Read this if you want to get out of dissociation / DPDR
Hi everyone,
First, let me introduce myself. I’m a 22-year-old woman who lived with severe chronic dissociation for more than 5 years. It got so severe that I went to the hospital twice, and at one point I was practically paralyzed and unable to move for hours because of how intense the dissociation was.
Now, for the past 3 weeks, I’ve been completely coming out of this horrible cycle of dissociation. Yes, I genuinely feel like I’m healing from it, and I want to explain simply what helped me.
First: after reading this, please stop constantly reading about dissociation.
I know exactly what I’m talking about. After 5 years of constantly checking my symptoms, searching for answers, reading about DPDR, comparing my experiences to other people’s experiences, etc., I only made everything worse.
When I finally stopped researching and checking my symptoms all the time, it honestly changed everything for me.
Second: read The Power of Now.
If you don’t want to read the whole book, I’ll try to summarize the main idea that impacted me so much, because reading it was a major turning point for me.
The book isn’t specifically about dissociation. It’s more about the mind and the present moment.
The author explains how we can become trapped in our minds — constantly thinking, analyzing, worrying, replaying things, imagining things, and creating intrusive thoughts and anxiety.
But here’s the important part:
You are not your mind.
You are not every thought that appears in your head.
And for me, this completely changed the way I looked at dissociation.
I realized that I was constantly trapped inside my thoughts, constantly checking how I felt, constantly asking myself “Do I feel real? Am I dissociating? Is this DPDR? Is this normal?”
And the more I focused on it, the more real and intense it felt.
So try something very simple:
Come back to the present moment.
When you notice your thoughts going everywhere, don’t fight them. Simply come back to the fact that you exist and that you are here, right now.
Breathe.
Walk.
Go outside.
Drink some water and actually feel the water
going down your throat.
Feel your feet touching the ground.
Listen to the sounds around you.
Look at the sky.
Laugh.
Talk to someone.
Do something.
Just be here.
This made me realize how trapped I had been inside my own mind for years.
And most importantly, I stopped treating every strange sensation as something I needed to analyze or be afraid of.
Third: meditate.
Yes, meditate.
Even something as simple as a body scan meditation can help you reconnect with your body and the present moment.
You don’t have to do anything complicated. Just sit down, breathe, and observe what is happening without constantly analyzing it.
Lastly: stop constantly checking your symptoms and doing grounding techniques out of fear.
For me, constantly counting my fingers, checking whether things looked real, testing myself, and repeatedly doing grounding exercises actually kept my attention locked onto the feeling of unreality.
I’m not saying grounding techniques are bad or that they can’t help anyone. I’m saying that for me, constantly using them as a way to check whether I was “real” or “okay” kept the cycle going.
Instead, try to live.
Be yourself.
Build a healthy routine.
Give yourself one small goal each week.
Go for walks.
Meditate.
Create things.
Talk to people.
Go outside and get some fresh air.
And most importantly, stop making dissociation the center of your life.
You are still you.
You are still here.
You are still living.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. 🤍
Now close Reddit, stop checking your symptoms for a while, and go breathe some fresh air outside. 😌