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Dissociation and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Latent Profile Analysis
Author(s) -
Blevins Christy A.,
Weathers Frank W.,
Witte Tracy K.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1002/jts.21933
Subject(s) - posttraumatic stress , psychology , dissociation (chemistry) , clinical psychology , anxiety disorder , latent class model , psychiatry , anxiety , chemistry , statistics , mathematics
The fifth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( DSM‐5 ; American Psychiatric Association, [, 2013]) contains a dissociative subtype for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) characterized by significant depersonalization and derealization. In this study the PTSD dissociative subtype was examined using latent profile analysis in a sample of 541 trauma‐exposed college students. Items from the PTSD Checklist and Multiscale Dissociation Inventory were used as latent class indicators. Results supported a 3‐class solution including a well‐adjusted class, a PTSD class, and a PTSD/dissociative class characterized by elevated symptoms of PTSD, depersonalization, and derealization. Significant class differences were found on a number of measures of related psychopathology with Cohen's d effect size estimates ranging from 0.04 to 1.86. Diagnostic and treatment implications regarding the dissociative subtype are discussed.