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Dissociative Disorder

Description

Dissociative disorders refer to disorders where the person dissociates or becomes separate from themselves or their identity. Dissociative disorders come in many forms, the most famous of which is dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder). Dissociation is a mental process, which produces a lack of connection in a person's thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of identity. Dissociative disorders are so-called because they are marked by a dissociation from or interruption of a person's fundamental aspects of waking consciousness (such as one's personal identity, one's personal history, etc.). During the period of time when a person is dissociating, certain information is not associated with other information as it normally would be. This is applied to disorders with dissociates features that do not meet the diagnostic criteria for dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, dissociative identity disorder, or depersonalization disorder.

Symptoms of Dissociative Disorder NOS

The symptom lists below have been culled and summarized from current diagnostic criteria most commonly used in the United States by mental health professionals. The lists are divided into three broad categories: adult , childhood , and personality disorders.Presence of one (or more) of the following symptoms:

Delusions

Hallucinations

Disorganized speech (e.g., frequent derailment or incoherence)

Grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior

A persecutory delusion involves the belief that the sufferer is being stalked, tricked, framed, or hunted in some fashion.

Causes of Dissociative Disorder NOS

A dissociative disorder is the breakdown of one's perception of his/her surroundings, memory, identity, or consciousness Even seemingly happy events, such as becoming a parent or getting married, can trigger depression. Or, even a smaller change can sometimes trigger depression. Some risk factors for depression include:

A family history of depression

Death or illness of a loved one

Stressful conflicts, such as fights with family members or disputes at work

Physical, sexual, or emotional abuse

Major life events, such as moving, graduating from college, changing jobs, getting married or divorced, becoming a new parent, or retiring

Financial difficulties

Treatment of Dissociative Disorder NOS

Treatment stratagies may be sorted into two gross categories: physical interventions (including medicine/drugs/herbs, surgery, and other 'hands-on' treatments such as massage), and mental interventions (including psychotherapy and hypnosis) Family members should be helping to keep their schizophrenic relatives supported and oriented. Before they can be properly supportive, however, they must first understand and accept that schizophrenia is a disorder of the brain just like diabetes is a disorder of the body; not anyone's fault; and not an indication of moral or spiritual failure.