Cambridge Depersonalization Scale (CDS) Test

For people who notice episodes of unreality, emotional distance, altered body ownership, or detachment from surroundings, the Cambridge Depersonalization Scale (CDS) Test offers a structured way to organize those experiences. It is suitable for anyone seeking a clearer picture of current or recurring symptoms. Its results can help identify patterns in depersonalization symptoms that may be useful in a broader mental-health assessment.

What This Assessment Explores

First-person items examine unreality, bodily detachment, altered perception, emotional or sensory blunting, automatic action, and unfamiliarity in familiar settings. The assessment focuses on how these experiences are expressed and sustained, rather than treating one answer as complete.

The result shows three dimensions:

• Duration (0–174) indicates whether episodes are brief or persistent, with Short duration (0–58), Moderate duration (59–116), or Long duration (117–174).
• Frequency (0–116) indicates whether episodes are infrequent or recurrent, with Low frequency (0–38), Moderate frequency (39–77), or High frequency (78–116).
• Depersonalization Scale (0–290) indicates severity and detachment intensity, with Below threshold (0–70) or Elevated (71–290); 70 is a proposed compromise between sensitivity and specificity.

Together, these depersonalization test results distinguish occasional, brief experiences from patterns that are more frequent, prolonged, or intense. Because responses reflect the period the respondent recalls, scores may vary with current circumstances and the experiences being considered.

Methodology and Evidence Base

Responses use graded self-report options. Frequency items run from Never to All the time; duration items ask how long episodes last. This separates occurrence from persistence.

The questionnaire collects frequency or duration responses and reports separate scores for the displayed scales. This distinguishes frequency, duration, and intensity in reported results.

The source instrument is the Cambridge Depersonalization Scale (Sierra & Berrios, 2000), a published self-report measure. This questionnaire is conceptually consistent with the published Cambridge Depersonalization Scale but is not presented as an adaptation or validation of that instrument.

Later studies by Sierra et al. (2005), Simeon et al. (2008), and Blevins et al. (2013) examined symptom clusters and factor structure. Those findings provide context for symptom clusters and factor structure, not norms for this questionnaire or evidence for its online scoring or result bands.

Interpretation of this depersonalization questionnaire should account for current stress, memory, self-awareness, and response style. Results describe experiences at one point in time; an elevated profile needs context and is not, by itself, a diagnosis.