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Dissociation: what is it and why is it important?

Consultant Neurologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Western General Hospital, Crewe Road, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK; Jon.Stone@ed.ac.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Dissociation is a mysterious and "woolly" area for many neurologists. In this article I will try to persuade you that it describes a common and interesting group of symptoms that many of our patients have—both with and without disease. I will suggest that it should be in the differential diagnosis for anyone presenting with dizziness or blank spells. Dissociative symptoms also occur in common neurological problems such as migraine, epilepsy, and syncope as well as in people with symptoms such as functional weakness, non-epileptic attacks, and depression. They may also occur in isolation but be mistaken for disease. Being able to recognise them, explain them, and perhaps even do something about them should lead to a happier patient and a happier neurologist. Let’s look at some cases from neurology outpatients:

CASE 1

A 34 year old woman was walking along with some friends when over a period of a minute or two . . . [Full text of this article]