Experimental induction of peritraumatic dissociation: The role of negative affect and pain and their psychophysiological and neural correlates

Behav Res Ther. 2023 Mar 10;164:104289. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2023.104289. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTWhile research has elucidated processes underlying dissociative symptoms in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder, little is known about the circumstances under which trauma-related dissociation initially arises. To experimentally investigate causes and concomitants of peritraumatic dissociation, we subjected sixty-nine healthy women to aversive-audiovisual and painful-electrical stimulation in a 2(aversive/neutral film) x 2(pain/no pain) within-subject design while recording psychophysiological and fMRI-BOLD responses. Afterwards, participants rated negative-affect, pain, and dissociation for each condition. Using Bayesian multilevel regression models, we examined (1) whether aversive-audiovisual and painful-electrical stimulation elicit higher dissociation-levels than control conditions and (2) whether stronger negative-affect and pain responses (operationalized via self-report, psychophysiological, and neural markers) correlate with higher dissociation-levels. Several key findings emerged: Both aversive-audiovisual and painful-electrical stimulation elicited dissociation. Dissociation was linked to higher self-reported negative-affect, but we did not find enough evidence linking it to psychophysiological and neural negative-affect markers. However, dissociation was associated with higher levels of self-reported pain, a skin-conductance-response-based pain marker, an...

Source: Behaviour Research and Therapy - March 19, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Sarah K Danb öck Laila K Franke Stephan F Miedl Michael Liedlgruber Paul-Christian B ürkner Frank H Wilhelm Source Type: research