# How do I know when I've recovered?



## Leigh (Oct 20, 2011)

I've had DP for about 6 months now. In the last 3 or 4 weeks I feel ask if things have started to get better - I haven't had panic attacks, I don't feel as disconnected from my body as much etc. I keep telling myself than I'm back to normal, but I don't know if I am. I've had DP for so long now that I've forgotten what it's like to feel normal, so I don't know if what I'm feeling now is normal or if I still have DP.

I've heard some people say that when you get back to normal it hits you like a ton of bricks and you definitely know that you're back to normal. Is this true? Are there ways to tell if you're not deperesonalized any more?

Thanks.


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## austinsaliby (Sep 7, 2011)

i havent recovered but ive been told many times.. that ur just gonna know and it will feel right


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## Depersonal Eyes (Oct 10, 2011)

Leigh, 
I've had DP for 4 1/2 years and I definately know what you mean when you say you forgot what it was like to be normal. I think you and I are kind of going through the same stage right now.... I feel like.... is this almost recovery? Things seem ... kind of real. Like they used to before this started.

I was never "hit by a ton of bricks" but how i describe it is I feel like I'm slowly waking up from a four year long coma. Sometimes I may drift back but then I start to wake up again. I think that means your starting to get better.

When your depersonalized, you know someting is wrong. The fact that you feel more in touch with reality seems like a good sign.

Keep us updated!

carolyn

btw, i also agree w what austin said, it will just feel right internally


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## insaticiable (Feb 23, 2010)

Leigh said:


> I've heard some people say that when you get back to normal it hits you like a ton of bricks and you definitely know that you're back to normal. Is this true? Are there ways to tell if you're not deperesonalized any more?


I had a short recovery this past April for 3 weeks. I had had dp and dr for 14 months, but I went to the hospital in late March (march 28th) and I recovered spontaneously and out of the blue about 4 days later (april 1). I was in the bathroom just washing my hands one day and all of a sudden, OUT OF NOWHERE, I felt like something plunged out of my soul. I can't even describe it. If you've seen the movie Freaky Friday with Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, it is kind of like that earthquake scene in the restaurant when they get back into their own bodies. I looked around and everything looked normal, as it had before I got dp. I no longer had dr and I felt completely light and in my body. Remarkable.

HOWEVER, from many of the recovery stories I've read on here...most people don't recover in the spontaneous, sporadic way that I did. Most people recover slowly and over the span of many months. I'm not sure how that goes since my recovery was completely different. So yes, in a way, mine hit me like a ton of bricks and I felt like my soul had been cleansed. Unfortunately, I relapsed 3 weeks later and have had dp/dr again for 6 months. Everyone recovers differently. When I recovered, I had SO much hope and I thought to myself that EVERYONE can recover. It's just a matter of finding your own ''special recipe.'' For me, it was going to the hospital and feeling safe and peaceful, but for another it may be moving to another state for example. Recovery is possible, and I so desperately wish to achieve it once more.


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## PhoenixDown (Mar 3, 2011)

Hey insatiacable....

So u were literally DP free for 3 weeks. For sure? u didn't think about it at all... state of normal being.. etc. That sounds promising for your case. What was it that brought about your DP again?


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## insaticiable (Feb 23, 2010)

PhoenixDown said:


> Hey insatiacable....
> 
> So u were literally DP free for 3 weeks. For sure? u didn't think about it at all... state of normal being.. etc. That sounds promising for your case. What was it that brought about your DP again?


Yes, I was DP free for 3 entire weeks. Everything seemed real and 3D. The world looked so vibrant and beautiful. I kept saying ''the world looks soo good like a lollipop, I want to eat it!" Lol. It was like coming out of a cave that you've been in for so long (in my case it had been 14 months).

After those 3 weeks I noticed that I was starting to feel like a ''mindless drone''...sort of robotic. That then escalated to full out of body sensations which I presumed was heavy DP. Before I knew it, I was back in the pit hole. I've been dp'd for 6 months now again.

I'm not sure what brought my dp on initially when I first got it, but I also suffer from OCD and Borderline Personality Disorder and I think the combination of the two disorders may have contributed to me developing dp.

I hope to recover again someday...

Oh...the one thing I will add is...when I recovered...I was super paranoid that I would get dp again. It made me really anxious and on edge. I went on Xanax XR to calm the anxiety a bit. But I was fully recovered without a doubt, just anxious about aquiring it again.


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## ValleyGirl (Nov 10, 2017)

I've recovered form dp once before and let me tell you, if you can't tell if you are better or not, you aren't better yet. You KNOW when the dp is gone. Reality comes back and there is literally a world of difference.


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