Page 37 - NAMAH-Jan-2020

Namah Notes on counselling

through yoga can help to construct a veritable dissociative amnesia but a dissociative trance
defence, allowing a subject to remain in calm state preceding the amnesia where he had
and equipoise amidst intense adversities. bruised and tied himself in an altered state
In fact, such practices could be included in of consciousness.
the repertoire of coping strategies used in
disaster-prone areas. This boy hailed from a family who were
illiterate and he was the first one ever who
Dissociative amnesia was scheduled to appear for the board
examinations. There was a tremendous build-
A 16-year-old boy hailing from a low socio up of anxiety coupled with high familial
-economic background in an Indian city was expectation, because in such a background
scheduled to appear for his school leaving the family’s social status and prestige would
board examinations but on the first day of rise if he could pass the examination. The boy
his examinations, he was nowhere to be was a slow learner and could not cope with
found. He was finally discovered at the back the ensuing stress of performance.
of his house with his hands tied at his back
and multiple bruises on his lower abdomen Such dissociative states that can be traced to
which were not deep enough to penetrate traumatic situations are often encountered in
the skin. He had no memory of what had psychiatric practice.
happened to him. Surprisingly this was
not the first year he failed to appear for his Dissociative identity and multiple self-
board examinations. This phenomenon had states
occurred too during the last two years when
he also missed his examinations. Two years In a case of dissociative amnesia, a certain
back, he had severe convulsions on the first self-state has been pushed aside for events
day of his examinations. One year back, he that had occurred while another self-state
developed fatigue and fever just prior to his comes in front. We frequently find in clinical
examinations. practice patients who have forgotten one or
other important aspect of life while other
This was a classical case where the pheno- aspects of life continue. There seems to be
menon of dissociation presented in different some sort of switching that allows one self-
ways for three consecutive years that successfully state to come forward in lieu of another self-
made him avoid the enormous stress of the state. Thus a young lady with a small child
board examinations. The first time he had suddenly could not recognise her in-laws
pseudo-seizures. The second time he had a (she was married into a joint family where
somatoform disorder which is closely linked besides her husband, she had to live with
with dissociative disorders, the only difference her husband’s parents and siblings). She was
being that the dissociative disorders affect taken to her family of origin where she fared
specifically the motor and sensory systems better but the selective amnesia persisted. She
while somatoform disorders present physical revealed to her therapist that she did not want
symptoms without any organic base (5). The to stay with her in-laws as they had often
third time he had appeared not only with a dealt contemptuously with her. She however

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