Andrew Moskowitz

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor (Associate) at George Washington University

Maladaptive Daydreaming is a distinct syndrome in which the main symptom is excessive vivid fantasising, which causes clinically significant distress and functional impairment in academic, vocational, and social domains. Unlike normal daydreaming, maladaptive daydreaming is persistent, compulsive, and detrimental to one’s life. It involves detachme...

The association and overlap between psychotic and dissociative phenomena have been increasingly recognized. Previous studies found that psychotic symptoms are closely associated with post-traumatic and dissociative symptoms and that these trauma-related phenomena may mediate the relationship between trauma and psychotic symptoms. It remained less e...

Following late-life spousal bereavement, sensory and quasi-sensory experiences of the deceased (SED) are commonly reported. This longitudinal study examined SED among 310 older widowed adults 6–10 (T1) and 18–20 (T2) months post loss. Reports of SED in the first 6–10 months after loss were associated with higher symptom levels of prolonged grief, p...

Sensory and quasi-sensory experiences of the deceased (SED), also called bereavement hallucinations, are common in bereavement, but research detailing these experiences is limited. Methods: An in-depth survey of SED was developed based on existing research, and 310 older adults from the general Danish population participated in the study 6-10 month...

Objectives This study focuses on pre-disposing factors associated with sensory experiences of the deceased (SED), also called bereavement hallucinations. Even though SED are common among older widowed adults, our knowledge of these experiences is still limited. Method Survey responses were obtained from 310 older widowed participants (M = 70.05 ± 8...

Evidence suggests that dissociation is associated with psychotic experiences, particularly hallucinations, but also other symptoms. However, until now, symptom-specific relationships with dissociation have not been comprehensively synthesized. This is the first prospectively registered (CRD42017058214) meta-analysis to quantify the magnitude of ass...

Both Pierre Janet and the neo-Janetian contemporary theory of structural dissociation of the personality (SDP) view dissociation as inherently pathological – trauma-related dissociation. However, since the late 19th century, other theories have viewed dissociative subsystems of the personality developing after traumatic experiences as continuous wi...

This chapter highlights similarities and differences between brain changes after adversity, on the one hand, and those found in psychotic and dissociative disorders, on the other, and differences between psychotic and dissociative disorders in these areas. Among the dissociative disorders, it focuses on dissociative identity disorder (DID), dissoci...

Hearing voices that other people do not hear has long been considered a cardinal sign of madness. This chapter reviews the research supporting the argument that voice hearing is a dissociative phenomenon. It begins with a brief review of population studies, followed by studies of voice hearing in various clinical and nonclinical groups. The chapter...

For most of human history, the experience of delusions has been synonymous with madness. This chapter considers research and theory from a variety of domains to grapple with the nature of delusions. These will involve theory and research on delusions, including a discussion of Jaspers' Wahnstimmung, multiple memory systems, and early childhood expe...

An understanding of the modern construction of dissociative disorders and psychotic disorders rests on an appreciation of the historical forces shaping their evolution. This chapter focuses on the history of dissociation and psychosis, particularly as it relates to the concepts of hysteria and schizophrenia, from around the time of the Enlightenmen...

This chapter reviews the etymology and historical uses of the terms psychosis, trauma, and dissociation, emphasizing current popular uses. Severe forms of psychological and behavioural dysfunction have been recognized since ancient times, leading to the development of concepts such as 'insanity', 'mania', and 'dementia'. For more than three centuri...

This chapter presents several ways in which Bleuler's concept of schizophrenia is connected to the concept of dissociation. Bleuler criticized Kraepelin's Dementia Preacox, noting that not all cases began early ('praecox') or ended in full mental deterioration. The original concept of schizophrenia, as proposed by Bleuler in 1908 and 1911, was thor...

Bereavement hallucinations (BHs) were assessed in 175 conjugally bereaved participants four years post loss, to explore whether BHs were: a) associated with psychological distress and b) predicted by sociodemographic variables, personality and/or coping style. Participants with BHs scored significantly higher than those without BHs on prolonged gri...

This article describes the conclusions of an investigation done with 120 Spanish patients: the finding of a new psychopathological profile within a subgroup of patients suffering from schizophrenia. The patients were evaluated through different questionnaires about sociodemographic data, traumatic events, the severity index (both clinical and psych...

Exposure to childhood trauma has been implicated in the development of paranoia and hearing voices, but the mechanisms responsible for these associations remain unclear. Understanding these mechanisms is essential for ensuring that targeted interventions can be developed to better support people experiencing distress associated with paranoia and vo...

Despite the long association between auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) or voice hearing and schizophrenia, recent research has demonstrated AVH's presence in other disorders and in persons without a diagnosis, particularly amongst those with a history of traumatization. But are there differences in the type of voices between these populations?

Schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) and dissociative disorders (DDs) are described in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5) and tenth edition of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) as 2 categorically distinct diagnostic categories. Howeve...

Dette review har undersøgt studier af hesteassisteret psykoterapitil voksne patientgrupper og inkluderede både kvalitativog kvantitativ forskning. Alle 12 inkluderede undersøgelserfandt positive resultater på tværs af så forskellige grupper sompatienter med skizofreni, PTSD, borderline personlighedsforstyrrelse,depression, anoreksi, svagt begavede,...

The aim of this study was to review and discuss the evidence for dimensional classification of personality disorders and the historical and sociological bases of psychiatric nosology and research. Categorical and dimensional conceptualisations of personality disorder are reviewed, with a focus on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Diso...

Evidence that childhood adversities are risk factors for psychosis has accumulated rapidly. Research into the mechanisms underlying these relationships has focused, productively, on psychological processes, including cognition, attachment and dissociation. In 2001, the traumagenic neurodevelopmental model sought to integrate biological and psycholo...

For most of the past half century, auditory hallucinations (hearing voices) have been viewed by the psychiatric community (along with much of the general public) as synonymous with madness. The image of someone talking to themselves, as portrayed in movies and in the media, has become shorthand for mental illness. Indeed, since 1980, one can receiv...

For most of the past half century, auditory hallucinations (hearing voices) have been viewed by the psychiatric community (along with much of the general public) as synonymous with madness. The image of someone talking to themselves, as portrayed in movies and in the media, has become shorthand for mental illness. Indeed, since 1980, one can receiv...

This paper is in response to a previous Opinion Piece – “Psychosis, dissociation or delirium? Observations on the importance of differential diagnosis”.

On the 100th anniversary of the publication of Eugen Bleuler's Dementia Praecox or the Group of Schizophrenias, his teachings on schizophrenia from that seminal book are reviewed and reassessed, and implications for the current revision of the category of schizophrenia, with its emphasis on psychotic symptoms, drawn. Bleuler's methods are contraste...

While childhood sexual abuse (CSA) has been linked to a wide range of subsequent psychological problems in women, relatively few studies have included male CSA survivors; those that have typically have been limited by small sample sizes and/or failing to take into account population-based gender differences in symptom reporting. Gold et al. (1999)...

The connection between dissociative experiences and violent behaviour, while well established in literature, has been ignored in criminological and public policy debates. Throughout the Western world, homicides are regularly reported by the media in which friends or family members express astonishment, insisting the accused to be "incapable" of suc...

In the 100 years since Eugen Bleuler unveiled his concept of schizophrenia, which had dissociation at its core, the essential connection between traumatic life events, dissociative processes and psychotic symptoms has been lost. Psychosis, Trauma and Dissociation is the first book to attempt to reforge this connection, by presenting challenging new...

Dissociation: Mesmerism, multiple personalities and hysteriaPsychosis: Insanity, dementia praecox and schizophreniaDissociation, psychosis and schizophrenia: The merging of constructsConclusion References

The birth of schizophreniaSplitting, dissociation and the unconsciousComplexes and fixed ideasLoosening of associationsSummary and conclusionsReferences

Multiple memory systems and the hippocampusPhobias, panic attacks and post-traumatic stress disorderA summary of relevant research findings in schizophreniaThe psychotic prodromeDelusional atmosphere, the psychotic prodrome and decontextualized memoriesFreud's ‘The Uncanny’ (1919)Summary and conclusionReferences

Historical overviewImportant Janetian conceptsSchizophreniaParanoiaHallucinationsAssessment and implicationsReferences

While auditory hallucinations are considered a core psychotic symptom, central to the diagnosis of schizophrenia, it has long been recognized that persons who are not psychotic may also hear voices. There is an entrenched clinical belief that distinctions can be made between these groups, typically on the basis of the perceived location or the ‘thi...

The effectiveness of a New Zealand early intervention for psychosis service (EIS) was assessed by analysis of 100 EIS patients' Positive and Negative Symptom Severity (PANNS) scores and Health of the Nation Outcome (HoNOS) scores that were collected over five time periods from intake through to 24 months. PANSS and HoNOS scores improved significant...

Homicides by people with mental illness have been studied using either clinical or legal categorization of the homicide as abnormal. No previous study has employed both definitions in the same population. A retrospective study of all homicides in New Zealand between 1988 and 2000 considered mentally abnormal homicide using a legal definition (when...

Prior studies of homicide-suicide (H-S) have largely glossed over the relevance of mental illness (MI), either ignoring the issue outright or defining H-S cases as intrinsically related to MI or not. While such positions have methodological or theoretical justifications, it was felt that a finer-grained analysis was possible and might prove fruitfu...

To assess the relationship between dissociative and psychotic experiences, New Zealand university students (N = 119) and prison inmates (N = 42) were administered the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) and Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R). Strong correlations were found between DES scores and the psychoticism and paranoid ideation subscale...

Despite the finding of a recent review of the literature (Moskowitz, 2004) that at least 25% of offenders demonstrated pathological levels of dissociation, very little empirical research has been conducted that examines dissociation in samples of prison inmates. This study examined the profiles of dissociative experiences reported in a sample of 42...

Homicides by mentally ill persons have led to political concerns about deinstitutionalisation. To provide accurate information about the contribution of mental illness to homicide rates. Retrospective study of homicide in New Zealand from 1970 to 2000, using data from government sources. 'Mentally abnormal homicide'perpetrators were defined as thos...

In a earlier review, dissociation was found to be linked to violence in a wide range of populations, including college students, young mothers, psychiatric patients, and criminal offenders, and was often expressed in the violent act itself, in the form of depersonalization or subsequent amnesia (Moskowitz, 2004). While that review focused on “state...

Catatonia, long viewed as a motor disorder, may be better understood as a fear response, akin to the animal defense strategy tonic immobility (after G. G. Gallup & J. D. Maser, 1977). This proposal, consistent with K. L. Kahlbaum's (1874/1973) original conception, is based on similarities between catatonia and tonic immobility ("death feint") as we...

Violent acts are sometimes committed by people who do not normally appear violent or aggressive. This simple observation and others have led some to speculate about a relationship between dissociation and violence. However, no systematic review of the literature has so far been published. To address this gap, studies assessing the prevalence of dis...

Can knowing whether an adult client was abused as a child assist psychologists when assessing suicidality? Reviewing the files of 200 outpatients revealed, in keeping with previous studies, that child abuse was related not only to previous psychiatric admissions and younger age at first treatment and first admission, but also to past and present su...

The current diathesis-stress model of schizophrenia proposes that a genetic deficit creates a predisposing vulnerability in the form of oversenstivity to stress. This model positions all psychosocial events on the stress side of the diathesis-stress equation. As an example of hypotheses that emerge when consideration is given to repositioning adver...