Mount Sinai - Depersonalization and Dissociation Research Program

Areas of Interest

Resources & Shared Facilities

Offices and programs, shared research facilities, department cores, and institutional centers that support research at Mount Sinai.

Office of Postdoctoral Affairs

The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs is a dedicated resource for postdoctoral fellows, faculty, and administrators, and provides support to enhance the outstanding scientific training available to Mount Sinai's postdoctoral investigators.

Depersonalization and Dissociation Research Program

The depersonalization and dissociation research program is dedicated to studying the phenomenology, etiology and treatment of dissociative disorders, primarily depersonalization disorder. The program has an interdisciplinary approach to the study of depersonalization, and includes descriptive, biological, neuropsychological and treatment studies.

Diagnosis and Assessment

Participants in our studies receive an extensive initial evaluation involving diagnostic and neuropsychological assessments, as well as reviewing background and history that are combined to confirm the patient's diagnostic and current functional status. We are also studying different diagnostic tools to assess depersonalization disorder.

Phenomenology and Etiology

We are collecting data in an ongoing way about the different phenomenological aspects of the syndrome of depersonalization, including variations in symptomatology, types of onset, factors alleviating and exacerbating the symptoms, co-morbid disorders and course of treatments.

Medication Treatment Studies

The Program offers pharmacological treatment trials. Preliminary data suggest that some patients do improve with pharmacological treatment of depersonalization. The results of these studies will hopefully help us find an effective pharmacological treatment for this serious and chronic illness for which there is currently no approved treatment choice.

Neuropsychology

Using an extensive battery of neuropsychological tests, the Program is studying the cognitive mechanisms that are involved in depersonalization. In particular, depersonalization subjects can manifest significant impairments in certain types of attention and memory, while retaining an overall intact level of intellectual functioning. These are in the process of being further investigated.

Biological Studies

Biological and cognitive profiles relating to the "stress response" are currently under study. This study involves a 2-day stay in an inpatient research unit at Mount Sinai.