Differential Diagnosis of Altered Mind/Body Perception

Considerable confusion exists in the psychiatric literature concerned with states of consciousness in which there is an altered perception of the mind/body relationship; related but different terms are often used interchangeably, with a lack of definitional rigor. The purpose of this paper is to bring clarity to this group of related phenomena by differentiating out-of-body experience (OBE) from depersonalization, autoscopic phenomena and schizophrenic body distortions (such as boundary loss), which are the principal entities with which the syndrome may be confused. The problem of variable definition of the syndromes is compounded by the fact that some studies deal with psychiatric or medical patients, others focus on nonpatients, and still others deal with both groups. The fact that some groups of persons with experiences of altered mind/body perception do not define themselves as patients, do not seek treatment, and may not need treatment underscores the need for clarification. Following an explication of the different syndromes and their characteristics, we will briefly consider treatment implications.