Understanding Depersonalization And Derealization

At some point in their lives (usually when they are tired or when their body or mind is under stress) most people have at least one experience of feeling detached from themselves, or from the world. Feeling detached from yourself is called depersonalization: you might feel like you are dreaming, or watching yourself through glass. Feeling detached from the world around you is called derealization: the world seems unfamiliar or artificial.

It’s normal to have brief experiences of depersonalization and derealization. If they become regular, more severe, and interfere with your ability to live your life, you may be suffering from depersonalization-derealization disorder. It is thought that 1 or 2 people in every 100 will experience depersonalization-derealization disorder, and people often suffer with the symptoms for a long time before seeking help. Fortunately, cognitive
behavioral therapy is a helpful treatment for depersonalization and derealization.

This guide will help you

Our ‘Understanding…’ series is designed to support your clients:

• Scaffold knowledge. The guides are perfect during early stages of therapy to help your clients understand how their symptoms fit together and make sense.
• Reassure and encourage optimism. Many clients find it hugely reassuring to know there is a name for what they are experiencing, and that there are evidence-based psychological models and treatments specifically designed to help.
• De-mystify the therapy process. To increase your client’s knowledge of the therapy process and the ingredients that it is likely to involve. If you can help your clients to understand why an intervention is important (think exposure!) it can help encourage them to engage.
• Signposting. If you’re just seeing a client briefly for assessment, or you have a curious client who wants to know more, these resources can be a helpful part of guiding them to the right service.
• Waiting time not

• Baker et al (2003) Depersonalisation disorder: clinical features of 204 cases. British Journal of Psychiatry, 182, p428-433.
• Blanke, O. (2012). Multisensory brain mechanisms of bodily self-consciousness. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 13(8), 556-571.
• Dewe, H., Watson, D. G., & Braithwaite, J. J. (2016). Uncomfortably numb: new evidence for suppressed emotional reactivity in response to body-threats in those predisposed to sub-clinical dissociative experiences. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 21(5), 377-401.
• Hunter, E. C. (2013). Understanding and treating depersonalisation disorder. In Cognitive behavioural approaches to the understanding and treatment of dissociation (pp. 160-72). Routledge Press.
• Hunter, E. C., Baker, D., Phillips, M. L., Sierra, M., & David, A. S. (2005). Cognitive-behaviour therapy for depersonalisation disorder: an open study. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 43(9), 1121-1130.
• Hunter, E. C. M., Phillips, M. L., Chalder, T., Sierra, M., & David, A. S. (2003). Depersonalisation disorder: a cognitive–behavioural conceptualisation. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41(12), 1451-1467.
• Hunter, E.C.M., Salkovskis, P.M. &