Treating Dissociative  Disorders "101"

General Resources
Bibliography (brief)
Diagnostic Testing
Education Home Page
FAQs about Dissociation and Trauma
Selected Web sites (brief listing)
Web Resources for Professionals

This page was created for people who are interested in understanding the treatement of persons with dissociative disorders, but are not familiar with the perspectives that need to be added to those usually taught in training programs. It contains a number of useful resources for

• those who are new to working with people with dissociative disorders
• those of us who have been working with this population, as a review
• consultees
• supervisees, and
• students.

• Gil, E. (1990). United we stand: A book for people with multiple personalities. Rockville, MD: Launch Press. (This is an excellent short book for patients/clients explaining why someone would develop a Dissociative Disorder.)
• Kluft, R.P. and Fine, C.G. (eds) (1993). Clinical Perspectives on Multiple Personality Disorder. Washington, D.C., American Psychiatric Press, Inc. (excellent chapters on Basic Principles in the treatment of DDs, Contertransference, Eating Disorders, etc.)
• Kluft, R.P. (1988). Playing for time: temporizing techniques in the treatment of multiple personality disorder. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 32, 90-98. (excellent article on coping skills)
• Kluft, M.D., PH.D F.A.P.A. (2003). Current Issues in Dissociative Identity Disorder.
  http://www.psyter.org/allegati/180/Kluft.pdf
  http://www.empty-memories.nl/www_4.html
• Putnam, F. (1989). Diagnosis and Treatment of Multiple Personality Disorder. New York, Guilford. (excellent once over on treatment)
• Ross, C. (1997). Dissociative Identity Disorder: Diagnosis, Clinical Features and Treatment of Multiple Personality, Second Edition. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. (excellent once over on treatment)
• Salter, A.C. (1995).  Transforming Trauma:  A Guide to Understanding and Treating Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse.  Newbury Park, CA,: Sage.  (This is an excellent, readable book on perpetrator dynamics and their impact on victim treatment. Among other useful information, it details the difference between sadistic and non-sadistic offenders, and how treatment differs with their victims.) 
• Steinberg, M., and Schnall, M. (2000).  The Stranger in the Mirror:  Dissociation - The hidden Epidemic.  New York, NY,:  HarperCollins  (Excellent once over on the 5 core symptoms of dissociation, diagnosis, and treatment.  Although it's written for the lay public, it's graphic case material can be triggering to clients.)
   

A Bibliography for Child Treatment

• James, Beverley, Handbook for Treatment of Attachment-Trauma Problems in Children
  
• James, Beverly, Treating Traumatized Children: New Insights and Creative Interventions
  
• Silberg, J. L. (1996). The Dissociative Child: Diagnosis, Treatment, and Management. Lutherville, Maryland: The Sidran Press.
  
• Child Adolescent Treatment Guidelines

Diagnostic Tests
The Dissociative Disorders Interview Schedule and the Dissociative Experience Scale are located at www.rossinst.com (see below for more information about this web site).

Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire (SDQ) 20 and 5 (Nijenhuis) are available at:  www.enijenhuis.nl

Useful web sites

• International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation: www.isst-d.org “The Society is a nonprofit professional association organized for the purposes of: information sharing and international networking of clinicians and researchers; providing professional and public education; promoting research and theory about dissociation; and promoting research and training in the identification, treatment, and prevention of dissociative disorders.” Information from ISSTD web site.

• David Baldwin's Trauma Page: www.trauma-pages.com “The Trauma Information Pages focus primarily on emotional trauma and traumatic stress, including PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder), whether following individual traumatic experience(s) or a large-scale disaster. New information is added to this site once or twice a month. The purpose of this award-winning site is to provide information about traumatic stress for clinicians and researchers in the field. Specifically, my interests here include both clinical and research aspects of trauma responses and their resolution.” Information from David Baldwin’s Trauma Page.

• International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies: www.istss.org “The International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) the world’s premier trauma organization dedicated to trauma treatment, education, research and prevention. Through this organization, professionals share information about the effects of trauma, seeking to reduce traumatic stressors and their immediate and long-term consequences.” Information from the ISTSS web site.

• European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies: www.estss.org“The European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, established in 1993, is the European network for professionals in the field of psychotraumatology.” Information from the ESTSS web site.

• Ken Pope’s Articles, Abstracts, Research, & Resources in Psychology: Therapy, Ethics, Malpractice, Forensics, Critical Thinking: www.kspope.com

• Leadership Council: www.leadershipcouncil.org “The Leadership Council is a non-profit independent scientific organization composed of respected scientists, clinicians, educators, legal scholars, and public policy analysts. We are committed to providing professionals and laypersons with the latest scientific information on issues that may affect the public health and the safety. We also seek to correct the misuse of psychological science to serve vested interests or justify victimizing vulnerable populations -- especially abused and neglected children.” From the Leadership Council web site.