In 1929, Sylvan Muldoon wrote to the American Society for Psychical Research describing a sensation he had experienced since childhood: floating above his own sleeping body, fully conscious, able to move by will alone. He called it “the projection of the astral body.” A few years earlier, a Swiss philosopher named Henri Frédéric Amiel had used a different word in his private diary: dépersonalisation — a feeling of being a spectator of one’s own life, as if the self had withdrawn behind a pane of glass. Both men described a detachment from the physical body. One was celebrated as a pioneer of astral projection. The other was describing a pathology.
Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) and depersonalization-derealization disorder (DPDR) both involve a sense of detachment from the self, but they are fundamentally different phenomena. The key distinction lies in volition and context: OBEs are often sought or occur spontaneously with a sense of expansion, while DPDR is an involuntary symptom of trauma or anxiety that shrinks the self into a hollow observer.
What the Two States Actually Feel Like
The person having an OBE typically reports a vivid, sensory-rich experience of being outside the physical body — looking down at it from the ceiling, moving through walls, traveling to distant places. The self feels more real, not less. The body is left behind, but the observer is fully present, often with heightened awareness.
Depersonalization is the opposite: the self feels unreal, numb, mechanical. The body is still there, but it does not feel like one’s own. Actions happen on autopilot. The world may look flat or dreamlike. There is no sense of travel, no expansion. Just a deadening.
The occult tradition has always recognized this difference. In the Tibetan Bardo Thodol (the so-called Tibetan Book of the Dead, compiled in the 8th century CE), the consciousness after death is described as having a “rainbow body” that can move instantly anywhere — but the text warns that if the mind is clouded by fear or confusion, the experience becomes a nightmare of dissolution. That is the OBE gone wrong, closer to depersonalization.
Where the Terms Come From
The clinical term depersonalization first appeared in Amiel’s diary in 1880, describing his own chronic sense of detachment. Pierre Janet, the French psychologist, formalized it in 1903 as a symptom of hysteria and neurasthenia. By the time the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) recognized depersonalization disorder in 1980, the condition was firmly classified as a dissociative disorder, a fragmentation of the normally integrated functions of consciousness, memory, and identity.
The OBE, meanwhile, was studied by the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in London starting in the 1880s. Frederic Myers collected hundreds of case reports of “phantasms of the living”, apparitions seen at a distance by someone who was simultaneously experiencing being out of body. In 1886, Myers and his colleagues published Phantasms of the Living, a two-volume work that treated OBEs as a natural, if rare, human faculty. The SPR never pathologized them. They asked how they worked, not what was wrong with the person.
That fork in the road, pathology versus faculty, has shaped every subsequent discussion.
Why the Occult Sees a Difference
In the Western esoteric tradition, the OBE is a skill. The Corpus Hermeticum (circa 2nd–3rd century CE) describes the ascent of the soul through the planetary spheres, leaving the body behind as a “garment.” Medieval grimoires like the Ars Notoria taught techniques for the soul to travel while the body slept. By the 19th century, the Theosophical Society had systematized these ideas into a model of the “astral body”, a subtle vehicle that could be consciously projected during meditation or sleep.
Depersonalization, in this framework, is not a skill. It is a rupture. The silver cord, a term popularized by Muldoon and later by Robert Monroe in Journeys Out of the Body (1971), is the energetic tether that connects the astral body to the physical. In a healthy OBE, the cord remains intact; the traveler can return at will. In depersonalization, the cord feels frayed or absent. The self is adrift without the ability to re-anchor.
We have sat with practitioners who described both states. One said: “When I project, I am flying. When I dissociate, I am falling.” That is the difference in a single breath.
How the Practices Diverge
The methods for inducing an OBE are well documented: the “rope technique” (visualizing climbing a rope out of the body), the “vibration stage” (a buzzing sensation that precedes separation), and the use of binaural beats as pioneered by Monroe’s Hemi-Sync technology. These techniques require relaxation, focused intention, and a willingness to let go of the physical senses.
Depersonalization, by contrast, is treated by reclaiming the physical senses. Grounding exercises, pressing the feet into the floor, touching textured surfaces, naming objects in the room, are the opposite of the OBE’s detachment. In occult practice, when a student reports spontaneous feelings of unreality that are not accompanied by the classic OBE signs (vibrations, a sense of movement, visual clarity), we advise them to stop all projection work and focus on embodiment: yoga, breathwork, walking barefoot on earth.
The Tibetan tradition handles this distinction with precision. In dream yoga, the practitioner learns to recognize the dream state and then to “project” the dream body consciously. But the preliminary practices, shamatha (calm abiding) and body-scan meditations, are designed to stabilize the mind first. Without that stability, the practitioner risks what is called sems ‘phro ba, the mind scattering into fragments. That is depersonalization by another name.
What the Research Shows
Clinical studies confirm the overlap and the boundary. A 2014 review in Frontiers in Psychology noted that 8–20% of the general population has experienced at least one OBE, and the majority report it as positive or neutral. Depersonalization disorder, by contrast, affects about 1–2% of the population and is almost always distressing. Brain imaging shows that during OBEs, the temporoparietal junction (TPJ), a region involved in body ownership, is disrupted, but the prefrontal cortex remains active. In depersonalization, the prefrontal cortex is overactive, suppressing emotional and bodily awareness.
The occult tradition never had fMRI scans, but it had centuries of case reports. The medieval mystic Hildegard of Bingen described visions in which her soul “rose above the body” and she saw the cosmos as a living egg. She called it excessus mentis, a going-out of the mind. She did not call it a disorder. The difference was that her visions came with a sense of meaning and coherence, not fragmentation.
Common Misconceptions
“OBEs are a symptom of mental illness.” False. Spontaneous OBEs are common in healthy individuals, especially during sleep paralysis or near-death experiences. They are only a concern if they cause distress or are accompanied by other dissociative symptoms.
“Depersonalization is just a failed OBE.” No. Depersonalization is a clinical condition with its own neurobiology. Trying to “project” out of a depersonalization episode often makes it worse.
“You can get stuck outside your body.” The silver cord myth persists, but no documented case exists of a person failing to return from an OBE. The fear of being stuck is itself a symptom of depersonalization anxiety.
“All dissociation is bad.” The occult tradition distinguishes between healthy dissociation (the shamanic journey, the meditative absorption) and pathological dissociation (the numbing after trauma). The difference is control and integration.
FAQ
Can depersonalization lead to out-of-body experiences? Rarely. Some people report that chronic depersonalization shifts into a spontaneous OBE, but the experience is usually confusing and unpleasant. The two states can coexist, but they are not the same.
How do I know if I am having an OBE or depersonalization? In an OBE, you feel more present and aware, often with a sense of freedom. In depersonalization, you feel numb, robotic, and disconnected from your own emotions.
Is it dangerous to try to induce an OBE if I have depersonalization? Yes. Most occult teachers advise stabilizing your mental health first. Projection techniques can amplify dissociation in someone already prone to it.
What do occult traditions say about depersonalization? They see it as a blockage in the energy body, often a sign that the silver cord or the root chakra is underactive. Grounding work, not projection, is the remedy.
The line between the OBE and depersonalization is not a matter of belief. It is a matter of felt experience: one opens a door, the other locks it. If you are exploring the astral, know which side of that door you are standing on.
For a deeper look at the techniques used to induce OBEs safely, see our guide to astral projection practices. The concept of the silver cord is central to understanding the difference between voluntary projection and involuntary dissociation. And for those who want to start from the beginning, our astral projection hub covers the history, the methods, and the warnings every practitioner should know.