Dissociative and Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders

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Explain how trauma is related to the development of dissociative and somatic symptom and related disorders.
Traumatic childhood attachments contribute to the development of dissociation and other mental disorders by impairing integration of the brain. The child may suffer abuse and still crave a secure attachment with their caregiver. The internal conflict of wanting to protect oneself from abuser but still wanting to be loved by said abuser leads to a dysregulation in the nervous system. During the traumatic events, the child may release stress hormones which negatively affect neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity, myelination, and neural network development negatively effecting implicit/explicit memory (Farina et al., 2019).
Describe how clients with dissociative disorders are represented in the media. What role does media portrayal play in the public’s perceptions of these disorders? What role does media portrayal play in mental health providers’ perceptions of these disorders?
In the media people with dissociative disorders are represented as intelligent deceivers. The media normally show murderers who conveniently can’t remember their crimes. The killers are exposed as liars by the end of the show or movie. Due to media portrayal, an uneducated provider may have a narrow prospective of what dissociative disorder is instead of viewing it on a spectrum.
Discuss at least two (2) potential personal or professional biases providers may need to address to effectively diagnose and treat clients with dissociative and somatic symptom and related disorders.
The provider must first remove the professional bias that the client is in mental health and therefore have no legitimate medical explanation for the somatic symptom. It is easy to assume that a patient being referred to mental health has been thoroughly screened however this is not always the case. The mental health provider has a duty to be sure that a physical health diagnosis does not explain the presentation of the client.
The professional bias that should be removed is assuming hearing voices is related to psychosis caused schizophrenia or mania. The provider should further explore if the voices are that of children or adults before making a diagnosis. In practice it is more routine to ask what the voices are saying than placing an age on them.
Describe two (2) or more treatment challenges associated with treating clients with dissociative and somatic symptom and related disorders.
One challenge of treating a patient with somatic symptoms is that they may have little or no response to standard treatment that generally treats their ailment.
One challenge of treating a patient with dissociative symptom is that they may not be good historians due to a lapse in their memory because of the condition.
One challenge of treating a patient with somatic symptoms is being conscious not to diagnosis based on the existence or lack thereof a medical condition. The diagnosis should be based on how proportionate a client’s response is to their reported medical condition.
One challenge of treating a patient with dissociative symptoms may be transference as they lash out when recalling past trauma.

Reference:
Farina, Liotti, M., & Imperatori, C. (2019). The Role of Attachment Trauma and Disintegrative Pathogenic Processes in the Traumatic-Dissociative Dimension. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 933–933. https://doi(dot)org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00933
Granieri, Guglielmucci, F., Costanzo, A., Caretti, V., & Schimmenti, A. (2018). Trauma-Related Dissociation Is Linked With Maladaptive Personality Functioning. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9, 206–206. https://doi(dot)org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00206
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