Dissociative Disorders

Question 1

What is dissociation?

Answer 1

A protective psychological process for managing overwhelming/conflicting affects and experiences (traumatic and stressful nature)

Ie a mental state of disconnection from what’s going on around you = impaired awareness of thoughts, actions, physical sensations and identity

Question 2

What is identify confusion

Answer 2

Conscious feeling of uncertainty/conflict about identity as a result from intrusions from dissociative state

Question 3

What is identity alteration

Answer 3

Discovering fully dissociated activities of another self state and pronounced variations in how person related to the world)
=switching
=dissociative identity
=time loss
=“coming to”
=being told of actions
=finding evidence of recent behaviour eg broken mirror
=variable co-consciousness (awareness of other identities)

Question 4

How do people with dissociative disorders present?

Answer 4

NOT with complaint of multiple personalities
Rather:
>unexplained injuries
>psychosomatic symptoms
>eating disorder
>substance abuse
>incongruent affect
>abrupt mood changes

Question 5

What is dissociative amnesia

Answer 5

Type of dissociative disorder where there is an inability to recall autobiographical information which is inconsistent with normal forgetting

Question 6

Types of dissociative amnesia

Answer 6

Isolated
Generalised
Selective
Continuous

Question 7

Stages of psychotherapy in dissociative disorders

Answer 7

Stage 1 = stabilisation
Stage 2 = memory work (confront traumatic event)
Stage 3 = integration