• Pressure in head/face

Being overly anxious and stressed over longer periods of time makes the muscles and tendons that cover our skull “tired”. The primary sensation is feeling like you have a tight band around your forehead. The pressure sensation may also appear in the bridge of the nose, or anywhere in the head for that matter. During my experience with DP/DR, I could also feel the pressure move and shift to different places in my head. Not fun! But harmless.

• Changes in vision

This is probably the symptom most associated with DP/DR and anxiety. The sudden change in our most important sensory input (our eyesight), can provoke tons of anxiety regarding our own well-being, and therefore more DP/DR. The changes in our vision may include things like:

- Seeing “static snow” in dark places
- Feeling as if there is a pane of glass between the world and the sufferer
- Objects may seem to move or “breathe” if focused upon
- Changes in perception that is difficult to explain
- More awareness of eye-floaters and white dots when looking at bright sources of light
- Sensitivity to fluorescent lighting

Why do all these changes occur? Well, what happens during high anxiety? Our pupils dilate! In a high anxiety sate, it is only logical to assume that our brain send signals to our eyes to prepare us for danger. In a real dangerous situation, this ability is a blessing since it allows more light to pass through the eye, making us more aware of our surroundings to deal with the threat. In a false dangerous situation (like DP/DR), we get to sit and analyze and worry about this perfectly natural change. This behaviour causes more anxiety and we basically give ourselves a reason to still be on the lookout for danger, causing the derealization to stick.

• Hypochondria

During DP/DR we tend to become much more aware of our own body and what we feel and think. Combined with the allready high anxiety state, it is only logical to assume that new sensations and thoughts may quickly lead to the conclusion that we are afflicted by some terrible disease. Remember that we constantly are on the lookout for something to blame for how we are feeling. The primary results of this behaviour is:

- Thinking you are going mad
- Worrying that the condition may “evolve”
- Feeling overly aware of your body and mind
- Constantly “checking in” on how you are feeling

Personally, I thought I had conditions like schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, delirium, brain damage etc. Even after I knew I was suffering from anxiety DP/DR  I often worried that the condition would evolve into something worse. This never happened of course, and never happens in anyone!

• Other symptoms caused by high anxiety:

- Feeling off-balance/dizzy

- Feeling as if you are “floating” when walking

- Cold hands and feet (blood preservation)

- Vivid imagination before going to sleep

- Depression and deep frustration/anger etc.

- Feelings of guilt

- Racing/violent thoughts

- Thoughts of “disappearing” into nothingness

- Loss of appetite

- Feeling clammy and stuffy

- Thoughts of an existential nature

- Feelings of dread and hopelessness

- Anti-social behaviour

- Pacification

- Insomnia

- Impaired Memory

- “Jelly Legs” (feels like your legs can’t support your body)

During my experience with anxiety I encountered all of the above symptoms. What you feel or think may be highly individual, but I believe the list above is a good approximation of your average DP/DR sufferer. Another important thing to point out is that all of these “symptoms” in reality are just sensations or thoughts, and none of them poses any direct threat to the sufferer! Sensations are only sensations, and have never hurt anyone.

I hope to see the forum grow to become a prosperous and active community.

The realization that I was actually suffering from an anxiety condition started to sink slowly in, and The Linden Method quickly became a Godsend to me. Realizing that I only had an anxiety disorder was the biggest “aha” moment of my life (yet). I started to read and look at everything that Charles had to say, and consequently I stumbled upon the video below:

Discovering this video was a moment of great relief for me. Someone could actually explain some of the symptoms I had feared for what seemed like ages!. Not all symptoms were explained though, and even if I realized what was going on with me, nothing really changed in terms of my DP/DR symptoms.

It was at this point I read through the entire Linden Method manual and started implementing some of it’s principles. Probably one of the biggest lessons I learned from the Linden Method was: “Focus on something else!”. Forcing myself to focus on something else actually worked! Logic tells us that we can’t think two different thoughts at the same time. Also, we can’t be in two different states at the same time (fear, love, anger, curiosity, etc.). The DP/DR thoughts quickly came back once I stopped diverting my mind though. I noticed however, that the physical symptoms (the aches, pressures, malaise, lump in throat, etc.) really started to get much better when I made it a habit to divert my mind often.

I doubt The Linden Method alone cured me, but it provided some really great tools and principles to recover as fast as possible. It also brings alot of reassurence in times of need.

Charles Linden himself was a sufferer for seven years. I recommend reading his story and comparing it to your own situation. He went through alot of pain, and experienced both depersonalization and derealization during his condition. The Linden Method consists of one large e-book and several audio tracks and instructional videos. In the E-book, Charles talks about the science of anxiety, his own story, symptoms, medication, eating habits, withdrawal, doctors and of course the one method you need to implement in your life to get rid of your anxiety (and DP/DR), for good..
.
What you get from the Linden Method package:

• Informational Audio Tracks with a combined length of over 2 hours
• Over 4 hours worth of Video Material
• Free Online Psychologist Consulting for 1 year
• 226 Page E-Book
  
• 360 Day money back guarantee
• Your Life Back
  

All in all, this e-course is very down to earth. When I look back over a year from now, I have no doubt that the Linden Method was a great contributor to my recovery and return to “real life”. It certainly got me in the right mind-set and provided much needed hope in a time of darkness. The course is a little pricey at 99$, but money was the least of my worries when I was at my worst.

Go to www.linden-method.com

After my horryfing experience with derealization and anxiety, I decided to share my story based on what I have learned as a sufferer. I will share my experience in great detail and provide the solutions that made me one hundred percent well again. This journal contains only my own opinions on the subject. I would also like to say that if you are suffering from derealization and anxiety, I feel for you, one thousand percent. I really do hope that I can improve your condition by sharing my story.

What is derealization?

The answer to this question is indeed a short one. It’s a dissociative symptom. Derealization is inherent to anxiety. You can not experience the symptoms of derealization if you do not suffer from some kind of anxiety disorder. Don’t treat derealization as a separate disorder, treat it as a symptom that originates from your underlying anxiety. This may seem stupid to some, but I treated my condition as an anxiety disorder, and every symptom disappeared over a time span of 4 months. This also applies to depersonalization, even though I did not suffer very strongly from that particular symptom. You do not necessarily have to feel anxious to experience the symptoms of derealization. Anxiety may lay dormant in the background, but the fear of derealization itself will bring the anxiety to life, causing more derealization. It becomes a vicious cycle.

Even if you don’t feel any particular anxiety at the moment, the DP/DR may still be present because of two factors:

1. DP/DR needs time to “clear up”. It doesn’t disappear momentarely with the anxiety.
2. You may feel relatively calm, but not calm enough to letting go of DP/DR.

Derealization causes:

In my case, the condition was triggered by several factors:

1. Stress
2. Trauma
3. Anxiety
4. Depression

I firmly believe that these are the key ingredients that causes dissociative symptoms. There are also rare cases of chronic symptoms of disassociation caused by epilepsy, migraine and mild head injury.

Symptoms of derealization and anxiety

The myriad of symptoms that comes from derealization and anxiety disorder are extremely subjective. Therefore, I will only list the symptoms I experienced.

• Pressure in forehead and nose bridge

This symptom was very irritating and anxiety provoking. Sometimes it felt like my forehead was going to burst open. It did not hurt like a headache does, but provided a persistent pressure sensation inside my forehead.

• Feelings of unreality

This is the “trademark” symptom of derealization and it was the symptom I feared the most. Sometimes it would feel like I was walking around in a dream. It hit me very hard when I was outside.

• Impaired memory

This symptom made me question my own sanity. My short term memory was non-existent and it made me very worried.

• Fear of madness

When I was at my worst, I seriously considered applying myself to a mental institution. It felt like madness, and I struggled to not show it externally.

• Insomnia

This was the first symptom I got, and it persisted for a great length of time.

• Dry eyes

A common symptom of anxiety, solved with eye drops.

• Anorexia

Because all that was on my mind was “What the hell is happening to me?”, I did not feel hungry or tired. I lost 13 lbs in my first 3 weeks.

• Panic attacks

The bad boy of anxiety. Fortunately I got hit by panic attacks very rarely. But I would very often be on the edge of one.

• Visual disturbances

Shadows and objects in my peripheral vision would move, and I developed floaters in my right eye.

• Hypochondria

In the early stages of my condition I was a raging hypochondriac, which does not fit my personality at all. I visited my GP 6 times during my first month. I really don’t wanna know how many times I visited Dr.Google. My self diagnosis would range from brain damage, Parkinson disease to psychosis.

• Strange dreams

This still gives me chills. The dreams I would have felt more real than when I was awake, and they were extremely bizarre and grotesque. I believe this was a side effect from the antidepressant I was on.

• Rapid/heavy heartbeat

This symptom appeared after about two months, and did not accompany a panic attack. The rapid heartbeat would occur at random and would last from 20 minutes to several hours. I measured it to be 140 beats per minute on some occasions.

You can read more about the symptoms here

My journey

First, I would like to tell you a little about myself. I am a young man in the beginning of my twenties. As long as I can remember I have suffered from mild social anxiety, but I take that as a part of my personality. I live in a small, quiet town in Sweden, where I used to work as a telemarketer. During the month before my condition bursted into flames, I started suffering from mild anxiety. My job performance was bad, I was heavily into drugs and depression was setting in.

June 2009

I lost my job, which really did not seem to affect me. I had more than enough money to live a while without any income. I had recently dabbled with psychedelic drugs, and was pretty high-strung after one particular drug experience. This is when I started to feel a bit uncomfortable, but nothing too worrying.

The journey truly began in the mid of June, on a Friday night, I experienced a huge panic attack while I was amongst my friends. I got extremely agitated but remained calm externally. I had experienced this kind of panic before so I just rode with it. The panic attack subsided and I went to bed. Two days later I struggled falling asleep. I was suddenly suffering from insomnia for the first time in my life, and it made me panic yet again. I felt very “out of it” and decided to sleep at home with my parents. I was awake for 30 hours. I finally fell asleep, but I woke up 3 hours later feeling exhausted and anxious at the same time. It was truly horrible, and this is when the unreal feeling started setting in. I would sit in a chair and stare into the wall all day. I could not eat, I could not watch television, I basically could not do anything else than worry about what was happening to me.

This is when I started consulting Dr.Google (for some odd reason, that was the only thing that made me concentrate). So, I plotted my symptoms in the search engine and came to the conclusion that I somehow had managed to damage my brain because of my recent drug abuse. That thought made me even worse, but I could not stop self diagnosing my self. The following week I hardly slept at all, but I visited my local GP and told him what was happening to me. He said I was suffering from anxiety. Somehow I did not believe him at all! “This was not anxiety, I have experienced anxiety before, and this is something else”, I thought. My GP gave me a prescription for Paxil, an anti-depressant and some sleeping medication. I still felt out of it, and all the symptoms I listed above started appearing one by one. After two weeks I finally started getting some sleep (4-5 hours per night) with the aid of the sleeping medication. In my second week, I also started realizing that this was going to get worse before it got better. I would still sit and self diagnose 90 percent of the day.

July 2009

Things started looking more grim. I really thought that this was going to be permanent, and I felt like I was in hell. The Paxil made me even worse, the side effects were unbearable. When I tried to stop taking Paxil I went into withdrawal symptoms which also was unbearable. I felt trapped, and wanted a way out. I got my mom to buy some fish oil and vitamins. I started taking them and over the course of a few weeks I didn’t really notice anything different.

I got in touch with an acupuncturist and I began taking a session there each week. I still remember sitting there in the lobby feeling so dreamy and that my mind could snap at any moment. It wasn’t until the end of July I started noticing improvement and hit my turning point. Especially after an acupuncture session i would feel like myself for a short time, and that really got my hopes up. I started diverting my mind by playing computer games which also helped tremendously. Occupying your mind is crucial if you want to see improvement. Basically, things went uphill from then. I also started taking magnesium pills and it really made me feel better. I was nowhere near normality, but this was a start. I also started accepting the fact that I was suffering from anxiety and anxiety alone. By the end of July I actually went on a four day family trip, even though I still felt dreamy and rather disorientated.

August 2009

This is when I managed to quit the sleeping pills and the antidepressant. The antidepressant was hard to quit, but I managed it. I suffered one and a half week of withdrawal symptoms. I would still divert my mind doing things on my computer, and I believe I suffered one panic attack in the start of August, but I kept my hopes up. The unreal feeling would go away as long as I kept my mind occupied. I also started with a supplement that i felt helped me tremendously called L-Theanine. I felt more and more sane for each day that was passing from now on.

September 2009

Now I started doing regular stuff again, like driving a car, visiting friends etc. I would feel strange and unreal on rare occasions as opposed to feeling normal on rare occasions. I still went to the acupuncturist and I enjoyed every session there. It is now November 2009 and I’m no longer suffering from any of the symptoms I mentioned above. There is a saying that that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and I totally agree with that.

Things that didn’t help me

Dr.Google and health forums
Antidepressants
Ruminating around your condition
Drugs
Waiting passively for the condition to end

Things that helped me

Diverting your mind (very, very important)
Realization of your condition (anxiety and nothing else)
Acupuncture
Doing things you did before you got “ill”
Eating healthy
Sleeping medication (the first two weeks)
Charles Linden (check out my review)
Time

There is hope!

I’m living proof that anxiety and all of the symptoms that come with that package are 100% curable without the need of doctors, psychologists or prescribed medication.

Good luck, and take care.

P.S. If you would like to share your story, please register and do so at our newly created forum

1. Write a diary that contains your general mood and symptoms each day. If the healing process seems slow, you can reference your diary to see if your condition has improved.
2. Occupy your conscious mind as often as you can. Do something that involves judgement and interactive thinking. Video games did it nicely for me.
3. Do the things you used to do before you got derealized. It is important to understand that derealization does not cause any harm to you what so ever.
4. Try acupuncture or accupressure mats. Acupuncture provided great relief for me when i was anxious.
5. Learn to recognize your symptoms, but don’t learn to fear them. They are not dangerous in any way.
6. Magnesium and Omega-3′s are excellent brain food and will hasten the healing process in my opinion.
7. Don’t do any drugs. That includes alcohol and especially coffee and other caffeine containing beverages.
8. Don’t over analyze yourself. I know you are eager to get well again, but over analyzing will not get you anywhere.
9. Don’t look around and wonder if you are derealized, this is counter productive.
10. I started getting better when i stopped lurking on health forums.

If you look for reassurance, I can inform the following:

1. I did not die
2. I did not feint
3. I did not go “mad”
4. I did not have a heart attack
5. I did not make a fool of myself
6. I did not have any other condition except anxiety

Now that you know this, what left is there to fear?

This is what I feared when I was ill.

1. Fear of becoming mad
2. Fear of there being something else wrong with me than anxiety
3. Fear of becoming [enter scary mental illness here]
4. Fear of not ever feeling normal again
5. Fear of not getting enough sleep

Fear is natural, and I think in today’s society where we are “unnaturally safe”, we start to fear minuscule things.

Train youself to let go of your irrational fears, and stop self analyzing.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Best of luck to you all.

I have considered myself cured for some time now, but a few days ago I noticed something. Yet another symptom has left me, one that I got so used to, I did not really notice it before it left me. The symptom that left me was the chest thightness. It really felt like a big knot being untied, and no matter how hard I try, I can not feel anxious anymore.

I also want to note that on your way to wellness, you will most likely experience setbacks in your curing progress. I.e, you are feeling somewhat great a few days, and then suddenly you feel like you are back to “page 1″. This is normal, and part of the healing.

Diet tip: I usually eat alot of junk food, but back in august I got a recommendation from my acupuncurist on my eating habits. I then went a month without eating any dairy products, or wheat products. This was the month where I healed the most.

Practice yoga and meditation – The Yoga and meditation therapies have been effective remedies for numerous mental and physical illnesses. They have the prowess to boost the natural ability of body and mind to withstand stress.  Meditation can concentrate your mind on matters that are really helpful for you in keeping your brain cool.  Yoga and other breathing exercises work to remove toxin from your body. The universally accepted treatment methods have several other positive effects on your body. However, make sure you visit a professional who can train you on the right ways of doing yoga and meditation.