Many veterans who have experienced intense combat trauma develop symptoms of derealization and depersonalization as part of the dissociative subtype of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In derealization, the external world feels unreal, foggy, distorted, or strangely distant—like living in a dream or watching events unfold as if through a veil—while depersonalization involves a profound sense of detachment from one's own body, thoughts, or emotions, as though observing oneself from outside o