DEPERSONALIZATION AND DEPRESSION MANUAL

The use of certain substances can cause episodes of depersonalization and derealization, but in most cases, those episodes are temporary and cease when the substance use ends. Less than one-fifth of people living with DPDR experience their first symptom after the age of 20, and itвЂ™s an extremely uncommon diagnosis for individuals over the age of 40. Women are impacted by DPDR at twice the rate of men, and most people start experiencing symptoms in childhood, with the average age of onset being 16 years old. ItвЂ™s when those episodes become recurrent and chronic that a diagnosis is made, and that only happens in about 2% of cases overall. In fact, research has found that roughly 75% of people experience at least one of these episodes in their lifetime.

According to the American Psychiatric Association, this often involves a person feeling as though the world around them isnвЂ™t real.Дepersonalization and derealization episodes arenвЂ™t entirely uncommon on their own. These episodes often involve feeling as though youвЂ™re outside your body witnessing the events taking place around you, as opposed to participating in those events yourself.Дerealization is more about feeling disconnected from your surroundings. While DPDR encompasses both depersonalization and derealization episodes, you only have to experience one or the other in order to meet the criteria for diagnosis.Дepersonalization occurs when you feel disconnected from your own thoughts, self, body, or both.

DEPERSONALIZATION AND DEPRESSION MANUAL

The three types of dissociative disorders described by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition ( DSM-5), include: DPDR is marked by an altered sense of self or of oneвЂ™s surroundings, and it can be extremely disorienting, uncomfortable, and even retraumatizing for the person living through it.

Depersonalization and depression