On the nature of dissociation

Psychoanalysis cannot presently account for the paradoxical nature of disso ciation-those states of simultaneous knowing and not knowing in which perce ptions are accurate and fully conscious, yet have no credibility to the sub ject. This paper suggests that dissociation is actually a different way of knowing. the patient constructs self-knowledge only in interaction with ano ther. The subject perceives sensations and states of mind, but relegates to another the job of interpreting this experience, The divided sense of self reflects a division of labor between the subject, who registers sensation, and the other, who names it. Consequently, what the dissociative patient r ecognizes as "me" is determined by another's interpretation, and the subjec t knows him- or herself only as he or she is known to another.