LIFETIME AXIS-I AND AXIS-II COMORBIDITY AND CHILDHOOD TRAUMA HISTORY IN DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER

ACCORDING to DSM-IV, dissociative identity disorder is characterized b y the existence within the person of two or more distinctly different identities or personality states that from time to time take executive control of the person's body and behavior, with accompanying amnesia (American Psychiatric Association, 1994), By retrospective patient rep ort, dissociative identity disorder usually occurs in conjunction with severe childhood trauma (Kluft 1985; Putnam et al, 1986; Ross 1989; R oss et al, 1989a, 1990a). The disorder appears to be the most severe f orm of disturbance on the dissociative disorders continuum (Boon and D raijer 1993; Coons 1992; Ross 1985; Boss et al. 1992). There is eviden ce that dissociative identity disorder may be more prevalent than once believed in the general population (Ross 1991) and among general adul t psychiatric inpatients (Latz et al, 1995; Ross et al. 1991; Saxe et al. 1993).