no trauma

i found out recently i am diagnosed with Depersonalisation disorder. everything i can find on it says that it is caused by trauma but i dont remember having any traumatic experiences other than the hospital maybe i dont know

I see by your profile you are in Australia, here in america depersonalization is not always caused by trauma. it can be caused by many different things. example when i went out with my wife last night we were in a crowded restaurant, I got over stimulated by the crowd and started feeling my depersonalization symptoms...numb disconnected, spaced out feeling.

for some people its stress, for others anxiety, for others its PTSD, depression any many other things too.

my suggestion talk with your or a treatment provider in your location, they will be able to explain it according to whats what where you are.

Sometimes, trauma memories may not be consciously accessible.

But it could be stress or overstimulation, as amadalouise said.

For me, over stimulation of the senses, stress, anxiety causes DP/DR to happen. But of course I've experienced trauma in the past, but I'm prone to dissociation anyways.

When I was younger 30 years ago, smoking weed triggered it really bad. I could look at my hand and totally not feel it like it was someone else's. I quit smoking long ago.

I don't know, sometimes when I DP, I think I'm just fading away. That I'm unreal.

Thank you everyone. I am hypersensitive and always extremely stressed so that is probably it.

Hi, AlwaysChanging! So what you said about overstimulation sounds a lot like me. I was wondering if any of this sounded familiar to you:
I am a survivor of domestic violence. When things really started to escalate, and my husband became severely verbally abusive, I started to feel the sensation that I was outside of my body.....things slowed down. It felt like I was moving through jello. I knew who I was and where I was, but it was like I was almost absent from what was unfolding. Sometimes, it became so severe that it affected my gross motor skills, making movement very slowed and difficult.

When he eventually became physically violent, the same thing happened. Although, the results were even more devastating. I saw him hurt other people, and I could not move my body forward to help them. It was like I completely left my body and could not move it forward.

What ever he "knocked loose" continues to remain with me. When I am yelled at, I feel the same things rush over me, everything slows down. I believe this is sensitivity to over-stimulation brought about by trauma.

Does this sound like depersonalization?

Hi jbhawkins, I would say so. I like to think about it as on the spot DP/DR...lol

Those who have chronic DP/DR have to live that way, poor folks.

You definetly sound like you are dissociating to DP which is losing awareness of your physical body.

When an other is raging and the extreme emotion is flooding the system, I feel out of body looking at the body carrying on through a foggy doughnut. When I DP/DR, the physical world is not real, but it is, especially around Christmas time with all the activity, lights, colors, noise, emotions,....ugh.

Hiya Eden. Depersonalization for me seems to occur when I am highly stressed too. I have found that trauma may come in many forms that haven't even been listed yet. Maybe the memories of trauma hasn't yet surfaced for you but try not to worry about that.

I have found PC and the people in it to be an enormous help over the years for support and knowledge. At times I feel like we are playing catch up in Australia regarding the information available on many mental health/psychological areas. Be encouraged you are not alone.

I didn't know DP came from truma...

I thought it was from stress...I know some people from the SA and Aspergers site who have DP and have no truma...DP is from stress I believe?

Sorry for my typos english isn't my first

Just make sure you know what 'trauma' is

Yes the run around can be quite tiring!

Well until I read your post I was sure I knew what trauma was but now I am only 99.95% sure

It depends what you call trauma. I was not beaten or whipped.

I suffered trauma but it was about neglect, being 'unseen' invisible, dominated by a ultra controlling mother who never 'saw' me at all. Who never allowed me to even speak.
There is physical abuse that shows like bruises etc. Then there is emotional abuse that can be subtle invisible to everyone. Except you.
Both can cause trauma.

I have dissociated, felt depersonalized. Stress makes it worse.

Do you have a good relationship with your family can you talk to them, feel comfortable?

here in america the term trauma in psychological terms means anything that causes a person emotional/physical or sexual harm....

examples many people are emotionally traumatized when they go through natural disasters (hurricanes, floods, earthquakes) others are emotionally traumatized through abuse....

in general dissociation problems ....do not....depend upon whether someone was traumatized or not. Dissociation in its simplest terms is a reaction to triggers. triggers in its simplest terms is anything that causes a reaction...

think of it like shooting a gun... a gun doesnt fire (react)until something \someone pulls the trigger. once that trigger is hit any number of things can happen.

a person who 's trigger point is reached can have any number of reactions (numbness, spacy\foggy mind, disconnected from one self or others...

from there in general dissociation moves into the dissociative disorders (for america those are listed in my link at the bottom of my post)

for all of the dissociative disorders ....except DID... trauma is not necessary.

here in my own location the demographics\statistics show that people with DID have been extremely traumatized (in otherwards not just once or a few times but many times) before the age of 5. this extreme trauma causes a child's brain to react by dissociating the traumatic events, emotions, memories to the point where alternate personalities are created.

these alternate personalities take control and affect that childs life in every aspect of that childs life and continue to do so until the diagnosis and treatment and integration of those alters (in other words until the alters have all merged back together to become one whole person again.)

for the exact wording and criterion that america goes by for what is DID and alters you can read about that in the link at the bottom of my post.

other locations outside the USA may go by different diagnostics and criterion for what is and isnt dissociation, and recognized dissociative disorders.

for those with PTSD with dissociation. here in america PTSD now includes dissociation in their diagnostics as a "specifier" the specifiers are not DID or OSDD(dissociation to the point of having alters) the specifiers with PTSD are Depersonalization and Derealization.

if you have been diagnosed with PTSD with dissociative features it means your treatment providers have decided you do not have alternate personalities, that your mood switching \feeling like other people in some situations falls into the range of Post traumatic Stress Disorder along with depersonalization\derealization disorder. it is similar to having DID and OSDD but not quite the same and not quite as extreme as DID and OSDD.

Tramua can be as simple as the mother/baby bond not happening or become corrupt. To the baby, this is highly traumatic, the first trauma event that a baby can experience unless your like my mother who proudly claims that I started getting licks with a wooden spoon as soon as I started to walk, leaving little red welts for being a naughty 3 year old. All 3 year olds are naughty...they call that exploring...they get into stuff all day!. The abuse kept going till we were 18 years old, mental, emotional, physical, and sexual.

So....just because you can't consciencely recall the memory doesn't mean that it's not there. I don't remember 7/8 of my life.

Everything after the initial unprocessed trauma is a back log of trauma memories which takes on a life of their own.