Dissociative Disorders Psychology Mrs. Deming

Dissociation Separation of certain personality components or mental processes from conscious thought Significant breakdown in a person’s normal conscious experience

What Happens? Lose memory of a particular event Forget your identity Occurs when people are faced with urges of experiences that are stressful

Dissociative Amnesia Sudden loss of memory Less common: forget all prior experiences May be an attempt to escape from problems by blotting them out completely Time frame: a few hours to years Returns as fast as it left—usually doesn’t reoccur Psychological in origin Numbers up during wartime and natural disasters

Dissociative Fugue Forget personal information and past events Sudden relocation—new identity Follows a traumatic/stressful event “It was the strangest thing, and it cost me my marriage. One day I just woke up in a bed about 40 miles from my town. I could not remember going there, or how I got there. I just freaked out and left. I was walking, trying to figure out where I was, and who I was, when the police stopped me. They took me to the hospital where the doctors found my ID and called my husband. It was many days before everything in my head was clear again, but I still can't totally remember going to Henson or what I was doing there. My husband does not believe me, and thinks I was having an affair. We are in the process of getting divorced" -- O.P.

Dissociative Identity Disorder 2 or more distinct personalities, each own way of thinking or behaving Personalities take control at different times People diagnosed with this disorder usually suffered physical, psychological or sexual abuse during childhood

3 Faces of Eve Chris Costner Sizemore (Eve)—22 personalities in all Presumed causes—severe abuse in childhood

Depersonalization Disorder Feelings of detachment to one’s mental processes or body After depression and anxiety this is the most common complaint among psychiatric patients