Still solipsism, will it ever be over?

[Otulissa]

Year 3 of the solipsism obession, what if nothings real. Anxiety is slowly getting better but I dont really know what else to do... it feels true. And in the way of an obsessive thought you cant rationalize with it.

Has anyone had this where they actually felt like they believed it and got over it? I dont want to be this way the rest of my life....

[viking111]

Hey!
I do not know if it will help, but few pages back there was a grand thread on this and how to deal with it.
I've had similar obsessions like you that don't just seem to end even when you think they are irrational.
One took me about 2 weeks and I felt like I had lost my life.

[Otulissa]

Oh....thats what worries me.... 3 years is quite a bit different than two weeks.... If ive had it this long, does that mean im most likely not going to get over it? Frankly that isnt a life worth living....
even if I can stop being afraid, if the thought is still there, i'll still feel this loneliness, like everyone has died. Just need some hope. Dont know what to do anymore and im tired of fighting.

[lindadiana]

I must admit I had never heard of this before so I looked it up,there are many people living with this it seems,it must be very frightening and depressing for youi decided to read your posts from way back and saw that many others on here have had this or have it too, one post said its all thought related in a way its no different to say my phobias I am a death phobic diagnosed aged 11 im now 57 I have panic attacks ive not been out alone in over 25 years,but I do know this for sure over the years ive been really bad then got a bit better and back and forth,but ive come to realise,(even though im still the same and panic stricken most days.its thoughts and strange or worrying bodily sensations that do this and nothing else,im actually feeding the panic attack by fighting with fear,pretty much the same way you are with this,you said in a post about your dad talking about when you were a baby and it made you cry,well if you truly thought you were the only person that was real,i don't think your dads words would have any emotional meaning for you,ive lost both my beloved parents now,they were both my rock. I truly do feel for you and anyone suffering with any thoughts that seem to ruin their lives,ive lived with mine for so long,and wasted so much time,if you want to talk im awake as usuallinda

[viking111]

There has to be a way to overcome it.
Try to see it as OCD, it will surely attack your worst fear. Try to think rational. There is hope.
For example, I myself have phobia of traveling dimensions, which really sounds silly, but your mind convinces you to believe it, even adds up anxiety that pushes you to believe even more.
I don't know about this, I hope you get better!

[Otulissa]

I honestly dont know. I dont feel the anxiety like I used to, im just so depressed.....
I dont fight the feelings I dont think. I feel bad. Ive felt bad a long time, I dont try to stop it because I know I cant. I still work and go out and talk to people. Shutting myself off wont help, but other than that, what can I do?

[viking111]

I honestly dont know. I dont feel the anxiety like I used to, im just so depressed.....
I dont fight the feelings I dont think. I feel bad. Ive felt bad a long time, I dont try to stop it because I know I cant. I still work and go out and talk to people. Shutting myself off wont help, but other than that, what can I do?

It sounds like me, helplessness.
As I said, I was in that phobia of solipsism and ''paralel dimension travelling thing'' that, at first made me a lot anxious, but then, after time, I was calm, but really depressed. It just ended because I was not focusing on it. What I did might not be a good think, but I literary played computer games 2 weeks. I didn't go out, I just woke up, sat on my PC, went to bed and repeated.
At that time I felt hopeless and terrible, but somehow, it went away.
Try to think about solipsism like that.
So, If I was in this world alone, It is all imagined and nothing is real, would I be able to create it?
Look at how difficult world is. Look at all the systems.
Could you write all those astronomy books and famous Shakespear's plays? Could you literary, with your mind create all the history of the world, create all the animals that have lived and continue to live.
Could you literary create every person's face?
That is not possible, you are not the one who created the world.
Everyone is real, even I get these solipsism doubts, but I remember, that I simply can't be the only one.
Please check out the solipsm grand thread that's few pages back, it has a loot of useful information about dealing with the problem.
I hope you get better!

[MyNameIsTerry]

I think thats a very important piece if evidence that viking has given you there, Otulissa. Are you intelligent enough to have written everything ever in the world? How could you now about things if you don't have the ability within you to create them? Think of very complicated areas such as science, medicine, etc. What if I looked up some extremely complicated procedure and asked you to tell me how to perform it stage by stage? If your mind was truly capable of inventing me then how could you get it wrong since you would invent the answer along with the question?

What it then becomes is that you set a role for yourself in this created reality so that you allow others to appear more intellgent than you hence allowing yourself to be wrong.

Doesn't that sound all too complicated?

you said "what if nothings real?" Those "what ifs" are part of anxiety and they are negative based but one way in which therapists tackle this is by countering them with "positive whats ifs". For instance:

Negative
"What if nothings real?"

Positive
"What if everything is real?"
"What if my intrusive thoughts are wrong?"
"What if I can choose to believe everything is real?"

3-5 seems to be what is used from what I have seen. Stronger negatives can mean more volume to counter them.

You can rationalise with intrusive thoughts, by challenging them and changing the conclusion. This may not appear to work for some time but it will gradually change because the area of the brain that is looking for feedback only recognises negative feedback and is especially looking for strong negative emotions hence anxiety ticks a box for it and it belives it has done something correct. Notice the use of the word "valid", not "correct". It's "valid" in terms of getting the feedback it needs to complete the cycle (and reinforce the anxiety disorder) but not "correct" because it doesn't care whether it's correct, only that it gets the required feedback to finish the process. Those are two very different things.

Thought Records are useful in countering intrusive thoughts. Have you seen them? I can post a link and give some more detail on how to use them if not.

Starving it of negatives feedback is what is needed. If you retrain yourself to respond with a neutral or positive response, it can't complete it's cycle and eventually the old unhealthy behaviours become mothballed in favour of neutral or positives ones. The result is, the intrusive thoughts are less frequent and less intense. In time, there can be greatly reduced and when they do come they just zip through quickly. Thats how mine went as I worked on getting rid of them.

It's also important to remember that studies have proven that all people have intrusive thoughts but just don't realise it. So, if you put a target in yourself to make them extinct, you will fail because it is not actually possible. This is why acceptance and lack of negative reactions are so important. Mindfulness can teach you how to do this as it did for me hence why I try to promote it's benefits which I think are especially useful in obsessive disorders.

[TomT]

Hey there,

I will have to agree with Terry, I been there and sometimes I still think about solopism and another obsession I have with coincidences. Anyway think it this way there are A LOT of things you probably don't know. IF you created reality and everything around you, you should know absolutely everything.

IF we would live in a pseudo matrix reality nothing will change either because life would still go with its cycle you will need to do stuff, you would still feel hungry and you would still have the love of the ones around you, so no reason to worry (I target this because its pretty common to think this with solopism).

Making it short, reality exists its a shared experience between everyone when we think we might have this own created reality maybe its time to chill out and realise your ego its playing a trick on you making you believe something you know its not true.