Description

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Presentation of a major new diagnostic interview to assess chronic trauma-related disorders, in particular dissociative disorders.

Written by a world-leading specialist in trauma-related dissociation, this book comprehensively describes the diagnosis of trauma-related disorders, taking up the many dilemmas around criteria in DSM-5 and ICD-11, symptom recognition, the role of traumatic experiences and of self-report questionnaires, as well as other topics. The book elaborates on the assessment of these disorders, using the diagnostic instrument Trauma and Dissociative Symptoms Interview (TADS-I), developed by the author over decades of work in the field.

Several thematic chapters discuss key differential diagnostic considerations and illustrate them with case reports. Also discussed are the occurrence of false-negative and false-positive diagnoses of trauma-related dissociative disorders, the assessment of traumatic experiences, and the development of a treatment plan.

This book is essential reading for clinicians who diagnose dissociative disorders (or want to learn), and useful for those who want to assist in better recognizing clients with dissociative symptoms and refer them for specialized testing. The complete TADS-I is included as an appendix.

About the Author

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Suzette Boon, a pioneer in the diagnosis of trauma-related disorders, is a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist with a background in family and systemic therapy, cognitive and behavioral therapy, and hypnosis. She has worked extensively at both inpatient and outpatient psychiatric facilities. Since the late eighties, Suzette has specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with histories of early psychological trauma, in particular patients with complex dissociative disorders. She is co-founder of the European Society for Trauma and Dissociation (ESTD) and was its first president. The International Society for the Study of Dissociation (ISSD) granted her the David Caul Memorial Award in 1993, the Morton Prince Award in 1994 and the President’s Award of Distinction and the status of Fellow in 1995. In 2009, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD). She is the co-author of Treating Trauma-Related Dissociation and Coping with Trauma-Related Dissociation, both ISSTD Pierre Janet Writing Award winners in the Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology. She lives in Maarssen, the Netherlands.

Praise For…

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Assessing Trauma-Related Dissociation takes an enormous step in providing clarity, instilling clinician confidence, and addressing the broad and specific features that require consideration during assessment of dissociative symptoms and disorders embedded in posttraumatic adaptation. In this book, Suzette Boon has distilled a lifetime of learning and packaged it into a very accessible, rich, and clinically grounded text that presents a thorough outline of the many considerations and multiple foci of trauma-related dissociation assessment. For anyone interested or engaged in the assessment of trauma-related dissociation, this book should be their first stop, regardless of how experienced they may be in the area.

— Martin J. Dorahy, PhD, professor of clinical psychology, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and coeditor, Dissociation and the Dissociative Disorder: Past, Present, Future

An extremely practical and useful book to learn assessing and diagnosing dissociative disorders. The information is very well organized, easy to understand and integrate. Suzette Boon describes complex phenomena in a clear and precise way, addressing subtleties that can easily go unnoticed. Assessing Trauma-Related Dissociation is a gift for any clinician interested in improving their skills in assessment and diagnosis. A must-read.

— Dolores Mosquera, psychologist at INTRA-TP, A Coruña, Spain

This excellent book provides a highly accessible and comprehensive overview of the clusters of dissociative symptoms related to early childhood traumatic experiences. Each chapter highlights an aspect of the complexity of the TADS-I assessment, enriched with numerous examples and informed by a huge clinical experience. Clinical researchers and psychotherapists will find an extended analysis of differential diagnosis. An invaluable contribution to improving clinical diagnosis and therefore increasing the number of patients referred to an appropriate treatment plan.
— Manoëlle Hopchet, clinical psychologist, psychotrauma therapist, and former president of the European Society for Trauma & Dissociation