Dissociative Disorders“fragmentation of the personality”

Minhtri Tran………

Period: 05Seat# 10 and 14

History of the disorders• Definition: conditions that

involve disruptions or breakdowns of memory, awareness, identity and/or perception.

• Involving “fragmentation” of the personality, in which some parts of the personality have become detached, or dissociated, from other parts. 

Content

• Dissociative disorders include:– Dissociative amnesia– Dissociative fugue– Depersonalization disorder– Dissociative identity disorder

Dissociative amnesia• Definition: A psychologically

induced loss of memory for personal information, such as one’s identity or residence.

• Symptoms: sign of retrograde amnesia, confusion, suffer from depression.

• Treatment: unavailable medical treatment but therapies such as Clinical hypnosis, Psychotherapy, Creative Therapies could work

• Facts: – alternative name: Psychogenic

amnesia–  loss of the ability to retrieve

stored memory without any apparent neurological damage (more like natural cause than incident)

– patients are unable to retrieve emotional memories normally

• Case study:– Edward Lighthard: woke up in

Seattle’s Discovery park, with supposed dissociative amnesia

Sources:-http://my.clevelandclinic.org/disorders/dissociative_disorders/hic_dissociative_amnesia.aspx-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissociative_amnesia-Psychology AP* Edition

Dissociative fugue• Definition: same as

dissociative amnesia, but with the addition of “flight” from one’s home, family, and job.

• Symptoms: creating physical distance from your real identity, to runaway, extreme amnesia.

• Treatments: same methods, focus mostly on treating the client to overcome the stress or trauma that triggered the fugue

• Facts:– Fugue: (FEWG) means “flight”– Alcohol usage can be one of

the causes– Domestic violence

• Case study: “Jane Doe,” a woman with dissociative fugue who was found near death in a Florida park, where she was incoherent and suffering the effects of exposure.

Sources:-http://my.clevelandclinic.org/disorders/dissociative_disorders/hic_dissociative_amnesia.aspx-http://my.clevelandclinic.org/disorders/Dissociative_Disorders/hic_Dissociative_Fugue.aspx-Psychology AP* Edition

Depersonalization disorder• Definition: an abnormality

involving the sensation that mind and body have separated, as in an “out-of-body” experience.

• Symptoms: characterized by "switching" to alternate identities (during stress), change in voice, look, sound, mood, etc.

• Treatments: same methods, focus on treating anxiety and depression rather than the disorder itself, eliminate stressful activities and works.

• Facts:– Usually, there is no cause for

alarm.– A study of 30 such cases found that

obsessive-compulsive disorder and certain personality disorders often accompany this condition

– The causes are unknown.• Case study:

– Maurice Krishaber: experiences of "self-strangeness“

– Pierre Janet: pointing out that clients who suffered from depersonalization were normal from a sensory viewpoint.

Sources:- http://my.clevelandclinic.org/disorders/dissociative_disorders/hic_dissociative_amnesia.aspx-http://my.clevelandclinic.org/disorders/Dissociative_Disorders/hic_Depersonalization_Disorder.aspx- Psychology AP* Edition

Dissociative identity disorder• Definition: a condition in

which an individual displays multiple identities, or personalities

• Symptoms: trauma caused by the unconscious (psychoanalysis), mood swing, anxiety or panic attacks,

• Facts:– Most such cases occur in women– A.K.A. “multiple personality

disorder– Result of ego defense mechanisms

that do not allow energy from conflicts and traumas to escape from the unconscious mind

• Case study: – Mary Kendall, devoted herself to

helping others, yet contained frequent gaps in memory, developed DID to cope with her problems.

Sources:-http://www.fortea.us/english/psiquiatria/dissociative.htmhttp://my.clevelandclinic.org/disorders/Dissociative_Disorders/hic_Dissociative_Identity_Disorder_Multiple_Personality_Disorder.aspx-Psychology AP* Edition

Go figure!Enjoy the disorders!