Dissociative Disorders are when people escape from their realities in involuntary, unhealthy ways. When a person involuntarily escapes from their reality, it happens in an unhealthy way by either suppressing memories, or, to the extreme, assuming alternate identities. A Dissociative Disorder is usually the development trauma from a person’s past and the person with this disorder has difficulties keeping such experiences and memories at bay.

There are four major dissociative disorders:

• Dissociative Amnesia
• Dissociative Identity Disorder
• Dissociative Fugue
• Depersonalization Disorder

Symptoms that are common to all types of dissociative disorders include:

• Memory loss (amnesia) of certain time periods, events and people
• Mental health problems, including depression and anxiety
• A sense of being detached from one’s self (depersonalization)
• A perception that the people and things around them are distorted and unreal (derealization)
• A blurred sense of identity

Dissociative amnesia:

Memory loss that’s more extensive than normal forgetfulness and can’t be explained by a physical or neurological condition. Dissociative amnesia is the most common.

Dissociative identity disorder:

Formerly known as multiple personality disorder, is characterized by the “switching” to alternate identities when under stress. A feeling of having more then one person living or talking inside of one’s head, and each of the identities having their own name, personal history and characteristics. Some of these different characteristics include differences in manner, voice, gender and even such physical qualities as the need for corrective eyeglasses. Often associated with dissociative amnesia.

Dissociative fugue:

People with this condition dissociate by putting real distance between themselves as a person and between their identity. Commonly, people suffering from this disorder may feel the need to leave their home or work and travel to a new place forgetting who they really are and sometimes even adopting a new identity. The episodes generally last a few hours each, but in rare cases, some have lasted up to a few months.

Depersonalization disorder:

This is when a person suddenly finds him/herself outside of his/her own body and observes his/her actions from a distance, as if watching a movie. This may be accompanied by perceived distortion of the size and shape of one’s body or of other people around you. Also, time may seem to slow down and the world seems unreal. Symptoms for depersonalization may last only a few moments or, in some rare cases, over many years.

If you or someone you know may have symptoms of this nature, please visit the Counselling and Support Programs Office located in L-210 of the R. D. Parker Building to make an appointment to talk with a qualified counsellor.

Sources

Dissociation (n.d.) Retrieved May 7, 2007, from Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissociation_%28psychology%29

Dissociative disorders (Mar 1, 2007) Retrieved May 7, 2007, from Mayo Clinic: Tools for Healthier Lives: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dissociative-disorders/DS00574/DSECTION=2