Dissociative Disorders

Introduction

Dissociative disorders are characterized by a disruption of and/or discontinuity in the normal integration of consciousness, memory, identity, emotion, perception, body representation, motor control, and behavior.

Dissociative symptoms can potentially disrupt every area of psychological functioning.

Dissociative symptoms are experienced as:

• unbidden intrusions into awareness and behavior, with accompanying losses of continuity in subjective experience (i.e., "positive" dissociative symptoms such as fragmentation of identity, depersonalization, and derealization)

and/or

• inability to access information or to control mental functions that normally are readily amenable to access or control (i.e., '"negative" dissociative symptoms such as amnesia).

The dissociative disorders are frequently found in the aftermath of trauma, and many of the symptoms, including embarrassment and confusion about the symptoms or a desire to hide them, are influenced by the proximity to trauma.

Studies Related to Dissociative Disorder

• Medical students

Modestin J, Lötscher K, Erni T. Dissociative experiences and their correlates in young non-patients. Psychol Psychother. 2002;75(Pt 1):53-64. doi:10.1348/147608302169544