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