Derealization

Although there is no cure for derealization and depersonalization disorder, treatment can help to alleviate distressing symptoms and perhaps lead to complete recovery from the illness. People who are experiencing derealization or depersonalization should speak with a specialist about their concerns so that treatment may begin and they can start feeling like themselves again. Depersonalization symptoms may be treated with antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs.

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs). Depression is among the most common co-occurring symptoms in people with dissociative disorders. Co-occurring depression is routinely treated with antidepressants, particularly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). SSRIs used to treat dissociative disorders include:

• Citalopram
• Sertraline
• Fluoxetine

Antipsychotic Medications. Dissociative disorders, such as derealization, are distinguished by the fact that they are not psychotic conditions. People who have had them keep their sense of reality intact. Antipsychotic medications, on the other hand, can be an effective form of depersonalization treatment for these disorders.

Antipsychotics can help persons with depersonalization-derealization illness achieve a number of positive outcomes, such as mood stabilization, stress relief, and a wider spectrum of affect. They might even be able to target and diminish symptoms of derealization and depersonalization.

Therapy for Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder

While reflective thinking might lead to queries about what is genuine and real, the sensation that the self and the outside world aren’t real is frequently a dissociative response learned to dissociate from unpleasant or painful traumatic events. Any therapy treatment for the depersonalization-derealization condition should aim to help people reclaim their real emotional range, which often involves developing both safety and understanding.

Psychotherapy can help you learn how to:

• Keep oneself from worrying about fictitious events.
• Use activities to keep yourself occupied.
• Using your 5 senses, anchor yourself in reality (for instance, by holding something cold or warm or laying loud music).
• Deal with your negative emotions and figure out what’s causing your symptoms.
• Use specific words to express your sentiments.

Symptoms of derealization and depersonalization can make a certain individual seem unreal. The self, mind, emotions, body, and the external world may all feel as if they don’t exist, or as if they are distant or distorted at different moments. Any of these symptoms, to the extent that they are present, can indicate a depersonalization-derealization disorder.

A therapist can utilize a depersonalization-derealization disorder test to identify the condition. While a specific test for symptoms, such as the structured clinical interview, may be employed, the Steinberg Depersonalization Questionnaire is the most common depersonalization disorder test. The Steinberg Derealization Questionnaire is a comparable derealization test.

Teletherapy

Patients are met with a professional therapist via teletherapy. The therapist will develop a specific treatment plan with the patient, helping him or her down the road to long-term recovery. More information on how to get started with teletherapy may be found here.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is a broad term that refers to any type of talk therapy where a client expresses his or her feelings and thoughts to a therapist.

While pharmacologic treatment of mental health issues has progressed significantly, psychotherapy is still the primary and most important psychiatric intervention. This is particularly true in the management of the depersonalization-derealization disorder, which may or may not be fully curable with medicines. One of the earliest types of therapy is psychodynamic therapy.

Psychodynamic psychotherapy emphasizes going back in time to figure out what led an individual to feel and think the way they do. Someone with a depersonalization-derealization condition can begin to comprehend why they feel separated from reality and take measures to address this by making the underlying unconscious roots of emotional reactions more conscious and comprehendible.

Insight is perhaps the most effective treatment for the depersonalization-derealization disease, allowing previously suppressed emotions to surface. People can begin to experience thoughts and emotions that they previously considered unpleasant and that caused their dissociation symptoms by deconstructing previously unconscious patterns of interacting with the world.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

CBT is one of the most well-researched treatment interventions and is regarded as an evidence-based technique for the treatment of a wide range of psychiatric problems. It works by assisting individuals in recognizing cognitive distortions and unreasonable ideas. People can lessen or eliminate negative feelings and actions generated by these concepts by confronting and reframing them.

CBT usually works successfully for people with the depersonalization-derealization disorder. Many of the symptoms include a cognitive component. Obsessive self- and world-reflection heighten emotions of disconnection. CBT can help individuals with depersonalization-derealization disorder evaluate and challenge thoughts that increase derealization, as well as develop breathing and grounding strategies to help them cope with disembodiment and other dissociative symptoms.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

One of the most common personality disorders, Borderline personality disorder (BPD), is a trauma-related illness that can be treated using dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT). DBT blends mindfulness techniques and philosophy of acceptance with cognitive-behavioral tools and procedures.

DBT assists people with backgrounds of abuse and trauma to explore emotional issues without shame or guilt, and to feel much more comfortable discussing what they feel and think, by moving away from the CBT method of classifying particular ideas or feelings as bad. DBT therapies aid in the development of distress tolerance and emotional regulation.

For the management of depersonalization disorder, this type of behavioral therapy provides important insights and benefits. People who suffer from this dissociative condition have a tendency to distrust their own ideas and feelings, labeling them as negative. This skepticism is what makes people believe that their inner states, and even themselves, aren’t genuine.

DBT can help individuals reconnect with themselves by teaching them to embrace their inner states. Individuals with depersonalization-derealization disorder can benefit from DBT’s mindfulness, self-soothing, and breathing strategies which can help them reconcile with their body and the feelings of being in the moment.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing

Another technique designed expressly for patients with trauma-related problems is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). Its purpose is to assist people in gently and safely processing unpleasant memories, ideas, and feelings that they have been denying or avoiding.

Clients engage in EMDR by talking or thinking about painful memories while following back-and-forth audio or visual cue designed to assist their brains in reprocessing these events. While experts disagree on why this strategy works, research demonstrates that it is an effective treatment for persons who have experienced trauma, especially those who suffer from the depersonalization-derealization disorder.

EMDR, like CBT, may help individuals change their mental processes, and it can do so in a manner that is supportive and founded on physical experience, just like DBT. Because this type of therapy focuses solely on trauma, it can assist those who have suppressed or avoided terrible memories in addressing them in a secure setting.

Many persons who have derealization and depersonalization have had traumatic or non-traumatic events that prompted them to reject their emotions and conceal thoughts and memories. EMDR can help patients break past those defenses and reconnect with their emotions.