Concept · Library
Concept · Psychology · late 19th century to present
Self-alienation and depersonalisation
Also known as feeling disconnected from myself · watching myself from outside · not feeling like myself · feel unreal · cut off from my body · numb and far away
A model, framework or clinical approach that has been studied. Presented as a model, with what the research behind it actually found.
The experience of being detached from yourself, as though you are observing rather than inhabiting your life, with derealisation as its counterpart where the world seems unreal. Brief episodes are common in the general population; persistent, distressing versions are recognised clinically as depersonalisation-derealisation and can follow trauma, panic, depression, some medical conditions, and some drug use. It is not something to self-diagnose.
Entries in this library keep the tradition label and the editorial state the source gave them. A record marked as awaiting scholarly review is offered as a lead to study, not as settled teaching.