While there is no clinical data to verify it, many researchers regard sufferers of DPD as highly intelligent and introspective, this is something I can agree with from spending time communicating with sufferers online.
Beneath the foggy somatic detachment and feeling of no self may in fact lay a fiercely individualistic personality that has been held in check by fear. If you are suffering from DPD, remember that the ultimate goal is not be like everybody else, or like the person you were but rather to emerge with a new, improved sense of self from which your true individuality will find true expression.
What do you do if your family member is suffering from DPD?
Many people may not even notice the disorder, as many sufferers become masters at hiding how they feel. Many try hard to act as they did before, but feel inner turmoil from the private battle.
Some sufferers are able to hold a job and lead a “normal” life, but those closest to them may sense a change.
A large amount of people have experience fleeting depersonalization, this may help in understanding what their family member is enduring around the clock. Since depersonalized people neither delusional nor crazy, open and truthful discussions are possible and helpful.
Being able to discuss the feelings and symptoms they are experiencing can have some therapeutic effect. DPD is a human disorder and falls into the realm of human experience and therefore many people may be able to relate with many of the symptoms.
Piecing Things Together
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"Mental Health is nothing to be ashamed of but stigma and bias shame us all"- Bill Clinton
"One in four people, like me, have a mental health problem. Many more people have a problem with that.
I want to speak out, to fight the public stigma and to give a clear picture of mental illness, most people know little about.
Once the understanding is there, we can all stand up and not be ashamed of ourselves, then it makes the rest of the population realise we are just like them but with something extra." - Stephan Fry
"Mental illness can happen to anybody, you can be a dustman, a politician, a tesco worker... anyone. It can be your dad, your brother or your aunt."- Frank Bruno