Understanding Dissociative Disorders: A Guide for Family Physicians and Healthcare Professionals

"Dissociative disorder" has come to mean an incredible ability to compartmentalize one's mind to a degree which, in the adult, often becomes dysfunctional rather than useful. This book is for all family physicians and mental health professionals who come face to face with the idiosyncrasies of dissociative patientstheir problematic ways of responding to medication, the unusual laboratory results, and a multitude of physical and emotional symptoms. Marlene Hunter offers realistic, practical answers to questions, some of which professionals won't even have thought of asking. Carefully organized for easy reference, this volume discusses what you can do and what you cannot, where and how to ask for outside help, and how to talk to your patient. More importantly, it explains what leads patients to their own solutions even when these seem utterly unrealistic on the surface.