Posted by pedrito on May 15, 2005, at 17:33:00
In reply to Re: Dryden, Ellis, ACT, posted by alexandra_k on May 14, 2005, at 0:53:07
> Is it that it isn't so much a problem with your thoughts (your internal verbal dialogue)...
> or your mental pictures (I used to get images of myself hanging off one of the rafters in my house)...
> But more a problem with the QUALITY of your EXPEREINCE???
> Does that seem right???- Errrm that's more like it, yes. Some days (like Friday) I disappear off to this "external viewpoint" pretty much the whole day and cannot seem to snap out of it. Other days (like Saturday) I'm relatively fine and have occasional periods of intrusive thoughts, which I sidestep or challenge, depending on what I think's most likely to help (neither techniques help mostly).
> Yeah. I get this sometimes. But I'm not too sure on whether our experiences are similar or not. I haven't really talked about what it is like to anyone in very much detail. Probably because - as you say - it is hard to describe / explain.
>- Yes, it's phenominally difficult to describe. I'm still not 100% sure I have DP/DR. Pretty confident though. Plus it's not talked about or worked on that much by the looks of it.
> 'Less extreme' versions of these are found in de-personalisation (the sense that one isn't real, or all there, somehow). An extreme version can be found in delusions of thought insertion and alien control. Where (apparantly) people come to believe on the basis of their experiences that an external agency is controlling their thinking / feeling / behaviours.
>
> Is that kind of what you mean?- Yes and no. I certainly don't believe another party is controlling my thoughts. That's bonkers (no offence to anyone who thinks that). However, I do believe, and have considerable, painful evidence that I "zone out" to what feels like a place where I'm not doing the thinking. This, I'm certain goes back to 10 years ago where I spent 3 months 24/7 generating vivid imagery of people loathing me. I think I incidentally trained myself into DR/DP =0(
>
> The other way is de-realisation. Thats when the world seems removed or distant somehow. The world doesn't seem real.
>
> Quite often depersonalisation / derealisation can be found together.
>
> Is this what you are getting at???
> I'm not at all sure that either cognitive restructuring or acceptance can alter the experience.
> But medication may help.
>
> ???
>
> I don't know...- Neither do I. It's a f_cker. Friday was almost unbearable and yet Saturday was fine. That's not your regular anxiety/depression scenario. At least I get the occasional OK day I suppose.
Pete
poster:pedrito
thread:492810
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/books/20050501/msgs/498175.html