title: Unpacking the depersonalization syndrome: an exploratory factor analysis on the Cambridge Depersonalization Scale.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Depersonalization has long been considered a syndrome but there is poor agreement on its constituent symptoms.
  
  
  METHODS
  In order to establish whether different symptoms of depersonalization represent the expression of a single or several underlying dimensions, an exploratory factor analysis on the Cambridge Depersonalization Scale (CDS) was carried out on 138 consecutive patients diagnosed with depersonalization disorder.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four well determined factors accounting for 73.3% of the variance were extracted. These were labelled 'Anomalous Body Experience'; 'Emotional Numbing'; 'Anomalous Subjective Recall' and 'Alienation from Surroundings'.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Symptoms of depersonalization belong to distinct but related psychopathological domains.
authors.affiliation: Depersonalization Research Unit, Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill, London. M.Sierra-Siegert@iop.kcl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sierra
authors.forename: Dawn
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Medford
authors.forename: Anthony S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: David
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003861:Depersonalization / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013577:Syndrome