PSY76053T - Clinical Elective Practice Seminar: Dissociation in Clinical Practice

(3 units)

This course teaches clinical skills necessary for the diagnosis and treatment of clients with dissociative experiences and behaviors. Students will learn methods for interviewing, testing, case conceptualization, and treatment planning. Although psychological trauma is known to be a factor associated with a variety of psychological problems, this is especially true of the DSM diagnoses: dissociative, post-traumatic stress, acute stress, and borderline personality disorders. We will consider different perspectives on these and other diagnoses. Also discussed will be normal and culturally sanctioned forms of dissociation as well as spirit possession, trance possession, trance, hypnosis, and hypnotic-like states. We will explore clinical scenarios including child and ritual abuse as well as other kinds of family violence, torture, intelligence and war-related trauma, terrorism, trauma associated with crime and law enforcement, and trauma related to natural disasters. Dissociation and trauma will be examined in the context of historical and cultural movements and multicultural perspectives. We will consider the depictions and narrations of trauma and dissociation in the arts and media. We will examine related literature associated with philosophy, anthropology, religious studies, history, psychiatry and other disciplines as they offer insight into dissociation.