# DP as a defense mechanism?



## Kelson12 (Aug 10, 2004)

Ok...I wanted to ask this question. How many people think that their DP is used as a defense mechanism for when anxiety/depression/uncomfortable situations come about? For example, I got really detached from like 5:30pm-9pm tonight. I think the reason why is because I had a softball game at 6pm. I was tired from work, then the weather started getting pretty chilly and windy and I just didn't want to be playing softball. So in essence I was in a situation I didn't want to be in. So my mind kinna detaches from the situation. But though my mind thinks it is the correct defense mechanism, it really makes me alot more uncomfortable. Can anyone relate to what I am saying and the reference I am making?
DP is used as a defense mechanism, but it is a bitch of a way of hiding from our problems! 
As always comments are always appreciated. Thanks and take care.

Kelson


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## Kelson12 (Aug 10, 2004)

Ok...I wanted to ask this question. How many people think that their DP is used as a defense mechanism for when anxiety/depression/uncomfortable situations come about? For example, I got really detached from like 5:30pm-9pm tonight. I think the reason why is because I had a softball game at 6pm. I was tired from work, then the weather started getting pretty chilly and windy and I just didn't want to be playing softball. So in essence I was in a situation I didn't want to be in. So my mind kinna detaches from the situation. But though my mind thinks it is the correct defense mechanism, it really makes me alot more uncomfortable. Can anyone relate to what I am saying and the reference I am making?
DP is used as a defense mechanism, but it is a bitch of a way of hiding from our problems! 
As always comments are always appreciated. Thanks and take care.

Kelson


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## Guest (Sep 29, 2004)

Hi Kelson
From what I have read in Janine's book & what I have experienced it is definitely a defence mechanism that we use in extreme situations but because we have learnt how to do it so well we keep going back to doing it in less extreme.

So when I get tired & I can't sleep & have to work I tend to get dp.

That is how it works for me anyway.


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## Guest (Sep 29, 2004)

Hi Kelson
From what I have read in Janine's book & what I have experienced it is definitely a defence mechanism that we use in extreme situations but because we have learnt how to do it so well we keep going back to doing it in less extreme.

So when I get tired & I can't sleep & have to work I tend to get dp.

That is how it works for me anyway.


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## Digitalbath (Aug 13, 2004)

yes i understand what u sayin. i believe that dp is a defense mechanism, though ive dealt with more than just a bad day and a bad situation--- its more like im always and constantly on the verge of breaking down-- thats dp for me--- a different mind set to compromise and defend the "self" from unwanted and unbearable thoughts and feelings .


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## Digitalbath (Aug 13, 2004)

yes i understand what u sayin. i believe that dp is a defense mechanism, though ive dealt with more than just a bad day and a bad situation--- its more like im always and constantly on the verge of breaking down-- thats dp for me--- a different mind set to compromise and defend the "self" from unwanted and unbearable thoughts and feelings .


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## g-funk (Aug 20, 2004)

I've experienced both types. I have experienced at as complete and utter fear, where I am expecting some catastrophic culmination - total loss of my mind or something. where nothing makes sense and everything is scary.

I have also had what Kelson describes and in fact last night in the evening too. It is much less debilitating, just very uncomfortable, you are just aware of it. Until you can totally forget it. Like Charger says, its not that we are in extreme situations, just we can remember how to dissociate easily so memory and habit brings it back. I didnt want to not be where i was last night though, I was looking forward to my evening watching tv! I just had a flashback of how it felt when I was younger and found myself tuning in. I find it more like dr than dp I think, but with a little psychological confusion and not quite 'filling my skin'.

It is weird how the body's mechanism gets it so wrong. I would much rather be 'in' a situation than to not, even scary ones! There are times when you are scared and it will do it, and there are times when you will bring it on yourself, unknowingly through the classic line of Clare Weeks 'Habit, memory and fear' (god I love that woman - her and Janine are heroines). However it happens, to get out of it is the same.


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## g-funk (Aug 20, 2004)

I've experienced both types. I have experienced at as complete and utter fear, where I am expecting some catastrophic culmination - total loss of my mind or something. where nothing makes sense and everything is scary.

I have also had what Kelson describes and in fact last night in the evening too. It is much less debilitating, just very uncomfortable, you are just aware of it. Until you can totally forget it. Like Charger says, its not that we are in extreme situations, just we can remember how to dissociate easily so memory and habit brings it back. I didnt want to not be where i was last night though, I was looking forward to my evening watching tv! I just had a flashback of how it felt when I was younger and found myself tuning in. I find it more like dr than dp I think, but with a little psychological confusion and not quite 'filling my skin'.

It is weird how the body's mechanism gets it so wrong. I would much rather be 'in' a situation than to not, even scary ones! There are times when you are scared and it will do it, and there are times when you will bring it on yourself, unknowingly through the classic line of Clare Weeks 'Habit, memory and fear' (god I love that woman - her and Janine are heroines). However it happens, to get out of it is the same.


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## shadowness (Sep 12, 2004)

it is a good question...

i have dp/dr all day with no time being a little less detached...

it is like a continuous dull ache...

so when i tell myself it is just a defense mechanism...i think...a defense from what?

i would rather feel the fear and deal with it than feel detached and unreal!

before i felt dr/dp'ed...i could cope with the anxiety as at least i felt ok as in real and in life...

but now all my anxiety just goes towards...you are feeling unreal...

damn it...

:roll:


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## shadowness (Sep 12, 2004)

it is a good question...

i have dp/dr all day with no time being a little less detached...

it is like a continuous dull ache...

so when i tell myself it is just a defense mechanism...i think...a defense from what?

i would rather feel the fear and deal with it than feel detached and unreal!

before i felt dr/dp'ed...i could cope with the anxiety as at least i felt ok as in real and in life...

but now all my anxiety just goes towards...you are feeling unreal...

damn it...

:roll:


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## Guest (Sep 29, 2004)

I think dp is a defense from anxiety or trauma. Like either one is overwhelmed with anxiety or overwhelmed with dp.
It is just two sides of the same medal.

Because when my dr lifts, I have anxiety attacks instead.


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## Guest (Sep 29, 2004)

I think dp is a defense from anxiety or trauma. Like either one is overwhelmed with anxiety or overwhelmed with dp.
It is just two sides of the same medal.

Because when my dr lifts, I have anxiety attacks instead.


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## g-funk (Aug 20, 2004)

i think there must be a few different types of this wonderful illness.

Having dp for me, is extremely agonising, I get anxiety because of it, it is extremely scary. When not dp'd I am not even remotely anxious, except for in a healthy way eg interview or something. I may get anxious if I think about dp, which may then bring it on, if I go through a stressful time, I find dp is brought on, which brings on panic and anxiety. My dp has never served as a defense or relief from anxiety or trauma, though I understand that that it is what it is meant to do. This goes back to whether its a faulty mechanism. Though it sounds that a lot of people have dp in the sense that it makes them feel detached from the situation and have a blunting of emotions. See that sounds like their mechanism might be working a bit better! I feel detached but every emotion is magnified.

I am beginning to believe even more so that my anxiety is caused by dp, remembering it more and more from my childhood and how it came about and later on in my life. Possible primary dp. Then those who get it as a defense (one that works) have it in response to trauma and anxiety. In the end, it doesn't make a lot of difference to recovery except maybe identfying what triggers it. Wow that was a ramble sorry...........


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## g-funk (Aug 20, 2004)

i think there must be a few different types of this wonderful illness.

Having dp for me, is extremely agonising, I get anxiety because of it, it is extremely scary. When not dp'd I am not even remotely anxious, except for in a healthy way eg interview or something. I may get anxious if I think about dp, which may then bring it on, if I go through a stressful time, I find dp is brought on, which brings on panic and anxiety. My dp has never served as a defense or relief from anxiety or trauma, though I understand that that it is what it is meant to do. This goes back to whether its a faulty mechanism. Though it sounds that a lot of people have dp in the sense that it makes them feel detached from the situation and have a blunting of emotions. See that sounds like their mechanism might be working a bit better! I feel detached but every emotion is magnified.

I am beginning to believe even more so that my anxiety is caused by dp, remembering it more and more from my childhood and how it came about and later on in my life. Possible primary dp. Then those who get it as a defense (one that works) have it in response to trauma and anxiety. In the end, it doesn't make a lot of difference to recovery except maybe identfying what triggers it. Wow that was a ramble sorry...........


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## Guest (Sep 30, 2004)

Gfunk what you described sounds so much like me. That is also my experience of DP. Sometimes you need to ramble to make sense.

I just posted on regaining reality about what recovery means to people. I think I am recovered but is recovery not getting dp at all? or is it just not being scared of the symptoms?

I hate it when I get dp'd cause when I am normal & I think of the experience it tends to start to bring it back on with anxiety & such.


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## Guest (Sep 30, 2004)

Gfunk what you described sounds so much like me. That is also my experience of DP. Sometimes you need to ramble to make sense.

I just posted on regaining reality about what recovery means to people. I think I am recovered but is recovery not getting dp at all? or is it just not being scared of the symptoms?

I hate it when I get dp'd cause when I am normal & I think of the experience it tends to start to bring it back on with anxiety & such.


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## g-funk (Aug 20, 2004)

Yeah I get a bit confused over the recovery thing but I decided to basically do the best I can to make my life happy. In the right now sense, that means learning how to keep dp at bay and my quality of life is much better. In the long term sense, I have come to understand a lot about my life and am working on things I can do to not only keep dp at bay, as that is just one symptom, but to also generally become a 'better' person. But everybody is different so recovery could mean something totally different to somebody else. Just learning how to keep dp at bay maybe enough for some.


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## g-funk (Aug 20, 2004)

Yeah I get a bit confused over the recovery thing but I decided to basically do the best I can to make my life happy. In the right now sense, that means learning how to keep dp at bay and my quality of life is much better. In the long term sense, I have come to understand a lot about my life and am working on things I can do to not only keep dp at bay, as that is just one symptom, but to also generally become a 'better' person. But everybody is different so recovery could mean something totally different to somebody else. Just learning how to keep dp at bay maybe enough for some.


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## dalailama15 (Aug 13, 2004)

I have had all the core DP symptoms, all the time (with moments of exceptions) for my entire adult life. It is the way I recieve sensory information; it is the way I store and retrieve memories.

I can not remember or imagine anything in my life even remotely negative enough to cause these kinds of symptoms for this amount of time.

I have no idea what could have been so unbearable that I would have to defend myself from it in this way.

It has been in the back of my head, from the begining, that I did this to my self, putzing around with recreational drugs (mostly pot) trying to be like my friends. This was, to me, _shameful_, and I tried to find psychological reasons.

Until one day, thirty years later, I added THC to a list of symptoms on a google search and suddenly got all kinds of hits on DP, a syndrome I had never heard of.

It seems obvious that DP can be a defense mechanism. To me it is just as obvious that this is not all that DP is.

And I don?t mean to sound cavalier about those who have experienced things bad enough to induce this kind of dissociation; I would guess that this is the norm.

That such things happen makes one ashamed to be human. That so many emerge dedicated, no matter what, to being humane, makes one proud to be the same.

_May we all be safe. May we all be healthy. May we all have mental happiness. May we all have the ease of well being. _ -- Metta (loving kindness) meditation.


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## dalailama15 (Aug 13, 2004)

I have had all the core DP symptoms, all the time (with moments of exceptions) for my entire adult life. It is the way I recieve sensory information; it is the way I store and retrieve memories.

I can not remember or imagine anything in my life even remotely negative enough to cause these kinds of symptoms for this amount of time.

I have no idea what could have been so unbearable that I would have to defend myself from it in this way.

It has been in the back of my head, from the begining, that I did this to my self, putzing around with recreational drugs (mostly pot) trying to be like my friends. This was, to me, _shameful_, and I tried to find psychological reasons.

Until one day, thirty years later, I added THC to a list of symptoms on a google search and suddenly got all kinds of hits on DP, a syndrome I had never heard of.

It seems obvious that DP can be a defense mechanism. To me it is just as obvious that this is not all that DP is.

And I don?t mean to sound cavalier about those who have experienced things bad enough to induce this kind of dissociation; I would guess that this is the norm.

That such things happen makes one ashamed to be human. That so many emerge dedicated, no matter what, to being humane, makes one proud to be the same.

_May we all be safe. May we all be healthy. May we all have mental happiness. May we all have the ease of well being. _ -- Metta (loving kindness) meditation.


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## g-funk (Aug 20, 2004)

I kind of agree about dp not being necessarily down to trauma or abuse. I first experienced something similar to dp at a very young age, with no relation to any trauma. I believe that some are predisposed to using a certain part of the brain (speaking metaphorically). Once you know how to use it, you can do it out of habit and obsession, not necessarily as a defense. Also, any conflicting thoughts about yor self will likely manifest themself that way. For instance, dp came first for me. Has caused me a few problems in my life, but when I get stressed or go through any confusing changes in life, my brain uses the dp part. We will always be able to dissociate, the answer lies in not always using that 'part' of the brain as a defense mechanism. We will all have different ways of achieving that, depending on how we got there. I do not necessarily think dissociation always occurs under trauma, it is a mechanism that reacts a bit too dramatically to protect us.

Ive always had mind bending thoughts, since I can remember. Im not sure if this caused the dp part of my brain to activate, or whether I have those thoughts because that part of my brain was already geared up like that right from the word 'go'. And when I say I've had mind bending thoughts since I can remember, I can remember discussing infinity with my dad at an EXTREMELY young age, like 4, and getting freaked out.

oh that damn chicken and egg conundrum


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## g-funk (Aug 20, 2004)

I kind of agree about dp not being necessarily down to trauma or abuse. I first experienced something similar to dp at a very young age, with no relation to any trauma. I believe that some are predisposed to using a certain part of the brain (speaking metaphorically). Once you know how to use it, you can do it out of habit and obsession, not necessarily as a defense. Also, any conflicting thoughts about yor self will likely manifest themself that way. For instance, dp came first for me. Has caused me a few problems in my life, but when I get stressed or go through any confusing changes in life, my brain uses the dp part. We will always be able to dissociate, the answer lies in not always using that 'part' of the brain as a defense mechanism. We will all have different ways of achieving that, depending on how we got there. I do not necessarily think dissociation always occurs under trauma, it is a mechanism that reacts a bit too dramatically to protect us.

Ive always had mind bending thoughts, since I can remember. Im not sure if this caused the dp part of my brain to activate, or whether I have those thoughts because that part of my brain was already geared up like that right from the word 'go'. And when I say I've had mind bending thoughts since I can remember, I can remember discussing infinity with my dad at an EXTREMELY young age, like 4, and getting freaked out.

oh that damn chicken and egg conundrum


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