Development and Validation of the Dissociative Symptoms Scale

Abstract

The Dissociative Symptoms Scale (DSS) was developed to assess moderately severe levels of depersonalization, derealization, gaps in awareness or memory, and dissociative reexperiencing that would be relevant to a wide range of clinical populations. Structural analyses of data from four clinical and five nonclinical samples ( N = 1,600) yielded four factors that reflected the domains of interest and showed good fit with the data. Sample scores were consistent with expectations and showed very good internal consistency and temporal stability. Analyses showed consistent evidence of convergent and divergent validity, and posttrauma elevations in scores and in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder provided additional evidence of construct validity. Item response theory analyses indicated that the items assessed moderately severe dissociative experiences. Overall, the results provide support for the reliability and validity of DSS total and subscale scores in the populations studied. Further work is needed to evaluate the performance of the DSS relative to structured interview measures and in samples of patients with other psychological disorders.

Advantages and psychometric validation of proximal intensive assessments of patient-reported outcomes collected in daily life

“…In addition, within-person relationships between PTSD symptoms and dissociation, PTSD symptoms and negative PT cognitions, and PTSD and negative affect were all significant. These findings are consistent with theory and research showing associations between PTSD symptoms and dissociation [22; 39] and PTSD symptoms and negative PT cognitions [23; 25] in groups of trauma-exposed persons.…”

“…The Dissociative Symptoms Scale (DSS) was used to assess disruptive dissociative symptoms including derealization, depersonalization, gaps in awareness and memory, and dissociative reexperiencing. The DSS has shown good internal validity (α’s from .89 to .94) and strong correlations with other measures of dissociation (r = .56-.66) and PTSD (r=.51-.55) in clinical and community samples [22]. Cronbach’s alpha for baseline DSS scores was .91.…”

“…PTSD items included all 17 items from the SPTSS. Dissociation items were the ten DSS items most strongly related to total DSS score in several validation samples [22]. M-PTCI items included the ten items most strongly correlated with total PTCI scores in the initial validation study [25] with five items reversed to assess positive cognitions (as described above).…”

Contributions of risk and protective factors to prediction of psychological symptoms after traumatic experiences

“…Dissociative symptoms were assessed with the 20-item Dissociative Symptoms Scale (DSS) which has shown good internal validity (αs from .89 to .94) and strong correlations with other measures of dissociation ( r = .56–.66) and PTSD ( r =.51–.55) in community samples and samples of community outpatients and veterans with PTSD [40]. Response options are 0 = “not at all”, 1 = “1 or 2 times”, 2 = “almost every day”, 3 = “about once every day”, 4 = “more than once every day”.…”

Trauma-Related Altered States of Consciousness (TRASC) and Functional Impairment II: Perceived Causal Relationships in an Online Sample

“…The DSS is a newly developed 20-item measure of trauma-related dissociation measuring memory gaps, depersonalization-derealization, sensory mispercepts, and cognitive-behavioral reexperiencing (Carlson, Waelde, Palmieri, Smith, McDade-Montez, & Macia, 2014). Items are also rated on a 5-point (0-4) Likert scale from "Not at all" to "More than once a day"; scores also therefore potentially range between 0 and 80.…”