Answering The Dissociative Experiences Scale

[Sandstone]

Once again I'm being asked to complete the DES. Several therapists and psychologists have said they would expect, based on the accounts I give, a higher score than I get. One said i was too literal. Years of education have drilled me to answer the question as it is asked, but it is hard when faced with this test. I've also worked as a data analyst, and learned the importance of collecting and interrogating the data with a meaningful question.

I think the test itself is just plain silly, and suggests a spurious accuracy of measurement it doesn't actually possess. Take the question
5. Some people have the experience of finding new things among their belongings that they do not remember buying,
Please determine the degree in which the experience described in the question applies to you as a percentage of the time you have the experience. 'Never' corresponds to 0% of the time and 'Always', corresponds to 100% of the time.

Clearly the 90% and 100% answers aren't available, as no-one could spend all or most of their life finding things they forgot they bought.
So in most of the questions, 10% or 20% are the highest one could sensibly give. Some of the questions even have the word sometimes in them. What is 100% of "sometimes" ? eg

8. Some people are told that they sometimes do not recognize friends or family members

I can only answer that question with YES or NO, I have no idea how any other answer is possible. If it has EVER happened, then the answer must be YES, sometimes it has happened.

It gets even more complicated when I face the question about pain

19. Some people find that they sometimes are able to ignore pain.

I just tie myself in a knot about the meaning - is it knowing you have a pain, but disregarding it? Or is it not knowing you have a pain - in which case how would you know you are ignoring it? Or like childbirth, knowing you have a pain but working with it? And once again that sometimes word is there. And another knot about the maths. Is the question asking about how much of a whole day you spend ignoring pain so 6 of 24hours would be 25%. Or it how much of the time you are in pain that you ignore it. So if you had a pain for those six hours and ignored it throughout, = 100%

Does anyone know how you are MEANT to answer this test?

When I've asked in the past, one therapist said "Well, I think we know what is going on here", which I think meant she thought I was avoiding it, and another said she'd try to find out., but didn't come back with anything much.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

It's a stupid test. Period.

How can you NOT take it literally?

Even at 10% of the time that means you spend one out of every ten minutes doing that dissociative activity. That is a LOT!

I've taken it multiple times. Once I was told I dissociate less than normal people. Later when I was much higher functioning I was told I have ddnos. (I do not.) It's very subjective. I know my level of dissociation doesn't rise to being a separate disorder, but I can see where others may have problems with that test.

 

[Friday]

I argue with multiple choice tests all the time. Well, not always. But when I do, I know things are going to get interesting.

In fact, one of my therapists started insisting on moderating the tests he wanted me to take.

Less for the results, and more because he was interested in the arguments I was having with the test. They were a lot more informative to him than my answers, or the results.

 

[Sandstone]

But the results of this influence treatment and funding decisions.

 

[jaccat]

Don't think I'd be able to answer those questions either. Definitely badly worded. Very NHS. Written by people with barely any grasp of English. I wouldn't say your interpretation is literal. The questions are just badly written.
Is there any way of making known the difficulties you have with the test before/when you take it e.g adding a postscript saying something along the lines of 'I have interpreted question x as meaning this...'

 

[Friday]

One thing I'm often told once I start arguing with answers is to pick the closest one. Not the right one. (There is no right one). Not the best one. (Especially when all answers suck). But the one that is closest to the truth. Even if by close, we mean a football field away. Still closer than the next closest answer (the moon).

For my own peace of mind I put a little tick by the ones I take issue with.

 

[WhisperingUnicorn]

@stenni .. Oh my goodness, tests like this make me wanna tear my eyes out of my head - or seriously SMACK SOME SENSE into the people that write them. Then they tend to want to respond "Well, it isn't so important how you answer any one question, we will take the WHOLE test into consideration - and the results are along a 'spectrum' anyway, so this is just a way of gauging..." and "Just answer to the best of your ability, and go with your first gut response, because the first answer is usually most accurate." Yeah? What if my "first gut response" is to shove this pretty little test up your NOSE?? Apparently that's the RIGHT ANSWER! LOL

*empathy pangs, here*

~S2B

 

[Ice_Fire]

This test is sh*t, I've taken it, scored quite low and had a look of indignition as if I'm lying shot towards me. I have DID and no I don't spend 10% (and certainly not more) of my time unaware of who I am or what I've bought. It happens, but when it does, that doesn't equate to anywhere near 10% of my time.

My therapist thinks it's a load of rubbish too and she has seen me dissociate and communicated with alters.

 

[Sandstone]

I think I'll ask to do it with her, and get her to pick the scores based on what I say after discussing each question.

 

[amy4k]

I can't believe that they are going to use the DES for funding and determining funding. The DES is just a scale to determine if more testing/evaluation is needed. Most people who are later diagnosed as DID using the SCID-I score between a 30-60. Higher scores are very suspect and generally correspond to malingering or factitious type disorders. For other dissociative disorders you could have a score in the normal range, but have scored in the 25-50% of the time for one specific dissociatice disorder. Low scores also indicate other problems as most people do dissociate at some times. The answers also help to narrow down types of dissociation one may experience...maybe you only experience depersonalization, or dearealization, maybe you experience dissociative amnesia? That is what the scale is trying to get at.

When I have taken it I generally just try to think of the big picture of my experience. Do I sometimes not recognize family and friends? Well, yes but not very often. Often enough to be an issue. But I may not be faced with this on a daily basis, so I try to think over my lifetime...and I don't recognize people at least 30% of the time. It doesn't last very long before another part will tell us who it is, but that short period of time I am clueless even though I do eventually "recognize" them.

Some people find that they can ignore pain? Of course I am not in pain and ignoring it 100% of the time. I have to think about how I respond to pain and yes I can dissociate and ignore pain most of the time. I do not need anesthesia for dental work...in fact it is a trigger. I always found this ability to "center" myself and ignore pain to be helpful...at least until something becomes infected. I feel the pain, it just doesn't hurt as bad. Generally just a dull, throbbing that can be ignored rather than a sharp pain.So for a question like this I would answer 80%.

Those are just a few examples of how I interpreted and answered the DES.

I have read material from the researchers who helped develop the DES and there are questions in there to try to red light people who are faking...of course even with DID I do not suffer from dissociative experiences 100% or really even 50% of the time (unless I am really triggered and stressed). The question about finding items you don't remember buying is always funny. Most of the people I communicate with who are also DID have not had this happen. But, it is a misconception of people with identity disorder. Generally, we remember buying it but we don't know why, just that we were possessed to do it. Later we find out that another part wanted it...

 

[Sandstone]

No the pain one is still a mystery to me. Or rather, knowing how to answer it is a mystery. I discovered purely by accident that every night as i lay in bed bits of my body can be uncomfortable, or even in pain, and I simply hadn't noticed. It was only when I set myself to describe in detail my bodily sensations as a distraction from my thoughts that I noticed the pain in my ankles or wherever. So if I'd answered before then I 'd have said, no I can control pain, and I have a high pain threshold - child birth without any drugs - but not ignore it. Now I know that I can not even know it is there to ignore - but I don't know how often.

And then there are the ones that seem to me to describe normality - looking in the mirror and not recognising oneself - my healthy husband commented on this yesterday. It's just part of getting older - who is this grey haired saggy person?

Not recognising people seems pretty normal to me. I've always been bad at recognising people out of context. The lady from the corner shop is called Bess when I see her there. But if I meet her at the theatre, she is just a face I think I ought to know. But I'd answer 0% for that because it's normal.

I can't believe that they are going to use the DES for funding and determining funding

Will be used partly to determine if weekly outpatient therapy from the local psych team is enough, or if I need more specialised, out of area treatment.

 

[sun seeker]

I just tie myself in a knot about the meaning - is it knowing you have a pain, but disregarding it? Or is it not knowing you have a pain - in which case how would you know you are ignoring it?

Grr. I hate tests like these. Who puts these things together anyway?

I also have a bone to pick with the criteria for PTSD. Well, a few bones to pick actually, but staying on topic, how are you supposed to answer the question about whether you have amnesia about a traumatic event? If you have amnesia about something, by definition you don't know about it so you don't know that you don't know, unless someone tells you, and if this has to do with any kind of abuse, how often does that happen?

Humph. Sorry, I'm no help at all, just sharing your frustration.