Dissociative experiences and interrogative suggestibility in college students

Sleep and dream disturbances associated with dissociative experiences

Some dissociative experiences may be related, in part, to REM intrusion into waking consciousness. If so, some aspects of dream content may be associated with daytime dissociative experiences. We tested the hypothesis that some types of dream content would predict daytime dissociative symptomology. As part of a longitudinal study of the impact of dreams on everyday behavior we administered a battery of survey instruments to 219 volunteers. Assessments included the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), along with other measures known to be related to either REM intrusion effects or dissociative experiences. We also collected dream reports and sleep measures across a two-week period from a subgroup of the individuals in the baseline group. Of this subgroup we analyzed two different subsamples; 24 individuals with dream recall for at least half the nights in the two-week period; and 30 individuals who wore the DREEM Headband which captured measures of sleep architecture. In addition to using multiple regression analyses to quantify associations between DES and REM intrusion and dream content variables we used a split half procedure to create high vs low DES groups and then compared groups across all measures. Participants in the high DES group evidenced significantly greater nightmare distress scores, REM Behavior Disorder scores, paranormal beliefs, lucid dreams, and sleep onset times. Validated measures of dreamed first person perspective and overall dream coherence in a time series significantly predicted overall DES score accounting for 26% of the variance in dissociation. Dream phenomenology and coherence of the dreamed self significantly predicts dissociative symptomology as an individual trait. REM intrusion may be one source of dissociative experiences. Attempts to ameliorate dissociative symptoms or to treat nightmare distress should consider the stability of dream content as a viable indicator of dissociative tendencies.

Personality disorder traits, maladaptive schemas, modes and coping styles in participants with complex dissociative disorders, borderline personality disorder and avoidant personality disorder

OBJECTIVE

The schema mode model offers a new conceptualisation of complex dissociative disorders (CDD) as it explains shifts between identities as shifts between schema modes. Furthermore, in this model CDD is conceived as personality pathology, incorporating core features of personality disorders. This study tested the assumptions of this schema mode model of CDD.

METHOD

Questionnaires measuring personality disorder traits, schemas, schema modes and coping styles were filled out by patients with CDD, borderline personality disorder and avoidant personality disorder (N = 210), and their scores on the various constructs were compared.

RESULTS

Participants with CDD were characterised by specific schizoid, schizotypal, borderline and avoidant personality traits and early maladaptive schemas in the domains of disconnection and rejection and over-vigilance and inhibition. The most pronounced schema modes were the dysfunctional parent modes, avoidant coping modes and the vulnerable child mode. For coping styles, no differences were found between the diagnostic groups.

CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION

On all outcome measures participants with CDD scored at the level of personality disorders and showed a unique pattern different from participants with borderline and avoidant personality disorder. This suggests that CDD shows features akin to a personality disorder. A clinical implication is that an adapted form of schema therapy might present a viable treatment option for CDD.

Child abuse and eating disorder symptoms: Shedding light on the contribution of identification with the aggressor

BACKGROUND

Childhood abuse has been increasingly recognized as a risk factor for eating disorder symptoms. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that childhood abuse may lead to identification with the aggressor, an automatic defensive process, to survive the abuse. Although it has been clinically implied, the role of identification with the aggressor as a potential mechanism underlying the relation between childhood abuse and eating disorder symptoms has not yet been empirically explored.

OBJECTIVE

This study examines the role of identification with the aggressor as mediator in the association between history of childhood abuse and eating disorder symptoms among adults.

PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS

A convenience sample of 198 participants completed self-report questionnaires assessing history of childhood abuse, eating disorder symptoms, and the various facets of identification with the aggressor.

RESULTS

Severity of childhood abuse was significantly associated with shape and weight overevaluation, body dissatisfaction, and binge eating, as well as with all components of identification with the aggressor. In addition, almost all components of identification with the aggressor were significantly associated with eating disorder symptoms. Finally, identifying with the perpetrator's aggression mediated the association between childhood abuse and eating disorder symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings may contribute to future clinical interventions by illuminating identification with the aggressor as an important aspect in treating eating disorders. Understanding the pervasive effects of identification with the aggressor on survivors' self and their interactions with others may point to the significance of the therapeutic relationship, through which survivors can reprocess and weaken its detrimental effects.

Suggested false memories of a non-existent film: forensically relevant individual differences in the crashing memories paradigm

There is ample evidence to suggest that posing leading questions is dangerous, in that it may elicit compliant responses that are not necessarily accurate. Further, suggestive questioning is considered to possibly result in the development of false memories, implied in the suggestion. [Crombag, H. F. M., Wagenaar, W. A., & van Koppen, P. J. (1996). Crashing memories and the problem of 'source monitoring'. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 10(2), 95-104. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-0720(199604)10:2<95::AID-ACP366>3.0.CO;2-#] introduced a crashing memories paradigm in which participants are asked a single leading question about a non-existent film. The present research sought to replicate the false-memory-eliciting effect of the crashing memory induction. Further, we sought to explore associations with forensically relevant personality traits, particularly acquiescence, compliance, and suggestibility. In two studies, a significant minority of participants endorsed the leading question about the non-existent film (25.7%, and 38% respectively). We found no support for an association with acquiescence or compliance, but suggestibility was associated with the development of false memories.

High dissociatives, nature versus nurture?

Non-pathological dissociative experiences are common among the general population, and anyone may experience them to some degree. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the degree of dissociative experiences such as fantasy proneness, imagination, and absorption in fine arts undergraduates prior to beginning their artistic studies, and at the end of their studies at the faculty of fine arts. Moreover, education undergraduates were used as a comparison group. The sample consisted of 440 undergraduates (204 fine arts, and 236 education undergraduates; 224 first-year undergraduates, and 216 fourth-year undergraduates), who were administered three dissociative experiences tests: Dissociative Ability Scale, Dissociative Experiences Scale, and Questionnaire of Experiences of Dissociation. The working hypotheses were substantiated with dissociative experiences being a distinctive personality trait of fine arts undergraduates. We have found a grade level difference between first-year and fourth-year fine arts undergraduates, although the study does not examine the nature of the change itself. The results are discussed in the light of previous studies, and new lines of research proposed.

Explanatory hypotheses of the ecology of new clinical presentations of Dissociative Identity Disorders in youth

Dissociative Identity Disorders (DIDs) are controversial psychiatric conditions encountered in clinical practice and nosology. DID as described in the international classifications has little similarity with the clinical picture of "DID" met in current youth psychiatry. From this Perspective, we hypothesize that this current clinical presentation does not satisfy the categorical criteria of the international classifications. Based on the two terminological challenges related to the definition of DID (i.e., the notion of dissociative disorders and the different meanings of the term identity), we propose to differentiate two distinct entities from each other. The first is medical and listed in diagnostic criteria of international classifications; the second comes from popular culture and refers to the vast majority of clinical presentations received in daily clinical practice-presented under the term Dissociative Identity Conditions (DIC). Since the status of DIC is a hot topic in current clinical psychiatry, we aim to identify eight possible explanations that can be provided to support its occurrence: (1) impact of iatrogenicity; (2) factors of suggestibility and desire for social acceptability; (3) psychoanalytic explanations; (4) neuropsychological explanations; (5) socio-cognitive explanations; (6) emotional labeling; (7) narrative explanations; (8) and transient illnesses explanations. In conclusion, we sustain that DIC results from a narrative interpretation of medical discourse by popular culture, developing in patients presenting undeniable distress. Such a transient disease fits in an ecological niche, which echoes the values of society, persisting under the action of a need for narrative continuity of the self.

The prevalence of Dissociative Disorders and dissociative experiences in college populations: a meta-analysis of 98 studies

This meta-analysis of 31,905 college students includes 12 studies diagnosing Dissociative Disorders (DD) and 92 studies measuring dissociation with the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES). Prevalence rates were used to separately test the plausibility of the Trauma Model (TM) and the Fantasy Model (FM) of dissociation. Results show 11.4% of students sampled meet criteria for DD, which is consistent with the prevalence of experiencing multiple (types of) trauma during childhood (12%), but is not consistent with the very low prevalence expected from the role of fantasy-proneness proposed in the FM. DES scores varied significantly across the 16 countries and were not higher in North America, but in countries that were comparatively unsafe. The least well-known DD was the most common, which is inconsistent with the FM which holds that the diagnosed person is enacting a familiar social role. There was no evidence that DES scores had decreased over recent decades, which does not support FM assertions that DD were a fad of the 1990s. Three of the five hypotheses tested provided clear support for the TM and a fourth hypothesis provided partial support for the TM. None of the five hypotheses tested supported the FM. The finding that DD were slightly more common in college populations than the general population did not support predictions of either model. The theoretical perspective of the authors moderated DES scores, although this is unlikely due to experimenter bias as studies led by FM theorists had significantly higher DES scores than those led by TM theorists.

Dissociative Tendencies and Memory Performance on Directed-Forgetting Tasks

The current article presents two studies that aimed to replicate DePrince and Freyd's (2001, 2004) studies demonstrating that high and low dissociators differentially recall neutral and trauma words under conditions of varying cognitive load. We did not find this effect. This lack of replication was apparent for both free recall and word recognition memory and in both studies. In effect, we found little evidence to support betrayal trauma theory, yet observed increased memory fallibility, as demonstrated by lower general recall and (in one study) commission errors, in high dissociators.

Shot through with voices: dissociation mediates the relationship between varieties of inner speech and auditory hallucination proneness

Inner speech is a commonly experienced but poorly understood phenomenon. The Varieties of Inner Speech Questionnaire (VISQ; McCarthy-Jones & Fernyhough, 2011) assesses four characteristics of inner speech: dialogicality, evaluative/motivational content, condensation, and the presence of other people. Prior findings have linked anxiety and proneness to auditory hallucinations (AH) to these types of inner speech. This study extends that work by examining how inner speech relates to self-esteem and dissociation, and their combined impact upon AH-proneness. 156 students completed the VISQ and measures of self-esteem, dissociation and AH-proneness. Correlational analyses indicated that evaluative inner speech and other people in inner speech were associated with lower self-esteem and greater frequency of dissociative experiences. Dissociation and VISQ scores, but not self-esteem, predicted AH-proneness. Structural equation modelling supported a mediating role for dissociation between specific components of inner speech (evaluative and other people) and AH-proneness. Implications for the development of "hearing voices" are discussed.

Dissociative part-dependent resting-state activity in dissociative identity disorder: a controlled FMRI perfusion study

BACKGROUND

In accordance with the Theory of Structural Dissociation of the Personality (TSDP), studies of dissociative identity disorder (DID) have documented that two prototypical dissociative subsystems of the personality, the "Emotional Part" (EP) and the "Apparently Normal Part" (ANP), have different biopsychosocial reactions to supraliminal and subliminal trauma-related cues and that these reactions cannot be mimicked by fantasy prone healthy controls nor by actors.

METHODS

Arterial spin labeling perfusion MRI was used to test the hypotheses that ANP and EP in DID have different perfusion patterns in response to rest instructions, and that perfusion is different in actors who were instructed to simulate ANP and EP. In a follow-up study, regional cerebral blood flow of DID patients was compared with the activation pattern of healthy non-simulating controls.

RESULTS

Compared to EP, ANP showed elevated perfusion in bilateral thalamus. Compared to ANP, EP had increased perfusion in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, primary somatosensory cortex, and motor-related areas. Perfusion patterns for simulated ANP and EP were different. Fitting their reported role-play strategies, the actors activated brain structures involved in visual mental imagery and empathizing feelings. The follow-up study demonstrated elevated perfusion in the left temporal lobe in DID patients, whereas non-simulating healthy controls had increased activity in areas which mediate the mental construction of past and future episodic events.

CONCLUSION

DID involves dissociative part-dependent resting-state differences. Compared to ANP, EP activated brain structures involved in self-referencing and sensorimotor actions more. Actors had different perfusion patterns compared to genuine ANP and EP. Comparisons of neural activity for individuals with DID and non-DID simulating controls suggest that the resting-state features of ANP and EP in DID are not due to imagination. The findings are consistent with TSDP and inconsistent with the idea that DID is caused by suggestion, fantasy proneness, and role-playing.

Is the dissociative adult suggestible? A test of the trauma and fantasy models of dissociation

Psychologists have long assumed a connection between traumatic experience and psychological dissociation. This hypothesis is referred to as the trauma model of dissociation. In the past decade, a series of papers have been published that question this traditional causal link, proposing an alternative fantasy model of dissociation. In the present research, the relationship among dissociation, suggestibility, and fantasy proneness was examined. Suggestibility was measured through the Gudjonsson Scale of Interrogative Suggestibility (GSS) as well as an autobiographically based version of this measure based on the events of September 11, 2001. Consistent with prior research and with the trauma model, dissociation correlated positively with trauma severity (r = .32, p < .01) and fantasy proneness (r = .60, p < .01). Inconsistent with the fantasy model, dissociation did not correlate with the neutral form of the GSS and correlated negatively (r = -.24, p < .05) with the trauma-focused form of this suggestibility measure. Although some participants did become quite emotional during the procedure, the risk/benefit ratio was perceived by almost all participants to be positive, with more reactive individuals evaluating the procedure more positively. The results consistently support the trauma model of dissociation and fail to support the fantasy model of dissociation.

Nightmare frequency is related to a propensity for mirror behaviors

We previously reported that college students who indicated engaging in frequent dream-enacting behaviors also scored high on a new measure of mirror behaviors, which is the propensity to imitate another person's emotions or actions. Since dream-enacting behaviors are frequently the culmination of nightmares, one explanation for the observed relationship is that individuals who frequently display mirror behaviors are also prone to nightmares. We used the Mirror Behavior Questionnaire (MBQ) and self-reported frequencies of nightmares to assess this possibility. A sample of 480 students, consisting of 188 males (19.2±1.73 years) and 292 females (19.0±1.55 years) enrolled in a first-year university psychology course, participated for course credit. They completed a battery of questionnaires that included the 16-item MBQ, plus an item about nightmare frequency (NMF) in the past 30 days. NMF scores were split to create low, medium, and high NMF groups. MBQ total scores were significantly higher for female than for male subjects, but an interaction revealed that this was true only for Hi-NMF subjects. MBQ Factor 4, Motor Skill Imitation, paralleled this global interaction for females, whereas MBQ Factor 3, Sleepiness/Anger Contagion, was elevated only for Hi-NMF males. Item analyses indicated that Hi- and Med-NMF females scored higher than Lo-NMF females on the 3 items of Factor 4 that reflect voluntary imitation (imitating famous/cartoon voices, being a physically active spectator, and learning new skills by observing), as well as on 2 other items that reflect involuntary imitation (contagious yawning and self-rated empathy). Although Hi- and Lo-NMF males differed most clearly on the sleepiness item of Factor 3, all 3 items on this factor (including anger contagion and contagious yawning) are plausibly associated with perception of and response to social threat. Results provide evidence that among females nightmares are associated with voluntary and involuntary mirror behaviors during wakefulness, while among males nightmares are associated with threat-related mirror behaviors during wakefulness. They thus support the possibility that the association between mirror behaviors and dream-enacting behaviors is due to a common mirror neuron mechanism that underlies mirror behaviors and nightmares and that involves motor, rather than emotional, resonance. These results have implications for understanding the comorbidity of nightmares and other pathological symptoms such as imitative suicidal behaviors, the influence of observational learning on dissociative symptomatology, and the predominance of threat and aggression in the dream enacting behaviors of REM sleep behavior disorder.

Effects of modality on memory for original and misleading information

This study examined the role of modality in correct recognition and misinformation acceptance in a naturalistic event cognition task that reflected an everyday life sequence of events. Participants heard, observed or acted out a sequence of events and were tested on memory for these events after being presented with an accurate description of the events or a description containing misinformation. The results indicated that recognition of unaltered information was higher in the enactment condition than the auditory or visual conditions and that this effect persisted over time. Misinformation acceptance for the immediate recognition test was lowest in the auditory condition but this advantage disappeared over time. Modality congruence of the auditory condition with the modality in which misinformation was presented and different retrieval processes underlying recognition of altered and unaltered information may explain these findings.

Fragmented Sleep, Fragmented Mind

In psychopathology, dissociation typically refers to a disturbance in the normal integration of thoughts, feelings, and experiences into consciousness and memory. In this article, we review the literature on how sleep disturbances relate to dissociative symptoms and memory failure. We contend that this body of research offers a fresh perspective on dissociation. Specifically, we argue that dissociative symptoms are associated with a labile sleep–wake cycle, in which dreamlike mentation invades the waking state, produces memory failures, and fuels dissociative experiences. The research domain of sleep and dissociation can accommodate the dominant idea in the clinical literature that trauma is the distal cause of dissociation, and it holds substantial promise to inspire new treatments for dissociative symptoms (e.g., interventions that focus on normalization of the sleep-wake cycle). We conclude with worthwhile paths for further investigations and suggest that the sleep–dissociation approach may help reconcile competing interpretations of dissociative symptoms.

Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders

Conventional wisdom holds that dissociation is a coping mechanism triggered by exposure to intense stressors. Drawing on recent research from multiple laboratories, we challenge this prevailing posttraumatic model of dissociation and dissociative disorders. Proponents of this model hold that dissociation and dissociative disorders are associated with (a) intense objective stressors (e.g., childhood trauma), (b) serious cognitive deficits that impede processing of emotionally laden information, and (c) an avoidant information-processing style characterized by a tendency to forget painful memories. We review findings that contradict these widely accepted assumptions and argue that a sociocognitive model better accounts for the extant data. We further propose a perspective on dissociation based on a recently established link between a labile sleep–wake cycle and memory errors, cognitive failures, problems in attentional control, and difficulties in distinguishing fantasy from reality. We conclude that this perspective may help to reconcile the posttraumatic and sociocognitive models of dissociation and dissociative disorders.

Individual differences in false memory from misinformation: cognitive factors

This research investigated the cognitive correlates of false memories that are induced by the misinformation paradigm. A large sample of Chinese college students (N=436) participated in a misinformation procedure and also took a battery of cognitive tests. Results revealed sizable and systematic individual differences in false memory arising from exposure to misinformation. False memories were significantly and negatively correlated with measures of intelligence (measured with Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale), perception (Motor-Free Visual Perception Test, Change Blindness, and Tone Discrimination), memory (Wechsler Memory Scales and 2-back Working Memory tasks), and face judgement (Face Recognition and Facial Expression Recognition). These findings suggest that people with relatively low intelligence and poor perceptual abilities might be more susceptible to the misinformation effect.

Positive and useful auditory vocal hallucinations: prevalence, characteristics, attributions, and implications for treatment

OBJECTIVE

Auditory hallucinations that are viewed by patients as positive and useful may be barriers to treatment-seeking. The aim was to assess prevalence, impact, and course of, and attributions to, these voices in psychotic and non-psychotic patients.

METHOD

One hundred thirty-one patients of a Voices Clinic and 65 members of the Dutch Resonance Foundation were assessed with the Positive and Useful Voices Inquiry. Data were analyzed using Pearson's chi-square, one-way anova, and Crohnbach's alpha statistics.

RESULTS

First voices are most often reported as negative. Positive voices occur more among non-psychotic subjects, but the specific characteristics and diagnosis are not significantly associated. Lifetime prevalence of positive and useful voices ranged between 40% and 60%, with varied prevalence rates over time. Positive voices are experienced by subjects as direct addresses in the third person. Perceived control of voices is significantly associated with the wish to preserve them. Attribution of protective power to positive voices has the strongest association with positive experience.

CONCLUSION

Many patients express a desire to preserve these voices. Voice characteristics do not allow for validly discriminating psychotic from non-psychotic disorders.

True and false recall and dissociation among maltreated children: the role of self-schema

The current investigation addresses the manner through which trauma affects basic memory and self-system processes. True and false recall for self-referent stimuli were assessed in conjunction with dissociative symptomatology among abused (N=76), neglected (N=92), and nonmaltreated (N=116) school-aged children. Abused, neglected, and nonmaltreated children did not differ in the level of processing self-schema effect or in the occurrence and frequency of false recall. Rather, differences in the affective valence of false recall emerged as a function of maltreatment subtype and age. Regarding dissociation, the abused children displayed higher levels of dissociative symptomatology than did the nonmaltreated children. Although abused, neglected, and nonmaltreated children did not exhibit differences in the valence of their self-schemas, positive and negative self-schemas were related to self-integration differently among the subgroups of maltreatment. Negative self-schemas were associated with increased dissociation among the abused children, whereas positive self-schemas were related to increased dissociation for the neglected children. Thus, positive self-schemas displayed by the younger neglected children were related to higher dissociation, suggestive of defensive self-processing. Implications for clinical intervention are underscored.

Dissociative disorders

The dissociative disorders, including "psychogenic" or "functional" amnesia, fugue, dissociative identity disorder (DID, also known as multiple personality disorder), and depersonalization disorder, were once classified, along with conversion disorder, as forms of hysteria. The 1970s witnessed an "epidemic" of dissociative disorder, particularly DID, which may have reflected enthusiasm for the diagnosis more than its actual prevalence. Traditionally, the dissociative disorders have been attributed to trauma and other psychological stress, but the existing evidence favoring this hypothesis is plagued by poor methodology. Prospective studies of traumatized individuals reveal no convincing cases of amnesia not attributable to brain insult, injury, or disease. Treatment generally involves recovering and working through ostensibly repressed or dissociated memories of trauma; at present, there are few quantitative or controlled outcome studies. Experimental studies are few in number and have focused largely on state-dependent and implicit memory. Depersonalization disorder may be in line for the next "epidemic" of dissociation.

�ber die kausale Beziehung zwischen Dissoziation und Trauma

This article discusses the accepted view that trauma causes dissociation. We critically evaluate studies that explored this relationship and discuss their shortcomings. In addition, individual differences related to dissociative experiences are discussed. In doing so, we focus on their potential to create pseudo-correlations between dissociative symptoms and self-reports of childhood trauma. After concluding that the causal link between trauma and dissociation is far from self-evident or empirically substantiated, we suggest some avenues for further research.

Dissociation in undergraduate students: disruptions in executive functioning

The concept of dissociation refers to disruptions in attentional control. Attentional control is an executive function. Few studies have addressed the link between dissociation and executive functioning. Our study investigated this relationship in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 185) who completed the Dissociative Experiences Scale and the Random Number Generation Task. We found that minor disruptions in executive functioning were related to a subclass of dissociative experiences, notably dissociative amnesia and the Dissociative Experiences Scale Taxon. However, the two other subscales of the Dissociative Experiences Scale, measuring depersonalization and absorption, were unrelated to executive functioning. Our findings suggest that a failure to inhibit previous responses might contribute to the pathological memory manifestations of dissociation.

Dissociative symptoms are related to endorsement of vague trauma items

In current psychiatric literature, the received view is that dissociative symptoms originate from aversive childhood events. To a large extent, this view is based on cross-sectional studies that do not rule out a scenario in which dissociative tendencies contribute to self-reports of childhood trauma. In two studies, we tested one particular implication of this scenario, namely, that dissociative symptoms are related to endorsement of vague rather than specific items about childhood trauma. In study 1 (N = 43) and study 2 (N = 127), nonclinical participants completed standard measures of dissociation, childhood trauma, and fantasy proneness. We performed correlational and regression analyses on the data. Fantasy proneness and responses to broad trauma items, but not responses to factual trauma items predicted dissociation levels. This pattern of findings shows that the link between trauma and dissociation is considerably more complex than is often assumed. As well, it suggests that at least in nonclinical samples, dissociative symptoms may breed endorsement of vague trauma items.

Dissociative experiences are related to commissions in emotional memory

Two rival hypotheses of the link between dissociative experiences and emotional memory were tested: 1) the defence mechanism hypothesis that assumes that dissociation promotes fragmentation of emotional memory; and 2) the fantasy proneness hypothesis that claims that because of its overlap with fantasy proneness, dissociation is related to commissions in emotional memory. Undergraduates scoring high (n = 19) or low (n = 19) on the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) listened to an aversive story. Next, a free recall task was administered. While high dissociators made more commission errors in their free recall than did low dissociators, fantasy proneness did not account for this difference.

Amnesia, flashbacks, nightmares, and dissociation in aging concentration camp survivors

The current study examined to what extent war memories of Dutch survivors of Japanese/Indonesian concentration camps display characteristics that are often believed to be typical for traumatic memories. Twenty-nine survivors were interviewed about amnesia, flashbacks, nightmares and the sensory quality of their most upsetting war memories. In addition, they completed self-report scales measuring post-traumatic stress symptoms and dissociation. In contrast to prevailing notions, amnesia, flashbacks and nightmares were not typical for this sample. Neither were traumatic memories characterized by a particularly strong sensory loading. Post-traumatic stress symptoms were not related to dissociative experiences. At least for this group of aging survivors, it appears that the pathogenic potential of traumatic memories has more to do with their extremely aversive content than with a qualitatively different type of organization of these memories.

Memory and suggestibility in maltreated children: age, stress arousal, dissociation, and psychopathology

The present study was designed to assess children's memory and suggestibility in the context of ongoing child maltreatment investigations. One hundred eighty-nine 3-17-year-olds involved in evaluations of alleged maltreatment were interviewed with specific and misleading questions about an anogenital examination and clinical assessment. For the anogenital examination, children's stress arousal was indexed both behaviorally and physiologically. For all children, individual-difference data were gathered on intellectual and short-term memory abilities, general psychopathology, and dissociative tendencies. Interviewers' ratings were available for a subset of children concerning the amount of detail provided in abuse disclosures. Results indicated that general psychopathology, short-term memory, and intellectual ability predicted facets of children's memory performance. Older compared to younger children evinced fewer memory errors and greater suggestibility resistance. Age was also significantly related to the amount of detail in children's abuse disclosures. Neither dissociation nor stress arousal significantly predicted children's memory. Implications for understanding maltreated children's eyewitness memory are discussed.

The causal link between self-reported trauma and dissociation: a critical review

The idea that traumatic experiences cause dissociative symptoms is a recurrent theme in clinical literature. The present article summarizes evidence that cast doubts on the commonly voiced view that the connection between self-reported trauma and dissociation is a simple and robust one. It is argued that: (1) the correlations between self-reported traumatic experiences and dissociative symptoms reported in the literature are, at best, modest; (2) other factors may act as a third variable in the relationship between trauma and dissociation; and (3) high scores on the Dissociative Experiences Scale are accompanied by fantasy proneness, heightened suggestibility, and susceptibility to pseudomemories. These correlates of dissociation may promote a positive response bias to retrospective self-report instruments of traumatic experiences. Thus, the possibility that dissociation encourages self-reported traumatic experiences rather than vice versa merits investigation. While attractive, simple models in which trauma directly causes dissociation are unlikely to be true.