Moving Forward Out Of Depersonalization

Depersonalization occurs with anxiety because you are so used to watching yourself, questioning your illness, day in, day out, that you start to feel detached from the outside world. Your mind has become tired and less resilient through watching and worrying about your symptoms. It has been bombarded with worrying thoughts and becomes fatigued. When our limbs tire, they ache. When our mind tires, we feel these strange feelings of detachment from the world around us, experiencing an almost dreamlike state, convincing ourselves that we are going mad or losing it. You are not; your mind is just so very tired and just craves a rest from all this introspection of oneself.

When people are caught up in the worry cycle, they begin to think deeply and constantly. They study themselves from deep within, checking in and focusing on their symptoms. They may even wake in the morning only to continue this habit, “How do I feel this morning? “I wonder if I will be able to get through today”. What’s this new sensation I feel?” This may go on all day, exhausting their already tired mind further. This constant checking in and constant assessing of their symptoms then becomes a habit, but like all other habits this one can also be changed.

All this worry is bound to make your mind feel dull and unresponsive, You are so concerned about how you feel, that you are letting nothing else into your day, is it any wonder you have come to feel so distanced and detached from your surroundings? Is it any wonder you find it so hard to concentrate? Some people, when studying for exams for hours on end, get to the point where they can no longer take information in, so they take a break and carry on the day after. For you, there are no breaks and no time outs.

What a lot of people don’t know is that depersonalization can occur in people without anxiety or panic issues. This can occur when someone has lost a loved one, been involved in an accident or maybe a recent shock. It is the body’s way of protecting you from all the worry or hurt you maybe feeling. This is normally temporary and when say the person grieving overcomes some of the hurt, the depersonalization will fade. The trouble with anxiety is that people suffering have a tendency to worry and the depersonalization comes along to protect you from all this stress and daily worry. People can then feel detached, empty or emotionless. What happens then though is people begin to then worry and obsess over this new feeling, thinking its something serious or they are going mad. They may even forget their anxiety and focus solely on this new feeling, this can lead to these feelings increasing. The unreality grows as we enter a cycle of worry and fear and so your body protects you with these feelings of unreality even more, making you feel more distanced and detached. It is the very worry and fear over this feeling that keeps you in the cycle.

The way to move forward out of depersonalization is not to worry and obsess about it, but to work with it there, to give it as much space as it needs and not be too impressed by it. To see it as your body protecting you and not a sign that something terrible is happening or that you are going mad. This symptom is like any other and the more you worry or obsess about it, the bigger the problem can become and the longer you stay in the cycle.  Breath, use the 6 steps and underreact