Related Experiment Videos
Personality factors associated with dissociation: temperament, defenses, and cognitive schemata
Daphne Simeon1, Orna Guralnik, Margaret Knutelska
1Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029-6574, USA. daphne-simeon@mssm.edu
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to investigate temperamental, psychodynamic, and cognitive factors associated with dissociation.
Method:
Fifty-three subjects with DSM-IV-defined depersonalization disorder and 22 healthy comparison subjects were administered the Dissociative Experiences Scale, the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire, the Defense Style Questionnaire, and the Schema Questionnaire.
Results:
Subjects with depersonalization disorder demonstrated significantly greater harm-avoidant temperament, immature defenses, and over-connection and disconnection cognitive schemata than comparison subjects. Within the group of subjects with depersonalization disorder, dissociation scores significantly correlated with the same variables.
Conclusions:
Particular personality factors may render individuals more vulnerable to dissociative symptoms. Risk factors associated with dissociative disorders merit further study.