Abnormal Psychology: Chapter 10 - Dissociative Disorders Flashcards
A mental disorder that involves disruptions in a person’s normally integrated sense of memory, consciousness, or identity.
dissociative disorder
The process by which the normally integrated elements of consciousness, memory, and personal identity become splintered
dissociation
A feeling that individuals have become detached from their real self, as if they are observing themselves from outside the body.
depersonalization
A feeling that objects or events are strange or unreal, or have suddenly changed shape, size, or location.
derealization
Individuals’ uncertainty about the nature of their own identity, of who they are.
identity confusion
Behavioral patterns suggesting that individuals have assumed a new identity
identity alteration
The sense that another spirit or being has taken over one’s behavior or mental processes.
pathological possession
In dissociative identity disorder, the process of changing from one personality to another; thought to be stimulated by anxiety.
switching
Sudden loss of memory for personally important information that is not caused by a medical condition or other mental disorder; usually following a stressful event.
dissociative amnesia
Loss of memory for a distinct period of time, usually the few hours immediately after a specific trauma.
localized amnesia
Ability to remember only some of the events surrounding a trauma; the remainder are forgotten.
selective amnesia
Loss of memory of a person’s entire life
generalized amnesia
The loss of memory for events from a particular time or trauma up to the present.
continuous amnesia
Loss of memory for certain classes of information.
systematized amnesia
A dissociative state in which individuals travel to a new location without remembering their pre-fugue life, often also becoming confused about their identity.
dissociative fugue
A disorder in which individuals experience both depersonalization (detachment from others or themselves) and derealization (feeling that the world is not real) in the absence of other physical and mental disorders.
depersonalization/derealization disorder
The claim that dissociative identity disorder is caused by childhood trauma, with which the person tries to cope by creating alternate personalities.
post-traumatic model (PTM)
The claim that dissociative identity disorder is a diagnosis given to people who have learning to enact a role that emphasizes multiple personalities, often in response to suggestions from therapist, media portrayals, or cultural influences; has been extended as the fantasy model.
sociocognitive model
The claim that dissociation makes individuals prone to fantasy, thereby engendering confabulated memories of trauma commonly seen in people with dissociative identity disorders.
fantasy model (FM)
A dimension of personality that describes a person’s tendency to become caught up in private reveries, imaginings, or a current task, to the exclusion of surrounding stimuli; also known as fantasy proneness or imaginative involvement.
absorption
