Q.What do you understand by the term ‘dissociation’? Discuss its various forms.

Dissociation can be viewed as a severance of the connections between ideas and emotions. It involves feelings of unreality, estrangement and depersonalisation, and sometimes a loss or shift of identity. Sudden, temporary alterations of consciousness that blot out painful experiences are a defining feature of dissociative disorders.

Its main forms are:

• Dissociative amnesia — extensive but selective memory loss with no known organic cause; its subtype, dissociative fugue, involves unexpected travel away from home, assumption of a new identity, and inability to recall the previous one.
• Dissociative identity disorder (multiple personality) — the most dramatic form, often linked to childhood trauma; the person assumes two or more alternate, contrasting personalities that may be unaware of each other. …

Meaning of dissociation

Dissociation can be viewed as a severance of the connections between ideas and emotions. It involves feelings of unreality, estrangement, depersonalisation, and sometimes a loss or shift of identity. Sudden temporary alterations of consciousness that blot out painful experiences are a defining characteristic of dissociative disorders. These conditions are often associated with overwhelming stress or with traumatic experiences.

The various forms of dissociative disorder

1. Dissociative amnesia

• Characterised by extensive but selective memory loss that has no known organic cause (such as head injury).
• Some people cannot remember anything about their past; others can no longer recall specific events, people, places or objects, while memory for other events remains intact.
• A subtype is dissociative fugue — its essential feature is an unexpected travel away from home and workplace, the assumption of a new identity, and an inability to recall the previous identity. The fugue usually ends when the person suddenly 'wakes up' with no memory of the events during the fugue; it is often associated with overwhelming stress.

2. Dissociative identity disorder (multiple personality)

• The most dramatic of the dissociative disorders, often associated with traumatic experiences in childhood.
• In this disorder the person assumes alternate personalities that may or may not be aware of each other — that is, two or more separate and contrasting personalities, generally associated with a history of abuse.

3. Depersonalisation/derealisation disorder

• Involves a dreamlike state in which the person has a sense of being separated both from the self and from reality. …