Department of Social Work, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong.
Nethersole School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong.
Asian J Psychiatr. 2024 Apr;94:103940. doi: 10.1016/j.ajp.2024.103940. Epub 2024 Feb 2.
Depression is a major public health concern. Recent studies suggest that dissociative symptoms are associated with depressive symptoms, and the concept of "dissociative depression" has been proposed. Yet, only cross-sectional evidence is available in the literature. This study examined the bidirectional relationship between dissociative and depressive symptoms through the use of screening tools in a sample of Chinese young adults (N = 340) over four months. Baseline dissociative symptoms predicted depressive symptoms at follow-up (β = .262, p < .001), but not the other way around (β = .065, p = .121). Among different dissociative symptom clusters, identity dissociation was the only significant predictor of subsequent depressive symptoms (β = .177, p < .001). Furthermore, identity dissociation symptoms partially mediated the relationship between childhood trauma and subsequent depressive symptoms. This preliminary study is the first to test the bidirectional relationship between dissociative and depressive symptoms. The results highlight the importance of taking dissociative symptoms into account when preventing and treating depressive symptoms, especially among childhood trauma survivors.
抑郁是一个重大的公共卫生关注点。最近的研究表明，分离症状与抑郁症状有关，并且提出了“分离性抑郁”的概念。然而，文献中仅有横断面证据。本研究通过使用筛查工具，在 340 名中国年轻成年人样本中，在四个月的时间内，检验了分离和抑郁症状之间的双向关系。基线分离症状预测了随访时的抑郁症状（β=0.262，p<.001），但反之则不然（β=0.065，p=0.121）。在不同的分离症状群中，身份分离是随后抑郁症状的唯一显著预测因素（β=0.177，p<.001）。此外，身份分离症状部分中介了童年创伤与随后抑郁症状之间的关系。这项初步研究首次检验了分离和抑郁症状之间的双向关系。研究结果强调了在预防和治疗抑郁症状时，特别是在童年创伤幸存者中，考虑分离症状的重要性。
