The Clinician-Administered Dissociative States Scale (CADSS): Validation of the German Version

ABSTRACT

The Clinician-Administered Dissociative States Scale (CADSS) is a structured clinical interview to assess state dissociation rated by clinicians. The current study aimed to validate the German version of CADSS by comparing it to the established self-report measures for dissociation and exploring its underlying factor structure. Severity of within-session state dissociation was assessed directly following a standard psychotherapy session in a trauma-exposed patient sample (N= 105; 81.9% female). Internal consistency, convergent validity with other dissociation measures, and the factorial structure of the instrument were analyzed. The German version exhibited excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = .94) and correlated significantly with self-report measures of state dissociation (r = .86) and trait dissociation (r = .77) indicative of high convergent validity. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a three-factor solution with the factors (1) Depersonalization/Derealization, (2) Identity Confusion/Alteration, and (3) Amnesia. Results support the CADSS as a useful instrument to assess state dissociation, conceptualized as a multidimensional construct, in clinical practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Dissociation
• traumatic disorders
• psychotherapy
• clinical interviewing
• assessment
• validity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [JKD], upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the EU Rosalind-Franklin Fellowship granted to J. K. Daniels.