
It is often triggered by stressful life events and involves travel. It may involve a temporary or permanent loss of one’s personal identity or the development of a new identity. Men with a dissociative identity disorder are at a higher risk of going to prison as a result of directing their aggression towards society.ĭissociative fugue, formerly a separate disorder, is a subtype of amnesia under DSM-V. The repression of memories can lead to maladaptive behavior in adolescence and adulthood such as self-harming or harming others. DA is often comorbid with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The individual may have partial memory recall through flashes or nightmares. If the memory is being repressed so too is the traumatic events that triggered the disassociation. Suppressed memories can be harmful and should be treated even if the individual re-establishes a good quality of life. The memory loss is not a result of substance abuse or other substance.The memory dysfunction is not dissociative identity disorder.


It can be difficult to identify in children due to their undeveloped memory and communication skills. The individual may, however, remember semantic autobiographical information such as the date, time and weather conditions of the accident.ĭissociative amnesia often arises from traumatic childhood events. Episodic autobiographical information is associated with contextual information, such as what happened in the minutes leading up to a traumatic event.

DA involves episodic autobiographical memory loss inconsistent with normal forgetfulness. The interruption in memory may be voluntary or involuntary and is most often a result of psychological trauma. The disorder involves the temporary loss of recall memory caused by disassociation, which may last for a period of seconds or years. DSM-5 Category: Dissociative Disorders Introductionĭissociative amnesia (DA) is one of three dissociative disorders listed under DSM-V.
