The paradox of innocence dissociative “adhesive”; states in perpetrators of incest

This paper attempts to develop a phenomenology of the perpetrator's conviction of innocence in a condition of actual guilt. This phenomenology is developed through the investigation of dissociative states in a certain type of incestuous perpetrator: one who is herself a survivor of sexual abuse, physical abuse, or both. Clinical material suggests that certain types of schizoid perpetrators can genuinely experience the incestuous act as not really real not really sex, not really mine. This clinical phenomenon is examined from the perspective of two contemporary theoretical trends: the new view of the self as multiple (Bromberg, 1993; Mitchell, 1993), and the neo‐Kleinian formulation of “adhesive”; (Mitrani, 1994) or “autistic‐contiguous”; (Ogden, 1989, 1990) modes of pseudo‐object relatedness. Incestuous acts are conceived as occurring within a prelinguistic modality, and are therefore not encoded in discursive, autobiographical memory. The coexistence of dissociated, multiple self states and modalities accounts for the contradictory levels of object relatedness, memory, and concern frequently encountered in perpetrators of incest.     

“Not with me you don't”: A story of narrative practice and dissociative disorder

This paper discusses issues relating to therapeutic practice based upon the narrative metaphor. A case of someone suffering the effects of Dissociative Identity disorder is used to illustrate the difficulties that clients can experience with the “expert” knowledge conception of therapy. The value of the “respectful” and “non-expert” emphasis of Narrative Practice emerges even when the therapist believes that he or she lacks expertise in the client's apparent “condition.” Three themes emanating from the case form the basis for the discussion: the client's experience of being recruited into accepting the diagnostic label of Dissociative Identity Disorder; the effects of being forced to accept a contract to eliminate self-abusive behaviour; and the therapist's dealing with a gun in the therapy room.     

Procedural memory in dissociative identity disorder: when can inter-identity amnesia be truly established?

In a serial reaction time task, procedural memory was examined in Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Thirty-one DID patients were tested for inter-identity transfer of procedural learning and their memory performance was compared with 25 normal controls and 25 controls instructed to simulate DID. Results of patients seemed to indicate a pattern of inter-identity amnesia. Simulators, however, were able to mimic a pattern of inter-identity amnesia, rendering the results of patients impossible to interpret as either a pattern of amnesia or a pattern of simulation. It is argued that studies not including DID-simulators or simulation-free memory tasks, should not be taken as evidence for (or against) amnesia in DID.