Eye to Eye: Does Childhood Trauma Severity Predict Dissociative Reactions to Prolonged Interpersonal Gaze Mediated by Early Maladaptive Schemas?

While recent meta-analyses documented positive correlations between childhood maltreatment severity, on the one hand, and early maladaptive schemas as well as dissociation severity, on the other hand, it is currently unknown whether early maladaptive schemas (partially) explain the association with dissociative reactions. We aimed to explore to which degree dissociative symptoms after prolonged interpersonal eye gazing can be predicted by childhood trauma severity and whether this association is mediated by attachment as well as moderated by emotional reactivity. A sample of n = 243 healthy young adults was assessed for their childhood maltreatment history, early maladaptive schemas and emotional reactivity as well as their dissociative symptoms following the eye gazing task via self-report. Regression analyses indicated that childhood maltreatment severity significantly predicted dissociative symptoms, but that this association was fully mediated by early maladaptive schemas. Moderation analyses indicated that the interaction between early maladaptive schemas and emotional reactivity was statistically significant, but had a small effect size: Subjects with high emotional reactivity and early maladaptive schemas experienced more dissociative symptoms following the interpersonal eye gazing task. In conjunction, the data indicate that the severity of childhood maltreatment is associated with the level of dissociative symptoms following an interpersonal dissociation induction task and that this association is explained by the level of early maladaptive schemas as well as emotional reactivity.