Abstract While extensive research has been carried out over the past decades to investigate the association of dissociative symptoms with traumatic stress-related disorders, dissociative absorption has largely remained invisible in these studies. However, recent theoretical and empirical findings have suggested that absorption, which was previously considered a more “benign and normal” form of dissociation, may play an important role in the development of psychopathological symptoms. This study set out to examine the relationship between three dissociative factors (absorption, amnesia, depersonalization/ derealization) and the two symptom clusters of ICD-11 posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Complex PTSD (CPTSD), namely PTSD symptoms and disturbances in self-organization (DSO) symptoms, in the Vietnamese context. The current study utilized a sample of 483 treatment-seeking Vietnamese (age range 18-75, 67.1% female) who reported at least one traumatic experience. Participants completed self-report measures, including the International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ) for PTSD and Complex PTSD symptoms and the Dissociative Experiences Scale Revised (DESR) for dissociative symptoms. Among the participants, 29.4% met the probable diagnostic criteria for Complex PTSD and 12.2% for PTSD. Results of structural equation modeling analyses showed that dissociative experiences are significantly associated with PTSD (β = .745, p < .001) and DSO (β = .681, p < .001). Of the three dissociative factors, dissociative absorption was the only factor significantly related to PTSD (β = .787, p < .001) and DSO (β = .741, p < .001); dissociative amnesia and dissociative depersonalization/ derealization did not show significant relationships with either PTSD or DSO symptom cluster. These findings indicate that absorption is strongly connected with ICD-11 trauma symptoms. Future research is needed to investigate whether this relationship is specific to the Vietnamese cultural context or represents a more universal phenomenon, as well as determining whether dissociative absorption is a relevant assessment and treatment target for PTSD and Complex PTSD.
Additional Author: Dr. Nguyen Thi Minh Hang
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this session participants will be able to:
Describe the current theories on the mechanism underlying the relationship between dissociative factors and psychopathological symptoms
Summarize the current empirical findings on the relationship between dissociative factors and trauma symptoms
Reflect on the manifestation of dissociative absorption in clinical cases and its potential role in the development and/or maintenance of trauma symptoms
Formulate research ideas that expand scientific understanding of the mechanism underlying the relationship between dissociative absorption and trauma symptoms
Propose a treatment module targeting dissociative absorption in trauma cases based on current theories
