Dissociative Disorders “fragmentation of the personality ” Minhtri Tran ……… Period: 05 Seat# 10 and 14

History of the disorders Definition: conditions that involve disruptions or breakdowns of memory, awareness, identity and/or perception. Involving “fragmentation” of the personality, in which some parts of the personality have become detached, or dissociated, from other parts.

Content Dissociative disorders include: – Dissociative amnesia – Dissociative fugue – Depersonalization disorder – Dissociative identity disorder

Dissociative amnesia Definition: A psychologically induced loss of memory for personal information, such as one’s identity or residence. Symptoms: sign of retrograde amnesia, confusion, suffer from depression. Treatment: unavailable medical treatment but therapies such as Clinical hypnosis, Psychotherapy, Creative Therapies could work Facts: – alternative name: Psychogenic amnesia – loss of the ability to retrieve stored memory without any apparent neurological damage (more like natural cause than incident) – patients are unable to retrieve emotional memories normally Case study: – Edward Lighthard: woke up in Seattle’s Discovery park, with supposed dissociative amnesia

Sources: Psychology AP* Edition

Dissociative fugue Definition: same as dissociative amnesia, but with the addition of “flight” from one’s home, family, and job. Symptoms: creating physical distance from your real identity, to runaway, extreme amnesia. Treatments: same methods, focus mostly on treating the client to overcome the stress or trauma that triggered the fugue Facts: – Fugue: (FEWG) means “flight” – Alcohol usage can be one of the causes – Domestic violence Case study: “Jane Doe,” a woman with dissociative fugue who was found near death in a Florida park, where she was incoherent and suffering the effects of exposure.

Sources: Psychology AP* Edition

Depersonalization disorder Definition: an abnormality involving the sensation that mind and body have separated, as in an “out-of-body” experience. Symptoms: characterized by "switching" to alternate identities (during stress), change in voice, look, sound, mood, etc. Treatments: same methods, focus on treating anxiety and depression rather than the disorder itself, eliminate stressful activities and works. Facts: – Usually, there is no cause for alarm. – A study of 30 such cases found that obsessive-compulsive disorder and certain personality disorders often accompany this condition – The causes are unknown. Case study: – Maurice Krishaber: experiences of "self-strangeness“ – Pierre Janet: pointing out that clients who suffered from depersonalization were normal from a sensory viewpoint.

Sources: Psychology AP* Edition

Dissociative identity disorder Definition: a condition in which an individual displays multiple identities, or personalities Symptoms: trauma caused by the unconscious (psychoanalysis), mood swing, anxiety or panic attacks, Facts: – Most such cases occur in women – A.K.A. “multiple personality disorder – Result of ego defense mechanisms that do not allow energy from conflicts and traumas to escape from the unconscious mind Case study: – Mary Kendall, devoted herself to helping others, yet contained frequent gaps in memory, developed DID to cope with her problems.

Sources: - onality_Disorder.aspx -Psychology AP* Edition

Go figure! Enjoy the disorders!