Derealization disorder is similar to depersonalization, but the individual experiences the dissociation with the environment around them, including people and things. They may feel detached from their experience as if they're witnessing everything from far away or through a window or movie screen.
There are five main ways in which the dissociation of psychological processes changes the way a person experiences living: depersonalization, derealization, amnesia, identity confusion, and identity alteration.
Depersonalization symptoms
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.
In this paper the descriptive characteristics of depersonalization are discussed with regard to the features of "observing self" and the relationship between experiences and selves, according to which the authors distinguish two types of depersonalization: an "excessive-self-reflecting type" and an "absorbed-in- ...
Mental illnesses such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder may cause similar symptoms to a dissociative disorder. The effects of certain substances, including some recreational drugs and prescription medications, can mimic symptoms.
There are three dissociative disorders, including dissociative identity disorder, dissociative amnesia and depersonalization/derealization disorder. These conditions typically develop as a response to trauma. They're treatable — usually with psychotherapy (talk therapy).
Signs and symptoms depend on the type of dissociative disorders you have, but may include: Memory loss (amnesia) of certain time periods, events, people and personal information. A sense of being detached from yourself and your emotions. A perception of the people and things around you as distorted and unreal.
How is derealization different from depersonalization? Depersonalization means that you are feeling detached from your own body and identity. Derealization is feeling detached from your surroundings.
The disorder is usually triggered by severe stress, particularly emotional abuse or neglect during childhood, or other major stresses (such as experiencing or witnessing physical abuse). Feelings of detachment from self or the surroundings may occur periodically or continuously.
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".
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.
The primary symptom of depersonalization disorder is a distorted perception of the body. The person might feel like they are a robot or in a dream. Some people might fear they are going crazy and might become depressed, anxious, or panicky. For some people, the symptoms are mild and last for just a short time.
The difference between depersonalization and psychotic disorders is awareness. People with depersonalization disorder know the feelings of detachment are not real. People with a psychotic disorder believe their feelings are reality.
Zoning out is considered a form of dissociation, but it typically falls at the mild end of the spectrum.
It doesn't have to have been caused by a traumatic or stressful event. Many people think that this disorder might be more common than previously thought.
Mild dissociation would be like daydreaming, getting “lost” in a book, or when you are driving down a familiar stretch of road and realize that you do not remember the last several miles.
This is Not Psychosis
People with schizophrenia or psychosis commonly experience hallucinations or delusions that are difficult to distinguish from reality. Individuals with DR may feel strange about themselves or their surroundings, but they do not typically experience hallucinations or delusions.
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.
One of the most common symptoms of Depersonalization is having constant racing thoughts, intense self-analysis and weird existential fears. Things that are usually perfectly normal and everyday can seem bizarre. When I had Depersonalization, I remember constantly thinking "I feel like I'm going crazy".
No lab test can diagnose derealization. Your doctor may first try to rule out physical causes. They may use imaging tests such as an MRI, EEG, or an X-ray, or a urine screen to check for toxic chemicals. If those tests don't show anything, your doctor will refer you to a mental health expert.
Depersonalization is a symptom of anxiety. Barring very rare certain circumstances like massive head trauma, Depersonalization without anxiety does not exist. If you felt totally calm you wouldn't be checking in on feelings of DP. You wouldn't be thinking about them and you wouldn't be talking about them.
Depersonalization-derealization disorder (DDD) often shows up with other mental health conditions. It happens when you feel like you're watching your life from outside your body. It can feel like you're watching a movie or a dream. This feeling is very upsetting.
Visual snow, static, thinking you're seeing things move, blurry vision, floaters etc. You only see them at all because the brain is just looking for something -- anything -- to be the source of the danger.
Dissociation – feeling detached from yourself, like in a dreamlike state, feeling weird or off-kilter, and like everything is surreal – is a common anxiety disorder symptom experienced by many people who are anxious.
Shutdown dissociation includes partial or complete functional sensory deafferentiation, classified as negative dissociative symptoms (see Nijenhuis, 2014; Van Der Hart et al., 2004). The Shut-D focuses exclusively on symptoms according to the evolutionary-based concept of shutdown dissociative responding.