PSA: Dissociative Disorders

Public Service Announcement

Despite the narrative in psychology that Dissociative Disorders are ‘extremely rare’ this is not actually supported by the data.

Let’s take a look…

Dissociative Identity Disorder – 1.5% prevalence in last 12 mo.

Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder – 2% lifetime prevalence

Schizophrenia – 0.3-0.7% lifetime prevalence

Borderline Personality Disorder – 1.6% median population prevalence

So, as you can see, Dissociative Disorders are not common, but they certainly are not rare. And we don’t question whether or not Schizophrenia or Borderline Personality Disorder exists.

We need to do a better job of educating therapists about dissociation so that we can better recognize it and serve our clients better.

It should not take an average of 7-10 years of treatment before these disorders are recognized and treated in people.

Source: DSM 5