Derealization

Derealization is a dissociative phenomenon in which a person's perception of the external world is altered so that it seems unreal, distant, distorted or falsified. The DSM-5 describes it as experiences of unreality or detachment with respect to surroundings, where individuals or objects are experienced as unreal, dreamlike, foggy, lifeless or visually distorted. It is a dissociative symptom that can appear during severe stress and concerns the subjective perception of the outside world, distinguishing it from depersonalization, which concerns a person's own body and mental processes, though the two can occur together or independently. Chronic derealization affects roughly one to two percent of the general population, occurs equally in men and women, and usually begins in adolescence, with only a small share of chronic cases starting after age twenty-five. Temporary derealization symptoms are far more common, especially during or after traumatic events. Chronic derealization has been linked to occipital-temporal lobe dysfunction and to childhood trauma, with severity correlating to the reported severity of maltreatment.