Finding Solid Ground: Overcoming Obstacles in Trauma Treatment

Book excerpt: "In this chapter, we provide a brief overview of the relationships between trauma-related disorders and dissociation, describe the prevalence and presentations of dissociation among trauma survivors, and discuss the challenges that contribute to trauma-related disorders (TRD) and dissociative disorders (DDs) being "hidden in plain sight". Please note that throughout this book we use the term "trauma-related disorders" (TRD) as an overarching term that includes those who have a diagnosable trauma-related DD, which means that dissociation is typically severe, frequent, and disabling. Thus, our use of TRD in this book includes individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), acute stress disorder, the dissociative subtype of PTSD (DPTSD), and persons with trauma-related DDs. Since many authors consider borderline personality disorder a TRD due to the frequent occurrence of trauma, childhood maltreatment, and attachment problems in this population, we include those with trauma histories in our use of TRD as well"--