Dissociative Disorders
It is imperative to note that dissociative disorders are mental diseases involving experiences like lack of continuity as well as a disconnection between memories, thoughts, surroundings, identity, and actions of a person. It has been observed that people assumed to have dissociative disorders escape reality in ways that are unhealthy and involuntary and are known to cause numerous problems in their daily life activities (Lynn et al., 2016). These disorders usually develop in a bid to act as a reaction to counter any traumatic situation hence helping keep off painful memories away. However, a significant question remains unanswered as to whether dissociative disorders exist. This is because several studies, some agreeing with the existence of these disorders, while other studies have disputed the existence of dissociative disorders (Lynn et al., 2016). As a result, a clear answer is yet to be given concerning the presence of dissociative disorders.
Many controversies have come out regarding these disorders. Firstly, it is argued that dissociative disorders could be an artefact as a result of some iatrogenic influences (Lynn et al., 2016). However, no single empirical evidence has supported this argument even though it is agreeable that iatrogenic influences may sometimes play a huge role in some of these disorders like dissociative identity disorder. Another controversy has been that the diagnostic criteria used could be exaggerated, thereby not giving the exact results. To help this situation, a structured clinical interview is advised as the best (Lynn et al., 2016).
The last controversy is about the memory process of dissociative disorder patients. In this case, questions arise as to whether the psychogenic amnesia for sexual abuse exists and or, are the repressed memories as a result of sexual abuse assumed to be false (Lynn et al., 2016). Any clinical data have not answered all these; hence most of the laboratory outcomes do not agree. Further, the considerable amnesia as a result of some traumatic experiences that have been clinically reported in dissociative disorders has not been replicated in laboratory studies. However, various memory research centers have indicated that false memories can be created (Lynn et al., 2016). This has led to continued controversy as to whether dissociative disorders really exist or not.
In conclusion, it should be reiterated that the dissociative disorder topic is still an ongoing problem whose answers as to whether it exists or not has not been confirmed. This is the reason why there have been various controversies on this topic. There has been conflicting information regarding the existence of these disorders.