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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffPsychotherapy is the primary treatment for dissociative disorders. This form of therapy, also known as talk therapy, counseling or psychosocial therapy, involves talking about your disorder and related issues with a mental health provider. Your therapist will work to help you understand the cause of your condition and to form new ways of coping with stressful circumstances.
Psychotherapy for dissociative disorders often involves techniques, such as hypnosis, that help you remember and work through the trauma that triggered your dissociative symptoms. The course of your psychotherapy may be long and painful, but this treatment approach often is very effective in treating dissociative disorders.
Other dissociative disorder treatment may include:
- Creative art therapy. This type of therapy uses the creative process to help people who might have difficulty expressing their thoughts and feelings. Creative arts can help you increase self-awareness, cope with symptoms and traumatic experiences, and foster positive changes. Creative art therapy includes art, dance and movement, drama, music, and poetry.
- Cognitive therapy. This type of talk therapy helps you identify unhealthy, negative beliefs and behaviors and replace them with healthy, positive ones. It's based on the idea that your own thoughts — not other people or situations — determine how you behave. Even if an unwanted situation has not changed, you can change the way you think and behave in a positive way.
- Medication. Although there are no medications that specifically treat dissociative disorders, your doctor may prescribe antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications or tranquilizers to help control the mental health symptoms associated with dissociative disorders.
- Dissociative disorders. In: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR. 4th ed. Arlington, Va.: American Psychiatric Association; 2000. http://www.psychiatryonline.com. Accessed Jan. 20, 2009.
- Maldonado JR, et al. Dissociative disorders. In: Hales RE, et al., eds. The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Psychiatry. 5th ed. Arlington, Va.: American Psychiatric Publishing; 2008:665.
- Dissociation and dissociative disorders. National Mental Health Association. http://www.nmha.org/index.cfm?objectId=C7DF8D4E-1372-4D20-C86C22067E838DF0&CFID=306278&CFTOKEN=696f1d08c4d6ecd2-823F75DC-1372-4D20-C8B94665B1F8DBE7. Accessed Jan. 20, 2009.
- Frequently asked questions: Dissociation and dissociative disorders. International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. http://www.isst-d.org/education/faq-dissociation.htm. Accessed Jan. 20, 2009.
- Turkus JA, et al. Therapeutic interventions in the treatment of dissociative disorders. Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 2006;29:245.
- Chu JA, et al. Guidelines for treating dissociative identity disorder in adults. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation. 2005;6:69.
- Silberg J, et al. Guidelines for treating dissociative identity disorder in children and adolescents. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation. 2004;5:119.
- Berkowitz CD. Child maltreatment. In: Marx JA, et al., eds. Marx: Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 6th ed. St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby; 2006:968.
- Sar V, et al. Dissociative disorders in the psychiatric emergency ward. General Hospital Psychiatry. 2007;29:45.
