Libiin

Hi, Depersonalization disorder is described in the DSM-V as “Experiences of unreality, detachment, or being an outside observer with respect to one’s thoughts, feelings, sensations, body, or actions (e.g., perceptual alterations, distorted sense of time, unreal or absent self, emotional and/or physical numbing).” This doesn’t sound very different from the experiences of not-self or anatta I’ve heard. A main difference I find is that people with depersonalization disorder have a hard time dealing with these sensations, and often leads to anxiety and depression, while in meditation, you’re supposed to accept it and, moreover, it’s related to wisdom and happiness. 1) Do you think that the sensations experimented in both conditions (depersonalization disorder vs. dissolution of the self through meditation and insight) are essentially the same but the main difference is how people perceive them (as a “bad” vs. “good” thing)? 2) If they are indeed the same, I find it confusing that the depersonalization disorder usually arises in difficult situations (intense stress, trauma…), while in meditation it’s the opposite. How could it be? Would it be a brain mechanism to cope with kind of extremes? 3) If they are indeed the same, would you expect that through cultivating acceptance, people with depersonalization disorder would, in a way, achieve deep insights? I guess the “usual” way looks something like first training your mind to be in the present and accepting your experience, and only when it’s already at least a bit trained, you get the experience of anatta, but could you say that in this case the flowchart is kind of inverted (first not-self and then acceptance)? Related question but about schizophrenia: 4) Schizophrenia patients often feel that they are not the ones moving their body or the ones thinking their thoughts, but rather someone else is doing it for them. Again, how do you see the relationship (similarities and dissimilarities) between this and anatta, when you also perceive that you’re not the thinker of your thoughts (a part that you don’t think that someone else is creating them)? Bonus question: 5) As a neuroscience student, I’m very interested in the neural basis of such experiences. If anyone has a clue on what to expect comparing, for example, depersonalization disorder patients vs. expert meditators who experience dissolution of the self, I’d greatly appreciate it. Metta,