Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a controversial diagnosis and empirical data on the efficacy of treatment modalities are scanty. The objective of this study was to explore the frequency of the diagnosis, the types and efficacy of prevailing treatment practices, and to examine demographic data on patients in the Netherlands. A questionnaire, including questions on one selected DID patient, was mailed to 1,452 Dutch psychiatrists. The response rate was 46.7%. A total of 273 psychiatrists reported having made the diagnosis at least once. The diagnosis was made in a statistically significant manner more frequently by female psychiatrists, by psychiatrists aged 50 years or younger, and by those certified after 1982. No correlation was observed with primary theoretical orientation or the type or topography of work facility. The mean age of the selected patients was 33.2 and the male:female (M:F) ratio 1:9. The majority of patients were seen once a week in an outpatient setting. Individual psychotherapy and adjunctive anxiolytic or antidepressant medications were the most widely endorsed treatment modalities. Hypnosis was rarely used. We conclude that the diagnosis of DID is not to be dismissed as a local eccentricity. It is warranted as an explanatory framework in the context of a psychotherapeutic treatment.

A déjà vu experience is a dissociative phenomenon, which can be characterized as a subjectively inappropriate impression of familiarity of the present with an undefined past. This paper reviews empirical studies on déjà vu experiences and summarizes the most salient findings. Overall, the findings appear to be inconsistent and inconclusive. The authors conclude that the available empirical research is of limited significance due to various methodological and conceptual issues. In order to evaluate the clinical psychiatric relevance of déjà vu experiences, further research which also addresses its qualitative features is warranted.

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Within a psychiatric hospital it has been attempted to realize a maximum number of the elements of the therapeutic community. Problems here are the short median stays of patients and the rapid turnover of both patients and staff. What is more, a basic problem of the therapeutic community was encountered, namely that the interests of the individual patient and of the patients as a group are considered as identical. Thus there came about the development of the principle of separate responsibility, whereby a division of responsibility is made between the individual patient and the unit. Work is carried out by multidisciplinary and largely democratized teams.

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