The Cross-Cultural Assessment of Dissociation

Abstract

Roberto Lewis-Fernandez, Alfonso Martinez-Taboas, Vedat Sar, Sapana Patel, and Adeline Boatin examine the cross-cultural assessment of the phenomena of mental dissociation. This chapter contains a review of research literature from many parts of the world, extending beyond American and European publications to other cultures in Asia, the Middle East, and elsewhere. The chapter is organized into several sections that include (1) definitions of dissociation; (2) somatoform dissociation; (3) dissociation and psychosis; (4) trauma and dissociation; (5) normal and pathological dissociation; (6) cross-cultural perspectives and conceptualization of dissociation; (7) assessment methodologies; (8) research with psychiatric populations; (9) community studies of dissociation; (10) case studies; (11) research with academic undergraduate populations; and (12) translations of measures of dissociation. The authors conclude this chapter by noting that the cross-cultural assessment of dissociation summarized available data on the extent to which global diversity of dissociative phenomena are tapped by existing measures and classifications. In nearly every instance, measures developed in one setting still had adequate psychometric properties in another cultural region. The contributors also state that it is clear that in order to fully characterize the dissociative nature of certain forms of pathology, new measures need to be developed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved). (preface)