Dissociative disorders: a personal 'work in progress'.
OBJECTIVE
To identify the core issues contained within the dissociative disorders literature, and synthesize them into a non-polarized, inclusive perspective that emphasizes logic, core psychological principles and mutual professional respect.


CONCLUSIONS
A large percentage of all psychiatric patients are traumatized in clinically significant manners. Dissociation, in all its variants, represents a psychological mechanism for the victim of trauma to defend him/herself from being overwhelmed. Debates regarding the validity of dissociative disorders need to be viewed in the context of society's counter-transference to trauma, in the context of health professionals feeling vulnerable to controversy, and in terms of their own experience of trauma.
Middleton
Warwick
W
Cannan Institute, Brisbane, Qld, Australia. warmid@tpg.com.au
D003226:Congresses as Topic; D019548:Crime Victims; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy / Q000379:methods*