Uncomfortably numb: new evidence for suppressed emotional reactivity in response to body-threats in those predisposed to sub-clinical dissociative experiences

Abstract

We thank the Foundation for their generous support. The study complied fully with ethical guidance (ERN_15-0384).Keywords: Dissociation, Depersonalization / Derealization, Anomalous experience, Embodiment, Skin conductance responses. Uncomfortably Numb 3 AbstractIntroduction: Depersonalization and derealization disorders refer to feelings of detachment

Lay Theories About Whether Emotion Helps or Hinders: Assessment and Effects on Emotional Acceptance and Recovery From Distress

“…Some strategies, such as suppressing emotion-expressive behavior and engaging in repressive coping, have been shown to increase sympathetic activation of the cardiovascular system (e.g., Roberts et al, 2008). Other strategies, such as avoiding emotional situations, attentional disengagement, self-distancing, and dissociation have been shown to decrease sympathetic activation (e.g., Fraley and Shaver, 1997;Sheppes et al, 2009;Hetzel-Riggin and Wilber, 2010;Dewe et al, 2016;Kross and Ayduk, 2017). Thus, even though individuals who endorse a Hinder Theory are more likely to engage in expressive suppression, we expected those who view emotions as helpful to show greater physiological arousal because they attend to and permit the progression of their emotional reactions.…”

The depersonalized brain: New evidence supporting a distinction between depersonalization and derealization from discrete patterns of autonomic suppression observed in a non-clinical sample

“…Participants were screened on questionnaire measures for predisposition to anomalous DP/DR experience and took part in modified versions of the Implied Body Threat task (IBT: Dewe et al 2016). The IBT is based around a simulated blood-giving procedure conducted directly on the participant's body / hand.…”

“…However, DP/DR experiences are predominantly referred to as "depersonalization" and clinically classified as "depersonalization / derealization disorder" by the DSM-V (APA: American Psychiatric Association, 2013) or "depersonalizationderealization" syndrome by the ICD-10 (WHO, 1992). DP/DR-type experiences are also prevalent in the general population and thought to exist along a continuum of symptom The Depersonalized Brain | 5 severity, with an estimated lifetime prevalence rate of between 23 -74% (Aderibigbe et al, 2001;Hunter et al, 2004;Dewe, Watson, & Braithwaite, 2016;Sierra, 2009).…”

“…Previous research has found that depersonalized patients show suppressed autonomic arousal to aversive stimuli in the form of reduced skin conductance responses (SCRs: Giesbrecht, Merckelbach, van Oorsouw, & Simeon, 2010;Sierra, et al, 2002a;Sierra, Senior, Phillips, & David, 2006), and inhibited neural activity in brain regions associated with translating emotion into feeling states -areas such as the anterior insula and amygdala (Lemche et al, 2007(Lemche et al, , 2008Medford et al, 2006;Phillips et al, 2001). More recently, suppressed SCRs toward simulated threats delivered to the participant's own physical body have been observed in non-clinical populations (Dewe et al, 2016). Consistent with the view of an autonomic suppression, depersonalized patients have also been shown to exhibit a reduced empathy for others (Lawrence et al, 2007), which is perhaps unsurprising, given that in order to infer the cognitive and emotional states of others (empathetic response), one must rely on coherent self-related processing and internal feeling states (Decety & Grèzes, 2006;Decety & Jackson, 2004;Decety & Lamm, 2006;Preston & de Waal, 2002;Singer & Lamm, 2009).…”

Predisposition to out-of-body experience (OBE) is associated with aberrations in multisensory integration: Psychophysiological support from a “rubber hand illusion” study.

“…For example, depersonalization-type experiences may well be dissociative but the experience of self remains within the physical body (Braithwaite et al, 2013c;Dewe, Watson & Braithwaite, 2016;Kessler & Braithwaite, 2016;Sierra & David, 2011;Sierra, 2009). In contrast, in the OBE, there is a shift in experiential perspective where the self is liberated from its physical shackles, and the differences between these forms of dissociative experience do appear to be associated with diverse neurocognitive biases (Braithwaite et al, 2013c;Kessler & Braithwaite, 2016).…”