Depersonalization

Depersonalization is a dissociative experience, where a person feels a sense of unreality or detachment from their own thoughts, feelings, body, or actions. It’s often described as feeling like an outside observer of oneself, as if in a distant dream-like state, or feeling like a robot—emotionally numb, a sense of not being in control of one’s speech or movements. A person in this state can seem like they lack empathy or compassion toward others because of these feelings. Depersonalization is often accompanied by derealization (feeling of detachment from the surrounding world, where things seem unreal or distorted). These sets of symptoms can be triggered by stress, trauma, anxiety, or other mental health conditions, like depression, hypochondriasis, dissociation, epilepsy, and early schizophrenia (though depersonalization is not a psychotic disorder)—and commonly occurs after trauma. Depersonalization should not be confused with dehumanization, which treats others as less than human (denying someone’s humanity). Also see Acute Stress