Ishaan Deepak Joshi, MIT-WPU, Faculty of Law
ABSTRACT
Dissociation is defined as "an interruption in the normally integrated functioning of consciousness, memory, identity, or environmental perception."
The Fourth Edition of the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV) classifies five types of dissociative disorders:
Dissociative Amnesia, Dissociative Fugue, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Depersonalization Disorder, & Unspecified Dissociative Disorder Each of these mental diseases describes the intricate failure to integrate one or more psychological functions. Dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as "Multiple Personality Disease" or "MPD"), for example, is a mental disorder characterised by an inability to integrate core conceptions of identity. According to epidemiological research, roughly 510% of the general population has a significant degree of dissociation. According to studies of psychiatric inpatients, 5-24% have a dissociative illness & 0.4- 12% have a dissociative identity disorder. Most studies find a significant prevalence of child abuse, particularly sexual abuse as a child, in the histories of people with dissociative disorders. As a result, theories about the nature of dissociation focus on a developmental genesis. People do conduct crimes in dissociative states on occasion. Individuals may report amnesia for the crime or that a "alter personality" state perpetrated the act. The legal system is only now beginning to address these issues.
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