Dissociative disorders
Encyclopedia
Dissociative disorders are defined as conditions that involve disruptions or breakdowns of memory, awareness, identity and/or perception. See also dissociation
. People with dissociative disorders are able to escape from reality involuntarily. Typically the development of these orders are the reaction to some sort of trauma, used as a coping mechanism to avoid thinking about difficult memories. Treatment may be difficult, but many people are able to learn new ways of coping and living healthy lives.
The five dissociative disorders listed in the DSM IV are as follows:
The ICD-10
classifies conversion disorder
as a dissociative disorder while the DSM-IV classifies it as a somatoform disorder
.
Dissociation
Dissociation is an altered state of consciousness characterized by partial or complete disruption of the normal integration of a person’s normal conscious or psychological functioning. Dissociation is most commonly experienced as a subjective perception of one's consciousness being detached from...
. People with dissociative disorders are able to escape from reality involuntarily. Typically the development of these orders are the reaction to some sort of trauma, used as a coping mechanism to avoid thinking about difficult memories. Treatment may be difficult, but many people are able to learn new ways of coping and living healthy lives.
The five dissociative disorders listed in the DSM IV are as follows:
- Depersonalization disorderDepersonalization disorderDepersonalization disorder is a dissociative disorder in which the sufferer is affected by persistent or recurrent feelings of depersonalization and/or derealization. Diagnostic criteria include persistent or recurrent experiences of feeling detached from one's mental processes or body...
(DSM-IV Codes 300.6 ): periods of detachment from self or surrounding which may be experienced as "unreal" (lacking in control of or "outside of" self) while retaining awareness that this is only a feeling and not a reality. - Dissociative amnesia (DSM-IV Codes 300.12) (formerly Psychogenic Amnesia): noticeable impairment of recall resulting from emotional trauma
- Dissociative fugue (DSM-IV Codes 300.13) (formerly Psychogenic Fugue): physical desertion of familiar surroundings and experience of impaired recall of the past. This may lead to confusion about actual identity and the assumption of a new identity.
- Dissociative identity disorderDissociative identity disorderDissociative identity disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis and describes a condition in which a person displays multiple distinct identities , each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the environment....
(DSM-IV Codes 300.14) (formerly Multiple Personality Disorder): the alternation of two or more distinct personality states with impaired recall, among personality states, of important information. - Dissociative disorder not otherwise specified (DSM-IV Codes 300.15): which can be used for forms of pathological dissociation not covered by any of the specified dissociative disorders.
The ICD-10
ICD-10
The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision is a medical classification list for the coding of diseases, signs and symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances, and external causes of injury or diseases, as maintained by the...
classifies conversion disorder
Conversion disorder
Conversion disorder is a condition in which patients present with neurological symptoms such as numbness, blindness, paralysis, or fits without a neurological cause. It is thought that these problems arise in response to difficulties in the patient's life, and conversion is considered a psychiatric...
as a dissociative disorder while the DSM-IV classifies it as a somatoform disorder
Somatoform disorder
In psychology, a somatoform disorder is a mental disorder characterized by physical symptoms that suggest physical illness or injury - symptoms that cannot be explained fully by a general medical condition, direct effect of a substance, or attributable to another mental disorder . The symptoms that...
.
See also
- Conversion disorderConversion disorderConversion disorder is a condition in which patients present with neurological symptoms such as numbness, blindness, paralysis, or fits without a neurological cause. It is thought that these problems arise in response to difficulties in the patient's life, and conversion is considered a psychiatric...
- Dissociation (psychology)
- Dissociative Experiences ScaleDissociative Experiences ScaleThe Dissociative Experiences Scale is a psychological self-assessment questionnaire that measures dissociative symptoms. It contains twenty-eight questions and returns an overall score as well as four sub-scale results. DES is intended to be a screening test, since only 17% of patients with scores...
- Dissociative identity disorder in fiction
- Multiple personality controversy
- Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IVStructured Clinical Interview for DSM-IVThe Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders is a diagnostic exam used to determine DSM-IV Axis I disorders and Axis II disorders . There are at least 700 published studies in which the SCID was the diagnostic instrument used...
External links
- DSM IV TR classification of dissociative disorders (in the context of the whole classification system)