Pieces of Me: A Story of Trauma and Dissociation

Introduction Traumatic event related disorders (ASD, PTSD and dissociative disorders) could share a common dissociative psychobiological origin. Patients diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder present a high sexual abuse rate (85–90%), way above the rest of the traumatic spectrum disorders. Objectives The goal of this study is to analyse the existing relation between different types of trauma, especially sexual abuse, and the onset and continuity of dissociative disorders. Materials and methods We report the case of a 37 years old woman with a long sexual abuse history. The symptoms appear by age 30, in the form of flashbacks, ushering a persistent identity fragmentation in individual differentiated opposed components, shaping a dissociative personality disorder, which was present for years taking a fluctuating and invalidating nature. Discussion When a traumatic event occurs, acute dissociative reactions frequently appear, usually briefly, disappearing spontaneously afterwards. In this case, we can discern the persistence of the dissociative symptoms and the repercussion they had in the patient's functionality. Conclusion The existence of a correlation between the duration of a chronic traumatic event and the persistence of dissociative symptoms in the evolution of a dissociative personality disorder is possible. Disclosure of interest The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.