Dissociative features in posttraumatic stress disorder: A latent profile analysis.

OBJECTIVE

The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) characterizes the dissociative subtype of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in terms of the individual meeting the criteria for PTSD and additionally reporting symptoms of depersonalization and/or derealization. The current study aimed to examine whether a dissociative PTSD profile may include alternative features of dissociation and whether it could be differentiated from a nondissociative PTSD profile on certain psychopathologies and demographics.

METHOD

Data from 309 trauma-exposed participants, collected through Amazon Mechanical Turk, were subjected to latent profile analysis. Regression analyses were used to examine the predictors of latent classes.

RESULTS

Three discrete profiles named Baseline, PTSD, and Dissociative profile were uncovered. All examined features of dissociation were significantly elevated in the Dissociative profile. Anxiety, male sex, being employed, and having a minority racial background significantly predicted the Dissociative profile relative to the PTSD profile.

CONCLUSIONS

The study points to the importance of alternative symptoms of dissociation in the dissociative PTSD subtype beyond the symptoms of depersonalization and derealization. (PsycINFO Database Record