Individuals in treatment for dissociative identity disorder not uncommonly describe childhood involvement in organized, multi-perpetrator ritual abuse. They described being "programmed" by the perpetrators and feel that the programming is out of their control. The author has developed a set of treatment strategies and interventions for such cases. These are based on the principle of therapeutic...
ABSTRACT Depersonalization (DEP) and derealization (DER) were examined among college students with and without borderline personality disorder (BPD) and/or dissociative disorders (DDs) by self-report and clinician assessment. The Steinberg Depersonalization Questionnaire (SDEPQ), the Steinberg Derealization Questionnaire (SDERQ), the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, and the screening tool of the...
A theoretical framework referred to as a 4-D model has been described for classifying posttraumatic stress symptoms into those potentially occurring within normal waking consciousness (NWC) versus those thought to intrinsically exemplify dissociative experiences, specifically, trauma-related altered states of consciousness (TRASC). As a further test of this theoretical distinction, this...
Research supports the existence of a dissociative subtype of posttraumatic stress disorder, although studies have not directly compared the perceived impact of dissociative versus nondissociative posttraumatic symptoms on social and occupational functioning. In addition, research is beginning to differentiate between posttraumatic distress associated with normal waking consciousness (NWC) and...
Frewen and Lanius (in press) recently articulated a 4-D model as a framework for classifying symptoms of posttraumatic stress into those that potentially occur within normal waking consciousness (NWC) versus those that intrinsically represent dissociative experiences of trauma-related altered states of consciousness (TRASC). Four dimensions were specified: time-memory, thought, body, and...
Fundamental aspects of trauma--among them dissociation during trauma, which is considered one of the strongest predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder-are not fully understood. This article argues that the application of the phenomenological structure of time and the phenomenological description of the self (minimal self, sense of ownership, sense of agency, sense of self) to dissociation...
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between childhood traumas, mindfulness, and dissociation (more specifically, absorption and depersonalization) in healthy subjects with and without hallucination proneness. A sample of 318 subjects was given the Launay-Slade Hallucination Scale–Revised (R. P. Bentall & P. Slade, 1985). From this sample, 2 groups were formed: one with...
Historical connections are suggested between the domination of 1 culture by another and dissociative spiritual and religious responses to that oppression. Connections are drawn between colonial oppression, trauma, and 3 examples of dissociation and spirit possession: the Zar cult of Southern Sudan, "Puerto Rican syndrome" or ataque, and the Balinese trance dance. Discussed by means of these...
The purpose of this work was to study the potentially mediating role of certain dissociative factors, such as depersonalization, between self-focused attention and auditory hallucinations. A total of 59 patients diagnosed with schizophrenic disorder completed a self-focused attention scale (M. F. Scheier & C. S. Carver, 1985), the Cambridge Depersonalization Scale (M. Sierra & G. E. Berrios,...
The Waves, written in 1931 by Virginia Woolf, is an astounding depiction of an internal landscape richly full of dissociative phenomena. Although applauded for its genius and considered by many to be her highest literary achievement, critics complained that the language of the characters seemed artificial and a departure from the usual interior monologue appearing in other works that utilized...
The article offers an historical review of studies on the role played by attachment processes in dissociative psychopathology. The treatise proceeds from Bowlby's first insights, through Main and her collaborators' empirical studies on attachment disorganization, to the first formulation of the hypothesis linking disorganized early attachment to pathological dissociation. Recent research...
Trauma victims frequently report sleep disturbances, including nightmares, following traumatic events. Research indicates that nightmares are associated with the level and severity of other indices of distress. The recognition of the prominence of trauma-related nightmares, in prevalence and impact, has in part heightened efforts to develop and assess techniques to alleviate these difficulties....