What does recovery feel like? Is it a slow progression or do you just one day snap out of it? Or is it a slow progression until you snap out of it or like what is it? This just popped into my head
i can’t say i snapped out of it, but more that it happens less often/intense each day. i have not recovered 100% but i did go about a month without feeling depersonalized. when the streak broke, it only lasted a short while and was caused by me staying up too late. it wasn’t like it came back all over again. hope this helps!
I'm 100% self recovered and I can say 100% Gradual and I promise you it begins the day you repeatedly try not to think about any 'symptom', when you conciously refocus away from anything DPDR related.
I don’t think about it often. It’s just always there in the background. It’s like if you’re drunk or high, you’re not thinking about being drunk or high every second. But you feel it. It’s there
This is true. I don't think about it often, yet it is always there
Did not know this was part of the recovery proces. Rn when im chilling my brain comes to remind me that i have dpdr and I get frustrated cause I say like "damn I should not even think about it cause that is acceptation""".
Very slow for me. I had to do exposure therapy everyday for years. But I had it for nearly a decade. In general the longer you have it the longer it seems to take to recover. But everyone is different. Overnight cures rarely happen and typically a few months is all it takes for most people.
Im so happy you recovered. 4yrs into this, starting to panic a little, but this type of things bring me hope.
Be sure to panic with acceptance. That's the way out.
It was very slow in some ways, and fast in others. The “second voice” that talks to me during Derealization was the first thing to go. It typically happens when my perceptions get too much and I start looking in. But after that left, I had insane anxiety that took years to get through, and an emotional immaturity that I’m still working through. Basically comes down to this: any big event in life that causes an intense psychological reaction gets blunted and I don’t know how I feel. So taking my time and parsing through my emotions is a slow and sometimes uncomfortable thing to do.
Do you ever have the "second voice" come back? I had a pretty intense DPDR episode a few years ago and I feel mostly recovered now but that voice still comes back if I'm under a lot of stress.
Yup still def comes back when I’m really out of it. Doesn’t tend to stay when I recover though.
That's really interesting. I never had the "second voice" until the DPDR episode, and now it's like a semi-regular part of my life when I feel dissociated or stressed. It's been like that for three years now and I never could figure out what it was.
Yeah it’s a first sign that I may be pushing it, along with tingling in my forearms. The latter is specifically related to lack of sleep.
These last two years I’ve been doing yoga and breath work, it took about a year for the benefits of meditation to kick in, but it finally did. I’m. It sure how much that can help someone deep in an episode, but the breath work alone should help. I am specifically talking about box breathing: 3 seconds in, 3 second hold, 3 seconds out, 3 second hold, 3 or 4 seconds in… and so forth. It basically tricks your body into relaxing. Won’t get rid of the voice if you’re in a real bad shape, but should help some.
its slow, I thought I was out of it a couple weeks ago but definitely having stages of it again ughh
in my experience it kind of "cracks" as in you have moments of clarity as the anxiety start to reduce (tends to be the first sign things are going better), then after that it's just a gradual fading away :)
Both are possible, I've read both. If someone has had it a long time then gradual is much more likely I think.
My healing has been gradual. When I have set backs they seem to be really bad but I just tell myself “it always gets worse right before it gets better” and that has been true for me
It was slow for me. Over time it got less severe. When I have bad days I just keep telling myself it will pass and remember I had days with out it. Your brain will trick you into thinking you will never get over of it. I used to think people were crazy when they told me to stop it you have to stop thinking about it but it is true. It seems impossible but for me medication, therapy, excercise and teaching myself to be okay in the discomfort worked. I would tell myself every day I will get better and recognize that even if you go 5 mins with out thinking about it that it is a win and you are capable of recovering. I know it’s awful but you will be okay. I went through it more than once for long chunks of time.
I feel that in order to fully recover, you have to accept that it might come back one day and be 100% indifferent to that thought.
Struggling with DPDR? Be sure to check out our new (and frequently updated) Official DPDR Resource Guide , which has lots of helpful resources, research, and recovery info for DPDR, Anxiety, Intrusive Thoughts, Scary Existential/Philosophical Thoughts, OCD, Emotional Numbness, Trauma/PTSD, and more, as well as links to collections of recovery posts.
These are just some of the links in the guide:
CLICK HERE IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING A CRISIS OR PANIC ATTACK
DPDR 101: Causes, Symptoms, and Recovery Basics
Grounding Tips and Techniques for When Things Don't Feel Real
Resources/Videos for the Main Problems Within DPDR: Anxiety, OCD, Intrusive Thoughts, and Trauma/PTSD
How to Activate the Body's Natural Anti-Anxiety Mechanisms (Why You Need to Know About Your Parasympathetic Nervous System)
How to Deal with Scary Existential and Philosophical Thoughts
Resource Videos for How to Deal with Emotional Numbness
Finding the Right Professional Help for DPDR
And much more!
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