Igor Pietkiewicz

• Professor
• Researcher at Ignatianum University of Cracow

The notion of evil spirits influencing human behavior or mental processes is used in many cultures to justify various symptoms or experiences. It is also expressed in psychotic delusions of possession, but there is limited research in this area. This study explores how patients with schizophrenia came to the conclusion that they were possessed, and...

ICD-10 and DSM-5 do not provide clear diagnosing guidelines for DID, making it difficult to distinguish ‘genuine’ DID from imitated or false-positive cases. This study explores meaning which patients with false-positive or imitated DID attributed to their diagnosis. 85 people who reported elevated levels of dissociative symptoms in SDQ-20 participa...

In many cultures, people use the concept of spirit possession to explain abrupt changes in behavior and identity or problems with affect regulation. High incidence of traumatic experiences are also found among “possession” victims but there are few studies exploring in detail their clinical presentations. This study reports the symptoms of two wome...

Few studies on Possession Trance Disorder (PTD) describe diagnostic and research procedures in detail. This case study presents the clinical picture of a Caucasian Roman-Catholic woman who had been subjected to exorcisms because of her problems with affect regulation, lack of control over unaccepted sexual impulses, and somatoform symptoms accompan...

Introduction In recent years there has been a notable expansion of psychotherapeutic approaches to treat people experiencing auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH). While many psychotherapists conceptualize voices as “dissociative parts” and apply therapeutic techniques derived from the field of dissociation, research investigating AVH from this pers...

Diagnoza zaburzeń z kręgu schizofrenii często przysłania inne problemy psychopatologiczne, np. zespół stresu pourazowego, którego częstość w ciągu całego życia u osób z psychozą jest znacznie wyższa niż w populacji ogólnej i wynosi od 14% do 53%. Samo doświadczenie psychozy i jej leczenie, zwłaszcza przy pierwszym epizodzie, może być urazowe oraz c...

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...

Daydreaming is a natural mental experience in which people get immersed in stories and images, imagining them as if they were real, although knowing they are merely an imagination. Maladaptive daydreaming, on the other hand, is an excessive and compulsive involvement in fantasy which replaces human interaction and impairs academic, interpersonal, o...

Maladaptive daydreaming (MD) refers to excessive absorption in fantasy worlds, sometimes for many hours a day, which interferes with academic, occupational and social functioning. It shares features of a behavioural addiction which may negatively impact psychotherapy of patients with personality disorders. Links were found between MD and vulnerable...

Depersonalisation and derealisation (DepDer) are alterations in consciousness occurring in both healthy people and those with mental problems, including trauma-related disorders. Depersonalisation relates to emotional detachment or numbing and distorted bodily sensations. Derealisation is associated with experiencing the environment as unreal or st...

Maladaptive daydreaming (MD) defines excessive use of fantasy which replaces human interaction and/or interferes with academic, interpersonal, or vocational functioning. This study tests psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale (PMDS-16) and a short 5-item version derived from it (PMDS-5), and their capacit...

The concepts of depersonalisation and derealisation refer to alteration in how an affected individual feels about oneself and their environment. Both these experiences may range from mild and episodic to severe and chronic. When clinically severe, these symptoms can be the basis for the diagnosis of depersonalisation-derealisation disorder; however...

Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale (MDS-16), Polish version

Background: Delusional misidentification is a psychotic symptom relating to misidentifying one’s own or someone else’s identity, objects, places, or events. Although rare cases of dissociative amnesia comorbid with psychotic episodes are discussed in literature, there are no such reports referring to the delusional misidentification syndrome. Meth...

Explaining the biology of dissociative identity disorder and its clinical aspects is one of the major challenges in modern neuroscience. The complexity and the unique nature of this disorder, coupled with insufficient biopsychological models needed for creating universal therapeutic procedures, make the treatment difficult. The vast majority of neu...

There is a gap in research exploring the experiences and explanatory models of people labelled in local communities as possessed. While previous accounts often focused on the links between possession and dissociative disorders or psychosis, the current study elaborates on problems attributed to possession in women with features of personality disor...

Endorsement of and identification with cultural beliefs about spirit possession can affect clinical presentations and explanatory models associated with sudden, uncontrollable behaviour. Although literature shows links between possession-form presentations and dissociative disorders, which is also a focus of this paper, few studies explore in detai...

Złożony zespół stresu pourazowego (complex post-traumatic stress disorder, cPTSD) to nowe rozpoznanie, które pojawi się w 11. edycji klasyfikacji psychiatrycznej ICD (International Classification of Diseases – Międzynarodowa Klasyfikacja Chorób). Łączy ono cechy zaburzenia stresowego pourazowego i zaburzenia osobowości. W artykule omówiono historię...

This is the English version of the Structured Clinical Interview for Voice-Hearers (version 1.5)

Verbal auditory hallucinations are commonly associated with schizophrenia. However, different studies show that this symptom was also reported by individuals with other disorders, and by healthy people as well. This led to developing a notion of a continuum, which suggests that the experience of hearing voices has similar qualities, no matter in wh...

Wywiad pogłębiony eksplorujący doświadczenie halucynacji słuchowych słownych

The aim of this paper is to describe various forms of psychoform and somatoform dissociation, illustrating them with typical positive and negative symptoms. Different obstacles in identifying these symptoms during clinical assessment are also mentioned, including: insufficient training for psychiatrists, psychologists and psychotherapists about dis...

Objective: This study tests psychometric properties of the Polish Dissociative Experiences Scale (DESR-PL) with a revised scoring system and its capacity, alongside its short form (DESR-T), to screen for dissociative disorders. Both pen-and-paper (p&p) and online forms were tested. Method: Validity and reliability were examined in a sample of 540...

Background and aims: Maladaptive daydreaming (MD) has many features of behavioural addiction but research exploring this syndrome is limited. This case study provides a qualitative exploration of MD. Method: A structured clinical interview and mental state examination of a patient with MD was video-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Transcript...

Celem tego artykułu jest przedstawienie zagadnień dotyczących rozpoznawania zaburzeń dysocjacyjnych, a przede wszystkim trudności wynikających z niejednoznacznego posługiwania się w literaturze i praktyce klinicznej pojęciem dysocjacji oraz ze złożoności teorii opisujących to zjawisko. Przydatne będzie zatem zaprezentowanie różnych sposobów rozumie...

Purpose The main objective of this study was to test the psychometric properties of the Polish version of SDQ-20 and the capacity of this instrument, alongside a set of five questions derived from it (SDQ-5), to screen for dissociative disorders. The Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire (SDQ-20) has been used in many language versions to evaluate...

This Structured Clinical Interview for Voice-Hearers (SCIV) is a clinician administered interview guide to explore the experience of auditory hallucinations, explanatory models associated with the voices, and strategies to cope with the distressing ones. It includes a number of close- and open-ended questions and interviewers are also encouraged to...

Dissociative Experiences Scale - Revised (DES-R), originally developed by Bernstein & Putnam (1986) with a new scoring system by Pietkiewicz, Hełka, and Tomalski (2018). For information about calculating scores and the cut-off point for dissociative disorders see: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejtd.2019.02.003

There is no empirical research exploring how substance abuse therapists perceive and manage their professional role or privacy boundaries. This study explores their attitudes associated with self-disclosure and dual relationships. Ten therapists, five who had recovered (neophytes) and five who had never been substance dependent, shared their work e...

Childhood trauma can have a lasting effect on personality and daily functioning, leading to dissociative changes in behaviour and identity. How these are interpreted and handled usually depends on local culture and beliefs. This paper presents the case of a Mauritian woman with a history of childhood abuse who was exorcised to 'dispel an evil spiri...

People who decide to change career are encouraged to seek counseling in order to explore individual and contextual factors affecting that process. There is no empirical evidence, however, about how consecrated individuals reach a decision to change vocation, and no guidelines for counseling psychologists regarding how to support priests in that pro...

Objectives: Having the opportunity to work has been found meaningful for individuals suffering from severe mental illness, in order to boost their self-esteem, provide a sense of control over their lives and of belonging to a community. There are no studies in Polish literature on the process of recovery from schizophrenia with reference to work a...

Religious principles and values provide meaning and affect personal identity. They may also conflict with intimate needs and desires. This paper examines how gay Catholics manage conflicting areas between their sexual and religious selves. Eight Polish gays with a Catholic background, who identified themselves as strong believers, shared their expe...

Having the opportunity to work has been found meaningful for individuals suffering from severe mental illness, in order to boost their self-esteem, provide a sense of control over their lives and of belonging to a community. There are no studies in Polish literature on the process of recovery from schizophrenia with reference to work activity. The...

Skala doświadczeń dysocjacyjnych Taxon to krótki test przesiewowy dla osób z podejrzeniem zaburzeń dysocjacyjnych. Test zawiera osiem itemów zaczerpniętych z polskiej adaptacji narzędzia Dissociative Experience Scale (Bernstein & Putnam, 1986), zgodnie z zaleceniami Waller, Putnam i Carlson (1996), ale wykorzystuje nową skalę odpowiedzi w stosunku...

Polska adaptacja popularnego na świecie narzędzia do oceny nasilenia objawów dysocjacyjnych (głównie psychoformicznych) opracowana w 1986 przez Bernstein & Putnam.

Pytania dotyczą różnych symptomów fizycznych lub doświadczeń cielesnych, które pacjent mógł doświadczać przez krótki moment albo przez dłuższy okres. Pacjent proszony jest o zaznaczenie, w jakim stopniu w ciągu ostatniego roku miał tego typu doświadczenia.

Having the opportunity to work has been found meaningful for individu-als suffering from severe mental illness, in order to boost their self-esteem, provide a sense of control over their lives and of belonging to a community. There are no studies in Polish literature on the process of recovery from schizophrenia with reference to work activity. The...

This qualitative study explores psychodynamic therapists’ experiences associated with unexpected encounters with their patients outside the clinical setting. Information was collected using a semi-structured interview protocol from 10 experienced practitioners in Poland and examined according to the interpretative phenomenological analysis principl...

Studies show that involuntary displacement often creates various threats for the community and individuals. To reduce these risks, Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, Health Impact Assessment, and Social Assessment are recommended. Whereas assessments focus mostly on the community level and studies describe cases of large population displac...

There is no empirical evidence about how Roman Catholic secular priests cope with stressors. This paper examines help-seeking attitudes and coping strategies used by them. Twelve participants shared their experiences during semi-structured interviews which were subjected to interpretative phenomenological analysis. Although the priests recognized e...

Możliwość podjęcia aktywności zawodowej ma istotne znaczenie dla osób z ciężkimi zaburzeniami psychicznymi: podnosi ich samoocenę, wzmacnia poczucie kontroli nad własnym życiem i przynależności do społeczeństwa. W literaturze polskiej brak jest badań dotyczących procesu zdrowienia ludzi posiadających rozpoznanie zaburzeń ze spektrum schizofrenii w...

The aim of this study was to gather information about religious values, beliefs, and normative practices in the Jehovah's Witness community to observe how these affect individual and family lives or well-being. Fifteen semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 participants (six women and four men, aged between 19 and 62), who were...

Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) has become a popular methodological framework in qualitative psychology. Studies based in IPA focus on examining how individuals make meaning of their life experiences. A detailed analysis of personal accounts followed by presenting and discussing the generic experiential themes is typically paired with the researche...

The aim of this study was to explore cultural factors affecting burial rituals in Poland. Thirty-four university students collected data from their relatives and created written narratives about deaths in their families or community. Ten additional interviews were conducted with community members, a priest, and medical personnel as part of theoreti...

Celem niniejszego artykułu jest próba analizy i opisu zjawiska przymusowych migracji ludności, ze specjalnym uwzględnieniem przesiedleń wywołanych rozwojem gospodarczym. Ten rodzaj ruchów migracyjnych jest szczególnie istotny ze względu na fakt, iż liczba osób przesiedlonych z powodu realizowania inwestycji przewyższa ilościowo wszystkie inne kateg...

Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) has become a popular methodological framework in qualitative psychology. Studies based in IPA focus on examining how individuals make meaning of their life experiences. Doing IPA involves a detailed analysis of personal accounts from participants. This is followed by the presentation of the emergent ex...

Despite benefits of screening mammography, many South Asian (SA) immigrant women in Canada remain under screened. We aimed to elicit their experiences and beliefs about barriers to mammography and possible solutions. SA immigrant women aged 50 years or over were eligible if they never had a mammogram or had one more than 3 years ago. We employed th...

Starzenie się organizmu, choroba i śmierć s zjawiskami uniwersalnymi oraz wpisanymi w sposób naturalny w życie ludzkie. Aby radzić sobie z niedyspozycjami ciała i umysu, większość kultur wytwarzała na przestrzeni dziejów róne systemy nastawione na ratowanie i przywracanie zdrowia oraz popraw jakości życia. Wśród mnogości roz-wiązań terapeutycznych...

The differentiation between spirituality and religion has been widely discussed in psychological literature however, the concept of religion is often reduced to institutions, practices, and symbols associated with a particular religious tradition. Spirituality, on the other hand, is described in terms of specific needs which reflect the awareness o...

Culture, Religion, and Ethnomedicine discusses various interdependencies between culture, religion, and health with a concentration on Tibetan culture. Igor Pietkiewicz uses an example of the Tibetans in exile to explain how culture affects illness behavior, including perception of sickness and treatment methods, as well as the choice of an appropr...