What is Dissociation?
Dissociation is often considered a psychological defense mechanism for victims of traumatising events, and the scale is of particular use in measuring dissociation among people with PTSD, dissociative disorders, borderline personality disorder and those with a history of abuse.
More broadly, dissociative symptoms can be considered as a transdiagnostic indicator of dysfunctional coping, with many disorders being associated with higher than average dissociation. The scale can be used during the course of treatment to track progress over time.
The Dissociative Experiences Scale-II (DES-II)
The DES-II (Carlson & Putna, 1993) is a 28-item, self-report measure of dissociative experiences. Total scores can be between 0 and 100, where high levels of dissociation are indicated by scores of 30 or more.
Scores are presented for three sub-types of dissociation:
- Amnesia: Melating to memory loss or 'blanking'.
- Depersonalisation/Derealisation: Feeling detatched from yourself and/or reality.
- Absorption: Being preoccupied or absorbed by something that you are distracted from what is going on around you.
The scale shows predictive validity concerning dissociative disorders, traumatic stress disorder, and history of abuse (IJzendoorn & Schuengel, 1996). Lysesenko and colleagues (2018) found that the DES was a useful tool across many disorders.
Average scores for clinical and non-clinical samples (incl. standard deviations) as reported by IJzendoorn & Schuengel (1996) are provided for additional interpretive context.
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