Doctoral Student; Licensed Psychological Associate UNC Greensboro; UNCG Psychology Clinic Greensboro, North Carolina, United States
Introduction: Dissociation is a complex symptom that can manifest as momentary, transient episodes (i.e., state dissociation). To date, research has disproportionately focused on trait dissociation, meaning little is known about the within-person processes that underlie state dissociation. One approach to studying state dissociation is experience sampling methodology (ESM), which repeatedly measures experiences within people across time in their daily lives. The use of ESM is a novel horizon for the field of dissociation and can change the current approach to studying dissociation. Researchers can use ESM to examine dynamics of dissociation, including variability (how much dissociation deviates from one’s mean level), inertia (how much dissociation persists over time), and reactivity (how much dissociation changes in response to one’s context). The present study will evaluate dissociation variability and inertia, as well as the reactivity of dissociation to trauma reminders, negative emotion, and situational stress and threat.
Methods: The study includes 238 trauma-exposed participants recruited from UNCG’s Psychology Research Pool. Participants completed up to 5 surveys a day for 14 consecutive days from their personal mobile device using Expiwell software. Participants rated their experience of different items since the last survey on a 7-point Likert scale. These surveys assessed state dissociation with six items assessing derealization, depersonalization, and flashbacks, and the extent to which the individual experienced different contextual factors (trauma reminders, negative emotions, and situational stress and threat). The standard deviation of dissociation will index variability. Multilevel modeling will be used to measure inertia (lagged dissociation predicting current dissociation) and reactivity (time-varying contextual predictors of dissociation).
Results: Data collection is complete, but data cleaning and analysis is ongoing. The results of the study will be presented at the conference.
Discussion: The study will provide insight into dissociation dynamics, which has important implications for preventing and reducing dissociation.
