eiseEducation

Almost 20 years ago, psychologist Andrew Moskowitz published a pair of articles on the relationship between dissociation and violent crime (Moskowitz, 2004a, 2004b). At that time, the relevance of trauma to violence had been recognized (e.g., The Cycle of Violence, Widom, 1989), but the important corollary role of dissociation had hardly been noted. In these two articles – a broad review of the relationship between dissociation and violence and an analysis of the role of dissociation in different types of offenders – a range of important issues were considered, including: a) the prevalence of dissociation in violence, b) the frequency of amnesia after violent crime and its relation to dissociation, c) violence committed by individuals with dissociative disorders, d) dissociation as a mediator between childhood trauma and adulthood violence, e) peri-traumatic dissociation during violent episodes, and f) the role of dissociation in violent fantasies and Amok-style mass murders. Since 2004, these two seminal articles have been referenced hundreds of times in subsequent reviews and empirical investigations. The continued relevance and importance of the issues raised there will be discussed in the context of recent research and publications, along with implications for research, clinical work and forensic evaluation. Prof Andrew Moskowitz will provide a comprehensive overview of the links and overlaps between the trauma, dissociation and violence.