Women's Sex-Related Dissociation: The Effects of Alcohol Intoxication, Attentional Control Instructions, and History of Childhood Sexual Abuse

This study examined influences of alcohol intoxication, attentional control, and CSA severity on sex-related dissociation. Sex-related dissociation is defined here as dissociation (e.g., feeling as if the world is unreal and feeling disconnected from one's body) during sexual activity or in the presence of sexual stimuli. 

Women (N = 70) were randomized to a 2 (alcohol condition: none, .10% peak breath alcohol concentration) x 2 (attentional control instructions: none, "relax and maximize" sexual arousal) experiment and exposed to sexual stimuli. 

Alcohol intoxication was positively associated with sex-related dissociation. CSA severity and sex-related dissociation were positively associated in the no instruction condition but not in the "relax and maximize" condition. 

For some women, efforts to relax and maximize sexual arousal may buffer the association between CSA and sex-related dissociation.

  

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By:  Bird ER1, Gilmore AK2, Stappenbeck CA3, Heiman JR4, Davis KC5, Norris J6, George WH1.

• 1 University of Washington, Psychology , Seattle , United States.
• 2 Medical University of South Carolina , Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science , Charleston , United States.
• 3 University of Washington, Psychiatry , Seattle , United States.
• 4 Indiana University and the Kinsey Institute, Psychological & Brain Sciences , Bloomington , United States.
• 5 University of Washington, School of Social Work , Seattle , United States.
• 6 University of Washington, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute , Seattle , United States.
• J Sex Marital Ther. 2016 Jan 6:0.  

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Dissociative Experiences and Psychopathology among Inmates in Italian and Portuguese Prisons

The association between dissociation and psychopathological symptoms is well established, yet studies with inmates are lacking. If higher rates of dissociation and psychiatric symptoms are reported in inmate samples, it is not clear whether they represent two separate, albeit related, characteristics. 

We examined the association between dissociation and psychopathological symptoms among 320 Italian subjects (122 inmates and 198 community participants) and a Portuguese inmate sample (n = 67). Then, we tested whether dissociation and psychopathology levels were higher among inmates. 

Both hypotheses were supported, confirming the relevance of dissociative, paranoid, and psychotic symptoms among inmates, as well as their interrelations. Notably, the group difference in dissociation remained significant after partialing out the variance associated with other psychopathological symptoms. Conversely, only the difference in paranoid symptoms remained—marginally—significant when controlling for the influence of dissociation. 

This finding suggests that dissociation may have unique relevance for the psychological functioning of inmates.

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By:  Giulio Cesare Zavattini1, Carlo Garofalo1,2, Patrizia Velotti3⇑, Marco Tommasi4, Roberta Romanelli4, Helena Espírito Santo5, Mara Costa5, Aristide Saggino4

¹Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

²Tilburg University, The Netherlands

³University of Genoa, Italy

⁴University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy

⁵Miguel Torga Institute, Coimbra, Portugal

Patrizia Velotti, Department of Education Sciences, University of Genoa, Corso Andrea Podestà, 2, 16126, Genoa, Italy. Email: patrizia.velotti@unige.it

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