Childhood Traumatic Experiences, Dissociation and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in Non-Clinical Samples

Abstract

Objective: The childhood traumatic experiences may have a triggering role in the beginning of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Besides, dissociation that is related to the childhood traumatic experiences may also be influential on obsessive-compulsive symptoms. This study has been carried out to determine the relation between childhood traumatic experiences, dissociative experiences and obsessive-compulsive symptoms among university students. Methods: The sample of the study is consisted of 277 representative university students, 139 of whom are female and 138 of whom are male. In order to collect the data, the participants were applied Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-53), Padua Inventory (PI) and White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI). Results: When the correlational coefficients found between OC symptoms and childhood traumatic experiences are generally considered, they are found lower than dissociations and OC symptoms. As the result of regression analyses, both traumatic and pathological dissociation points are found tohave less relational to OC symptoms, whereas non-pathological dissociation (absorption) appeared to be in more meaningful relation with OC symptoms. Discussion: These results indicate that non-pathological dissociation has more relationship to OC symptoms than childhood traumatic experiences and pathological dissociation which is an expected result of the trauma.