bulbous_plant

bulbous_plant t1_ixul55t wrote

The DSM does a poor jump regarding DP/DR. It’s severely under diagnosed, and more often just labelled as an additional symptom of anxiety, which, in many ways it is. It’s often the source of anxiety for those with DP/DR, where the fear of the DP/DR experience (“I’m losing my mind”, “my whole life is the matrix”, “what if I’m dead” etc.) generates anxiety, pushing the brain even more into survival mode, leading to more DP/DR. In contrast, those who don’t perceive the experience as threatening tend to find a DP/DR experience diminished quickly. To me, this is the soul reason why 90% of the population will have one transient experience of DP and DR in their life, but only a small fraction develop the chronic type.

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