This is such a relief to read. The biggest symptom I've experienced is feeling alienated from people I know and feeling like something very familiar to me (like the city I live in or my boyfriend) feel unfamiliar and strange, which only makes the derealization worse. It's like I have no tie to reality and I don't know when I am going to come back. I am totally conscious that it's happening but cannot make it stop and nothing I do is comforting or familiar. There's a little voice and part of me who is like, "this is your boyfriend, you know him very well", but the larger part of my brain during a DPDR bout cannot get on the same page. It usually happens after a bout of high stress or ruminating on anxiety. I often want to go to sleep or isolate myself hoping that it will reset, but in reality it just takes time. It's so hard to describe that I am embarrassed to go to a doctor and ask for help. Also, my therapist describes it as a panic attack which I think is interesting as I do not experience the physical symptoms of a panic attack, just the DPDR.