Therapists who treat Dissociative Disorders

Finding a therapist specialized in dissociative disorders is often very difficult. Therapists who specialize in treating trauma disorders but have experience in treating dissociative disorders are easier to find, and not all advertize their experience of dissociative disorders. There are some organizations and websites that can be of help. Note however, these are here for informative purposes only, we do not necessarily recommend or endorse any of them.

Therapists should have a good knowledge of the ISST-D Treatment Guidelines for Adults], which "summarize expert consensus regarding safe and effective treatment for DID patients". A therapist should be open to discuss dissociative problems, and should be actively engaged in the treatment process and interactions. It may be helpful to a therapist, and their patient to educate the patient about their disorder and trauma and transference issues.

International

ISST-D (list of therapists)

The ISST-D is a membership organization that (among others) provides training to therapists working with trauma & dissociation.

Somatic Experiences Trauma Institute (list of therapists)

Europe

The European Society for Trauma and Dissociation] is based in the Netherlands and is supported by the ISST-D.

United Kingdom

The Sidran Institute (list of therapists)

The Sidran Institute has a PDF file with a list of treatment centers for dissociative disorders.

Positive Outcomes for Dissociative Survivors is a mostly survivor led charity who keep a list of counselors in each area who are willing to work with those dissociative disorders.

The list is available by telephone or email, not all counselors on the list will have previous experience of working with dissociative disorders.

Therapists who treat Trauma and Stressor-related Disorders

A large proportion of therapists treat Trauma and Stressor-related Disorders, and those treating dissociative disorders will also have experience in this area.

The International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies provides a good list of professional organizations which specialize in providing trauma treatment. This organization also publishes international guidelines for the treatment of Complex PTSD and PTSD, although individual countries may have their own agreed treatment guidelines.

Therapeutic Boundaries

Many therapists have certain (ethical and practical) boundaries they have to adhere to. For example, depending on rules set out by therapeutic associations and local regulations, therapists may or may not touch the patient physically in any way, or may not have much contact outside sessions. It is important to discuss boundaries at the start of treatment in order to know what to expect from your therapist.

Preliminary research has shown these boundaries are more often violated when therapists work with dissociative disorders. In fact, boundary violations are so prevalent that it is hardly possible to call them out of ordinary - deviating from normal practice - with a prevalence of over 50%. It is not caused by incompetence: experienced therapists are more likely to violate boundaries. This raises the question - are these violations really violations or are they required in some way for treating dissociative disorders?