Depersonalization
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Depersonalization is an 'alteration' in the perception or experience of the self so that one feels 'detached' from, and as if one is an 'outside' observer of, one's mental processes or body. It can be considered desirable, such as in the use of recreational drugs, but it usually refers to the severe form found in anxiety and, in the most intense case, panic attacks. A sufferer feels that he or she has changed and the world has become less real, vague, dreamlike, or lacking in significance. It can sometimes be a rather disturbing experience, since many feel that indeed, they are living in a "dream."
Chronic depersonalization refers to depersonalization disorder, which is classified by the DSM-IV as a dissociative disorder. Derealization is a similar term to depersonalization, and the two are often used interchangeably. However, more specifically, derealization is the feeling that "nothing is real," while depersonalization is the feeling that one is "detached" from one's body or world. Though these feelings can happen to anyone, they are most prominent in anxiety disorders, clinical depression, bipolar disorder, sleep deprivation, and some types of epilepsy.
See also
- Alienation
- Brain fog
- Catatonic state
- Cognition
- Compassion fatigue
- Derealization
- Dissociation (psychology)
- Ego death
- Hallucinogen persisting perception disorder
- Human spirit
- Out-of-body experience
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Psychedelic experience
- Psychological trauma
- Spiritual crisis