Does anyone know what depersonalization actually is????

[Gmo]

This is for those of you that have DP or have experienced it at some point......But does anyone know what's actually going on to cause these feelings??? It feels like I'm disconnected from my body 24/7 but it's like what's disconnected from my body??? I don't get it....I mean I am my body so how is it that I feel disconnected from it?? How can I be dissociated from me if I am me??? I don't get get.......I know this probably sounds a bit crazy, especially to anyone that's never experienced DP, but I promise I'm not crazy, I just really can't understand how it's possible to feel this way without taking drugs sometime recently. In a physiological sense does anyone know what causes dissociation??? I've been searching online all day but nothing gives a straight answer. I feel like if I knew what causes this I could do something more active to get rid of it than just sitting around being pissed about it all the time.

[ferret]

I could be mistaken but I believe that people who have their amygdalas physically damaged report DP/DR feelings. The amygdala is responsible for emotional response to stimuli. Lack of emotion is the most noticeable (or at least the easiest to describe) of my DR symptoms. Perhaps DR/DP is due to a malfunction in the amygdala.

[mgrade]

What causes dissociation in a physiological sense?...........Well, in terms of HPPD, it's caused by changes in the chemicals and events that occur in the synapses but a lot of things are at play when you talk about dissociation. For example, if you were to take a large dose of PCP, you would also be feeling the anesthetizing effects of the drug as well as its hallucinogenic properties. If you have enough symptoms/side effects from these sorts of drugs, you will feel disoriented, panic, tunnel vision, can't catch your breath, and out-of-body feelings etc.

It could be density of serotonin receptors, neurochemical depletion, changes in norepinepherine and dopamine, etc. I'm not totally sure, i'm not a neuro-chemist or a psychopharmacologist. lol I think if someone was 100% percent sure of the cumulative effects, as well as the immediate circumstantial effects, of every cigarette, joint, poison, virus, bacterium, hallucinogen, dissociative, opiate, allergen, antibiotic, etc, that you have every taken or accidentally caught or ingested, you would still have a hard time finding an objective answer as to why you are feeling dissociation and a hard time finding what is going on at the biological and neuro-chemical level, given the subjective nature of any individual (certainly considering the possibility of genetic and premorbid disorders that may be latent).

That being said, while i don't know for myself, if the doctors knew for sure, they would have cures perhaps for HPPD.

There are obviously shared anatomy between all (most) humans, and shared feelings, experiences, as well as shared neurobiological and neuro-chemical actions.

Though, people have different sensitivities.

It all has to do with where psychology meets biology: where mind and body meet: the central nervous system. What is consciousness and perception?

The problem is, is that you are having problems with the definition of your perception. Reality is skewed and distorted and there seems to be some fog between you and the stars and you can't make it out. And you aren't feeling good. The biggest problem is that you aren't feeling good. And you are confused. I feel this stuff too. It should start going away at some point.

Dissociation is something that needs time and professional guidance.

[Gmo]

It all has to do with where psychology meets biology: where mind and body meet: the central nervous system. What is consciousness and perception?

The problem is, is that you are having problems with the definition of your perception. Reality is skewed and distorted and there seems to be some fog between you and the stars and you can't make it out. And you aren't feeling good. The biggest problem is that you aren't feeling good. And you are confused. I feel this stuff too. It should start going away at some point.

That pretty much hit the nail on the head..........and @odysseus how do you fix perception??? It's an odd thing to consider. Maybe just waiting it out is the only solution.

[ferret]

Everything is physical, If I learned anything from shrooms/HPPD it is just how much the physical/chemical make-up of your brain effects your mind/personality.

Actually if i learned anything from shrooms/HPPD it is that nothing can be known.

[mgrade]

while i agree with the physical......... what is physical about one's opinion more true than another's?

[gill]

I don't think DP is very mysterious. Yes, perception in general can be, but not necessarily DP. My doctor gave me a pretty good medical explanation for it.

Basically, the pre-frontal cortex inhibits the autonomic areas of the brain that respond directly to stimuli. If these autonomic areas become over-active, the pre-frontal can no longer do an adequate job in inhibition. So you basically have a disconnect which happens. This is why people have a perception of their thinking-mind, being disconnected from their emotional and sensory mind; there literally becomes a disconnect.

Of course, there's probably many different paths to get to this condition. It's not really that relevant though; the only practical solution is to reduce stress; which is highly involved in these autonomic areas; then you can have a re-connection.

[gill]

BTW, I was referring to the chronic DP/DR. I.e. , you can wake up calm and still have it. It is a long-term effect of stress, altering the pathways in the brain; not an immediate effect of something current, which can be the case for transient DP/DR.

[Gmo]

^^^^^That makes some degree of sense. @Those of you that are talking about us being more than physical, I'm not disagreeing with that at all but personally I don't think DP has to do with that. On dpselfhelp I've read a number of instances where people list that they're experiencing essentially the same things I am and they've never taken a drug in their live's. I think DP is more related to something phsyical going on with stress and/or anxiety.....but that's just my opinion.