DEPERSONALIZATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does depersonalization mean? 

• DEPERSONALIZATION (noun)
  The noun DEPERSONALIZATION has 3 senses:

1. emotional dissociative disorder in which there is loss of contact with your own personal reality accompanied by feelings of unreality and strangeness

2. (existentialism) a loss of personal identity; a feeling of being an anonymous cog in an impersonal social machine

3. representing a human being as a physical thing deprived of personal qualities or individuality

  Familiarity information: DEPERSONALIZATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEPERSONALIZATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Emotional dissociative disorder in which there is loss of contact with your own personal reality accompanied by feelings of unreality and strangeness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

depersonalisation; depersonalisation disorder; depersonalisation neurosis; depersonalization; depersonalization disorder; depersonalization neurosis

Hypernyms ("depersonalization" is a kind of...):

dissociative disorder (dissociation so severe that the usually integrated functions of consciousness and perception of self break down)

Derivation:

depersonalize (make impersonal or present as an object)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(existentialism) a loss of personal identity; a feeling of being an anonymous cog in an impersonal social machine

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

depersonalisation; depersonalization

Hypernyms ("depersonalization" is a kind of...):

mental condition; mental state; psychological condition; psychological state ((psychology) a mental condition in which the qualities of a state are relatively constant even though the state itself may be dynamic)

Domain category:

existential philosophy; existentialism; existentialist philosophy ((philosophy) a 20th-century philosophical movement chiefly in Europe; assumes that people are entirely free and thus responsible for what they make of themselves)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Representing a human being as a physical thing deprived of personal qualities or individuality

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

depersonalisation; depersonalization; reification

Context example:

according to Marx, treating labor as a commodity exemplified the reification of the individual

Hypernyms ("depersonalization" is a kind of...):

objectification (the act of representing an abstraction as a physical thing)

Derivation:

depersonalize (make impersonal or present as an object)

 Context examples 

Symptoms experienced during a panic attack include dyspnea or sensations of being smothered; dizziness, loss of balance or faintness; choking sensations; palpitations or accelerated heart rate; shakiness; sweating; nausea or other form of abdominal distress; depersonalization or derealization; paresthesias; hot flashes or chills; chest discomfort or pain; fear of dying and fear of not being in control of oneself or going crazy.

(Panic Disorder, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

An episode of intense fear accompanied by symptoms such as heart palpitations, sweating and chills or hot flushes , a sensation of dyspnea, chest pain, abdominal distress, depersonalization, fear of going crazy, and fear of dying.

(Panic Attack, NCI Thesaurus)