title: Case report: Improvement in dissociative symptoms with mixed amphetamine salts.
abstract: Symptoms of dissociation, including dissociative amnesia, depersonalization, and derealization, commonly develop in individuals subject to chronic and repeated trauma during development. This includes the trauma of environmental inability to facilitate development of adequate cognitive strategies for coping with strong negative emotions. Dissociation likely involves dysregulated balance of prefrontal inhibition of limbic structures and inadequate regulation of attentional bias by both prefrontal and limbic systems. There is currently no established psychopharmacologic treatment for dissociative symptoms. Here the case of a woman with severe dissociative symptoms that were markedly improved with the administration of mixed amphetamine salts is discussed. Potential neurobiologic mechanisms for dissociative symptom improvement with psychostimulants are discussed.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center , Boston , Massachusetts , USA.|b Harvard Medical School , Boston , Massachusetts , USA.
authors.forename: Timothy M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Scarella
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center , Boston , Massachusetts , USA.|b Harvard Medical School , Boston , Massachusetts , USA.
authors.forename: Jamie R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Franzen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000662:Amphetamines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004338:Drug Combinations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000662:Amphetamines; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D004338:Drug Combinations
keywords: Dissociation; emotional trauma; psychopharmacology; psychotherapy