Behind this notion of ASD was a concept which was proposed in 1990s: it was called “pritraumatic dissociation”(Griffin, 1997). One of those who proposed this notion, van der Kolk, took over what Janet stated a century ago and argued that if a traumatized person becomes dissociated around the time of trauma, he/she is more likely to develop serious trauma-related condition, such as PTSD.
The assertion that peritraumatic dissociation correlates later PTSD is followed up by Ursano, etc（Ursano, et al, 2007）. According to him, if a person experiences dissociation at the time of traumatization, the chance of his/her developing PTSD later is five-folds (Ursano, et al, 2007）. Ursano’s study finds dissociation a risk factor rather than a defense. However, some recent study showed that having a diagnosis of ASD does not necessarily indicate that PTSD will ensue, and some study states that dissociation can both be a defense against later pathology, and a risk factor for it.
In my opinion, dissociation can be understood as an insufficient and somewhat failed defense mechanism which can manifest itself as ASD.
2. Causal understanding: dissociation as a result of trauma
Next we look at the way of understanding dissociation as a result of trauma. There is a belief that is commonly shared among many clinicians. Serious and pathological dissociation such as seen in DID is caused by sexual abuse in the patient’s childhood. Although there are many theories regarding the way DID develops, this believe is largely unchallenged and held not only by professionals but people at large.
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