Dissociation & Dissociative Identity Disorder 

History of Dissociation

Dissociation has long been somewhat of an intrigue to clinicians and the general public. In the United States, as far back as 1860 (i.e., the case of Mary Reynolds), cases have been reported in which clients experienced state specific dissociative disorders. It was in the mid 1970's however, that clinicians began recognizing considerable numbers of clients with symptoms of dissociation that resembled Dissociative Identity Disorder (previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder.) At that time it was estimated that the prevalence of the disorder was about one in a thousand.

In the mid-eighties, the number of clients with Dissociative Identity Disorder in treatment began to increase. There has been a great deal of speculation offered as explanation. One thought is that as clinicians become more aware of the disorder and its symptoms, the more able they are to detect and treat it. Others believe that DID has been over diagnosed, especially with those clients who are highly suggestible. Dissociative Identity Disorder is diagnosed up to nine times more often in females than in males. It wasn’t until the 1970's, when the women’s movement began to bring child abuse issues to public awareness that clinicians became open to the idea of a trauma induced disorder. DID has been shown to have a strong link to severe trauma, especially sexual and physical childhood abuse.

   

What is Dissociation?

The essential feature of a Dissociative Disorder is a disruption in the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity, or perception of the environment. The disturbance may be sudden or gradual, transient or chronic. In other words, an event is processed in a way that breaks up the pieces of the event into differing states of consciousness.  Dissociation is common and nearly everyone experiences mild dissociation from time to time. If you have ever had the experience of driving somewhere, and suddenly you realize that you have little or no memory of driving the last few minutes.  Perhaps you even passed your exit. Your driving ability wasn't hindered because the mind was still utilizing the part of the brain that was needed to drive the car. However, instead of your thinking-mind focusing on the driving, it was somewhere else. That is dissociation. Daydreaming is a very mild form of dissociation.  On the other end of the dissociation-continuum, dissociation is often a way for the brain to tear apart the sensations, or the memory of a traumatic event in order to survive the situation with as little damage as possible. For instance, the actual memory might be put so far back in the subconscious mind, that it is perceived as being forgotten. However, the body sensations may still be present and may be experienced from time to time as somatic eruptions, body memories. The feelings related to the trauma may be "switched off," generally taking with it the individuals ability to experience other feelings later in life.       http://www.psych-net.com/dissociation.html