Traumatic Dissociation: Neurobiology and Treatment

In all, this book succeeds in drawing together different historical, research, and clinical strands into a largely cohesive text. It acknowledges the considerable controversy regarding dissociation in psychiatry and takes a realistic attitude toward limitation in the current body of knowledge. Traumatic Dissociation: Neurobiology and Treatment will be of interest to practitioners likely to encounter patients with a history of traumatic exposure and to researchers in the filed of dissociation, since it offers insights from a multitude of perspective.

This book attempts to compile the most current knowledge about dissociation, and while there are likely others that address similar topics, this one dose so relatively completely and concisely.

This book is an excellent collection of chapters that provide a good review of the existing literature in the field. It is also provides fertile ground for new research ideas. I am very familiar with the literature in this area, yet many of the chapters had me jotting down new references and new ideas to consider. The three well-known editors have collected a stellar lineup of the most important researchers in the field of traumatic dissociation. Chapters are mostly well written and are always intriguing. This book makes a voluble overall contribution to the literature in this area.

Traumatic Dissociation: Neurobiology and Treatment provides the reader with a complex
history of the field of traumatic dissociation along with new empirical and therapeutic insights, bringing together theoretical, cognitive, and neurobiological perspectives. This advanced introductory text assesses phenomenological observations that have been overlooked or neglected in past research.

Traumatic Dissociation: Neurobiology and Treatment offers an advanced introduction to this symptom, process, and pattern of personality organization seen in several trauma-related disorders, including acute stress disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and the dissociative disorders. The authors track the condition from its earliest historical conceptualization to its most recent neurobiological understanding to show that greater insight into traumatic dissociation can be obtained from clinical progress in treatment models and strategies. Useful as a clinical reference or as ancillary textbook, this work reorganizes phenomenological observations that have been previously been overlooked, misunderstood, or neglected in traditional training.

Bringing together for the first time theoretical, cognitive, and neurobiological perspectives on traumatic dissociation, this volume is designed to provide both empirical and therapeutic insights into traumatic dissociation. Opening chapters examine historical, conceptual, and theoretical issues and how other fields, such as cognitive psychology, have been applied to the study of traumatic dissociation. The following section focuses specifically on how neurobiological investigations have deepened our understanding of dissociation. Concluding chapters explore issues pertinent to the assessment and treatment of traumatic dissociation. Key issues covered include the interacting effects of traumatic experience, developmental history, neurobiological function, and specific vulnerabilities to dissociative processes that underlie the occurrence of traumatic dissociation.