Cultural Presentations of Dissociation: The Case of Possession Trance Experiences
Journal of Trauma & Dissociation September 17, 2020 Everton de Oliveira Maraldi, A. Costa, Alexandre Cunha et al. 13 citations
Pathological possession experiences, defined as involuntary and unwanted alterations of consciousness attributed to spiritual forces, were subsumed under dissociative identity disorder (DID) in DSM-5, but this link is contested by researchers across countries. It remains unclear how pathological possession differs from possession delusions in psychosis or from cultural syndromes such as ataque de nervios, which some authors consider dissociative. Nonpathological dissociative experiences, including spiritual experiences during religious or ritualistic practices, are also poorly understood.