2007/12/01 by Mauricio Sierra‐Siegert, Anthony S. David · 1 citation
Psychology · Neuroscience · Medicine · #Cultural Differences and Values #Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes #Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment #Depersonalization #Derealization #Panic disorder #Individualism #Psychology #Clinical psychology #Panic #Psychiatry #Medicine #Burnout #Anxiety #Political science #Emotional exhaustion
paper · doi:10.1097/nmd.0b013e31815c19f7
openalex publication_date 2007/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
It has been proposed that highly individualistic cultures confer vulnerability to depersonalization. To test this idea, we carried out a comprehensive systematic review of published empirical studies on panic disorder, which reported the frequency of depersonalization/derealization during panic attacks. It was predicted that the frequency of depersonalization would be higher in Western cultures and that a significant correlation would be found between the frequency of depersonalization and individualism scores of the participant countries. As predicted, the frequency of depersonalization during panic was significantly lower in nonwestern countries. There was also a significant correlation between frequency of depersonalization and Individualism (rho = 0.68, p < 0.0001), and between fears of losing control (rho = 0.57, p = 0.005) and individualism. These findings are interpreted in light of recent studies suggesting that individualistic cultures are characterized by hypersensitivity to threat and by an external locus of control. Two features may be relevant in the genesis of depersonalization.