Citation

Vandevoorde J, Le Borgne P. Evol. Psychiatr. (Paris) 2015; 80(1): 187-208.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.evopsy.2014.09.002

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The article suggests reviewing the concept of dissociation, clearing the most striking scientific data which are inherent to it, to propose a panorama of the various models and to understand the function of this process within the framework of violent behaviour.

METHOD: The authors review the history and the various taxonomic uses of the concept of dissociation. They present the theoretical contributions stemming from hypnosis, from trauma, from neurobiology, from neurosciences and from cognitive models. Relying on empirical research and clinical observations, they suggest articulating the dissociative phenomena with the mechanisms of certain violent behaviour.

RESULTS: The literature suggests conceiving the dissociation as a change of the state of consciousness, either a break between the memory, the perception, the consciousness and the identity, or as a phylogenetic mechanism of coping allowing the human being to protect itself when faced with unbearable feelings. The process consists in provoking a subjective deviation of the feeling of oneself or a game of balancing between diverse states of consciousness. Several clinical observations and empirical studies have underlined the link between the dissociation and certain violent behaviour such as suicide or homicide.

DISCUSSION: The dissociative episodes can lead to a variation in the psychological activity: the increase in a feeling of unreality and a narcissistic feeling, an oneiroid immersion, a distancing of the subject and his/hers acts through amnesia, a modification in the sensory signals, a change in prefrontal activity and regulation of the executive functions, a phenomenon of emotional confusion, a decrease in fear and in moral safeguard, the use of an automatic driving mode, and a loss of the sense of the agentivity. These elements are essential to understand the release of the aggressive motricity.

CONCLUSIONS: The dissociation is an effective psychopathological concept that indicates diverse psychological processes articulated in the state of consciousness: emotional activity, fantastical activity, and the behaviour of the individual. Numerous studies remain to be conducted in order to distinguish the various types of dissociation and their specificities. © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS.

Language: fr

Keywords

theory; memory; Trauma; human; cognition; violence; homicide; suicide; identity; Suicide; Violence; injury; Review; morality; aggression; prefrontal cortex; psychosis; Dissociation; neuroscience; fantasy; psychological aspect; behavior; fear; emotion; coping behavior; confusion; Identity; perception; Acting out; neurobiology; amnesia; clinical observation; consciousness; brain function; hypnosis; narcissism; Hypnosis; empirical research; Violent behaviour; phylogeny; sensory stimulation; executive function; mental dissociation; Depersonalisation