What Is Depersonalization Disorder? (2024)

FAQs

What Is Depersonalization Disorder? ›

Depersonalization-derealization disorder occurs when you persistently or repeatedly have the feeling that you're observing yourself from outside your body or you have a sense that things around you aren't real, or both.

Like other dissociative disorders, depersonalization disorder often is triggered by intense stress or a traumatic event -- such as war, abuse, accidents, disasters, or extreme violence -- that the person has experienced or witnessed.

Four stages of the formation of depersonalization were identified: vital, allopsychic, somatopsychis and autopsychic. The correlations of the leading depersonalizational and related affective and neurosis-like disorders were considered at each stage.

Depersonalization/derealization disorder is a type of dissociative condition. Dissociative disorders are mental conditions involving disruptions or breakdowns in: Awareness.

Depersonalization, although often a symptom of anxiety and panic, is also a mental health disorder of its own. Depersonalization is also, in some cases, a symptom of depression, drug abuse, or even the result of taking anti-anxiety medications.

Psychotherapy, also called counseling or talk therapy, is the main treatment. The goal is to gain control over the symptoms so that they lessen or go away. Two such psychotherapies include cognitive behavioral therapy and psychodynamic therapy.

Symptoms of depersonalization/derealization disorder are usually episodic and wax and wane in intensity. Episodes may last for only hours or days or for weeks, months, or sometimes years. But in some patients, symptoms are constantly present at a constant intensity for years or decades.

Depersonalization disorder is believed to affect women twice as much as men. The disorder most commonly affects individuals between the ages of 15 and 30. It is rarely seen in those over the age of 40.

A 2019 study found that dissociative disorders frequently co-occurred in about 35% of participants living with bipolar disorder. The most common dissociative disorder noted in this study was depersonalization disorder.

Is depersonalization a form of PTSD? ›

Recent research evaluating the relationship between Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and dissociation has suggested that there is a dissociative subtype of PTSD, defined primarily by symptoms of derealization (i.e., feeling as if the world is not real) and depersonalization (i.e., feeling as if oneself is not real) ...

Depersonalization symptoms

Feelings that you're an outside observer of your thoughts, feelings, your body or parts of your body — for example, as if you were floating in air above yourself. Feeling like a robot or that you're not in control of your speech or movements.

People experiencing depersonalization are fully aware that the distorted sensations and freaky feelings aren't real, which is what makes it so damn scary. The intensity varies from person to person, situation to situation.

There is no depersonalization cure, but treatment can reduce distressing symptoms and even lead to full remission of the disorder. It's important for people experiencing depersonalization or derealization to talk to a professional about their symptoms so they can begin treatment and start feeling like themselves again.

However, unlike personality disorders, with derealization, the individual senses something isn't quite right with their perception of the world - they have some awareness that it's inaccurate. For this reason, derealization can be highly distressing.

Severe stress, anxiety, and depression are common triggers for DPDR. A lack of sleep or an overstimulating environment can also make DPDR symptoms worse.

Depersonalisation is where you have the feeling of being outside yourself and observing your actions, feelings or thoughts from a distance. Derealisation is where you feel the world around is unreal. People and things around you may seem "lifeless" or "foggy".

People suffering from depersonalization can experience the loss of a sense of self as devastating, often accompanied by intense feelings of alienation, fear, and hopelessness.

Depersonalization/derealization disorder occurs in about 2% of the population and affects men and women equally. The disorder may begin during early or middle childhood. It rarely begins after age 40.

Introduction: The phenomena of depersonalisation/derealisation have classically been associated with the initial phases of psychosis, and it is assumed that they would precede (even by years) the onset of clinical psychosis, being much more common in the prodromal and acute phases of the illness.

How do I get back to reality? ›

Depersonalization is a psychological experience where you feel separated from your sense of self. It can involve perceptual changes to things that make you “you” such as your memories, emotions, cravings, interests, or bodily functions. It's not a form of psychosis.

Feeling like a robot or that you're not in control of your speech or movements. The sense that your body, legs or arms appear distorted, enlarged or shrunken, or that your head is wrapped in cotton. Emotional or physical numbness of your senses or responses to the world around you.

Dissociative symptoms include derealization/depersonalization, absorption, and amnesia. These experiences can cause a loss of control over mental processes, including memory and attention.

Depersonalization and derealization are symptoms of dissociative disorders. These disorders, generally born from other serious mental health conditions and trauma, leave a person feeling disoriented and confused about what's happening internally and in their environment.

3. Myth: Depersonalization is a permanent condition. Fact: Many people recover from depersonalization-derealization disorder, often without treatment. Some mental illnesses are considered lifelong conditions, but this is not the case with depersonalization-derealization.

So-called bipolar eyes might include: dilated pupils. “sparkling” eyes, or eyes that appear more liquid than usual. eyes that change color or become black.

Hallucinations, delusions, and episodes of depersonalization and derealization are also common experiences in those suffering from schizophrenia, as are phobias and severe anxiety.

Depersonalization disorder falls under the dissociative disorders group of conditions, which are characterized by feelings of disconnection from reality.

DPDR disorder produces a disturbing sense of detachment from one's body or surroundings, often as a result of psychological trauma. DPDR shares high diagnostic co-morbidity with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) due to overlap of clinical features such as inattention and lack of cognitive inhibition.

How can you tell if someone is dissociating? ›

Dissociative disorders include dissociative amnesia, depersonalisation disorder and dissociative identity disorder. People who experience a traumatic event will often have some degree of dissociation during the event itself or in the following hours, days or weeks.

“You feel out of your body, you just feel numb, you feel like an observer… like you're just watching a movie or a TV show about your life that you don't have any control over. You just feel like you're on autopilot. You look in the mirror and see yourself and you just can't believe it's you staring back.

Depersonalization represents a third way of coping that allows a person to escape or alleviate the traumatic situation. The uniqueness of this sort of escape is that it develops in the subjective world of the person's psyche.

Depersonalization is not dangerous.

On its own, it's not a frightening or damaging experience. It's just a feeling. DPDR can happen as a result of anxiety or trauma - but it can also be brought on by a drug. It's just your body's response to a stimulus.

So remember -- you are absolutely safe when driving with Depersonalization! Yes, feelings of dissociation while driving can seem scary initially, but don't let anxiety stop you from doing any of your day-to-day activities, and that 100% includes driving. Get into your car and drive, even if it's for a short distance.

Derealization can last for as long as the panic attack lasts, which can range in length from a few minutes to 20 or 30 minutes. In some cases, however, these sensations can persist for hours and even days or weeks.

Depersonalisation symptoms are commonly associated with brief panic reactions, but they can become more frequent and longstanding. They can be associated with anxiety, depression, trauma reactions and especially with dissociative disorders, such as Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Severe and chronic anxiety can make a person feel like they are “going crazy” or losing control. Those with anxiety typically have not lost touch with reality, but may be struggling with reality. Different types of anxiety cause different types of “crazy” feelings, so knowing your anxiety type matters.

Losing your mind may be experienced as extreme confusion, distress and/or dissociation from oneself. It may be so overwhelming that it leads to anxiety and panic attacks. You are not alone in feeling this way, and to answer the question again; it is highly unlikely that you're losing your mind.

Why do I feel like I'm losing my mind? ›

Many of us have had the thought, “I feel like I'm losing my mind” at one time or another. This thought may surface in times of heightened stress, but it can also be a manifestation of a mental health condition, such as anxiety,1 panic disorder,2 or depersonalization.

Symptoms of a dissociative disorder

feeling disconnected from yourself and the world around you. forgetting about certain time periods, events and personal information. feeling uncertain about who you are. having multiple distinct identities.

The four dissociative disorders are: Dissociative Amnesia, Dissociative Fugue, Dissociative Identity Disorder, and Depersonalization Disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2000; Frey, 2001; Spiegel & Cardeña, 1991).

Feeling your identity shift and change

Speak in a different voice or voices. Use a different name or names. Feel as if you are losing control to 'someone else' Experience different parts of your identity at different times.

Many times, people who are dissociating are not even aware that it is happening, other people notice it. Just like other types of avoidance, dissociation can interfere with facing up and getting over a trauma or an unrealistic fear.

Dissociation involves disruptions of usually integrated functions of consciousness, perception, memory, identity, and affect (e.g., depersonalization, derealization, numbing, amnesia, and analgesia).

Eye contact is broken, the conversation comes to an abrupt halt, and clients can look frightened, “spacey,” or emotionally shut down. Clients often report feeling disconnected from the environment as well as their body sensations and can no longer accurately gauge the passage of time.