6.3: Dissociative Disorders - Comorbidity

Learning Objectives

• Describe the comorbidity of dissociative disorders.

Given that a traumatic experience often precipitates dissociative disorders, it should not be surprising that there is a high comorbidity between most dissociative disorders and PTSD (comorbidity of depersonalization/derealization disorder with PTSD is low). Similarly, depressive disorders are also commonly found in combination with dissociative disorders, likely due to the impact the disorders have on social and emotional functioning. In individuals with dissociative amnesia, a wide range of emotions related to their inability to recall memories during the episode often present once the amnesia episode is in remission (APA, 2022). These emotions frequently contribute to the development of a depressive episode.

There has been some evidence of comorbid somatic symptom disorder and conversion disorder, particularly for those who experience dissociative amnesia. Furthermore, dependent, obsessive-compulsive, avoidant, and borderline personality traits/disorders are comorbid and for dissociative identity disorder and dissociative amnesia there is evidence of comorbid substance-related and feeding and eating disorders. Anxiety disorders are common for depersonalization/derealization disorder, and often individuals concurrently have unipolar depressive disorder.

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