Diagnosing and Treating Dissociative Disorder

Book excerpt: "This book is designed to assist those who find themselves working with clients or patients who have serious dissociative disorders, whether they are new to therapeutic work or seasoned clinicians who have skills and techniques at hand but are leery or uncomfortable diagnosing and treating this population. The book provides an extensive review of the profound effects of early trauma and attachment wounds on the development of various mental health problems, including dissociative identity disorder (DID). In reality, many of those who find themselves working with clients with DID are working in community mental health centers, inpatient psychiatric units, and chemical dependency treatment centers, and are the youngest, least experienced, and least trained clinicians, often with insufficient supervision and with high expectations for productivity. The author's hope is to provide some guidance and practical assistance to these mental health and substance abuse counselors and therapists. The author explores the medical model and the DSM, interpersonal neurobiology, trauma treatment models, attachment issues, the dissociative continuum, false positive and false negative diagnoses. In a stepwise fashion, he explains how to establish the therapeutic relationship, focus on the 11 steps of stabilization, and implement the DID treatment process, all while keeping clinician self-care in mind"--