Treatment Goals for Dissociative Traits in Therapy

Therapy goals should turn dissociative patterns into concrete safety, communication, and functioning targets. ^{1 2 3}

Main ideas

• A goal can be as practical as reducing missed appointments or improving shared access to medication information.
• Parts may need different goals, but the body still needs one shared safety plan.
• Goals should be revisited when new information, stressors, or parts emerge.

Questions for reflection

• What is our shared safety plan?
• Which symptoms are we tracking?
• How will we know a goal needs revision?

Clinical note

A practical goal is not less deep. Sometimes it is the foundation that makes deeper work possible.

Footnotes

1. International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. (2011). Guidelines for treating dissociative identity disorder in adults, third revision. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 12(2), 115-187. pp. 115-187. Full adult DID treatment guideline PDF. ↩

2. Pietkiewicz, I. J., Banbura-Nowak, A., Tomalski, R., & Boon, S. (2021). Revisiting false-positive and imitated dissociative identity disorder. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. Differential diagnosis article. Open access diagnostic caution article. ↩

3. Van der Hart, O., et al. (2012). The use of imagery in phase 1 treatment of clients with complex dissociative disorders. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 3. Phase 1 treatment article. Open access stabilization and imagery article. ↩