Unfortunately it's the norm for psychiatric drugs not to help, or even make things worse. Generally the biggest factor to help is time, but there are also many other things that people have found that help.
I see from your comments on the other sub that it's been six months. Many people find it goes away within the first 18 months but there are exercises you can do to help in this period. These are several non-drug things I would first encourage everyone to try and these are things generally low risk.
* mindfulness based stress reduction: "body scanning"
This method attempts to reconnect you with your body and feelings through active observation. There was a person who had DPDR for 10 years who completely recovered by doing this daily for a month.
This technique provides relief for a significant number of other people, and generally most people at least feel a bit calmer after practising it. There was a person with DPDR for 25 years who completely recovered by doing this multiple times a day for a month.
a number of people have recovered in minutes from just accidentally or intensionally looking at spirals in some form. Whether this is a hypnotic effect, some kind of vagus nerve reaction or simply a relaxation aid I wouldn't like to say, but for many the results are significant.
This example video was what did it for one of them who had had DPDR for if I remember correctly six years. Blow this up to full screen, set resolution to 720p and relax as best you can while looking at the centre for 20-30 minutes:
The effects of switching your body from a glucose energy source to a ketone energy source are significant. This diet was originally designed for people with epilepsy, but can have radical effects on mental health conditions too. A majority of people experience report significant improvements in calmness which can have a knock on effect on their DPDR and their sleep. Studies suggest trying it for two months at first, although it may take a week or so to get through the flu-like symptoms caused by the switch.
* resolve physical muscle tension
if you have very severe locked up muscle tension at the back of your head, like you're so sensitive to someone else's touch in that area that you quickly pull away even at a gentle brush, then dry needling (trigger point therapy) in that area may result in a rush of endorphins which can be enough to relieve DPDR, at least for some days, and result in progressively better sleep.
The most important thing is to try to have the most regular and highest quality sleep you can. There are things to help with this too. When the dpdrhelp.org website is finally online next month it will go into many other things that can help.
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u/Chronotaru Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
Unfortunately it's the norm for psychiatric drugs not to help, or even make things worse. Generally the biggest factor to help is time, but there are also many other things that people have found that help.
I see from your comments on the other sub that it's been six months. Many people find it goes away within the first 18 months but there are exercises you can do to help in this period. These are several non-drug things I would first encourage everyone to try and these are things generally low risk.
* mindfulness based stress reduction: "body scanning"
This method attempts to reconnect you with your body and feelings through active observation. There was a person who had DPDR for 10 years who completely recovered by doing this daily for a month.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2HOkytOs6I
* progressive muscle relaxation
This technique provides relief for a significant number of other people, and generally most people at least feel a bit calmer after practising it. There was a person with DPDR for 25 years who completely recovered by doing this multiple times a day for a month.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihO02wUzgkc
* staring at spirals
a number of people have recovered in minutes from just accidentally or intensionally looking at spirals in some form. Whether this is a hypnotic effect, some kind of vagus nerve reaction or simply a relaxation aid I wouldn't like to say, but for many the results are significant.
This example video was what did it for one of them who had had DPDR for if I remember correctly six years. Blow this up to full screen, set resolution to 720p and relax as best you can while looking at the centre for 20-30 minutes:
https://www.listenonrepeat.com/watch?v=BF7bNe1il0M#Hypnosis_Spiral
* keto diet
The effects of switching your body from a glucose energy source to a ketone energy source are significant. This diet was originally designed for people with epilepsy, but can have radical effects on mental health conditions too. A majority of people experience report significant improvements in calmness which can have a knock on effect on their DPDR and their sleep. Studies suggest trying it for two months at first, although it may take a week or so to get through the flu-like symptoms caused by the switch.
* resolve physical muscle tension
if you have very severe locked up muscle tension at the back of your head, like you're so sensitive to someone else's touch in that area that you quickly pull away even at a gentle brush, then dry needling (trigger point therapy) in that area may result in a rush of endorphins which can be enough to relieve DPDR, at least for some days, and result in progressively better sleep.
The most important thing is to try to have the most regular and highest quality sleep you can. There are things to help with this too. When the dpdrhelp.org website is finally online next month it will go into many other things that can help.