Feeling Nureal
April 20, 2006
Daphne Simeon, Jeffrey Abugel
Abstract The idea that reality is subjective, constructed from our own perceptions, is quite an ancient concept. “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world,” said the Buddha. Depersonalization, a serious disruption in a person’s thoughts or sensations about their individual self, understandably alters their entire world. A person may...
Feeling Nureal
April 20, 2006
Daphne Simeon, Jeffrey Abugel
Abstract: Dissociative disorders in general are known to be founded in experiences of trauma or abuse. They are conceptualized as the human psyche’s way of coping with intolerable circumstances—a means of escape to assure survival, no matter what the price. Depersonalization disorder (DPD) is classified by modern American psychiatry within the dissociative disorders, but its traumatic causes...
Feeling Nureal
April 20, 2006
Daphne Simeon, Jeffrey Abugel
Abstract: Like any other psychiatric condition, the diagnosis of depersonalization disorder (DPD) is made clinically, by meeting with the patient and conducting a thorough evaluation interview. Descriptions of the symptoms, as we have described throughout this book, and as spelled out in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV), serve as the point of...
Feeling Nureal
April 20, 2006
Daphne Simeon, Jeffrey Abugel
Abstract Einstein’s advice, above, is particularly relevant when it conies to discussing the human brain, the most complex structure in all creation. While more is known about the brain than ever before, mass culture has developed a tendency to liken its functions to that of a computer, or explain serious disorders in terms of simple chemical imbalances. Such generalizations just don’t do the...
Feeling Nureal
April 20, 2006
Daphne Simeon, Jeffrey Abugel
Abstract Can depersonalization be successfully treated with psychotherapy? Although traditionally the psychotherapy literature has been rather pessimistic on this issue, more recent advances in psychotherapy technique aimed specifically at treating this condition leave us with more reason to be optimistic. To say that psychotherapy works, or always works fully, may be misleading or overly...
Feeling Nureal
April 20, 2006
Daphne Simeon, Jeffrey Abugel
Abstract The human brain, the only organ capable of studying itself, has in the last century turned its attention toward the mysterious phenomenon of depersonalization, examining it from many perspectives. Depersonalization disorder (DPD) remains one of the most frequently misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed conditions in modern psychiatry. Why? Likely for several reasons. DPD is often accompanied...