Summary Flashcards
(13 cards)
What is dissociation?
It is a phenomenon where a person disconnects from their thoughts, feelings, memories, or sense of identity. Dissociation = Disconnection.
What are common symptoms of dissociative disorders?
Emotional detachment, lack of reactivity, memory gaps, feeling disconnected from oneself or reality, and unexplained physical symptoms.
What are the key types of dissociative disorders?
• Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder
• Dissociative Identity Disorder
• Dissociative Amnesia
• Other specified or unspecified dissociative disorders.
What is Depersonalization?
Persistent experiences of feeling detached from one’s body, thoughts, or actions, as if observing oneself from the outside.
What is Derealization?
A sense of detachment from the external world, where surroundings appear unreal, dreamlike, or distorted.
What differentiates dissociative voices from psychotic voices?
Dissociative voices are internal and often linked to trauma, whereas psychotic voices are perceived as external.
What are common diagnostic challenges for dissociative disorders?
Symptoms overlap with other conditions like PTSD, depression, and psychosis, and dissociation can be mistaken for normal stress reactions.
What is the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES)?
A self-reported tool to measure the frequency of dissociative experiences, scored from 0 to 100.
What is the main feature of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)?
The presence of two or more distinct identity states, with memory lapses not explained by normal forgetfulness.
What characterizes Somatic Symptom Disorder?
Persistent physical symptoms causing distress, without a clear medical cause, often accompanied by excessive thoughts and behaviors about health.
What is Conversion Disorder?
A condition where psychological distress is expressed as neurological symptoms like paralysis, blindness, or seizures, with no medical explanation.
What is Factitious Disorder?
The intentional falsification of symptoms or induction of illness to assume the sick role, without external rewards.
What are key tools for assessing somatic symptoms?
• SOMS-2: Screening for somatic symptoms.
• PHQ-15: Measures severity of somatic complaints.
• Whiteley Index: Evaluates health anxiety.
