Overcoming Depersonalization:
The following information serves as a recovery guide for those suffering from depersonalization,
which arises from intense anxiety, aiming to restore peace and tranquility in such life once again. A lot of the information provided here is based on first hand experience, research, psychology, and psycho-pharmacology. I have successfully thinned out the least worthy/effective anxiety-relieving methods leaving the meatiest techniques for you - this will save you a lot of time, hastening your recovery. The less time you spend dealing with depersonalization and the quicker you manage to gain your original perception the more time you will have for enjoying life and that is the ultimate goal of this text.
which arises from intense anxiety, aiming to restore peace and tranquility in such life once again. A lot of the information provided here is based on first hand experience, research, psychology, and psycho-pharmacology. I have successfully thinned out the least worthy/effective anxiety-relieving methods leaving the meatiest techniques for you - this will save you a lot of time, hastening your recovery. The less time you spend dealing with depersonalization and the quicker you manage to gain your original perception the more time you will have for enjoying life and that is the ultimate goal of this text.
Definition/Symptoms:
Depersonalization is a state of consciousness, a form of out of body experience, characterized by intense feelings of dissociation, identity loss, confusion, and feelings of being anyone but not self. Many compare this unpleasant experience to a dream-like or automated state in which reality lacks depth along with its usual complacence. The latter definition is frequently tagged, separately, as derealization, which evokes disconnection from the surroundings compared to depersonalization, which pertains mainly to one’s ego detachment. As peculiar and disconcerting it may sound and feel, it is a fairly common and widespread issue, plaguing legions anxiety sufferers.
Causes:
It is not a coincidence that so many anxious individuals, including myself, are familiar with depersonalization not only from reading but from experience as well. In reality, anxiety is the main cause of depersonalization and it is anxiety which when alleviated brings about lessening of the dissociation. Therefore, in case you are new to being depersonalized, let go of your excessive worries and catastrophic theories of becoming insane or stuck forever in such a deranged state of mind as nothing along those lines is going to happen – it all tracks back to a harmless, although very uncomfortable, emotion notoriously known as anxiety.
Triggers:
The triggers of depersonalization range from drug experimentation to natural progression of anxiety. Those suffering from anxiety are at an elevated risk of experiencing depersonalization at one point or another and might be more sensitive to experiencing depersonalization in the presence of chemical triggers such as various psychedelics, including cannabis, dissociatives (ketamine, pcp), alcohol and even coffee – anything that has the potential to aggravate anxiety. Environmental triggers can be equally relevant and include speaking in public, abuse, car accidents and any other form of trauma.
The treatment:
As you might have guessed, treating depersonalization applies the same techniques as treating anxiety does and fortunately there are literally thousands of such techniques making selection difficult, but at the same time providing a lot of opportunity to gain relief. I have tested a generous bunch myself and here are some great anxiety remedies you might want to consider:
Exercise
Exercising daily will help you achieve a better attitude, improve your health and distract you from all the anxious thoughts going through your head. In a study, exercising proved to be as efficient as adding a secondary anti-depressant to a treatment. Furthermore aerobic exercise promotes neuronal growth and so compensates for the neurotoxicity induced by chronic depression/anxiety arising from increased cortisol levels (hypercortisolemia).
Distract yourself:
Don't think about your anxiety/depersonalization, don't try to analyze every possible trigger of your anxiety, and don't analyze your thoughts all the time, but rather keep yourself occupied with something you like to do such as watching your favorite TV show. Even if you don't feel like doing anything try to be forcible with it. Swing in focus will keep you at a safe distance from anxious thoughts and will help you slip into doing something pleasing and productive, which is essential to any recovery.
Supplements
Anxiety, as any state of consciousness, has its biological causes, in other words any change in consciousness, be it positive or negative, can be explained at a molecular level. Anxiety may arise from a variety of malfunctions in synaptic transmission, metabolism, absorption, and from deficiencies of essential nutrients. Therefore correcting the proper function will allow for reverting to a more pleasant mindset. Consider the following B-complex, Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Zinc, Magnesium, Calcium and many other minerals and vitamins which play a role in cellular metabolism and neural firing. Incorporate them into your diet and see how you respond. In reasonable doses they possess no toxicity and carry no negative side effects so it definitely is worth a try. Additionally, there are supplements, which might not correct deficiencies, but affect other aspects of your physiology in favor of alleviating anxiety. These include L-theanine, GABA, Lecithin, Fish Oil, BCAA or Rhodiola Rosea among many others. These, generally, also posses low toxicity and therefore inflict no harm in case they bring no benefit to you. Scroll down for a free, complete supplement/medication/herb guide to anxiety.
Meditation
Meditating is great for resting your mind and giving yourself some time to think about problems and their solutions. I recommend you to find at least 10 minutes daily, sit down and breathe deeply while allowing any thoughts to appear and once they do simply observe and analyze them, do not react emotionally as you would normally with anxiety. What this does is allow you to become less impulsive and more resistant to anxious thoughts and situations. By not over-reacting emotionally you gain the advantage of rationalizing before acting, a characteristic practical outside the world of anxiety. Just like exercise, meditation too has been proven to bring about morphological changes, within the brain, to anxiety's benefits. Aerobic exercise, such as jogging, causes thickening in the cerebral cortex - a brain region associated with intelligence, alertness and self-control and awareness. Meditation is therefore a great, free, have to try practice.
Think about what causes your anxiety
Although anxiety most probably arises from disorganized neural firing or malfunctions in synaptic plasticity, we all have something in our lives that aggravates our anxieties. You are depersonalized for a reason - intense anxiety. Therefore, you need to allocate the amplifiers and triggers of your anxiety in order to reduce its intensity and so reduce depersonalization's intensity as well. You might already have an idea about the potential triggers such as work/school, dating, existential crisis, and basically anything conceivable that might be constantly on your mind. You will need to go with your gut feeling on this one - observe when your anxiety turns worse and think about the immediate past events that might have added to it. For me, the main culprits were loud, intrusive thoughts constantly narrating everything I did with a negative tone, giving me no other option but to be pessimistic. Yours might be the same or completely different hence I cannot specifically assure you of what to address. Once you know the cue(s), settle on a solution or if you consider it a nonsense creation of anxiety just think about it for a moment and acknowledge its absurdity; repeat whenever the issue reappears and it will eventually fade away. Gaining knowledge about anxiety and how it works is probably the handiest tool you can have, as it lets you solve the underlying patterns fueling the anxiety. Therefore, I encourage you to seek out some books or any form of information on this particular topic, to expand on what I present here in this confined article, so you gain a better general overview. I have included suggestions on books in the resource box so don't be shy to take a look.
Prognosis:
Depersonalization is rarely permanent and once you start practicing the above mentioned and/or similar techniques it will begin to fade away. The severity and recurrence rate all depend on your anxiety levels and how well you keep your anxiety in check. Therefore if you know how to effectively reduce the anxiety and keep it at bay you also know how to reduce the accompanying depersonalization.
Resource section:
Click here to download a free supplement guide to anxiety
I also highly recommend reading this manual, which further develops herein discussed points and provides additional, useful tips on overcoming anxiety/depersonalization. It supplies you with all the tools necessary for understanding and resolving your anxiety and teaches you how to apply various cognitive therapies critical to recovery.
Click here to download a free supplement guide to anxiety
I also highly recommend reading this manual, which further develops herein discussed points and provides additional, useful tips on overcoming anxiety/depersonalization. It supplies you with all the tools necessary for understanding and resolving your anxiety and teaches you how to apply various cognitive therapies critical to recovery.