By: Ariél Hovland, Bryan Tatleman, Conor Stanley, and Matt
Velasquez
What are Dissociative Disorders?
• Dissociative Disorders are mental disorders
that disrupt a persons normal, functioning
consciousness, identity, memory, or
perception of the world.
• Dissociative Disorders:
– Dissociative Amnesia
– Dissociative Identity Disorder
– Depersonalization
– Fugue Disorder
People with dissociative amnesia have sudden inabilities to
remember autobiographical information. They will forget
past experiences and personal information about
themselves. However, they usually have full memories of
other experiences and information.
Overwhelming Stress (from experiences such as war, major
accidents, disasters, or abuse)
Some psychologists think that dissociative amnesia is
genetic because most people with this disorder are related
to someone who also has dissociative amnesia.
A drug called pentothal is used to help patients remember their
forgotten memories.
Psychotherapy is used sometimes to help deal with the trauma
associated with the amnesia.
In general, treatment is aimed at helping the patient restore lost
memories as quickly as possible.
About two to three percent of the population has
dissociative amnesia.
It is more common in women than in men.
Dissociative
Identity Disorder
• Formerly called
“Multiple Personality
Disorder”
• Severe form of
dissociation
• Alteration of normally
integrated functions of
identity and
consciousness
• Lack of connection in
thoughts, memories,
feelings, and sense of
identity
Symptoms
• Two or more distinct personalities have
control over one person’s behavior
• Each personality exhibits separate self-image,
behaviors, physical characteristics, posture,
and gestures
• Each may have its own name, race, age, and
sex
• Personalities may deny knowledge of one
another, or be critical of one another in open
conflict
• “Switching” between personalities may take
anywhere from seconds to minutes to days
Symptoms (Cont’d)
People with DID may
also experience:
• Depression
• Mood swings
• Suicidal tendencies
• Sleep disorders
• Anxiety
• Compulsions and
rituals
• Auditory or visual
hallucinations
• Eating disorders
• Amnesia
Causes
• Causes are not completely understood,
but they are thought to stem from
traumatic experiences
• Childhood physical abuse, sexual abuse,
emotional abuse, neglect
• Recurring or life-threatening
disturbances at childhood developmental
stage (before age 9)
• Coping mechanism to deal with life’s
dilemmas. Makes patients reluctant to
integrate separate identities
Causes (Cont’d)
• Symptoms partially prompted by
therapists’ probing
• Biological component- family
histories of the disorder
• Brain imaging changes during “switching”
or “transitions”
• Traumatic events stored in right
hemisphere of brain- vivid recall of
emotional and visual components of event
• Whole identity is stored with the stunted
traumatic memory
Treatment
• Talk therapy, psychotherapy, and
hypnotherapy have proved helpful for
patients with DID
• Art therapy- expressive therapy through
art. Stimulates right side of brain, where
vivid traumatic memories stored
• Goals are to recognize abused thoughts,
change negative self-images, and unite all
personalities into one
• No specific medication for DID, but
anti-depressants and anti-anxiety
medication may help symptoms
Commonality
• Estimated 1% to 2% of the
population has Dissociative
Identity Disorder
• Up to 7% of population may
have undiagnosed DID
• Immediately following
traumatic experience, 73% of
individuals will experience
dissociative states for a short
period of time (a few hours to a
few weeks)
Depersonalization
Symptoms
• Distorted perception of the body
• Can occur in panic disorder, borderline
personality disorder, post-traumatic stress
disorder, acute stress disorder
Causes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Severe abuse in childhood
Physical
Emotional
Sexual nature
Childhood trauma
Intense stress
Biological disorder
Traumatic Event: War, extreme disasters
Treatment
•
•
•
•
•
Psychotherapy
Cognitive-behavioral therapy
Tranquilizers
Antidepressants
Goal is to address stresses associated with the
on set of the disorder.
Is it common?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Very common in dangerous situations
Assaults
Accidents
Serious illnesses
Occurs commonly with other disorders
Very rare as a disorder by itself
Symptoms
People cannot remember all or some of their past events.
Unplanned and sudden travel away from home.
People assume the role of a completely new identity
forgetting their usual common routine.
People often wander away from their surroundings. Can
go on journeys thousands of miles away over the span of
months.
Appears normal to other people but after a fugue state,
cannot recall what has happened.
Causes of Dissociative Fugue
 Causes of this disorder is from stress. And very high
levels of stress. Either from work, family troubles,
financial problems, or just stress from the world.

EX. An unexpected death to a loved one may cause a person to
travel and run away from home and completely blanking out
their past.
Treatment of Dissociative Fugue
 Fugue is a very interesting disorder. There is treatment
in where people go to therapy and they make the
patient face the stress and anger and other feelings he
feels causing these episode.
 On the other side many times it goes unknown. Since
the person doesn’t remember his life, he doesn’t
remember who he really is. And since they cannot
normally recall their episodes, they have no idea.
Many people don’t even realize that they are living a
false life. Many go undiagnosed.
How Common is it?
 Since some people don’t even know they have it, many
cases go unrecorded. But about 2in 1,000 people in
America suffer from this disorder.
 The disease is more common among people who have
been in wars, accidents, or natural disasters that cause
stress.
Bibliography
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•
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•
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