[Dissociative phenomena in a sample of outpatients].

AIM: The study describes the frequency and the quality of dissociative phenomena and their relationship with axis I disorders and the psychopathological severity in outpatients.

METHODS

The sample (N=383) was subjected to MINI diagnostic interview and self-assessment scales DES and SCL-90. The data were analysed using SPSS.

RESULTS

The 11,0% of subjects has a score ≥20 on DES. The 5,2% has no dissociative symptoms. The absorption images is the most frequent dissociative phenomenon, the less common is the dissociation amnesia. A relationship between dissociative phenomena and conditions unemployment, marital separation and single parties and an inverse relationship with age founded. Dissociative phenomena are more frequent in participants who have been diagnosed at least one axis I disorder and their severity is positively correlated with the number of diagnosed diseases and scores to the General Symptomatic Index.

DISCUSSION: Our results point towards the existence of three types of dissociative experiences. The first type, represented by the factor absorption/imaginative involvement, is expressed along a continuum from normal to pathological; a second type, represented by the factor depersonalization/derealization, occurs in a significantly more intense and specific among subjects with axis I disorders; the latest manifestation dissociative, described by the dissociation amnesia, seems to have a predominantly typological feature that qualifies it as an experience not commonly distributed in the general population. The identifying of dissociative symptoms is necessary for the psychopathologic evaluation and to improve the effectiveness of treatment programs.