Depersonalization and psychosensory disorders amongst young people who do not seek psychiatric help appeal for psychiatrysts (prevalence, clinical features and classification)

The importance of this study is justified by the high occurance frequency of this phenomenon amongst young people in the clinical structure of mental disorders and as well as in the framework of psychological defense mechanisms in psychiatrically healthy population. The question of the limits of depersonalization remains unresolved, as there is no single point of view regarding the syndromological affiliation, rendering it ambiguous to evaluate it as a productive or negative disorder.

Aim. This study was aimed at verifying the prevalence and clinical structure of depersonalization symptoms amongst young people.

Materials and Methods. A continuous sample consisting of 96 medical students – 68 (71%) female and 28 (29%) male, from 18 to 23 (19±1.2) years was studied using medico-social, clinico-psychopathological, psychometric and statistical methods.

Results. Depersonalization symptoms were found amongst 94% of respondents. Different forms of autopsychic depersonalization were identified in the different psyche spheres – effector-volitional sphere, thinking and self-awareness (except the depersonalization in emotional sphere – «pathological insensitivity», which were previously identified). The validity of their separation was confirmed by cluster analysis. Along with depersonalization disorders, in more than half of the cases, a variety of psychosensory disorders were observed.

Conclusions. Depersonalization phenomena along with various psychosensory disorders are widespread amongst adolescents without obvious mental disorders or gender preference. Therapy is useful if depersonalization obstructs social functioning and coupled with anxiety and depression.