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Dissociative disorders

What are dissociative disorders?

Dissociative symptoms involve a disruption in the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity, or perception. These symptoms can be transient or ongoing ,and are often seen as a reaction to trauma. They include depersonalisation (feeling detached from oneself), amnesia, imaginative involvement, absorption (being absorbed in your own mental imagery), and fragmentation of identity.

What is the evidence for dissociative disorders in schizophrenia?

Moderate quality evidence finds a large increase in dissociative symptoms in people with schizophrenia compared to people without schizophrenia, but less dissociation than people with a dissociative disorder.

People with schizophrenia and a self-reported history of trauma reported the most dissociation. The most common symptoms of dissociation were absorption and imaginative involvement.

June 2020

Last updated at: 5:12 am, 17th June 2020
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