Dissociation and attention in relation to sleep and mood.

Abstract

The relation between dissociative experiences and attention in healthy individuals is poorly understood. In this study, we aimed to clarify the associations among dissociative experiences, attention, sleep, and mood in a sample of 76 undergraduates using self-report surveys and neurocognitive assessments. The Amnesia and Derealization subscales of the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES; Bernstein & Putnam, 1986;Carlson & Putnam, 1993) were negatively correlated with selective and divided attention tasks. Sustained attention was not correlated with dissociation. Sleep experiences as measured by the Iowa Sleep Experiences Scale (Watson, 2001) were related to dissociation, but this relation was not significant after controlling for mood. In linear multiple regression models, mood was found to be the strongest correlate of dissociation, but selective and divided attention were also implicated in predicting DES-Total and DES-Amnesia scores. Future researchers should explore different attentional capacities, including selective, divided, sustained, and shifting attention and their relation with dissociation.

Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders Reconsidered: Beyond Sociocognitive and Trauma Models Toward a Transtheoretical Framework

“…Lynn et al's (2014) meta-analytic evaluation supported the importance of fantasy proneness in relation to dissociation by demonstrating that fantasy proneness partially mediated the association between trauma and dissociation. Additionally, Weiss & Low (2017), controlling for other variables (e.g., sleep disturbances, mood), reported that selective and divided attention were related to dissociative experiences. Selvi et al (2012) documented that greater pathological metacognitive activity and a tendency to attempt to suppress unwanted thoughts were uniquely related to dissociation in a study that controlled for childhood trauma, thought-action fusion, and depression in OCD patients.…”

“…Research has also supported a link between psychological distress and dissociation, consistent with the idea that general distress, potentially apart from discrete traumatic events, can play a role in dissociative experiences. Indicators of psychological distress (e.g., state anxiety, depression symptoms/negative affect) have explained unique variance in measures of dissociation in addition to or beyond other constructs (Aksen et al 2021, Condon & Lynn 2014, Soffer-Dudek 2017b, Weiss & Low 2017. Psychological distress indices (e.g., trait anxiety, aggression, hostility) also predicted dissociation in male substance-dependent inpatients in a study that controlled for other explanatory variables (e.g., childhood trauma, age, substance use) (Evren et al 2013).…”

Dissociation and its disorders: Competing models, future directions, and a way forward

“…For example, although the association, if not causal relation between sleep and dissociation is increasingly well documented, this relation itself may well be mediated by other variables that are, in turn, worthy of exploration. For example, in one study, the relation between sleep and dissociation was no longer significant when mood was controlled statistically (Weiss & Low, 2017); however, longitudinal research is necessary to assess true mediation over time rather than statistical mediation.…”