Dissociative Mental States Are Canonically Associated with Decreased Temporal Theta Activity on Spectral Analysis of EEG

Abstract

Quantitative electroencephalographic (QEEG) changes relating to dissociative experiences have only rarely been demonstrated, and dissociative states were not quantified in those studies. The aim of this study was to explore concurrent associations between quantified dissociative states and QEEG spectral parameters, in particular theta activity, in psychiatric patients. Fifty psychiatric patients completed the State Scale of Dissociation (SSD) immediately after a 15-min EEG recording. The EEG was assessed by conventional clinical visual analysis as well as by quantitative (QEEG) spectral analysis. Canonical analysis was performed between the set of SSD subscale scores and the following QEEG parameters: alpha–theta magnitude ratios, and relative as well as absolute theta magnitude obtained from right and left mid- to posterior-temporal and parieto-occipital derivations. The SSD transferred well to the present data in terms of reliability and internal criterion-related validity. The SSD and Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) correlated significantly (r = .73, p < .001). Conventional EEG analysis identified 29 EEGs (58%) as abnormal. The main abnormality in 23 EEGs was slowing, maximal temporally in half of these cases. Canonical analyses confirmed a statistically significant relationship between the dissociation variables (especially conversion and depersonalization symptoms) and the QEEG variables (especially relative theta magnitude in the temporal regions; R = .72, p = .03, for SSD–QEEG; and R = .66, p = .04, for DES–QEEG). Quantified dissociative mental states are positively canonically associated with decreased temporal theta activity and increased alpha–theta ratios on QEEG in psychiatric patients with a high tendency to dissociate. The potential implications of the dissociation–theta–alpha relationship for understanding normal attentional processes need to be studied further.

Keywords:

• dissociation
• electroencephalography
• dissociative mental states
• quantitative electroencephalography
• spectral analysis
• theta magnitude
• alpha–theta ratio
• canonical correlation analysis
• neurophysiology

Acknowledgments

Funding was received from the Research Committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, for the research assistant post and from the Research Development Programme of the University of Pretoria. These sponsors had no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the article for publication.

The authors acknowledge the assistance of Ms. Lisinda Nel (research assistant) with the data collection; the clinical technologists of the Neurophysiology Laboratory, especially the late Ms. Ria Heystek, for the electroencephalographic recordings; Dr. Mike van der Linde for electronic data management; and Ms. Barbara English for valuable editorial advice.