Dissociation and Psychosis: Conceptual Issues

Abstract

SUMMARY The relationship between dissociation and psychosis is not a topic of serious study and research in the psychosis field, though it has received attention in the dissociation literature. A number of conceptual problems must be solved before the role of dissociation in schizophrenia and other psychoses can be a central issue in diagnosis, research and treatment. These include problems with: the model of mind-body interaction accepted in psychiatry, definitions of dissociation and psychosis, the concept of pseudo-hallucinations, DSM criteria for schizophrenia, research measures for dissociation and psychosis, the sociology of psychiatry, the drug industry, assumptions about etiology of dissociation and psychosis, and assumptions about treatment. These problems are discussed and recommendations are made for DSM-V and future research.