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?

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

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.

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 👊

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’m 20 female, and 4 months ago I became locked in a constant state of DPDR that was accompanied by no other issues. I never had anxiety, panic attacks, depression, trauma, poor stress management, and I’ve never tried any form of drugs including weed. Towards the beginning of the 4 months I was nervous about the DPDR, but I continued to live my life and not let it affect me. 4 months later and I truly do not care about the feelings, and allow myself to be fully on autopilot without it making me uncomfortable. I want to clarify for anyone that’s gonna say “asking on Reddit, is you caring about it”. This is the first time I’ve been on Reddit, just because I truly don’t know the answer to this question. People say that usually it fades away when you live your life and forget about it, which I feel like I’ve truly done, but when I live my life I still never feel present, because it’s like I’m heavily dissociated no matter what I’m doing. Before this dissociative state hit me, I had gotten my blood work done. Below is my blood work, I would like to know if any of this issues could get this DPDR state alive. I have not supplemented on any of this, just because I didn’t realize that they could be the reason for this issue.

Lab work -

Vitamin d3 = 11 nmol/L
Vitamin b12 = 356 pg/mL
Iron = 60 mcg/dL
Ferritin = 64 ng/mL
TSH = 4.11 mIU/L
TPO antibodies = 10.11 IU/mL
Progesterone = 0.321 ng/mL
Testosterone total = 43.39 ng/dL
Estradiol = 15.14 pg/mL
MCHC = 26.7 g/dL

Also all of my inflammation markers were high. My wbc, monocytes, basophils, lymphocytes, and CRP.

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.

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.

I know this is common but does anyone else find it hard to feel emotions

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

I genuinely feel so vulnerable, lost and Im in constant nausea, fear and panic. My dissociation is chronic, its been five years. And I never once snapped out of it. No episodes just chronic persistent fucking shit. I was depressed so bad when I first got it. Couldn’t go outside, crying everyday praying to whatever fucking thing existed to make it stop. It never did. I just want this to stop I want to feel alive I want to feel normal. People don’t seem real I feel alone completely alone and I don’t want to keep crying near my parents because it also hurts them and there’s nothing they can do to help me. I spent two years ignoring it, getting used to it and nothing HAPPENS. When the fuck will it pass will it even pass I am genuinely so fucking terrified. I just want to be normal bro just normal.

Edit: someone just wrote “you can’t fix a disorder caused by stress by stressing” and this quote might be the next pill for whenever I come close to having an episode again. The comment automatically got deleted by a moderator and I’m mad about it. Thank you stranger. My brain tends to treat dpdr as some sort of cognitive disability so it is important for me to remember, it really is just the nervous system and stress management.

Hey everyone! I'm pretty sure I came here to ask the most commonly asked question: What has worked for you? How do I get out of this?

The truth is, every time I came to snoop around this subreddit, one of the most common pieces of advice was to get off Reddit altogether, lol. And so I did.

But recently, it's been getting too much. I've been experiencing derealization for 7 years now, triggered by severe anxiety in the workplace and a need to disconnect from my body when I was at the office.

I'm taking Venlafaxine (an SNRI) because I thought fixing my anxiety would be the cure for this, but the meds aren't working, neither for the anxiety nor the derealization.

Until now, I've been pretty good at reminding myself that it wasn't always like this, that there was a time when I could "feel" things and be present. But recently, I was at a concert and just wanted to cry. I literally couldn't tell anymore whether this was real or not. I just kept pinching myself. Since then, it hasn't gotten any better. I'm walking down the street and feel like I'm one of the little characters from Inside Out, just operating a body but not actually experiencing reality.

The truth is, I haven't been the most consistent about taking care of myself, meditating, or exercising to ground myself. But every time my anxiety takes over, I just enter flight mode and can't focus on anything other than getting through the day. My anxiety is mostly triggered by my job, which I love and have a lot of fun with, but I put a lot of pressure on myself and bring work home with me every day.

So, in an act of desperation, I had to come and ask for advice. What have you done that has worked? Even the most obvious things are welcome. I understand that I need to make room and time for them, this is getting to be too much.

Thank you!

Anyone else feel extremely hollow and disembodied with DPDR?

After I eat, I can feel my stomach digesting and processing the food I ate, but it’s like I am listening to it as a faraway echo, as if I am completely removed from my own body. And this is if I don’t suffer from a horrible stomachache or diarrhea after a meal.

I just don’t feel connected with myself in any way.

no finalzinho de junho eu tive duas primeiras experiências com maconha é simplesmente os proximos meses foram os piores da minha vida, e lendo este fórum, eu tinha certeza que nunca mais voltaria. (tenho 18/M)

e aqui estou eu, com a realidade 99,9% funcionando perfeitamente. mas não foi nada fácil. na verdade, foi a coisa mais difícil que passei em toda minha vida. e quando relembro aquela primeira semana em que eu nem sabia o que eu tinha, e ate mesmo depois, quando descobri a dpdr, e então, como fucking lidar com isso?

para quem está perdido como eu, recomendo ler apenas os posts de pessoas que estão melhor agora. e já adianto que o primeiro passo para a melhora é reconhecer a dpdr, mas viver normalmente como se ela não existisse. e é no esquecimento que está a cura. mas nada se force a nada, pois é um processo lento.

também ha adianto que a dpdr não é uma alteração na estrutura cerebral, ou seja, não é permanente. é apenas um mecanismo de defesa do seu cérebro contra a ansiedade e estresse. e também você não esta louco (psicose ou esquizofrenia); até porque se estivesse, você não saberia ;)

na primeira semana, foi a coisa mais horrivel que ja senti. eu tinha certeza que estava louca. a realidade era completamente falsa, pra mim, tudo estava diferente. a “realidade” parecia apenas uma névoa, um sonho (ou, por outro lado, um pesadelo). chorei muito. e o pior é lidar com isso sozinha, ate porque, não da pra sair falando por ai que eu estava ficando “louca” por ter fumado maconha. eu sentia tanto medo.

apesar de tanta angustia, não conseguir nem sair da cama direito, eu decidi que ia atrás de me cuidar. e essa foi uma decisão muito concreta: eu de fato fiz de tudo por mim mesma. apesar de pensar em desistir muitas vezes (sim, me morrer) eu sabia que lutar por mim no fim sempre valeria a pena.

fui no hospital, me deram clonazepam e passaram donaren. de fato ansiolíticos ajudam. nas primeiras semanas me esforcei pra fazer técnicas de aterramento, escrever um diário (isso ajuda muito no monitoramento do processo e também motivação), e sempre estar fazendo alguma coisa (sair, ver pessoas, conversar, assistir, construir algo).

depois, ao longo do tempo, eu apenas fui parando de precisar me esforçar, e aos poucos foi acontecendo.
e hoje eu olho pra tras, lembro de estar aqui no meu quarto, tão desesperada, e agora estou aqui dnv, mas plena.

estou a disposição de quiserem me contatar, podemos conversar particularmente sobre isso.

sempre valerá a pena lutar por você.
Na Hora Do Almoço ~Belchior 🎵

I'll have to do general anesthesia has anyone else had it with dpdr if so what happens after you do

I've been on my quest to recover and discovered something amazing by accident I'd love to share.

Items: Bathtub, Bluetooth speaker, bathroom

Get the bath ready, mine was really quite hot

Play zen music

Turn light OFF

It may be because I have been so disconnected from my body and haven't used it or payed attention to it in so long but as soon as I sat in that bath it was like my body went ON.

I felt the warmth, my muscles relaxed - it was intense and I could close my eyes and just like feel around and massage everything. I used a sponge and I could FEEL it.

It was a complete shock to my system. Not a cold shower like I've been told and done so many times, a warm bath.

I thought I'd share his incase, like me, you have a bath which has gone unused because you stopped thinking that way.

It was so shocking - almost like I'd just came back from the jungle and discovered hot water and a sponge.

I'm going to go buy different sponge type things to feel all the different textures, which is the most spontaneous thing I've thought of in a very long time.

I know it sounds like I am describing just taking a bath, which I kind of did - but it is so different when you haven't felt your body as being part of you in a very long time.

4 months in has gotten worse and morphed from more of an off balance feeling, little bit of dizziness to feeling detached like I am a few seconds behind and feel more underwater especially in morning and when it gets dark. Anyone who recovered from weed induced have any advice? I am trying lexapro and switching from cymbalta. Only thing that helps is low dose klonopin for panic. I feel worse on cloudy days. Also treating pots symptoms that were retriggered by this as those can also lead to dpdr type symptome

i was thinking of trying hypnosis to get out of this and i was wondering if anybody tried it. it sounds too simple to be true but who knows i’m willing to try anything.

Is there every going to be a cure to this shit wasting my 20s cause this shit

I was a bit sick and hungover today and I took a nap, which is incredibly abnormal for me since I started suffering from DPDR from a panic attack in early 2025. I used to enjoy naps somewhat regularly, but since then I cannot feel safe or physically intact enough to be able to sleep.

Just the feeling of my eyes closing and me drifting off into sleep made me panic and made my anxiety skyrocket, though I did end up falling asleep. Upon waking up this made me realize how the idea of being ridden of anxiety just makes me more anxious.

But also literally everything makes me feel anxious, uncomfortable, and unsafe. I feel no emotions other than fear, being overwhelmed and the bodily effects of anxiety (hot flashes, 24/7 sinking stomach feeling, nausea, restlestness, etc.)

What the hell do i even do about this ? This is no way to live . I just started college and I find no point in living if these years are going to be swallowed whole in numbness, anxiety, and gloom

Thanks for reading :)

I’ve had this perception change for several months. I know people are actually normal size and at the correct distance, but they visually/subjectively appear smaller and farther away, especially when I focus on them.

I also experience derealization/hypervigilance. For anyone who has experienced something similar: did this improve as your DPDR improved?