PS280 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Josef Breuer, Natural Disaster, Heritability
Document Summary
Dissociative disorders as a group include a wide range of different symptoms that involve severe disruptions in consciousness, memory and identity: one of the most severe types of dissociative disorders is known as. This is when the individual has 2 or more distinct identities that alternate control of the person"s behaviour. Somatoform disorders as a group include conditions whereby individuals complain about a physical defect or dysfunction for which no physiological basis can be found. An example of this is hypochondria in which people have long standing beliefs that they have a serious illness despite medical reassurance that they do not. Many doctors believe that both these types of disorders result from maladaptive ways of coping with extreme stress. Although there are many thoughts and theories on the causes and symptoms of these disorders, our knowledge is still quite limited. Although dissociative and somatoform disorders are classified in separate categories now, they share common features historically.
