Depersonalization adolescents affected more often

Depersonalization: Teenagers show symptoms more often

03/12/2014

Among other things, depersonalization leads to a shift in self-perception and sometimes they feel strangers to themselves. A new study shows that adolescents often show symptoms of this mental disorder.

Self-perception shifts
In people who suffer from depersonalization, self-perception often shifts, they lose their personality and become alienated. Affected describe themselves with formulations, such as „not right here“ to be, or they mean „stand next to you“. Researchers at the University Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz have recently published study results on the subject in the journal „Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology“ published. They found that adolescents often show symptoms of depersonalization.

Symptoms during adolescence not uncommon
Symptoms of this disorder are not uncommon in adolescents during adolescence. A total of 47 percent of the surveyed students said to have been burdened by such symptoms at least on individual days in the last two weeks. The scientists were surprised, however, that twelve percent of respondents even pronounced severe symptoms of depersonalization. Thus, the student population was much more likely to have severe symptoms of depersonalization than the general population, which is only one to two percent. In addition, about 32 percent of 12- to 18-year-old teenagers in Rhineland-Palatinate reported a very high general mental stress. This level of mental stress is similar to that of adolescents undergoing inpatient care for mental illness.

Nicotine and cannabis consumption
As a closer examination of the respondents found, students who consumed nicotine and cannabis often suffered from depersonalization. According to Dr. Matthias Michal, Deputy Director of the Clinic and Polyclinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy of the Mainz University Medical Center, was very closely involved in strong depersonalization, together with social anxiety, male gender, lower school qualifications, greatly reduced self-efficacy and inferior skills to constructively solve problems.

Still much research needed
Even though depersonalization is not a new and not a rare phenomenon, there is still little research on it. However, the scientists in Mainz still see a lot of research in view of the frequency of clinically relevant depersonalisation. „First, longitudinal studies are important to understand how depersonalization develops over time. On the other hand, there is an increasing need for clinical studies in order to be better able to help those affected“, so Dr. Michal. (Ad)