Abstract
The depersonalisation syndrome comprises feeling of unreality in relation to the self, the experience of detachment from the external world preserved as unreal and distant, and ‘automaton’ experience and disturbances of volition, inability to feel emotion and the sense of a divided self, one observing the other being observed. Distortion of perception of objects and of light intensity and deja vu experiences also occur. The syndrome is associated (in intermittent or continual form) with about 35–40% of cases of panic-agoraphobic disorder. In major depression the experience of blunted emotion is the only component of depersonalisation manifest in a small proportion and in schizophrenia it is a rare and transient phenomenon in the early acute stages. The fully fledged depersonalisation syndrome is associated on the one hand with anxious and obsessional personality traits and onerous stress before onset but as a specific disturbance of temporo-limbic function on the other. It represents a particularly clear example of the dual character of the commonest psychiatric disorders and the difficulty in formulating unitary theories about them.
As many normal individuals have reported depersonalisation during exposure to life threatening situations such as imminent risk of drowning or of a car accident the hypothesis is that it represents activity of a cerebral defensive system that promotes effective responses to and survival from acute danger receives some support. In the light of this the effect of the concomitant depersonalisation in panic-agoraphobic cases upon treatment response and are of interest. Some preliminary follow-up observations bearing on this question will be reported.
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Roth, M. The Depersonalisation Syndrome and Relationship to Panic-Agoraphobia and Other Disorders. Neuropsychopharmacol 11, 261 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.npp.1380122
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.npp.1380122