Posted by shoebox on March 3, 2005, at 7:14:45
In reply to Am I Dissociating? Scared, posted by D minor on March 2, 2005, at 16:30:13
D Minor,
What meds are you currently taking?
I have had trouble with depersonalization/derealization (yes, they are related, derealization being sort of "less serious"), and it is indeed frightening, but it does not mean you are "crazy" or an MPD candidate, not at all.
I experienced a sort of "fugue" a few years back when I was under *tremendous* stress--suddenly I felt "unreal" and as if I was sort of half-awake, in some sort of twilight. It is still very difficult to describe, and it scared me to death. I called my pdoc, and he explained that it was nothing to get alarmed about, that it was a natural response to what was happening in my life at that time; that it was simply that, a stress response. I wasn't "going insane", as I had feared.
I remember it as my "nervous breakdown"--does anybody use that term anymore, or know what it means?--and it was truly awful. My pdoc told me to go lie down in a dark room and do my best to stay calm--deep breathing exercises, etc.--and that the fugue would lift, which it did, a few days later.
Here's the funny thing: during those few horrible days I had an important assignment at work (I was a graphic designer) and while I was lying in the dark convinced I was totally insane, I drifted off for a moment, a "flash" woke me up, and I saw the design, fully realized and ready to go. I got up, went to my computer, banged it out, e-mailed it to the agency and it was accepted immediately, with no changes (a first!!). It was a like a flash of brilliance or something.
"Say," I thought to myself at the time, "This nervous breakdown stuff really pays off!" ;-)
poster:shoebox
thread:465576
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050227/msgs/465876.html