Quite the opposite: Janet insisted that dissociation was a mental or cognitive deficit. Although it is true that many of Janet's case histories described traumatic experiences, he never considered dissociation to be a defense against those experiences. Janet claimed that dissociation occurred only in persons who had a constitutional weakness of mental functioning that led to hysteria when they were stressed.
Contrary to some conceptions of dissociation, Janet did not believe that dissociation was a psychological defense. Research has further related it to suggestibility and hypnosis, and it is inversely related to mindfulness, which is a potential treatment.įrench philosopher and psychologist Pierre Janet (1859–1947) is considered to be the author of the concept of dissociation. Its cause is believed to be related to neurobiological mechanisms, trauma, anxiety, and psychoactive drugs. The phenomena are diagnosable under the DSM-5 as a group of disorders as well as a symptom of other disorders through various diagnostic tools.
The major characteristic of all dissociative phenomena involves a detachment from reality, rather than a false perception of reality as in psychosis. Dissociation is a concept that has been developed over time and which concerns a wide array of experiences, ranging from a mild emotional detachment from the immediate surroundings, to a more severe disconnection from physical and emotional experiences.