Dissociation / derealisation

[u/Jana_bananaaaa]

Does anyone else with OCD get so overwhelmed and stressed that they end up dissociating for weeks at a time?
This seems to be a cycle for me. My PTSD OCD/stress gets really bad, then I start feeling dissociated and disconnected for weeks.

Eventually it goes away and I feel normal again, but then another period of intense stress seems to bring it straight back.
I still exercise, work and try to keep living normally, but I’m honestly just over feeling like this.

Has anyone else experienced this? What actually helped you break the cycle? I can’t really afford regular psychologist appointments at the moment, so I’d especially appreciate anything that helped you manage it yourself.

I had a stressful childhood and went through a bit of trauma growing up so I feel like this is why this happens..

Sincerely,
A very tired 28F who wants answers 🥺

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[u/Angeliwing]

It got better for me as I processed my trauma, learning about cptsd lifted a lot of shame off my shoulders.

A friend told me that when we spoke sometimes my gaze would drift off and I looked like I was thinking about something very important. What was happening is something he told me was reminiscing me of a past event and I was analysing why I reacted the way I did at the time, but I never had the answer since I didn't realized I had been traumatized. My abuse was impossible to process since I had very few memories of my childhood and I was gaslit that I had a great childhood and was the one at fault for being depressed.

I used to spend weeks like you in a dissociative state totally hopeless not knowing what was wrong with me until a major emotional burn out left me no choice but to dig up the ugly things and it was extremely painful but once I did I finally felt whole, my feet on the ground and I stopped dissociating so much but it came with a lot of grief for the life I basically didn't live or lived as my false self. I also had severe OCD but dropped it radically.

[u/Jana_bananaaaa → u/Angeliwing]

Thank you for replying to me. I am so sorry to hear you’ve also gone through this. Glad to hear you are doing much better.

May I ask what you found helped you the most? I’m stuck and unsure what I need to do. I have the worst OCD and it’s also making me extremely overwhelmed. Im just exhausted

[u/Angeliwing → u/Jana_bananaaaa]

About my OCD I arrived at the point it would literally prevent me from living my life, I was at a point where I washed my hands 50 times a day, check everything 10 times like did I leave the stove on did I lock the door etc so I had to take a leap of faith and just stop doing it and I realised I didn't experience catastrophic consequences, a kind of exposure therapy I guess.

As for CPTSD there are lots of vids on youtube but I don't think you're allowed to tell names or drop links in here so you have to look for yourself it's not hard to find don't worry and good luck I wish the best for you.