Dissociative disorders: pathways to diagnosis, clinician attitudes and their impact

To study the attitudes and experiences of Australian clinicians with dissociative disorders and the paths to diagnosis and experiences of patients.

The attitudes of Australian clinicians to dissociative disorders and the experiences of patients were assessed by questionnaires. The clinicians were mental health specialists and a small number of general medical practitioners. The patients had all been diagnosed with a dissociative disorder.

Of the 250 clinicians, 21% reported experience with more than six cases on average of any one of the dissociative disorders, 38% with less than six, 42% with none; 55% regarded them as valid diagnoses, 35% dubiously valid and 10% invalid. Of the 55 patients, 76% reported delays in diagnosis (57%, >3 years and 25%, >10 years) with adverse consequences in 64%; 80% had experienced sceptical or antagonistic attitudes from clinicians, rated as destructive by 48%. They were disabled (60% rated as >50% impaired) and were heavy consumers of health services (48% hospitalized, 68% >5 times). There was considerable comorbidity including moderate or severe depression (96%), self-harm (68%), suicide attempts (69%), panic disorder (53%), eating disorders (75%), substance abuse (25%), poor physical health (44%), major interpersonal (70%) and sexual problems (90%). Patients rated individual psychotherapy as the most helpful treatment (90%) but medications, such as antidepressants, were also valued (60%).

Although over half of the responding Australian clinicians thought that dissociative disorders were valid, the rest were dubious about their validity with 10% believing them to be invalid. Only 21% had considerable experience with the disorders. These findings may relate to some of the difficulties perceived by patients, which included delays in diagnosis, suboptimal treatment and negative experiences with clinicians.