Derealization

The experience of derealization can be described as feeling as if a substance separates a person from the outside world, such as a sensory fog, pane of glass, or veil. The person may feel as if they are viewing their surroundings through VR glasses, through glass, or on a movie screen. Some report that what they see lacks vividness and emotional coloring.^[8] Emotional response to visual recognition of loved ones may be significantly reduced. Feelings of déjà vu or jamais vu are common. One may not be sure whether what one perceives is real. The world may seem as if it were going through a dolly zoom effect. Such perceptual abnormalities may also extend to hearing, taste, and smell. An important differentiation between hallucination and derealization is that one does not hear, see, or experience things that are not real or visible during derealization; rather, one experiences their surroundings as distant or dreamlike. During this state of altered perception, one is aware of the feeling's subjective nature.^[9]

The degree of familiarity one has with their surroundings is among one's sensory and psychological identity, memory foundation, and history when experiencing a place. People experiencing derealization block this identifying foundation from recall. This "blocking effect" creates a discrepancy of correlation between one's perception of one's surroundings during derealization and what one would perceive in its absence.

Frequently, derealization occurs in the context of constant worrying or "intrusive thoughts" that one finds hard to switch off. In such cases it can build unnoticed along with the underlying anxiety attached to these disturbing thoughts, and be recognized only in the aftermath of a realization of crisis, often a panic attack, subsequently seeming difficult or impossible to ignore. This type of anxiety can be crippling to the affected and may lead to avoidant behavior. Those who experience this phenomenon may feel concern over the cause of their derealization. It is often difficult to accept that such a disturbing symptom is simply a result of anxiety, and one may think the cause must be something more serious. This can, in turn, cause more anxiety and worsen the derealization. Derealization has also been shown to interfere with the learning process, with cognitive impairments demonstrated in immediate recall and visuospatial deficits.^[10] This can be best understood as the feeling of seeing events in third person.^[11]

Derealization can accompany the neurological conditions of epilepsy (particularly temporal lobe epilepsy), migraine, and mild TBI (head injury).^[12] There is a similarity between visual hypo-emotionality, a reduced emotional response to viewed objects, and derealization. This suggests a disruption of the process by which perception becomes emotionally colored. This qualitative change in the experiencing of perception may lead to reports of anything viewed being unreal or detached.^[5]

The instances of recurring or chronic derealization among those who have experienced extreme trauma and/or have post-traumatic stress (PTSD) have been studied closely in many scientific studies, whose results indicate a strong link between the disorders, with a disproportionate amount of post traumatic stress patients reporting recurring feelings of derealization and depersonalization (up to 30% of those with the condition) in comparison to the general populace (only around 2%),^[13] especially in those who experienced the trauma in childhood. Many possibilities have been suggested by various psychologists to help explain these findings, the most widely accepted including that experiencing trauma can cause individuals to distance themselves from their surroundings and perception, with the aim of subsequently distancing themselves from the trauma and (especially in the case of depersonalisation) their emotional response to it. This could be either as a deliberate coping mechanism or an involuntary, reflexive response depending on circumstance.^[14] This possibly not only increases the risk of experiencing problems with derealization and its corresponding disorder, but with all relevant dissociative disorders. In the case of childhood trauma, not only are children more likely to be susceptible to such a response as they are less able to implement more healthy strategies to deal with the emotional implications of experiencing trauma, there is also a lot of evidence that shows trauma can have a substantial detrimental effect on learning and development, especially since those who experience trauma in childhood are far less likely to have received adequate parenting.^[14] These are factors proven to increase susceptibility to maladaptive psychological conditions, including dissociative disorders and their derealization symptoms.

Some neurophysiological studies have noted disturbances arising from the frontal-temporal cortex, which could explain the correlation found between derealization symptoms and temporal lobe disorders. This is further supported by reports of people with frontal lobe epilepsy, with those with epilepsy of the dorsal premotor cortex reporting symptoms of depersonalization, while those with temporal lobe epilepsy reported experiencing derealization symptoms.^[15] This implies that malfunction of these specific brain regions may be the cause of these dissociative symptoms, or at the very least that these brain regions are heavily involved.

Derealization is a common psychosomatic symptom seen in various anxiety disorders, especially hypochondria.^[16] However, derealization is presently regarded as a separate psychological issue due to its presence as a symptom within several pathologies.

Derealization and dissociative symptoms have been linked by some studies to various physiological and psychological differences in individuals and their environments. It was remarked that labile sleep-wake cycles (labile meaning more easily roused) with some distinct changes in sleep, such as dream-like states, hypnogogic, hypnopompic hallucinations, night-terrors and other disorders related to sleep could possibly be causative or improve symptoms to a degree.^[17] Derealization can also be a symptom of severe sleep disorders and mental disorders like depersonalization disorder, borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, dissociative identity disorder, and other mental conditions.^[18]

Cannabis,^[19] psychedelics, dissociatives, antidepressants, caffeine, nitrous oxide, albuterol, and nicotine can all produce feelings of derealization, or sensations mimicking them,^[20] particularly when taken in excess. It can also result from alcohol withdrawal or benzodiazepine withdrawal.^[21] Tramadol withdrawal can also cause feelings of derealization, often alongside psychotic symptoms such as anxiety, paranoia and hallucinations.^[22]

Interoceptive exposure exercises have been used in research settings as a means to induce derealization, as well as the related phenomenon depersonalization, in people who are sensitive to high levels of anxiety. Exercises with documented successes include timed intervals of hyperventilation or staring at a mirror, dot, or spiral.^[23]

Derealization, as a concept, is referenced in the 2021 comedy special by Bo Burnham called Bo Burnham: Inside; specifically, it is mentioned in the song "That Funny Feeling".^[24]

The protagonist of the 2017 video game Night in the Woods - Mae Borowski - is implied to experience derealization, seeing objects and people as "just shapes" and "just lines someone wrote".

In season 3, episode 3 of the Netflix series Evil, Ben Shakir is spontaneously diagnosed as being "Culturally Derealized" by the children of Kristen Bouchard.