Dissociative Disorders

What are dissociative disorders

• Group of DSM disorders characterized with disruptions of memory, self awareness, and personal identity

• Non organic abnormalities (Not pathologies)

• Maladaptive reactions to extreme psychosocial stressors

Non organic

• Not caused by physical or biological issues

• Instead, the cause is usually psychological or environmental

Organic

Caused by physical or biological issues

Non pathologies

• They aren’t classified as diseases or medical disorders in the traditional sense

• Classified as behavioral or emotional issues

Pathologies

Classified as diseases or medical disorders

Depersonalization or derealization disorder

• When a person feels detached from themselves (Depersonalization) or the world feels unreal or dreamlike (Derealization)

• They know that their feelings are just sensations, not reality, but the feeling is persistent and distressing

• Can occur concurrently or separately

Depersonalization

• Feelings of being outside of one's own body

• Observing your actions and thoughts from a distance

• Inability to recognize one's image in a mirror or photos

Derealization

• Feelings that you and the world is not real

• People and things are described as lifeless or foggy

Dissociative amnesia

• Memory loss resulting from psychological stressors, not physical brain trauma or injury

• Similar to repression, except entire time periods of memory are blocked, not just specific details and isolated events

• Comorbidly related to acute psychological stress disorders in which the body becomes disconnected from the mind

• Posttraumatic stress disorder

• Dissociative identity disorder

Dissociative fugue

• Impairs the memory of one's identity

• Includes wandering behavior or fleeing from one's home

• Episodes are typically temporary but can last for days to months

What was dissociative identity disorder formerly known as

• Multiple personality disorder (DSM-III)

• Split personality disorder (DSM-II)

Dissociative identity disorder

• Development is typically a defense mechanism to intense stress and extreme psychosocial trauma

• Psyche fractures and forms an alter ego as a coping device

• Defined by the existence of at least 1 alter ego personality in addition to one's natural personality sharing the same mind

• Only 1 personality (Real or alter ego) can control the physical operations of the body at a time

• Real personality is unaware of the existence of the alter ego

• Alter ego may or may not be aware of each other

• Diagnosis must include periodic episodes of blackouts resulting in dissociative amnesia

Unique characteristics of dissociative identity disorder

• Changes in voice like infliction, vocabulary, accent, and cadence

• Changes in nonverbals like body language and facial expressions

• Handedness like ambidexterity (Handwriting)

• Differences in self perceived age, gender, ethnicity

• Affects approximately 0.05% of american population