# Dr. Freedman's three step cure plan



## feelunreal (Jan 3, 2009)

Does any body here have ever used Dr. Freedman's three step cure plan? It sounds like a very promising way to cure DP. I am, however, not very sure if it will work or not. From some articles that Dr. Freedman posted on the web, I can tell his major idea is to point out and emphasize that DP is NOT an illness and it is because DP is regarded as an illness by individuals that makes DP a long lasting mental problem of them. His solution is to correct this misconcept and reinforce the corrected concept.
However, this explanation does not seem right to me at all. I have been in DP for more than 20 years since I was 10. Even if it has frustrated me very much, I never thought that I have a problem and I always thought this kind of frustration is common to every one. Only in recent few years I knew by accident that I got DP, I have been suffering it in almost my life time, and almost every one does not have this kind of suffering at all!...
So I never thought it was an illness to me at all and I always thought I was an ordinary person, but DP has never left me even for one second. 
Could anyone, who ever used it, provide some insight on Dr. Freedman's method like if it really works.
Thanks,
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## eddy1987 (Dec 13, 2008)

i wudnt say it is a mental illness because if you do have dp.....what does it actully do to the person...nothing.......nothing changes. you dont change mentally or physically..you just feel wierd ..fair enough you have dodgey thoughts but thats you creating them not any illness.........and according to alot of people its your bodys natural reaction to fear...but people who experiance it once make a habit out of it ....by fearing it and thinking they are doomed. when really it would happen to you in times of danger and you wouldnt notice it becasue your focus would be on the danger ....but in most peoples case it was a build up of stress and they couldnt see the danger except seeing themselves as danger seen as there was no real threat the focus re-directed back on to themselves with thoughts like who am i what am i ..am i really here etc.

i dont know your situation and what caused it ..but in most cases it is stress related.


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## feelunreal (Jan 3, 2009)

Sorry eddy1987, I don't know what you were talking about. I don't understand even one sentence of your post.
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## nytesprite (Dec 3, 2005)

I've never heard of the plan, but I've often debated with myself what the best method for coping with DP is. It seems a really fine line to walk -- if you say to yourself, "Well, it's DP, that's what's causing the problem," that could either work to calm you, or it could allow you to "curl up" with it, so to speak. Calling it a disorder kind of puts it out of your control, which is a little scary for me personally. If it's a disorder, it means there's really nothing I can do under my own power to fix it. On the other hand, if I say it's not DP, that it's not a disorder or an illness, it means that I'm in control, that I could snap myself out of it if I just try hard enough. I don't really know if that's possible. If I decide that it's not a disorder and that I should just "stop focusing on it" (as most folks who don't understand it tell me to do), and I'm not able to do it, I just end up feeling disappointed in myself. Again, I've never heard of this three-step cure plan, but the way I see it, each and every one of us deserves to be rid of this thing once and for all. To me, I don't care what it takes. If someone told me that the way to cure DP was to stand on one leg, cluck like a chicken, and eat nothing but Ritz crackers and peanut butter every day for the rest of my life, I'd do it, in a heartbeat. So if you think this method could work, try it. If it works, it works. At the end of the day, if you find yourself feeling better, it probably really won't matter to you why. And by all means, if you do have any success, keep us posted. I'm sure there are plenty of us who'd like to know.


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## feelunreal (Jan 3, 2009)

Thanks very much nytesprite for the insight. If you are interested in Freedman's cure plan, check the website depersonalizationcure dot com, the plan is not free through.
I understand your point. My case, however, is a little bit special so that I can hardly believe DP is not a disorder (or an illness) and that this kind of methods would be effective (to me). The first attack of DP occurred to me when I was 10.I fell down on the ground and lost my consciousness (Everything started rotating very fast, the sky turned very dark and then I collapsed on the ground...). I didn't know how long I lost my consciousness. It was my cousin who woke me up. In the next few days, I was switched between dream-like feeling and real feeling a few times and then I remain derealized and never get my normal feeling back again.
I cannot figure out if it is not an illness (Or something physically wrong in my body), what it could be that brought me such strong attack that I lost my consciousness at first time and later on my feeling of reality, for over 20 years (seems going to be lifetime)! 
I had nothing to do with drugs. But my childhood was soaked with a lot of abuses for a number of years. There were numberless nights that I fell into sleep in tears and scare.......
But I think your point is still very valuable because I think easiness is a necessary condition for a person to be able to feel real, even if it might NOT be a sufficient condition. To me, easiness has three aspects: it means capability, approach, and state. We are weak at being able to truely achieve easiness because somehow we've lost the capability to do so. No matter how hard we try, it is just very difficult to feel easy. I'd like give you an example of this. When I exposed myself in light (not natural light, but electric light in big stores like Costco.), I feel I was being melt away. The longer I stayed in that kind of lights, for example, the stronger the feeling of being melt away is, and the more I feel stressed. Sometimes, I have to make deep breath to alleviate pressures. There is no way I can get easiness unless I get out of the store and stay outside for a while. In this kind of situation, there is really nothing else helpful.
But I believe, we do need positive attitudes toward anything, which may make us feel better. But in terms of curing DP, I really don't know if there is a way. There is only one thing I am sure: I will never give up...
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## nytesprite (Dec 3, 2005)

I think you definitely have the right idea. Don't mistake me -- I think DP means something different for everyone. For some, it is the primary complaint. For others, it is a symptom of something else. For me, I think DP is a symptom of extreme anxiety, but I've heard a couple of people with stories like yours whose DP seems like it's due to a physical injury (although I can't stress this enough -- I'm not a medical professional, so I wouldn't know). In that case, I don't know how much CBT would be able to help you if there is something in your head that has been physically injured so that it's affecting your thought process. (To a completely different extreme, if you've ever heard of Phineas Gage, a head injury he had caused a complete change in his personality.) I think one of the most frustrating things about DP/DR is the fact that so little is known or understood about it by the medical community at large. For a great deal of people who have it, it's up to them individually to research the condition in order to better understand it. It seems as though some folks have found success with just about every method out there -- some cure/treat it with dietary and lifestyle changes, others do well with medication and/or therapy, still others seek spiritual treatment. Since DP is a mental/emotional condition, it's entirely possible that the power of suggestion plays a huge role in the treatment. If you find something that you _believe_ is going to work for you, hang onto it, and try not to concern yourself too much with the logistics of it. The fact that you've got a determination to beat it is a very strong point in your favor.

As an aside, I remember reading somewhere that harsh lights (fluorescents especially) have a tendency to aggravate DP.


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