Depersonalization Disorder, Emotion Regulation, and Existential Feelings

Depersonalization-derealization disorder (DDD) is a common, though largely neglected, disorder. In this paper, we discuss its phenomenology, epidemiology, and etiology with respect to recent neuroscientific findings and the concept of existential feelings in philosophical psychopathology. Specifically, we argue that emotion regulation by detachment or distancing in healthy controls is similar in relevant aspects to emotional detachment in DDD. Therefore, the cognitive neuroscience of emotion regulation can inform neurophenomenological research on DDD, and both provide a valuable empirical approach to existential feelings.