Depersonalisation — when Nathan lost his sense of self | ABC Conversations Podcast
June 3, 2025
1,332
12
0.90%
Search the Record
IndexedEvery word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
Abc Australia Episodes Around June 3, 2025
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
51:51Now PlayingDepersonalisation — when Nathan lost his sense of self | ABC Conversations Podcast
YouTube Description
as posted by the channelIn 2008 Nathan Dunne was night swimming in Hampstead Heath in the middle of winter when a psychological catastrophe struck him. He felt his sense of self split in two, and an unbearable pain overtook him. He couldn’t work out what had happened to him, and neither could the doctors.
CW: This discussion contains sensitive mental health details and mentions suicide.
Nathan was driven to attempt suicide, and endured years of misdiagnoses from doctors and medications that didn't work.
Nathan didn't have the words to describe the confusion, pain and splitting of self he was experiencing.
For years, water was the symbol of his undoing.
When Nathan returned home to Australia and his parents' care, his mum gave him a copy of his grandfather's war memoirs.
Here, Nathan found a link that showed him the healing qualities and the beauty that were possible in water.
Eventually, Nathan found a doctor who could explain his symptoms and finally give them a name — depersonalisation.
Further information
If you need help, you can phone Lifeline on 13 11 14.
When Nothing Feels Real is published by Murdoch Books.
Read more about dissociative disorders and depersonalisation on the NHS website () .
Read about dissociative disorders and depersonalisation specifically in relation to young people on the Orygen website () .
Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. ()
Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan.
Guests & Subjects Covered
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.