- derealization
- An alteration in one's perception of the environment such that things that are ordinarily familiar seem strange, unreal, or two-dimensional.
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de·re·al·iza·tion or Brit de·re·al·isa·tion (.)dē-.rē-ə-lə-'zā-shən, -.ri-ə- n a feeling of altered reality that occurs often in schizophrenia and in some drug reactions* * *
n.a feeling of unreality in which the environment is experienced as unreal and as flat, dull, or strange. The experience is unwelcome and often frightening. It occurs in association with depersonalization or with the conditions that cause depersonalization.* * *
de·re·al·i·za·tion (de-re″əl-ĭ-zaґshən) a loss of the sensation of the reality of one's surroundings; the feeling that something has happened, that the world has been changed and altered, that one is detached from one's environment. It is seen most frequently in schizophrenic disorders. See also depersonalization.
Medical dictionary. 2011.