These are taken directly from clinical descriptions of depersonalization and derealization, symptoms which are generally characterized as “feelings of unreality” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Sierra, 2009; Steinberg, Cicchetti, Buchanan, Hall, & Rounsaville, 1993; Medford, 2012). This is not a matter of “delusion” — while these are considered dissociative symptoms, individuals who experience them without other dissociative conditions typically have an intact grasp of reality. They’re able to recognize and understand the real world in a normal way, but their experience of life and of their own existence takes on an unreal sensation.
Fire on the Runway: The Manchester Airport Disaster and the tragedy of British Airtours flight 28M
On the 22nd of August 1985, a Boeing 737 packed with holiday travelers suffered a catastrophic engine failure as it sped down the runway…