EXERCISE No13 - "The story of my life"

Today I propose a very useful exercise to fight against this monster called DEPERSONALIZATION.

EXERCISE nº13: - "The story of my life"

1. Take a sheet of paper, standard size A4 or better the larger A3 (it depends of the number of years you have been suffering DP/DR)
2. Place it horizontal, landscape (wider) and write from the upper left corner the previous year to the year you suffered the DP stroke. In my case, 1987.
3. Below, at 2 cm aprox, write the next year, the year of your disorder, in my case, 1988, and so on until reaching the current year (2014 now). You can turn the sheet if necessary to the other side.
   
    
   
   
4. At the upper side of the sheet and close to the right of the first year you will write place the labels corresponding to the twelve months, from JAN to DEC.
5. Draw parallel lines, horizontals to separate clearly each year and verticals to separate months or quarters if you prefer.
6. FILL THE STORY OF YOUR LIFE: Place in the calendar, approximately, when the most significant events of your life during those months, quarters, years: 
• When you started a new job or project and when you finished it.
• When you fell in love and when this relationship was over.
• When you suffered your disconnection DP/DR
• When and where you had your vacations (summer, winter, ...) 
• When you passed your driving licence exam. 
• When you finished your studies, university,... fill the courses. I mean, when you began 1º, 2º, 3º, etc...
• When you passed that exam so important for you  
• When you moved to a new house.
• When you or your relatives suffered an important accident or trauma, relevant for your life.
• When your kids be borned (if you have any), otherwise nephews.
• Wedding dates you attended, even yours, jeje
• Travels you made to especial places, and so on...

It would be better using colours and putting your age besides every year of the calendar. 

MAKE THIS EFFORT TO LOOK BACK ON YOUR PAST AND SOLVE THE PUZZLE!

WHEN

WHERE

WHAT WORRIED TO ME, SPECIALLY THE FIRST YEAR AND MONTHS BEFORE MY DP/DR STROKE

(c) santos.barrioscanseco@gmail.com

EXERCISE nº12 - "Comparing, comparing and comparing"

By now, we know that our DP / DR dissociation likely comes from a weak communication between two areas or brain functions, one related to our body, time and space and the other, related to words, our conciousness and abstract concepts.

Although both still perform their functions , our unpleasant feeling comes from the fact that our rational, logic mind does not have easy access to the other part and therefore can not control the space-time of our life time or adequately perceive the world around us. Even knowing that it doen't mean any sense, we distinguish two parts within us , we feel as spectators of our own body. That fact may cause a panic attack in some individuals.

For example: a normal mind without DP / DR, is able to stop their own logical thoughts for a moment and looking consciously in a special way (check nº7 exercise, active look) to any ordinary object controlling the following information "not logical" that comes from the "other side":

• What time can be according to the intensity and angle of light I can see out the window?
• How big is this room compared to the previous home?
• How long has passed since I've seen, eg, my brother?
• How long I have a glance to this book?
• What do I want to do now?
• What I'm doing is appropriate to ME, to MY  PERSONALITY?
• What did I do yesterday ?, and last week ?, What would I do differently this week?
• What am I planning to do tomorrow?
• How long that I do not wear these shoes?
• Do I want my wife or my husband, girlfriend / boyfriend ?, What will  I tell when I meet them?
• Where have I seen this before ?, floor tiles are similar to ...?
• etc ...

There are a few types of questions that can help us a lot to reconstruct the puzzle as answers NO LOGIC, NOT ABLE TO BE reasoned , the right answers are in the "other side". If we don't want to give a random answer, deny the question or avoid the situation, WE SHOULD ACCESS to that part of our brain we want to connect to.

Excellent exercise!

EXERCISE nº12 - Compare SPECIFIC objects!

Located in your living room, watch the main table . As it will not be the first table you've seen in your life, ask yourself the following questions:

• When was the first time you saw this table?, Did you buy it?, Before was there another ?, Which one do you prefer?
• How is it compared to the table in your room ?, Is it highest? made in wooden or metal ?, What color is one and the other ?, What is heavier ?, What is wider ? Stretch out your hands and feel its dimensions.
• And your work desk or table where you study in school , college or university?
• Stand in front of it and see how high is it compared to your legs?. Sit on each chair around the table and think where you'd be more comfortable to write with a pen?

Notice the layout of the room , where are the armchairs, where is it the TV?, where are the chairs , and the bookstores?

Do you like the current layout more than the old one? Where did you sit at this time?

COMPARE ALL YOU CAN SEE: places, objects, heights, widths, dimensions respect to LONG AGO WHEN YOU WERE RIGHT!

santos.barrioscanseco@gmail.com

EXERCISE No. 11 - "Improving while we are driving a car"

A person with DP / DR can get the driver's license and driving perfectly. I attest that, because I did, and many other complex tasks.

In our state, the natural tendency is to focus on the road , driving, look ahead continuously. How to improve our DP / DR is based on the following exercises:

1. Slow down, to one that is more comfortable to look at anything other than just the road. 90 km/h is fine. In addition we reduce stress and tension accumulated.
2. Think about where you are now. ¿ How far are you from where you lived when you were okay ?, Far ?, Which way, which way would you go to your old house ?, How would you do to get there if you had to walk ?, Where do you reach a known point by which spent many times when you were okay?
   
3. Have you ever been on other occasions on this place?, When ?, With who?
4. Pay attention to the bridges crossing the road. Are they too high ?, How high ?, What would happen if you crash with the pillar of one of them? ... phew. Watch the vegetation, the median, the buildings surrounding the road.
5. Notes other cars left and right of your lane, look at the color and model. Watch the occupant. Is it older than you ?, Could it be a classmate ?, Which could be his occupation ?, Do you like his/her car? IMAGINE IT IS A CAR or TRUCK TOY , seem which you played when you were a kid. Imagine you could hand it.
   
   
   
   
   

Of course, whenever you need to keep looking at the road to avoid an accident, but try YOUR EYES ACTIVELY FOCUS THE LANDSCAPES AND OTHER OBJECTS , both outside and inside the car.

HOW IS THE RECOVERY? - "What will I feel?"

In my case I have lived two types of recoveries:

• The first was by itself, spontaneously, waking up the next morning ok, with great sense of relief. (That is, It lasted a few hours, like a drunk without drinking). Probably a warning.
• The second time, recovery  NO occurred in the next morning, nor the other, or the beyond one.  The recovery occurred  very slowly , desperately slow , months, years, with the feeling that did not advance anything and I was going to stay like this forever, rare, dumb.

I imagine that many of you may be wondering the same thing!

What I noticed is that certain kinds of thoughts and actions made ​​me feel slightly something right . I had to keep trying by myself, by trial and error to determine what made ​​me well:

For example, getting up and walking around the room or across the room looking at my things, my old textbooks, .... Give a short walk every evening alone. Take a deck of cards, touch and remember the first time I played cards, remember the house in another town where I was in summer, remember what my mother or my brothers told me, etc ...

SOME SYMPTOMS THAT INDICATE WE ARE RECOVERING

• Mild "pinpricks" , a signal that something perceptible happens in our head , not painful, indicating that we are recovering the neural circuit that connects logical mind with our "body" mind.  It's hard to explain, but it's as if I were to use an abandoned route, for years in my case, that connects emotions, personality (our personal history) and sensory perception . The exercises I propose in this blog, gradually make something move in our brain for good

• Naturally, the colours i.e. of cars on the highway , they begin to have different distinct tones and greatest, they evoke us toys, objects of the past that had the same tone and even more BIG! ... whether we like it or not . We will be able to regain tastes really (not fake or reason that we like a tone or other)
• Our way of looking will be different. More active, paying attention to the details of things and our body. We will see in 3D and every place else remind us of the past. WE BE ABLE TO COMPARE WITH OUR PREVIOUS LIFE.  And remember to compare you need a reference, the reference we had lost.
• ...

IT IS WONDERFUL!

Come on, Don't give up!

EXERCISE NO. 10 - "Take your parents, brothers and sisters into account"

Did you know that one of the keys to get over our DP / DR is consider what others, especially close relatives, think of us ?

Everything we are, our personality, has been forged slowly through relationships with others , especially those most influential been able to provide: father, mother and brothers (I mean those who have educated us and the rest of the people have lived with us during our childhood and youth)



Our habits at home, the time when you eat, when they went to bed, which is done at home on Sundays, etc ... everything is governed by our relationship with them. In a house it is known naturally what is normal and what is not, what is right and what is wrong . There is a vital history and shared values ​​. Like it or not, they ARE OUR REFERENCE BASE.

Take them into account IS IMPORTANT!

 

 

EXERCISE #10: "Take people, specially your parents, brothers and sisters into account"

(This exercise can be done even if you are not in touch with your family. Just go back in time, rememberm and imagine you're still living there, at your parents')

Ask specific questions about the members of your family you grew up:

• Would you like the work that I have or what I am studying?
• Where is my brother now ?, When was the last time I saw him ?, And the last time I called him on the phone?
• If my mother were here in my room or in my current house ... What would be her opinion about what she could see ?, And my father and my brothers?
• What games did we play together?
• Where were going at holidays ?, What did we do?, Where were we going ?, What was my favorite game at that time ?, What about them?
• What music did you like?
• What was the hobby of each  member of my family?, What  did they like?
• How much money did they give you for spend a week ?, what did you spend for'... etc ...

This exercise primarily fights against depersonalization . If you notice something in your mind shudders when realizing these questions ... OK. EVERYTHING IS FINE! 

EXERCISE No.9 - "Visiting a shop"

One of the reasons that led us to the DP / DR was being so concerned about an issue , so focused on something or so traumatized by an experience that our mind decided to protect and insulate us from the reality around our body.

Somehow, the logical mind is unplugged from those negative emotions motivated to do something, somehow, against our will.

Example: In my case, everyone will have his, my obsession was to study as much as possible to pass exams of my college career. Everywhere I went in my leisure time, vacation, ... my mind was to be concerned for the exams and NO was receiving 100% from my environment, we could say that I "sliding" around and could not find the peace until they find me studying. There was a continual contradiction between my body and my mind, which ended abruptly ending in an episode of derealization.

Can you live without paying attention to what surrounds our body?

Undoubtedly yes, it is precisely what makes someone just having a DP / DR. Your body goes on "autopilot" for life while you are worried about your topic. At first it can be controlled at will, after the "stroke", it becomes permanent.

EXERCISE # 9 - "Visiting a shop"

For example, when you go to a counter of a shop or a store to buy or order something and have to wait in a queue:



• Look around to see if you are annoying somebody. Watch your feet and place well.
• Compare your height with those of other people you have around. Are you higher or lower?
• Compare your age roughly with them. Who are your age about?
• Calculate how far is your body from the walls of the room, the door, the window, desk, ...
• Look closely everything there on the counter, even things you are not intended to buy. The idea is to not only focus on what you need to do on the shop: what else do they sell?, what type of cash register / POS are, read the name of the clerk on his shirt.
• Account , including you how many people are in the queue. Do you know in what order you go in row ?, ..
• Do you feel hot or cold ?, Are you comfortable? ...
• What's that smell ? Have you even smelt that scent?, where?
• What sounds are in the trade ?, is there any radio on ?, the other people in the queue, are they talking or are they silent ?, why do not you talk to someone in the row?

IF YOU WANT TO RECOVER THE NORMALITY...

STOP AVOIDING THE SITUATION WITH YOUR SMARTPHONE, READING A NEWSPAPER, LISTENING MUSIC OR THINKING ABOUT WORRIES PAST OR FUTURE IN A PLACE DIFFERENT WHERE YOU ARE

In short, you must be alert to the real world , you should certainly focus your eyes to what is around you (Exercise 7: An Active Seeing) and make an effort to feel the pace of time.

You should be awake, AT PRESENT TIME!!

A GRAPHIC EXPLANATION OF DP/DR DISSOCIATION - Prezi.com

I have worked on an graphic explanation of the DP/DR disorder.
You can visualize it in the following link (better on a PC):

http://prezi.com/iikti0087jzy/?utm_campaign=share&utm

I argue that we all have two different types of mind, one devoted to control our body, senses, time and spatial references (identified with the right hemisphere from our brain) and the other one, the logical one devoted to think with words, abstract concepts, language, beliefs, duties, goals in life,... (identified with the left hemisphere).

Enjoy it!

I hope your comments.

EXERCISE No. 8 - "Can anybody hear me?"

Let me a break, I'll make a survey among my readers ...

Is your sense of hearing  working ok? Since you have DP / DR  feel that something is wrong in receiving sounds ?, Have you done a medical hearing test and yet everything is okay ...? It is strange, isn't it?

Would you mind to write a comment on this post to tell me how you hear the sounds, what happens when you talk to someone, what do you feel? ... as the title of this exercise says: Can anybody hear me? :-)

I propose this simple exercise related to the perception of hearing:

EXERCISE nº8 - Can anybody hear me?

Make a sound with your fingers, give a slap, talk to someone, yell your name, whisper, click your tongue, clears your throat, etc ... ... experience sounds coming out of you. Try different sound intensities from the lowest to the highest and observe the reactions of others, look their faces to perceive their emotions, to feel you are in this real world and can affect others.



Pay attention and ask yourself:

1. Sounds are high or low?, Medium?, ... Try to speak very softly.
2. Which is the level of the sound people is listening to me? i.e.: my brother, my mother, my roommate or work fellow from home or the office?
3. When I go down to the street i.e.:in my sensory daily walk , ¿ who may be listening me if I speak, shout or sing a song ? Move your head slightly from left to right, searching people.

As you can notice, to answer these questions adequately is necessary also use the vision(remember the Exercise 4 - synchronization of the senses) turning your head from left to right to detect the direction of the sound.

A person with DP / DR does not pay adequate attention to the volume of his voice, or the sounds is transmiting, .. just pay attention to the content . We could say that he takes into account just the pure and simple message and NOT THE FORM OR DIRECTION IN WHICH THE SOUND IS GENERATED, NOR THE EMOTIONS CONTAINED IN THE VOICE.

In order to return to be placed properly in the real world is extremely important to recover this sensitivity THINKING OF (IMAGINE) THE WAY OTHERS PERCEIVE US WHEN WE SPEAK.

TIPS TO KEEP A "NORMAL" LIFE TO RECOVERY

The recovery is likely to take some time, usually some months or even years. If you are actively working for a while every day you will be able to reduce this time considerably.

You must know that although YOU see everything weird, confused and do not know very well that you want or where you are going, the rest of the people around you , your family, your friends, your fellows at school or work will not notice necessarily a significant change in your behavior .

It is true that in the first days or months suffering DP / DR is difficult to maintain a high level of concentration to perform your tasks as before.

TIPS:

• Do not obsess over a quick return to normality . Enjoy your night's sleep. Rest . Reflect, seek the reasons brought you to derealization and take measures to remove it. Please, no depression is allowed.



1. As far as possible your life should continue normally . Certainly, sometimes you will desire not seeing anyone, locking yourself in your room, listening to music or staying in bed. Ok. Do it occasionally to remove accumulated tension.
2. Try not to stay at home and go back to school, college, university, job, etc ... Although each case may be different, you may miss a year of study or have to be ordered off work.
3. Share your problem with family. Tell the symptoms of DP / DR and asking for your support and understanding. Tell them that there are many cases like yours, even there are Facebook groups or blogs like this that you are reading.
4. Even if you don't think so, in this "automatic" state, you can do many tasks as before. Just do not knowing how you've been able to do, but you will.   A well known example is the normal absorption experienced by drivers at the wheel of a car when they are thinking about their personal problems, job, or when talking on the mobile phone. They are able to drive automatically, stopping at red lights and find their way home. When the driver returns to reality, is a bit afraid of how he could do it if he didn't pay any conscious attention to the road.
5. Usually it is good going out with friends and socializing . But maybe you can feel uncomfortable because of your DP disorder. Not get obsessed with it . It's very interesting to meet old friends from the past, when you were ok to share memories with them. You are THE SAME PERSON.
6. Do the exercises proposed in the blog daily. Reserve at least 1/2 hour a day for your recovery. The rest of the day, well, you just go and do things as you can.

REMEMBER THAT THIS PROCESS MAY TAKE SOME TIME !, so do not rush. This has a solution and soon you will be the same again.

Any questions?

santos.barrioscanseco@gmail.com

EXERCISE No. 7 - "An active seeing"

In this post we will raise awareness about how important it is to change the way we watch the things around us. A necessary change towards normality. :-)

A style of " ACTIVE LOOK" is to be constantly focusing different objects at different distances to be aware of everything around us . Exactly THE OPPOSITE TO BE CONCENTRATED , TO BE ABSORBED in our thoughts, far from reality.

                                                                              (WITH DPDR)                                                        (FOCUSING)

On the left you see the confused image a DP / DR person gets. However if you ask him about what he can see he will say correctly that there is a bottle, a fruit and a doll, but meaning nothing to him / her.

On the right side the picture a healthy person sees. His gaze is focused on the details, evaluating 3D images.

Typically thinking: Who left this here ?, my mother ?, my wife ?, I love bananas, can I take one ?, is time to eat something ?, should collect all that and put them tn its correct place ?, Who has taken away that stuffed ?, are they near the edge of the table ?, etc ...

ALL the objects around us, including our own body SHOULD mean something to us. A healthy normal person unconsciously processes all these things when he sees a REAL object:

•  Is it mine or not?, Whose?
• How far is from MY BODY ?, can I take it without moving or have to get up?, How?
• Is it the first time I see something like that ?, If it is not, how is it different from others I've seen before?
• Is it heavy or light ?, If I lifted it ... will it weigh a lot?
• Is it nice ?, Do I like it?, is it special for ME ?, does it have attractive colors?
• How long is there ?, Who put it there?

At the same time we must be aware of our body , we have to look our hands, fingers, arms, legs, feet, what we manage to see from our chest and TO OBSERVE the features and changes in them. Do we have grown more hair ?, do we have more moles ?, are my joints hurting me anywhere?

WE MUST PERCEIVE OUR BODY!

We must pay attention to how we sit or how we stand, if we are comfortable or not, when an object touches us and bother us, in how we dress, what we wear, what shoes, what sweaters or sweatshirts, what pants, do I keep the ones I like ?, When Did I buy them ?, I went with someone to buy it or someone gave me ?, When, on what occasion ?.

It is also essential to locate our body in the place where we are:

Are we near a wall ?, is this room equal to other room I had known somewhere before?, is it a street that is reminiscent of another of my childhood? ...

WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME? - Understanding the DP/DR disorder

If you have this disorder and want to know what works differently in you, this is your post:

A person suffering DP / DR is a person who has suffered prolonged stress, trauma, anxiety or lasting brain alteration produced for example by use of drugs that led to disconnect suddenly "somewhat" from reality .



What is not going well in our mind?

For any of the reasons listed above:

• 1) We access poorly our perceptual memories / memory  (Derealization)

For example: do not understand your hands, clock times mean nothing, your house does not seem your house, is no longer familiar, you see everything differently, you feel bad anywhere, prefering to close your eyes, ...







• 2) We have difficulty incorporating the information that comes to us by way of our personality, ourself, our personal history . (depersonalization)

For example, nothing excites us, the more people there are around more confused and missing we feel, we have lost our interests and hobbies or no longer enjoyed them, asking ourselves who we are, why do we exist, with whom we interact, why we do things, etc ...

Somehow it is a disorder related to the correct perception of the real world and its meaning for us. It affects our consciousness and the link that exists with our emotions. It affects to our MYSELF. To that person you can see in the mirror.

Unable to compare with the past

We feel we have lost the reference!

The real drama of this disorder is that it is not simply reversible over time. A certain neuronal circuitry of the brain (the great unknown) has stopped working properly and creates the unpleasant feeling confused, upset, not understanding the world, not knowing who we are and raised important issues.

Any questions?

Let me help!

santos.barrioscanseco@gmail.com

EXERCISE No. 6 - "Connecting every 10 minutes"

It is normal having to deal with daily tasks that need our concentration and abstraction from the real world :

• Read or study books , articles, web pages on the Internet, ...
• View movies , or listen to music with headphones.
• Playing video games (eg PCs, tablets, smartphones, ..)
• Programming a computer
• Think for a long time in a work or family problem that concerns us
• and so on ...



These activities naturally evade us from the real world. As we do these activities we cease to pay attention to what surrounds us  so we create a propitious environment to the occurence of derealization disorders.



This evasion of the real world, combined with other factors such as stress , work pressure, trauma, anxiety, ... if it lasts for a long time can be the trigger for an episode of DP / DR .

Today in my proposed exercise we will attack the excess concentration of our mind immersed in one of these risk activities:

Exercise No. 6: "Connect every 10 minutes"

If we're watching a movie at home at night, keep a light that illuminates the room to, and for about 10 minutes long, stop paying attention to the movie and: focus on objects within reach, look our legs, our hands , arms, be aware of our position (if we are sitting, lying, comfortable or not, ...), look at the other people who might be watching the same movie, etc ...

If we are required to read or study printed material , either on paper or on computer, do the same thing, stop every , let's say 10 minutes, to connect with the objects, place, our own body and people that surround us. You don't need to get up, but you MUST stop reading the book, move your head to every direction focusing and connecting with the environment.

Avoid software and addictive games. If you must face to one, stop every few minutes to acquire information from the space where your body is.

Do you have a profession or hobby that requires you concentrating for long periods of time?

BE CAREFUL AND TAKE MEASURES!!

EXERCISE nº5 - "Using a Bridge Object"

Find in your house an object like a book, a game, a pen, a pack of cards, etc ... you used before falling into depersonalization , whereby know you spent enough time in the past, that must mean something for you (possibly it was one of your favorites) and is associated with moments of leisure, good times, a vacation, relax, ...

The exercise involves concentrating all your attention aware that object, with your five senses and especially try to travel to the past and to feel the same as you felt when you had that object in your hands .

FEEL THAT YOU ARE THE SAME PERSON!!

Try to think who was around when you were using that object, what you thought at the time, how you used to use it, really connect with your past YOURSELF. How did you get it ?, you bought it?, Who gave you away ?, What did you think the first time you used it ?, Who were you with ?, Did you like using it ?, What was it that attracted you use it? , How long did you spend with it?, where was it placed before?...



You can repeat this exercise with every object that have meant something good to you in the past

Our mind has been blocked by a permanent stress, anxiety, a wrong way of perceiving reality, a way of thinking that is not adequate. It is therefore essential to retake the thoughts and concerns of before to connect with our TRUE OURSELF.

santos.barrioscanseco@gmail.com

@NeighbourSaint

EXERCISE nº4 - "Synchronization of your senses"

Ordinary people not affected by DP/DR use as a whole his five senses to discern the world:

When they enter a cathedral for the very first time, in a natural way, they observe the spectacular and colored showcases in the windows, hear the echo from distant sounds, feel with their touch the reigning cold and moisture, as well as the texture of the columns, they smell the old wood from the benches and the odor of mold that emanates from the crypts.

When they make a manual activity, as typing on the keyboard, they look at their fingers, the keys they are pressing and hear the sound produced by them, feel the texture of them, etc...



When there is a conversation on the table, intuitively turn their head to observe and pay attention to their tablemates.

In a permanent state of stress or alteration by a DP/DR disorder, we don't pat attention to those details. We apparently hear well, see ok, but not as a whole,  not the two senses together. That fact contributes to that our reality perception was not correct.

We indeed "see "and "hear" instead of "observe" and "listen" in a synchronized way.

Ok. We must work in that point...

EXERCISE nº4: "Synchronization of our senses":

This exercise is too simple and can be fulfill while we have our daily half an hour "sensory walk":
Exercise 4.1: "Turn your gaze mindfully to the sounds you hear"
"Pay close attention to the sounds that surrounds you, to the conversations of people, to your footsteps and determine / observe whence the sound comes, It is not enough with hearing it, you should move as you get closer to the noisy source determining the position or place whence it comes.
 
Exercise 4.2: "Listen mindfully the sound produced by the objects you knock"

Produce sounds with your fingers, with your hands, with some object hitting another one, etc,.. while you observe yourself doing it . It is crucial to look at the precise point where you are touching because it is the same place where the sound will be generated.

 

EXERCISE nº3 - "Let's work with TIME"

DP/DR disorder triggers an alteration of the perception related with passing time, in several ways:

• Being unable to calculate properly the time elapsed between two different events.
• The clock's hours and the days of the week have ceased to mean an special relevance for us. It is the same at what time and day we make things.
• ...

Why does this happen?

We have lost temporal references from the past. Everybody, from childhood, has been learning to feel the pass of the time. For example to calculate, watching different events from the real world how long is one hour, or 5 minutes in function of the things may happen in that passage of time. To feel the pass of the time appropriately, we have to perceive well the reality that surround us.



If we are not fully connected to reality, the sense of the pass of the time stays distorted. We don't have anything to compare to, there are not references.

Another collateral effect of DP consist of having also lost the references about which things We did at what hour of the day before the attack of DP/DR. If one cannot connect with the things one did and thought of at certain hours of the day it is impossible that they now mean anything. The schedule and habits we followed were part from our personality.

PROPOSED EXERCISE nº3:

Every time you observe a watch to know the time, make a conscious effort to remember what do you usually did at this time of the day when you were ok, what were you doing, for example, when you went to school.

Remember the entering time, the departure time, how long did it take walking from home to school,..

What did it happen, i.e, Saturdays at 2 p.m.? What did you usually do?, Where were you going?, With who?..., What did you do different on Sundays morning?,.. Up to what time did you stay up late?,.. and the last time to arrive home?,...

Access to those temporal memories activates the memory of your FORMER EGO, of YOUR CUSTOMS, HABITS, TIMETABLES, ,... So it will help you to improve in your depersonalization.

santos.barrioscanseco@gmail.com

blog in spanish: http://dpdrspain.blogspot.com.es

EXERCISE nº2 - "Consciously and individual approximation to objects"

At any moment of the day, and specially during our daily "sensory walking" we can practice this exercise in order to connect better with the real world. This exercise is based on several "simple" steps:

1. While you were walking, follow with your look a comparatively distant object you will found on the road (i.e.: a tree, a car, a mailbox, ...). For a DR person, this action, apparently easy, is not simple. Ordinary people can do it unconsciously when they walk.
2. Observe how changes as you approximate to it. Look at it in 3 dimensions. Don't distract your look!. The key is watching.
3. Calculate how long takes for being able to touch it. Think of what would happen if YOU reach this object and push it. Is it very heavy? Could you lift it?, If you hit it hard, would you hurt yourself?, Are you taller than it?, If you jump, could you touch it?, If YOU sit down on it...what would happen?, and, If you crush it?
4. When you reach the object, touch it, go round it to watch it well, smell it,... feel it. Tap it, hit it, hear the sound, feel the texture when you run your fingers through it,...
5. What is the link between YOU and that object?, the color it has... Have you ever seen it at the past? When?, Have you seen other objects like this before?, do you like it?, would you like to stay one for you?, Where would you put it?, What would be the reaction of your family or friends?



IT IS IMPORTANT TO FOLLOW ALL THE STEPS 

Your rational mind, not affected by DP/DR, will say to you that this exercise does not make any sense. In order for what you have to do that. It will say to you that you already see things ok when you are having a walk. But... Ignore it!, Don't be afraid to be ridiculous if you touch something or jump to know if you can touch a branch of a tree!

You must feel things and know again what happens when your body interacts with them.

Kids can do that continuously without think of anything else!

Points 1 to 4 of the exercise attack derealization problem and 5 serves to mitigate the depersonalization disorder you may be suffering

Don't hesitate to contact me for further information!

santos.barrioscanseco@gmail.com

EXERCISE nº1 - "Sensory Walking"

One of the most important habits to find the way toward your recovery is to be accustomed to go out of home to have a walk for just half an hour everyday.

Previous conditions:

1. Go alone. Just your mind and your body.
2. No worries. It is recommended walking at the end of the day, at late afternoon. Your only worry should be getting home to sleep.
3. Comfortable clothing.
4. Your unique purpose for walking should be your recovery. Without any errand or command.

Objective:

Get a space and a special moment for yourself, free of distractions and complex thoughts.
For this half an hour we might perform much more healthy exercises that I will describe in subsequent posts within this blog.

What must I do?:

Just crossing your door you should pay attention consciously at everything you do, see, hear, feel,... during your walk. Just as a kid would do.

Focus in not thinking about transcendent or abstract ideas such as challenges you must do tomorrow at work or at school. Or in your own problem of derealization.

Just pay attention to the movement of your body, your feet treading the cobbles of the pavement, walking on the sidewalk, looking at parked cars, trees, semaphores, the colors of the things,...

Try to enjoy your walk!