Associations Between Dissociation and Post-Traumatic Stress Response

Abstract

Research has consistently pointed out post-traumatic stress reactions in the face of trauma exposure are multifaceted. In this vein, significant linkages between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and dissociative psychopathology have been demonstrated to have importance for profoundly understanding the underlying psychological mechanisms in persistent PTSD. Recent studies focusing on trauma-related responses have provided convincing evidence for the premise that post-traumatic reactions are heterogeneous in nature. Specifically, two types of post-traumatic reactions have been hypothesized in the face of traumatic symptom provocation, one predominantly characterized by reexperiencing/hyperarousal states and the other primarily dissociative. Given the heuristic that PTSD is a heterogeneous nosological entity, it was reviewed in this chapter in several lines of research that has specifically focused on complicated relations between dissociation and PTSD. Various strands of evidence for the significant linkages between PTSD and dissociation include distinct comorbity patterns of PTSD, shared etiology, factorial and taxonomic studies examining symptom overlaps between PTSD and dissociative disorders, and the role of dissociation in emotional dysregulation in PTSD. The complex relations between PTSD and dissociation are addressed in the light of recent clinical and theoretical considerations.