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Depersonalization: Depersonalization Disorder
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Depersonalization disorder is a mental disorder that distorts a person's sense of reality. It affects a person in a way that can be hard to articulate, but the afflicted individual feels there is something is wrong with their body. It creates a sense of being "outside" the body. Patients often describe their experiences as if they were in a dream. The person feels as if life is in the third person; observing from afar while still exerting some form of control. This feeling of limited control can hamper motor skills and bring about speech impairment.
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Depersonalization Disorder is where a person "looks at themselves from the outside", and observes their own physical actions or mental processes as if they were an observer instead of themselves. This often brings a sense of unreality, and an alteration in the perception of the environment around them, as well as the person fearing they are not in full control of themselves. Depersonalization can occur during a number of different times, and not be a disorder. In order to qualify as a disorder, it must be recurrent to the point that it interferes with daily functioning in at least one major area of life.
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Depersonalization and derealization are commonly reported in the general population as a response to stress. The symptoms have ... been described in patients with a primary psychiatric or organic diagnosis, where their secondary status precludes a DSM-IV diagnosis of depersonalization disorder. The authors present 4 new cases of depersonalization in patients with an underlying organic condition, along with 47 cases from the literature in which the available information permits diagnosis of organic depersonalization. Information from case series documenting depersonalization in the context of medical illnesses is also presented and the underlying etiology discussed. Epilepsy and migraine appear to be the disorders most commonly associated with depersonalization. Left-sided temporal lobe dysfunction and anxiety are suggested as factors in the development of depersonalization; however, further studies are needed to determine the relationship.
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Depersonalization disorder often disappears without treatment. Treatment is warranted only if the disorder persists, recurs, or causes distress. Psychodynamic psychotherapy, behavior therapy, and hypnosis have been effective for some people. Sedatives and antidepressants help some people with the disorder. Depersonalization disorder is often associated with or triggered (precipitated) by other mental health disorders, which require treatment. Any stresses associated with the beginning (onset) of the depersonalization disorder must ... be addressed.
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Depersonalization disorder is classified by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, text Revision... known as the DSM-IV-TR as one of the dissociative disorders. These are mental disorders in which the normally well-integrated functions of memory, identity, perception, and consciousness are separated (dissociated). The dissociative disorders are usually associated with trauma in the recent or distant past, or with an intense internal conflict that forces the mind to separate incompatible or unacceptable knowledge, information, or feelings. In depersonalization disorder, the patient's self-perception is disrupted. Patients feel as if they are external observers of their own lives, or that they are detached from their own bodies. Depersonalization disorder is sometimes called "depersonalization neurosis."
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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.
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Depersonalization Disorder