Self-reported sleep disturbances in patients with dissociative identity disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder and how they relate to cognitive failures and fantasy proneness.

Dalena Van Heugten-Van Der Kloet,Timo Giesbrecht,Harald Merckelbach,Rafaele Huntjens

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00019

Dalena Van Heugten-Van Der Kloet, Timo Giesbrecht + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00019

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Abstract

Sleep disturbances, fantasy proneness, cognitive failures, and dissociative symptoms are related to each other. However, the co-occurrence of these phenomena has been primarily studied in non-clinical samples. We investigated the correlations between these phenomena in dissociative identity disorder (DID) patients, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients, and healthy controls. Both patient groups reported more sleep problems and lower sleep quality and displayed higher levels of fantasy proneness and cognitive failures than controls. However, the two patient groups did not differ with regard to these variables. Moreover, a higher level of unusual sleep experiences tended to predict participants belonging to the DID group, while specifically a lower sleep quality and more cognitive failures tended to predict participants belonging to the PTSD group.

Highlights

In psychopathology, dissociation typically refers to a disturbance in the normal integration of thoughts, feelings, and experiences into consciousness and memory
As dissociative symptoms are prevalent in both normal and clinical populations, dissociation has commonly been conceptualized as ranging on a continuum, from non-pathological manifestations of daydreaming to more severe disturbances typical of dissociative disorders [1], which encompass dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, depersonalization disorder (DPD), and dissociative identity disorder (DID) [2]
A significant difference was found between DID and controls and between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and controls, but not between the two patient groups

Summary

Introduction

Dissociation typically refers to a disturbance in the normal integration of thoughts, feelings, and experiences into consciousness and memory. As dissociative symptoms are prevalent in both normal and clinical populations, dissociation has commonly been conceptualized as ranging on a continuum, from non-pathological manifestations of daydreaming to more severe disturbances typical of dissociative disorders [1], which encompass dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, depersonalization disorder (DPD), and dissociative identity disorder (DID) [2]. Many clinicians assume that dissociative symptoms are intimately linked to a history of traumatic childhood events [12]. This conceptualization remains silent as to how precisely trauma might contribute to dissociative symptoms

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