Dissociative Disorders

Question 1

A category of disorders in which individuals feel detached from themselves or their surroundings and reality, experience, and identity may disintegrate

Answer 1

Dissociative disorders

Question 2

A process whereby a group of mental processes is split off from the main stream of consciousness or behavior and loses its relationship with the rest of the personality

Answer 2

Dissociation

Question 3

Dissociative symptoms experienced as unbidden intrusions into awareness and behavior, with accompanying losses of continuity in subjective experience

Answer 3

Positive dissociative symptoms

Question 4

Positive dissociative symptom of altered perception, leading to a temporary loss of the sense of one’s reality

Answer 4

Depersonalization

Question 5

Positive dissociative symptom in which the individual loses a sense of reality of the external world

Answer 5

Derealization

Question 6

Dissociative symptoms defined by the inability to access information or to control mental functions that normally are readily amenable to access or control

Answer 6

Negative dissociative symptoms

Question 7

Phenomenon in which the conscious, in its passive-receptive mode, registers and stores information in memory without being aware that the information has been processed

Answer 7

Hidden observer phenomenon

Question 8

True or False: People with more severe abuse memories are more likely to remember and disclose their abuse.

Answer 8

True

Question 9

A technique in which a person closes their eyes and tries to imagine and event occurring

Answer 9

Guided imagery

Question 10

Dissociative disorder in which feelings of depersonalization or derealization are so severe that they dominate the client’s life and prevent normal functioning

Answer 10

Depersonalization/derealization disorder

Question 11

True or False: Both depersonalization and derealization must be present to meet the diagnostic criteria for depersonalization/derealization disorder.

Answer 11

False

Either one can be present, or both can be present.

Question 12

True or False: During the depersonalization or derealization experience, reality testing remains intact.

Answer 12

True

Question 13

True or False: All dissociative disorders involve a disturbance of memory.

Answer 13

False

Depersonalization/derealization disorder involves no disturbance of memory.

Question 14

State at least 1 neurobiological contribution to the development of depersonalization/derealization disorder.

Answer 14

• Perceptual and cognitive deficits
• Dysregulated HPA axis
• Hyperventilation

Question 15

Phenomenon defined by the difficulty with absorbing new information, as experienced by patients with depersonalization/derealization disorder

Answer 15

Mind emptiness

Question 16

How is a dysregulated HPA axis implicated in depersonalization/derealization disorder?

Answer 16

Dysregulation in the HPA axis suggests reduced emotional responding, reflecting a tendency to inhibit emotional expression selectively.

Question 17

State 1 psychological factor contributing to the development of depersonalization/derealization disorder.

Answer 17

• Immature defense mechanisms
• Maladaptive schemata

Question 18

Dissociative disorder featuring the inability to recall personal information, usually of a stressful or traumatic nature

Answer 18

Dissociative amnesia

Question 19

Type of amnesia characterized by the loss of memory of most or all personal information, including identity

Answer 19

Generalized amnesia

Question 20

Type of amnesia characterized by a failure to recall events during a circumscribed period of time

Answer 20

Localized amnesia

Question 21

Type of amnesia in which the individual can recall some, but not all, of the events during a circumscribed period of time

Answer 21

Selective amnesia

Question 22

Type of amnesia referring to a deficit in the ability to learn new information

Answer 22

Anterograde amnesia

Question 23

Type of amnesia referring to a deficit in the ability to recall previously learned information or past events

Answer 23

Retrograde amnesia

Question 24

Type of amnesia in which the individual fails to recall a specific category of important information

Answer 24

Systematized amnesia

Question 25

Syndrome in which people who have severely used alcohol much of their lives cannot remember much personal or general information for a period of several years or decades

Answer 25

Korsakoff's syndrome

Question 26

**True or False:** Dissociative amnesia most often consists of either localized or selective amnesia for a specific event(s) or generalized amnesia for identity and life history.

Answer 26

True

Question 27

**True or False:** In most cases of dissociative amnesia, the forgetting is generalized rather than selective.

Answer 27

False ## Footnote In most cases of dissociative amnesia, the forgetting is selective for traumatic events or memories rather than generalized. Generalized dissociative amnesia is rate.

Question 28

Dissociative amnesia specifier featuring sudden, unexpected travel away from home, along with an inability to recall the past, sometimes with the assumption of a new identity

Answer 28

Dissociative fugue

Question 29

**True or False:** Dissociative fugue is commonly associated with systematized dissociative amnesia.

Answer 29

False ## Footnote Dissociative fugue is commonly associated with generalized dissociative amnesia.

Question 30

**True or False:** Dissociative amnesia is irreversible.

Answer 30

False ## Footnote Dissociative amnesia is reversible with hypnosis.

Question 31

What is the difference between PTSD and dissociative amnesia?

Answer 31

**PTSD** involves the inability to recall part or all of a significant traumatic event. **Dissociative amnesia** extends to events beyond the immediate time of the trauma.

Question 32

What is the difference between seizure disorders and a dissociative fugue state?

Answer 32

**Seizure disorders** involve nonpurposive wandering limited to the period of seizure activity. A **fugue** state involves purposeful, complex, and goal-directed behavior.

Question 33

**True or False:** PTSD and dissociative amnesia can co-occur.

Answer 33

True ## Footnote PTSD and dissociative amnesia are comorbid, especially if it's PTSD with dissociative symptoms.

Question 34

What type of memory is deficient in dissociative amnesia?

Answer 34

Explicit memory

Question 35

What does being in a high state of arousal have to do with dissociative amnesia?

Answer 35

1. Individual experiences high state of arousal during the event. 2. High arousal leads to the inability to encode and store information during the event. 3. Individual is unable to retrieve information about it later.

Question 36

Dissociative disorder in which a person develops more than 1 distinct identity or personality, all of which coexist within 1 body and mind

Answer 36

Dissociative identity disorder (DID)

Question 37

**True or False:** Most individuals with dissociative identity disorder (DID) do not overtly display their discontinuity of identity.

Answer 37

True

Question 38

**True or False:** The elaboration of dissociative personality states (i.e., different names, handwriting, and so on) is essential to the diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder (DID).

Answer 38

False ## Footnote The elaboration of dissociative personality states occurs in only a minority of individuals with DID.

Question 39

A term referring to the different personalities or identities in dissociative identity disorder (DID)

Answer 39

Alters

Question 40

Alter personality that inflicts pain or punishment on the other personalities by engaging in self-mutilative behaviors

Answer 40

Persecutor personality

Question 41

Alter personality that offers advice to other personalities or performs functions that the host personality is unable to perform

Answer 41

Protector personality

Question 42

A phenomenon in dissociative identity disorder (DID) referring to the transition from one personality to another, usually occurring instantaneously

Answer 42

Switch

Question 43

**True or False:** Alters share explicit memories.

Answer 43

True

Question 44

What is 1 difference between schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder (DID)?

Answer 44

**Schizophrenia:** 1. Hallucinations accompanied by delusions 2. Primarily auditory hallucinations 3. Low hypnotic capacity **Dissociative identity disorder:** 1. Hallucinations experienced as ego-alien and frightening 2. Hallucinations in all sensory modalities 3. Highest hypnotic capacity among all clinical groups

Question 45

How can you tell if a person is faking dissociative identity disorder (DID)?

Answer 45

* Overreporting of media-based symptoms and underreporting of less-publicized symptoms * Enjoys having the disorder * Limited, stereotyped alternate identities, with "amnesia" related only to events for which gain is sought

Question 46

What 2 brain structures are smaller in volume in individuals with dissociative identity disorder (DID)?

Answer 46

* Hippocampus * Amygdala

Question 47

What type of seizures are associated with dissociative identity disorder (DID)?

Answer 47

Temporal-lobe epileptic seizures

Question 48

Apart from the hippocampus and amygdala, what part of the brain shows abnormalities in individuals with dissociative identity disorder (DID)?

Answer 48

Orbitofrontal cortex ## Footnote The orbitofrontal cortex is involved in learning, decision making, and controlling behavior.

Question 49

Etiological model of dissociative identity disorder (DID) assuming that the condition begins in childhood as a result of severe physical or sexual abuse

Answer 49

Posttraumatic model

Question 50

Phenomenon in which individuals can dissociate from most of the world around them and suggest to themselves

Answer 50

Self-hypnosis

Question 51

Etiological model of dissociative identity disorder (DID) that considers the condition to be the result of learning to enact social response in response to suggestion

Answer 51

Sociocognitive model

Question 52

What medication is prescribed in some cases of dissociative identity disorder (DID)?

Answer 52

Antidepressants

Question 53

What are the 2 psychotherapy approaches commonly used for treating dissociative identity disorder (DID)?

Answer 53

* Psychodynamic therapy * Hypnotherapy

Question 54

Hypnotherapy technique in which the person is hypnotized and encouraged to go back in their mind to traumatic events in childhood

Answer 54

Age regression

Question 55

**True or False:** Treatment involving age regression and recovered memories can worsen dissociative identity disorder (DID) symptoms.

Answer 55

True