Greetings, dear colleagues!
In 2021-2022, Suzette Boone’s course “Diagnosis of Complex Dissociative Disorders” was held in three stages.
The course consisted of 3 blocks (7 webinars).
Abstract
Chronic Dissociative Disorders (especially DID, ASDD and depersonalization disorder) can be perceived as complex posttraumatic disorders.
Dissociative disorders are not easy to diagnose for the following reasons:
- Definitions on dissociation differ and are not always clear. Some clinicians consider dissociation a phenomenon that exists on an continuum (from normal to pathological) other consider dissociation a phenomenon that is always pathological and refers to a division of self.
- Patients generally do not present with dissociative symptoms but have a tendency to hide or dissimulate these symptoms.
- There is a lot of overlap with other disorders such as complex PTSD and cluster B personality disorders
- Differential diagnosis from psychosis and bipolar disorder may be difficult
- Main classification systems (DSM and ICD) differ with respect to dissociative disorders
- Clinicians do not receive systematic education with regard to diagnosis and treatment of dissociative disorders
As a consequence of poor recognition of dissociative symptomatology, these patients may spend many years in the mental health system, often with different diagnoses, without being treated for their core problems. In addition, if dissociative pathology is not assessed or recognized , treatment of traumatic memories with methods like EMDR may be dangerous and result in decompensation of the patient. On the other hand, there is a danger of over diagnosing and false positive cases as both patients as well as therapist sometimes get confused about the symptoms
BLOCK 1
Took place 12th and 19th of October 2021
Attention was focused on the recognition of (pathological) dissociative symptoms and the assessment of dissociative disorders.
BLOCK 2
Took place 30 d of November and 7 th of December 2021
Main focus was on Differential diagnosis especially on differentiation dissociative disorders from psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, personality disorders, etc.
BLOCK 3
Took place 18th and 25th of October 2022.
This event was scheduled for April 2022, but due to russia’s military invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, we cancelled it. However, we held this event later. Professor Boone refused from honorarium for this block
The third block is focused on the semistructured interview for determination of complex dissociative disorders and symptoms related to the trauma : of “Interview for determination of symptoms of trauma and dissociation (TADS – I) “
The TADS-I (Boon & Matthess, 2016) is a clinician-administered semi-structured interview to assess dissociative symptoms and disorders and other trauma-related symptoms. This interview differs from other semi-structured interviews in several ways: it enables the clinician to make DSM-5 and ICD-11 diagnoses; thus, it also includes a large section on somatoform dissociative symptoms. Secondly, it includes a section on other trauma-related symptoms in order to: (1) develop a more complete clinical picture of possible comorbidity, including symptoms of PTSD and complex PTSD; (2) achieve greater insight into the (possible) dissociative organization of the personality; and (3) differentiate complex dissociative disorders from personality disorders and other disorders, such as a (complex) posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD), mood disorder or psychotic disorders. Finally, the TADS-I aims at making a distinction between symptoms referring to a division of the personality and symptoms that may involve other alterations of consciousness.
For this event, the semi-structured interview TADS – I, guidelines and symptom maps were translated into Ukrainian. The translation was done by Karine Kocharyan
The course is intended for psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists who is working with mental trauma of all therapeutic modes and directions
Suzette A. Boon
Suzette A. Boon PhD, 1949, is a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist. She has more than thirty years of experience working in mental health institutions. She is a trainer and supervisor for the Dutch Society for Family Therapy and the Dutch Society for Hypnosis. Since the late eighties, she has specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of complex dissociative disorders. She has worked as a researcher at the Free University of Amsterdam (Psychiatric Department). She translated and validated the Dutch version of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Dissociative Disorders (SCID-D) and received a PhD for her thesis Multiple Personality Disorder in the Netherlands in 1993. She has published several books, book chapters and many articles on both the diagnosis and treatment of dissociative disorders.Suzette Boon is working in a private practice, mainly as a trainer and supervisor. She has been giving workshops all over Europe and the USA on topics related to complex trauma and dissociation.She has developed a skills training manual for patients with a complex dissociative disorder and currently has eight years of experience using this manual in structured groups in the Netherlands. In addition, she has been supervising projects in Norway and Finland using this manual. Its English version (with Kathy Steele, MN, CS and Onno van der Hart, PhD) was published in March 2011 by Norton publishers. Translations have been published in Finnish, Swedish, Dutch, German, Norwegian, French, Italian and Spanish.She is currently doing research with a new diagnostic interview to assess chronic trauma-related disorders, in particular the dissociative disorders – the Trauma and Dissociation Symptoms Interview (TADS-I). This new instrument that follows an earlier version (IDDTS, 2006) has been introduced in several European countries. For further information please contact Suzette.Suzette Boon is co-founder of the European Society for Trauma and Dissociation (ESTD) and was the first president of this Society.The International Society for the Study of Dissociation (ISSD) granted her the David Caul Memorial Award in 1993, the Morton Prince Award in 1994 and the President’s Award of Distinction and the status of Fellow in 1995 for her contributions to the diagnosis, treatment, research and education in the field of dissociative disorders. In 2009, she received the Life Time Achievement Award, and in 2011 the Pierre Janet writing Award for the book Coping with Trauma-Related Dissociation a Skills Training for Patients and their Therapists.