Childhood trauma history and dissociative experiences among Turkish men diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder

Abstract

This study investigated the association between antisocial personality disorder (APD), childhood trauma history, and dissociative symptoms in a sample of Turkish recruits. A total of 579 male patients diagnosed with APD were examined in a military hospital setting. An age and gender matched control group of 599 normal persons with no known medical or psychiatric disorder were also chosen among military personnel. The subjects were evaluated with an assessment battery using a semi-structured interview for socio-demographic characteristics, APD section of SCID-II, an adapted version of the Structured Trauma Interview, and Dissociative Experiences Scale. Childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect, and early separation from parents were significantly more common among antisocial subjects than among controls. APD group reported significantly more dissociative symptoms and 50.4% of them reported pathological level of dissociation. Overwhelming childhood experiences of all four types were significant predictor of the APD diagnosis. Analyses also showed that childhood traumatic events and comorbid psychopathological features relevant to antisocial personality were significantly associated with pathological level of dissociation. These results revealed the importance of inquiring about patient's history of childhood traumatization and dissociative experiences when diagnosed with APD.