I am really struggling with DP/DR and trying to understand it. It is so scary to me - like somehow Iam going to forget who I am where I am at and forget even my own family and rather than panicking over a health concern this is what starts my panic attacks it comes on very suddenly and the will hang around so during the day I have "spells" of it on and off. I did go to a therapist and I have stated before in a previous post when I tried to describe this feeling to her I said it feels like I am losing touch with reality and her answer to that was to admit myself to a hospital psych ward for a few days - in her words "what have you got to lose" this confirmed my worst possible fear and I almost could not drive home. So if anyone has advice on this I wouls appreciate it so much. My home is currently going into foreclosure, bills are unpaid and I have two little ones to care for so I'm not sure if those circumstances are adding to this or not.I look forward to learning as much as I can to hopefully feel better and get back my sense of well being - I miss it very much!

I hate to seem clueless here, but what is DP/DR?

I can say that feeling like you are losing touch with reality is a classic anxiety symptom and a very upsetting and frightening one. I think most of us have had that, and sometimes it's very intense. But, it's a fear of losing touch, which is very different from actually losing touch. To be afraid of losing touch with reality, you ultimately have to be quite in touch with reality.

I too don't understand what DP/DR is. Could you elaborate please?
Feeling like you are losing touch with reality is a familiar feeling to me. I know I get worse when I am having panic, I hyperventilate, chest tightens,can't feel my fingers or toes and I feel like I am not in my body and am so far removed from my body and reality that I will never get back. The more I try to convince myself that "I am really here, right now" the worse it gets. It is awful. I feel like I am losing it all and will never get a grasp on it again. Is this at all what you are feeling?
I agree with the previous post, to be so afraid of losing touch with reality you must still be strongly connected to it even though it doesn't feel like it.

Thank you both Leigh_Calgary and Debchance for your reply - I was feeling very like maybe I was the only one feeling this way and I should have spelled out dp/dr depersonalization and derealization (if I spelled that right)but, yes my panic attacks begin with the thought that suddenly nothing seems familiar although I know where I am it does'nt feel familiar if that makes sense pictures, family members, even my own reflection and you described it best,Debchance, feeling like you'll never get a grasp again like I'm a balloon and someone let the string go - I tried to describe this to a therapist the best I could and her suggestion to me was mt greatest fear of all a stay in a hospital - that still upsets me. So thank you so much for replying if there is any advice on how to deal with this I would appreciate it so much sometimes it hangs around for days at a time and it is really scary