(excuse the messy room) I’m taking my grandmas room since she’s going to another country and i have like a 500-1000 cad budget and i’m new to room design, tbh i just need help with furniture placements. I am also planning to demolish that built in closet. ty!
Hi everyone. I’m 18 years old and fairly new to understanding my DPDR. I’ve been dealing with mild but persistent depersonalization and derealization for about 2 years now. It started after a period of extreme stress, sleep deprivation and emotional upheaval. I’ve been on Lamictal 50MG and Sertraline 50MG, it seems to help give me back my emotions, but in a artificial way in a sense where you’re a salamander who is still healing their chopped off tail and for some reason doesn’t grow back, so you have a prosthetic tail in the mean time, it’s there but isn’t what it was.
For context, I’m currently working with a therapist and doing shadow work as part of my healing. I’m also interested in Jungian psychology and individuation as a framework for understanding myself better.
A few things I’m genuinely struggling with and would love lived experience on:
I’ve noticed that when I pay attention to the DPDR it gets worse. But completely ignoring it feels impossible. How do you navigate that middle ground? Is there a way to acknowledge it without feeding it?
Does going deeper into your inner world, journaling, shadow work, self reflection, make DPDR worse for anyone else? I sometimes wonder if looking inward too much deepens the dissociation rather than healing it. But I also know avoiding inner work isn’t the answer.
I’ve noticed my DPDR is worse when I’m alone in my room doing nothing compared to when I’m engaged with people or activities. Does staying active and outwardly engaged actually help more than inner work for DPDR recovery?
Not looking for clinical advice I have a therapist for that. Just genuine lived experience. What practically helped your DPDR improve? What made it worse? How long did it take before you noticed real improvement?
Sometimes it feels like there’s no timeline for recovery and it’s just something I have to live with indefinitely. Did anyone feel this way and come out the other side? What shifted?
I’m doing the work, therapy, exercise, routine, morning walks, limiting screens. Just looking for real human experience from people who’ve actually been through this.
Thanks in advance.
Hi everyone. I’m 18 years old and male, fairly new to Jungian psychology but genuinely fascinated by it. I’ve been doing shadow work with my therapist and I’m drawn to the idea of individuation as a lifelong goal. I’d love some guidance from people with more experience in this space.
I have depersonalization/derealization (DPDR) that’s been running in the background for about 2 years, mild but persistent. For anyone unfamiliar, depersonalization is feeling detached from yourself, like you’re watching your life from behind glass. Derealization is feeling like the world around you isn’t quite real. Both have been a low level constant for me since a period of extreme stress, sleep deprivation and emotional upheaval.
I understand Jung said active imagination requires a stable ego first and that without proper grounding it can be dangerous, potentially leading toward psychosis in vulnerable states. My concern is that DPDR already weakens the ego and blurs the sense of self, so I’m genuinely unsure whether deeper unconscious work is safe for me right now or whether it would deepen the dissociation.
A few questions I’m sitting with:
Is active imagination safe for someone with DPDR, or should I wait until the dissociation has resolved more fully?
If active imagination isn’t appropriate for me right now, what are other effective ways to do shadow integration? I know real world action is part of it but I’d love more specific suggestions.
How do you practically strengthen the ego complex? What does that actually look like day to day?
Is the DPDR paradox real in your experience, where monitoring it makes it worse but ignoring it completely feels impossible? How do you navigate that middle ground?
Has anyone navigated Jungian individuation while dealing with dissociation? What actually helped?
What practical things helped your DPDR from a lived experience perspective, not just clinical advice?
I’m working with a therapist already and not looking for medical advice, just perspectives from people with genuine experience in Jungian work and anyone who has personally worked through DPDR.
Thanks in advance.