Depersonalization Cure

Let's talk about depersonalization (DP). This is something which for me was the main 'cause' of my anxiety, the worst symptom and the last thing to go, yet when I tried to find more information/something to help, it was a real struggle. The symptoms I personally experienced included the following:

• Feeling dizzy and faint

• Feeling 'out of my body'

• Looking at my hands and feeling like they weren't mine

• feeling detached from my body

• Not feeling connected to the person in the mirror

• Feeling unsteady on my feet

• Hearing my voice and feeling like it wasn't mine

• Feeling like everything is on a tilt

Having looked further into this, it seems there are many people who experience this and yet not much info out there on how to get through it. The good news is that you can get through it and it's not threatening in any way.

DP is anxiety. Anxiety is DP. No amount of doctors test and symptom googling is going to reveal some sort of brain problem, no matter how sure you are that you're really sick. You need to accept that anxiety is causing the problem, then you can start to heal it. Get the blood tests, accept the results and then you can start to heal. Here's how:

Firstly, you need to stop thinking about it. Crazy right? I want you to crack into a project that takes your attention away from it. When you feel scared and dizzy, just tell yourself "this isn't going to harm me" and engage yourself into a task that requires attention. My best advice - go and buy a 1000 piece puzzle, stick the TV on in the background and get involved. An hour later you'll sit up and realise that your DP wasn't there when you were puzzling - this is because you weren't thinking about it and it's a sensation you've created by being hyper-vigilant on all your senses and overthinking to the extreme. once you have this realisation, you'll be on the right track to getting better.

Secondly, stop checking in to see if its still there, because if you're thinking about it, then it's going to be! Wake up in the morning, have breakfast (because light-headedness is made worse when you're hungry), splash your face with cold water and GET DRESSED AND GO! Don't lie in bed thinking about how it's better/worse than yesterday - don't give it the time of day, it's taken enough of your life off you and that stops now! Create a task and go and complete it. Remove the fear from the sensations and then just let them flow in the background while you focus your attention on more worthy activities.

From what I found, DP happens when you reach such a high level of stress/anxiety/panic that your brain flips a switch and removes you from the situation to protect itself. Unfortunately there hasn't been any real research and so no one knows the science behind it - but they do know that it can be 'cured' it's harmless, and it won't cause any long-term damage.

Don't be afraid of it, as that's what keeps it going. Remove the fear, stop giving it attention and find a task to dive head first in. Once you get that first 'break' from the sensations, you'll be on a home straight. You've got this!

If you have any other tips that you think I should add, then please let me know :)