[THREAD] I want to revisit dissociation, specifically derealization/depersonalizations. They are scary to experience and hard to understand. They shift the way we perceive our environment/ourselves. Let’s go through why they happen, their link with anxiety and what we can do!

Derealization is when the way we see our environment changes. We may feel as though we are disconnected from reality, as if we are seeing the world through a veil. It may feel dreamlike, as if we are not really awake. Time may feel like it goes by too fast or too slow.

Depersonalization is similar but it refers to the way we view ourselves and our bodies. We may hear our voice and it sounds far away. We may look at our hands and feel as though they belong to someone else. We feel completely disconnected from ourselves. So why do these happen?

They are actually a shutdown mechanism that our brains use. Similar to numbness, it gets activated when we go through intense bouts of anxiety for too long. They are a way to shut down stimuli to protect us from these intense anxiety attacks.

However, these symptoms often scare us more than the panic attacks we used to get. We start to question our existence and our reality. The way we perceive reality is one of the few constants we have. When that shifts, we may feel lost.

However, we can’t lose our minds because of it. It is not going to be permanent. It is directly linked to our anxiety and trauma and is a tool that our brain uses when things get hard. When everything is dimmed, so are our emotions, meaning we can’t get that strong anxiety.

So how we get rid of it? It is important to work on the underlying problem. As long as our strong anxiety/trauma is still there, the dissociation will keep coming back. But through meds and therapy, we can lessen/remove these symptoms and also the dissociation.

However, it is important to note that even if the anxiety/trauma is treated, it may take time for the dissociation to go away. It only gets activated a while after our symptoms and will only leave a while after they are gone.

If you feel your anxiety is under control but the dissociation is still there, just give it time. It will slowly start to go away and perception of ourselves and environment getting back to normal. I hope that this thread helped clarify this phenomenon