A 15-year-old male patient reported an out-of-body experience in which he saw himself from a third-person perspective, floating outside his body. Evaluation led to diagnoses of dissociative identity disorder and dissociative fugue. The patient improved after abreaction, hypnosis, relaxation training, and supportive psychotherapy. Dissociative disorders arise from internal conflict between ego and self, failure to repress trauma, or emergence of repressed memories, producing altered perception described as an out-of-body experience. This case highlights a rare psychiatric cause of OBE that may guide management approaches.
Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is rare despite its popularity in the public imagination. A 30-year-old woman from a low socioeconomic background presented with episodic altered behavior. Evaluation confirmed DID, and treatment combined psychotherapy facilitated by hypnosis, escitalopram (up to 20 mg daily), and a short course of clonazepam. The patient improved, with decreased Dissociative Experiences Scale scores. The authors suggest that unconscious conflicts, such as the Elektra complex in Freudian theory, may underlie DID. They urge clinicians, especially in countries like India where trance and possession syndromes are common, to consider DID as a differential diagnosis.