The Psychological Assessment of Dissociation

Abstract

Within the last decade there has been a tremendous explosion in the clinical, theoretical, and empirical literature related to the study of dissociation. Not since the work done at the tum of the century by Pierre Janet, Morton Prince, William James, and others have the psychological and medical communities shown this great an interest in describing and understanding dissociative phenomena. This volume is the result of this significant expansion. Presently, interest in the scientific and clinical progress in the field of dissociation is indicated by the following: 1. The explosion of conferences, workshops, and seminars devoted to disso­ ciative disorders treatment and research. 2. The emergence of NIMH-supported investigations that focus on dissociation. 3. The burgeoning literature on dissociation. According to a 1992 biblio­ graphic analysis of the field by Goettman et al. (1992), 72% of all writings on the topic have appeared in the past decade, with about 1000 published papers scattered across diverse disciplines and journals. 4. Current interest in dissociation as reflected in the appearance of major articles and special issues in respected psychology and psychiatry journals. 5. The initiation of a journal entitled Dissociation (Richard Kluft, MD, Editor) devoted to the area.