Dissociation and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
Title
Dissociation and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
Author
Huntjens, Rafaële J. C.
Dorahy, Martin J.
Research Area
Cognition and Emotions
Topic
Information Processing
Abstract
Dissociative experiences are thought to occur acutely (e.g., during or immediately following trauma) or chronically and are considered to reduce the subjective distress accompanying stressful events. Growing evidence is consistent with a model that distinguishes between two qualitatively different types of phenomena—“compartmentalization” and “detachment.” Compartmentalization involves a deficit in the ability to deliberately control processes or actions that would normally be amendable to such control (e.g., amnesia and dissociative identities). Detachment refers to an experienced state of disconnection from the self or the environment (e.g., depersonalization, derealization, and numbing).