Meditative depersonalization

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"But once in a while, something goes wrong. In Buddhism this is known as falling into 'the pit of the void.' Young is more modern: 'Psychiatrists call it Depersonalization and De-realization Disorder, or DP/DR. I call it Enlightenment’s evil twin. [...] If the very real benefits of mindfulness add up to the good-news mental health story of our time, then, like so many good things, there is also a shadowy seam, an experience known popularly as the Dark Night, after the writings of the famous Carmelite mystic St. John of the Cross. [...] The full range of symptoms, from mild to intense, include headaches, panic, mania, confusion, hallucinations, body pain and pressure, involuntary movements, the de-repression of emotionally-charged psychological material, extreme fear and – perhaps the central feature – the dissolution of the sense of self."