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Dissociative Disorder in Children and Adolescents

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Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

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Abstract

Conceptually, the term dissociation means alteration of subjective experiences in perceptual, affective, memory, and identity functions in response to stress. The presentations of dissociative disorders may include distorted sensory perceptions, altered time perception, amnesia, conversion symptoms, derealization, depersonalization, fugue states, and multiple personality disorder, in isolation or in combination. Dissociation has also shown to serve major defensive roles; has psychoanalytic and neurobiological underpinnings. It has been shown that dissociation has a developmental basis beginning right from infancy (as seen in relation to attachment theory). Until recently there has been little research in this area. In this chapter we shall focus on how the concept of dissociation has evolved, addressing the defensive functions of dissociation, neurobiological characteristics particularly the developmental basis of dissociation.

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Abbreviations

DID:

Dissociative Identity Disorder

MPD:

Multiple Personality Disorder

ICD:

The International Classification of Diseases

DSM:

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

MRI:

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

FDG-PET:

Fluorodeoxyglucose-Positron Emission Tomography

PTSD:

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, 160012, India

    Susanta Padhy, Soumya Jhanda & Savita Malhotra

Authors
  1. Susanta Padhy
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  2. Soumya Jhanda
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  3. Savita Malhotra
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susanta Padhy .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, Chandigarh, India

    Savita Malhotra

  2. Child and Adolescent Mental Health Serv., Centre for Interventional Paediatric(CIPPRD) Child and Adolescent Mental Health Serv., London, United Kingdom

    Paramala Santosh

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Padhy, S., Jhanda, S., Malhotra, S. (2016). Dissociative Disorder in Children and Adolescents. In: Malhotra, S., Santosh, P. (eds) Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-3619-1_2

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