Depersonalization Phenomena in Obsessional Personalities and in Depression
G. Sedman, G. F. Reed
The British Journal of Psychiatry May 1, 1963 DOI: 10.1192/bjp.109.460.376 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Depression |
| Key findings | The text reviews historical evidence on personality and depersonalization: Shorvon reported 88% obsessional traits among 66 depersonalization cases, while Mayer-Gross noted that one-third of his 26 patients were extraverted hypomanic characters and 7 had obsessional personalities, and Anderson found 30% depersonalization among 50 later-life depression cases. The authors present these as differing observations on the association between depersonalization, obsessional personality, and depression. |
Abstract
It is claimed that there is an association between the occurrence of depersonalization and obsessional personality (Mayer-Gross, Slater and Roth, 1960). The above authors in their textbook quote Shorvon (1946), who found that in his sixty-six cases of depersonalization (forty-six female, twenty male, with an age of onset distribution of twenty under 20 years, thirty between 20 and 30 years, sixteen between 30 and 40 years), no less than 88 per cent. showed obsessional traits in their personalities. Shorvon excluded involutional depression and severe psychotics from his case material. Mayer-Gross commenting on the above paper stated, “While obsessional personalities are preponderant among his cases, he apparently only included a few cases of cyclothymic temperament. In the latter this symptom is frequent, in fact one-third of my own patients were of this type.” He (1935) had in fact drawn attention to the relatively large numbers of extraverted hypomanic characters, who were subject to depersonalization (one-third of his twenty-six cases), but he also found seven out of twenty-six with obsessional personality. (Mayer-Gross found a striking uniformity of age at the beginning of the syndrome, average 26.6 years, distribution two under 20, eighteen between 20 and 30, six between 30 and 40 and a preponderance of women, twenty out of twenty-six.) On the other hand Anderson (1936) found an incidence of 30 per cent. of depersonalization in a series of fifty cases of depression of later life, drawing attention to the often-remarked upon association between depersonalization and depression.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on depression, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Synaptic Dysfunction in Depression: Potential Therapeutic Targets | 2012 | Review | |
| Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: A New Approach to Preventing Relapse | 2003 | Review | |
| Synthesizing the Evidence for Ketamine and Esketamine in Treatment-Resistant Depression: An International Expert Opinion on the Available Evidence and Implementation Adults with treatment-resistant depression | 2021 | Review | |
| Classic psychedelics: An integrative review of epidemiology, therapeutics, mystical experience, and brain network function. General population | 2019 | Integrative review | |
| Sudarshan Kriya Yogic Breathing in the Treatment of Stress, Anxiety, and Depression: Part II—Clinical Applications and Guidelines | 2005 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cited by 7
- Affectivity in mental disorders: an enactive-simondonian approach Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences September 8, 2023
- Depersonalization Phenomena in Psychiatric Patients The British Journal of Psychiatry November 1, 1970
- Theories of Depersonalization: A Re-appraisal The British Journal of Psychiatry July 1, 1970
- Depersonalization in a Group of Normal Subjects The British Journal of Psychiatry September 1, 1966
- Depersonalization in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and the Organic Psychoses The British Journal of Psychiatry April 1, 1965
and 2 more in the library