Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy

Table of Contents - 1999 - Volume 27, Issue 04  


Brief Clinical Reports

DEPERSONALIZATION IN A NON-CLINICAL SAMPLE

Jean Charbonneau a1 and Kieron O'Connor a2c1
a1 Hopital St-Luc, Montreal, Canada
a2 Hopital Louis-H Lafontaine, Montreal, Canada

Abstract

Twenty participants self-referred from the general population as experiencing depersonalization were interviewed to determine the qualities of the experience and possible pathology. The participants and control group were also administered a battery of questionnaires measuring different aspects of psychopathology. There were no consistent diagnostic associations with depersonalization. In the majority of cases, onset was reported after a traumatic life event, or after sexual abuse or after giving birth. The most frequent experiences were related to derealization and participants did not score high on dissociation in general. The most common strategy to alleviate the problem was concentrating on a task. We distinguish between those clients who viewed the experience as a loss of or less than normal sensation, which we qualified as negative symptoms and others who evaluated the experience as an addition to their usual perceptions and sensations, which we qualified as positive symptoms.


Key Words: Depersonalization; derealization; coping strategies; psychopathology.

Correspondence:
c1 Kieron O’Connor, Centre de Recherche Fernand-Seguin, Hopital Louis-H Lafontaine, 7331 rue Hochelaga, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H1N 3V2.

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