Depersonalization Phenomena in Psychiatric Patients
Rima Brauer, Martin Harrow, Gary J. Tucker
The British Journal of Psychiatry November 1, 1970 DOI: 10.1192/bjp.117.540.509 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Commentary Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Depersonalization, the sense of being a stranger to oneself or unreal, is reported across neurological and psychiatric conditions such as epilepsy, encephalitis, schizophrenia, and manic depression, and also in people without illness, typically after emotional shock or physical exhaustion. The author notes that persistent depersonalization has recently been elevated to a diagnostic entity in itself. |
Abstract
The complaints, ‘I am a stranger to myself; I am unreal’, are manifestations of depersonalization which have been noted frequently by clinicians. Depersonalization has been reported in epilepsy, after drug ingestion, encephalitis, hysteria, manic depression, and schizophrenia, as well as in various neurotic patients. It has also been noted in normals, but usually after emotional shock or physical exhaustion. Most recently, persistent feelings of depersonalization have been elevated to the status of a diagnostic entity in itself.
Citations in the library
Cited by 10
- Basic Self-Disturbances beyond Schizophrenia: Discrepancies and Affinities in Panic Disorder - An Empirical Clinical Study. Psychopathology 2017
- Demographic and Psychological Features of Déjà Vu Experiences in a Nonclinical Japanese Population The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease April 1, 2003
- A 20-Year Descriptive Phenomenological Study of Depersonalization and Derealization as an Alteration in Sense of Self and Lifeworld. Schizophrenia Bulletin April 10, 2026
- Behind the opaque curtain: A 20-year longitudinal study of dissociative and first-rank symptoms in schizophrenia-spectrum psychoses, other psychoses and non-psychotic disorders Schizophrenia Research September 1, 2020
- On rare and unusual types of dissociative disorders: a case of dissociative episodes with time travel-like experience Journal of Psychology & Clinical Psychiatry August 3, 2020
and 5 more in the library
Cites 4
- Episodic Depersonalization The British Journal of Psychiatry July 1, 1964
- Depersonalization Phenomena in Obsessional Personalities and in Depression The British Journal of Psychiatry May 1, 1963
- Depersonalization Phenomena in a Sample Population of College Students The British Journal of Psychiatry May 1, 1963
- The Depersonalization Syndrome Journal of Mental Science 1947