hey guys! it’s been awhile. i am severely anxious and depressed and have been for about a month and a half ever since i smoked weed, had a panic attack and now suffer real bad with derealization. i wanted to come on here to ask like what i can do to help myself and just make this go away man! and i know here is a safe space because we all have OCD and i think that pure fact is keeping me in the loop. other people with derealization don’t obsess over stuff as much as people with ocd. i also just think that i’ll forever be stuck in this state and it’s causing me to just like go crazy (not literally) i just don’t understand how ONE panic attack could’ve caused this. disclaimer: i’ve never had a panic attack in my life and while i was high for the first time that’s when it happened and the days and weeks following i just haven’t felt the same even though i KNOW nothing hasn’t changed it’s just so hard. i just don’t know what to do to lie get rid of this. i’ve never experienced this in my life.

Here's how I thought about it (even though very scary)... I would force myself to think "What if I AM living in a dream right now?, what would be so bad about that?" That's where I started to break down those irrational fears & beliefs that come with OCD... For example, derealization & existential OCD scared me so much because I had a fear of loss of connection, a fear or death, a fear of losing touch with the ones I love. I worked on it a ton and just thought about how yeah, living in a dream would be very confusing and scary, but could I live with it? Yes. Would it be ideal? No, but I could handle it and navigate my life whilst knowing that. Think about worst case scenario, and then think about why that would be so scary and bad.

Hey I used to smoke weed but it made me depressed. It helps some but its not for everyone. It can cause serious paranoia and when you have OCD it's really not helpful. Everyone is different but from my experience it made me depressed. Something that helped was I got a cleanse from the store to rid any weed in my system cause it stores in the fat cells and can still be in your system for months. Perhaps doing that cleanse that rids it quicker could help.

Keep trying! I like to take things one moment at a time instead of focusing on the future state of feeling better, because that makes me feel like I’ll never reach that and like the road to recovery is so long. You’ll be there before you know it, you’ve got this!

take care 🙏

My existential OCD latched after a bad panic attack while smoking weed, causing me to experience derealization for the first time ever. I freaked out, thought that I was losing my mind / dying until the high wore off, and then freaked out that the feeling of derealization wouldn't go away. I obsessed over it, with derealization latched on 24/7 for a year and a half. It was scary, uncomfortable, and all I could think about was getting rid of the feeling. My best advice is to allow and accept that the derealization and the fear may stay there for a while. You've been living with it for this long and although extremely scary & uncomfortable, you are surviving. Don't obsess about when it will go away. Focus on living your life and doing everything you would normally do, even with the fear. Push yourself to not let it control you. My derealization and existential obsessions disappeared completely over time once I was able to accept feeling uncomfortable.

At the time I couldn't imagine it lasting for a whole year either. But we can all handle it! Sure, it's not comfortable and it's the scariest feeling I've ever had, but I worked on accepting that I can still live life and enjoy things, even if I feel like my surroundings aren't real or I'm "in a dream". It's all just fear. It didn't go away all at once, it was a pretty gradual process, but once I accepted that perhaps I'd live the rest of my life like this, that time didn't feel so bad. It doesn't matter if it is dp/dr or if it's existential ocd, those are all just technicalities. You just focus on being comfortable with these sensations, one day at a time. Jordan Hardgrave (anxiety ninja) on youtube / instagram helped me tremendously.

I found that I was experiencing existential OCD, not derealization, when my surroundings felt “off”. I would obsess over the idea that everything around me may not be real, even though I was accurately perceiving what my surroundings looked like, felt like, smelled like, etc. The feeling that comes with dp/dr and existential OCD is SO scary, so hang in there! But, know you are safe no matter what❤️

Hey Holley, I’m sorry you’ve been feeling bad! I call that the “panic attack hangover” where it can really rattle you for awhile afterwards. What helps me is understanding that my panic attack is my body’s way of trying to protect me from a perceived threat, whether it’s real or imagined. This saying helps me tremendously: “You were made to come back into balance.” This feeling will not last forever and you will get through it.

its happening with me as well when i smoked weed but after 3 months suddenly that scene of communication came in my mind when i was high and started feeling the same again……it is worse i cant differentiate that i am alive or dead it feels like hell it feels like everything is unreal and it is life after death…

hi! super late to this post but in case you’re still looking for help I wanted to chime in. this exact situation happened to me! it’s what actually triggered my panic attacks and led to me getting diagnosed with OCD. something that really helps me is holding my nose and breathing in. in real life you will not be able to take a breath but in dreams you will be. i find that this really grounds me! hope this helps! ps i’m on fluvoxamine 250 mg which has helped me a bunch but I’ve also found my way back to weed without any problems. :)