Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "John Kihlstrom, Ph.D. on Dissociation". In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews John Kihlstrom, Ph.D. about Hypnosis, Dissociation and the Dissociative Disorders. Conventional clinical wisdom suggests that a precondition of the more severe dissociative disorders like DID is significant childhood trauma. A causal relationship is implicit in this 'wisdom' to the effect that early trauma is thought to cause later dissociation in susceptible people. Dr. Kihlstrom has specifically examined whether evidence in support of this causal assumption could be generated in the lab. Importantly, he has concluded based on years of doing such research that trauma is not a precondition for developing dissociation disorders. The true cause of dissociative disorders remains unknown, in his view.