A patient has recurrent episodes in which she feels detached from her own thoughts, body, and actions — as if she is an outside observer of herself — with intact reality testing. This symptom is BEST described as:
- A Depersonalisation ✓
- B Derealisation
- C Dissociative amnesia
- D Dissociative fugue
Explanation
Depersonalisation refers to a persistent or recurrent feeling of detachment from one's mental processes, body, or actions — as though one is an observer of oneself (automaton-like, out-of-body feelings). Reality testing remains intact (patient knows these feelings are not real, unlike psychosis). Derealisation is the related experience of unreality of the external world (surroundings feel unreal, dream-like). Both can co-occur and constitute Depersonalisation/Derealisation Disorder in DSM-5. Dissociative amnesia is memory loss; dissociative fugue involves purposeful travel with amnesia of identity.
Reference: Kaplan & Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry, 11th ed.
High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP
Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.