Testing the Diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder Through Measures of Dissociation, Absorption, Hypnotizability and PTSD: A Norwegian Pilot Study

Abstract

A total of 14 women meeting criteria for dissociative identity disorder (DID) based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed. [DSM–IV]) were compared to a group of women (n = 10) with other dissociative diagnoses and a group of normal controls (n = 14) with regard to dissociativity, absorption, trauma related symptoms and hypnotizability. Both of the clinical groups reported histories of childhood trauma and attained high PTSD scores. The DID group differed significantly from the group with other dissociative diagnoses and the non-diagnosed comparison group with regard to hypnotizability, the variety of dissociative symptomatology, and the magnitude of dissociative symptomatology. However, no significant differences between the two clinical groups were detected with regard to absorption, general dissociative level, or symptoms related to traumatic stress. Results support the notion that DID can be regarded as a clinical entity which is separable from other dissociative disorders. Results also indicated that hypnotizability is the most important clinical feature of DID.

KEYWORDS:

• dissociative identity disorder
• trauma
• hypnotizability
• absorption

The present study was funded by grants from the North Norwegian Centre of Psychiatric Research. The work was performed at the Department of Psychology, University of Troms⊘.