Depersonalisation/derealisation makes me insane. Any success stories out there?

Hello everyone.
apparently this is quite common: not feeling real. feeling trapped in own head. feeling like Im in a weird dream. feeling hyper focused on EVERYTHING.
Ive been experiencing these feelings for the last 5 weeks. was put on Ability and Xanax, both low doses. The Xanax does help a bit, to calm me down and pull me out of the rabbit hole as I'm quickly descending it. I just wanted to know if anyone who experienced these thoughts were able to move past them, i.e. they finally left you alone? Would love to hear any success stories. My mom died in January (I'm 28 now) and I'm realizing that these intrusive thoughts and new feelings have a lot to do with her death, if not everything. I just fear sometimes that my mind has broken and ill never heal. Any reassurance would be so appreciated. Thank you.

also to edit the title: I know it doesn't make me insane, I meant it makes me FEEL like I'm going insane

Sorry to hear about you losing your mum :hugs: It's understandable that something so major bringing a rollercoaster of hard emotions to pass through can ramp up anxiety or push you into depression. Intrusive thoughts are something anyone can have but when they become problematic to the point of an anxiety disorder of their own it's OCD or depression that they fall into.

That being said DP/DR are known to occur due to higher periods of stress. Many have bad panic attacks or long intensive periods of anxiety to find themselves feeling "washed out" and detached.

There are people on here who have come through the other side of DP/DR so hopefully you will find some. I think PanchoGoz might be one so worth a search. Viking111 was someone who dealt with periods of it and mentioned thoughts of his parents not being real and I know he is much better these days (he has some success threads around).

As far as intrusive thoughts go, I've beaten mine. Are you able to discuss the themes in them (no pressure to, they can be very emotive)? I found bringing down overall levels of anxiety really helps (and conversely ramping it up makes them more intense and harder to apply logic/rational thoughts to). I also started Mindfulness which taught me how to watch my thoughts, sit with them but not interact. But it does take some time.

Reaction is key with intrusive thoughts. That reaction is the feedback loop to tell your subconscious the thoughts are important and to reinforce them as a fear. Therefore the more you learn not to react, just as with a panic building up, the more you find it goes away as fears get mothballed.

I’ve been experiencing exactly this since a health anxiety bout became too much. Over the space of a few weeks I was flooded with feelings and thoughts that I just couldn’t explain. Such strange feelings caused intrusive thoughts about why I may be feeling this way, I won’t go into the content of the thoughts incase I trigger anyone but I’m sure you can imagine what type of thoughts would be induced when you have feelings that the world isn’t real.
I’ve suffered with 3 bouts of health anxiety in my life, all of which were fairly contained and had no real impact on my day to day life but this latest anxiety issue really has terrified the living day lights out of me. I’ve started medication and on the waiting list for therapy.
I just so desperately want to get back to my beautiful life. If anyone could message me any success stories, I’d be so grateful.

Hi Stephanie! How are you doing now? I had intrusive thoughts too, and unfortunately it’s all part of your anxiety!!! And try to remember that it’s not the real you that is having these thoughts, it’s your anxiety producing them! They are what’s known as ‘automatic thoughts’ it doesn’t mean that you’ll act on these thoughts or that you r a bad person! They r thoughts and that’s all! Really hope ur better, I’m on week 5 of sertraline and feeling much more like my old self!! Hang in there. It’s only a phase!! Xx

I still have a pretty bad anxiety disorder that I'm getting through, but back in April I overcame about 15-20 days of DPDR disorder brought on after a panic attack.

I got through it with meditation, deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, yoga, sunshine, a complete overhaul of my diet (ZERO caffeine and a huge cut in sugar) and a very low dose of Klonopin to get me through about a week of the experience. Mostly to help with my sleep.

I don't imagine that something like this would work for everyone, but I made it out of what I consider to be one of the worst experiences of my life.