What Are Dissociative Disorders?
Dissociation means a person can experience feeling disconnected from themselves, their memories, their feelings, their surroundings, or their sense of identity.
Dissociation can happen for different reasons. It can sometimes occur as a response to overwhelming stress or trauma.
Dissociative disorders are real mental health conditions. They are not simply someone "making things up" or "pretending."
The Main Dissociative Disorders
1. Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
A person may experience a disruption in their sense of identity, along with other symptoms, such as memory gaps that are more extensive than ordinary forgetfulness.
DID was previously called multiple personality disorder, but that is no longer the clinical name.
2. Dissociative Amnesia
This involves significant difficulty remembering important autobiographical information.
The memory loss is more serious than ordinary forgetfulness.
It can sometimes involve a person's memory of traumatic or stressful events.
3. Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder
A person may experience:
- Depersonalization: feeling detached from yourself, as though you are observing yourself from outside.
- Derealization: feeling that the world around you is unreal, dreamlike, or strange.
The person generally understands that this is a feeling or experience rather than believing that the world has literally changed.
Dissociation vs. Dissociative Disorder
This is an important point for your students.
People can experience dissociation without having a dissociative disorder.
For example, someone might become so absorbed in a book, film, or activity that they temporarily lose awareness of what is happening around them.
A dissociative disorder involves symptoms that are more significant and cause distress or problems in everyday functioning.
What Dissociative Disorders Have in Common
They can involve difficulties with:
- Memory
- Identity
- Sense of self
- Awareness
- Perception
- Connection with surroundings
They can also affect:
- Relationships
- Education
- Work
- Everyday activities
- Emotional wellbeing
Important Message About Trauma
Dissociation is sometimes associated with trauma, but it is important not to say that every person with a dissociative disorder has experienced trauma or that trauma automatically causes a dissociative disorder.
People's experiences are different.
Dissociative Disorders Are Not the Same as Schizophrenia
This is particularly important because the two are often confused.
Dissociative disorders mainly involve disruptions in memory, identity, awareness, or perception.
Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder involving symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized thinking or behaviour.
Having different identities in DID is not the same thing as having schizophrenia.
Easy Read Key Message
Dissociative disorders can affect memory, identity, awareness, and a person's sense of reality.
They are real mental health conditions and should be understood without judgement.
This module would fit particularly well in your book after PTSD, because you can then explain the relationship between trauma, dissociation, and mental health without suggesting that they are all the same condition.
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