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Dissociation is said to occur when one or more mental processes (such as memory or identity) are split off, or dissociated, from the rest of the psychological apparatus so that their function is lost, altered, or impaired. Both dissociative identity disorder and depersonalization disorder are more commonly diagnosed in women than in men.
The symptoms of dissociative disorders have often been regarded as the mental counterparts of the physical symptoms displayed in conversion disorders. Since the dissociation may be an unconscious mental attempt to protect the individual from threatening impulses or repressed emotions, the conversion into physical symptoms and the dissociation of mental processes can be seen as related defense mechanisms arising in response to emotional conflict. Dissociative disorders are marked by a sudden, temporary alteration in the person’s consciousness, sense of identity, or motor behavior. There may be an apparent loss of memory of previous activities or important personal events, with amnesia for the episode itself after recovery. These are rare conditions, however, and it is important to rule out organic causes first.
Dissociative amnesia
In dissociative amnesia there is a sudden loss of memory which may appear total; the individual can remember nothing about his previous life or even his name. The amnesia may be localized to a short period of time associated with a traumatic event or it may be selective, affecting the person’s recall of some, but not all, of the events during a particular time. In psychogenic fugue the individual typically wanders away from home or from work and assumes a new identity, cannot remember his previous identity, and, upon recovering, cannot recall the events that occurred during the fugue state. In many cases the disturbance lasts only a few hours or days and involves only limited travel. Severe stress is known to trigger this disorder.
Dissociative identity disorder
Dissociative identity disorder, previously called multiple personality disorder, is a rare and remarkable condition in which two or more distinct and independent personalities develop in a single individual. Each of these personalities inhabits the person’s conscious awareness to the exclusion of the others at particular times. This disorder frequently arises as a result of traumas suffered during childhood and is best treated by psychotherapy, which seeks to reunite the various personalities into a single, integrated personality.
Depersonalization
In depersonalization, one feels or perceives one’s body or self as being unreal, strange, altered in quality, or distant. This state of self-estrangement may take the form of feeling as if one is machinelike, is living in a dream, or is not in control of one’s actions. Derealization, or feelings of unreality concerning objects outside oneself, often occurs at the same time. Depersonalization may occur alone in neurotic persons but is more often associated with phobic, anxiety, or depressive symptoms. It most commonly occurs in younger women and may persist for many years. Persons find the experience of depersonalization intensely difficult to describe and often fear that others will think them insane. Organic conditions, especially temporal lobe epilepsy, must be excluded before making a diagnosis of neurosis when depersonalization occurs. As with other neurotic syndromes, it is more common to see many different symptoms than depersonalization alone.
The causes of depersonalization are obscure, and there is no specific treatment for it. When the symptom arises in the context of another psychiatric condition, treatment is aimed at that illness.
Eating disorders
Two of the major classifications of eating disorders involve not only abnormalities of eating behavior but also distortions in body perception. Anorexia nervosa consists of a considerable loss in body weight, refusal to gain weight, and a fear of becoming overweight that is dramatically at odds with reality. People with anorexia often become shockingly thin in the eyes of everyone but themselves, and they manifest the physical symptoms of starvation. Bulimia nervosa is characterized by either impulsive or “binge” eating (eating a significantly large amount of food during a given period of time), alternating with maladaptive (and often ineffective) efforts to lose weight, such as by purging (e.g., self-induced vomiting or misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas) or fasting. People with bulimia are also preoccupied with body weight and shape, but they do not exhibit the extreme weight loss apparent in anorexia patients. As many as 40–60 percent of anorexia patients also engage in binge eating as well as purging; however, they remain significantly underweight.
At least half of all people diagnosed with an eating disorder do not meet the full criteria for either of the two main categories described above. The diagnosis of eating disorder, not otherwise specified, or EDNOS, is given to those with clinically significant eating disturbances that meet some, but not all, of the diagnostic criteria for either anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. Examples of such include binge eating disorder (episodes of binge eating with the absence of compensatory weight-loss behaviors) and purging disorder (episodes of self-induced vomiting or misuse of laxatives that follow a normal or below normal amount of food consumption). Patients with anorexia nervosa engage in excessive control over their eating behavior, although subjectively they may report feeling little to no control over their bodies with regard to weight gain. Those with bulimia also report a loss of control when engaging in episodes of binge eating, occasionally attempting to compensate for this at later times. According to the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, approximately 0.5–3.7 percent of females will be diagnosed with anorexia nervosa in their lifetime. Lifetime prevalence for bulimia nervosa is about 0.6 percent among U.S. adults. The typical age of onset for anorexia is between the ages of 12 and 25. Both disorders are diagnosed far more frequently in girls than in boys. Prevalence rates for EDNOS are greater than for both anorexia and bulimia combined.
Misperceptions of one’s appearance can also be manifested as body dysmorphic disorder, in which an individual magnifies the negative aspects of a perceived flaw to such a degree that the person shuns social settings or embarks compulsively upon a series of appearance-augmenting procedures, such as dermatological treatments and plastic surgery, in an attempt to remove the perceived defect.
Personality disorders
Personality is the characteristic way in which an individual thinks, feels, and behaves; it accounts for the ingrained behavior patterns of the individual and is the basis for predicting how the individual will act in particular circumstances. Personality embraces a person’s moods, attitudes, and opinions and is most clearly expressed in interactions with other people. A personality disorder is a pervasive, enduring, maladaptive, and inflexible pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving that either significantly impairs an individual’s social or occupational functioning or causes the person distress.
Theories of personality disorder, including their descriptive features, etiology, and development, are as various as theories of personality itself. For example, in trait theory (an approach toward the study of personality formation), personality disorders are viewed as rigid exaggerations of particular traits. Psychoanalytic theorists (Freudian psychologists) explain the genesis of the disorders in terms of markedly negative childhood experiences, such as abuse, that significantly alter the course of normal personality development. Still others in fields such as social learning and sociobiology focus on the maladaptive coping and interactional strategies embodied in the disorders.
A number of different personality disorders are recognized, some of which are discussed below. It is important to note that the mere presence of the trait, even having it to an abnormal extent, is not enough to constitute disorder; rather, the abnormality must also cause disturbance to the individual or to society. It is also common for personality disorders to co-occur with other psychological symptoms, including those of depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders. Because personality traits are by definition virtually permanent, these disorders are only partially, if at all, amenable to treatment. The most effective treatment combines various types of group, behavioral, and cognitive psychotherapy. The behavioral manifestations of personality disorders often tend to diminish in their intensity in middle and old age.
Paranoid personality disorder
Marked by a pervasive suspiciousness and unjustified mistrust of others, this disorder is apparent when the individual misinterprets words and actions as having a special significance for him or as being directed against him. Sometimes such people are guarded, secretive, hostile, quarrelsome, and litigious, and they are excessively sensitive to the implied criticism of others. The disorder may develop over a lifetime, sometimes beginning in childhood or adolescence. It is more common in males.
Schizoid personality disorder
In this disorder there is a disinclination to interact with others; the individual appears passive, aloof, and withdrawn, and there is a notable lack of interest in and responsiveness to interpersonal relationships. Such a person leads a solitary existence and may appear cold or unemotional. Some theorists hypothesize an underlying fear of connecting with others in a close relationship. The disorder may appear in childhood or adolescence as a tendency toward solitariness. Although it is much discussed in the psychoanalytic literature, it is nonetheless rare.
Schizotypal personality disorder
This disorder is characterized by notable oddities or eccentricities of thought, speech, perception, or behavior that may be marked by social withdrawal, delusions of reference (beliefs that things unrelated to the individual refer to or have a personal significance for him or her), paranoid ideation (the belief that others are intent on harming or insulting the individual), and magical thinking, as well as bizarre fantasies or persecutory delusions. Eccentricities alone do not justify the diagnosis of this (or any) disorder; instead, the characteristic features of schizotypal personality disorder are of such severity that they cause interpersonal deficiencies and considerable emotional distress. Some features may even resemble symptoms of schizophrenia, but, unlike schizophrenia, the personality disorder is stable and enduring, developing as early as childhood or adolescence and lasting throughout life, yet only rarely progressing into schizophrenia.
Antisocial personality disorder
Those who are diagnosed with this disorder typically exhibit a personal history of chronic and continuous antisocial behavior that involves violating the rights of others. Job performance is poor or nonexistent. The disorder is associated with actions such as persistent criminality, sexual promiscuity or aggressive sexual behavior, and drug use. There is evidence of conduct disorder in childhood and antisocial behavior in mid-adolescence. People with this disorder typically have problems with the law, and they are often deceitful, aggressive, impulsive, irresponsible, and remorseless. As with borderline personality disorder (discussed below), the features of antisocial personality disorder tend to fade in middle age, but there remains a high risk of suicide, accidental death, drug or alcohol abuse, and a tendency toward interpersonal problems. The disorder occurs more commonly in men.
Borderline personality disorder
Borderline personality disorder is characterized by an extraordinarily unstable mood and self-image. Individuals with this disorder may exhibit intense episodes of anger, depression, or anxiety. This is a disorder of personality instability—such as unstable emotionality, unstable interpersonal relationships, unstable sense of self—as well as impulsivity. People with this disorder often have “emotional roller-coaster” relationships, in which they experience a desperate fear of abandonment and exhibit alternating extremes of positive and negative affect toward the other person. They may engage in a variety of reckless behaviors, including sexual risk-taking, substance abuse, self-mutilation, and attempts at suicide. They may exhibit cognitive problems as well, particularly regarding their physical and psychological sense of self. The disorder, which occurs more commonly in women, often appears in early adulthood and tends to fade by middle age.
Histrionic personality disorder
People with this disorder are overly dramatic and intensely expressive, egocentric, highly reactive, and excitable. The characteristic behavior seems to have the purpose of calling attention to oneself. Other features of this disorder may include emotional and interpersonal superficiality as well as socially inappropriate interpersonal behavior. Although clinical tradition has tended to associate it more frequently with women, the disorder occurs in both women and men, and it tends to take on characteristics of stereotypical sex roles.
Narcissistic personality disorder
A person with this disorder has a grandiose sense of self-importance and a preoccupation with fantasies of success, power, and achievement. The essential characteristic of this disorder is an exaggerated sense of self-importance that is reflected in a wide variety of situations. The sense of self-worth exceeds the individual’s actual accomplishments. People with this disorder are typically egocentric and are often insensitive to the perspectives and needs of others. They are likely to be seen as arrogant. The disorder is more common in men, and it tends to be apparent by early adulthood. Both narcissistic and histrionic personality disorders are described largely in terms of common personality characteristics, albeit in exaggerated form; what makes each a disorder, however, is not the exaggerated characteristics alone but the distress and dysfunction they produce.
Avoidant personality disorder
People with this disorder feel personally inadequate and fear that others judge them to be so in social situations. They show extreme sensitivity to rejection and may lead socially withdrawn lives, tending to avoid social situations for fear of being evaluated negatively by others. When they do participate in social situations, they often appear inhibited. They are not asocial, however; they show a great desire for companionship but need unusually strong guarantees of uncritical acceptance. Persons with this disorder are commonly described as having an “inferiority complex.” Although avoidant personality disorder often appears in childhood or adolescence (first as shyness), it tends to diminish somewhat in adulthood.
Dependent personality disorder
This disorder is identified in individuals who subordinate their own needs, as well as responsibility over major areas of their lives, to the control of others. In other words, people with this disorder feel personally inadequate, and they exhibit this in their reluctance to take responsibility for themselves, such as in everyday decision making and long-term planning. Instead, they turn to others for these things, creating relationships in which others essentially take care of them. Their own relationship behavior is likely to be clinging, deferent, eager to please, and self-abasing, and they may exhibit an excessive fear of abandonment. This is one of the most common personality disorders. Persons with this disorder lack self-confidence and may experience intense discomfort when alone. (Compare codependency.)
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder
A person with this disorder shows prominent overscrupulous, perfectionistic traits that are expressed in feelings of insecurity, self-doubt, meticulous conscientiousness, indecisiveness, excessive orderliness, and rigidity of behavior. The person is preoccupied with rules and procedures as ends in themselves. Such persons tend to show a great concern for efficiency, are overly devoted to work and productivity, and are usually deficient in the ability to express warm or tender emotions. They may also exhibit a high degree of moral rigidity that is not explained by upbringing alone. This disorder is more common in men and is in many ways the antithesis of antisocial personality disorder.
The causes of personality disorders are obscure and, in many cases, difficult to study empirically. There is, however, a constitutional and therefore hereditary element in determining personality characteristics generally and so in determining personality disorders as well. Psychological and environmental factors are also important in causation. For example, many authorities believe there is a link between childhood sexual abuse and the development of borderline personality disorder or between harsh, inconsistent punishment in childhood and the development of antisocial personality disorder. However, it is extremely difficult to establish the validity of these links through systematic scientific inquiry, and, in any case, such environmental factors are not always associated with the disorders.
Gender dysphoria
People with gender dysphoria, formerly known as gender identity disorder, experience significant stress and impairment as a result of a feeling of discrepancy between their anatomical sex and the gender that they ascribe to themselves. The feeling of discrepancy itself is not considered a disorder in DSM-5. Rather, a diagnosis of gender dysphoria is given when gender variance is accompanied with distress because of societal pressures and internal struggles. An individual with gender dysphoria may assume the dress and behavior and participate in activities commonly associated with the opposite sex and may eventually undergo permanent gender reassignment through hormone replacement therapy and surgery. DSM-5 also includes a “post-transition” specifier for people who no longer meet the full criteria for a gender dysphoria diagnosis but need ongoing medical care.
Paraphilic disorders
Paraphilias, or sexual deviations, are defined as unusual fantasies, urges, or behaviors that are recurrent and sexually arousing. In fetishism, inanimate objects (e.g., shoes) are the person’s sexual preference and means of sexual arousal. In transvestism, the recurrent wearing of clothes of the opposite sex is performed to achieve sexual excitement. In pedophilia, an adult has sexual fantasies about or engages in sexual acts with a prepubertal child of the same or opposite sex. In exhibitionism, repeated exposure of the genitals to an unsuspecting stranger is used to achieve sexual excitement. In voyeurism, observing the sexual activity of others repeatedly is the preferred means of sexual arousal. In sadomasochism, the individual achieves sexual excitement as either the recipient or the provider of pain, humiliation, or bondage.
The presence of such atypical sexual behaviors or interests is not considered a disorder in DSM-5. A diagnosis of paraphilic disorder is considered if a person feels distress about a sexual interest (not merely from societal disapproval) or is involved with another person who is not able or willing to give consent or is distressed about such an interest. A paraphilia that causes distress to the individual or entails harm or risk of harm to another is classified as a paraphilic disorder in DSM-5. The causes of these conditions are generally not known. Behavioral, psychodynamic, and pharmacological methods have been used with varying efficacy to treat paraphilic disorders.
Disorders usually first evident in infancy, childhood, or adolescence
Children are usually referred to a psychiatrist or therapist because of complaints or concern about their behavior or development expressed by a parent or some other adult. Family problems, particularly difficulties in the parent-child relationship, are often an important causative factor in the symptomatic behavior of the child. For a child psychiatrist, the observation of behavior is especially important, as children may not be able to express their feelings in words. Isolated psychological symptoms are extremely common in children. Boys are affected twice as often as girls.
Attention-deficit disorders
Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder show a degree of inattention and impulsiveness that is markedly inappropriate for their stage of development. Gross overactivity in children can have many causes, including anxiety, conduct disorder (discussed below), or the stresses associated with living in institutions. Learning difficulties and antisocial behavior may occur secondarily. This syndrome is more common in boys than in girls.
Conduct disorders
These are the most common psychiatric disorders in older children and adolescents, accounting for nearly two-thirds of disorders in those of age 10 or 11. Abnormal conduct more serious than ordinary childlike mischief persistently occurs; lying, disobedience, aggression, truancy, delinquency, and deterioration of work may occur at home or at school. Vandalism, drug and alcohol abuse, and early sexual promiscuity may also occur. The most important causative factors are the family background; broken homes, unstable and rejecting families, institutional care in childhood, and a poor social environment are frequently present in such cases.
Anxiety disorders
Neurotic or emotional disorders in children are similar to the adult conditions except that they are often less clearly differentiated. In anxiety disorders of childhood, the child is fearful, timid with other children, and overdependent and clinging toward the parents. Physical symptoms, sleep disturbance, and nightmares occur. Separation from the parent or from the home environment is a major cause of this anxiety.
Andrew C.P. Sims Linda Andrews Charles D. Claiborn Stuart C. Yudofsky The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica