Reversal of Amnesia for Trauma in a Sample of Psychiatric Inpatients with Dissociative Identity Disorder and Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified

ABSTRACT

The authors interviewed 118 highly dissociative inpatients in a Trauma Program with the Dissociative Disorders Interview Schedule, the Dissociative Experiences Scale and the Adverse Childhood Experiences questionnaire; of the 118 participants 42 met DSM-5 criteria for dissociative identity disorder and 52 for other specified dissociative disorder. The average score on the Dissociative Experiences Scale in the sample of 118 participants was 44.7. The authors also conducted semi-structured interviews inquiring about the circumstances and triggers for reversal of amnesia for childhood trauma in the participants. Only a small minority of the reversal of amnesia took place in therapy sessions, and 24 different triggers for remembering were described. Childhood sexual abuse was by far the most common type of trauma for which amnesia was reversed. The findings are inconsistent with the view that amnesia for childhood sexual abuse is reversed primarily during psychotherapy.

KEYWORDS:

• Dissociative identity disorder
• amnesia
• trauma
• recovered memories

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical standards and informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation at the hospital where the research was conducted and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Colin A. Ross

Colin A. Ross, M.D. is the President of the Colin A. Ross Institute for Psychological Trauma.

Jane Ridgway

Jane Ridgway, LPC, is a research assistant at The Ross Institute.

Quinton Neighbors

Quinton Neighbors, LPC, is a research assistant at The Ross Institute.

Taylor Myron

Taylor Myron, BA. is a research assistant at The Ross Institute.