Table of Contents
Table of Contents 2
A self-help guide using Cognitive Behavioral Techniques 9
What is DPAFU? 24
How do I know if I have DPAFU? 26
When does DPAFU occur? 28
Diagnosing DPAFU 29
How common is DPAFU? 31
Is there a typical DPAFU pattern? 32
DPAFU case studies 34
Jay 34
Mina 36
Alexi 37
A brief history of DPAFU 39
What causes DPAFU? 42
Physical explanations: What does the brain have to do with it? 42
Psychological explanations: What does the mind have to do with it? 44
Linking body and mind 49
The cognitive behavioral therapy approach: CBT for DPAFU 55
Introduction 55
The CBT approach 55
Dealing with the core problem 64
Defining the problem 64
Setting goals 73
Diary keeping 77
Building an explanation that fits 86
Thinking in new ways: Challenging your thoughts 88
Behaving in new ways: Tackling your avoidance and safety-seeking behaviors 100
Reducing symptom monitoring 107
Managing your own treatment 111
Worry, anxiety and DPAFU 112
Low mood and DPAFU 120
Recognizing change and preventing relapse 125
Other useful techniques 128
‘Grounding’ strategies 128
Problem solving 133
Relaxation and mindfulness 135
Exercise, diet and sleep 141
How to deal with problems related to DPAFU 146
Low self-esteem and self-confidence 146
Drugs and alcohol 156
Other types of treatment 158
Psychological therapies 158
Medication 160
Other physiological treatments 165
The Cambridge Depersonalization Scale 168
What are antidepressants? 191
Blank worksheets 201
Books 210
Academic articles 211
Classic historical books and articles 214
Websites 215
Organizations 216
Dawn Baker is a chartered psychologist and trained therapist in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). She has worked at the Depersonalisation Research Unit at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, developing a psychological model of depersonalization disorder as well as treatment and management strategies. She also works as a clinical health psychologist for a mental health trust in central London.
Elaine Hunter is a trained psychologist and CBT therapist and has worked at the Depersonalisation Research Unit where she developed a CBT model of depersonalization disorder. Prior to this she carried out research into the psychological effects of abuse. She has since trained as a clinical psychologist and currently works in the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and continues to research depersonalization disorder.
Emma Lawrence is an experimental psychologist working at the Institute of Psychiatry and Associate Lecturer for the Open University’s cognitive psychology module. She was a runner-up in the 2002 New Scientist essay competition, and has twice been awarded the Public Engagement with Psychology grant by the British Psychological Society.
Anthony David was appointed Consultant Psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry in 1990. He was awarded personal chair of the Institute in 1996 and was, until recently, Chairman of the British Neuropsychiatry Association. In 1998 he set up the first clinic for depersonalization disorder in the UK (the Depersonalisation Research Unit).
Contributing authors Nick Medford and Mauricio Sierra are both clinical psychiatrists working at the Depersonalisation Research Unit at the Institute of Psychiatry. Dr Sierra originally qualified in Colombia and did his PhD on depersonalization at Cambridge University. Dr Medford worked in neurology before training in psychiatry at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
The aim of the Overcoming series is to enable people with a range of common problems and disorders to take control of their own recovery program. Each title, with its specially tailored program, is devised by a practising clinician using the latest techniques of cognitive behavioral therapy – techniques which have been shown to be highly effective in changing the way patients think about themselves and their problems. The series was initiated in 1993 by Peter Cooper, Professor of Psychology at Reading University in the UK, whose original book on overcoming bulimia nervosa and binge-eating continues to help many people in the UK, the USA, Australasia and Europe. Many books in the Overcoming series are recommended by the UK Department of Health under the Books on Prescription scheme.
Other titles in the series include:
OVERCOMING ANGER AND IRRITABILITY
OVERCOMING ANOREXIA NERVOSA
OVERCOMING ANXIETY
OVERCOMING BODY IMAGE PROBLEMS
OVERCOMING BULIMIA NERVOSA AND BINGE-EATING
OVERCOMING CHILDHOOD TRAUMA
OVERCOMING CHRONIC FATIGUE
OVERCOMING CHRONIC PAIN
OVERCOMING COMPULSIVE GAMBLING
OVERCOMING DEPRESSION
OVERCOMING GRIEF
OVERCOMING HEALTH ANXIETY
OVERCOMING INSOMNIA AND SLEEP PROBLEMS
OVERCOMING LOW SELF-ESTEEM
OVERCOMING MOOD SWINGS
OVERCOMING OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER
OVERCOMING PANIC AND AGORAPHOBIA
OVERCOMING PARANOID AND SUSPICIOUS THOUGHTS
OVERCOMING PERFECTIONISM
OVERCOMING PROBLEM DRINKING
OVERCOMING RELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS
OVERCOMING SEXUAL PROBLEMS
OVERCOMING SOCIAL ANXIETY AND SHYNESS
OVERCOMING STRESS
OVERCOMING TRAUMATIC STRESS
OVERCOMING WEIGHT PROBLEMS
OVERCOMING WORRY
OVERCOMING YOUR CHILD’S FEARS AND WORRIES
OVERCOMING YOUR CHILD’S SHYNESS AND SOCIAL ANXIETY
OVERCOMING YOUR SMOKING HABIT
All titles in the series are available by mail order. Please see the order form at the back of this book. www.overcoming.co.uk