Year: 1999
Type: article
Abstract: This edited book provides a fascinating look into nonclinical and transcultural aspects of dissociation.I learned quite a lot from it.The sixteen chapters deal with the history and etiologies of dissociation and topics including near-death experi ences, mediumship, alien abductions, fantasy proneness, hallucinogens, altered states of consciousness, hypnosis, and dreams.The writing is a mixture of anecdotal and scientific but is always lucid and scholarly, with the exception of one chapter.The different contributors demonstrate the universal nature of dissociative experiences, what might be called the dissociations of everyday life.They also provide interesting commentary on the distinctions between normal and pathologi cal dissociation.The book is a continuation of a tradition established by Janet, Myers, Binet, Jung, James, and the early Freud.Jung's medical school thesis was on mediumship and dissociation.In the late-nineteenth century, the subject matter of this book was studied within mainstream psychology and psychiatry.Comprehensive dissociative models of normal psychology, creativity, paranormal experience, and psychopathology were developed in this tradition, especially by Myers.The tradition was lost to mainstream psychiatry with the eclipse of scholarly interest in dissociation after 1910.This book is evidence that the tradition has been revived and continues to generate new and interesting work.The first four chapters are in a subsection called, "The Realm of Dissociation."Here Krippner, Wright, and Cardena and White examine the history of dissocia tion from a global perspective, formulate a comprehensive biopsychosocial model of normal and abnormal dissociation, and explore the dissociative component of "excepeional human experiences."Exceptional human experiences are a very broad category that includes many different kinds of transcendent, mystical, and anomalous experiences.Chapters five to thirteen, the major body of the book, are grouped under the heading, "Narratives of Dissociative Experiences."These chapters contain a rich collection of narrative descriptions.Numerous different types of experiences are described, some inspiring and some terrifying.From a cognitive perspective, it is interesting that the same or a similar experience can be either positive or negative, depending on its cultural and personal meaning.The authors provide abundant evidence that a given experience may be either pathological or normal, depending on its context and meaning.The most scientific and data-oriented chapter in this section is the one on fantasy-proneness by Lyrm, Pintar and Rhue.The correlation between fantasyproneness and dissociation is much more robust than the correlation between dissociation and hypnotizability.These authors provide an informed and balanced
Author: Colin A. Ross
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W289102249