Modern psychology has tended to pathologize that which it doesn’t understand. Take depersonalization and derealization disorders. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (the DSM-5), published by the American Psychiatric Association, recognizes both of these as bona fide mental illnesses. Symptoms of depersonalization can include the sensory experience that objects are shaped or sized differently than they really are. Approximately one-half of all adults will experience a depersonalization episode during their lives, according to the DSM.
Based upon their widespread occurrence, depersonalization experiences may simply reflect a common form of conscious awareness associated with different perceptual pathways with which we have lost touch. What if the depersonalization experience associated with panic attacks and dissociative disorders was actually a thanatos experience, a confused near-death experience. Or what if it more accurately reflected the dream-like nature of earthly existence? Lastly, it is possible that depersonalization experiences are not pathological as much as they are reflections of the dream state, which is inherently depersonalizing in many of its aspects. In many Eastern traditions, the dream state is simply one aspect of conscious awareness.
Similarly, what if derealization, in which others or the self appear unreal or even dead, is in actuality a more accurate perceptual experience. In Hindu tradition, physical reality is maya, an illusion. If the body is an illusion, it is in fact nonliving, and is unreal.
What’s pathologized is often what’s not understood. In older times, epileptics and the mentally ill were considered to be possessed. Not so long ago, homosexuality was considered a diagnosable condition. How will the future look back upon the mental illnesses of today? Perhaps in some distant society, depersonalization and derealization may be redefined as alternative perception, just as demonic possession has largely been cast out of most modern cultures. What is seen in a pejorative context is often that of which we are ignorant.
© 2022 by Michael C. Just
Mike’s novel, The Dirt: The Journey of a Mystic Cowboy, is available in softcover or eBook formats through Amazon.
You can purchase the book through this website. Or go straight to amazon at https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+dirt+journey+of+a+mystic+cowboy&crid=1S40Q4BXSUWJ6&sprefix=the+dirt%3A+journey+of+a+m%2Caps%2C180&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_23
Mike’s other titles, including The Crippy, The Mind Altar, and Canyon Calls, are available through this website or through Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002
Four of his short stories have recently been published online:
Lies, Ltd. has been published by The Mystery Tribune @ Lies, Ltd.: Literary Short Fiction by Michael C. Just (mysterytribune.com)
The Obligate Carnivore has been published by the Scarlet Leaf Review @ Category: MICHAEL JUST – SCARLET LEAF REVIEW
I See You, Too has been published by the 96th of October @ I See You, Too – 96th of October
Offload, a short story about a man who can heal any disease, is now live and can be read at The Worlds Within at Offload – The Worlds Within