Dissociative Disorders

Essay # 60325

This paper discusses various categories of dissociative disorders: Dissociative Identity Disorder, Dissociative Amnesia, Dissociative Fugue and Depersonalization Disorder.

1,910 words () | 3 sources | MLA | 2005 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that dissociation is a defense mechanism against trauma, which helps remove victims of trauma from the experience at the time when it occurs, allowing them to delay working through the trauma. The author points out that the cause of dissociative identity disorder is unknown, but histories of patients diagnosed with this disorder indicate that a commonality is a traumatic event such as childhood physical or sexual abuse, commonly incestuous, the death of a close relative or friend during childhood or witnessing a trauma or a death. The paper relates that the symptoms of dissociative amnesia and fugue tend to disappear spontaneously; therapy can focus on the stressful factors, which may trigger an episode, or on treating accompanying depressive states.

Table of Contents
Categories
Dissociative Identity Disorder
History
Description
Diagnostic Criteria (DSM-IV)
Etiology
Psychodynamic Perspective
Behavioral Perspective
Treatment
Dissociative Amnesia
Diagnostic Criteria (DSM-IV)
Types of Dissociative Amnesia
Etiology
Dissociative Fugue
Etiology
Diagnostic Criteria (DSM-IV)
Treatment of Dissociative Amnesia and Fugue
Depersonalization Disorder
Etiology
Diagnostic Criteria (DSM-IV)
Treatment

From the Paper:

"Different parts of the personality are alternately allowed to be expressed or remain repressed at any one time. They cannot coexist due to the intense anxiety that would result. Therefore, each is sealed off from the others. You might think of a rock being split in many pieces and each separate piece forming its own space that becomes sealed off from the other pieces. It is believed that the split occurs because the child who is exposed to a traumatic event and unable to escape dissociates and takes on other personalities to cope with the pain. It is also believed that person's who are susceptible to hypnosis are more likely to develop this disorder when exposed to severe trauma."