The psychological literature reveals a comorbidity between dissociative and obsessive-compulsive disorders. The exact nature ofthis relationship, however, remains unknown (Steinberg, 1993). This paper offers one explanation by linking the manifestation of dissociative and obsessive-compulsive symptoms to rigidity in the spontaneous organiwtion and integration of cognitive/perceptual experience....

BACKGROUND The prevalence of dissociative seizures is between 2 and 33 sufferers per 100,000 persons. 70% of sufferers are women. Dissociative seizures markedly impair quality of life. Their close superficial resemblance to epileptic seizures makes them hard to diagnose. METHODS Selective literature search in PubMed and PsycINFO. RESULTS Persons with dissociative seizures constitute a mixed...

INTRODUCTION Clinicians are confronted with considerable difficulties in diagnosing conversion disorders such as dissociative paraplegia. In the literature, there is still no sufficient evidence regarding a typical pattern or general characteristics for this neuropsychiatric syndrome. Over the last decades case reports have described patients with similar personality traits, psychopathological ...

Eye MovementDesensitization and Reprocessing(EMDR) isdescribed in terms of clinical phenomena, the need for appropriate training in EMDR, and the consistency of neural network theory with BASK theory of dissociation. EMDR treatment failures occur in dissociative disorder patients when EMDR is used without making diagnosis of the underlying dissociative condition and without modifying the EMDR p...

Studies of immigrant populations have shown that the stresses associated with the process of immigration and acculturation could lead to significant psychological, psychiatric or somatic symptoms. In the current presentation, we review four cases of patients who developed Dissociative Disorders (Dissociative Amnesia and Ganser Syndrome, respectively) on a background of stresses related to immig...

The present study investigated the validity of the German version of the Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire (SDQ-20), a scale designed to measure somatoform dissociative symptoms. Somatoform dissociation involves physical manifestations of a dissociation of the personality and is considered a unique entity in the phenomenological spectrum of dissociation. The validity and reliability of the ...

The cross-cultural validity of dissociative possession and trance disorders is a matter of some debate, limiting research and meaningful interpretation of prevalence data. Intimate to these concerns is the status of spirit possession categories studied in the social sciences, particularly anthropology. These two categories are phenomenologically related and display similar epidemiological assoc...

OBJECTIVE Imprecise conceptualizations of dissociation hinder understanding of trauma-related dissociation. An heuristic resolution for research and clinical practice is proposed. METHOD Current conceptualizations of dissociation are critically examined. They are compared with a new theory that incorporates classical views on dissociation with other contemporary theories related to traumatiza...

The authors review the recent literature on multiple personality disorder (MPD), the most severe and chronic of the dissociative disorders, in relation to court cases of competence to stand trial, the insanity defense, and research on malingerers feigning MPD. Issues relevant in the assessment of competency and insanity are described. Features characteristic of MPD, including amnesia and altera...