Scientific and popular interest in dissociation and dissociative disorders has grown significantly in the past decade. Responding to the need for an authoritative reference on this topic, Steven Jay Lynn and Judith W. Rhue present an unusually comprehensive volume, covering the major aspects of dissociation--from the predominant models and diagnostic and treatment approaches, to significant research, clinical, and conceptual issues. Illuminating reading, Dissociation confronts many of the controversies and debates surrounding the topic. Founded on research and grounded in theory, it is an important addition to the scholarly literature.

Laying the groundwork for the rest of the book, the first section discusses current theoretical and research perspectives on dissociation. Chapters set forth results of the latest research alongside actual clinical examples. In the second section, chapters present practical information designed to assist clinicians in diagnosing and treating clients suffering from dissociative disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, and the consequences of sexual victimization and cult involvement. Fostering an appreciation for the ways in which social and cultural factors affect the expression of dissociative symptoms, this section also illustrates the ways in which transference and countertransference can affect dissociative symptoms and the treatment of multiple personality disorder, (MPD).

The third section, on current issues and controversies, provides invaluable information for all clinicians who encounter clients with dissociative disorders. Chapters probe such questions as whether trauma causes dissociative pathology, whether and under what circumstances pseudomemories of child abuse can be created, the relationship between conversion and dissociative disorders and their respective placement in diagnostic classification schemes, and areas of possible rapprochement between those who believe in MPD and those who are skeptical of the disorder.

Offering the most significant contribution to scholarly coverage of dissociation to date, this highly provocative volume offers valuable insights for the clinician, as well as many new theories, hypotheses, and syntheses of the research literature. As such, Dissociation will be welcomed by anyone who encounters dissociative disorders in clinical practice. It is also a useful primary text for researchers and students of psychotherapy in a broad range of helping professions.

Steven Jay Lynn, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology at Ohio University and has a private practice. He is a former president of the American Psychological Association's Division of Psychological Hypnosis; a fellow in the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, the Association for Applied and Preventative Psychology, and the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis; and a diplomate and member of the executive committee of the American Board of Psychological Hypnosis. In 1991, the Society for Clinical Hypnosis honored Theories of Hypnosis (co-edited with Judith W. Rhue) as best hypnosis book of the year. Dr. Lynn is an advisory editor of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, and the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, and a North American editor of Contemporary Hypnosis. He has written or edited textbooks on abnormal psychology, hypnosis, and psychotherapy and has published more than 120 articles and book chapters on these and other topics.

Judith W. Rhue, Ph.D., is professor of Family Medicine at the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine and has a private practice. A fellow of the American Psychological Association's Division of Psychological Hypnosis (30), she has received awards for excellence in research from APA Division 30 and from the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis. Co-editor (with Steven Jay Lynn) of the award-winning Theories of Hypnosis, she serves on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis and Contemporary Hypnosis, is coeditor of two hypnosis books with Steven Jay Lynn, and has written numerous articles and book chapters on dissociation, hypnosis, fantasy, and child abuse.