Testing the dissociative taxon

Modestin, Jiří; Erni, Thomas

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2001.12.001

Cited by 38 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Overall, our findings confirm the clinical utility of identifying traumatized patients with severe levels of dissociation, and tailoring treatment to this patient group Lanius et al, 2010;Resick et al, 2012). Although the use of DES-T for identification of patients with severe dissociative disorders has been questioned (e.g., Modestin & Erni, 2004), our data support the utility of the DES-T for a preliminary identification of patients with severe dissociative problems in a polysymptomatic complex trauma inpatient population. Being a clinician-friendly instrument, this could facilitate the identification of patients with severe dissociative problems when a full diagnostic assessment for dissociative disorders is not feasible.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Inpatient Treatment for Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Preliminary Outcome Study

Jepsen

Svagaard

Thelle³

et al. 2009

Journal of Trauma & Dissociation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The objective of this study was to examine the changes in psychiatric symptoms and interpersonal problems in 34 adults with a history of childhood sexual abuse and posttraumatic stress disorder who attended a 3-month inpatient treatment program. Levels of posttraumatic, depressive, and general psychiatric symptoms and interpersonal problems were assessed at pre-care evaluation, admission, discharge, and 1-year follow-up using the Impact of Event Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Symptom Check List 90 Revised, and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems. Work status was assessed at admission and at follow-up. Significant improvements were seen during treatment on the global scores of all instruments except the Beck Depression Inventory. At follow-up, patients had kept their gains on symptom measures and experienced further progress regarding interpersonal problems. At discharge, 3 of the previously 32 unemployed patients were able to return to work. Patients with comorbid somatization disorder tended to have higher levels of distress and less favorable treatment response. Future studies should include pre- and posttreatment assessment of dissociation to evaluate its association with outcome.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Inpatient Treatment for Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Preliminary Outcome Study

Jepsen

Svagaard

Thelle³

et al. 2009

Journal of Trauma & Dissociation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Overall, our findings confirm the clinical utility of identifying traumatized patients with PTSD and severe levels of dissociation, and tailoring treatment to this patient group (Cloitre et al, 2012; Lanius et al, 2010; Resick et al, 2012). Although the use of the DES-T for identification of patients with severe dissociative disorders has been questioned (e.g., Modestin & Erni, 2004), our data support the utility of the DES-T for a preliminary identification of patients with severe dissociative problems in a complex trauma inpatient population. Being a clinician-friendly instrument, this could facilitate the identification of patients with severe dissociative problems when a full diagnostic assessment for dissociative disorders is not feasible.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Impact of dissociation and interpersonal functioning on inpatient treatment for early sexually abused adults

Jepsen¹,

Langeland²,

Heir

2013

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundLittle is known about the possible predictors of treatment outcome in early chronically sexually abused adults. The current study aimed to investigate what impact initial levels of dissociation and pre-treatment negative change in interpersonal functioning have on treatment response after 3 months of first-phase trauma inpatient treatment as well as after a period of 1 year the patients returned to their usual lives.MethodsThe sample comprised 48 inpatients with childhood sexual abuse histories and mixed trauma-related disorders who were examined at discharge and prospectively followed up for a period of 1 year under naturalistic conditions. Outcome variables were general psychiatric symptoms and interpersonal problems as measured with the Symptom Check List-Revised (SCL-R) and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP) Circumplex.ResultsThe central findings were that pathological dissociation and deterioration in interpersonal functioning prior to admittance predicted general psychiatric symptom levels and interpersonal problems at the end of treatment and at 1-year follow-up. Pathological dissociation, involving memory and identity problems, alone predicted negative outcome at the end of treatment. The findings at 1-year follow-up indicate that it is not pathological dissociation in isolation that affects outcomes, but rather the interaction between dissociation and change in interpersonal functioning prior to treatment.ConclusionThese findings indicate the need of addressing dissociation and interpersonal problems in treatment planning and favor an integrated treatment approach for complex trauma patients. Future research should investigate whether and how this leads to better outcome, including long-term maintenance of gains after the end of treatment.

show abstract

“…In a meta-analytic study, Van Ijzendoorn and Schuengel (1996) provide evidence for the sound psychometric properties of the DES. We chose not to calculate the Dissociative Experiences Scale Taxon (DES-T; Waller et al, 1996), as recent research casts doubts on its stability in non-clinical samples (Watson, 2003a) and its accuracy in identifying pathological dissociation (Modestin and Erni, 2004).…”

Section: Psychometric Instrumentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dissociation, memory commission errors, and heightened autonomic reactivity

Giesbrecht

Geraerts

Merckelbach

2007

Psychiatry Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

If dissociative symptoms are manifestations of a psychological defense mechanism, one would expect people who have such symptoms to react with lower levels of physiological arousal and with memory omissions to emotionally provocative material. The current study tested this assumption in a sample of undergraduates. Sixty-two undergraduate students viewed a highly emotional video fragment. Pearson's product-moment correlations were calculated between dissociation (as indexed by the Dissociative Experiences Scale, DES) and all dependent measures. High dissociators exhibited elevated skin conductance responses (SCRs) to the fragment. Memory for the video fragment was then tested. While omission errors were unrelated to dissociation, high dissociators exhibited a tendency to produce commission errors. This could not be explained by a reduced working memory capacity. However, fantasy proneness was found related to high dissociators' commission errors. Thus, it seems that a pattern of heightened emotional reactivity and commission errors is typical for people with elevated dissociation scores. This pattern is difficult to reconcile with the defensive function ascribed to dissociation.

show abstract

Testing the dissociative taxon

Cited by 38 publications

References 25 publications

Inpatient Treatment for Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Preliminary Outcome Study

Inpatient Treatment for Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Preliminary Outcome Study

Impact of dissociation and interpersonal functioning on inpatient treatment for early sexually abused adults

Dissociation, memory commission errors, and heightened autonomic reactivity

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About