What Keeps Depersonalization And Derealization Going?

It’s normal to have brief experiences of depersonalization and derealization, but if they become regular, more severe, and interfere with your ability to live your life, you may be suffering from depersonalization-derealization disorder. Symptoms of depersonalization and derealization include:

• You feel remote and detached.
• Your emotions feel numbed or superficial.
• The world feels unfamiliar or artificial.
• Images and sounds are distorted.
• You know these experiences aren’t felt by other people, and aren’t caused by real changes in the world.
• Your body feels numb, weightless, or hollow.
• You struggle to concentrate.
• You keep thinking about what is real and what isn’t.

The psychological treatment for depersonalization and derealization that has the strongest research support is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT therapists work a bit like firefighters: while the fire is burning they’re not so interested in what caused it, but are more focused on what is keeping it going,

“One interesting way of thinking about depersonalization and derealization is to look at why, for some people, they do not get better by themselves. This handout shows some of the most common reasons why some people keep experiencing symptoms of depersonalization and derealization. I wonder if we could look at it together and think about whether it describes some of what is happening for you?”

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• Noyes