Address of Corresponding Author

Psychopathology 2004;37:281-284 (DOI: 10.1159/000081984)

  Key Words

• Dissociative symptoms, borderline personality disorder
• Schizophrenia and depersonalization

  Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of dissociative symptoms in patients with a schizophrenic disorder. The pattern of dissociative experiences was examined in a group of patients with a diagnosis of the schizophrenia spectrum disorder (n = 26; mean age 27.9 years), and a group of patients with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (n = 26; mean age 24.0 years) was compared with normal controls of the general population (n = 1,056; mean age 18.7 years). The degree of self-reported dissociative symptoms was measured using the German version of the Dissociative Experiences Scales. The dissociation scores were significantly higher among patients with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder compared to the group of schizophrenic patients and to the control group. There was no difference in the degree of reported dissociative experiences between the group of schizophrenic patients and the normal volunteers. An analysis of the subdimensions (dissociative amnesia, absorption/imaginative involvement, depersonalization/derealization) of the scale revealed the same strong distinctions between the investigated groups. There was no evidence that dissociative symptoms reflect a specific vulnerability in young schizophrenic patients.

Copyright © 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel

  Author Contacts

Dr. Romuald Brunner
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg
Blumenstrasse 8, DE-69115 Heidelberg (Germany)
Tel. +49 6221 566 915, Fax +49 6221 566 941
E-Mail Romuald.Brunner@med.uni-heidelberg.de

  Article Information

Received: November 10, 2003
Accepted after revision: April 13, 2004
Published online: November 9, 2004
Number of Print Pages : 4
Number of Figures : 0, Number of Tables : 1, Number of References : 24