Detachment, Compartmentalization, and Schizophrenia: Linking Dissociation and Psychosis by Subtype

Abstract

To explain the phenomenological overlap between dissociation and schizophrenia, a dissociative subtype of schizophrenia has been proposed as a possibility. Dissociation is often believed to be organized on a continuum, although 2 qualitatively different phenomena can be distinguished in theory, research, and clinical practice: (a) states of separation from self or environment (detachment dissociation) and (b) inaccessibility of normally accessible mental contents (compartmentalization dissociation). This study used the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Association for Methodology and Documentation in Psychiatry module for the interview assessment of dissociation to investigate the relationships between PANSS subscales, detachment dissociation, and compartmentalization dissociation in a sample of 72 patients with schizophrenia. A confirmatory factor analysis sustained the bipartite model, yielding factors that grouped dissociative items around amnesia and depersonalization/derealization. The latter factor also contained identity disturbances and was therefore not entirely consistent with the theoretical formulations of detachment dissociation. It is important to note that the structure of those factors may be influenced by the symptoms of schizophrenia to which they were specifically linked: The factor containing depersonalization/derealization was connected to the positive symptoms subscale of the PANSS, whereas the factor containing amnesia was associated with the negative subscale. Hence, a dichotomy of dissociation is confirmed inasmuch as its subtypes are as distinguishable as PANSS subscales. This has implications on theoretical and clinical levels.

Keywords:

• detachment dissociation
• compartmentalization dissociation
• schizophrenia
• differential diagnosis