# Has anyone been diagnosed by a professional with DPD?



## Alexis (Jul 27, 2011)

Hey everyone. I suffered with HORRIBLE depersonalization/derealization symptoms from age 16 and on. I'm twenty now, and the symptoms are mostly gone. I'm so thankful that I feel better, but I don't understand how something so debilitating could just disappear. I hope to talk to a psychiatrist soon so I can be at ease about what happened to me.

Have any of you ever been diagnosed with Depersonalization Disorder? If so, and you participated in therapy, what kind of approaches were made to help you recover? Also, what kind of medication helped you? I started taking 20mgs of Fluoxetine at age twenty, along with .5-10 mgs of klonopin a day. I've had horrible anxiety, but it's hard to say whether the anxiety or the depersonalization came first. I just want to hear your experiences. Let me know! Thank you.


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## gill (Jul 1, 2010)

Yeah, my doctor diagnosed me with it. The approach to help me recover, was to not try and directly treat DP. Rather, treating the obsessional fixation with it. DP seems important to give attention because it affects the part of the brain involved with attention. That's why it's so hard to just ignore. Unless I'm totally concentrated on something, I can easily get distracted by DP. So finding ways to shift my attention elsewhere helps to build new connections and it starts to seem less important, yet still lingers to a degree.


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## Jayden (Feb 9, 2011)

Alexis said:


> Hey everyone. I suffered with HORRIBLE depersonalization/derealization symptoms from age 16 and on. I'm twenty now, and the symptoms are mostly gone. I'm so thankful that I feel better, but I don't understand how something so debilitating could just disappear. I hope to talk to a psychiatrist soon so I can be at ease about what happened to me.
> 
> Have any of you ever been diagnosed with Depersonalization Disorder? If so, and you participated in therapy, what kind of approaches were made to help you recover? Also, what kind of medication helped you? I started taking 20mgs of Fluoxetine at age twenty, along with .5-10 mgs of klonopin a day. I've had horrible anxiety, but it's hard to say whether the anxiety or the depersonalization came first. I just want to hear your experiences. Let me know! Thank you.


Hey congratulations on your progress so far!

I just wanted to ask, did that dosage of klonopin cause any depression. I also have debilitating anxiety and I am only on 0.25mg a day and it is not nearly enough. I would like to take more for a short period of time but I am afraid that the higher dosage will cause more depression.


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## Alexis (Jul 27, 2011)

Thanks a lot for your reply! I'm glad that you've made progress with the illness. Is there a certain point where you'll ever be considered "cured?" Again, just wondering because I want to go to therapy to see if I'll be diagnosed with this.


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## Alexis (Jul 27, 2011)

Jayd said:


> Hey congratulations on your progress so far!
> 
> I just wanted to ask, did that dosage of klonopin cause any depression. I also have debilitating anxiety and I am only on 0.25mg a day and it is not nearly enough. I would like to take more for a short period of time but I am afraid that the higher dosage will cause more depression.


Yeah, I think I felt sort of sad when I was on it at times, but I still felt more "real" than I did without the Klonopin. I've never really struggled with depression, just extreme anxiety. I was only using a low dose until my prozac kicked in. I don't think increasing your klonopin to .50 will significantly affect your depression. Are you on an anti-depressant as well? I chose to stay away from them for a while, but I finally gave in and they honestly changed my life as far as anxiety goes.


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## ValleyGirl (Nov 10, 2017)

Yes I was diagnosed with DPD and PTSD but only after I had already had dp for a year and told the counselor what I had. She simply agreed with me. Other counselors decided it was just anxiety and depression. Clearly not. My counselor who diagnosed me didn't know how to treat me and after each session would ask "So, do you want to keep making appointments or what?". I took this as a not so subtle hint that she wished to no longer treat me so I stopped going. The thing that helped me the most, however, was reading Overcoming Depersonalization by Fugen Neziroglu and using the ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) in the book. I made HUGE progress in recovery after doing that.


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## Alexis (Jul 27, 2011)

oh wow im sorry your doctor was so insensitive, but i'm glad you've made some progress! ill have to check that out!


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