Dissociative and Somatoform Disorders

1. Dissociative and Somatoform Disorders

2. Dissociative Disorders • Disorders in which conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated) from previous memories, thoughts and feelings. • May have multiple personalities, amnesia, or become someone else • Very popular subject for TV and movies • But, very very rare and some argue their existence

3. Dissociative Identity Disorder • formally known as multiple personality disorder. • a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities. • Women tend to average 15 pers. and men about 8 • Herschell Walker 12

4. Dissociative Amnesia • characterized by a loss or blocking out of critical personal information

5. Dissociative Amnesia • Does NOT result from other medical trauma (e.g. a blow to the head).

6. Dissociative Fugue • Characterized by reversible amnesia for personal identity • Fugue comes from the word fugitive • An individual in a fugue state is unaware of or confused about his identity, and in some cases will assume a new identity (although this is the exception). • Can involve unplanned traveling or wandering

7. Depersonalization Disorder • Marked by a feeling of detachment or distance from one's own experience, body, or self. • One can easily relate to feeling as they are in a dream, or being "spaced out." A person's experience with depersonalization can be so severe that he or she believes the external world is unreal or distorted.

8. Somatoform DisordersConfusion of Mind & Body • Disorders involving physical symptoms or complaints with no real physical cause or explanation • Two types • Conversion disorder • May suffer from a loss of movement in a limb or feeling in a hand or arm or loss of vision • Hypochondriasis • You believe something is very wrong with your health

9. Dissociative Amnesia - Types • Localized amnesia • an individual who has no memory of specific events that took place, usually traumatic. • The loss of memory is localized with a specific window of time. • For example, a survivor of a car wreck who has no memory of the experience until two days later is experiencing localized amnesia. • Selective amnesia • when a person can recall only small parts of events that took place in a defined period of time. • For example, an abuse victim may recall only some parts of the series of events around the abuse. • Generalized amnesia • when a person's amnesia encompasses an entire life. • Systematized amnesia • characterized by a loss of memory for a specific category of information. • A person with this disorder might, for example, be missing all memories about one specific family member.

10. Causes of Dissociative Disorders • An attempt to escape a traumatic experience • Protecting the “self” • Traumatic event in childhood • Highly imaginative children • Make-believe games become part of real life • Could just be attention seeking personalities