Is the Dissociative Experiences Scale able to identify detachment and compartmentalization symptoms? Factor structure of the Dissociative Experiences Scale in a large sample of psychiatric and nonpsychiatric subjects

Figures & data

Table 1 Demographic and clinical data of psychiatric and nonpsychiatric sample

	Psychiatric patients (n=780)	Nonpsychiatric sample (n=2,303)
Women, n (%)	558 (71.5)	1,793 (77.9)
Age, years, mean (SD)	39.2 (13.91)	30.3 (14.17)
DSM-IV-TR diagnosis
Anxiety disorder, n (%)	46 (5.9)	–
Mood disorder, n (%)	344 (44.1)	–
Psychotic disorder, n (%)	56 (7.2)	–
Dissociative disorder, n (%)	30 (3.8)	–
Somatoform disorder, n (%)	32 (4.1)	–
Personality disorder, n (%)	272 (34.9)	–

Abbreviation: DSM-IV-TR, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder, Fourth Edition, Text Revision.

Table 2 Results from 20 experts’ classification of DES items

DES items^Citation7	Experts (n=20)
	C%	D%
1. Did not remember all or part of a car or bus trip	77	8
2. While listening, did not hear all or part of a conversation	38	38
3. Found self in place but no memory of having got there	92	8
4. Dressed in clothes but not remembering having put them on	100	0
5. Found new things among belongings but not remembering buying them	100	0
6. Approached by strangers who said they know you	92	8
7. Felt and watched self as if looking at another person	0	100
8. Sometimes did not recognize friends or family	85	8
9. No memory of some important personal events (eg, graduation)	85	0
10. Accused of lying when person thought truth was told	85	0
11. Did not recognize self when seen in a mirror	15	85
12. Felt other people and objects were not real	0	100
13. Felt body was not one’s own	0	100
14. Remembered past event vividly, seemed like reliving it	46	23
15. Not sure if past events actually happened or were just dreamed	8	85
16. Experienced being in a familiar place as strange and unfamiliar	0	92
17. Absorbed in TV or movie story, unaware of surrounding events	23	54
18. So involved in fantasy or daydream that it felt real	23	62
19. Able to ignore pain	69	8
20. Stared into space, thought of nothing, unaware of time	38	54
21. Talked out loud to self when alone	46	15
22. Acted differently in different situations, like two people	69	23
23. Did difficult things easily	69	8
24. Not sure if something happened or just thought it had happened	54	23
25. Evidence of doing something but did not remember doing	85	0
26. Found writings not remembered as having written	92	0
27. Heard voices inside head who have told one what to do	77	15
28. People and objects appeared distant and unclear, seen through a fog	0	100

Abbreviations: C, compartmentalization; D, detachment; DES, Dissociative Experiences Scale.

Table 3 Fit indices of the three-factor solution

	χ^2	df	χ^2/df	RMSEA	RMSEA 90% CI	P(RMSEA <0.05)	CFI	TLI	SRMR
Total sample (n=3,083)	1,796	347	5.18	0.036	(0.035; 0.038)	1	0.88	0.87	0.044
Nonpsychiatric subjects (n=2,303)	1,442	347	4.16	0.036	(0.034; 0.038)	1	0.85	0.83	0.05
Psychiatric patients (n=780)	614	347	1.77	0.032	(0.028; 0.036)	1	0.92	0.91	0.042

Abbreviations: CFI, comparative fit index; RMSEA, root-mean-squared error approximation; SRMR, standardized root-mean-squared residual; CI, confidence interval; TLI, Tucker–Lewis index.

Table 4 Factor loadings of the three-factor solutions and correlations between measures

DES items^Citation7	Total sample (N=3,083)	nonpsychiatric subjetcs (n=2,303)	Psychiatric patients (n=780)
Absorption
1. Did not remember all or part of a car or bus trip	0.482	0.425	0.573
2. While listening, did not hear all or part of a conversation	0.563	0.560	0.575
10. Accused of lying when person thought truth was told	0.575	0.565	0.564
14. Remembered past event vividly, seemed like reliving it	0.575	0.581	0.552
15. Not sure if past events actually happened or were just dreamed	0.665	0.667	0.700
16. Experienced being in a familiar place as strange and unfamiliar	0.648	0.603	0.710
17. Absorbed in TV or movie story, unaware of surrounding events	0.588	0.652	0.530
18. So involved in fantasy or daydream that it felt real	0.654	0.678	0.633
19. Able to ignore pain	0.535	0.507	0.546
20. Stared into space, thought of nothing, unaware of time	0.682	0.668	0.701
21. Talked out loud to self when alone	0.540	0.528	0.578
22. Acted differently in different situations, like two people	0.644	0.620	0.663
23. Did difficult things easily	0.490	0.519	0.417
24. Not sure if something happened or just thought it had happened	0.664	0.644	0.705
25. Evidence of doing something but did not remember doing	0.706	0.684	0.749
26. Found writings not remembered as having written	0.639	0.598	0.706
Compartmentalization
3. Found self in place but no memory of having got there	0.628	0.562	0.685
4. Dressed in clothes but not remembering having put them on	0.609	0.635	0.569
5. Found new things among belongings but not remembering buying them	0.606	0.555	0.645
6. Approached by strangers who said they know you	0.565	0.536	0.598
8. Sometimes did not recognize friends or family	0.577	0.573	0.585
9. No memory of some important personal events (eg, graduation)	0.547	0.490	0.630
Detachment
7. Felt and watched self as if looking at another person	0.576	0.626	0.448
11. Did not recognize self when seen in a mirror	0.688	0.650	0.687
12. Felt other people and objects were not real	0.776	0.766	0.769
13. Felt body was not one’s own	0.767	0.725	0.784
27. Heard voices inside head who have told one what to do	0.576	0.520	0.603
28. People and objects appeared distant and unclear and seen through a fog	0.723	0.693	0.717
Factor correlations
Absorption with compartmentalization	0.813	0.756	0.884
Detachment with compartmentalization	0.756	0.713	0.775
Detachment with absorption	0.782	0.748	0.859

Table 5 Descriptive statistics of psychiatric and nonpsychiatric subjects

	N	Men		DES-total score		DES ≥30 (%)	DES_C		DES_D		DES_ABS		DES-T>15 (%)
		N	(%)	M	SD		M	SD	M	SD	M	SD
General populationa	2303	1793	(77.9)	14.63	11.78	10.9	6.59	9.03	7.46	12.40	20.34	14.77	17.5
Dermatological patients	491	136	(27.7)	11.39	10.05	6.11	5.05	7.29	4.67	8.50	16.29	13.48	10.8
Caregivers of cancer patients	145	57	(39.31)	8.33	7.31	2.07	4.09	6.16	2.55	5.47	12.09	10.01	5.5
Gynecological patients	145	0	(0)	13.69	12.46	8.28	7.40	11.91	8.85	16.18	17.86	13.18	19.3
Workers	42	13	(30.95)	6.93	4.21	0.00	3.46	3.48	1.45	1.99	10.29	6.92	0.0
Cancer patients	122	36	(29.51)	10.25	11.49	4.10	5.33	10.77	4.40	11.63	14.29	13.04	8.2
Students	1358	268	(20.47)	17.21	12.08	17.77	7.53	9.29	9.30	13.44	23.81	15.05	22.3
Psychiatric patientsa	780	558	(71.5)	20.02	16.29	25.0	11.02	14.26	17.48	19.78	24.35	18.16	37.4
Anxiety disordersb	46	17	(36.96)	9.5	6.99	4.35	3.37	3.86	4.80	5.81	13.56	10.36	2.2
Affective disordersb,c	205	51	(24.88)	14.64	13.43	10.24	8.22	13.23	12.21	15.91	17.96	14.48	22.9
Bipolar disordersb	139	59	(42.45)	18.67	14.52	18.71	11.01	13.73	14.51	16.48	23.12	16.46	33.8
Psychosisb	56	26	(46.43)	16.65	17.30	17.86	10.97	16.34	15.30	19.39	19.28	18.59	26.8
Somatoform disordersb	32	1	(3.13)	21.45	12.59	31.25	11.09	10.01	16.25	17.58	27.29	14.54	43.8
Personality disordersd,e	119	36	(30.25)	20.98	15.77	26.05	10.55	13.19	18.94	20.12	25.66	17.42	40.3
BPDe	153	29	(18.95)	29.60	18.86	46.41	15.93	16.84	27.63	22.99	35.47	21.04	62.1
Dissociative disordersb	30	3	(1.35)	31.89	12.02	60.00	19.17	13.30	34.58	24.43	35.65	13.59	80.0

Notes:

a Compared with nonpsychiatric subjects, psychiatric patients reported higher scores in compartmentalization, detachment, and absorption dissociative experiences.

b Compared with patients with other Axis I disorders, patients with dissociative disorders reported higher compartmentalization, detachment, and absorption dissociative experiences.

c Excluding bipolar disorders.

d Excluding BPD.

e Compared with patients with other personality disorders, patients with BDP reported higher compartmentalization, detachment, and absorption dissociative experiences.

Abbreviations: BPD, borderline personality disorder; DES, Dissociative Experiences Scale; DES_ABS, DES absorption score; DES_C, DES-compartmentalization score; DES_D, DES-detachment score; DES-T, DES-Taxon.

BernsteinEMPutnamFWDevelopment, reliability, and validity of a dissociation scaleJ Nerv Ment Dis1986174127277353783140

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