Dissociative disorders (DDs) are a range of conditions characterized by significant disruptions or fragmentation "in the normal integration of consciousness, memory, identity, emotion, perception, body representation, motor control, and behavior."

People with dissociative disorders were commonly subjected to chronic physical, sexual, or emotional abuse as children (or, less frequently, an otherwise frightening or highly unpredictable home environment).

Some categories of DD, however, can form due to trauma that occurs later in life and is unrelated to abuse, such as war or the death of a loved one.

[13] Treatment: Psychotherapy counseling or psychosocial therapy which involves talking about the disorder and related issues with a mental health provider.

[16] Those with dissociative disorders have higher activity levels in the prefrontal lobe and a more inhibited limbic system on average than healthy controls.

[19] Brain-imaging studies demonstrating the link between reduced hippocampal volume and DID as well as PTSD have added to empirical support for the existence of the disorder, as additional brain-imaging studies have demonstrated a negative correlation between hippocampal volume and early childhood trauma (which is hypothesized to be a potential etiological factor for dissociative symptoms).

[28] There are problems with classification, diagnosis and therapeutic strategies of dissociative and conversion disorders which can be understood by the historic context of hysteria.

[32] An important concern in the diagnosis of dissociative disorders in forensic interviews is the possibility that the patient may be feigning symptoms in order to escape negative consequences.

[35] Dissociative disorders (DD) are widely believed to have roots in adverse childhood experiences including abuse and loss, but the symptoms often go unrecognized or are misdiagnosed in children and adolescents.

[27][36][37][verification needed] However, a recent western Chinese study showed an increase in awareness of dissociative disorders present in children.

[38] This study suggested that dissociative disorders are more common in Western, or developing countries,[38] however, some cases have been seen in both clinical and non-clinical Chinese populations.

Recent research has focused on clarifying the neurological basis of symptoms associated with dissociation by studying neurochemical, functional and structural brain abnormalities that can result from childhood trauma.

[36] Others in the field have argued that recognizing disorganized attachment (DA) in children can help alert clinicians to the possibility of dissociative disorders.

[37] In their 2008 article, Rebecca Seligman and Laurence Kirmayer suggest the existence of evidence of linkages between trauma experienced in childhood and the capacity for dissociation or depersonalisation.

[36][42] A proposed view is that dissociation has a physiological basis, in that it involves automatically triggered mechanisms such as increased blood pressure and alertness, that would, as Lynn contends, imply its existence as a cross-species disorder.

[citation needed] An alternative model proposes a perspective on dissociation based on a recently established link between a labile sleep–wake cycle and memory errors, cognitive failures, problems in attentional control, and difficulties in distinguishing fantasy from reality.

[43] Conversely, anthropologists have largely done little work on DD in the West relating to its perceptions of possession syndromes that would be present in non-Western societies.

[citation needed] While dissociation has been viewed and catalogued by anthropologists differently in the West and non-Western societies, there are aspects of each that show DD has universal characteristics.