Depersonalization is a classic response to acute trauma, and may be highly prevalent in individuals involved in different traumatic situations including motor vehicle accident, and imprisonment. Psychologically depersonalization can, just like dissociation in general, be considered a type of coping mechanism.
Something I wish I had known when first experiencing derealisation is that it is my brain's way of coping with levels of stress in the body – this means that even though it feels like a scary, out-of-body experience, it is my own body trying to protect me.
Depersonalization is your brain's natural response to trauma. That may be from violence, a car crash, a panic attack, a bad experience from smoking weed etc. Your brain thinks it's in danger, so in order to deal with the perceived trauma, it kicks in with 'fight or flight' response.
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.
The symptoms associated with depersonalization disorder often go away. They may resolve on their own or after treatment to help deal with symptom triggers. Treatment is important so that the symptoms don't come back.
Episodes of depersonalization-derealization disorder may last hours, days, weeks or even months at a time. In some people, these episodes turn into ongoing feelings of depersonalization or derealization that may periodically get better or worse.
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.
In depersonalization disorder, reduced gray matter volumes (GMV) in right thalamus, caudate, and cuneus, and increased GMV in the left dorsomedial PFC and the right somato-sensoric regions were observed [93•]. As abovementioned, these areas have been implicated in dissociation [10, 61, 62, 85].
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.
Depersonalization and memory loss are not connected. Sure, DPDR can temporarily affect your concentration but it has absolutely nothing to do with and cannot affect the memory centres of your brain.
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.
Depersonalization (also referred to as "derealization") is a common symptom of anxiety disorder. Many anxiety disorder sufferers get depersonalization as a symptom, especially when anxiety has become chronic. There are many reasons why anxiety can cause depersonalization (derealization) symptoms.
Dissociation functions as a coping mechanism developed by the body to manage and protect against overwhelming emotions and distress 6. This can be a completely natural reaction to traumatic experiences, and can be helpful as a way of coping at the time.
Many people experience dissociation, or a lack of connection between their thoughts, memory, and sense of identity, during or after a traumatic experience. A specific type of dissociation—persistent derealization—may put individuals exposed to trauma at greater risk for mental illnesses and functional impairment.
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.
Complete recovery from depersonalization disorder is possible for many patients. The symptoms associated with this disorder often go away on their own or after treatment that help the person deal with the stress or trauma that triggered the symptoms.
Up to 30 percent of people with PTSD also suffer from symptoms known as depersonalization and de-realization––that is, they experience “out-of-body” episodes or feelings that the world is not real. These disturbances to awareness and consciousness are known as dissociation.
Dissociative symptoms include derealization/depersonalization, absorption, and amnesia. These experiences can cause a loss of control over mental processes, including memory and attention.
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 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.
Depersonalization can be its own disorder, or a symptom of depression, drug use, or psychotropic medications. But when it occurs as a symptom of severe or prolonged stress and anxiety, experts agree that it's not dangerous — or a sign of psychosis — like many people fear.
Depersonalization disorder, or depersonalization/derealization disorder, is a mental health condition that creates dissociative states of consciousness, which can be debilitating and highly stressful if left untreated.
A person can survive countless episodes of DP/DR, yet each episode still can feel new and emergent. Someone can simultaneously appear present, but be far removed from an experience when depersonalized.
Well, the short answer is that it feels great!
In particular, I am SO happy that I am able to travel and see the world again -- as that was a very strong fear for me and something I thought I would never be able to do again.