The first comprehensive theory of somatoform dissociation. Expanding the definition of dissociation in psychiatry, Nijenhuis presents a summary of the somatoform components of dissociation-how sensory and motor functions are affected by dissociative disorders. Founded in the current view of mind-body integration, this book is essential reading for all mental health professionals engaged in the diagnosis, treatment, and study of dissociative disorders, PTSD, and other trauma-related psychiatric disorders.

Winner of ISSTD's 2009 Pierre Janet Writing Award for the best publication on dissociation in 2009! Dissociation and the Dissociative Disorders is a book that has no real predecessor in the dissociative disorders field. It reports the most recent scientific findings and conceptualizations about dissociation; defines and establishes the boundaries of current knowledge in the dissociative disorders field; identifies and carefully articulates the field’s current points of confusion, gaps in knowledge, and conjectures; clarifies the different aspects and implications of dissociation; and sets forth a research agenda for the next decade. In many respects, Dissociation and the Dissociative Disorders both defines and redefines the field.

This second edition of the award-winning original text brings together in one volume the current thinking and conceptualizations on dissociation and the dissociative disorders. Comprised of ten parts, starting with historical and conceptual issues, and ending with considerations for the present and future, internationally renowned authors in the trauma and dissociation fields explore different facets of dissociation in pathological and non-clinical guises. This book is designed to be the most comprehensive reference book in the dissociation field and aims to provide a scholarly foundation for understanding dissociation, dissociative disorders, current issues and perspectives within the field, theoretical formulations, and empirical findings. Chapters have been thoroughly updated to include recent developments in the field, including: the complex nature of conceptualization, etiology, and neurobiology; the various manifestations of dissociation in clinical and non-clinical forms; and different perspectives on how dissociation should be understood. This book is essential for clinicians, researchers, theoreticians, students of clinical psychology psychiatry, and psychotherapy, and those with an interest or curiosity in dissociation in the various ways it can be conceived and studied.

Hypnosis has not been fully appreciated in the treatment of trauma, largely due to it being implicated in the creation of false memories, which have previously led to false allegations of child abuse. This has led to a lot of misunderstandings about hypnosis. There is now a strong argument that the educated and professional use of hypnosis may be beneficial to the field of trauma, particularly in facilitating the resolution of trauma and processing of traumatic memories. This book re-introduces the importance of hypnosis in the field of trauma, with particular reference to survivors of child abuse. It covers theories of traumatic stress, theories of hypnosis and theories related to the long term effects of child abuse. As well as providing recent research in these areas, it offers practical therapy guidelines and case illustrations to assist qualified practitioners in treating their clients. The treatment described is predominately cognitive-behavioural, and uses hypnosis as an effective and powerful adjunct to this approach.

The updated edition of this classic book provides the busy clinician, psychiatric resident and medical student with the most up-to-date information on etiology, diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders. The reader is provided with contemporary information and literature supported by a close survey of the field. Several new chapters dealing with new concepts in biology and treatment of mental disorders have been added to complete this expanded edition.

Drawing on the pioneering work of Janet, Freud, Sullivan, and Fairbairn and making extensive use of recent literature, Elizabeth Howell develops a comprehensive model of the dissociative mind. Dissociation, for her, suffuses everyday life; it is a relationally structured survival strategy that arises out of the mind’s need to allow interaction with frightening but still urgently needed others. For therapists dissociated self-states are among the everyday fare of clinical work and gain expression in dreams, projective identifications, and enactments. Pathological dissociation, on the other hand, results when the psyche is overwhelmed by trauma and signals the collapse of relationality and an addictive clinging to dissociative solutions. Howell examines the relationship of segregated models of attachment, disorganized attachment, mentalization, and defensive exclusion to dissociative processes in general and to particular kinds of dissociative solutions. Enactments are reframed as unconscious procedural ways of being with others that often result in segregated systems of attachment. Clinical phenomena associated with splitting are assigned to a model of “attachment-based dissociation” in which alternating dissociated self-states develop along an axis of relational trauma. Later chapters of the book examine dissociation in relation to pathological narcissism; the creation and reproduction of gender; and psychopathy. Elegant in conception, thoughtful in tone, broad and deep in clinical applications, Howell takes the reader from neurophysiology to attachment theory to the clinical remediation of trauma states to the reality of evil. It provides a masterful overview of a literature that extends forward to the writings of Bromberg, Stern, Ryle, and others. The capstone of contemporary understandings of dissociation in relation to development and psychopathology, The Dissociative Mind will be an adventure and an education for its many clinical readers.

The study of dissociation is relevant to anyone undertaking research or treatment of mental health problems. Cognitive Behavioural Approaches to the Understanding and Treatment of Dissociation uses a cognitive approach to de-mystify the processes involved in linking traumatic incidents to their effects. Kennedy, Kennerley and Pearson present a full and comprehensive understanding of mental health problems involving dissociative disorders and their treatment, bringing together an international range of experts. Each chapter addresses a single topic in full, including assessment of previous research from a cognitive perspective, recommendations for treatment and case studies to illustrate clinical approaches. Using an evidence-based scientific approach combined with the wisdom of clinical experience, the authors make the relevance of dissociation immediately recognisable to those familiar with PTSD, dissociative identity disorder, eating disorders, hallucinations and a wide range of psychological and non-organic physical health disorders. Designed to provide new perspectives on both research and treatment, Cognitive Behavioural Approaches to the Understanding and Treatment of Dissociation includes a wide range of material that will appeal to clinicians, academics and students.