Family Enrichment Center of Seattle

Dissociative Disorders

The major dissociative disorders:

1. Dissociative amnesia
2. Dissociative fugue
3. Depersonalization disorder
4. Dissociative identity disorder (DID) [formerly multiple personality disorder (MPD)]
5. Dissociative disorder not otherwise specified [DDNOS].
6. Dissociation may also be a fundamental organizing feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD).

The five characteristic symptoms of dissociative disorders:

1. Memory disturbance - complete, partial, selective amnesia
2. Depersonalization—detachment from one’s self, e.g., a sense of looking at one’s self as if one is an outsider.
3. Derealization—a feeling that one’s surroundings are strange or unreal. Often involves previously familiar people.
4. Identity confusion—subjective feelings of uncertainty, puzzlement, or conflict about one’s identity.
5. Identity alteration—objective behavior indicating the assumption of different identities, much more distinct than different roles.

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