# Good news from the Doctor



## toshibatelly (Sep 13, 2011)

I went to see my Doctor and brought up the question of DP/DR and panic attacks with him, I explained how it seems to be happening to me a lot lately and how it's interfering with my education/social life. Anyway, I said, "I think I'm going to become a schizophrenic" and he said, "If you were a schizophrenic you wouldn't be here because you wouldn't think there was anything wrong with you". I was the happiest kid in the world after that, I honestly don't care about having DP/DR in and of itself, I have a constant fear that it is a prodromal schizophrenic symptom and I'll end up a babbling lunatic (no offence to anyone who suffers from/has relatives who suffer from schizophrenia).

So, phew. And, in light of what he said, my DP/DR doesn't seem to be bothering me nearly so much.

I knew that psychotic people, by definition, lack insight but I needed to hear it again and from my Doctor. So, I'm a happy chappy.
















Anyway, this experience has reinforced my belief that DP/DR is just an expression of some fear about something, I fear/feared becoming a psychotic, now that that fear has been lessened the DP/DR has lost some of its power. Has anyone else experienced this?


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## Depersonal Eyes (Oct 10, 2011)

Yepp, as long as you think your going crazy, your probably not going crazy!


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## Jayden (Feb 9, 2011)

Depersonal Eyes said:


> Yepp, as long as you think your going crazy, your probably not going crazy!


I hope that's the case because I heard some people say thats a myth :s


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## Guest (Oct 27, 2011)

not to burst your bubble, but you can still be going crazy and realize it, like legit schizophrenia. Not saying you are schizo or anyhtinkg like that, bits its simply a myth that a seriously crazy person wouldnt know that there isnt something wrong..


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## Depersonal Eyes (Oct 10, 2011)

Darn it. That philosophy always made me feel better.


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## Fluke93 (Nov 2, 2010)

I dont agree with the above. In most cases if you think youre going crazy then you are usually not. If you're talking about pychosis do you think they know whats up? I bet they dont even know where they are.


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## forestx5 (Aug 29, 2008)

toshibatelly said:


> I went to see my Doctor and brought up the question of DP/DR and panic attacks with him, I explained how it seems to be happening to me a lot lately and how it's interfering with my education/social life. Anyway, I said, "I think I'm going to become a schizophrenic" and he said, "If you were a schizophrenic you wouldn't be here because you wouldn't think there was anything wrong with you". I was the happiest kid in the world after that, I honestly don't care about having DP/DR in and of itself, I have a constant fear that it is a prodromal schizophrenic symptom and I'll end up a babbling lunatic (no offence to anyone who suffers from/has relatives who suffer from schizophrenia).
> 
> So, phew. And, in light of what he said, my DP/DR doesn't seem to be bothering me nearly so much.
> 
> ...


Be sure to share this info with Jayd.


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## Leigh (Oct 20, 2011)

I was terrified of going insane too. I was certain that I was going crazy. But then I heard someone say "You're not crazy. Crazy people don't think they're going crazy". And it's true! Huge weight off my shoulders after I heard that.


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## Jayden (Feb 9, 2011)

I don't know what to think cause some people say if you fear it and are aware your not going crazy and then other people say thats a myth. What I do know is I for sure feel like I am going crazy.


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## forestx5 (Aug 29, 2008)

Leigh said:


> I was terrified of going insane too. I was certain that I was going crazy. But then I heard someone say "You're not crazy. Crazy people don't think they're going crazy". And it's true! Huge weight off my shoulders after I heard that.


Maybe I read it on here, but it is probably true. Insanity is just a legal condition. I know several people with schizophrenia.
They know they are mentally ill with schizophrenia. When they are symptomatic with delusions, they believe them. When they hallucinate, they perceive their hallucinations as reality. But, they rarely have these symptoms because they are very well controlled with medication.
They are not insane. They would only lose insight into their illness when they become psychotic. One friend had his anti-psychotic prescription refilled. The pharmacist made a mistake, and filled it with pills that were 1/10th the proper dose. The pills would only be slightly different in color, but not size. My friend said he noticed a change in his thinking a few days later. He got up in the morning, and knew it would be a busy day, because he had to saw up his furniture to fit in his truck for his cross country move. Then it dawned on him that he hadn't planned to move, and something was wrong. That's when he noticed the difference in his medication.
But, when he takes the proper dosage of medication, he is as normal and intelligent as most of us. And, while his illness is more serious than DP/DR, he seems to be less stressed over it on a daily basis. He is not depressed over his illness. He enjoys life with certain limitations.
I recall a survey which showed that individuals suffering from major depression, had a worse outlook on life than individuals who were diagnosed as terminally ill with cancer. If you can imagine an illness that can give you anxiety like sea sickness, and leave you sleepless for months, you might fear major depression more than insanity. When you are clinically depressed, you don't have the luxury of being unaware of your suffering. Depression kills or contributes to the death of at least 23,000 people each year in the US of A.


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## Jayden (Feb 9, 2011)

I wish I could ignore all my terrifying symptoms and sensations that make me think I am for sure going crazy, and just think well if it happens it happens and I can still live a fulfilling, normal life.

If I didn't have this fear I wouldn't have anxiety, even with DP.


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## toshibatelly (Sep 13, 2011)

forestx5 said:


> Maybe I read it on here, but it is probably true. Insanity is just a legal condition. I know several people with schizophrenia.
> They know they are mentally ill with schizophrenia. When they are symptomatic with delusions, they believe them. When they hallucinate, they perceive their hallucinations as reality. But, they rarely have these symptoms because they are very well controlled with medication.
> They are not insane. They would only lose insight into their illness when they become psychotic. One friend had his anti-psychotic prescription refilled. The pharmacist made a mistake, and filled it with pills that were 1/10th the proper dose. The pills would only be slightly different in color, but not size. My friend said he noticed a change in his thinking a few days later. He got up in the morning, and knew it would be a busy day, because he had to saw up his furniture to fit in his truck for his cross country move. Then it dawned on him that he hadn't planned to move, and something was wrong. That's when he noticed the difference in his medication.
> But, when he takes the proper dosage of medication, he is as normal and intelligent as most of us. And, while his illness is more serious than DP/DR, he seems to be less stressed over it on a daily basis. He is not depressed over his illness. He enjoys life with certain limitations.
> I recall a survey which showed that individuals suffering from major depression, had a worse outlook on life than individuals who were diagnosed as terminally ill with cancer. If you can imagine an illness that can give you anxiety like sea sickness, and leave you sleepless for months, you might fear major depression more than insanity. When you are clinically depressed, you don't have the luxury of being unaware of your suffering. Depression kills or contributes to the death of at least 23,000 people each year in the US of A.


It is a very complex issue, but, by defintion, psychotic people lack insight, that is not to say every schizophrenic, or every manic depressive for that matter, is in a state of psychosis at all times; but when they are in such a state their skills of introspection are suspended. Naturally there are gradations within psychosis, from the barely noticeable to the very noticeable, but crucially all psychotics have suffered a break with reality. Of course, as you say in the case of your friend, when medicated schizophrenics can be very lucid and rational. I don't think DP/DR sufferers have suffered such a break with reality, even though it feels like they have. DP/DR are dissociative conditions, not psychotic conditions; trauma causes some people to become psychotic and other people to dissociate, as far as I know Depersonalization Disorder and Schizophrenia are mutually exclusive.

Secondly, my Doctor told me this, Doctors aren't in the business of bullshitting people, if he thought I was at risk of going mad he would probably have offered some kind of psychiatric examination. I pressed him on the issue, I said I was utterly convinced there was something wrong with me.

I don't think prodromal psychotics are aware of their problems, if they were then they would probably be recognised before full-blown psychosis took hold. If you go to the Doctor and say you're worried you're going to become psychotic and request to be put on anti-psychotic drugs I doubt your Doctor will prescribe them.

In my case DP/DR is a result of panic attacks, I don't think there is a link between anxiety and psychosis but I could be wrong. I've had DP/DR on and off since I was 11, if it is prodromal schizophrenia seven years is a very long prodome, surely if my DP/DR was going to turn into psychosis it would have done so by now. Not to mention the fact we don't have any family history of psychosis, at least not within the last four generations on either side of my family.

Anyway, thank you for your contribution.


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## toshibatelly (Sep 13, 2011)

Fluke said:


> I dont agree with the above. In most cases if you think youre going crazy then you are usually not. If you're talking about pychosis do you think they know whats up? I bet they dont even know where they are.


I think he was trying to be pragmatic when he said it is possible to realise there is something wrong with you and go mad, but as a general rule I think you're right, mad people simply wouldn't be able to see what was wrong with them.

And being introspective or doubtful of your perceptions precludes being psychotic, to wit a delusion is, by definition, a belief held with *absolute *conviction, so if you have any doubts at all you are not delusional. A hallucination is something which you believe to be real but which isn't, if you doubt what you saw you aren't hallucinating, you may be seeing things but you are not hallucinating in the way a psychotic person does.

If you say, "It is theoretically possible that aliens are watching you from a space ship on Mars" you are not delusional, because it is _theroetically _possible. If you say, "I know aliens are watching me" and start wearing a tin foil hat so they can't see you, you are delusional.

Likewise with hearing voices, a rational person would think, "Hmmm....this isn't quite right, I know there is nobody there, I'd better see my Doctor about this", a psychotic person would interpet the voice as God/Devil/whoever.


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## Fluke93 (Nov 2, 2010)

I like that, nice explanation


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