Have you ever heard of depersonalisation disorder?

I have this disorder. It has truned my life upside down. I'd love to hear from anyone who has heard of this rare condition, especially someone who experiences it themselves.

Depersonalization Disorder is a Dissociative Disorder and it's characterized by a profound sense of detachment that makes you feel as though you're going through the motions of life, but not really living the experience. People describe it as feeling like they are in a fog, or almost as though they are in a dream and there's often a sense of unreality about things, although you consciously know what's real, it just doesn't feel that way.
Depersonalization can exist alone or as part of another disorder, most notably Panic Disorder and PTSD, but it may also be connected with depression, especially in milder form where people describe feeling numb or like their emotions are blunted or flat lined. However, actual depersonalization is usually more extreme and represents a significant sense of detachment from oneself more than just the chronic numbness that often accompanies depression.
It is also has a relationship to 鈥渢rance鈥?and can be brought on by significant periods of sleep deprivation or other 鈥渢rance-inducing鈥?activities that require extreme and prolonged focus and concentration, like addicting computer games or monotonous and routine activity, both of which I believe are related. 鈥淭rance-inducing activity鈥?leads to an altered state where there is reduced sensitivity to your surroundings. (Just think of "highway hypnosis"-this is pretty common and normal, but lasts briefly, though it shares many of the same features)
There's a good chance that Depersonalization will resolve on its own without intervention, particularly if it鈥檚 brief and hasn鈥檛 become habitual. However, a longer duration suggests that treatment aimed at helping you reconnect with yourself may be beneficial. Often times, depersonalization becomes a chronic way of coping with overwhelmingly uncomfortable or painful feelings and disconnecting from the experience of them, hence its frequent occurrence in response to trauma. Depersonalization is a frequent and common symptom associated with PTSD and also extreme anxiety and functions as a defense against the intense feelings people experience during abuse, life-threatening circumstances and extreme anxiety and panic and protects a person from becoming completely overwhelmed. People often "trance out" when under stress, and it functions to decrease their awareness of and sensitivity to distressing experiences, like the "freeze" response seen in trauma victims. (Just think of the teenager who "tunes out" when a parent or other person is berating them with criticism-they hear it, but don't really react to it). Therapy can be especially helpful if there is a history of emotional abuse that depersonalization helps you escape as it can become a familiar and almost automatic process that gets triggered by emotional arousal. In that way, it becomes a disorder, as it serves to keep a person detached from their own experiences and disconnected from their sense of self. Therapy aims at making this a less automatic process and helping people reconnect to their emotions, their body and their sense of self and learning other ways to cope and self-soothe so that dissociation is no longer a 鈥渒nee-jerk鈥?reaction to emotional triggers.
Things you can do involve grounding yourself in various ways. As one answerer suggested, "mindfulness" is excellent and is simply being in the moment and concentrating on all the sensations you are aware of (Eg: doing the dishes: concentrate on the temperature of the water, the smell of the dish detergent, the feel of the glass or ceramic you're holding, notice the soap bubbles, etc.) It can break the "trance" effect when you are experiencing depersonalization. Another tip is to keep your eyes moving-frequently when we are stressed and "freeze" our gaze becomes fixed, or locked, and this induces the hypnotic "trance" state. Keep your eyes moving and avoid becoming transfixed or staring at a single object. Using a journal or meditative practices that seek to connect you with yourself, being in touch with your feelings and even your physical state, as well as your emotional self, can help reconnect you and ground you. Deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation is excellent as it treats both the disconnectedness as well as being the single most effective technique for stopping a panic attack. Hope this helps, but please seek out a therapist who can assist you further if you suffer from continued panic and depersonalization.
Hope this helps.

Yeah, I've heard of it. I'm not sure if I have the disorder or if I'm just prone to the symptom for other reasons (because the shrinks I had refused to discuss it much with me at all). There are some good sites out there if you're looking for more information as well as some support groups. Finding specialized help, as I'm sure you know, is rather difficult since it's not nearly as widely studied as a disorder as some others.

But, yeah, I'm familiar with it. And I loathe it. I've gotten depersonalizing episodes that have lasted for years, as well as lesser ones that have only lasted severely for a week or two. And the thing that's almost equally frustrating--in my experience, it's almost impossible to get someone to understand what it's like or who will let alone take you seriously in regards to it.

Yes it is the technical term for what historically was known as a split personality.

I had a mild (if there is such a thing) case of this, and it scared the begeezers out of me!

My therapist was a life saver. I could not connect with my feelings or others around me. It lasted about 3 weeks and I say now that it was like being asleep while I was awake. According to my therapist, because of my experience in my life this was not unexpected. It was like my minds way of saying "ok, enough for now, we need a break"

But my therapist said this to me, think that it will not last forever and get in touch with yourself. Do small mindful exercises like, look at your hands, just look, no judging just look. Also, look after your self, make sure you are still eating at least 3 meals aday, personal hygiene (cleaning yourself) can help you to focus on you.

Just remember this will not last for ever and there is hope, keep seeing your therapist and good luck.

Depersonailisation is not split personality disorder, depersonalisation happens due to real trauma that you have experienced. It's a form of numbing and not feeling real or part of your environment..please talk to a professional therapist who is experienced in working with people with trauma issues. I wish you luck. You can heal from depersonalisation.

Depersonalization is NOT split personality (DID), but is a result of anxiety. It isn't rare, actually the 3rd most common personality disorder. There are medications to treat the anxiety symptoms, but therapy is the most highly recommended treatment.

Good luck and take care of you!

See http://www.nami.org/helpline/ (/helpline/whatdiss.htm) Join Gmail (free); go to the Google website: click on "groups" in an upper toolbar; type "depersonalisation disorder", and enter that term. One group shown has 10 members. Also try Yahoo, groups. Enter that term in the WebFerret search engine, your own. and the Wikipedia and Google websites.