Our Mission
Unreal offers support and information to people with lived experience of Depersonalisation and Derealisation (DPDR) - including people experiencing symptoms themselves and their carers, friends and families. We aim to raise awareness of DPDR, provide up to date medically-validated information, signpost people to relevant resources, push for policy change, assist in research studies and help people living with DPDR to meet others through our flagship Peer Support Programme to support each other.
Unreal is a small charitable organisation officially founded in 2019.
One of our founding members, Jane Charlton, started to experience DPDR in the early 2000s. She found that there was very little awareness of the condition from clinicians and found it difficult to access resources, care and support. She then went on to experience DPDR again some years later, to discover that the clinical landscape was much unchanged.
This led to the establishment of Unreal, together with the other founding members, Dr Elaine Hunter, Mary Charlton and Heather Perkins.
Our Story
Despite our size and how young we are, we are proud of our achievements to date which include:
Having DPDR spoken about in the national mainstream media (including The Metro, The Guardian and BBC 4).
Co-writing the BMJ article on DPDR.
Initiating an adjournment debate in the House of Commons in UK Parliament, leading to a roundtable with key clinicians and policymakers which led to the commissioning of a training course.
Dr Elaine Hunter and Prof. Anthony David of UCL, two of our Ambassadors, have now created that training module on the “Assessment and Treatment of DDD” which is available on the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ website.
Our flagship Peer Support Programme.
Our involvement with academic studies including advertising and recruitment, being a co-applicant on a feasibility study for CBT for DPDR, providing lived-experience advice, and providing letters of support for funding and ethics applications.
Speaking at numerous national and international conferences to raise awareness.
Our Impact
“Thank you for this charity. It helps so much to know I’m not alone.”
Hear from Us
Members of the team can also be on hand to give talks about DPDR, both face to face and remotely. Please get in touch to discuss Unreal delivering a talk to your institution. The talks are offered completely free of charge however any donations are gratefully received to allow us to continue this work.