Psychological Interventions for Dissociative disorders

Summary: This guideline describes the basis for and assessment towards psychotherapy as the cornerstone of treatment for dissociative disorders and conversion disorders. The role of various factors and the factors that may be important in the aetiopathogenesis of the condition are described, following which the various kinds of therapeutic modalities are tabulated. The role of culture and context in the presentation of dissociative disorders is also summarised. Psychoeducation, grounding skills, and techniques from dialectical behavioural therapy (mindfulness, distress tolerance), “internal meetings”, “talking through”, emotional regulation skills, interpersonal skills and eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing are described in separate sections. The phased treatment of dissociative identity disorder (with phases focused on ‘safety, stabilisation and symptom reduction’, ‘confronting, working through and integrating traumatic memories’ and ‘identity integration and rehabilitation’) are described.

Authors: Alka A. Subramanyam, Mansi Somaiya, Sunitha Shankar, Minhaj Nasirabadi, Henal R. Shah, Imon Paul

Year of Publication: January-2020