Dissociation and Transformation

Humanistic psychology looks toward the healthiest, most fully developed individuals as models for human potential. Dissociation of consciousness has generally been seen as pathological. There is increasing evidence, however, that dissociated states of consciousness can also be components of a healthy developmental path. The phenomenon of dissociation into more than one personality, each with a separate sense of self-identity, allows for complex transformative processes to occur within the "community of selves." Evidence for these processes comes from clinical studies of multiple personality, experimental studies of hypnosis, and introspective accounts by dissociators.