Dissociative and Somatoform Disorders
Dissociative DisordersDissociative Disorders• Disorders in which
conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated)(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
Dissociative Identity Dissociative Identity DisorderDisorder
• a person exhibits two or more distinctdistinct and alternating personalities.– Women tend to average 15 pers. and men
about 8– Herschell Walker 1 2
•formally known as multiple personality multiple personality disorderdisorder.
Dissociative AmnesiaDissociative Amnesia
• characterized by a loss or blocking out of critical personal information
Dissociative Amnesia• Does NOT result from other medical
trauma (e.g. a blow to the head).
Dissociative Fugue• Characterized by reversible amnesia for personal
identity• Fugue comes from the word fugitivefugitive • 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
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.
Somatoform DisordersSomatoform DisordersConfusion of Mind & BodyConfusion of Mind & Body
• Disorders involving physical symptoms or complaints with
nono 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
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.
Causes of Dissociative Causes of Dissociative DisordersDisorders
• 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
