Types of dissociative disorders

There are different types of dissociative disorders, which vary in severity and in symptoms. The recognized dissociative disorders include the following:

• Dissociative amnesia — This disorder occurs when a person blocks out certain information, usually associated with a stressful or traumatic event, leaving him or her unable to remember important personal information. With this disorder, the degree of memory loss goes beyond normal forgetfulness and includes gaps in memory for long periods of time or of memories involving the traumatic event.
• Dissociative fugue — With this disorder, the person temporarily loses his or her sense of personal identity and impulsively wanders or travels away from home. People with dissociative fugue often become confused about who they are and may even create new identities. Outwardly, people with this disorder show no signs of illness, such as a strange appearance or behavior.
• Depersonalization disorder — This disorder involves a person’s sense of being disconnected or detached from his or her body. The disorder is sometimes described as being numb or in a dream, or feeling like you are watching yourself from outside your body.
• Dissociative identity disorder (DID) — DID, the most severe type of dissociative disorder, was formerly called multiple personality disorder. As a coping mechanism, a person with this disorder splits off feelings, personality traits and characteristics or memories. As a result, severe stress or other triggers can cause the person to act and speak as though he or she is a different person. Each identity can have its own name and personal history, or the identities can be less well-defined and simple feel like people talking inside the person’s head.

What are the symptoms of dissociative disorders?

The symptoms vary depending on the type of dissociative disorder. The major dissociative symptoms include the following:

• Amnesia (loss of memory) for certain experiences
• Depersonalization
• Derealization (This involves perceiving the external surroundings as unreal, such as seeing objects change in size, shape or color.)
• Identity disturbances, either feeling like the person has no identity or feeling like there are several identities
• Depression and/or anxiety

What causes dissociative disorders?

How common are dissociative disorders? As a whole, dissociative disorders are uncommon, affecting an estimated 1 percent to 2 percent of the population. These disorders affect females more often than males and most often begin whenever the abuse or traumatic event occurred.

How are dissociative disorders diagnosed?

If symptoms are present, the doctor or therapist will begin an evaluation by performing a complete history and physical examination. Although there are no laboratory tests to specifically diagnose dissociative disorders, the doctor may use various diagnostic tests—such as X-rays and blood tests—to rule out physical illness or medication side effects as the cause of the symptoms. Certain conditions—including brain diseases, head injuries, drug and alcohol intoxication, and sleep deprivation—can lead to symptoms similar to those of dissociative disorders, including amnesia, depersonalization and derealization.

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Reviewed: 05/2007