Dictionary

depersonalization en · NOUN

Etymology

Calque of French dépersonnalisation, equivalent to de- + personalization.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The act of depersonalizing or the state of being depersonalized.
   • He was in a critical state of depersonalization.
2. (countable, uncountable) The loss of one's sense of personal identity.
   • Many people experience some form of temporary depersonalisation in their lives, typically at moments of extreme fatigue or high stress, such as during a car crash, where both the established defence options of fight or flight are removed. A number of recreational drugs also precipitate similar episodes. 2015 September 4, Howard Swains, “Depersonalisation disorder: the condition you’ve never heard of that affects millions”, in The Guardian:
   • Musil is committed to the dissolution of the ego and to the defictionalization and depersonalization of character as Woolf expresses it in “The Narrow Bridge of Art.” 1983, William Thomas Hobdell Jackson, George Stade, Jacques Barzun, European Writers, New York: Scribner:
   • His depersonalization causes a great deal of stress as he searches for an authentic personal identity.
3. (countable, uncountable) A feeling of being unreal, detached or unable to feel emotion.
   • His severe depersonalization causes an aloof demeanor.

Forms

Coordinates

derealization

Deriveds

depersonalization-derealization disorder