Dissociation of Pleasure in Psychopathology

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Abstract
This paper analyzes the development of the concept of dissociation from 19th century psychological theory through 20th century neurophysiological thought. Recent research is discussed, indicating that normal individuals show an “association” between emitted pleasurable behavior and self-perception of pleasurable activity, whereas depressives and schizophrenics show a lack of association, or “dissociation,” between these measures. Concomitantly, depressives show an abnormal degree of association between the experience and expression of negative affect. Such a discrepancy in systems of affect is considered as both an important pathological element in mental disorder and also as a valuable new research tool for studying etiology, differential diagnosis, and therapeutic efficacy in psychobiological illness.

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