Open Journal of Medical Psychology, 2022, 11, 243-253 https://www.scirp.org/journal/ojmp ISSN Online: 2165-9389 ISSN Print: 2165-9370 DOI: 10.4236/ojmp.2022.114018 Oct. 9, 2022 243 Open Journal of Medical Psychology Dissociation, Dissociative Disorders and Partial Psychosis Domina Petric University Hospital Center, Split, Croatia Abstract Background: Dissociation may be defined as a psychopathological process in which an individual’s psyche splits into two or more parts. The division of personality is a key element in trauma, especially if the patient is not able to cope with it. At least one part of personality may be relatively able to under- stand and function in the objective reality, whilst other part(s) of the psyche may be more or less disorganized, dysfunctional and less able to understand the truth. Methods: literature review; conceptualization of dissociation, dis- sociative disorders and partial psychosis from medical and philosophical pers- pective. Conclusion: The core of dissociation and dissociative disorders is usually psychological trauma, especially emotional trauma, although some in- dividuals may experience dissociation without any obvious cause or trigger. Carefully designed trauma-focused psychotherapy and psychosocial support are considered and must be further studied as the cornerstone of multidiscip- linary approach in the treatment of dissociative disorders. Dissociative iden- tity disorder in its severe form may resemble characteristics of partial psycho- sis. Some patients suffering from partial psychosis have narcissistic personal- ity traits, such as shamelessness, magical thinking, arrogance, envy, entitle- ment, exploitation and bad boundaries, and therefore, developing healthy self-love, which is based on healthy self-criticism, realistic thinking, humility, gratefulness, democratic behavior, altruism and good boundaries, might be helpful for these patients. Keywords Dissociation, Dissociative Disorders, Partial Psychosis, Psychological Trauma 1. Introduction Dissociation may be defined as a psychopathological process in which an indi- How to cite this paper: Petric, D. (2022) Dissociation, Dissociative Disorders and Partial Psychosis. Open Journal of Medical Psychology, 11, 243-253. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojmp.2022.114018 Received: August 7, 2022 Accepted: October 6, 2022 Published: October 9, 2022 Copyright © 2022 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access