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The Mother Who Couldn’t Name Her Child:
Published in Paul Ian Steinberg, Psychoanalysis in Medicine, 2020
Mrs. X consulted a neurologist at the age of 15 because of dysarthria and memory problems, inability to understand the teachers or to concentrate on homework, and disorientation when getting off a bus. No neurological problems were found. Depression was diagnosed, but not further investigated or treated. This description of multiple symptoms not explained by a medical condition suggests that, as a teenager, Mrs. X likely was suffering from an unconscious conflict, unmet psychological needs, or unbearable emotions, or a combination of these, that could not be articulated, and were expressed by a variety of symptoms that often represent neurological conditions. They may have been symptoms of a conversion disorder. The description of an inability to concentrate and disorientation leave the impression that Mrs. X may have experienced some dissociative symptoms. A dissociative state is one involving disturbances or alterations in the normally integrated functions of identity, memory, and consciousness (Yager & Gitlin, 1995). These symptoms might have represented a dissociative disorder. They suggest a regression to a relatively primitive level of mental functioning, prior to a stage characterized by verbalization. With the benefit of hindsight, it would have been wise, especially as Mrs. X was diagnosed with depression, to have her assessed by a psychoanalytically informed clinician, so an appropriate form of psychotherapy could be recommended. It seems likely that Mrs. X’s needs were not met by her parents and medical caregivers at the time.
Psychiatric Disorders
Published in Walter F. Stanaszek, Mary J. Stanaszek, Robert J. Holt, Steven Strauss, Understanding Medical Terms, 2020
Walter F. Stanaszek, Mary J. Stanaszek, Robert J. Holt, Steven Strauss
Dissociative disorders include dissociative amnesia or fugue, formerly called psychogenic amnesia; dissociative identity disorder, formerly called multiple personality disorder; depersonalization disorder; and transient global amnesia. In the dissociative states, the patient dissociates himself from the stressful event through a fugue or multiple personality. Fugue is from the Latin for "flee" and is also used for a musical form that may be viewed as a flight. A fugue is a massive amnesia allowing the patient to flee all memory of the stressful event, but it often leaves the patient wandering aimlessly. Double or multiple personality also allows the patient to dissociate from the event by creating one or more separate identities with no ties to the stress.
Signs and Symptoms in Psychiatry
Published in Mohamed Ahmed Abd El-Hay, Essentials of Psychiatric Assessment, 2018
Psychiatric causes: dissociative disorders are marked by a disruption of and/or discontinuity in the normal integration of consciousness, memory, identity, emotion, perception, body representation, motor control, and behavior. Dissociative amnesia is characterized by an inability to recall autobiographical information that is inconsistent with normal forgetting. This amnesia may be localized (i.e., an event or period of time), selective (i.e., a specific aspect of an event), or generalized (i.e., identity and life history).
Dissociation among individuals receiving cancer care: A scoping review
Published in Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, 2022
Lisa S. Panisch, Jen Currin-McCulloch, Elle Covington
This study used a semi-structured qualitative interview to identify factors enhancing breast, cervical, and colon cancer screening adherence among adult female survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Three of the women disclosed a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder, and provided how the diagnosis and symptoms negatively impacted their cancer screening experiences. Their experiences of different dissociative self-states becoming activated during the procedures and having to navigate among their competing perceptions and reactions, which affected their decision making. Participants with and without a formal diagnosis of a dissociative disorder reported using dissociative strategies in order to endure the procedure, difficulties trusting providers, and the benefits of trauma-informed providers, especially those with knowledge of dissociation and dissociative disorders.
Dissociative Symptoms are Highly Prevalent in Adults with Narcolepsy Type 1
Published in Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 2022
Laury Quaedackers, Hal Droogleever Fortuyn, Merel Van Gilst, Martijn Lappenschaar, Sebastiaan Overeem
Over the past two decades, studies have increasingly shown a relationship between disordered sleep and dissociation (Koffel & Watson, 2009; Lynn et al., 2019; Selvi et al., 2015; Van Der Kloet et al., 2013; Van Der Kloet, Giesbrecht et al., 2012; Van Heugten-van Der Kloet et al., 2014). The American Psychiatric Association defines dissociation as “a disruption of the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity or perception of the environment” (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Several pathologic dissociative symptoms can be distinguished. These include feeling like everything is unreal (derealization) and feeling disconnected from one’s body or feelings (depersonalization). In addition, they include amnesia for personal information or events that are too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness (dissociative amnesia). Dissociation may also lead to identity alteration; learning from others of activity of alternate identities, feeling possessed or controlled, and perceiving internal images and voices (identity alteration) (Korzekwa et al., 2009). The DSM-IV-TR lists four diagnoses under the category “dissociative disorder”: dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue (a sudden, unexpected travel away from one’s home with an inability to recall some or all of one’s past), depersonalization disorder, dissociative identity disorder. Dissociative disorder “not otherwise specified” refers to various forms of dissociation that are not fully covered by any of the specific dissociative disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2000)
Freud’s Rejection of Hypnosis: Perspectives Old and New:Part III of III—Toward Healing the Rift: Enriching Both Hypnosis and Psychoanalysis
Published in American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 2019
The treatment of DID with a combination of psychodynamic psychotherapy and hypnosis (e.g., Coons, 1986; Kluft, 1982, 1984, 1986) demonstrates the most successful psychotherapy outcomes in the dissociative disorders field (Brand et al., 2009; Brand, Classen, McNary, & Zaveri, 2009). This approach emerges naturally from therapists’ appreciation that dissociation is a major aspect of the trauma response and that many dissociative phenomena are not accessible to treatments that do not address dissociation directly. For a review of hypnotic techniques considered useful in the treatment of the dissociative disorders, the reader is referred to Kluft (1994, 2012a, 2013) and to Phillips and Frederick (1995). For a review of analysts’ use of knowledge of hypnosis or actual use of hypnosis in treating such patients, the reader is referred to Brenner (2001, 2018), Kluft (1995, 2000), and O’Neil (2018).