The dissociative processing style: A cognitive organization activated by perceived or actual threat in clinical dissociators

Journal of Trauma and Dissociation

Volumn 7, Issue 4, 2006, Pages 29-53

  Dorahy, Martin J ^a  

^a QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Cognition; Dissociation; Dissociative processing style

Indexed keywords

ANXIETY; ARTICLE; ATTENTION; AVOIDANCE BEHAVIOR; AWARENESS; COGNITION; CONSCIOUSNESS; DISSOCIATIVE DISORDER; ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR; HUMAN; INFORMATION PROCESSING; LONG TERM MEMORY; MEMORY CONSOLIDATION; POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER; PRIORITY JOURNAL; SEMANTICS; VISUAL MEMORY; WORD LIST RECALL; WORKING MEMORY;

ADULT; AFFECT; ANXIETY DISORDERS; ATTENTION; COGNITION DISORDERS; DISSOCIATIVE DISORDERS; HEALTH PERSONNEL; HUMANS; INHIBITION (PSYCHOLOGY); MALE; MENTAL PROCESSES; OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES; SEVERITY OF ILLNESS INDEX; STRESS DISORDERS, POST-TRAUMATIC;

EID: 33845535713     PISSN: 15299732     EISSN: 15299740     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1300/J229v07n04_03     Document Type: Article

References (67)

1. Allen, J. G., Console, D. A., & Lewis, L. (1999). Dissociative detachment and memory impairment: Reversible amnesia or encoding failure. Comprehensive Pyschiatry, 40, 160-171.
2. Amir, N., Coles, M. E., & Foa, E. B. (2002). Automatic and strategic activation and inhibition of threat-relevant information in posttraumatic stress disorder. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 26, 645-655.
3. Baars, B. J. (1997). Some essential differences between consciousness and attention, perception, and working memory. Consciousness and Cognition, 6, 363-371.
4. Becker-Blease, K. A., Deater-Deckard, K., Eley, T., Freyd, J. F., Stevenson, J., & Plomin, R. (2004). A genetic analysis of individual differences in dissociative behaviors in childhood and adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45, 522-532.
5. Bjorklund, D. F., & Harnishfeger, K. K. (1995). The evolution of inhibition mechanisms and their role in human cognition and behaviour. In F. N. Dempster & C. J. Brainerd (Eds.), Interference and inhibition in cognition (pp. 141-173). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
6. Brenner, I. (2001). Dissociation of trauma: Theory, phenomenology, and technique. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.
7. Bromberg, P. M. (1998). Standing in the spaces: Essays on clinical process, trauma and dissociation. Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press.
8. Brown, R. J. (2004). Psychological mechanisms of medically unexplained symptoms: An integrative conceptual model. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 793-812.
9. Butler, L. D. (2006). Normative dissociation. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 29, 45-62.
10. Chu, J. A. (1998). Rebuilding shattered lives: The responsible treatment of Complex Post-traumatic and Dissociative Disorders. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
11. Cloitre, M. (1992). Avoidance of emotional processing: A cognitive science perspective. In D. J. Stein & J. E. Young (Eds.), Cognitive science and clinical disorders (pp. 19-41). San Diego, CA: Academic Press, Inc.
12. DePrince, A. P., & Freyd, J. J. (1999). Dissociation, attention and memory. Psychological Science, 10, 449-452.
13. DePrince, A. P., & Freyd, J. J. (2001). Memory and dissociative tendencies: The role of attentional context and word meaning in a directed forgetting task. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 2, 67-82.
14. DePrince, A. P., & Freyd, J.J. (2004). Forgetting trauma stimuli. Psychological Science, 15, 488-492.
15. De Ruiter, M. B., Phaf, R. H., Elzinga, B. M., & Van Dyck, R. (2004). Dissociative style and individual differences in verbal working memory span. Consciousness and Cognition, 13, 821-828.
16. De Ruiter, M. B., Phaf, R. H., Veltman, D. J., Kok, A., & Van Dyck, R. (2003). Attention as a characteristic of non-clinical dissociation: An event-related potential study. NeuroImage, 19, 376-390.
17. Dorahy, M. J., & Huntjens, R. J. C. (in press). Memory and attentional processes in Dissociative Identity Disorder: A review of the empirical literature. In E. Vermetten, M. J. Dorahy, & D. Spiegel (Eds.), Traumatic dissociation: Neurobiology and treatment. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Press, Inc.
18. Dorahy, M. J., Irwin, H. J., & Middleton, W. (2002). Cognitive inhibition in dissociative identity disorder (DID): Developing an understanding of working memory function in DID. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 3, 111-132.
19. Dorahy, M. J., Irwin, H. J., & Middleton, W. (2004). Assessing markers of working memory function in dissociative identity disorder using neutral stimuli: A comparison with clinical and general population samples. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 38, 47-55.
20. Dorahy, M. J., McCusker, C. G., Loewenstein, R. J., Colbert, K., & Mulholland, C. (2006) Cognitive inhibition and interference in dissociative identity disorder: The effects of anxiety on specific executive functions. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44, 749-764.
21. Dorahy, M. J., Middleton, W., & Irwin, H. J. (2004). Investigating cognitive inhibition in dissociative identity disorder compared to depression, posttraumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 5, 93-110.
22. Dorahy, M. J., Middleton, W., & Irwin, H. J. (2005). The effect of emotional context on cognitive inhibition and attentional processing in dissociative identity disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 43, 555-568.
23. Dorahy, M. J., & Van der Hart, O. (in press). Trauma and Dissociation: An historical perspective. In E. Vermetten, M. J. Dorahy, & D. Spiegel (Eds.), Traumatic Dissociation: Neurobiology and Treatment. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.
24. Ehlers, A., & Clark, D. M. (2000). A cognitive model of posttraumatic stress disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38, 319-345.
25. Elzinga, B. M., Phaf, R. H., Ardon, A. M., & Van Dyck, R. (2003). Directed forgetting between, but not within, dissociative personality states. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 112, 237-243.
26. Elzinga, B. M., De Beurs, E., Sergeant, J. A., Van Dyck, R., & Phaf, R. H. (2000). Dissociative style and directed forgetting. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 24, 279-295.
27. Foa, E. B., & Hearst-Ikeda, D. (1996). Emotional dissociation in response to trauma: An information-processing approach. In L. K. Michelson & W. J. Ray (Eds.), Handbook of dissociation: Theoretical, empirical and clinical perspectives (pp. 207-224). New York: Plenum Press.
28. Fox, E. (1995). Negative priming from ignored distractors in visual selection: A review. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 2, 145-173.
29. Fox, E. (1996). Selective processing of threatening words in anxiety: The role of awareness. Cognition and Emotion, 10, 449-480.
30. Freud, S. (1926/2001). Inhibitions, symptoms and anxiety. In J. Strachey (ed.), Standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, 20 (pp. 87-175). London: Hogarth.
31. Freyd, J. J. (1996). Betrayal trauma: The logic of forgetting childhood abuse. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
32. Freyd, J. J., Martorello, S. R., Alvarado, J. S., Hayes, A. E., & Christman, J. C. (1998). Cognitive environments and dissociative tendencies: Performance on the standard Stroop task for high versus low dissociators. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 12, S91-S103.
33. Giesbrecht, T., Merckelbach, H., Geraerts, E., & Smeets, E. (2004). Dissociation in undergraduate students: Disruptions in executive functioning. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 192, 567-569.
34. Gershuny, B.S., Cloitre, M., & Otto, M.W. (2003). Peritraumatic dissociation and PTSD severity: Do event-related fears about death and control mediate their relation? Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41, 157-166.
35. Hasher, L., & Zacks, R. T. (1988). Working memory, comprehension and aging: A review and a new view. In G. Bower (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation: Advances in research and theory (pp. 193-225). San Diego: Springer-Verlag.
36. Hermans, E. J., Nijenhuis, E. R. S., Van Honk, J., Hunjens, R. J. C., & Van der Hart, O. (2006). Identity state-dependent attentional bias for facial threat in dissociative identity disorder. Psychiatry Research, 141, 233-236.
37. Hilgard, E. R. (1986). Divided consciousness: Multiple controls in human thought and action. New York: Wiley.
38. Hilgard, E. R. (1994). Neodissociation theory. In S. J. Lynn & J.W. Rhue (Eds.), Dissociation: Clinical and Theoretical Perspectives (pp. 32-51). New York: Guilford Press.
39. Holmes, E. A., Brewin, C. R., & Hennessy, R. G. (2004). Trauma films, information processing, and intrusive memory development. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 133, 3-22.
40. Holmes, E. A., Brown, R. J., Mansell, W., Fearon, R. P., Hunter, E. C. M., Frasquilho, F., & Oakley, D. A. (2005). Are there two qualitatively distinct forms of dissociation? A review and some clinical implications. Clinical Psychology Review, 25, 1-23.
41. Huntjens, R. J. C., Postma, A., Peters, M. L., Woertman, L., & van der Hart, O. (2003). Interidentity amnesia for neutral, episodic information in dissociative identity disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 112, 290-297.
42. Irwin, H. J. (1998). Affective predictors of dissociation-II: Shame and guilt. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 54, 237-245.
43. Janet, P. (1907). The major symptoms of hysteria. London/New York: Macmillan. Reprint of 1920 edition: New York: Hafner, 1965.
44. Kennedy, F., Clarke, S., Stopa, L., Bell, L., Rouse, H., Ainsworth, C., Fearon, P., & Waller, G. (2004). Towards a cognitive model and measure of dissociation. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 35, 25-48.
45. Kihlstrom, J. F. (1987). The cognitive unconscious. Science, 237, 1445-1452.
46. Kindt, M., & Van den Hout, M. (2003). Dissociation and memory fragmentation: Experimental effects on meta-memory but not on actual memory performance. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41, 167-178.
47. Kluft, R. P. (1990). Dissociation and subsequent vulnerability: A preliminary study. Dissociation, 3, 167-173.
48. Ludwig, A. M. (1983). The psychobiological functions of dissociation. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 26, 93-99.
49. Mathews, A., & MacLeod, C. (1985). Selective processing of threat cues in anxiety states. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 23, 563-569.
50. Matthews, G., & Harley, T. A. (1996). Connectionist models of emotional distress and attentional bias. Cognition and Emotion, 10, 561-600.
51. Matthews, G., & Wells, A. (1999). The cognitive science of attention and emotion. In T. Dalgleish & M. Power (Eds.), Handbook of cognition and emotion (pp. 171-192). Chichester: Wiley.
52. McNally, R. J., Kaspi, S. P., Reimann, B. C., & Zeitlin, S. B. (1990). Selective processing of threat cues in posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 99, 398-402.
53. Neill, W. T. (1977). Inhibitory and facilitatory processes of selective attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 3, 444-450.
54. Simeon, D., Knutelska, M. E., Putnam, F. W., Schmeidler, J., & Smith, L. (November, 2005). Attention and memory in dissociative disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and healthy volunteers. Paper presented at the 22nd Annual conference of the International Society for the Study of Dissociation. Toronto, Canada.
55. Spiegel, D. (1986). Dissociating damage. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 29, 123-131.
56. Steele, K., Van der Hart, O., & Nijenhuis, E.R.S. (2005). Phase-oriented treatment of structural dissociation in complex traumatization: Overcoming trauma-related phobias. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 6, 11-53.
57. Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18, 643-662.
58. Tipper, S. P., & Cranston, M. (1985). Selective attention and priming: Inhibitory and facilitatory effects of ignored primes. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 37A, 591-611.
59. Vaillant, G.E. (1992). The historical origins of Sigmund Freud's concept of the mechanisms of defense. In G.E. Vaillant (Ed.), Ego mechanisms of defense: A guide for clinicians and researchers (pp. 3-28). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, Inc.
60. Van der Hart, O., Nijenhuis, E.R.S., & Steele, K. (2006). The haunted self: Structural dissociation and the treatment of chronic traumatization. London: Norton.
61. Veltman, D. J., De Ruiter, M. B., Rombouts, S. A. R. B., Lazeron, R. H. C., Barkhof, F., Van Dyck, R., Dolan, R. J., & Phaf, R. H. (2004). Neurophysiological correlates of increased verbal working memory in high-dissociative participants: A functional MRI study. Psychological Medicine, 35, 175-185.
62. Watts, F. N., McKenna, F. P., Sharrock, R., & Trezise, L. (1986). Colour naming of phobia-related words. British Journal of Psychology, 77, 97-108.
63. Waller, G., Quinton, S., & Watson, D. (1995). Dissociation and the processing of threat-related information. Dissociation, 8, 84-90.
64. Wells, A., & Matthews, G. (1994). Attention and emotion: A clinical perspective. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
65. Winnicott, D. W. (1945). Primitive Emotional Development. The International Journal of Psycho-analysis, 26, 137-143.
66. Williams, J. M. G., Mathews, A., MacLeod, C. (1996). The emotional Stroop task and psychopathology. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 3-24.
67. Wood, J., Mathews, A., & Dalgleish, T. (2001) Anxiety and cognitive inhibition. Emotion, 1, 166-181.