Exploring Dissociation and Dissociative Identity Disorder: A Roundtable Discussion

Abstract

In a lively and wide-ranging roundtable discussion, five seasoned clinicians versed in the treatment of dissociative disorders discuss the importance of recognizing dissociative phenomena: why they happen, how to recognize them, how to work with dissociation and Dissociative Identity Disorder. The panel emphasizes the point that dissociative processes are not exclusive to those suffering from an extreme dissociative disorder and can germinate from other experiences such as attachment trauma, for example. The case is made that dissociation has important implications for work with all patients, as it conveys a more experientially near conceptualization for a model of the mind.