Personal characteristics of World War Two survivor offspring related to the presence of indirect intrusions.

Background: A substantial proportion of clinical World War Two survivor offspring reports intrusions about war events they did not experience themselves. Objective: To help identify factors that contribute to the development of such indirect intrusions (i.e. intrusions about non-self-experienced traumatic events), we examined the personal characteristics of survivor offspring that were related to the presence of indirect intrusions. To explore the specificity of these relationships, we compared characteristics related to the presence of indirect and direct intrusions (i.e. intrusions about self-experienced traumatic events). Methods: Participants (N = 98) were post-war offspring of World War Two survivors in treatment in one of two clinics specialized in mental health services for war victims. We assessed the presence of indirect and direct intrusions as well as the following personal characteristics: gender, education level, trait dissociation, affect intensity, attentional control, mental imagery, fantasy proneness, and current psychopathology. Results: Reports of indirect intrusions were more frequent in individuals high in fantasy proneness, trait dissociation, and current psychopathology. Reports of direct intrusions were more frequent in women, individuals scoring high on trait dissociation, affect intensity, and current psychopathology. Fantasy proneness was a unique correlate of indirect intrusions. Conclusions: These findings are consistent with the idea that intrusions are the result of (re)constructive processes affected by several factors including personal characteristics. HIGHLIGHTS: Offspring of World War Two survivors often experience indirect intrusions.We examined personal characteristics related to indirect and direct intrusions.Fantasy proneness was the best predictor of indirect intrusions.Gender was the best predictor of direct intrusions.

Antecedentes: Una proporción sustancial de los descendientes sobrevivientes clínicos de la Segunda Guerra Mundial reportan intrusiones sobre eventos de guerra que no experimentaron ellos mismos.Objetivo: Para ayudar a identificar los factores que contribuyen al desarrollo de tales intrusiones indirectas (es decir, intrusiones sobre eventos traumáticos no-auto-experimentados) examinamos las características personales de los hijos sobrevivientes que estaban relacionadas con la presencia de intrusiones indirectas. Para explorar la especificidad de estas relaciones, comparamos las características relacionadas con la presencia de intrusiones indirectas y directas (es decir, intrusiones sobre eventos traumáticos auto-experimentados).Métodos: Los participantes (N = 98) fueron hijos de sobrevivientes de la Segunda Guerra Mundial que estaban en tratamiento en alguna de las dos clínicas especializadas en servicios de salud mental para víctimas de guerra. Se evaluó la presencia de intrusiones indirectas y directas, así como las siguientes características personales: sexo, nivel educativo, disociación de rasgos, intensidad afectiva, control atencional, imaginería mental, propensión a la fantasía y psicopatología actual.Resultados: Los informes de intrusiones indirectas fueron más frecuentes en individuos con alta propensión a la fantasía, disociación de rasgos y psicopatología actual. Los informes de intrusiones directas fueron más frecuentes en mujeres, individuos con puntajes altos en disociación de rasgos, intensidad afectiva y psicopatología actual. La propensión a la fantasía fue un correlato único de las intrusiones indirectas.Conclusiones: Estos hallazgos son consistentes con la idea de que las intrusiones son el resultado de procesos (re)constructivos afectados por varios factores, incluidas las características personales.

The link between dissociative tendencies and hyperassociativity.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Anecdotal and research evidence suggests that individuals with dissociative symptoms exhibit hyperassociativity, which might explain several key features of their condition. The aim of our study was to investigate the link between dissociative tendencies and hyperassociativity among college students. METHODS: The study (n = 118) entailed various measures of hyperassociativity, measures of dissociative tendencies, depressive experiences, unusual sleep experiences, cognitive failures, and alexithymia. RESULTS: We found a positive association between dissociative experiences (i.e., depersonalization) and hyperassociativity specific for associative fluency and associative flexibility tasks (including neutral and valenced material), but not for a remote association task. We also found tentative evidence for cognitive failures and alexithymia explaining the link between hyperassociativity and daytime dissociation and nighttime unusual sleep experiences. LIMITATIONS: Limitations include the use of hyperassociation tasks limited to verbal associations vs. imagistic associations, the lack of a measure of trauma history, and a sample limited to college students. CONCLUSION: Our study reports a link between depersonalization and hyperassociativity on tasks that allow for free associations across different semantic domains, potentially explained by alexithymia and cognitive failures. This finding may, with replication, open the pathway to applied intervention studies.

Inducing dissociation and schizotypal experiences through "vision-deforming" glasses.

Derealization, depersonalization and schizotypal experiences are described as separate concepts but they can be hard to distinguish. One way to show the uniqueness of these concepts is by showing a dissociation between these experiences. The aim of this study was to experimentally induce derealization without inducing depersonalization or schizotypal experiences. Healthy participants watched a neutral video in one of four conditions: (1) with stroboscopic light, (2) while wearing deforming glasses, (3) with stroboscopic light and while wearing "vision deforming glasses" or (4) without any manipulation. The results show that the "vision deforming" glasses induced derealization without inducing depersonalization but not without inducing schizotypal experiences. The stroboscopic light showed no significant effect, nor was there a significant interaction between the stroboscopic light and the deforming glasses. The results indicate that using "vision deforming" glasses as a manipulation method can show a single dissociation between derealization and depersonalization but cannot dissociate derealization from state schizotypy. This association between derealization and schizotypal experiences might be helpful in understanding the high comorbidity rate between dissociative disorders and schizophrenia spectrum disorders.