Dissociation Explained

[Deleted member 8714]

This is so incredibly interesting. I've been told by various health professionals that I am highly dissociative.

Awakening can find a test for dissociation online by researching Dissociative Experiences Scale or DES. It is a quick questionnaire for screening persons who may dissociate.

 

[i think its very sad]

I have a question. Based on the information I've presented here, does anyone think it is absolutely necessary, at this time, for me to analyze my DE. Now that I know I'm doing this, it did change things. When I went to the store yesterday after, I coundn't become Responsible Mom as much as usual; it was more like I'd ruined everything by analyzing it & it was like I was a combination of me & responsible mom. I assumed this has something to do with integration.

Is it okay for me to just ignore all of this for now?

 

[Deleted member 8714]

I found a website with lots of tests, just google DES. This particular one interprets the test score.

Three parts to the test:
Amnesia Factor
Depersonalization/Derealization Factor
Absorption Factor

The DES usually, though not always, contains a percentage scale which when scored is determined by points. So 90% is scored 9 points. All points are added together and divided by 3.

I took their test online and scored it for 1988 when first diagnosed with MPD as it was called then. My score was 51.7. 48 is mean DES score for MPD (DID).

I took their test and scored it for currently, 2011 and my score was 31.7. 31 is mean DES score for PTSD.

There is also a PTSD Scale on the site. I scored 41 out of 50.

Don't know if we are allowed to post outside websites. So I haven't.

 

[anthony]

You cannot take an online assessment for the diagnosis of DID, any dissociative disorder, PTSD, etc. Total nonsense. They are gimics and tools, they are guides. No dissociative disorder is a matter of ticking down a symptom list. People think that is how a diagnosis is obtained, which is totally incorrect.

Anyone who scores anything on any such test is wasting their time, because they are not close to accurate. People need to seriously cut the crap with trying to self diagnose via the Internet.

 

[i think its very sad]

I would like to add some info if anyone has paid any attention to anything I wrote:
It would be very dangerous for anyone to assume that I meant that I can do things on autopilot all willie nillie. I can sit in one place and knit, crochet, fold laundry; the same things that anyone else can do. I pay attention when I'm walking, wont drive or cook or anything like that. If I can't pay attention it is very scarey. I discovered that I could read books to my children and space out and I can do it accurately and that's the only amazing thing I can do without paying attention. If I was alone with my children and I got too sick to pay attention, I call someone to come & take care of my children. I don't know what could happen & I don't take any chances.
I was exaggerating about how much i love it; I'd much rather it didn't happen.

Hobbies like knitting and crocheting and things you can do in a rhythm and absent-mindedly because you've done it so much are good to force yourself to relax & focus. Beyond that, I would not advise anyone, even me, to do anything and not pay attention to what you are doing. I want to repeat, I do not take any chances.

 

[starshine]

A really helpful article that validates a lot of my experience, things that I'd had a tendency to doubt. Thank you!

 

[Deleted member 8714]

You cannot take an online assessment for the diagnosis of DID, any dissociative disorder, PTSD, etc. Total nonsense. They are gimics and tools, they are guides. No dissociative disorder is a matter of ticking down a symptom list. People think that is how a diagnosis is obtained, which is totally incorrect.

Anyone who scores anything on any such test is wasting their time, because they are not close to accurate. People need to seriously cut the crap with trying to self diagnose via the Internet.

Interestingly, that percentage scale test, DES, was the same one given to me years ago when my therapist diagnosed me with both DID and PTSD. I remembered the questions and how I answered them because of a photographic memory. I don't consider this self-diagnosing. I was treated for it according to my answers on the tests.

 

[anthony]

I'm going to ask you then, obviously what is a pointless question, as you seem to have an answer for everything to justify online diagnostic assessments... how exactly did the online assessment evaluate the physical (behavioral) components of the diagnostic criterion required for a dissociative disorder diagnosis, that can only be assessed by a trained diagnostic clinician face to face?

You are older than I... so you should be much wiser than myself, and this avenue is not very wise at all.

Please do not perpetuate such nonsense onto this forum. If you took the time to learn correctly what is encompassed in a full diagnostic assessment for a dissociative or anxiety disorder, you would change your tune very quickly. Go grap a CAPS assessment and training manual, along with an actual DSM IV-TR, and you will quickly get off this question and answer limited knowledge you have to understand the full detail that goes into assessment, both behavioral and mental assessment aspects. You would quickly change your thought on online assessments being accurate or not, even as only a guide, they are far from accurate due to the full assessment spectrum which the average person would have no idea about unless reading the mentioned documents in full.

I used to have such online tools here, then as my own knowledge has grown, I was wrong to have them, as they do more damage than good with mental health diagnosis, hence why they are no longer here.

Seriously, please learn more for your own good, not from here, but independent, look in source documents mentioned about what goes into these diagnoses, then you will understand that no online assessment can come close to being accurate for most mental health diagnosis.

 

[AngelaMarie]

Information from too many sources are extremely confusing!! Every source has a different opinion. In the end it is a matter of logic, background, symptoms, etc. After all the different opinions from different places it was my basic Dr. that looked at my background, my symptoms, etc. and knew I had PTSD. The only one that really listened and looked at the past from a logical perspective. For example: I had an inhaler for years for asthma, and it turned out to be panic attacks.

 

[Amy Jo]

Will i always dissociate when I am stressed? Is this permanent?

 

[anthony]

Will i always dissociate when I am stressed? Is this permanent?

No. Not always and not permanent for every situation of stress, providing you heal your trauma and learn how to manage PTSD, being manage your present self.

 

[Artfulone]

I do have a very common dissociative symptom where I cant focus my eyes properly and everything therefore looks slightly out of focus. Assume that is a "usual" dissociative symptom though.

Dear Abstract,

What you are describing with this particular facet of your symptoms, sounds like dissociative de-realisation. Vision is something which can be commonly effected with de-realisation. When my symptom presentation is very clinical I personally find it hard to stare at certain ptterns such as chequered patterns. The chequers become blurred into each other and my eyes find it difficult to focus on the object with the pattern on. It can be quite trippy and wierd, it really can seem like a psychotropic drug trip, but the symptoms tend to cease after looking at the qhequered object (although when really clinical levels of symptoms occur, it is common for a small trigger like this to increase my symptoms and trigger me withsymptoms that last for hours. I know this because after becoming really clinical, I had the same thing repeatedly happening with the pattern on my mums dining room chairs. It may be worth studying the symptoms of dissociative de-realisation and dissociative de-personalisation. Amazon has a several good books on the subject, there will be numerous posts on this and other sites relating to this and there is the DPU - depersonalisation unit at the Maudsley Hospital at the Kings College in London, which also has a website with lots of really good information on these two subjects.