Chapter 02 04 Development of Dissociation and Development of the Self
Dissociation is a complex psychophysiological process that alters the accessibility of memory and knowledge, integration of behavior, and sense of self (Putnam, 1994) The etiologic role of traumatic experience in dissociative processes has long been posited (Breuer Freud, 1986/1895, Janet 1889) but relatively little attention has aimed to understand the developmental processes that underlie observed associations between trauma and dissociation. Recently, scholars have suggested that the developing self (or disruptions in self processes) may account for this association (Bowlby, 1969/1982; Kohut, 1971) In this chapter, we employ an organizational developmental framework to understand dissociative processes with respect to both developmental adaptation and deviation. We argue that dissociation is integrally related to the developing self, and that pathological dissociation disrupts the development of the self (Putnam, 1994, 1995) and/or results from disturbances in the self (Liotti, 1992) Thus, dissociative processes both affect and are affected by organization of the self.