An invaluable sourcebook on the complex relationship between psychosis, trauma, and dissociation, thoroughly revised and updated This revised and updated second edition of Psychosis, Trauma and Dissociation offers an important resource that takes a wide-ranging and in-depth look at the multifaceted relationship between trauma, dissociation and psychosis. The editors – leaders in their field – have drawn together more than fifty noted experts from around the world, to canvas the relevant literature from historical, conceptual, empirical and clinical perspectives. The result documents the impressive gains made over the past ten years in understanding multiple aspects of the interface between trauma, dissociation and psychosis. The historical/conceptual section clarifies the meaning of the terms dissociation, trauma and psychosis, proposes dissociation as central to the historical concepts of schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder, and considers unique development perspectives on delusions and the onset of schizophrenia. The empirical section of the text compares and contrasts psychotic and dissociative disorders from a wide range of perspectives, including phenomenology, childhood trauma, and memory and cognitive disturbances, whilst the clinical section focuses on the assessment, differential diagnosis and treatment of these disorders, along with proposals for new and novel hybrid disorders. This important resource: • Offers extensive updated coverage of the field, from all relevant perspectives • Brings together in one text contributions from scholars and clinicians working in diverse geographical and theoretical areas • Helps define and bring cohesion to this new and important field • Features nine new chapters on: conceptions of trauma, dissociation and psychosis, PTSD with psychotic features, delusions and memory, trauma treatment of psychotic symptoms, and differences between the diagnostic groups on hypnotizability, memory disturbances, brain imaging, auditory verbal hallucinations and psychological testing Written for clinicians, researchers and academics in the areas of trauma, child abuse, dissociation and psychosis, but relevant for psychiatrists, psychologists and psychotherapists working in any area, the revised second edition of Psychosis, Trauma and Dissociation makes an invaluable contribution to this important evolving field.

In the 100 years since Eugen Bleuler unveiled his concept of schizophrenia, which had dissociation at its core, the essential connection between traumatic life events, dissociative processes and psychotic symptoms has been lost. Psychosis, Trauma and Dissociation is the first book to attempt to reforge this connection, by presenting challenging new findings linking these now disparate fields, and by comprehensively surveying, from a wide range of perspectives, the complex relationship between dissociation and psychosis. A cutting-edge sourcebook, Psychosis, Trauma and Dissociation brings together highly-respected professionals working in the psychosis field with renowned clinicians and researchers from the fields of traumatic stress, dissociation and the dissociative disorders, and will be of interest to those working with or studying psychotic or dissociative disorders, as well as trauma-related conditions such as borderline personality disorder or complex post-traumatic stress disorder. It makes an invaluable contribution to the burgeoning literature on severe mental disorders and serious life events. The book has three sections: Connecting trauma and dissociation to psychosis - an exploration of the links between trauma, dissociation and psychosis from a wide range of historical and theoretical perspectives. Comparing psychotic and dissociative disorders - a presentation of empirical and clinical perspectives on similarities and differences between the two sets of disorders. Assessing and treating hybrid and boundary conditions - consideration of existing and novel diagnostic categories, such as borderline personality disorder and dissociative psychosis, that blend or border dissociative and psychotic disorders, along with treatment perspectives emphasising humanistic and existential concerns.

An exploration of the newfound connections between mental illness and trauma For decades, the idea that serious mental illnesses (SMIs) are almost exclusively biologically-based and must be treated pharmacologically has been commonplace in psychology literature. As a result, many mental health professionals have stopped listening to their clients, categorizing their symptoms as manifestations of neurologically-based disturbed thinking. Trauma and Serious Mental Illness is the groundbreaking series of works that challenge this standard view and provides a comprehensive introduction to the emerging perspective of SMIs as trauma-based. This unique collection illustrates how different psychotherapy approaches can lead to reduced symptomatology, decreased psychological distress, and improved functioning in individuals living with SMIs. Each extensively-referenced chapter in Trauma and Serious Mental Illness offers mental health workers a forward-looking theoretical inquiry, empirical study, or critical treatise providing compelling counter evidence to challenge the widespread belief that SMIs are not reactions to the extreme and extremely disturbing circumstances embodied by psychological trauma. In addition to the etiological application, this revealing text proposes ways to incorporate this cutting-edge approach toward treatment options as well. Contributors to Trauma and Serious Mental Illness suggest that: childhood trauma is related to psychotic disorders dissociation can be confounded with psychotic symptoms auditory hallucinations can be diagnostic of dissociation rather than psychosis psychosis is related to the quality of family of origin environment and to age of onset of childhood abuse bipolar and trauma-related disorders sometimes overlap individuals with SMIs suffer related trauma even in treatment facilities and much more! Trauma and Serious Mental Illness is an eye-opening resource for mental health professionals, psychologists, counselors, psychiatrists, social workers, trauma workers, and educators and students in these disciplines.

The relatively frequent occurrence of rapid onset and very brief, but often florid, psychotic states, with periodic recurrence, alongside relatively low rates of PTSD and chronic psychosis, were unexpected findings from the 2004 East Timor Mental Health Study, conducted in the context of the country’s recently won independence and in the wake of the atrocities endured in the protracted fight for sovereignty. Further unanticipated was the frequent association of recurrence with the time of the new moon (fulan lotuk) and other times or places of sacred (lulik) or associated cultural significance. The perceived violation of culturally sacrosanct lulik obligations often also appeared to foreshadow the initial onset of such patterns of distress. Significant episodes of trauma and loss appeared a hidden feature of affected individuals histories, which we argue have become symbolically entwined with local cultural understandings of ritual obligation, sacredness, and taboo. This volume develops a dynamic but contextualized multi-level formulation of psychosis and psychotic-symptoms, able to incorporate a range of factors from the biological, through the sociocultural, to the political. The work is truly interdisciplinary drawing on both the quantitative and qualitative findings of our own study but further supported through local ethnography and broader anthropological enquiry into the outcomes of psychosis in non-Western settings; psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic anthropology; evidence and theory exploring links between trauma, dissociation and psychosis; and novel culturally-adaptable psychosocial focused interventions for psychosis. We situate both evidence and theorising in wider epistemological and political context, including in relation to the movement for Global Mental Health. Culturally patterned presentations of brief remitting-relapsing psychosis are ultimately conceived as the trade-off between competing fragmentary and synthetic forces: the former in part secondary to the lasting and deleterious effects of overwhelming loss, trauma and adversity; the latter emboldened by cultural meaning and social response in the context of broad ecological pressures demanding survival and resilience.

An international look at the similarities and differences of long-lasting trauma Trauma and Dissociation in a Cross-Cultural Perspective examines the psychological, sociological, political, economic, and cultural aspects of trauma and its consequences on people around the world. Dispelling the myth that trauma-related dissociative disorders are a North American phenomenon, this unique book travels through more than a dozen countries to analyze the effects of long-lasting traumatization-both natural and man-made-on adults and children. Working from theoretical and clinical perspectives, the field’s leading experts address trauma in situations that range from the psychological effects of “the Troubles” in Northern Ireland to the emergence of “Hikikomori,” the phenomenon of social withdrawal in Japanese youth. Reactions to trauma can be both unique according to a person’s culture and similar to the experiences of others around the world. Dissociation, intense grief, anger, and survivor’s guilt are common responses as people split off mentally, physically, and emotionally from the source of the trauma, whether it’s an act of nature (tsunami, earthquake, flood, etc.) or the trauma created by violence, physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, assault, confinement, kidnapping, and war. Trauma and Dissociation in a Cross-Cultural Perspective examines the efforts of clinicians and researchers in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America, Australia, and New Zealand to develop sociopsychological methods of providing counseling to people who are suffering physically, emotionally and spiritually, training for professionals counted on to dispense that counseling, and economic and political solutions that might help to limit the devastating effects of natural disasters. Trauma and Dissociation in a Cross-Cultural Perspective examines: the tensions between the National Health Service and the private sector in the United Kingdom how the Mandarin version of the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) is used in China Djinnai, a culture-bound syndrome and possession trance disorder found in Iran how colonialism has transmitted trauma to the Maori people of New Zealand transgenerational trauma in Turkey religious rituals and spirit possession in the Philippines “memory wars” in Israel traumatic syndromes among the French differences in dissociative experiences among Chinese and Japanese youth childhood trauma in Argentina and much more Trauma and Dissociation in a Cross-Cultural Perspective is an enlightening professional resource for anyone working in psychology, sociology, psychiatry, and psychotherapy.

The Editors have a good reputation in this field. The book also has a good line-up of contributors. Provides a new approach to understanding the experience of psychosis that will have implications for clinicians, patients and researchers.

Learn about a pioneering alternative to antipsychotic medication for schizophrenia! In Schizophrenia: Innovations in Diagnosis and Treatment, Dr. Colin A. Ross—founder of the Colin A. Ross Institute for Psychological Trauma—presents a new theory of the existence of a dissociative subtype of schizophrenia. Dr. Ross determines that some patients diagnosed with schizophrenia have symptoms closely related to dissociative identity disorder—or multiple personality disorder—and have a history of psychological trauma. In these cases, this unprecedented book proposes that the disorder is treatable—perhaps even curable—using psychotherapy rather than drugs. Schizophrenia: Innovations in Diagnosis and Treatment will revolutionize the profession of psychology with data, arguments, and a review of previously published literature to support Dr. Ross’s theory. Traditionally, schizophrenia is considered manageable only by a lifetime of psychotropic drugs—expensive, harmful, and often ineffectual. This book offers an alternative free of damaging chemicals to improve quality of life for patients with schizophrenia whose symptoms may be trauma-based. Schizophrenia: Innovations in Diagnosis and Treatment offers specific, detailed ideas and research on: genetic studies showing that while there is a genetic connection, it is not prevalent enough for biology to be the only predisposing factor in all cases of schizophrenia a comparison of the definitions of psychosis, schizophrenia, and dissociation—from the DSM-IV-TR and other texts—to determine relationships between the three disorders proposed diagnostic criteria for dissociative schizophrenia—dissociative amnesia, depersonalization, the presence of two or more distinct personalities/identities, auditory hallucinations, extensive comorbidity, and severe childhood trauma the principles of psychotherapy for dissociative schizophrenia—when to start therapy, trauma therapy, how to establish communication with the patient, and therapeutic neutrality and more! With an extensive bibliography of literatures on trauma, dissociation, and psychosis, as well as numerous tables and case studies, this volume presents a strong case for a fresh methodology in the treatment of this psychological abnormality. The theory provided by Dr. Ross brings hope for recovery to individuals with dissociative schizophrenia. This one-of-a-kind book is a must-read for psychiatrists, psychologists, and other professionals involved in research and/or treatment of schizophrenia. Its comprehensible text makes it useful for patients with schizophrenia and their family members as well.

This thesis relates to the study of trauma, psychosis, and dissociative experiences in a non-clinical student population (N=202). Profound human experiences in the form of psychosis and dissociation have been difficult for orthodox psychiatry to conceptualise and classify. The neo-Kraepelinian models of orthodox psychiatry view psychoses as strict dichotomous entities with a biological aetiology, whereas dissociation is reduced to the role of a pseudo-psychosis as it does not have a biological aetiology. Historically, psychosis and dissociation were considered as orthogonal constructs. More recently research has shown that not only are psychosis and dissociation not orthogonal, but that both constructs are related and are features of a range of psychopathology with traumatic antecedents. This study is underpinned with the idea that all profound human experience lies along a continuumfrom the subclinical up to the clinical level and where traumata is viewed as a main aetiological component. Empirical quantitative scientific methods in the form of regression analysis, confirmatoryfactor analysis (CFA), and latent class analysis (LCA) have been utilised and applied to the observed data. Three latent factors of the Dissociative Experiences scale (DES) were identified in chapter three. In chapter four the three latent factors of the DES eo-varied with demographic and psychological variables thereby validating the tools overall construct validity. Three latent classes of trauma were identified in chapter five with a low trauma class, an intermediate trauma class, and a complex trauma class. In chapter six CF A was used to identify the optimum models specifications for the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Subscales-2I (DASS-2I), the Alcohol Use Disorders Identifications Test (A UDIT) and the Lunay-Slade Hallucination Scale revised (LSHS-R) as applied to the observed data. Chapter seven outlines a pathway model of psychosis proneness mediated by dissociative experiences with traumatic antecedents that was developed in a three step regression whilst controlling for the effects of alcohol use and negative affect. This thesis will outline that trauma, dissociation, and psychosis proneness are not orthogonal in this non-clinical sample. Psychosis proneness lies along a continuum with dissociative experiences and are propelled by traumatic antecedents. The .findings add to the growing body of literature supporting the idea that trauma is an aetiological component of adverse psychological experiences. Furthermore, a reconceptualization of profound human experiences is advocated. Moreover, when these profound psychological phenomena are deconstructed and viewed as existing along a continuum, psychiatric diagnoses as strict dichotomous entities are rendered meaningless.