Dissociative Disorders Flashcards
A category of disorders in which individuals feel detached from themselves or their surroundings and reality, experience, and identity may disintegrate
Dissociative disorders
A process whereby a group of mental processes is split off from the main stream of consciousness or behavior and loses its relationship with the rest of the personality
Dissociation
Dissociative symptoms experienced as unbidden intrusions into awareness and behavior, with accompanying losses of continuity in subjective experience
Positive dissociative symptoms
Positive dissociative symptom of altered perception, leading to a temporary loss of the sense of one’s reality
Depersonalization
Positive dissociative symptom in which the individual loses a sense of reality of the external world
Derealization
Dissociative symptoms defined by the inability to access information or to control mental functions that normally are readily amenable to access or control
Negative dissociative symptoms
Phenomenon in which the conscious, in its passive-receptive mode, registers and stores information in memory without being aware that the information has been processed
Hidden observer phenomenon
True or False: People with more severe abuse memories are more likely to remember and disclose their abuse.
True
A technique in which a person closes their eyes and tries to imagine and event occurring
Guided imagery
Dissociative disorder in which feelings of depersonalization or derealization are so severe that they dominate the client’s life and prevent normal functioning
Depersonalization/derealization disorder
True or False: Both depersonalization and derealization must be present to meet the diagnostic criteria for depersonalization/derealization disorder.
False
Either one can be present, or both can be present.
True or False: During the depersonalization or derealization experience, reality testing remains intact.
True
True or False: All dissociative disorders involve a disturbance of memory.
False
Depersonalization/derealization disorder involves no disturbance of memory.
State at least 1 neurobiological contribution to the development of depersonalization/derealization disorder.
- Perceptual and cognitive deficits
- Dysregulated HPA axis
- Hyperventilation
Phenomenon defined by the difficulty with absorbing new information, as experienced by patients with depersonalization/derealization disorder
Mind emptiness
How is a dysregulated HPA axis implicated in depersonalization/derealization disorder?
Dysregulation in the HPA axis suggests reduced emotional responding, reflecting a tendency to inhibit emotional expression selectively.
State 1 psychological factor contributing to the development of depersonalization/derealization disorder.
- Immature defense mechanisms
- Maladaptive schemata
Dissociative disorder featuring the inability to recall personal information, usually of a stressful or traumatic nature
Dissociative amnesia
Type of amnesia characterized by the loss of memory of most or all personal information, including identity
Generalized amnesia
Type of amnesia characterized by a failure to recall events during a circumscribed period of time
Localized amnesia
Type of amnesia in which the individual can recall some, but not all, of the events during a circumscribed period of time
Selective amnesia
Type of amnesia referring to a deficit in the ability to learn new information
Anterograde amnesia
Type of amnesia referring to a deficit in the ability to recall previously learned information or past events
Retrograde amnesia
Type of amnesia in which the individual fails to recall a specific category of important information
Systematized amnesia
Syndrome in which people who have severely used alcohol much of their lives cannot remember much personal or general information for a period of several years or decades
Korsakoff’s syndrome
True or False: Dissociative amnesia most often consists of either localized or selective amnesia for a specific event(s) or generalized amnesia for identity and life history.
True
True or False: In most cases of dissociative amnesia, the forgetting is generalized rather than selective.
False
In most cases of dissociative amnesia, the forgetting is selective for traumatic events or memories rather than generalized.
Generalized dissociative amnesia is rate.
Dissociative amnesia specifier featuring sudden, unexpected travel away from home, along with an inability to recall the past, sometimes with the assumption of a new identity
Dissociative fugue
True or False: Dissociative fugue is commonly associated with systematized dissociative amnesia.
False
Dissociative fugue is commonly associated with generalized dissociative amnesia.
True or False: Dissociative amnesia is irreversible.
False
Dissociative amnesia is reversible with hypnosis.
What is the difference between PTSD and dissociative amnesia?
PTSD involves the inability to recall part or all of a significant traumatic event.
Dissociative amnesia extends to events beyond the immediate time of the trauma.
What is the difference between seizure disorders and a dissociative fugue state?
Seizure disorders involve nonpurposive wandering limited to the period of seizure activity.
A fugue state involves purposeful, complex, and goal-directed behavior.
True or False: PTSD and dissociative amnesia can co-occur.
True
PTSD and dissociative amnesia are comorbid, especially if it’s PTSD with dissociative symptoms.
What type of memory is deficient in dissociative amnesia?
Explicit memory
What does being in a high state of arousal have to do with dissociative amnesia?
- Individual experiences high state of arousal during the event.
- High arousal leads to the inability to encode and store information during the event.
- Individual is unable to retrieve information about it later.
Dissociative disorder in which a person develops more than 1 distinct identity or personality, all of which coexist within 1 body and mind
Dissociative identity disorder (DID)
True or False: Most individuals with dissociative identity disorder (DID) do not overtly display their discontinuity of identity.
True
True or False: The elaboration of dissociative personality states (i.e., different names, handwriting, and so on) is essential to the diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder (DID).
False
The elaboration of dissociative personality states occurs in only a minority of individuals with DID.
A term referring to the different personalities or identities in dissociative identity disorder (DID)
Alters
Alter personality that inflicts pain or punishment on the other personalities by engaging in self-mutilative behaviors
Persecutor personality
Alter personality that offers advice to other personalities or performs functions that the host personality is unable to perform
Protector personality
A phenomenon in dissociative identity disorder (DID) referring to the transition from one personality to another, usually occurring instantaneously
Switch
True or False: Alters share explicit memories.
True
What is 1 difference between schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder (DID)?
Schizophrenia:
1. Hallucinations accompanied by delusions
2. Primarily auditory hallucinations
3. Low hypnotic capacity
Dissociative identity disorder:
1. Hallucinations experienced as ego-alien and frightening
2. Hallucinations in all sensory modalities
3. Highest hypnotic capacity among all clinical groups
How can you tell if a person is faking dissociative identity disorder (DID)?
- Overreporting of media-based symptoms and underreporting of less-publicized symptoms
- Enjoys having the disorder
- Limited, stereotyped alternate identities, with “amnesia” related only to events for which gain is sought
What 2 brain structures are smaller in volume in individuals with dissociative identity disorder (DID)?
- Hippocampus
- Amygdala
What type of seizures are associated with dissociative identity disorder (DID)?
Temporal-lobe epileptic seizures
Apart from the hippocampus and amygdala, what part of the brain shows abnormalities in individuals with dissociative identity disorder (DID)?
Orbitofrontal cortex
The orbitofrontal cortex is involved in learning, decision making, and controlling behavior.
Etiological model of dissociative identity disorder (DID) assuming that the condition begins in childhood as a result of severe physical or sexual abuse
Posttraumatic model
Phenomenon in which individuals can dissociate from most of the world around them and suggest to themselves
Self-hypnosis
Etiological model of dissociative identity disorder (DID) that considers the condition to be the result of learning to enact social response in response to suggestion
Sociocognitive model
What medication is prescribed in some cases of dissociative identity disorder (DID)?
Antidepressants
What are the 2 psychotherapy approaches commonly used for treating dissociative identity disorder (DID)?
- Psychodynamic therapy
- Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy technique in which the person is hypnotized and encouraged to go back in their mind to traumatic events in childhood
Age regression
True or False: Treatment involving age regression and recovered memories can worsen dissociative identity disorder (DID) symptoms.
True