# I AM HEALING! This could change your life!!!



## ggtop (Nov 30, 2011)

Healing and changed for the better.

I felt this was worth writing, and i feel it is worth reading.

Hello

My name is George Greaves, i'm 19 years old and live in London. Depersonalization is as far as any research and evidence is concerned the same as derealization. DP is an anxiety disorder that is essentially a negative thought habit. And that's all it is. I have had it since last Halloween (ironically) when i had a huge anxiety/panic attack after taking in a rather potent bong-hit









DP is a dissociative disorder in psychological terms, which means 'disruptions of memory, awareness, identity and/or perception'. Sounds about right doesn't it









I have always felt that as soon as i could really consciously, rationally understand what DP was i could quickly overcome it. That has been my quest as i am a VERY rational person. I feel safe in assuming other DP sufferers tend to be rational as well???? Lots of rationalizing temporary thoughts and emotions???

So i'll try and make this short-ish. I'm not going to moan about how terrible all of it was because you've all been there and it is horrible. For any one who has it really bad and is reading through these accounts i feel sorry for you. About 12 months ago i was at my worst. Walking in a dream.

I bought this self help book at about new years: http://www.dpmanual.com/

It's by an Irish guy called Shaun o'connor. It was very helpful at the time, and i recommend you all take a look at the webpage. so i slowly recovered using this. There is however something fundamentally WRONG with his recovery advice; he says we need to distract ourselves from DP, when we really need to understand that DP is the distraction.
I could definitely e-mail you some of it as a taster, but the whole thing would be too big.

A GOOD point Shaun makes: State specific memory is a psychological phenomenon, It means that when we start to recover and finally experience a DP-free period of time, we feel like it's all over, we're not worried anymore. Then when we have an inevitable (yes inevitable) set-back, it feels like were going to be anxious forever. When we feel happy, we can't remember what being depressed felt like. When we're depressed, we can't remember happiness. Just an example of some useful insight included in his 'DP Manuel'.

OK so present times. I was recovered let's say about 70% since the dark days of last winter. But my rate of recovery seemed to have slowed. Here's the interesting thing. In retrospect, was there anything else stressful happening in your life when you had the onset of DP??? I have no doubt you were all plagued by some substantial stresses. In my case, it happened just after moving away from home to London, which was f**king scary as hell! I'm in London to study guitar at degree level and at the same time i developed Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). My life was going to sh*t basically. My point is my onset of anxiety was almost certainly linked to the fact that i had to stop doing the one thing i love to do, at the same time i moved away from home. My RSI and Anxiety are most definitely linked.

When reading about psychological explanations for RSI and physical pain, i came across TMS (Tension Myositis Syndrome). Upon trying to find a written definition i have found most of them relate to back pain. But the fact is this method is what has brought my recent relief from RSI pain, and it also works as an explanation for anxiety DP. Seeing this video rationally explaining the link between our mind and body has made me feel i fully understand my anxiety now, and i feel i'm almost healed!!! YES FINALLY !!!± AAAAH FINALLY!!!

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At about 5:00 he touches on what anxiety is, he mentions fight or flight, the way our nerve-system responds, and the vicious cycle. At 6:11 he mentions panic attacks. I wish i found this video months ago! Perfect explanation of the link between mind and body. Please let me know if this has helped you. Has it???

Bottom line that i now know:

WE DON'T NEED TO DISTRACT OURSELVES FROM ANXIETY DP, ANXIETY DP IS THE DISTRACTION. Caused by our repressed depression, anger and stress that activates the amygdala (emotional memory part of brain), which activates our autonomic nervous system. This causes fight-or-flight response which is the anxiety. This then spirals into a vicous cycle and here we are. Consciously knowing and understanding this is using our dorsal lateral pre-frontal cortex, which is (as he explains) how we break the vicious cycle and get better. BOOM!

Completely natural reaction to stress and perceived danger. *sigh*


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## rightwrong99 (Apr 17, 2011)

oy vey.


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## Pablo (Sep 1, 2005)

Nice post and vid, thanks

I agree a lot of the issue is being stuck in endless negative feedback loops of thinking and feeling states,


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## kate_edwin (Aug 9, 2009)

mindfulness.


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## rightwrong99 (Apr 17, 2011)

ggtop said:


> Caused by our repressed depression, anger and stress that activates the amygdala (emotional memory part of brain), which activates our autonomic nervous system.


To be fair, Ive had times of complete recovery whenever Im able to dig deep and release emotions that feel right. But I think the DP makes it nearly impossible to communicate anymore.


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## ggtop (Nov 30, 2011)

newyork said:


> To be fair, Ive had times of complete recovery whenever Im able to dig deep and release emotions that feel right. But I think the DP makes it nearly impossible to communicate anymore.


But now next time you want to communicate something, you know that the distracting thoughts are just caused by your minds subconscious and your emotional memories. So in a situation when you get distracting thoughts, you know they're not worth listening too. That's how it's helped me anyway.


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## SamodrotAgressivoDrot (Nov 16, 2011)

"So in a situation when you get distracting thoughts, you know they're not worth listening too"
and sometimes you can even find causes of them related to that situation (something suppressed into unconscious mind, not obligatory related to the situation, maybe it just reminds you of something..)


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## ggtop (Nov 30, 2011)

SamodrotAgressivoDrot said:


> "So in a situation when you get distracting thoughts, you know they're not worth listening too"
> and sometimes you can even find causes of them related to that situation (something suppressed into unconscious mind, not obligatory related to the situation, maybe it just reminds you of something..)


Exactly, and they are the triggers i guess


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## foghat (Jan 1, 2011)

So how do you activate the dorsal lateral pre-frontal cortex??


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## ggtop (Nov 30, 2011)

foghat said:


> So how do you activate the dorsal lateral pre-frontal cortex??


Not sure yet, i ordered a book on the mind body syndrome. It's got some exercises in it. I expect they will be breathing, visualizing and self-affirmation exercises.


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## brianjones (Sep 14, 2011)

I appreciate the video,

but some of the philosophical questions that DP has brought up indicates too much consciousness. I not only need to take control away from my unconsciousness, i need to take control away from my consciousness which will be a problem. Breathing perhaps is the middle ground.


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## brianjones (Sep 14, 2011)

Also Freudian theory is very problematic. But lets not get into that here.


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## ggtop (Nov 30, 2011)

Yea i've heard there have been some renovations to his theories, but hey he was around years ago.


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## ggtop (Nov 30, 2011)

brianjones said:


> I appreciate the video,
> 
> but some of the philosophical questions that DP has brought up indicates too much consciousness. I not only need to take control away from my unconsciousness, i need to take control away from my consciousness which will be a problem. Breathing perhaps is the middle ground.


Yea but they're existential often nonsensical thoughts right? I've been there. This explanation kind of shows that the thoughts are the distraction and not worth listening to. Don't distract yourself from the philosophical thoughts, think of them as part of the distracting negative thought pattern. Get back to living life!


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## SamodrotAgressivoDrot (Nov 16, 2011)

[edited]


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