Dissociative Disorders - Diagnosis and Prevalence

Diagnosis and Prevalence

According to a 2002 meta-analysis by Ross et al., the lifetime prevalence of dissociative disorders varies from 10% in the general population to 46% in psychiatric inpatients, based on testing using the Dissociative Disorders Interview Schedule and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Dissociative Disorders. Some diagnostic tests have also been adapted and/or developed for use with children and adolescents such as the Children's Version of the Response Evaluation Measure (REM-Y-71), Child Interview for Subjective Dissociative Experiences, Child Dissociative Checklist (CDC), Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) Dissociation Subscale, and the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children Dissociation Subscale.

There are problems with classification, diagnosis and therapeutic strategies of dissociative and conversion disorders which can be understood by the historic context of hysteria. Even current systems used to diagnose DD such as the DSM-IV and ICD-10 differ in the way the classification is determined.