Leiden University Student Repository

Piwanski, Greta (2023)

Exploring Trauma-Related Dissociation: Disentangling the Interplay of PTSD, Dissociative Symptoms, and ACE in Network Analyses

Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and dissociative symptoms often co-occur. Yet, the symptom interrelations between PTSD and dissociation have not been disentangled. The timing and type of traumatic events have been suggested to play crucial roles in the comorbidity between PTSD and dissociative symptoms. Therefore, partial correlations between PTSD, dissociative symptoms, and adverse childhood maltreatment (ACE) were investigated in two regularized partial correlation networks. Online self-report responses from participants (N = 495) of an overarching study on domestic violence were used. Symptoms and maltreatment types were assessed with the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist DSM-5, the Dissociation Experience Scale-II, and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form. The first network analysis included nine nodes (four PTSD symptoms, three dissociation symptoms, two assumed confounders). The second analysis additionally considered five ACE types. The network...Show morePosttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and dissociative symptoms often co-occur. Yet, the symptom interrelations between PTSD and dissociation have not been disentangled. The timing and type of traumatic events have been suggested to play crucial roles in the comorbidity between PTSD and dissociative symptoms. Therefore, partial correlations between PTSD, dissociative symptoms, and adverse childhood maltreatment (ACE) were investigated in two regularized partial correlation networks. Online self-report responses from participants (N = 495) of an overarching study on domestic violence were used. Symptoms and maltreatment types were assessed with the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist DSM-5, the Dissociation Experience Scale-II, and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form. The first network analysis included nine nodes (four PTSD symptoms, three dissociation symptoms, two assumed confounders). The second analysis additionally considered five ACE types. The network exploration revealed few and weak connections between PTSD and dissociation. Regardless of the bridge strength, absorption/imagination and hyperarousal showed to be hubs linking PTSD and dissociative symptoms. Adding ACE barely changed the bridges between PTSD and dissociative symptoms. Amnesia appeared to be a hub for connecting dissociative symptoms to ACE. Emotional abuse was the only maltreatment type connected to the PTSD symptoms. These preliminary findings suggest that PTSD and dissociation are largely independent constructs and hint towards separate diagnostic entities. The study was limited by the sample’s subclinical symptoms and maltreatment scores. This limitation may also be partly responsible for the poorly connected network. Prospective studies with clinical samples are needed to further investigate the interplay between PTSD, dissociation, and ACE.Show less

PTSD

dissociation

adverse childhood events

trauma syndrome

regularized partial correlation network analysis

Author

Piwanski, Greta

Faculty

Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Specialisation

Clinical and Health

Supervisors

Krause-Utz, A. + Elzinga, B.M.

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en