headed and get my head out of that stage, i just lost my identity as a person and my train of thought, literally walking around brainless, is DR like u have ur identity but feel like ur in a videogame? i mean i wish i could be able to talk to people again, it may be easier said then done but id just tell myself that this shit is real and its in my head, like for example i extremely believed some weird shit cus of my dp, like i thought everyone hated me and bought into it.. its crazy how the mind works.. but a couple of days like saying thats impossible, it really is, and i snapped out of it, its a crazy thought, just like, maybe u thinking things aint real, touch the mother and feel it, its real


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## eddy1886 (Oct 11, 2012)

DP is feeling like your own sense of self is strange or different........ (You feel like you dont recognise your internal self)

DR is feeling like your surroundings are strange or different......... (You feel like you dont recognise your external environment)


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## Hedgehog fuzz (Dec 12, 2016)

yeah good definitions. i think the definition of DR should be more specific, because I think you do recognise them (unlike an Alzheimer's pateint who may not due to the degenerative nature of the condition), but much like in DP where there is an estrangement of the self, in DR everything just seems different and off. for me this has an emotional component, in that i have emotional numbness in response to my environment, and a visual change: everything literally looks different than it did for the first 23 yrs of my life.

(i think eddy's definition is the exact same wording for the official one, but i just thought that i would expand it since i have nothing else to do).


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## eddy1886 (Oct 11, 2012)

The key word here is things "FEEL" different but yet you know deep down they arent....When we become Depersonalized or Derealized or both its like all the regular recognisable feelings and emotions weve had towards ourselves and our environments all our lives suddenly almost vanish and are replaced with strange or alien sensations feelings and emotions.........The scarey thing is that it happens literally like the flick of a switch.....I think its this sudden literally instant change in emotional perspective that causes so many people to panic and suddenly start assuming they have gone psychotic or schizophrenic or have developed multiple personalities.........I know thats what happened in my own situation.....Then to add insult to injury way back then (late eighties / early ninetees) literally nobody had a f*****g clue what I was describing to them....This in itself makes it 100 times scarier because you start to believe you have developed some new unheard of condition and are basically f****d.........I didnt have the internet back then to google my symptoms....Luckily younger people nowadays have....

Finally finding out what this crazy condition was after years of anguish literally took half its power away overnight......


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## bintuae (Jan 17, 2017)

Depersonalization= Loss sense of identity. You feel like you're a body without a soul just like a zombie. Without emotions.

Derealization= Feeling like life is a dream. Looking in 2D. Everything feels fake and unreal. and that maight make you not give significance to anything.

I find when my dr lifts, dp also lifts, so I think both are interconnected.


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