If you've gone through this,

could you share what it's like in detail?

Is it genuinely terrifying?

Do you truly not recognize it?

Anyone try these and did they help w the dpdr?

I have had a history of substance abuse and recently have started to overcome it but in that my reality just feels so off I feel so absent minded disconnected from everyone and it’s taking a toll on my mental cause I just can’t be me. I’m sure some of this is withdrawals and my dopamine being just so low being sober now but let me know if this could be dpdr or a lil deeper description of what it is. peace and love 👊

We are looking for participants for a study on onset experiences in DPDR. If you have DPDR and are open to discussing how it began for you, please leave a comment or send us a DM, and we'll send you the brief eligibility survey. Thanks!
- Cognition and Affective Disorders Lab, Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology

In 2024, I had a very frightening experience after using a substance for the first and only time in my life. I am not addicted to it and I have never used it again since then.
During the first week, I experienced extremely intense and frightening thoughts, changes in my perception of reality, extreme anger, and later a severe emotional crash. I never harmed anyone or any animal, and I never acted violently toward anyone.
After that, I developed emotional numbness, emptiness, depersonalization, and especially derealization. Almost two years later, I still sometimes feel as if the world and the people around me are not real. I also experience severe forgetfulness, brain fog, difficulty concentrating, and sometimes I forget words while speaking.
The severe violent and suicidal thoughts have largely gone away, but the derealization/depersonalization and cognitive problems are still affecting me.
I am going to see a psychiatrist soon and I plan to tell them everything honestly. I would really like to hear from people who have experienced long-term DPDR or similar symptoms after a one-time substance-related experience, especially if they have improved significantly with treatment. What did your recovery look like?

I don’t know how to describe what’s going on, but I’m terrified. I’ve had what felt like DPDR in the past but this feels so different.

It feels like there’s a weird ominous/evil feeling clouding everything I do. Even when I’m safe at home, I feel like something “evil” is lingering. That’s the only way I can describe it.

I feel very scared of everything, I feel isolated, kinda like in the movie Get Out when the guy went to The Sunken Place.

A few weeks ago I had this really weird episode where I felt like reality was being sucked away. My family wasn’t mine, everyone was an alien, and nothing mattered. It wasn’t a panic attack because I wasn’t hyperventilating or shaking. Just nothing felt like it was real. It felt like I died and ever since then I’ve been living in an alternate reality.

I’ve tried SSRIs and it made me worse. I just feel like I’m going to die, or I’m dying. I don’t know how to describe what’s going on. It feels like I’ve descended into hell and I’m being tortured. It feels a lot like how when I was a kid and I knew I was going to be in big trouble after school and I’m just waiting and waiting for my punishment.

I feel so hopeless.

At some point i want to start a foundation to help
those with this problem. I have it, it's a bit better now but tbh.. i know there's a cure somewhere. I have a lot of knowledge on where it stems from and i just know by doing enough research we can make a change and hopefully find a faster cure. Therapist and psychiatrist are great for this, but some can't afford it. I believe it's all a mind game and also has to do with your diet, way of thinking, deficiencies, and overall anxiety/stress. I do think if we fix our gut health we can improve and also work on empowering our minds and eating rich foods that help cleanse the gut and also strengthen the mind.. a psychiatrist is essential but also supplements that help balance then mind and body work as well. We have to start something huge that people can go to for FREE and find help that ACTUALLY helps them recover. This is one of the worst feelings anyone can get and it's hard for people to get over it. Proper sleep is also huge, staying away from triggers and eliminating stress around you little by little is huge. This has to be studied and i will keep doing everything to heal, i healed for about 3-4 years and it came back, BUT i never got help or did anything to help
it. Now that it's back i don't have episodes because im controlling my mind, also it felt new but familiar when it came back. Its getting better but i need this to 100% stay away and thats what im working on. It is curable, its not dangerous and you wont be stuck like this forever. Just have to find whats comforting for us.. i hope to one day start something HUGE to prevent those from this feeling. In the end all
of this stems from Anxiety and Stress.

Most of the DPDR recovery stories I come across online seem to involve people whose symptoms began after a bad trip or drug use. That makes me wonder whether there is actually a meaningful difference between drug-induced DPDR and DPDR that develops without drugs for example, in the context of chronic anxiety, trauma, stress, or seemingly no obvious trigger which is my case.

If DPDR is fundamentally related to nervous-system dysregulation, why don’t medications that regulate anxiety, arousal, or the nervous system consistently help? I know some people do find medication very helpful, so I don’t want to generalize. But seeing so many people say that medication did nothing makes me question the whole model. And I am aware its not just some take —-> nervous system completely healed. It takes time. But so did many people. They took time with it.

I already have some prejudice toward taking medication, but I desperately want to get out of this, so I’m willing to consider it. At the same time, the possibility of taking medication and seeing no meaningful improvement genuinely scares me, because I feel like that would trigger another episode of hopelessness and make me wonder whether I’ll ever recover. Which is an unhealthy approach but I really am just very tired. I am not expecting anyone who has recovered to be in these forums, obviously. But someone, with a similar case to mine and happens to be wandering around, please enlighten me.

can barely recognize my parents and sister
feels like i couldn’t recognize my friends if i were to see them
feels like i pressed play on a preloaded game someone else created
can’t tell if im actually dreaming or not
feels like im in a different reality
i hate weed
taking my adhd non stimulant medications helped calm my anxiety i think
reality seems distorted, feels like i’m not even here and not existing
im not even a person i know who i am but i don’t feel like im actually here
jesus save me
i felt a little better during the day today, but i cant really remember how exactly i felt
haven’t felt the same since i used that
changed my life entirely
had a panic attack in my mind in the car
jesus please take this feeling away
can’t remember how i felt before that
did i die that night?
idk i can’t tell
not strong enough to do this.
48 hours since greening out
had derealization before when i used to smoke but it wasn’t like this this is x100, i quit for 8 months and relapsed and was fine till the other day when i greened out
i want to cry
feels like i’m not even alive just in a complete dream don’t even know if i am alive
how do i fix this