ACADEMIA Letters Preventing severe criminal acts in dissociative individuals: could this be a matter of preventing an abusive childhood? Olga Lainidi, University of Derby Clinicians in forensic psychiatric contexts are sometimes confronted with dissociative expe- riences reported by their patients. In this clinical forensic context, dissociation is a subjective and transient phenomenon, mostly inferred from the patient’s testimony. Its recognition in a punctual situation may be uncertain even for a very experienced clinician, especially in foren- sic settings, where dissociation is often used as a factor to minimize the punishment or even escape the legal responsibility of a criminal action (Gunn & Taylor, 2014). Moreover, the concept of dissociation is also not very clearly perceived by the scientifc community. Historical sources are numerous to explain this reserve. Nineteenth-century Eu- rope discovered dissociation with hypnosis, presented with sensationalism and subjectivity by Charcot, who studied hysterical women in a trance. In the twentieth century, North Amer- ica tasted the extravagance of Hollywood’s cinematographic representations of the multiple personality disorder, a topic of psychological mystery par excellence (Lanius, 2015). The purpose of the current paper is to discuss dissociation as the result of trauma in foren- sic settings, particularly in criminal ofenders in correctional institutions like general or psy- chiatric prisons. Ofenders with dissociation disorders or dissociative symptomatology can often be individuals who have experienced a psychological trauma that resulted in a dissocia- tive response, as a mechanism of survival. However, these individuals often exhibit violent and criminal behaviors, causing physical, sexual abuse or even murder and as a result are put in correctional institution (Dorahy et al., 2015). The mental health conditions related to disso- ciation require clinical interventions that can be carried out within service by special educated forensic psychiatrists or/and clinical psychologists. Dissociative disorders are characterized by “disturbance and / or discontinuity in the nor- mal integration of consciousness, memory, identity, emotions, perception, body representa- Academia Letters, July 2021 Corresponding Author: Olga Lainidi, lndolga@gmail.com Citation: Lainidi, O. (2021). Preventing severe criminal acts in dissociative individuals: could this be a matter of preventing an abusive childhood? Academia Letters, Article 2216. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2216. 1 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0