Dissociation
From Freepedia
- This article is about dissociation in psychology and psychiatry. For dissociation of molecules and salts in chemistry see dissociation (chemistry).
Dissociation is a psychological state or condition in which certain thoughts, emotions, sensations, or memories are separated from the rest of the psyche. An example is the experience of being engrossed in a book or movie.
The French psychiatrist Pierre Janet (1859-1947) coined the term in his book L'Automatisme psychologique; he emphasized its role as a defensive maneuver in response to psychological trauma. While he considered dissociation an initially effective defense mechanism that withdraws the individual psychologically from the impact of overwhelming traumatic events, a habitual tendency to dissociate would, however, promote psychopathology.
The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition considers symptoms such as depersonalization, derealization, and psychogenic amnesia as core features of dissociative disorders. However, in the normal population mild dissociative experiences are highly prevalent, with 80% to 90% of the respondents indicating that they experience dissociative experiences at least some of the time.
Attention to dissociation as a clinical feature is growing in recent years as a concommitant to knowledge of posttraumatic stress disorder, and as brain imaging reseach and population studies show its relevance. Dissociation most often makes the news with regards to soldiers' responses to wartime stress, rape victims with amnesia for details, and in occasional criminal trials where the question is can a person with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) be responsible for their actions. The most talked about form of dissociative disorder is DID, formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). Dissociation has a storied role in murder trials, or at least in movies about murder, where it is occasionally given as a reason for a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict.
Formal study of dissociation and dissociative disorders is advanced by the International Society for the Study of Dissociation (http://www.issd.org).
Useful Resources
Depersonalization Community - Depersonalization Support Site
Support site for those suffering from depersonalization and derealization.
http://www.dpselfhelp.com
DreamChild - Living with chronic depersonalization
Personal page of experiences and advice by one sufferer of chronic depersonalization disorder.
http://www.dreamchild.net
See also
- Depersonalization
- Fugue
- Hypnosis
- Dissociative identity disorder
- Dissociative amnesia
- Repression
- Altered state of consciousness
- Trauma
