hey guys! I know I'm a little late responding, but I've only just come across your threads. I've suffered from derealization/ depersonalization for just over 3 months now, and thankgoodness the worst of it has passed. It is a terrifying feeling, and it is the cause of anxiety. Most people with DR do not have psychiatric disorders, because they have real cause for panic and alarm that are not imagined, simply due to their state of mind. It is in itself a threatening state, so the brain enters a constant panic, disallowing you to function at your previous levels in terms of all aspects of your life basically. You become this neurotic, and emotionless body, with hardly any real drive or intention. If your life was in danger, or any part of your life for that matter, and being human what we value most is our emotion and our ability to experience, (in DR that is the danger or the loss we fear, along with other things), you simply would not have the capacity to carry out the life you were living before. The constant dread that something is wrong leads to the assumption that something is dreadfully wrong, and with the evidence behind you, of having sustained a concussion, you think you have brain damage. And this realization is in itself harmful as you prepare to rethink your whole life. The feeling that I have come to hate, is walking in a park and simply feeling like part of the scenery, with no real existence or foothold. I found walking and taking really hard steps helped a lot, just to feel the ground beneath me. In my opinion, DR may not be a direct cause of concussion. Concussion does bring on some form of panic within the brain from shock, and many of us might make the mistake of taking medication, drugs, or alcohol after a seemingly mild concussion. Those things alter our states of mind anyway, and DR as stated by Linden is brought on by the smallest possible amount of anxiety/ panic. While concussed, even slightly, and consumming a seemingly harmless pill, or having a drink, we may bring on a panic or anxiety attack which goes unnoticed, until we eventually realise the terrifying state we are actually in. Concussion effects the metabolism of the brain, and things like cortisol and adrenaline are effected, an imbalance of these can induce symptoms of panic in the body; such as a racing heart, and fast breathing, whatever. The effect on the brain ends up being 'there's something wrong here, I'm going put myself into full awareness what is going on in me and not anything else.' Anxiety in itself decreases blood flow to some areas of the brain, without a doubt causing cognitive difficulties mimiccing those of PCS, leading to more 'evidence' for the derealized mind to work with and convince itself it is damaged. Derealization, apart from leaving you as a stark white blank canvas when it passes, is harmless, or so I hope. I myself, did not feel derealized after I hit my head on a steel support beam, until 5 days later when I started taking herbal medicine to treat anxiety; wrong move. I did not have strong symptoms of concussion from my bump, (I was turning and my head met with the beam from 1-2 feet away), other than feeling a bit more emotional, and stunned. Anyway, I hope that I provided some explanation for this. I hope it helps; coming up with this explanation has helped me recover somewhat, as it has brought down the possibility of it having evolved directly as a result of injury.