# What helped me



## Hope7 (Jan 31, 2015)

Hello, I wanted to just share a few simple things that I've done, that have really pulled me out of what I thought was a hopeless situation. Certain experiences have caused me to develop DP symptoms, derealization, compulsive existential thinking, etc. If you have a similar situation, then perhaps this may help you, or it may not do much. I feel much, much better now. In fact, my derealization is practically gone, and once in a while I'll have an off night, but compared to before, I can handle it much better. Hopefully this doesn't overlap too much with helpful tips that are already known.

- First and foremost, I made sure to avoid any and all things that would trigger my symptoms. Anything that would lead to this type of thinking - books, films, websites, etc. And I'd replace it with things that interested me, and would constantly stimulate me in a direction away from DP and its anxiety triggers.

- "Time heals all wounds" really came into play. The first few weeks were horrible, and I thought that I would never recover. Obviously, that's not the case. I didn't give myself the time to heal. So having faith, hope, patience, and enduring especially during the worst moments I think is critical.

- I stopped giving it importance; I stopped feeding it. Although it is important and can be an absolute nightmare at times, I tried not to look at it as an unstoppable monster that would haunt me forever; I didn't want to give it that kind of power over me. I just simply saw it as a temporary speed bump in this little part of my life, and I would eventually fight through it just like any other problem I've had.

- Reminding myself of the way I was before DP had affected me. Before DP, I wasn't over analyzing any existential silliness, or anything related. So it was a matter of trying to return to a sense of normalcy, not overthinking everything, and accepting things as they are.

- During anxieties, I would try to reassure myself that there was nothing to panic over. And it worked, because it was true; I was the one imagining all these fearful, but fictional outcomes for myself.

- What absolutely did NOT work for me was meditation. In fact, it was a precursor to developing DP symptoms.

- Writing out whatever is bothering you, like on forums such as this, I found to be very helpful. It can be an outlet to get whatever is frusturating you off your chest. That way, you can let it go and move forward.

- One thing I'm trying now is to move on. When I feel great, I sometimes feel like I can't accept that I'm feeling great. I'll have an urge to go back and think about my DP when I had no reason to even bother thinking about it. Whether it's thinking about the worst moments I had, or the times I made good progress, it was still thinking about DP - and that'll bring my day down. Personally, I feel this is because I haven't really moved on - as if I can't let go. So from now on, I'm trying to completely move on and fully embrace the fact that I don't need DP in my life anymore.

- And of course, eating well, staying active and social, and getting sufficient sunlight and sleep is very important.

- (Update) Thank God, I finally feel completely recovered. What really pushed me through the last stages of recovery was just doing what I've already mentioned. And that's, to completely move on and ditch the DP behind, and fully live exactly the way I was before DP came into my life - just fully embrace life without it. My final symptoms were related to compulsive over-analzying existential thoughts that would just haunt me daily. I can think about these things, I can rationalize them to a certain extent, but it gets to a point, where it's just a never ending battle. As another user pointed out, even if one had all the answers it wouldn't be enough. So I stopped dwelling on it all; I felt I rationalized them as far as I could, and any more effort would just be like running in circles. So, I boarded the departing train, so to speak, and I moved on. It's all easier said than done, but it's simply what I did, and what worked for me.

For now, these were a few, simple little things I did. If I remember more, I'll be sure to add them. In time, you will notice that things that may have caused a trigger, can eventually seem trivial/laughable!


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## Wendy (Aug 7, 2013)

"Reminding myself of the way I was before DP had affected me. Before DP, I wasn't over analyzing any existential silliness, or anything related. So it was a matter of trying to return to a sense of normalcy, not over-thinking everything, and accepting things as they are." - I think this is one of the most important things. Understanding that you didn't have these fears and intricacies before your Depersonalization is a huge step in realizing that this is something we exacerbate ourselves a lot. We think, therefore our Depersonalization gets a lot stronger and I think we need to understand that and break free from the things that startle us when we're unreal so that we can learn to be real again.


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