A research agenda for the dissociative disorders field

Abstract

Compared to previous decades, there has been a marked increase in the quantity of research on Dissociative Disorders since the early 1980s. These publications also came from more countries and discussed a wider range of topics than previously addressed (Pope, Barry, Bodkin, & Hudson, 2006; Şar et al., 2006). A journal dedicated to the field, the Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, has been indexed by Medline and PubMed since 2005, and in Web of Science since 2008. DSM-5 (2013) and ICD-11 (2019) have provided a nosology and classification of dissociative disorders in the most updated and convergent way ever in their histories. Despite these developments, which document persistent expansion of knowledge in the field, dissociative disorders and dissociation remain still an understudied domain of psychology and psychopathology. In consideration of this gap, we review several major issues in the dissociative disorders field which may constitute starting points for further study. A special emphasis has been made on potential areas of innovation in general psychiatry which may be triggered by studies on dissociative disorders.