EXERCISE No18 - "Managing landscapes and open spaces"

Do the vision of a landscape confuse you?, and what do you think of the diffused light of cloudy days. Does it increase the numbness feeling and increases the typical "blurry" vision of derealization? (Rather than blurred, we should say imperfect or incomplete)

You ask yourselves... And what must I do with a landscape ?, What should I think about it ?, It really hard for me noticing something concrete, it's a little torture, right?

EXERCISE # 18 - "Landscapes and open spaces"

We reach the street and we found a landscape outdoors. What to do? 

Firstly to "understand and manage" the brightness of the sky and of the objects that we see is looking at the time it is (i.e. 13:40), noticing the height and position of the sun above the horizon and fight to remind us of what we were doing at this time when we were fine (months or years ago). It works for me wonderfully remember my school days when I was under a strict routine and schedules. For example, at 13:40 I know that I was out from school at 13:30 and had 10 'way down the avenue City of Barcelona. I know that at that time was a bit hungry and when I got home about 14:00 my mother would be preparing the meal. WE HAVE rediscover THE MEANING OF HOURS OF THE DAY.

Every time of the day should evoke memories and feelings from the past

 It is also important to think about what is/was the season of the year, I know this fact can evoke different sensations. The brightness depending on the hour and the season is quite different and characteristic. For example, in winter shadows are longer and the days much shorter than in summer. Our right hemisphere has been always capturing these nuances. Unable to access it, this kind of details are confusing for us.

Projecting our body: If we see a billboard, we must imagine for a moment that we are touching its metal holder, or that we are sitting on top of the poster. It also serves mental manipulation . Imagine we could catch it with your hands and take it to another site. For example: Resting it on the roof of a house.

 Do you know how we perceive the size of the things we see? 

We must project our body to the objects you can see in the landscape

Comparing the object with our own height, with our body. Imagining that we start to scale it or embrace it. Cars parked, as we must mentally manipulate and take them as if they were toy cars. Our body has to participate in the real things! and OUR BODY IS THE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS!
  
Has equal or even more therapeutic effect said than done.




For any questions, you know, send me an email:-)
santos.barrioscanseco@gmail.com

RECOVERY PHASES - From the DP / DR state to the normal state

The effects of doing the exercises of this blog can be shown in the following graph:

We distinguish three distinct phases in the recovery of DP / DR:

I) Initial state of consciousness depersonalized and derealized: . Over the years you learn to live with just the left hemisphere input, emotions are simulated, you learn to ignore and manage the annoying situations (avoiding crowds, view of landscapes and open spaces, and lots of other things ..) and can live without thinking much about it . BUT ALWAYS  BEEN AWARE THAT YOU ARE NOT WELL YET. Periodically the DP / DR will occupy our minds and we could try again a search to raise a solution, without finding it so far. When work, studies, demand our attention we will forget the issue and will continue living on our own.

II) Phase of conscious exercises: We can start with exercise No.1 ,1/2 hour every afternoon and consciously facing the objects and examining our moving body. We often will become frustrated and return home with apparently no improvement at all. But if you remain doing efforts based on (1) asking for the brain that perform functions that are only known by the right hemisphere and (2) remembering how you did when you were alright we will open a minimum neuronal path to the information stored there.

WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO IS PRECISELY THE ACTIVITIES THAT INCREASE THE DP/DR FEELING. WHEN WE ARE MORE CONSCIOUS THAT WE ARE IMPOTENT TO FULFILL THEM. SO THEY MAY INCREASE YOUR LEVEL OF ANXIETY. => That's why these exercises" can not be take us more than  1/2 hour at first, until we get to Phase III.

This phase is critical. It is when we will be tempted to give up. Again resignation. We still will be well, perhaps not yet feel almost emotions but notice that something is going well . We will be forcing the right hemisphere to work. " i.e. evoking images and objects from the past and retrieving memories associated with color shades we perceive " .

 

Don't GET OBSESSED WITH THE RECOVERY, IT IS A TIME TO RELAX, TO HAVE A WALK,... USING YOUR SENSES, TRYING TO DO THE EXERCISES AND HAVING FUN. YOU DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO LOSE.

During this phase we will alternate outdoor exercises with others that can be done at home. This phase may be long, in my case from six months to a year.

III) Initial phase of normality

There will come a day when, by repeating the exercises, surprisingly, we can do them even outside the half an hour and with not too much difficulty. We will return to normalcy, improve our vision, our memory will be reinforced, time perception will return to normality, our memory, our tastes and preferences and the most important thing, we will be able to access the emotions . WE WILL BE A COMPLETE PERSON AGAIN AND FINALLY WE WILL BREATH AND FIND THE PEACE INSIDE. 

 santos.barrioscanseco@gmail.com

HOW IS YOUR THOUGHT NOW? - Basic stages towards permanent DP/DR

So ... What happened to us? How could it be possible? There are several known reasons:

1) Taking chemical substances as weed, LSD,...
2) Suffering a big trauma (car accident, death of a loving being, abuses, tortures, being kidnapped,...)
3) Long lasting anxiety.

In this post I focus on reason nº3, my own case.

Consider this drawing illustrating 3 simple steps within the path that leads to a DPDR stroke:

1. NORMAL THOUGHT: Our conscience freely access both hemispheres in a more or less balanced way depending of personality. 
2. UNBALANCED THOUGHT : Due to anxiety  , always coming to the point, for every matter,  denying our emotions for long periods of time, our consciousness began putting aside information that came from the right hemisphere .  Emotional info useless/conflicting for our logical target! At this stage we still have control. "We were ignoring real things and their details , we were passing from our body, ..., from anything not essential to solve our problem. "
3. CIRCULAR THOUGHT: At some point the way was closed
   
   (Stunted by "non-use") to our consciousness for accessing to:

• Our emotions (connected with amygdala)
• Our personal history (located in the hippocampus) and emotions associated with it.
• As "collateral" damage other functions are visibly affected as the 3D view and calculation of distances and sizes of objects, pattern recognition / face / body itself, the ability to perceive time, understanding art ...

On the contrary, our consciousness is limited to the "logic" information stored in the left hemisphere. That is our prison: infinite logical thoughts, philosophical way of life in a tireless manner. From this comes the dissociation, we feel we are spectators, we feel we have no control over our body, which moves automatically and is not controlled completely by us. 

The "we" is impotent (no way), locked, unable to find himself , we are a clump of logical thinking. Who can help us to enable that road again? We miss normalcy ... to be "average people". Our right brain still works, of course, BUT WE CANNOT control it, hence come all our symptoms.

THE EXERCISES IN THIS BLOG SERVES TO UNBLOCK THE WAY

LOGIC IS NOT THE SOLUTION!

YOU MUST RELIVING THE PAST TO FEEL THE WAY WE USE TO THINK!

THERE IS A LOT OF HARD WORK !, sometimes you will feel you are failing, but you will get it!!

santos.barrioscanseco@gmail.com

WHAT IS NORMAL THINKING? - Our goal doing the exercises

Have you ever wondered how normal people thinks? Can you remember the way you use to think prior to DP/DR?  I have developed a very simple graphical model for us to understand the stages through which passes a derealized person until  a complete healing.

In today's post we will learn how the two brain hemispheres alternate to participate in the thought of a healthy person complementing each other.

Balanced hemisphere workload = normality

Everyone has two hemispheres that  share the continuous workload of thinking:

• Left Hemisphere : Specializing in words , reading & writing both oral and written, numerical symbols, mathematical concepts, sequential procedures, step by step, left h. is analytical and likes the precision. It is the hemisphere of the logic (cause and effect) and the practical side of things. It likes to generalize and create models. It is more introverted and apathetic.

• Right Brain: Specializing in tasks that require creativity , innovation , taste for art , colors , concepts of space and time , able to appreciate the big picture of things, not be very accurate, it is dealt with linking what we feel with the EMOTIONS. He likes the particular cases and details of things in the real world . It's funny and outgoing. It's dumb, can not speak.

Logical left brain vs Emotional right brain

At the same time, the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body (including the right visual field) and the right h. controls our left side (including the left visual field).

As you can see from the chart , a normal person can not prevent that both hemispheres provide information when making a decision. Here appears the famous saying:

"Thinking with your head against thinking with your heart"

We are even aware when we asked for a logical judgment (cause and effect) and when asked for a emotional trial to our brain. The final decision will depend on what weighs more in our personality (more intuitive and sensitive people vs. more logical).

An ideally situation for an optimal mental health is that both hemispheres contribute roughly the same amount of information to our consciousness. Consciously our thinking comes and goes (access) the information saved in both hemispheres to perceive the world and make decisions, the right hemisphere can even access the emotional register which certain memories are impregnated with .

santos.barrioscanseco@gmail.com

EXERCISE No17 - "Reading books?"

While we have DP/DR we should not read too many books unless it be imperative to maintain a normal life until full recovery (to be graduate, to keep our job, etc ...) and if we must do it, always following the recommendation about stopping at least every ten minutes to connect to everything around us, even with the book itself, with its cover, leaves, ...

And preferably real books, tangible , with sheets of paper, not electronic .

ebooks, unless they are "scanned originals" cannot evoke memories that interest us.

And why is not recommended while we are suffering DP/DR? Because although the content of a book may evoke real items, it cannot substitute real things that surround us. It is another way of escaping from OUR CURRENT REALITY. 

Our exercise is based on seeing the book as a real object , not as a content to be devoured in a linear and not stop way until it is finished.

 

EXERCISE º17 - "a different use of books as therapy"

At home there are two types of books. Those who were using or suffer BEFORE know of DP / DR and those acquired LATER.

There are YOUR'S and books that are not. The distinction is important because we want to recover OURSELF, OUR PERSONALITY.

Preferably you should use the books from BEFORE , since they will connect with the past, and if at the same time they are YOURS better.

• View looking through the shelves these books are yours and prior to the dp/dr stroke. Focus first on them.
• Take them, feel their weight , open their pages, touch the texture of their leaves and smell inside. Look carefully at the front page and back page.

• Ask yourself the following questions with the book in your hands:

• When did I buy it ?, Why did I buy it ?, Where did I buy it? I read in your entire day reading it ?, Where ?, What worried me at that moment?
• Is it covered?, when did I put that cover ?, How did it arrive on this shelf ?, Has it always been here ?, Where was it when I was okay?
• Who saw me reading it ?, family ?, friends ?, Classmates or work colleagues?
• What would happen if I drop it to the floor ?, Would it make a great sound ?, ...
• If it is a textbook, did you read every chapter ?
Have it got  notes from my own in the margins ?, Does it figure any date?
Think meanwhile you are touching it... I AM THE SAME "ME" THAT TOUCH IT TIME AGO, and do a carefully observation again.
Do not read it at this point!, just passed to another book and repeat the former steps.
That is, we must review the books superficially, having a look at their physical characteristics and memories that could evoke to us.


BUT NOT THE CONTENT ITSELF!!


santos.barrioscanseco@gmail.com

LEFT vs RIGHT - "Logic vs Emotions" - A funny short cartoon

If you wish to understand more about your brain, and your disease enjoy this video!!

Every human has the brain divided in two hemispheres:

• The left one: responsible of logic, words, maths, consciousness, philosophical questions, abstract concepts, secuencial planning, ...
• The right one: in charge of arts, 3dimensional vision, emotions, love, habits, time, physical things, faces / patterns recognition, big picture planning,...

 

WELL, IN OUR CASE THE BLUE GUY CAN NOT ACCESS TO THE RED ONE!!!

 

WE MUST CONNECT WITH HIM DESPERATELY, ACTIVELY AND WORK TOGETHER AS A TEAM AGAIN TO RECOVER NORMALCY

 

santos.barrioscanseco@gmail.com

EXERCISE No16 - "Music as a bridge"

We all remember what kind of music we liked hearing before suffering our derealization. What singer or group album should be relevant or important for us  (although we cannot feel now).

 

EXERCISE nº16: "Music as a bridge"

 

Search within your memory the name of the disks or CDs you heard one years or months before suffering the DP / DR and find them on youtube.com to redisplay the cover and listen to their songs.

 

 

 

While doing so THINK YOU ARE THE SAME / THE SAME AS BEFORE.

 

• Find out inside yourself and think what you were doing when you were listening it, what time of your life you were in (school, college, work, holidays, ...) and who were you related with at that time, if it was summer or winter, where did you hear it (in your room, in your car, on a mobile player while you gave a ride, ...)  

• At the same time look at your hands or a "bridge object" to facilitate the exercise. Your hands are the same who manipulated your tape player, CD / DVD / iPod / Mp3 than before. YOU ARE THE SAME AND MUST FEEL THE SAME.

• Which buttons did you have to press to hear the music ?, What colour were they?, Were them square, rounded? ...

¡ALL SUCH INFORMATION IS NO LOGIC - IS SPACE-TIME RELATED

VISUALIZE THE PLACE WHERE YOU USED TO LISTEN THE ALBUM

AND FEEL THERE AGAIN!

 

santos.barrioscanseco@gmail.com

 

EXERCISE No15 - "PLAYING again with toys"

One of the activities that helped our brain to mature and grow healthy was PLAYING with TOYS. Playing with toys was very important in our childhood and we must practice  again if we wish to return to a normal state:

1. Find a toy (little car, plane, doll, ...) from your childhood or a current one very similar to those which you had before. If you have children, you can borrow one from them or mounting a new one from an egg kinder that always contains small and manageable toys.
2. Take it, look at it, feel its weight, its colors and looks MOVE IT WITH YOUR HAND as children usually play. If it is a doll , feel it on the couch, pick it up hair simulates moving ... If you are a little car as well, move it, park it, simulates going down the street on your desk, at home or at your office.
   
3. Do not be ashamed of it, it is ABSOLUTELY necessary for communicate properly both brain hemispheres between each other and recover some of the lost sensitivity. It's part of your therapy to overcome this.
   
4. When you are absorbed in your work or your studies, keep that toy close to you, look at it frequently, and play a little with him, and make the effort to FEEL the same as felt before when you played with him years ago.

Visit this link and check out why it is so necessary!

The importance of playing in children

santos.barrioscanseco@gmail.com

TEN COMMANDMENTS to follow in 2015 to get rid of your DP/DR

Hi all DP/DR'ers

Here you are a basic list of commandments you should follow in 2015 to improve:

FOR THE DOOR OF YOUR FRIDGE!!

1. I will devote just half an hour a day to my recovery process in solitude.
2. I will avoid stressful situations. I'll try not being in a hurry anymore.
3. I will often notice where my body parts are, my clothes and my position in space.
4. I will stop of wondering philosophical questions and feel more with my senses.
5. I won't focus long time in any mental/abstract activity, doing frequent reconnections with reality (place, body, things, time and emotions) seeing actively in 3D.
6. I will go back in time (regression) to feel like the way I used to when I was OK.
7. I will compare the place I fill with other similar places from my past.
8. I will ask when were the first time in my life I saw that object, I was at that place, I heared that sound,...
9. I will pay attention to the people surrounding me wondering what they are probably thinking of me.
10. I will take my family's opinion into account to recover lost habits and references.

Happy New Year!! 

santos.barrioscanseco@gmail.com

EXERCISE No 14 - "THE HOUSE OF MY CHILDHOOD" - My known paths

One of the reasons to feel confused and disoriented when we go down the street with DP / DR is that we are not ​​comparing the path we are following NOW with the well known paths we followed when we were kids and we were living in our parents.
 

THOSE DAYS WE WERE OK!

GO BACK IN TIME TO FEEL HOW WAS LEAVING HOME!
 

All gradually learned to go to unknown sites. There was a first time we were allowed to throw the trash in the container , one time in which we were allowed to go to buy bread at a nearby store. Again we started going to school for a slightly longer route, we learned to go through many roads, streets, each one with its attractions and feelings.

We learned the time it took us to get to school and not being late. That distance and that time is one of our basic references, even NOW, no matter the years have passed.

Some days, our parents, grandparents, uncle, aunt,... took us by subway or bus to some unknown and further place. What a thrill ! We were providing all our attention! Do you remember?

Especially, the first time.

There was always a first time for everything!

In addition we were storing a time history of these possible routes to get to places. As well as potential hazards or good things from each of them. Right now, we don't have a good access to that memory. We must practice actively the access to it ...

EXERCISE No. 14: "THE HOUSE OF MY CHILDHOOD - My known paths"

Close your eyes for a moment while sitting on a sofa and imagine you are in the past, at your parents, eg 15 years old, more or less . Ask yourself these questions:

IT IS HARD, I KNOW, BUT YOU SHOULD!

• What time is it now ?, What day is it ?, Week end or School day? ?, knowing that I am with my parents at home ... What could be doing right now ?, Should I be playing ?, Having a walk?, at school? ...
• How long would I have to wait to get out for a walk? Did I need permission from my parents?
• Down, where did I usually go?, What were my favorite ways?, What were my choices?, Going to see my friend who lived two blocks away?, Did we stay at some particular spot, maybe a mall? ...
• Imagine it's time to go to school ... you went out, and where were you going? What direction did you usually take?