Cross-Temporal and Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Dissociative Disorders of Identity

This chapter explores that dissociative disorders of identity are mostly from an etic perspective. Behaviours or beliefs will be presented not only from a socio-cognitive viewpoint, which regards the investigated psychological phenomena as products of the norms and expectations of the cultural milieu in which they occur, but also from a trauma and dissociation stance which will be more culturally neutral. The chapter presents the existence of dissociative disorders of identity in various cultures, some of which may have never been exposed to any systematic dissemination of knowledge regarding dissociative disorders, could suggest an independence of these syndromes from popular or specific professional Western influence. It also presents data on the universal validity of dissociative psychopathology by demonstrating cross-cultural occurrences of dissociative disorders of agency and identity, primarily as manifested in various forms of dissociative trance disorder (DTD)..