ABSTRACT
To a large degree, the story of dissociation within Western history is simultaneously the story of possession, mesmerism/magnetism, hypnosis, hysteria, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and dissociative identity disorder (DID). Uniting them is a common thread of symptoms and treatment methods that weaves through at least 20 centuries of human experience (Ellenberger, 1970). The goal of this chapter is to provide the reader with a sense of how the concepts and theories of dissociative disorders have progressed, particularly through the last century.
