Depersonalization

Feelings of unreality or strangeness concerning the environment, the self, or both. This state is characteristic of depersonalization disorder but also may occur in schizotypal personality disorder, in schizophrenia, and in persons experiencing overwhelming anxiety, stress, or fatigue.

The loss of the sense of personal identity, often with a feeling of being something or someone else.

Sense of dreamlike unreality and a loss of the sense of one’s own identity, often resulting from stress or anxiety.

Loss of connection (dissociative process) between personal thoughts and a sense of self and the environment in which the client reports feeling that he/she is in a dream or watching a movie of him/herself, and things feel unreal and strange; viewing or treating an individual as an object rather than as a person.

The feeling that one’s body is unreal, unfamiliar, floating, dead, changing in size, or being  observed by the self from the outside. Isolated incidents of depersonalization are normal and no reason for concern. Depersonalization that continues for long periods or recurs often can be a sign of depression, schizophrenia, or panic disorder. Treatment is directed at the underlying disorder. Depersonalization differs from derealization, in which the individual perceives the environment as unreal.

A state in which a person feels himself becoming unreal or strangely altered, or feels that his mind is becoming separated from his body. Minor degrees of this feeling are common in normal people under stress. Severe feelings of depersonalization occur in anxiety neurosis, in states of ‘dissociation, in depression and schizophrenia, and in epilepsy (particularly temporal-lobe epilepsy).

A dissociative manifestation characterized by the sensation of the patient perceiving their body as unreal, undergoing alterations, or dissolving is known as depersonalization.

Depersonalization refers to a state of feeling disconnected from oneself and the surrounding environment, resulting in a sense of unreality. It is often accompanied by derealization, wherein the world is perceived as unreal. While depersonalization is typically transient and not severe, it can occur suddenly and persist for brief moments or extended periods. Anxiety disorders are commonly associated with depersonalization, although it can also be triggered by certain medications and temporal lobe epilepsy.