Clinical Features
Depersonalization
Dr. L.R. KHAN
Depersonalization disorder is characterized by a persistent or recurrent alteration in the perception of the self to theexten that the feeling of one�s own reality is temporally lost. It is described as the experience of feeling mechanical, being in a dream, or feeling detached form ones body. Depersonalization is the feeling that one bodyor one�s personal self is strange and unreal deprealizationis the perception of objects in the external world as being strange and unreal.
Etiology :
Depersonalization disorder may be cased by psychological, neurologic, or systematic disease. Experiences of depersonalization have been associated with epilepsy, brain tumors, the use of psychotomimetic drugs, sesory deprivation, and emotional trauma. Depresonalization phenomenia have been caused by electrical stimulation of the cortex of the temporal lobes during neurosourgey. Systemic causes include endorcine disorders of the thyroid and pacnreas. Anxiety and depression are predisposing factors, as is sere strees such as one experiences in combat or in an auto accident. Depersonalization is frequently as symptoms n auscultation with anxiety states, depression, and schizophrenia, it is apparently rare as pure syndrome.
Clinical Features :
   The central characteristic of depresonalization is the quality of unreality and estrangement that is attached to conscious experience. Inner mental processes and external events go on seemingly exactly as before, but they feel different and no longer seem to have any relation or significance to the person. Parts of the body or the entire physical being may seem foreign, as may mental operations and accustomed behavior. Hemide Depersonalization Depersonalization disorder is characterized by a persistent or recurrent alteration in the perception of the self to theexten that the feeling of one�s own reality is temporally lost. It is described as the experience of feeling mechanical, being in a dream, or feeling detached form ones body. Depersonalization is the feeling that one bodyor one�s personal self is strange and unreal deprealizationis the perception of objects in the external world as being strange and unreal.
Epidemiology :
   As an occasional isolated experience in the life of any person, depersonalization is a common phenomenon and is not necessarily pathological. Studies of incidence indicate that transient depersonalization may occur in as many as 70% of a given population, whit no significant difference in incidence between men and women. It is a frequent event in children as they develop the capacity for self awareness, and adults often undergo a temporary sense of unrealy when they travel to new strange places.
Etiology :
Depersonalization disorder may be cased by psychological, neurologic, or systematic disease. Experiences of depersonalization have been associated with epilepsy, brain tumors, the use of psychotomimetic drugs, sesory deprivation, and emotional trauma. Depresonalization phenomenia have been caused by electrical stimulation of the cortex of the temporal lobes during neurosourgey. Systemic causes include endorcine disorders of the thyroid and pacnreas. Anxiety and depression are predisposing factors, as is sere strees such as one experiences in combat or in an auto accident. Depersonalization is frequently as symptoms n auscultation with anxiety states, depression, and schizophrenia, it is apparently rare as pure syndrome.
Clinical Features :
   The central characteristic of depresonalization is the quality of unreality and estrangement that is attached to conscious experience. Inner mental processes and external events go on seemingly exactly as before, but they feel different and no longer seem to have any relation or significance to the person. Parts of the body or the entire physical being may seem foreign, as may mental operations and accustomed behavior. Hemide personalization, the patients feeling that of the body is unreal or does not exist may be related to contralateral parietals lobe disease. Anxiety often accompaies the disorder, and may patients complain of distortion in their sense of time and space. Particularly common is the sensation of a change in the patients body for instance, the patient may feel that his extremities are bigger or smaller than usual.
(Author is Consultant Psychiatrist at Raahat Hospital, Aurangabad.)