Dissociation : Volume 10, No. 3 (Sept. 1997)

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Dissociation : Volume 10, No. 3, p. 157-165 : Treatment strategies for complex dissociative disorders: two dutch case examples
(Ridgeview Institute and the International Society for the Study of Dissociation, 1997-09) Hart, Onno van der, 1941-; Boon, Suzette
In the Netherlands, the diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder (DID) is widely accepted, although skeptics also have made their opinions known. Dutch clinicians treating DID patients generally follow the common three-phase model for treatment of post-traumatic stress. Given the fact that they usually deal with complicated cases and enmeshed patients (cf. Horevitz E. Loewenstein, 1994), most often treatment is restricted to Phase 1: stabilization and symptom reduction. Treatment of higher functioning patients, on the other hand, usually aims at processing of traumatic memories and complete personality integration as well. In this article, two Dutch cases are described in detail, with a special emphasis on the clinical deliberations which, in the first case, led to the decision to proceed to trauma treatment, and which led in the second case to the decision to refrain from it.