Derealization: Difference between revisions

[[Derealization]] ('''DR''') is a form of [[dissociation]] in which the **external world feels unreal, dream-like, foggy, artificial, distant, or visually distorted**.<ref name="DSM5">American Psychiatric Association. (2013). ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.</ref>  Although surroundings may appear “flat,” “cartoonish,” or “as if seen through glass,” **reality-testing remains intact**: the sufferer knows the environment itself has not actually changed. Derealization often co-occurs with [[depersonalization]] (detachment from one’s self); persistent or recurrent episodes of either — when clinically distressing — are diagnosed as [[Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder]] (DPDR).<ref name="Simeon2004">Simeon, D. (2004). Depersonalisation disorder: a contemporary overview. ''CNS Drugs'', 18 (6), 343-354. https://doi.org/10.2165/00023210-200418060-00002</ref>