Chapter 6: Dissociative Disorders

Question 1

depersonalization

Answer 1

sense of your own reality is lost. Person dissociates from reality ex/ feeling outside of your own body

Question 2

derealization

Answer 2

sense of reality of the external world is lost.

ex/ what’s happening around you itsn’t real; people may seem dead or mechanical/

Question 3

dissociation

Answer 3

altered sense of reality in which there is a disconnect between a person’s thoughts, memories, feelings, behaviours, or sense of self.

Question 4

dissociative disorders

Answer 4

disorders in which individuals feel detached from themselves or their surroundings, and reality, experinece, and identity may disintegrate.

Question 5

dissociative identity disorder

Answer 5

a disorder ni which more than two personalities or fragments of personalities coexist within one body and mind

• formerly known as multiple personality disorder
• aspects of person’s identity are dissociated.

Question 6

in DID, the separate identities are aka

Answer 6

alters.

Question 7

in DID, there is often a period of ___ where the person cannot recall any events that happened in that time period

Answer 7

amnesia. also, identity is fragmented. there could be only 2 identities, or 100+

Question 8

host identity in DID

Answer 8

the identity who becomes the py and asks for treatment.

Question 9

T/F in DID, the first identity to seek treatment is often the “original person”

Answer 9

false. the first identity to seek treatment is seldom the orignial identity of the person. Usually, the host personality develops later in life.

Question 10

role of the “impulsive alter”

Answer 10

usually the identity of a person with DID who is responsible for generating revenue and handles sexuality.

Question 11

T/F: personalities are limited to gender of the actual person

Answer 11

false. a small woman might have a male identity.

Question 12

the transition from one pesonality to another is called a

Answer 12

switch
switches are often instantaneous and can alter the posture, facial expression, patterns of facial wrinkling and even physical disabilities may emerge

Question 13

average numbers of alters in someone with DID. Age of onset?

Answer 13

average number of alters is 15. Often onset with childhood. Affects more women than men.

Question 14

What culture has the most DID

Answer 14

western.

Question 15

How can DID be faked?

Answer 15

Alters/personalities may be created upon suggestions from the therapist. People with fragmented identities cannot control which identity they have at a given time.

Question 16

How do you know if somenoe isn’t ‘faking’ DID?

Answer 16

there is a true change in hippocampal and medial temporal activity after the switch. Also there may be transient micro stabismus in the eyes.

Question 17

interpersonality amnesia

Answer 17

events experienced by a particular identity are only retrievable by the same identity.

Question 18

transient micro stabismus

Answer 18

divergence in conjugant lateral eye movements that may not be present with other identiteies. Cannot be controlled. this change in optical functioning may indivate the presence of DID (not faking)

Question 19

T/F: DID subjects had 4.5x the average number of changes in optical functioning in their alter identities that control subjectswho had simulated alter personalities

Answer 19

true.

Question 20

DID is often comorbid with:

Answer 20

boarderline personality disorder. Also has high comorbidity with substance use, depression, panic attacks and eating disorders. there is an average of over 7 additional diagnoses in addition to DID.

Question 21

Largest thought “cause” of DID

Answer 21

childhood abuse: physical and sexual (68% incest). Different alters are created as an escape from physical and emotional pain. DID may be a sub-type of PTSD.

Question 22

Autohypnotic model

Answer 22

the idea that suggestible people may use dissociation as a defence against trauma. Less suggestible people may develop PTSD.

• when trauma becomes unbearable, the person’s identity splits into multiple dissociated identities.
• people who are less suggestible may develop a severe post-traumatc stress reaction but not a dissociative reaction.

Question 23

___ ___ epileptic seizsures can be associated with dissociative symptoms

Answer 23

temporal lobe seizures.

Question 24

2 biological contributions to DID

Answer 24

1) temporal lobe seizures

2) sleep depreivation

Question 25

3 causes of DID

Answer 25

1) childhood abuse
2) suggestibility
3) biological contributions like seizures and sleep deprivation

Question 26

note: real and false memories

Answer 26

memories could be a result of suggestions from therapists.
false memories can be created by suggestion.
- severity of trauma is related to severity of amnesia.

• childhood memories later recovered in adulthood were of questionable reliability and should never be accepted without corroboration.

Question 27

Treatment

Answer 27

Treatment

• No controlled research reported on the effects of treatment
• Several reported successful case studies
• Long-term psychotherapy may reintegrate separate personalities in 22-25% of patients
• Treatment of associated TRAUMA is similar to treatment of PTSD
• Help the patient visualize and relive aspects of the trauma until it becomes a memory rather than current experienced event
• Hypnosis often used to access unconscious memories and bring various alters into awareness
• Antidepressant medications might be appropriate in some cases; little clinical evidence thougH

Question 28

its hard to treat DID. What do therapists try to do instead?

Answer 28

the fundamental goal is to identify cues or triggers that provoke memories of trauma or dissociation and try to neutralize them.