Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Dissociative Disorders

Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 8 Dissociation in the news I’m not really running, I’m not really running… (NYTimes, Dec 6, 2007) “Without realizing what I was doing, I dissociated a few months ago, in the middle of a long, fast bike ride. I’d become so tired that I could not hold the pace going up hills. Then I hit upon a method — I focused only on the seat of the rider in front of me and did not look at the hill or what was to come. And I concentrated on my cadence, counting pedal strokes, thinking of nothing else. It worked. Now I know why. “

Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 8 Dissociative Experiences in the General Population

Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 8 Dissociation Normal vs. abnormal dissociation (different parts of an individual’s identity, memories, or consciousness become split off from one another) When dissociation becomes chronic and a defining feature, the person may be diagnosed with a dissociative disorder.

Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 8 Symptoms Presence of two or more separate identities in the same individual. These personalities may have different ways of speaking and relating to others and can have different ages and genders, as well as allergies and eyeglass prescriptions. Etiology Alters may be created by people under conditions of extreme stress, often child abuse. Self-hypnosis may be involved. OR Created inadvertently by therapists Treatment Long-term psychotherapy to discover functions of the personalities and to assist in “ integration. ” Dissociative Identity Disorder

Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 8 Symptoms Person suddenly moves away from home and assumes an entirely new identity, with no memory of previous identity Etiology Fugue states usually occur in response to some stressor, but because they are extremely rare, little is known about etiology Treatment Psychotherapy to help the person identify the stressors leading to the fugue state and learn better coping skills Dissociative Fugue

Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 8 Symptoms Loss of memory due to psychological rather than physiological causes. The memory loss is usually confined to personal information only Etiology Typically occurs following traumatic events. May involve motivated forgetting of events, poor storage of information during events due to overarousal, or avoidance of emotions experience during an event Treatment Help the individual remember traumatic events and accept them Dissociative Amnesia

Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 8 People with this disorder have frequent episodes in which they feel detached from their own mental processes or bodies, as if they are outside observers of themselves. Occasional experiences of depersonalization are common, especially when people are sleep deprived. Depersonalization Disorder is only diagnosed when they are so frequent and distressing that they interfere with an individual’s ability to function Depersonalization Disorder

Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 8 Dissociative Disorders (Summary) Dissociative Identity Disorder Separate, multiple personalities in the same individual. Dissociative Fugue The person moves away and assumes a new identity, with amnesia for the previous identity. Dissociative Amnesia The person loses memory of important personal facts, including personal identity, for no apparent organic cause Depersonalization Disorder Frequent episodes where individual feels detached from his or her mental state or body