Abstract
There is growing interest in dissociative phenomena among Australian clinicians and researchers. This is in spite of a public mental health system that allocates services on the basis of diagnosis (predominantly depression and psychotic disorders) rather than need, and professional training programs that make only passing reference to the dissociative disorders. This piece provides an introduction to the Australian context, an overview of the status of dissociation and the dissociative disorders in Australia and a selective review of Australian dissociation research. Emphasis will be placed upon investigations into the correlates of normal dissociative phenomena and the nature and sequelae of peritraumatic dissociation. The concludes with an examination of the psychometric properties of the Dissociative Experiences Scale arising from Australian adult samples.