People relate to things by seeing, without any physical symptoms, it’s hard for people to relate to Depersonalization. If I can tell someone in one sentence, I would explain it as
“It’s dehumanizing, the disorder takes and blocks away all the conscious/unconscious feelings and emotions of existence and simply being a human being.”
Tel me what could be worst than that? It would be a lie if I tell you I never had any suicidal thoughts, it’s just human nature to have these thoughts when you’re dealing with extreme pain. Fortunately for me these thoughts stop when I started to feel better. You shall seek help if you have constant suicidal thoughts.
When explaining DP/DR symptoms, it’s a whole new world. I can explain then in millions of ways.
“As if I was drugged”…
“As if everything is just an imagination of my brain.”
“As if I’m experiencing life as a dream and that I’m still lying somewhere sleeping.”
“As if I’m experiencing my world through a virtual reality glass.”
“As if…..”
This is why DP/DR is complex, it’s easy for you to say YES that you experience DP/DR but from medical perspective, systematically it’s much harder to assess if someone actually experiences DP/DR.
People experience one reality, it’s not possible for someone to imagine another reality. Reality is everything. It’s like telling someone to reimagine another specie’s reality, it’s not possible. Telling someone to imagine what DP/DR feel like is similar to that comparison.
I keep referring to ALS as an example, I hope that I don’t offend anyone in doing so. ALS is devastating and people can truly relate to it because it’s physical, it’s visible and people can imagine what’s it like to live with it. It’s much easier to raise awareness, the Ice Bucket Challenge was a huge success. Something like that would be difficult for DP/DR, how else can we depict DP/DR other than explaining it in words? Actually there is a movie called “Numb” which features Depersonalization, I’ve never watched it but I think it’s a great way and we can and should do more stuff like that.
I’m writing this blog in hoping someone with authority and maybe has been touched by DP/DR directly or indirectly to come forward and maybe we can start something great and raise awareness. I hope new people who found this blog through Google get relief knowing that there are many people like them.
Hang in there. Future is bright!
Brain Defect - Battle against mental illness. 