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How Come No One Talks About Depersonalization?
Lessons from my personal experience with the terrifying phenomenon
Clinical depression is rarely an isolated affliction. It brings with it other illnesses as well. One of them, in my case, is depersonalization. In this article I will outline what it is, recount a couple of brushes I had with it, and what you can do to combat it.
What is Depersonalization?
There is unfortunately no clear-cut definition that would hold true in each and every case. However, the basics are as follows — sometimes, when you have gone through something traumatic or difficult to handle, your brain, to protect you, distances you from the world around you. In some cases, it distances you from yourself.
At this juncture, it is imperative to differentiate between depersonalization and derealization. I am guilty of using the two terms interchangeably, because they are the same type of phenomenon, and both are forms of dissociation. But there is a very real difference between the two. Derealization is what happens when your brain distances you from the world around you. You might feel strongly that your surroundings are not really your surroundings. You are not really here. You can see everything, touch everything, but you cannot feel everything. It feels…
