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Query: UMLS:C0011551 (depersonalization)
 1,117 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In our study, we attempted to identify systematically the use of Internet applications in the German population in order to derive risk factors for problematic use. In a representative survey of the German population, we queried 1,401 women and 1,111 men between the ages of 14 and 94 years by specific questions and standardized questionnaires on depression, anxiety (HADS), and depersonalization (CDS-2). The majority of the German population (55%) used the Internet in their leisure time. Users were younger and had a higher socioeconomic status (education, employment, income). Leisure-time use included e-mail and information search, as well as shopping. Chatting, online communities, games and sex were domains of young, mostly male adults. Overall, 9.3% reported at least one negative consequence of Internet use, especially neglect of recreational activities and problems with family/partner, work or education, and health. Problematic use was associated with longer average daily online times, avoidance of negative emotions, preference for certain applications (gaming, gambling, online sex) and an increased rate of depersonalization. The extent of Internet use per se is not sufficient as an addiction criterion and other negative consequences; rather, specific adverse consequences need to be identified. If the Internet is used excessively to cope with negative affect states and alternative means of coping (e.g., social support, health-promoting behavior) are diminished, a vicious cycle may ensue with increasing stress and reliance on the reinforcing properties of certain online activities that may finally lead to addictive behavior.
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PMID:Regular and problematic leisure-time Internet use in the community: results from a German population-based survey. 2106 77

Depersonalization is a type of dissociation characterized by feelings of unreality and detachment from one's sense of self. Despite a history rich in clinical description, the construct of depersonalization has proven difficult to define and measure. Available measures vary substantially in content, and all have relatively limited psychometric support. In this study the content validity, internal consistency, and convergent and discriminant validity of 3 depersonalization measures were compared in a sample of 209 trauma-exposed college students. Measures were the Dissociative Experiences Scale ( E. M. Bernstein & F. W. Putnam, 1986 ), Cambridge Depersonalization Scale (CDS; M. Sierra & G. E. Berrios, 2000 ), and Multiscale Dissociation Inventory (MDI; J. Briere, 2002 ). All 3 measures exhibited adequate to high internal consistency for the depersonalization-derealization items. Based on D. Westen and R. Rosenthal's (2003) procedure for quantifying construct validity, the CDS and MDI demonstrated the best fit with the predicted pattern of correlations with measures of other constructs. The CDS and MDI also demonstrated the strongest evidence of content validity. Overall, the results most strongly support the use of the CDS and MDI for assessing depersonalization in this population.
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PMID:Construct validity of three depersonalization measures in trauma-exposed college students. 2298 42

Emotional stimuli may draw attention to such an extent that they hamper the processing of subsequent signals, a phenomenon termed emotion-induced blindness (EIB). As depersonalization is associated with self-reported attenuated emotional responses, the present study explored whether individuals scoring high on the Cambridge Depersonalization Scale (CDS; n=15) exhibit a diminished EIB effect relative to low CDS scoring individuals (n=15), and whether attentional processes reflected in event-related potentials (ERPs) are implicated in this effect. We obtained an EIB effect such that emotional distractors that preceded targets with a lag of 200ms reduced correct detection of targets. Although the magnitude of this effect was similar for high and low CDS participants, high CDS participants exhibited a significantly lower ERP amplitude at the frontal lead in the 200-300ms window than did low CDS individuals to targets that followed emotional versus neutral distractors. This latter effect was significantly related to the Alienation factor of the CDS. This pattern suggests that difficulties in the discrimination between emotional and neutral stimuli relate to the feeling of unreality in depersonalization.
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PMID:Early emotional processing deficits in depersonalization: an exploration with event-related potentials in an undergraduate sample. 2314 21

This study examined the factor structure of the Cambridge Depersonalization Scale (CDS; M. Sierra & G. E. Berrios, 2000 ), a 29-item self-report measure of depersonalization. The CDS was based on a conceptualization of depersonalization as a multidimensional construct, a theoretical perspective that has received limited empirical attention. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on CDS item scores in a sample of 534 trauma-exposed college students. Results failed to support factor structures of the CDS previously reported in the literature and instead supported a 2-factor solution, with 1 factor representing a sense of unreality and detachment and a 2nd factor representing emotional and physical numbing. Implications regarding the structural validity of the CDS are discussed. [Supplementary material is available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Journal of Trauma & Dissociation for the following resource: Four tables with the following information: inter-correlations among CDS items from Samples 1 and 2; Sierra et al. (2005 ) four-factor model and Simeon et al. (2008 ) five-factor model estimated factor loadings, covariances, and R-square in Sample 1; Factor loadings for 3-7 factor EFA models in Sample 1; and estimated factor loadings for one-factor CFA model in Sample 2.].
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PMID:Factor structure of the Cambridge Depersonalization Scale in trauma-exposed college students. 2362 78

It has been argued that hallucinations which appear to involve shifts in egocentric perspective (e.g., the out-of-body experience, OBE) reflect specific biases in exocentric perspective-taking processes. Via a newly devised perspective-taking task, we examined whether such biases in perspective-taking were present in relation to specific dissociative anomalous body experiences (ABE) - namely the OBE. Participants also completed the Cambridge Depersonalization Scale (CDS; Sierra and Berrios, 2000) which provided measures of additional embodied ABE (unreality of self) and measures of derealization (unreality of surroundings). There were no reliable differences in the level of ABE, emotional numbing, and anomalies in sensory recall reported between the OBE and control group as measured by the corresponding CDS subscales. In contrast, the OBE group did provide significantly elevated measures of derealization ("alienation from surroundings" CDS subscale) relative to the control group. At the same time we also found that the OBE group was significantly more efficient at completing all aspects of the perspective-taking task relative to controls. Collectively, the current findings support fractionating the typically unitary notion of dissociation by proposing a distinction between embodied dissociative experiences and disembodied dissociative experiences - with only the latter being associated with exocentric perspective-taking mechanisms. Our findings - obtained with an ecologically valid task and a homogeneous OBE group - also call for a re-evaluation of the relationship between OBEs and perspective-taking in terms of facilitated disembodied experiences.
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PMID:Fractionating the unitary notion of dissociation: disembodied but not embodied dissociative experiences are associated with exocentric perspective-taking. 2419 76