Controversy Associated With Dissociative Disorders

In a normal state, mental dissociation can occur, but a connection with the surroundings can easily be established if needed. However, for some individuals, mental dissociation is pervasive. It becomes hard for such individuals to recall experiences or break down their memories. Dissociative disorders create issues with how an individual recalls events, their identity, and experiences. Most of the controversies surrounding dissociative disorders are related to the causes of such disorders, the diagnosis process, identification, and treatment of dissociative disorder patients.

There exists a lot of conflict on the etiology of dissociative disorders. Most of the disorders are associated with traumatic and stressful events and experiences. Others might be a result of medical usage and treatment regimens, while others might be a result of substance use and abuse. Dissociative disorders might also result from other mental disorders, such as anxiety and bipolar disorders. Other arguments related dissociative disorders to socio-cultural causes. Therefore, dissociative disorders cannot be directly attributed to any behaviors, health conditions, or substance usage.

Another controversy is related to the categorization, diagnosis, and differentiation of dissociative disorders. Dissociative disorders, according to the DSM-5, are categorized as mental disorders associated with memory, identity, behavior, and emotional problems. The diagnoses for dissociative disorders may overlap between the three types of dissociative disorders. Dissociative disorders are associated with a multitude of comorbidities, including mental disorders identified by the DSM-5, such as conversion disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and anxiety disorder, among others. Therefore, it is hard to develop distinct causes of dissociative disorder and establish the validity of diagnoses.

Professional Beliefs about Dissociative Disorders

A lot of debates exist today among health professionals on dissociative disorders. The conflict among professionals is on the causes and diagnostics criteria for the disorders. Health professionals, especially in psychiatry and psychology, hold varied beliefs on dissociative disorders, with some relating it to traumatic experiences and others relating the disorders to multiple causes, including genetic, neurobiological development, and clinical causes. These debates and controversies have led to the development of various notions about dissociative disorders.

There exist beliefs that dissociative disorders are a fad. The take of dissociative disorders as a fad has been fueled by false memory researchers who identified dissociative disorders as manifestations of false memories, meaning they are not valid mental disorders (Ross, 2022). Drawing from the work by McHugh (2013), another belief long held is that dissociative disorders are a North American issue and overly diagnosed. Other beliefs, as illustrated by Barlow et al. (2016), present dissociative disorders as rare and vary across cultures, making them hard to diagnose. This has resulted in the view that dissociative disorders are not as serious as other mental disorders categorized by the DSM-5.

Another of the most prevalent beliefs is that dissociative disorders are mostly a result of treatments and medicines rather than past traumatic experiences. McHugh (2013) also points out that some literature has argued that the treatment of dissociative disorders risked causing more mental harm to the patient. Although most of these beliefs have been refuted by research on dissociative disorders, a large number of practicing professionals still argue on the basis of such beliefs.