Year: 2004
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This thesis examines the concept of dissociation, tracing its historical development, considering the related concepts of unity and multiplicity in consciousness, and exploring manifestations of dissociation in both North American and non-Western cultures.The evolution of the diagnosis of hysteria is outlined, and its relationship to Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is discussed with reference to the work of Morton Prince and other prominent late 1 gth and early 2oth century clinicians.An examination of crosscultural aspects of dissociation is undertaken, with attention to the culture-bound syndromes, amok, ataque de newios, latah, and kitsune-tsuki.It is argued that DID is manifested as a culture-bound syndrome.In view of this, the social and cultural differences between collectivist and individualist cultures are reviewed.Aspects of the clinical phenomenology of DID are detailed, and the dissociative continuum is explicated as it is viewed by contemporary researchers.Additionally, the influence of the media on the shaping of dissociative symptomatology and the prevalence of DID is discussed.Contributions to the wealth of literature on dissociation have been made by physicians, sociologists, psychologists, and theoreticians from a number of other disciplines.Some of these writings are examined with respect to their implications for future research in the field.
Source: Summit (Simon Fraser University)
Author: Karen E. Jackson
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W175127603