Higher Levels Of Dissociation Research Articles

Levels of dissociation in detoxified substance abusers and their relationship to chronicity of alcohol and drug use.

This study compared the frequency and types of dissociative experiences reported by detoxified alcoholics and drug abusers, and examined the relationship between dissociation and recent and lifetime use of alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, and heroin. One hundred thirty-eight self-referred male veterans detoxified from alcohol (N=62) and drugs (N=76) on inpatient units at a Veterans Affairs hospital completed questionnaires including the Dissociative Experiences Scale. Three types of dissociative experiences were examined: amnesia, depersonalization/derealization, and absorption. Ninety-one of the patients were also given the Addiction Severity Index interview to determine their histories of recent (past 30 days) and lifetime drug and alcohol use. High levels of dissociation were found in both groups, with alcoholics reporting higher levels of all three types of dissociative experiences than drug addicts. Chronicity (lifetime years) of both alcohol and cocaine use was significantly correlated with dissociation scores. The amnestic effect of chronic cocaine use persisted even after controlling for the effects of chronic alcohol use. In contrast, no dissociative effects of recent (past month) use of alcohol or drugs were found. These findings suggest that dissociation may be a chronic residual effect of long-term substance abuse, including both alcohol and cocaine. Implications are discussed for the treatment of chronic substance abusers.

Correlates and retrospectively reported antecedents of alexithymia.

Two experiments were conducted in order to examine the relationship between alexithymia and: 1) family environment; 2) discomfort and ambivalence experiencing and expressing emotion; and 3) dissociation. Research participants in both experiments were college students. We examined the ability to identify and communicate emotion using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale. In Experiment 1, we found that alexithymia was significantly correlated with ambivalence concerning expression of emotion (measured using the Ambivalence over Emotional Expressiveness Questionnaire) and with discomfort concerning negative emotional states (measured using a new instrument called the Emotional Experience Discomfort Scale). Higher levels of alexithymia were associated with retrospective reports of diminished family expressiveness (measured using the Expressiveness subscale of the Family Environment Scale) and with feeling less emotionally safe during childhood (measured using a new instrument called the Childhood Experiences Questionnaire). In Experiment 2, we found that alexithymia was significantly correlated with dissociative experiences (measured using the Dissociative Experiences Scale). However, alexithymia and dissociation differed in the way they were associated with retrospective reports of different aspects of family expressiveness (measured using the Family Expressiveness Questionnaire). High levels of dissociation were associated with increased negative dominant family communication. In contrast, high levels of alexithymia were associated with low levels of positive family communication.

Development, reliability, and validity of a child dissociation scale

Dissociation is a complex psychophysiological process that ranges along a continuum from minor, normal dissociation to Axis I psychopathology. High levels of dissociation are associated with increased self-destructive behaviors and other symptoms. Although several validated measures of dissociation exist for adults, no measures are available for children. The Child Dissociative Checklist (CDC) was developed to meet this need and is a reliable and valid observer report measure of dissociation in children. The CDC had a 1-year test-retest reliability coefficient of rho = .69 ( N = 73, p = .0001) in a sample of normal and sexually abused girls. The CDC had high discriminant validity among four test samples including: normal control girls, sexually abused girls, boys and girls with dissociative disorder NOS and boys and girls with multiple personality disorder. The CDC is intended as a clinical screening instrument and as a research measure. The CDC is not designed to be used as a diagnostic instrument.