Response

Lynn, Steven Jay; Condon, Liam; Colletti, Gep

doi:10.1093/med:psych/9780199733668.003.0042

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“…We acknowledge the possibility that fantasy and imagination can in some cases be used to regulate attention to create a sense of separation or distance from aversive events and thereby promote feelings of unreality, as in conditions marked by depersonalization/derealization. The avoidance-based nature of such responses increases the likelihood that they will recur, proliferate, and generalize maladaptively as a consequence of negative reinforcement of anxiety reduction (Lynn, Condon, & Colletti, 2013).…”

Section: Predictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The trauma model of dissociation: Inconvenient truths and stubborn fictions. Comment on Dalenberg et al. (2012).

Lynn

Lilienfeld

Merckelbach

et al. 2014

Psychological Bulletin

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Dalenberg et al. (2012) argued that convincing evidence (a) supports the longstanding trauma model (TM), which posits that early trauma plays a key role in the genesis of dissociation; and (b) refutes the fantasy model (FM), which posits that fantasy proneness, suggestibility, cognitive failures, and other variables foster dissociation. We review evidence bearing on Dalenberg et al.'s 8 predictions and find them largely wanting in empirical support. We contend that the authors repeat errors committed by many previous proponents of the TM, such as attributing a central etiological role to trauma in the absence of sufficient evidence. Specifically, Dalenberg et al. leap too quickly from correlational data to causal conclusions, do not adequately consider the lack of corroboration of abuse in many studies, and underestimate the relation between dissociation and false memories. Nevertheless, we identify points of agreement between the TM and FM regarding potential moderators and mediators of dissociative symptoms (e.g., family environment, biological vulnerabilities) and the hypothesis that dissociative identity disorder is a disorder of self-understanding. We acknowledge that trauma may play a causal role in dissociation but that this role is less central and specific than Dalenberg et al. contend. Finally, although a key assumption of the TM is dissociative amnesia, the notion that people can encode traumatic experiences without being able to recall them lacks strong empirical support. Accordingly, we conclude that the field should now abandon the simple trauma-dissociation model and embrace multifactorial models that accommodate the diversity of causes of dissociation and dissociative disorders.Keywords: dissociation, dissociative disorder, dissociative identity disorder, trauma, sociocognitive modelThe notion that people dissociate to cope with trauma has its roots in the writings of Janet (1889/1973). This trauma model (TM) remains influential among some clinical scholars (e.g., Dalenberg et al., 2012), who contend that trauma is the key player in the genesis of dissociation. Nevertheless, as we discuss later, advocates of the TM have often neglected to articulate trauma's precise role in the cause of dissociation. Critics of the TM (e.g., Giesbrecht, Lynn, Lilienfeld, & Merckelbach, 2008, 2010Lynn, Lilienfeld, Merckelbach, Giesbrecht, & van der Kloet, 2012;Pope & Hudson, 1995) Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Steven Jay Lynn, Psychology Department, Binghamton University (SUNY), Binghamton, NY 13902. E-mail: stevenlynn100@gmail.com This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.Psychological Bulletin © 2014 American Psychological Association 2014 0033-2909/14/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0035570 896 etiology of dissociation and dissociative disorders. 1 An early alternative to the TM, the sociocognitive model (SCM; Lili...

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Section: Predictionmentioning

confidence: 99%