The association between empathy and burnout in medical students: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Burnout levels in medical students are higher than in other student groups. Empathy is an increasingly desired outcome of medical schools. Empathy is negatively associated with burnout in physicians. Our objective was to quantitatively review the available literature on associations between empathy and burnout in medical students, and to explore associations between specific empathy aspects (cognitive and affective) and burnout sub-dimensions (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment). METHODS: A comprehensive search of the literature published up until January 2024 was undertaken in the PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, The Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO databases. Two independent reviewers screened 498 records and quality-rated and extracted data from eligible studies. The effect size correlations (ESr) were pooled using a random-effects model and between-study variation explored with meta-regression. The review was preregistered with PROSPERO (#CRD42023467670) and reported following the PRISMA guidelines. RESULTS: Twenty-one studies including a total of 27,129 medical students published between 2010 and 2023 were included. Overall, empathy and burnout were negatively and statistically significantly associated (ESr: -0.15, 95%CI [-0.21; -0.10], p < .001). When analyzing sub-dimensions, cognitive empathy was negatively associated with emotional exhaustion (ESr: -0.10, 95%CI [-0.17; -0.03], p = .006) and depersonalization (ESr: -0.15, 95%CI [-0.24; 0.05], p = .003), and positively associated with personal accomplishment (ESr: 0.21, 95%CI [0.12; 0.30], p < .001). Affective empathy was not statistically significantly associated with emotional exhaustion, depersonalization or personal accomplishment. Supplementary Bayesian analysis indicated the strongest evidence for the positive association between cognitive empathy and personal accomplishment. Response rate and gender moderated the relationship so that higher response rates and more male respondents strengthen the negative association between empathy and burnout. CONCLUSION: Greater empathy, in particular cognitive empathy, is associated with lower burnout levels in medical students. This appears to be primarily driven by cognitive empathy's positive association with personal accomplishment. PROTOCOL REGISTRATION: #CRD42023467670.

Finding neural correlates of depersonalisation/derealisation disorder via explainable CNN-based analysis guided by clinical assessment scores.

Mental health disorders are typically diagnosed based on subjective reports (e.g., through questionnaires) followed by clinical interviews to evaluate the self-reported symptoms. Therefore, considering the interconnected nature of psychiatric disorders, their accurate diagnosis is a real challenge without indicators of underlying physiological dysfunction. Depersonalisation/derealisation disorder (DPD) is an example of dissociative disorder affecting 1-2 % of the population. DPD is characterised mainly by persistent disembodiment, detachment from surroundings, and feelings of emotional numbness, which can significantly impact patients' quality of life. The underlying neural correlates of DPD have been investigated for years to understand and help with a more accurate and in-time diagnosis of the disorder. However, in terms of EEG studies, which hold great importance due to their convenient and inexpensive nature, the literature has often been based on hypotheses proposed by experts in the field, which require prior knowledge of the disorder. In addition, participants' labelling in research experiments is often derived from the outcome of the Cambridge Depersonalisation Scale (CDS), a subjective assessment to quantify the level of depersonalisation/derealisation, the threshold and reliability of which might be challenged. As a result, we aimed to propose a novel end-to-end EEG processing pipeline based on deep neural networks for DPD biomarker discovery, which requires no prior handcrafted labelled data. Alternatively, it can assimilate knowledge from clinical outcomes like CDS as well as data-driven patterns that differentiate individual brain responses. In addition, the structure of the proposed model targets the uncertainty in CDS scores by using them as prior information only to guide the unsupervised learning task in a multi-task learning scenario. A comprehensive evaluation has been done to confirm the significance of the proposed deep structure, including new ways of network visualisation to investigate spectral, spatial, and temporal information derived in the learning process. We argued that the proposed EEG analytics could also be applied to investigate other psychological and mental disorders currently indicated on the basis of clinical assessment scores. The code to reproduce the results presented in this paper is openly accessible at https://github.com/AbbasSalami/DPD_Analysis.

Factors influencing the burnout dimensions among nurses: A cross-sectional study in South Korea.

AIM: To investigate the factors influencing three dimensions of burnout among clinical nurses in South Korea. DESIGN: Descriptive, correlational and cross-sectional study. METHODS: We recruited 300 clinical nurses to participate in an online survey conducted in June 2021. Purposive sampling was used for the survey. Multiple linear regression was used for data analysis. RESULTS: The regression models explained 55.8%, 45.8% and 34.3% variances in emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment respectively. Emotional exhaustion was influenced by experience in the current department, working overtime, shift type, depression, job stress and emotional labour. Depersonalization was influenced by gender, hospital size, the associated department, overtime, coping strategies, depression and emotional labour. Personal accomplishment was influenced by clinical experience, shift type, resilience and the perceived threat of coronavirus disease 2019.

Burnout Syndrome in Lung Transplant Physicians.

Objective: Burnout syndrome is common in physicians, but little is known about burnout in lung transplant physicians specifically. The purpose of this study was to explore burnout and its relationship to job factors and depression in lung transplant physicians.Design: A cross-sectional study that included lung transplant pulmonologists and surgeons was performed via electronic survey.Setting: The lung transplant physicians surveyed practiced worldwide.Methods: The survey incorporated questions about demographics and job characteristics as well as the Maslach Burnout Inventory and Patient Health Questionnaire-2. Burnout was defined by high emotional exhaustion or depersonalization.Participants: Ninety physicians worldwide completed the survey.Results: Of the 90 physicians who completed the entire survey, 44 (48.9%) had burnout with 38 (42.2%) having high emotional exhaustion, 15 (16.7%) having high depersonalization, and 9 (10.0%) with both. Of the respondents, 14 (15.6%) had high risk of depression, and of these, 13 also had high emotional exhaustion. There was a positive correlation between depression score and emotional exhaustion score (P=0.67, P<0.001). Depression was more common in surgeons compared with pulmonologists (35.7% versus 11.8%, P=0.02). There was a trend toward more burnout by emotional exhaustion in physicians with more versus less work experience (68.4% versus 31.6%, P=0.056).Conclusions: Emotional exhaustion is common in lung transplant physicians and is associated with depression and a negative impact on life.

Differing associations of depersonalization with physiological response during rest and breath-focused mindfulness in a trauma-exposed female population.

BACKGROUND: Dissociative and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are commonly co-occurring responses to psychological trauma. Yet, these two groups of symptoms appear to be related to diverging patterns of physiological response. To date, few studies have examined how specific dissociative symptoms, namely, depersonalization and derealization, relate to skin conductance response (SCR), a marker of autonomic function, within the context of PTSD symptoms. We examined associations among depersonalization, derealization, and SCR during two conditions - resting control and breath-focused mindfulness - in the context of current PTSD symptoms. METHODS: Sixty-eight trauma-exposed women (82.4% Black; Mage = 42.5, SDage = 12.1) were recruited from the community for a breath-focused mindfulness study. SCR data were collected during alternating resting control and breath-focused mindfulness conditions. Moderation analyses were conducted to examine relations among dissociative symptoms, SCR, and PTSD for these different conditions. RESULTS: Moderation analyses revealed that depersonalization was linked to lower SCR during resting control, B = 0.0005, SE = 0.0002, p = .006, in participants low-to-moderate PTSD symptoms; however, depersonalization was associated with higher SCR during breath-focused mindfulness, B = -0.0006, SE = 0.0003, p = .029, in individuals with similar levels of PTSD symptoms. No significant interaction between derealization and PTSD symptoms on SCR was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Depersonalization symptoms may associate with physiological withdrawal during rest, but greater physiological arousal during effortful emotion regulation in individuals with low-to moderate levels of PTSD, which has significant implications for barriers to treatment engagement as well as treatment selection in this population.

Online structured dance/movement therapy reduces bodily detachment in depersonalization-derealization disorder.

BACKGROUND: Depersonalization-derealization disorder (DDD) is a dissociative disorder encompassing pronounced disconnections from the self and from external reality. As DDD is inherently tied to a detachment from the body, dance/movement therapy could provide an innovative treatment approach. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We developed two online dance tasks to reduce detachment either by training body awareness (BA task) or enhancing the salience of bodily signals through dance exercise (DE task). Individuals with DDD (n = 31) and healthy controls (n = 29) performed both tasks individually in a cross-over design. We assessed symptom severity (Cambridge Depersonalization Scale), interoceptive awareness (Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness - II), mindfulness (Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire), and body vigilance (Body Vigilance Scale) before, during and after the tasks. RESULTS: At baseline, individuals with DDD exhibited elevated depersonalization-derealization symptoms alongside lower levels of interoceptive awareness and mindfulness compared to controls. Both tasks reduced symptoms in the DDD group, though dance exercise was perceived as easier. The DE task increased mindfulness in those with DDD more than the BA task, whereas controls showed the opposite pattern. In the DDD group, within-subject correlations showed that lower levels of symptoms were associated with task-specific elevations in interoceptive awareness and mindfulness. CONCLUSION: Individual and structured dance/movement practice, performed at home without an instructor present, offers an effective tool to reduce symptoms in DDD and can be tailored to address specific cognitive components of a mindful engagement with the body.

"My mind goes dead I cannot speak": an expression of DPD.

INTRODUCTION: Here we present a case of Depersonalisation-Derealisation Disorder which involves an unusual environmental trigger and profile of symptoms in a patient with an underlying left frontal encephalomalacia. METHODS: The clinical information has been collected from multiple neurological, psychiatric, neuropsychological examinations and from the patient's medical records. RESULTS: The neuropsychiatric assessment showed depersonalisation, derealisation, de-somatisation and de-affectualisation, along with a good response to SSRI + Lamotrigine; all typical features of DPD. The neuropsychological assessment showed language problems, and other mild cognitive difficulties that may provide a neuropsychological foundation contributing to the DPD episodes. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Given Mr R's underlying neuropsychological deficit, hearing voices without speech-associated gestures might place excessive demands on his ability to process the information, exacerbating his feelings of threat. This sets up the pattern of suppressed insula activation, and possibly the suppression of the auditory cortex leading to the presented unusual DPD symptoms.

Factor Structure and Clinical Correlates of The Dissociative Symptoms Scale (DSS) Korean Version Among Community Sample With Adverse Childhood Experiences.

This study examined the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Dissociative Symptoms Scale (DSS) among the Korean community adult population with adverse childhood experiences (ACE). Data were drawn from community sample data sets collected from an online panel investigating the impact of ACE and ultimately consisted of data from a total of 1304 participants. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed a bi-factor model with a general factor and four sub-factors such as depersonalization/derealization, gaps in awareness and memory, sensory misperceptions, and cognitive behavioral reexperiencing, which are the four factors that correspond to the original DSS. The DSS showed good internal consistency as well as convergent validity with clinical correlates such as posttraumatic stress disorder, somatoform dissociation, and emotion dysregulation. The high-risk group with more ACE was associated with increased DSS. These findings support the multidimensionality of dissociation and the validity of Korean DSS scores in a general population sample.

Burnout among Residents: Prevalence and Predictors of Depersonalization, Emotional Exhaustion and Professional Unfulfillment among Resident Doctors in Canada.

BACKGROUND: Burnout in the medical profession has garnered a lot of attention over recent years. It has been reported across all specialties and all stages of medical education; however, resident doctors in particular are at risk for burnout throughout their years of training. This study was aimed at evaluating the prevalence and correlates of burnout among resident doctors in Alberta. METHODS: Through a descriptive cross-sectional study design, a self-administered questionnaire was used to gather data from resident doctors at two medical schools in Alberta, Canada. The Maslach Burnout Inventory was used as the assessment tool. Chi-squared and multivariate binary logistic regression analyses were used. RESULTS: Overall burnout prevalence among residents was 58.2%, and for professional fulfilment index, it was 56.7% for work exhaustion and interpersonal disengagement and 83.5% for lack of professional fulfillment. Working more than 80 h/week (OR = 16.437; 95% CI: 2.059-131.225), being dissatisfied (OR = 22.28; 95% CI: 1.75-283.278) or being neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with a career in medicine (OR = 23.81; 95% CI: 4.89-115.86) were significantly associated with high depersonalization. Dissatisfaction with efficiency and resources (OR = 10.83; CI: 1.66-70.32) or being neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with a career in medicine (OR = 5.14; CI: 1.33-19.94) were significantly associated with high emotional exhaustion. Working more than 80 h/week (OR = 5.36; CI: 1.08-26.42) and somewhat agreeing that the residency program has enough strategies aimed at resident well-being in place (OR = 3.70; CI: 1.10-12.46) were significantly associated factors with high work exhaustion and interpersonal disengagement. A young age of residents (≤30 years) (OR = 0.044; CI: 0.004-0.445) was significantly associated with low professional fulfillment. CONCLUSION: Burnout is a serious occupational phenomenon that can degenerate into other conditions or disrupt one's professional performance. Significant correlates were associated with high rates of burnout. Leaders of medical schools and policymakers need to acknowledge, design, and implement various strategies capable of providing continuous effective mental health support to improve the psychological health of medical residents across Canada.

The Effects of Emotion Regulation on Physical and Psychological Wellbeing in University Students: The Role of Depersonalization and Attachment Style.

Our ability to regulate our emotions plays a key protective role against psychological distress and somatic symptoms, with most of the literature focusing on the role of cognitive reappraisal in interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This study seeks to examine the relationship between emotion dysregulation and psychological and physical distress in university students through the role of depersonalization (DP) and insecure attachment. This study will try to explain the deployment of DP as a defense mechanism to insecure attachment fears and overwhelming stress, developing a maladaptive emotion responding strategy, which affects wellbeing later in life. A cross-sectional design was used on a sample (N = 313) of university students over the age of 18 which consisted of an online survey of 7 questionnaires. Hierarchical multiple regression and mediation analysis were conducted on the results. The results showed that emotion dysregulation and DP predicted each variable of psychological distress and somatic symptoms. Both insecure attachment styles were found to predict psychological distress and somatization, mediated through higher levels of DP, whereby DP may be deployed as a defense mechanism to insecure attachment fears and overwhelming stress, which affects our wellbeing. Clinical implications of these findings highlight the importance of screening for DP in young adults and university students.

The Prevalence of Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder: A Systematic Review.

Depersonalization-Derealization disorder (DDD) is a psychiatric condition characterized by persistent feelings of detachment from one's self and of unreality about the outside world. This review aims to examine the prevalence of DDD amongst different populations. A systematic review protocol was developed before literature searching. Original articles were drawn from three electronic databases and included only studies where prevalence rates of DDD were assessed by standardized diagnostic tools. A narrative synthesis was conducted. Twenty-three papers were identified and categorized into three groups of participants: general population, mixed in/outpatient samples, and patients with specific disorders. The prevalence rates ranged from 0% to 1.9% amongst the general population, 5-20% in outpatients and 17.5-41.9% in inpatients. In studies of patients with specific disorders, prevalence rates varied: 1.8-5.9% (substance abuse), 3.3-20.2% (anxiety), 3.7-20.4% (other dissociative disorders), 16.3% (schizophrenia), 17% (borderline personality disorder), ~50% (depression). The highest rates were found in people who experienced interpersonal abuse (25-53.8%). The prevalence rate of DDD is around 1% in the general population, consistent with previous findings. DDD is more prevalent amongst adolescents and young adults as well as in patients with mental disorders. There is also a possible relationship between interpersonal abuse and DDD, which merits further research.

Attention and Memory in Depersonalization-Spectrum Dissociative Disorders: Impact of Selective-Divided Attentional Condition, Stimulus Emotionality, and Stress.

We investigated cognition in depersonalization-spectrum dissociative disorders without comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder to explore evidence for emotionally avoidant information processing. Forty-eight participants with DSM-IV dissociative disorder (DD) (Depersonalization Disorder - 37, Dissociative Disorder NOS -11), 36 participants with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and 56 healthy controls (HC) were administered the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (WAIS); the Weschler Memory Scale-III (WMS); and three Stroop tasks: the Standard Stroop, a selective-attention Emotional Stroop using neutral, dissociation, and trauma-related word categories, and a divided-attention Emotional Stroop using comparable words. Participants were also administered a paired-associates explicit and implicit memory test using emotionally neutral and negative words, before and after the Trier Social Stress Test. The DD and HC groups had comparable general intelligence and memory scores, though dissociation severity was inversely related to verbal comprehension and working memory. In the selective-attention condition, DD participants showed greater incidental recall across word categories with comparable interference. However in the divided-attention condition, DD participants significantly favored lesser attentional interference at the expense of remembering words. Across attentional conditions, DD participants had better recall for disorder-related than neutral words. Pre-stress, the DD group demonstrated better explicit memory for neutral versus negative words with reversal after stress, whereas the HC group demonstrated the opposite pattern; implicit memory did not differ. Cognition in the PTSD control group was generally dissimilar to the DD group. The findings in toto provide substantial evidence for emotionally avoidant information processing in DD, vulnerable to the impact of stress, at the level of both attention and memory.

How vestibular dysfunction transforms into symptoms of depersonalization and derealization?

BACKGROUND: Psychiatric Depersonalization/Derealization (DPDR) symptoms were demonstrated in patients with peripheral vestibular disorders. However, only semicircular canals (SCCs) dysfunction was evaluated, therefore, otoliths' contribution to DPDR is unknown. Also, DPDR symptoms in patients with central vestibular dysfunction are presently unknown. DPDR was also studied in the context of spatial disorientation and anxiety, but the relation of these cognitive and emotional functions to vestibular dysfunction requires clarification. METHODS: We tested patients with peripheral Bilateral Vestibular Hypofunction (pBVH), Machado Joseph Disease (MJD) with cerebellar and central bilateral vestibular hypofunction, and healthy controls. Participants completed the video Head Impulse Test (vHIT) for SCCs function, cervical Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials test (cVEMPt) for sacculi function, Body Sensation Questionnaire (BSQ) for panic anxiety, Object Perspective-Taking test (OPTt) for spatial orientation and Cox & Swinson DPDR inventory for DPDR symptoms. RESULTS: pBVH patients showed significant SCCs and sacculi dysfunction, spatial disorientation, elevated panic anxiety, and DPDR symptoms. MJD patients showed significant SCCs hypofunction but preserved sacculi function, spatial disorientation but normal levels of panic anxiety and DPDR symptoms. Only pBVH patients demonstrated a positive correlation between the severity of the DPDR and spatial disorientation and panic anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: DPDR develops in association with sacculi dysfunction, either with or without SSCs dysfunction. Spatial disorientation and anxiety seem to mediate the transformation of vestibular dysfunction into DPDR symptoms. DPDR does not develop in MJD with central vestibular hypofunction but a normal saccular response. We propose a three-step model that describes the development of DPDR symptoms in vestibular patients.

Depersonalization Disorder: Directed Forgetting as a Function of Emotionality.

There exists some evidence for a link between dissociation and emotionally avoidant information processing, yet studies to date have been contradictory. Our goal was to investigate emotionally avoidant processing in Depersonalization Disorder (DDD) using a directed forgetting (DF) paradigm. Thirty-two participants with DSM-IV DDD and 40 healthy controls performed an item-method DF task using positive, negative, and neutral words. Participants were also administered the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). The DDD group demonstrated significantly lower directed forgetting for negative, but not positive or neutral, words compared to controls. In the combined sample, DES total, depersonalization/derealization, and amnesia scores significantly inversely predicted explicit cued recall for to-be-forgotten negative words (higher dissociation, lower forgetting), while the CTQ was not predictive. The findings do not support emotionally avoidant processing in this paradigm; rather, DDD may be characterized by a diminished capacity to actively control attention and direct it away from emotionally disturbing material when instructed to do so.

A Balanced Time Perspective and Burnout Syndrome in the Corporate World.

Burnout syndrome is officially classified in the International Classification of Diseases as an occupational phenomenon resulting from chronic workplace stress. Each year it is having an increasingly negative impact on the mental and physical health of employees, as well as on health costs and business performance. With this study, we aim at verifying whether there is a greater propensity for burnout depending on an individual's time perspective, based on the framework of Christina Maslach's burnout syndrome theory (consisting of three burnout dimensions), and Phillip Zimbardo's Time Perspective (consisting of five distinct temporal profiles). Within the time perspective construct, we focused on an indicator of temporal adaptation, referred to as a Balanced Time Perspective (BTP). We used the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory on a sample of 129 Polish corporate employees. We found that two dimensions of burnout (emotional exhaustion and feelings of personal achievement) were significantly correlated to a balanced time perspective, while the third (depersonalization) did not pose a significant correlation. This underlines the interrelationships between personality and burnout, which gives way to one possible solution towards the danger of burnout syndrome-balancing an individuals' time perspective through measures such as Time Perspective Therapy. We believe that the awareness of one's temporal profile gives way to supplement gaps in one time perspective, while deterring the excessive effects of another, resulting in a more balanced time perspective, greater mental health and protection from burnout syndrome.

Embodying the (Dis)embodiment: Narrating Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder.

Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder is an under-researched condition that is often left out of the larger discourse surrounding mental health and mental illness. This autoethnography examines the material and discursive tensions that are a product of my experience with Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder. In this critical self-exploration, I use communication privacy management theory, communication theory of resilience, and stigma management communication theory to unpack the communicative negotiations that accompany my disembodied experience, with the overarching goal of spreading awareness about Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder to help others make sense of their own diagnosis.

Assessing responsiveness to direct verbal suggestions in depersonalization-derealization disorder.

The dissociative disorders and germane conditions are reliably characterized by elevated responsiveness to direct verbal suggestions. However, it remains unclear whether atypical responsiveness to suggestion is similarly present in depersonalization-derealization disorder (DDD). 55 DDD patients and 36 healthy controls completed a standardised behavioural measure of direct verbal suggestibility that includes a correction for compliant responding (BSS-C), and psychometric measures of depersonalization-derealization (CDS), mindfulness (FFMQ), imagery vividness (VVIQ), and anxiety (GAD-7). Relative to controls, patients did not exhibit elevated suggestibility (g = 0.26, BF10 = .11) but displayed significantly lower mindfulness (g = 1.38), and imagery vividness (g = 0.63), and significantly greater anxiety (g = 1.39). Although suggestibility did not correlate with severity of depersonalization-derealization symptoms in controls, r = -.03 [95% CI: -.36, .30], there was a weak tendency for a positive association in patients, r = .25, [95% CI: -.03, .48]. Exploratory analyses revealed that patients with more severe anomalous bodily experiences were also more responsive to suggestion, an effect not seen in controls. This study demonstrates that DDD is not characterized by elevated responsiveness to direct verbal suggestions. These results have implications for the aetiology and treatment of this condition, as well as its classification as a dissociative disorder in psychiatric nosology.

The Health-Sustaining, Moderating, and Mediating Roles of Sense of Coherence in the Relationship between Fear of COVID-19 and Burnout among South African Teachers.

The current study focuses on the interrelationship between fear of COVID-19, sense of coherence, and burnout. Participants (n = 355) were school teachers from across all provinces in South Africa who completed the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, the Sense of Coherence Scale, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. It was hypothesized that the dimensions of sense of coherence would be directly associated with burnout and would also mediate or moderate the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and burnout. The results of the path and moderation analyses conducted confirmed this hypothesis. In particular, the health-sustaining role of sense of coherence was demonstrated through the significant direct associations between comprehensibility and manageability on one hand and emotional exhaustion, as well as depersonalization, on the other hand. In addition, meaningfulness had significant direct associations with emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Meaningfulness mediated the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and all burnout subscales, while comprehensibility and manageability only mediated the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and both emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. However, comprehensibility and manageability played a moderating role in the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and personal accomplishment. These findings confirm the crucial role of protective factors, such as sense of coherence, and highlights the need for interventions that could strengthen these resources within teachers.

Zoomed out: digital media use and depersonalization experiences during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Depersonalisation is a common dissociative experience characterised by distressing feelings of being detached or 'estranged' from one's self and body and/or the world. The COVID-19 pandemic forcing millions of people to socially distance themselves from others and to change their lifestyle habits. We have conducted an online study of 622 participants worldwide to investigate the relationship between digital media-based activities, distal social interactions and peoples' sense of self during the lockdown as contrasted with before the pandemic. We found that increased use of digital media-based activities and online social e-meetings correlated with higher feelings of depersonalisation. We also found that the participants reporting higher experiences of depersonalisation, also reported enhanced vividness of negative emotions (as opposed to positive emotions). Finally, participants who reported that lockdown influenced their life to a greater extent had higher occurrences of depersonalisation experiences. Our findings may help to address key questions regarding well-being during a lockdown, in the general population. Our study points to potential risks related to overly sedentary, and hyper-digitalised lifestyle habits that may induce feelings of living in one's 'head' (mind), disconnected from one's body, self and the world.

Anxiety sensitivity, distress intolerance, and negative interpretation bias strengthen the relationship between trait anxiety and depersonalization.

BACKGROUND OBJECTIVES: Depersonalization is common in anxiety disorders, but little is known about factors that influence co-occurring anxiety and depersonalization. DESIGN: We investigated trait moderators of the relationships between state and trait anxiety and depersonalization to better understand their co-occurrence and to identify potential points of intervention. METHODS: Adults recruited on Amazon Mechanical Turk (N = 303) completed two computer tasks designed to increase variability in state anxiety and depersonalization as well as several self-report questionnaires. RESULTS: As hypothesized, anxiety positively predicted depersonalization at both a state level and trait level. Moreover, as hypothesized, the trait anxiety-trait depersonalization relationship was strengthened by greater anxiety sensitivity; distress intolerance; and negative interpretation bias for anxiety sensations, and for depersonalization sensations. None of these hypothesized trait moderators significantly strengthened the state anxiety-state depersonalization relationship. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that, on a trait level, anxiety and depersonalization more frequently co-occur when people catastrophically misinterpret their symptoms or have lower emotional distress tolerance.