Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology

Treatment of dissociative disorder and difficulties encountered

Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology 2014; 24: Supplement S37-S37
Read: 514 Published: 18 February 2021

Dissociative amnesia-fugue treatment consists of gathering anamnesis from patient and family, emotional support, building trust in relationships, normalizing family relationships and activities with behavioral approach and prevention of regressive acts and talking about probable traumas, psychoeducation, providing impulse control and mood control. Suppression of emotional experiences in depersonalization-derealization disorder considered as mental escape, psychodynamically. Probable anxiety evoking experiences should be identified, and it important that to produce attitudes of positive perception of own body and social surroundings, not catastrophic. There is no general pharmacotherapeutic approach for depersonalization-derealization disorder. Opioid receptor antagonists, SSRI + lamotrigine and clonazepam (if there is comorbid anxiety SSRI) were found beneficial. Basic treatment method of DID is intensive individual outpatient psychotherapy. It is considered short psychotherapy in long-term. Therapist must be very active during therapy. Hypnotherapeutic techniques are used additionally. Short-term hospitalization may be necessary in times of crisis. Psychotherapy of DID is work with alter personalities directly. DID therapy can be divided into four stages namely first, middle, late and after integration phases. DID treatment usually last a few years, while it may be prolonged in severe cases. Length of psychotherapy of DID depends on severity and repetitiveness of trauma and traumatic experiences in early age, rather than severity of symptomatology. Integration may be easier in childhood then other ages. Quitting treatment is a high risk in adolescence. Treatment focused to integration might be delayed into their twenties. Patients test the therapist continuously. Anger could be observed in severe borderline dissociative personalities. If you have not basic positive emotions directed to patients, you cannot tolerate the stress of projective identification of patient. Number of alter personalities can vary from 1 to 50, average is 13. The goal of treatment is integration. It should be helped to alter personality to understand that they were parts of the person. It is important not to use ECT (It is regarded as contraindication according to some publications) to stay within the span of authority and to systematically intervene, when necessary. Group therapy may be helpful. They should be treated as possible as by outpatient without hospitalization, they can easily regress. Hospitalization should be as far as possible at short-term. If two or three of the patients in the ward were acting out simultaneously, they might be in competition for the attention of the team. They do not have privileges from other patients, and suffer the consequences of their non-admitted behavior. Hospitalization is usually for suicidal thoughts-initiatives, internal conşicts, anxiety and non-controllable behaviors. All alter personalities should be treated fairly and empathic. Empathy and relationship between alter personalities should be supported. Mood stabilization, prevention of unsafe sex, reckless driving, neglects of health, self-mutilation and suicide are the goals of initial phase of therapy. Working with traumatic material, mapping of the system, producing smooth inner conversations, accepting abuses, fusion of layers of alter personalities, and then integration are the route of therapy.

EISSN 2475-0581