There is a general lack of consensus in the diagnosis and treatment of DID and research on treatment effectiveness focuses mainly on clinical approaches described in case studies. General treatment guidelines exist that suggest a phased, eclectic approach with more concrete guidance and agreement on early stages but no systematic, empirically-supported approach exists and later stages of treatment are not well described and have no consensus. Even highly experienced therapists have few patients that achieve a unified identity. Common treatment methods include an eclectic mix of psychotherapy techniques, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), insight-oriented therapies, dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), hypnotherapy and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). Medications can be used for comorbid disorders or targeted symptom relief. Some behavior therapists initially use behavioral treatments such as only responding to a single identity, and then use more traditional therapy once a consistent response is established. Brief treatment due to managed care may be difficult, as individuals diagnosed with DID may have unusual difficulties in trusting a therapist and take a prolonged period to form a comfortable therapeutic alliance. Regular contact (weekly or biweekly) is more common, and treatment generally lasts years—not weeks or months. Sleep hygiene has been suggested as a treatment option, but has not been tested. In general there are very few clinical trials on the treatment of DID, none of which were randomized controlled trials.

Therapy for DID is generally phase oriented. Different alters may appear based on their greater ability to deal with specific situational stresses or threats. While some patients may initially present with a large number of alters, this number may reduce during treatment—though it is considered important for the therapist to become familiar with at least the more prominent personality states as the "host" personality may not be the "true" identity of the patient. Specific alters may react negatively to therapy, fearing the therapist's goal is to eliminate the alter (particularly those associated with illegal or violent activities). A more realistic and appropriate goal of treatment is to integrate adaptive responses to abuse, injury or other threats into the overall personality structure. There is debate over issues such as whether exposure therapy (reliving traumatic memories, also known as abreaction), engagement with alters and physical contact during therapy are appropriate and there are clinical opinions both for and against each option with little high-quality evidence for any position.

Brandt et al., noting the lack of empirical studies of treatment effectiveness, conducted a survey of 36 clinicians expert in treating dissociative disorder (DD) who recommended a three-stage treatment. They agreed that skill building in the first stage is important so the patient can learn to handle high risk, potentially dangerous behavior, as well as emotional regulation, interpersonal effectiveness and other practical behaviors. In addition, they recommended "trauma-based cognitive therapy" to reduce cognitive distortions related to trauma; they also recommended that the therapist deal with the dissociated identities early in treatment. In the middle stage, they recommended graded exposure techniques, along with appropriate interventions as needed. The treatment in the last stage was more individualized; few with DD became integrated into one identity.

The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation has published guidelines to phase-oriented treatment in adults as well as children and adolescents that are widely used in the field of DID treatment. The first phase of therapy focuses on symptoms and relieving the distressing aspects of the condition, ensuring the safety of the individual, improving the patient's capacity to form and maintain healthy relationships, and improving general daily life functioning. Comorbid disorders such as substance abuse and eating disorders are addressed in this phase of treatment. The second phase focuses on stepwise exposure to traumatic memories and prevention of re-dissociation. The final phase focuses on reconnecting the identities of disparate alters into a single functioning identity with all its memories and experiences intact.

A study was conducted with the goal of developing an "expertise-based prognostic model for the treatment of complex posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and dissociative identity disorder (DID)". Researchers constructed a two-stage survey and factor analyses performed on the survey elements found 51 factors common to complex PTSD and DID. The authors concluded from their findings: "The model is supportive of the current phase-oriented treatment model, emphasizing the strengthening of the therapeutic relationship and the patient's resources in the initial stabilization phase. Further research is needed to test the model's statistical and clinical validity."

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is sometimes used in severe cases when other interventions for severe intractable depression have failed. Psychosurgery is considered experimental but is advocated by some neurologists in certain rare cases.

Counseling (professional) and co-counseling (between peers) may be used. Psychoeducation programs may provide people with the information to understand and manage their problems. Creative therapies are sometimes used, including music therapy, art therapy or drama therapy. Lifestyle adjustments and supportive measures are often used, including peer support, self-help groups for mental health and supported housing or supported employment (including social firms). Some advocate dietary supplements.

Reasonable accommodations (adjustments and supports) might be put in place to help an individual cope and succeed in environments despite potential disability related to mental health problems. This could include an emotional support animal or specifically trained psychiatric service dog.

A major option for many mental disorders is psychiatric medication and there are several main groups. Antidepressants are used for the treatment of clinical depression, as well as often for anxiety and a range of other disorders. Anxiolytics (including sedatives) are used for anxiety disorders and related problems such as insomnia. Mood stabilizers are used primarily in bipolar disorder. Antipsychotics are used for psychotic disorders, notably for positive symptoms in schizophrenia, and also increasingly for a range of other disorders. Stimulants are commonly used, notably for ADHD.

Despite the different conventional names of the drug groups, there may be considerable overlap in the disorders for which they are actually indicated, and there may also be off-label use of medications. There can be problems with adverse effects of medication and adherence to them, and there is also criticism of pharmaceutical marketing and professional conflicts of interest.

There are a number of different treatments that are available to treat and manage conversion syndrome. Treatments for conversion syndrome include hypnosis, psychotherapy, physical therapy, stress management, and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Treatment plans will consider duration and presentation of symptoms and may include one or multiple of the above treatments. This may include the following:

1. Explanation. This must be clear and coherent as attributing physical symptoms to a psychological cause is not accepted by many educated people in western cultures. It must emphasize the genuineness of the condition, that it is common, potentially reversible and does not mean that the sufferer is psychotic. Taking a neutral-cause-based stance by describing the symptoms as functional may be helpful, but further studies are required. Ideally, the patient should be followed up neurologically for a while to ensure that the diagnosis has been understood.

2. Physiotherapy where appropriate;

3. Occupational Therapy to maintain autonomy in activities of daily living;

4. Treatment of comorbid depression or anxiety if present.

There is little evidence-based treatment of conversion disorder. Other treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy, hypnosis, EMDR, and psychodynamic psychotherapy, EEG brain biofeedback need further trials. Psychoanalytic treatment may possibly be helpful. However, most studies assessing the efficacy of these treatments are of poor quality and larger, better controlled studies are urgently needed. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is the most common treatment, however boasts a mere 13% improvement rate.

Another example of treatment besides coding is Functional Ideographic Assessment Template. The functional ideographic assessment template, also known as FIAT, was used as a way to generalize the clinical processes of functional analytic psychotherapy. The template was made by a combined effort of therapists and can be used to represent the behaviors that are a focus for this treatment. Using the FIAT therapists can create a common language to get stable and accurate communication results through functional analytic psychotherapy at the ease of the client; as well as the therapist.

Another way to treat histrionic personality disorder after identification is through functional analytic psychotherapy. The job of a Functional Analytic Psychotherapist is to identify the interpersonal problems with the patient as they happen in session or out of session. Initial goals of functional analytic psychotherapy are set by the therapist and include behaviors that fit the client's needs for improvement. Functional analytic psychotherapy differs from the traditional psychotherapy due to the fact that the therapist directly addresses the patterns of behavior as they occur in-session.

The in-session behaviors of the patient or client are considered to be examples of their patterns of poor interpersonal communication and to adjust their neurotic defenses. To do this, the therapist must act on the client's behavior as it happens in real time and give feedback on how the client's behavior is affecting their relationship during therapy. The therapist also helps the client with histrionic personality disorder by denoting behaviors that happen outside of treatment; these behaviors are termed "Outside Problems" and "Outside Improvements". This allows the therapist to assist in problems and improvements outside of session and to verbally support the client and condition optimal patterns of behavior". This then can reflect on how they are advancing in-session and outside of session by generalizing their behaviors over time for changes or improvement".

There are many different forms (modalities) of treatment used for personality disorders:

- Individual psychotherapy has been a mainstay of treatment. There are long-term and short-term (brief) forms.

- Family therapy, including couples therapy.

- Group therapy for personality dysfunction is probably the second most used.

- Psychological-education may be used as an addition.

- Self-help groups may provide resources for personality disorders.

- Psychiatric medications for treating symptoms of personality dysfunction or co-occurring conditions.

- Milieu therapy, a kind of group-based residential approach, has a history of use in treating personality disorders, including therapeutic communities.

- The practice of mindfulness that includes developing the ability to be nonjudgmentally aware of unpleasant emotions appears to be a promising clinical tool for managing different types of personality disorders.

There are different specific theories or schools of therapy within many of these modalities. They may, for example, emphasize psychodynamic techniques, or cognitive or behavioral techniques. In clinical practice, many therapists use an 'eclectic' approach, taking elements of different schools as and when they seem to fit to an individual client. There is also often a focus on common themes that seem to be beneficial regardless of techniques, including attributes of the therapist (e.g. trustworthiness, competence, caring), processes afforded to the client (e.g. ability to express and confide difficulties and emotions), and the match between the two (e.g. aiming for mutual respect, trust and boundaries).

Empirical studies have found that the prognosis for conversion disorder varies widely, with some cases resolving in weeks, and others enduring for years or decades. There is also evidence that there is no cure for Conversion Disorder, and that although patients may go into remission, they can relapse at any point. Furthermore, many patients who are 'cured' continue to have some degree of symptoms indefinitely.

As mentioned earlier, anti-anxiety, antidepressants and tranquilizers are treatment medications that do not cure, but help control the symptoms of dissociative disorders. The accepted mode of treatment are atypical neuroleptics such as Abilify, Zyprexa, Seroquel and Geodon. Newer-generation anticonvulsants are also highly effective. Quetiapine is initiated at 25–50 mg PO bid and increased by 50 mg PO bid q3d until symptom resolution is achieved. The higher dose should be administered nightly due to the strong sedation effects of the medicine. Other medications such as SSRIs and SNRIs may reduce the anxiety and apprehension of the dissociation.

Keppra may be effective in treating dissociation. Doses are usually kept much lower than for the treatment of seizure disorders. Lamotrigine started at 25 mg and increased by 25 mg every 2 weeks is another option. The effects of these novel anticonvulsants is thought to be secondary to GABA modulation.

Risk factors: People who experience chronic physical, sexual or emotional childhood abuse are at a greater risk of developing dissociative disorders. Children and adults experiencing other traumatic events (including war, natural disasters, kidnapping, torture and invasive medical procedures) also may develop these conditions.

Little is known about prognosis of untreated DID. It rarely, if ever, goes away without treatment, but symptoms may resolve from time to time or wax and wane spontaneously. Patients with mainly dissociative and posttraumatic symptoms face a better prognosis than those with comorbid disorders or those still in contact with abusers, and the latter groups often face lengthier and more difficult treatment. Suicidal ideation, failed suicide attempts, and self-harm also occur. Duration of treatment can vary depending on patient goals, which can extend from elimination of all alters to merely reducing inter-alter amnesia, but generally takes years.

The management and treatment of personality disorders can be a challenging and controversial area, for by definition the difficulties have been enduring and affect multiple areas of functioning. This often involves interpersonal issues, and there can be difficulties in seeking and obtaining help from organizations in the first place, as well as with establishing and maintaining a specific therapeutic relationship. On the one hand, an individual may not consider themselves to have a mental health problem, while on the other, community mental health services may view individuals with personality disorders as too complex or difficult, and may directly or indirectly exclude individuals with such diagnoses or associated behaviors. The disruptiveness that people with personality disorders can create in an organisation makes these, arguably, the most challenging conditions to manage.

Apart from all these issues, an individual may not consider their personality to be disordered or the cause of problems. This perspective may be caused by the patient's ignorance or lack of insight into their own condition, an ego-syntonic perception of the problems with their personality that prevents them from experiencing it as being in conflict with their goals and self-image, or by the simple fact that there is no distinct or objective boundary between 'normal' and 'abnormal' personalities. Unfortunately, there is substantial social stigma and discrimination related to the diagnosis.

The term 'personality disorder' encompasses a wide range of issues, each with a different level of severity or disability; thus, personality disorders can require fundamentally different approaches and understandings. To illustrate the scope of the matter, consider that while some disorders or individuals are characterized by continual social withdrawal and the shunning of relationships, others may cause "fluctuations" in forwardness. The extremes are worse still: at one extreme lie self-harm and self-neglect, while at another extreme some individuals may commit violence and crime. There can be other factors such as problematic substance use or dependency or behavioral addictions. A person may meet the criteria for multiple personality disorder diagnoses and/or other mental disorders, either at particular times or continually, thus making coordinated input from multiple services a potential requirement.

Therapists in this area can become disheartened by lack of initial progress, or by apparent progress that then leads to setbacks. Clients may be perceived as negative, rejecting, demanding, aggressive or manipulative. This has been looked at in terms of both therapist and client; in terms of social skills, coping efforts, defense mechanisms, or deliberate strategies; and in terms of moral judgments or the need to consider underlying motivations for specific behaviors or conflicts. The vulnerabilities of a client, and indeed a therapist, may become lost behind actual or apparent strength and resilience. It is commonly stated that there is always a need to maintain appropriate professional personal boundaries, while allowing for emotional expression and therapeutic relationships. However, there can be difficulty acknowledging the different worlds and views that both the client and therapist may live with. A therapist may assume that the kinds of relationships and ways of interacting that make them feel safe and comfortable have the same effect on clients. As an example of one extreme, people who may have been exposed to hostility, deceptiveness, rejection, aggression or abuse in their lives, may in some cases be made confused, intimidated or suspicious by presentations of warmth, intimacy or positivity. On the other hand, reassurance, openness and clear communication are usually helpful and needed. It can take several months of sessions, and perhaps several stops and starts, to begin to develop a trusting relationship that can meaningfully address a client's issues.

No true psychiatric medications are prescribed for factitious disorder. However, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) can help manage underlying problems. Medicines such as SSRIs that are used to treat mood disorders can be used to treat FD, as a mood disorder may be the underlying cause of FD. Some authors (such as Prior and Gordon 1997) also report good responses to antipsychotic drugs such as Pimozide. Family therapy can also help. In such therapy, families are helped to better understand patients (the individual in the family with FD) and that person's need for attention.

In this therapeutic setting, the family is urged not to condone or reward the FD individual's behavior. This form of treatment can be unsuccessful if the family is uncooperative or displays signs of denial and/or antisocial disorder. Psychotherapy is another method used to treat the disorder. These sessions should focus on the psychiatrist's establishing and maintaining a relationship with the patient. Such a relationship may help to contain symptoms of FD. Monitoring is also a form that may be indicated for the FD patient's own good; FD (especially proxy) can be detrimental to an individual's health—if they are, in fact, causing true physiological illnesses. Even faked illnesses/injuries can be dangerous, and might be monitored for fear that unnecessary surgery may subsequently be performed.

In China, traditional treatment based on the causes suggested by cultural beliefs are administrated to the patient. Praying to gods and asking Taoist priests to perform exorcism is common. If a fox spirit is believed to be involved, people may hit gongs or beat the person to drive it out. The person will receive a yang- or yin-augmenting Chinese medicine potion, usually including herbs, pilose antler (stag of deer) or deer tail, and tiger penis, deer penis, or fur seal penis. Other foods for therapy are pepper soup, ginger soup and liquor.

Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) has primarily substituted the psychoanalytic and dynamic approach in the treatment of kleptomania. Numerous behavioural approaches have been recommended as helpful according to several cases stated in the literature. They include: hidden sensitisation by unpleasant images of nausea and vomiting, aversion therapy (for example, aversive holding of breath to achieve a slightly painful feeling every time a desire to steal or the act is imagined), and systematic desensitisation. In certain instances, the use of combining several methods such as hidden sensitisation along with exposure and response prevention were applied. Even though the approaches used in CBT need more research and investigation in kleptomania, success in combining these methods with medication was illustrated over the use of drug treatment as the single method of treatment.

Individual therapy may be best suited to treat the individual's delusions. Persistence is needed in establishing a therapeutic empathy without validating the patient’s delusional system or overtly confronting the system. Cognitive techniques that include reality testing and reframing can be used. Antipsychotics and other therapeutic drugs have been used with relative success.

Psychotherapy, more specifically, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), is the most widely used form of treatment for Somatic symptom disorder. In 2016, a randomized 12-week study suggested steady and significant improvement in health anxiety measures with cognitive behavioral therapy compared to the control group.

CBT can help in some of the following ways:

- Learn to reduce stress

- Learn to cope with physical symptoms

- Learn to deal with depression and other psychological issues

- Improve quality of life

- Reduce preoccupation with symptom

Moreover, brief psychodynamic interpersonal psychotherapy (PIT) for patients with multisomatoform disorder has shown its long-term efficacy for improving the physical quality of life in patients with multiple, difficult-to-treat, medically unexplained symptoms.

Antidepressant medication has also been used to treat some of the symptoms of depression and anxiety that are common among people who have somatic symptom disorder. Medications will not cure somatic symptom disorder, but can help the treatment process when combined with CBT.

The phenomenological similarity and the suggested common basic biological dynamics of kleptomania and OCD, pathological gambling and trichotillomania gave rise to the theory that the similar groups of medications could be used in all these conditions. Consequently, the primary use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) group, which is a form of antidepressant, has been used in kleptomania and other impulse control disorders such as binge eating and OCD. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), lithium and valproic acid (sodium valproate) have been used as well.

The SSRI's usage is due to the assumption that the biological dynamics of these conditions derives from low levels of serotonin in brain synapses, and that the efficacy of this type of therapy will be relevant to kleptomania and to other comorbid conditions.

Opioid receptor antagonists are regarded as practical in lessening urge-related symptoms, which is a central part of impulse control disorders; for this reason, they are used in treatment of substance abuse. This quality makes them helpful in treating kleptomania and impulse control disorders in general. The most frequently used drug is naltrexone, a long-acting competitive antagonist. Naltrexone acts mainly at μ-receptors, but also antagonises κ- and λ-receptors.

There have been no controlled studies of the psycho-pharmacological treatment of kleptomania. This could be as a consequence of kleptomania being a rare phenomenon and the difficulty in achieving a large enough sample. Facts about this issue come largely from case reports or from bits and pieces gathered from a comparatively small number of cases enclosed in a group series.

With the advent of industrialization came the mechanization of massage therapy, the steam powered 'Manipulator’ table massager created in the late 1860s and other devices similar in nature were becoming more available in the mid 19th century. Doctors could now increase their patient load by either investing in a portable vibratory device or having one installed in their office. This new technology also allowed husbands whose wives had been diagnosed with hysteria to partake in the treatments at home. This kind of treatment to induce what is now realized to be an orgasm in women was not considered a sexual act as, with the androcentric model for sexuality, it wasn't considered a true sexual act unless there was penetration and ejaculation. Other mechanized forms of treatment in the mid 19th century included Hydrotherapy with a pelvic douche massager, where cold water was blasted at a high pressure at a woman's abdomen. These devices were harder to sell to doctor’s offices because of the expense and the equipment needed to produce the right amount of water pressure, so spas took up the practice offering it not just as muscle therapy but also for treatment of hysteria.

Hysteria, in the colloquial use of the term, means ungovernable emotional excess. Generally, modern medical professionals have abandoned using the term "hysteria" to denote a diagnostic category, replacing it with more precisely defined categories, such as somatization disorder. In 1980, the American Psychiatric Association officially changed the diagnosis of "hysterical neurosis, conversion type" (the most extreme and effective type) to "conversion disorder".

While the word "hysteria" originates from the Greek word for uterus, "hystera", the word itself is not an ancient one, and the term "hysterical suffocation" - meaning a feeling of heat and inability to breathe - was instead used in ancient Greek medicine. This suggests an entirely physical cause for the symptoms but, by linking them to the uterus, suggests that the disorder can only be found in women. Historically, hysteria was thought to manifest itself in women with a variety of symptoms, including: anxiety, shortness of breath, fainting, insomnia, irritability, nervousness, as well as sexually forward behaviour. These symptoms mimic symptoms of other more definable diseases and create a case for arguing against the validity of hysteria as an actual disease, and it is often implied that it is an umbrella term, used to describe an indefinable illness. Through to the 20th century, however, the label hysteria was applied to a mental, rather than uterine or physical, affliction. Hysteria is no longer thought of as a real ailment.

The history of hysteria has seen the approach of Ilza Veith, in which there is one disorder constant across time, and in which Freud is the hero with history becoming a steady progress towards his insights, replaced in the 1990s by scholarship based on closer knowledge of the original source texts. Through its lack of use as a medical diagnosis the term ‘hysteria’ now has connotations of mass panic, imagined or real. The term when applied to a singular person can mean that they are emotional or irrationally upset; when applied to a situation, it denotes it as funny.

In historical culture-bound cases, reassurance and talks on sexual anatomy are given. Patients are treated with psychotherapy distributed according to symptoms and to etiologically significant points in the past. Prognosis appears to be better in cases with a previously functional personality, a short history and low frequency of attacks, and a relatively uncomplicated sexual life.

For sporadic Western cases, careful diagnostic workup including searching for underlying sexual conflict is common. The choice of psychotherapeutic treatment is based on the psychiatric pathology found.

In her final book, "Neurosis and Human Growth", Karen Horney laid out a complete theory of the origin and dynamics of neurosis. In her theory, neurosis is a distorted way of looking at the world and at oneself, which is determined by compulsive needs rather than by a genuine interest in the world as it is. Horney proposed that neurosis is transmitted to a child from his or her early environment and that there are many ways in which this can occur:

The child's initial reality is then distorted by his or her parents' needs and pretenses. Growing up with neurotic caretakers, the child quickly becomes insecure and develops basic anxiety. To deal with this anxiety, the child's imagination creates an idealized self-image:

Once he identifies himself with his idealized image, a number of effects follow. He will make claims on others and on life based on the prestige he feels entitled to because of his idealized self-image. He will impose a rigorous set of standards upon himself in order to try to measure up to that image. He will cultivate pride, and with that will come the vulnerabilities associated with pride that lacks any foundation. Finally, he will despise himself for all his limitations. Vicious circles will operate to strengthen all of these effects. Eventually, as he grows to adulthood, a particular "solution" to all the inner conflicts and vulnerabilities will solidify. He will be expansive and will display symptoms of narcissism, perfectionism, or vindictiveness. Or he will be self-effacing and compulsively compliant; he will display symptoms of neediness or codependence. Or he will be resigned and will display schizoid tendencies.

In Horney's view, mild anxiety disorders and full-blown personality disorders all fall under her basic scheme of neurosis as variations in the degree of severity and in the individual dynamics.The opposite of neurosis is a condition Horney calls self-realization, a state of being in which the person responds to the world with the full depth of his or her spontaneous feelings, rather than with anxiety-driven compulsion. Thus the person grows to actualize his or her inborn potentialities. Horney compares this process to an acorn that grows and becomes a tree.

Piblokto, also known as pibloktoq and Arctic hysteria, is a condition most commonly appearing in Inughuit (Greenlandic Inuit) societies living within the Arctic Circle. Piblokto is a culture-specific hysterical reaction in Inuit, especially women, who may perform irrational or dangerous acts, followed by amnesia for the event. Piblokto may be linked to repression of the personality of Inuit women. The condition appears most commonly in winter. It is considered to be a form of a culture-bound syndrome, although more recent studies (see "Skepticism" section) question whether it exists at all. Piblokto is also part of the glossary of cultural bound syndromes found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).

When pseudoneurotic schizophrenia was still being utilized as a diagnostic term, doctors were expected to be able to magically cure patients. Patients usually had very little understanding of themselves and the complexity of their illness. They were willing to employ any process in order to maintain mental stability. Their perception of mental stability, however, was also impaired, which made it much more difficult to make proper, helpful medication prescriptions.

Patients would often misuse medication in order to receive attention from their families. They would describe the dosage and effects of the medicine in some strange demeanor to demonstrate that their illness was physical rather than psychological. In like manner, taking medication also kept doctors concerned about the possibility of the patient developing substance dependence and/or drug addiction. Patients used this to get attention and sympathy from others.

Dissociative identity disorder (multiple personality disorder)

Cause: People with dissociative identity disorder usually have close relatives who have also had similar experiences.

Treatment: Long-term psychotherapy that helps the patient merge his/her multiple personalities into one personality. “The trauma of the past has to be explored and resolved with proper emotional expression. Hospitalization may be required if behavior becomes bizarre or destructive”. Dissociative identity disorder has a tendency to recur over a period of several years, and may become less of a problem after mid-life.

Dissociative amnesia

Cause: A way to cope with trauma.

Treatment: Psychotherapy (e.g. talk therapy) counseling or psychosocial therapy which involves talking about your disorder and related issues with a mental health provider. Psychotherapy often involves hypnosis (help you remember and work through the trauma); creative art therapy (using creative process to help a person who cannot express his or her thoughts); cognitive therapy (talk therapy to identify unhealthy and negative beliefs/behaviors); and medications (antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications or tranquilizers). These medications help control the mental health symptoms associated with the disorders, but there are no medications that specifically treat dissociative disorders. However, the medication Pentothal can sometimes help to restore the memories. The length of an event of dissociative amnesia may be a few minutes or several years. If an episode is associated with a traumatic event, the amnesia may clear up when the person is removed from the traumatic situation.

Dissociative fugue

Cause: A stressful event that happens in adulthood.

Treatment: Hypnosis is often used to help patient recall true identity and remember events of the past. Psychotherapy is helpful for the person who has traumatic, past events to resolve. Once dissociative fugue is discovered and treated, many people recover quickly. The problem may never happen again.

Depersonalization disorder

Cause: Dissociative disorders usually develop as a way to cope with trauma. The disorders most often form in children subjected to chronic physical, sexual or emotional abuse or, less frequently, a home environment that is otherwise frightening or highly unpredictable; however, this disorder can also acutely form due to severe traumas such as war or the death of a loved one.

Treatment: Same treatment as dissociative amnesia, and same drugs. An episode of depersonalization disorder can be as brief as a few seconds or continue for several years.

Amafufunyana is an unspecified "culture-bound" syndrome named by the traditional healers of the Xhosa people that relates to claims of demonic possession due to members of the Xhosa people exhibiting aberrant behavior and psychological concerns. After study, it was discovered that this term is directed toward people suffering from varying types of schizophrenia. A similar term, ukuthwasa, is used to refer to positive types of claimed possession, though this event also involves those suffering from schizophrenia. It has also found cultural usage among some groups of Zulu peoples.

The direct translation of the term "amafufunyana" is nerves and is a part of a much more complex cultural ideology connecting varying types of psychosis with religious, social, and recently psychiatric beliefs and activities. In a 1998 interview with Xhosa people suffering from schizophrenia by Lund et al., it was determined that through interaction with scientists and psychological services, the preferred treatment for the cultural condition had shifted from relation to traditional healers to active psychiatric assessment.