Have you ever had the chance to be in a drunk driving simulation or even play a game on a drunk driving simulator?\u00a0 You try to keep the car on a straight path, but it keeps moving around.\u00a0 Every turn you make for the car is exaggerated and you end up swerving and pretty much out of control down the road.\u00a0 They even have games where When you have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), it is very much like being the driver in one of those simulators.\u00a0 You can usually control the directions, but the magnitude of the response is often not connected to the action you thought you made.\u00a0 Your emotions and feeling seem almost not linked to the events that are happening. \u00a0It weird when you go from calm to angry in a matter of seconds or you go from smiling to crying because someone got a \u201cA\u201d on their report card in a kid\u2019s movie that your child was watching on the Disney channel. \u00a0There\u2019s a name for all this, of course, us doctors give names for anything and everything.\u00a0 But the name is not as important to understand as the problems this can cause, the fact that it is normal and how to get rid of it!<\/span><\/p>\n Depersonalization disorder, or effect, or syndrome is what it is called.\u00a0 It is a feeling that you are in some way detached from your emotions.\u00a0 At times, it feels like you are out of control like driving in a drunk driver simulator.\u00a0 Life goes by too fast for you, and you are screaming in the car as it is moving through, except it is a silent scream that comes from every tissue in your body, every cell.\u00a0 Depersonalization adds to the brain fog that we talked about in PTSD Part 1<\/a>, except combined with the vestibular effect, you don\u2019t feel like you can do much of anything right.\u00a0 Your view of yourself in control and your capacity to do the right thing is greatly affected.\u00a0 Everything is a chore, and you feel you have to over-concentrate on even the small things to get through the day.\u00a0 It\u2019s exhausting, so you shut down the extra functions in your life.\u00a0 Your body doesn\u2019t show any problems, nothing broken, so others don\u2019t expect less of you.\u00a0 As they expect more and more, you have to shut down more and more.\u00a0 You got the idea, now let me add to it.<\/span><\/p>\n Another disorder, effect, syndrome during PTSD is call derealization disorder, nothing seems real anymore.\u00a0 It is like you are seeing your life on TV, or in a dream.\u00a0 It is not real and it doesn\u2019t feel like it is you going through the motions of your own life.\u00a0 It is a feeling that you are watching yourself go through the trials of life from an outside point of view instead of being the one who is acting on it.\u00a0 That sounds similar to depersonalization, but us doctors need to add another step and give something else a label.\u00a0 So we added \u201cde\u201d to another word.\u00a0 Essentially it\u2019s another way to feel further detached to your own<\/span> body.<\/span><\/p>\n Why does this happen?\u00a0 We\u2019ll it is you guess or mine.\u00a0 One theory would be with PTSD sometimes there is some brain changes from the trauma.\u00a0 PET scans show that the use of chemical in the brain change significantly in traumatized person.\u00a0 It shows some structural changes as well, up to 8%.\u00a0 I am always telling people \u201cthis is your brain,\u201d and I hold up a piece of paper, then I rip off a corner \u201cand this is your brain on trauma.\u201d\u00a0 (Okay, it is a stupid speaker trick, but it gives a visual image.)\u00a0 With changes to the brain, your probably won\u2019t feel normal.<\/span><\/p>\n Another theory is that that you defend yourself again the full pain of the trauma by disassociating from it thus you lose memory, etc.\u00a0 Another viable theory.\u00a0 A third one is that the brain cannot handle the changes and that causes you to get little failures in your functioning.\u00a0 The theories go on and on.\u00a0 Whatever the reason, with PTSD you\u2019re going to be different, so how do you deal with it.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"gears](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/gears-in-head.jpg?resize=300%2C200\")
you can add a pint of beer or a shot to the mix and see how hard it is to control the car with the extra drink.\u00a0 Essentially, you feel like you are separate from the vehicle, and the vehicle is doing whatever it wants.\u00a0\u00a0 Until you crash and burn at the end.\u00a0 You almost always crash and burn or else there was no lesson taught.<\/span><\/p>\nPutting a Name on It<\/h2>\n
WHY?<\/h2>\n
FIX IT<\/h2>\n
![\"Police](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Police-Psychology-Change-1.jpg?resize=209%2C174\")
A portion of people blame some trauma in their life for not functioning the rest of their life.\u00a0 How many times have you heard that \u201cwhen so-and-so left me it ruined my ability to have any further relationship?\u201d\u00a0 Or when \u201cI almost got killed involved by that truck I have been the same psychologically?\u201d\u00a0 And how many times have you heard, \u201cwhen the bomb blew up when I was in the building it took a while to adjust but I got a better perspective on life and decided to not sweat the small stuff anymore?\u201d \u00a0See the fix for depersonalization is to learn to accept the change and use them to make oneself active again.\u00a0 Some things you can\u2019t correct and they have to be accepted.\u00a0 Others you can and getting the