Dissociation as an After-Trauma Psychological Reaction

Dissociation refers to a breakdown of the normal connection between the processes of consciousness and memory;it has been defined as a lack of integration of thoughts,feelings,and experiences into the stream of consciousness.It was a mechanism to keep people unconscious of their traumatic experience.Those who have traumatic experience almost inevitably show some dissociative symptoms.Therefore,dissociation is now often used to diagnose the mental and behavioral disorders.As for the etiological agent of dissociation,some researchers thought it is engendered by the environmental influences and others advanced the hypothesis that it is decided by heredity.There are three confusing concepts of dissociation about clinical symptoms: dissociative experience,dissociative symptom,and dissociative disorder.In child and adolescent psychiatry,improper diagnoses of dissociation are frequently made: it receives inappropriate treatment or is simply ignored.The proper assessment of the dissociative symptoms,however,is of great importance in their clinical treatment.