This book brings together contributions from leading authors in the field of dissociation to facilitate the pursuit of integrative clinical scholarship, connecting psychoanalytic thinking and practice with dissociation research and treatment.
Dissociation is not merely altered consciousness, it is an attack on consciousness: on memory, identity, and goal-directed action. The attempts by early psychoanalytic theorists to grapple with this clinical entity were marred by the very same frustration evinced by contemporary descriptive psychopathologists who were faced with understanding the similarities and differences between dissociative symptoms and disorders and other types of psychopathologies. The DSM-V and ICD-11 categorize at least six dissociative disorders. Some of these diagnoses have provoked controversy and skepticism. Whilst many, if not most, clinicians will have encountered various forms of dissociative psychopathology, Dissociative Identity Disorder remains an elusive and contested presentation. Perhaps in parallel to the disorder itself, it continues to be challenging for theorists and clinicians to view the field as a whole and contain the disagreements, contradictions, and paradoxes.
This book will be of use to researchers and students of clinical psychology, psychiatry, and psychotherapy. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy.