Somatoform and Dissociative Disorders

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Somatoform and Dissociative Disorders
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Somatoform Disorders

• Somatoform disorders Psychological problems
  appearing in the form of bodily symptoms or
  physical complaints
• Conversion disorder Somatoform disorder marked
  by paralysis, weakness, or loss of sensation, but
  with no discernable physical cause

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Somatoform Disorders

• Glove Anesthesia

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Somatoform Disorders

• Hypochondriasis Somatoform disorder involving
  excessive concern about health and disease

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Dissociative Disorders

• Dissociative disorders Group of pathologies
  involving fragmentation of the personality

Dissociative amnesia
Dissociativefugue
Depersonalization disorder
Dissociative identity disorder
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Dissociative Disorders
Dissociative amnesia

• A psychologically induced loss of memory for
  personal information

Dissociative fugue
Depersonalization disorder
Dissociative identity disorder
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Dissociative amnesia

• A 29-year-old female experienced the onset of
  dissociative amnesia during an academic trip to
  China.2 She was found in a hotel bathroom
  unconscious, with no signs of structural or
  neurologic abnormalities or alcohol or chemical
  consumption. The woman was sent home but could
  not remember her name, address, family, or any
  facts about her home life. The amnesia persisted
  for nearly 10 months, until the feeling of blood
  on the woman's fingers triggered the recollection
  of events from the night of onset of dissociative
  amnesia, and, subsequently, other facts and
  events. The woman finally remembered having
  witnessed a murder that night in China. She
  recalled being unable to help the victim out of
  fear for her own safety. She came to remember
  other aspects of her life however, some memories
  remain unretrievable.

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Dissociative Disorders
Dissociative amnesia
Dissociative fugue

• Dissociative amnesia with the addition of
  flight from ones home, family, and job

Depersonalization disorder
Dissociative identity disorder
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Dissociative fugue

• Commonly, individuals who experience the onset of
  dissociative fugue are found wandering in a dazed
  or confused state, unable to recall their own
  identity or recognize their own relatives or
  daily surroundings. Often, they have suffered
  from some post-traumatic stress, as in the case
  of a 35-year-old businessman who disappeared more
  than 2 years after narrowly escaping from the
  World Trade Center attack in 2001, leaving behind
  his wife and children. The man was missing for
  more than 6 months when an anonymous tip helped
  police in Virginia identify him.

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Dissociative Disorders
Dissociative amnesia
Dissociative Fugue

• Abnormality involving the sensation of mind and
  body having separated

Depersonalization disorder
Dissociative identity disorder
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Depersonalization disorder

• Depersonalization disorder generally leads to
  observable distress in the affected individual.
  It often occurs in individuals who are also
  affected by some other psychological
  nondissociative disorder, as in the case of a
  19-year-old college student who was suffering
  from sleep deprivation at the onset of
  depersonalization disorder. The young man
  experienced increased anxiety as he struggled to
  meet his responsibilities as a scholarship-depende
  nt student athlete. Teammates expressed concern
  about his apparent distress to their coach who
  arranged for the young man to speak with a
  therapist. The young man described feeling as
  though he were observing the interactions of
  others as if it were a film. The young man's
  anxiety was determined to contribute to severe
  sleep deprivation, which triggered episodes of
  depersonalization.

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Dissociative Disorders
Dissociative amnesia
Dissociative Fugue
Depersonalization disorder

• Condition in which the individual displays
  multiple identities

Dissociative identity disorder
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Dissociative identity disorder

• In a case of dissociative identity disorder, a
  woman who had been physically and sexually abused
  by her father throughout her childhood and
  adolescence exhibited at least 4 personalities as
  an adult. Each personality was of a different
  age, representing the phases of the woman's
  experience a fearful child, a rebellious
  teenager, a protective adult, and the woman's
  primary personality. Only one of the
  personalities, the protective adult, was
  consciously aware of the others, and during
  therapy sessions was realized to have been
  developed to protect the woman during the abusive
  experiences. When one of the secondary
  personalities took over, it often led to episodic
  dissociative amnesia, during which the woman
  acted out according to the nature of the
  dominating personality. During intensive therapy
  sessions, each personality was called upon as
  necessary to facilitate their integration.