Acute dissociation predicts rapid habituation of skin conductance responses to aversive auditory probes

Item does not contain fulltextThe present study examined how acute dissociation, trait-like dissociative symptoms, and physiological reactivity relate to each other. Sixty-nine undergraduate students were exposed to 14 aversive auditory probes, while their skin conductance responses were measured. A combination of self-reported anxiety and trait-like dissociation was found to predict variability in peritraumatic dissociation levels induced by the aversive probes. Furthermore, high levels of acute dissociation were associated with faster habituation of skin conductance responding, while trait-like dissociation was unrelated to habituation. Interestingly, individuals who reported childhood trauma displayed elevated skin conductance responses. Our findings contribute to the growing body of evidence indicating that subjective feelings of acute dissociation have their objective concomitants, notably fast habituation of physiologic responses

Subclinical dissociation, schizotypy and traumatic distress

The current study looked at the overlap between dissociation and schizotypy and examined two potential sources from which this overlap might originate: fantasy proneness and traumatic distress. From a sample of 191 undergraduates, those scoring in the upper and lower quartile of the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) were selected. Next, the scores of these groups on well-established schizotypy scales were compared to each other. The high-DES group had significantly higher schizotypy scores than the low-DES group. Although both groups also differed with regard to fantasy proneness and, to a lesser extent, traumatic distress, analyses of covariance showed that these variables could not explain group differences in schizotypy. Alternative interpretations of the dissociation-schizotypy link are discussed