"My mind goes dead … I cannot speak": an expression of DPD

Here we present a case of Depersonalisation-Derealisation Disorder which involves an unusual environmental trigger and profile of symptoms in a patient with an underlying left frontal encephalomalacia.

The clinical information has been collected from multiple neurological, psychiatric, neuropsychological examinations and from the patient's medical records.

The neuropsychiatric assessment showed depersonalisation, derealisation, de-somatisation and de-affectualisation, along with a good response to SSRI + Lamotrigine; all typical features of DPD. The neuropsychological assessment showed language problems, and other mild cognitive difficulties that may provide a neuropsychological foundation contributing to the DPD episodes.

Given Mr R's underlying neuropsychological deficit, hearing voices without speech-associated gestures might place excessive demands on his ability to process the information, exacerbating his feelings of threat. This sets up the pattern of suppressed insula activation, and possibly the suppression of the auditory cortex leading to the presented unusual DPD symptoms.