+

Dissociative Disorders

Abnormal Psychology
+
Dissociative Disorder

 Characterized by changes in a person’s sense of identity, memory, or

consciousness.

 Individuals with these disorders may be unable to recall important

personal events or may temporarily forget their identity. They may
even wander far from their usual surroundings.

 There are four types of dissociative disorder:

 Dissociative amnesia
 Dissociative fugue
 Dissociative identity disorder
 Depersonalization disorder
+
Dissociative Amnesia

 A person is unable to recall important personal information, usually after

a stressful episode.

 The information is not permanently lost but can’t be retrieved during the
episode of amnesia.

 The amnesia is for only selected events during a period of distress, is

continuous from a traumatic event to the present, or covering a person’s
entire life.

 May last for several hours or years.

 CAUSE: stress or traumatic experiences the person has survived or

witnessed.
+
Dissociative Fugue

 In dissociative fugue, the memory loss is more extensive.

 The person not only becomes amnesic but suddenly moves away
from home and work and assumes a new identity.

 The new life doesn’t crystallize and the fugue is of briefer duration.

 The individual does not recollect what took place during the flight
from his or her usual haunts.

 Cause: severe stress.

+
Depersonalization Disorder

 The person’s perception or experience of the self is disconcertingly

and disruptively altered.

 No disturbance of memory and lose their sense of self.

 They may have an impression that they are outside of their bodies,
viewing themselves from a distance. Sometimes they feel mechanical,
as though they and the others are robots.

 Cause: severe abuse in childhood,

+
Dissociative Identity Disorder

 A.K.A: multiple personality disorder

 A person who has at least two separate ego states, or alters different modes of being and
feeling and acting that exist independently of each other and that come and forth and are in
control at different times.

 Gaps in memory are also common and are produced because at least one alter usually has
no contact with the other.

 The existence of different alters must also be chronic and severe.

 Each alter may be quite complex and usually the personalities are quite different, even
opposites of one another.

 The original and subordinate alters are all aware of the lost period of time, and the voices
of the other alters may sometimes echo into their consciousness, even though they do not
know to whom these voices belong.

 Causes: severe physical or sexual abuse in childhood, lack of supportive or comforting

person to counteract abusive relative, influence of other relatives with dissociative
symptoms.
+
Dissociative Identity Disorder: Cases

 “The Three Faces of Evelyn”

 Eve White
 Eve Black
 Jane
+
Dissociative Identity Disorder: Cases

 “Sybil”
 Sybil Isabel Dorsett
 Victoria Antoinette Scharleau
 Peggy Lou Baldwin
 Peggy Ann Baldwin
 Mary Lucinda Saunders Dorsett
 Marcia Lynn Dorsett
 Vanessa Gail Dorsett
 Mike Dorsett
 Sid Dorsett
 Nancy Lou Ann Baldwin
 Sybil Ann Dorsett
 Ruthie Dorsett
 Clara Dorsett
 Helen Dorsett
 Marjorie Dorsett
 “The Blonde”