Some trauma specialists suggest increasing inquiry into information about childrens trauma history and exposure to violence, since the majority of people (about 80%) responsible for child maltreatment are the childs own parents. Trauma-specific intervention for children may be useful in preventing future symptoms. Treatment
Treatment of DPDR is often difficult and refractory. Some clinicians speculate that this could be due to a delay in diagnosis by which point symptoms tend to be constant and less responsive to treatment. Additionally, symptoms tend to overlap with other diagnoses. Some results have been promising, but are hard to evaluate with confidence due to the small size of trials. However, recognizing and diagnosing the condition may in itself have therapeutic benefits, considering many patients express their problems as baffling and unique to them, but are in fact: one, recognized and described by psychiatry; and two, those affected by it are not the only individuals to be affected from the condition. However, symptoms are often transient and can remit on their own without treatment.Treatment is primarily non-pharmacological and can include paradoxical intention, record keeping, positive reward, flooding, psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, psychoeducation, self-hypnosis, and meditation. Meditation with the focus on the body has been used to achieve self awareness as it allows feelings, which otherwise are put aside or neutralized by the DPD condition. Self-hypnosis training can be helpful and entails training patients to induce dissociative symptoms and respond in an alternative manner.
In an fMRI study of DPD patients, emotionally aversive scenes activated the right ventral prefrontal cortex. Participants demonstrated a reduced neural response in emotion-sensitive regions, as well as an increased response in regions associated with emotional regulation. In a similar test of emotional memory, depersonalization disorder patients did not process emotionally salient material in the same way as did healthy controls. In a test of skin conductance responses to unpleasant stimuli, the subjects showed a selective inhibitory mechanism on emotional processing.Studies are beginning to show that the temporoparietal junction has a role in multisensory integration, embodiment, and self-other distinction. Several studies analyzing brain MRI findings from DPDR patients found decreased cortical thickness in the right middle temporal gyrus, reduction in grey matter volume in the right caudate, thalamus, and occipital gyri, as well as lower white matter integrity in the left temporal and right temporoparietal regions. However, no structural changes in the amygdala were observed.A PET scan found functional abnormalities in the visual, auditory, and somatosensory cortex, as well as in areas responsible for an integrated body schema.One study examining EEG readings found frontal alpha wave overactivation and increased theta activity waves in the temporal region of the left hemisphere. It is unclear whether genetics plays a role; however, there are many neurochemical and hormonal changes in individuals with depersonalization disorder. DPDR may be associated with dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, the area of the brain involved in the "fight-or-flight" response. Patients demonstrate abnormal cortisol levels and basal activity.