Severe depersonalization treated by behavior therapy.

The author reports the use of behavior therapy in the treatment of two cases of severe intractable depersonalization. Outcome criteria included full psychiatric assessment, patients' self-ratings, and psychometric test scores. Treatment by flooding was highly effective in one case, and associated obsessive symptoms and anticipatory anxiety were substantially decreased in the other. Behavioral techniques may prove especially helpful in cases in which anticipatory anxiety, phobic avoidance, and obsessive perseveration are exacerbating features.